(Nightmare's Point of View)
I carefully rolled the little ball of what appeared to be reddish brown clay with my trident. The irregular sphere indented with every stab and push, before retaking its original shape. Flanking the tiny morsel were several others like it, all of which bathing in tomato sauce with grains of unknown origin within. Underneath the sauce lied what I easily recognized as pasta, the only part of the "meal" I recognized. Thrusting my minuscule weapon into one of the globs of... Stuff, I raised it to eye level, gazing intently at it.
"James, what is this?" I directed this at my "date", who sat across me, who was taking a dreg of water from his cup. He eyed me with confusion, as if trying to determine what I had asked.
Suddenly, his expression morphed into one I had seen several times before: Oh God, what have I done?!? His eyes grew to the size of what lay on the tip of my utensil. He twisted his head rapidly before spewing water into the plant conveniently next to the table we were at. He began coughing and contorting uncontrollably. I dropped the fork in surprise as he did so. He stopped coughing, and returned his sight to me. There was a distinct feeling emanating from his eyes that I had not seen previously from him.
But it was one I was accustomed to: fear.
James, please tell me you aren't afraid of me, I wanted to plead, but knew better. What did I do? Please don't fear me, don't go.
James' gaze was steady, but pained, not unlike a poor creature staring into the eyes of its predator. He wanted to run, but he was cornered, or was far too afraid to. He was not lost to his instincts, an issue which many of my little ponies had fallen victim to when fear welled within them.
No, they weren't even my ponies, they were my sister's. All I had left was James, and I was not going to lose him.
Please stay with me.
Wiping his face with the napkin on the table, his eyes began to dart back and forth like he was trying to find some way to escape his predicament. He opened his mouth, began to say something, but stopped, clutching his head in his hands. I reached out to take his hand in my own, in the hopes that it would calm him down.
"I am going to regret this," his whisper barely reached my ears, but I paid no heed. I captured his left hand, which trembled like the ground under a dragon. My fingers intertwined with his, securing his palm firmly to my own.
"James, what's wrong?" My maternal instincts were searing, my tone trying to be soothing. He regarded me with worry, maybe even mistrust, and it crushed me inside to see him look at me that way. He dragged out a breath, before answering.
"Nightmare, if I tell you, you will hate the answer. You will hate the human race. You will hate me."
There was so much certainty in his words; it scared me. I knew that there was not a possible thing in the universe that would make me hate James. He could hurt me, but he would never do it willingly, and would never let something take control of him like that. He could destroy everything I knew, but again, he would never do so. He could end his own life... Would he? What was so bad about the food that I could never forgive him?
"Meat."
His flat, emotionless tone nearly broke my heart. He sounded like a lifeless body, and that was only with one word. Such a short word, how could he convey so much agony with-
Wait... What?!
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" I hoped that I had misunderstood.
"Meat," he held his head in shame, but I was too preoccupied to notice. My whole body had turned to ice; just the idea of eating others was, well...
The humans? They eat, living THINGS!? It started to make sense; the sharp teeth, the eyes being more to the front. The agile and precise claws, or as they call them, hands, used to pull things apart with. The clarity didn't help the situation however.
"I think I'm going to be sick," I warned as my stomach started to churn as it understood the complications. Queasiness flowed through my body, and I knew things were not going to end well. I jumped from the table, almost threw James' hand out of mine, and charged to the conveniently nearby restroom. I slammed the door, and held my head over the toilet as I prepared for the worst.
Bile along with the contents of my breakfast was retrieved from the depths of my digestive track as I let the food come out of the wrong end of my body. The horrid odor and taste attacked my senses. The acidic liquid was all but the blade of death to my body. My sides contracted uncontrollably, my head buzzing, my mouth chock full of the vile substance, my eyes stinging from the imminent tears, my nose searing with the malevolent incense, my knees bruised when I banged against the tile floor, my hands clutching the toilet in a vice grip, my whole shape spasming and contorting.
None of those things hurt as much as the fact that I was about to eat a once-thinking thing. That it was the norm for the creatures of this world. They slaughtered hundreds of thousands of lives for one being. How many have died at their hands for one generation? How many have been lost to this planet's dominant species?
A slimy, cold and rough material raked across my forehead, but I did not know what it was. My mane was smoothly combed backwards, before the alien fur took its course on my forehead again. I felt no recurring urges to empty my insides, so I turned around to see, who else but James, trying to clean my face with a piece of cloth which was previously in his jacket pocket.
He held up a plastic cup filled with what I presumed to be water. "Swish this in your mouth, then spit it out into the bowl."
I had no energy to argue, and even if I did I would have been too afraid to act against him. Gingerly taking the container and its contents, I did as I was instructed: sip, swish, spit, sip, swish, spit, over and over. James continued to dab his handkerchief above my brows as I did so.
They are predators! my mind was filled to the brim with fear and anxiety. They are killers! Life stealers! All of them! I began to whimper as the toll of man's existence was shoved in my face without end.
I felt what I barely registered as James' arms wrap around my shoulders. But even as I did know it was him, my basic survival instincts kicked in. I knew what he was, and I needed to get away from it. I shoved its arms off of me and crawled as far away as I could in the small room.
"No! Get away from me!" My voice was a mere whisper out of my attempt to scream.
I looked to see the hunter gaze at me with regret, probably for letting its food escape so easily. Its head lowered, so as to make me believe it would not strike. It sat down, still as stone, as I trembled with the force of an earthquake. Neither of us shifted from our standstill, waiting for the other to move first. I never let my guard down, my senses heightened to the point where I could hear the chaos and clamor outside of the enclosing, behind my one escape route.
"Nightmare, it's me," the monster seemed to say. "It's James, your friend. I'm not going to hurt you; I never would. I don't know what's going on in your head, but please, please come back to me."
I snorted at its words, a and is kicked the air to emphasize my point with the predator: it would not fool me this day!
"Nightmare tell me what I can do to help, talk to me!"
A whinny escaped me. I would not be easy prey. I would take it down with me if I had to.
Its claw came towards me slowly. I turned around and bucked at it. My body did not react the way it I expected it to, and I was thrown off balance. I fell to the floor with a heavy thud, but not enough to take me out.
"Nightmare!" The creature grunted, its prize now in sight. It made to grab for me, but I bit at it. It retreated, failing to take me when I was down.
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(James Point Of View)
"I think I'm going to be sick!" Were Nightmare's last intelligent words before she scampered into the bathroom. I rushed in after her, which meant it was convenient that the bathroom was for both genders, but I could have cared less at the time.
Nightmare was hurt, and I was the cause.
How could I have been so stupid? My mind screamed in pure disbelief and anger. I should have kept my mouth shut! She is a pony for goodness sake! They eat grass, flowers, hay, not meat. I hurt her! I had one job, and I was the one who hurt her! I may have altered the language somewhat for the young ones reading this, but you get the idea.
I found Nightmare with her head over the toilet. I used the faucet to wet the handkerchief from one of my pockets, before switching out the cloth with the cup that I... For some reason never let go of. Didn't matter.
I tried to cool down Nightmare by wiping her forehead with the drenched cloth, before thinking to move her hair out of the way. As I did so, she turned around and looked at me. Her eyes were haunted, and it did not take many IQ points to guess why. Her face was pale, and she was shivering like an underdressed person in absolute zero temperatures.
I raised the cup of water and told her to clean her mouth out with it, which she did with no hesitance. But she wasn't doing it out of trust this time; it was to appease me, to surrender to me. The way she stared horrified at me, I knew she was long gone. It was only instinct that ruled her now.
She started to cry. In a futile attempt to calm her down, I tried to hug her, but she pushed me away and crawled to the other side of the room. "No, get away from me!" I had to strain to hear her. I wasn't her friend anymore; I was an eater. She glared at me, not with anger, but fear. It broke my heart to see her like that.
How could I let this happen? How did this happen? Shouldn't she know who I am, even with her instincts raging in her mind? I stared at her. She was ill, tired, malnourished, in shock and pain, and was prey in a world of predators.
Everything about her displayed a cornered animal: her eyes, her shaking, her white knuckles and tense form. I sat down, and tried to do what people did with animals. I relaxed, lowered my gaze, hid my hands, remained unmoving. I silenced any and all sounds that could have or were coming from me. I tried everything I could think of to make her relax.
I tried talking, but she didn't seem to understand me anymore. I tried to get close but she lashed out. I did everything I could have possibly come up with in the moment of panic.
But to no avail. She was still breathing rapidly, and I knew that if I didn't think of some way to placate her, she was going to pass out from sensory overload, exhaustion, and lack of nutrition, if not die first.
Save her, save her, save her, the two word mantra echoed in my head. I don't care what I have to do, just let me calm her down. Let me bring her back. Help me, please. I didn't know who I was begging. I just wanted to help her. I had been able to help her before, why couldn't I do it then?
Somehow, my wish was granted, and an idea that I didn't think of came into mind. I remembered when I was young, barely seven years old. I don't know why, but for some reason, I was angry. I wanted to break everything in my sight; I was out of control. But then, my mom picked me up... and...
Please, for the love of everything, please let this work! I prayed as I opened my mouth.
The world is full of pain and tears
That torment you every day
But there are things like love and life
That whisk them all away
The agony enthralling you
May bring you to your knees
But I still stand here at your side
I need you here with me
If music soothes the savage beast
Then I'll sing you an aria
If words could force your pain to cease
Then I'd recite each novella
If life goes like a river flows
Let your hate erode away
And show me that you still can love
Just bring back my little babe
The ache you feel within your heart
That burdens the world on you
That you may break the things you love
And there's nothing you can do
But understand that in your hand
You hold this heart of mine
And I won't let you walk alone
Just let me be your guide
If music soothes the savage beast
Then I'll sing you an aria
If words could force your pain to cease
Then I'd recite each novella
If life goes like a river flows
Let your hate erode away
And show me that you still can love
Just bring back my little babe
Though your fear may take your mind
You don't need to be scared of me
When the pain holds you confined
You'll be solaced until you're free
I don't know what
Life has shown but
I know I am here for you
My heart's racing
Always chasing
What makes you feel blue
Darkness wallows
Light shall follow
To bring forth new days
Though you may fear
I'll still be here
To show you the way
If music soothes the savage beast
Then I'll sing you an aria
If words could force your pain to cease
Then I'll write you a novella
If life goes like a river flows
Let your hate erode away
And show me that you still can love
Just bring back my little babe
If music soothes the savage beast
If music soothes the savage beast
If music soothes the savage beast
Then I'll sing you an aria
If words could force your pain to cease
Then I'll write you a novella
If life goes like a river flows
Let your hate erode away
And show me that you still can love
Just bring back my little babe
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(Nightmare's Point Of View)
The calming melody from the hunter melted away my mental frenzy. The... The preda- no. My, my James, it was James, let his voice slowly fade until all was silent.
James...
James,
James!
The name eventually broke me out of my stupor as I looked to see my friend, not a pony devourer, breathing deeply.
Oh no, what did I say, what did I do?! I thought worriedly. Nothing like that had ever happened before. I had turned on my best friend, and for what? Because he eats something which, although goes against my morales, is in fact totally natural and is done in order to survive?!
I had to apologize. I had to make this right.
But he is going to eat you! my instincts screamed.
He would never hurt me, I reasoned. He is my friend.
It is a ruse! He is a predator! He will kill you!
He is my best friend.
He is your slayer! Turn back!
Do we even know if humans eat ponies?
Run away, run away!
Keep going, get to him.
Do not kill yourself! Run!
He is my friend!
Friends are food to such mindless beasts!
He is not some mindless beast! He is the closest thing there is to my heart.
He'll be even closer when he rips it out of you!
He would never!
He will!
He wouldn't sing that song just to eat me!
Killer! Murderer!
He did everything he could to make me feel better!
Toying with his food!
James, this is James.
Doesn't matter who he is! He is a life thief! He will kill you.
My James would never-
Was he ever yours to begin with?
He cares about me.
You mean nothing to him!
...
That last one, it hurt me, badly. I knew, oh by the moon that I walked upon for one thousand years I knew it was false, but it still hurt. I stopped in my mental tracks, barely able to process what my instincts were trying to tell me.
N- nothing?
I mean nothing to him?!
There was no way in this or any universe that I meant nothing to him.
... But I had to know.
As silently as I could, I took my original form, hoping not to draw James attention just yet. Fur as dark as the void now covered me from horn to hoof, my tail and mane flowing without a breeze. In place of my hands and feet were hooves. My dress had vanished with my transformation, but my helmet and horse shoes did not replace them.
I charged at him while his gaze was averted from me. If what my instincts were telling me were true, then I would die if I did what I planned to do.
But if he doesn't care about me, then I have nothing to live for. I have lost my home, my family, my world, my throne, and my right to live. If I am nothing to him, then I truly am nothing.
I hit him with full force, careful not to hit him with my horn, knocking him to the ground. Before he could recover, I rolled the two of us so that he ended up directly on top of me, where I would be vulnerable to anything he did. He could hold me with his weight, bite my neck, anything. In fact, he would have to work to keep his body from flattening mine.
I was under his complete and total control. I had slept at his side for three nights, and he did nothing against me then.
But you did not know of his plans to eat you! my instincts continued, but I knew that this was something I had to do.
"Nightmare!?" James was visibly perplexed. "Why did you do that?"
"Sh!" I commanded. "Prove to me right now that I have nothing to fear of you. That the fact that you being my friend is not a farce. That I mean something to you. If you do not feel that way, then don't draw this out any longer! Take my life right here and now because I cannot be without the one thing I have."
He waited a few seconds, likely mulling over what I had just said. He eventually nodded slowly, before moving his mouth towards the left of my head, right at my neck. His warm breath moistened my unguarded lifeline. I closed my eyes and waited for this to end, and he...
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(James Point Of View)
Alright, I had just sung a song that I heard when I was a little kid to a magical pony disguised as a human woman who had just discovered that humans ate meat and was in survival mode.
...
...
...
What am I supposed to say about that? I don't know if it's situationally funny with its pure randomness, emotionally tearing with her fear of me, or something completely out of the ball park.
We'll just call it "ploggy", alright?
Now, after that "ploggy" situation, Nightmare tackled me, out of the blue. Or out of the black, as she now decided to take up her Ali- something form.
"Nightmare!?" What she did made absolutely no sense, and it scared the crap out of me. "Why did you do that?"
"Sh!" She didn't put a finger to her lips, seeing as how her arms were now forelegs for... Some unknown reason. "Prove to me right now that I have nothing to fear of you." She demanded with way more seriousness than I could have conjured up if I were in her position. "That the fact that you being my friend is not a farce. That I mean something to you. If you do not feel that way, then don't draw this out any longer! Take my life right here and now because I cannot be without the one thing I have."
Oh gods, did she honestly offer her life like that? Was I truly that important? Would she really be worthless if I didn't see worth in her?
Had I truly underestimated the weight of my importance in her life as of this moment?
I gazed into her apprehensive expression to find the truth of her words; she wasn't lying. If I didn't care about her, she had nothing. She didn't even like herself enough to keep going. There wasn't a fiber in my body that didn't care about her, that didn't trust her, that wouldn't die in her stead, and the fact that she didn't trust me to feel that way...
It was like a rigid, rusty spoon was used to carve my heart out of my body. It hurt me far more than that, but that was as close to a description as I would be willing to get. I never wanted to feel that again, and I certainly didn't want Nightmare to fear me. She had to know. I had ultimate power over her in that very moment, and she needed to know what I would do with it. What I would always do with it.
I nodded to myself, knowing very well what I had to do. I moved my mouth to the top of her neck, the part directly under the head, stopping only a few centimeters away from what I assumed to be the jugular. With all of her fur in the way, I couldn't be certain. I remained there for a while so she knew where I was. If human and pony biology were anything similar, then this would be the most threatening place for me to be. Then, I moved in.
I let my teeth lightly graze her neck, letting her know that I could easily take her life. She tensed from the contact. Her breathing quickened and turned jagged. I could feel her fur rise onto its ends. Her pulse was all but audible, a beat the speed of a snare drum pulsating through her body, and in part, my own. She began to nicker quietly, and her hooves kicked the air, like a desperate animal stuck on its back.
I kissed her neck. Her entire body went rigid from the light touch. It was prepared for death, but I had given it a sign of affection instead. I planted my lips on her neck a second time, and she tensed up once more. I kept brushing my lips against her soft, midnight hairs over and over again. She needed to know that even when I could hurt her, I would never will it.
I nuzzled her cheek with my own, something I imagined that ponies did. She replied in kind, so I guess I was right in that perspective. We continued on like this until I felt my arms warn me that I had about one minute before they would fail. I positioned my head so I was looking directly at her, to which she stared at me expectantly.
"Nightmare Diana Star Magrenith Moon, you mean the world to me. I would never want to hurt you, and I would never try. You are my best friend, something, somepony, and someone I cherish deeply. I am one of the happiest things in the universe just because I got the chance to know you. I would put my life in your hands, just as you have put yours in mine. You have nothing to fear of me, because I swear on my life that I never have, do not, and never will want to hurt you. And let my wrath befall those that do."
Her sight never wavered from my own, as if trying to judge my honesty. I didn't even blink as I let her know that I wasn't lying. Everything in the world mattered less than Nightmare's trust in that moment. I couldn't breath, couldn't think, couldn't move.
Her eyes began to tear up, before she got out what I hoped to be the last time she would be crying for a while.
"I- I'm-," she tried, but I interrupted.
"I know, and I'm sorry that... we eat meat," it was a lame apology on my part, but what was I supposed to say?
Her forelegs unbent, stretched past my body, and grabbed my shoulders, pulling herself into an embrace. I turned our bodies so I wasn't going to crush her, and where my arms could relax for a while, where we remained for some time.
"It's sick," she groaned. "Taking lives just to live. It is horrifying. How can you do it and not hate yourself every day? I know it's for survival but-"
I gave her a tiny squeeze, hoping that she would stop babbling. She took the message, and we remained on the tile floor in silence, still in the other's embrace. After a while, Nightmare couldn't handle the silence, and spoke again.
"Why was I afraid of you?" Her voice ever trembling. "So many times have you been there for me, and yet I still didn't trust you. Even now, I have half a mind to jump out of your arms and run to the door. You would never hurt me, and yet my heart is pounding."
I didn't know what to say. I did everything I could think of to get her to trust me. Were instincts really that strong?
"I would rather die than hurt you," I swore.
She took a very deep breath, which I could feel enter and exit her body with her... Underbelly right next to mine. "I know, and yet I can't control how I'm feeling right now, and I'm barely able to stay strong as it is. Half of me wants to stay in your arms, where you will always keep me safe-"
Aw!
"- while the other half wants to be out of the door and somewhere you could never touch me again."
... Ouch.
A sudden banging came from the door. "Come on you two, get back to work."
Mr. Maublé.
"Nightmare, change back now!" I hissed.
She released a tiny eep before lighting her horn and retaking her human appearance and clothes. The door swung open to reveal our... Disappointed boss.
He sighed almost distractedly, his hand holding his face in annoyance. "You know, if you are going to lie about not being in a relationship, do a little bit of a better job of hiding it."
I had no idea what he was... Oh.
Bathroom. Alone. Together. For a while. Hugging. On the tile floor. Heavy breathing.
Oh boy.
"OH COME ON!" Nightmare and I once again screamed our apparent trade mark.
"Actually, they already admitted to dating," says one of the most obnoxious voices known to any man: Eric.
"Oh, they did?" Mr. Maublé sounded intrigued. "Let me get this straight: they lied about not dating but are now telling the truth about dating? You went through all the trouble of getting me to believe you aren't going out, which I eventually fell for, and now you're telling me I was right? I... I need a break." He walked away, holding his head as if a migraine had just taken a visit.
Eric decided at that moment to act serious for once in his life. "You two aren't going out at all, are you." It was more of a statement than a question.
... What?
"Of course were dating," Nightmare claimed, but even I saw how unconvincing it was.
"Uh... Right. And I'm the Duke of Wales," Eric answered sarcastically.
"I didn't know we were in the presence of royalty!" Nightmare retorted, although I have yet to know whether she was joking or not.
"Look, there is no way you two are going out. You have gotten into far too many awkward situations for it to be real. That, or this is a seriously unlucky couple and you should bail out of this soon to be train wreck while the both of you are still alive." He smirked.
"Fine, you got us," I admitted.
"So here's how you do it right!" Eric began.
"Wait, what!?" Nightmare and I shouted at the same time. Again.
"Look, if you two want to do this prank right, or if you really are wanting people to stop mentioning the fact that you're 'dating', then you need some help. Bad."
"Since when have you been an expert on relationships?" I asked incredulously.
"Point taken. But I do know when I see a fake couple. Now, you two are close, no doubt about that. But you are way too uncomfortable around each other, you have absolutely no idea what to actually do to look like you're dating, you only look into each other's eyes instead of... Elsewhere, you hesitate, you're too extreme, and to top it off, you're too clingy."
"... Did you seriously pay that much attention to us?" Nightmare asked, expressing my worries as well.
"Relax Diana, I just happen to work better with people's body queues than computers."
"As shown when you tried to blow up the computer with inexistent TNT," I quipped as I recalled that... Interesting day. "And with the fact that you are able to annoy every single person you meet."
"And it never occurred to you I might be doing it on purpose?" He asked, all seriousness in his tone.
"Why would you want people to hate you?" Nightmare countered.
"Never mind that. Look, just consider this: you can either have my help and, as soon as people get over the initial shock of you dating, be free of shippers, because as we all know, shippers ruin everything."
"What's a shipper?" Nightmare asked.
"I'll explain later," I answered.
"Or you can have no help, let people realize you're faking it, get people to try and force you two together, until you get so sick of it that you end up hating one another."
I was shocked at how right he was. I could honestly see that happening. And I regretted that Nightmare and I did need help if what he claimed was to be prevented.
"... I hate you," I growled at Eric.
"Fair enough. Now, let's not have you two practice in the bathroom, okay?"
Oh yeah, we were still lying on the ground. I jumped to my feet, and helped Nightmare stand back up.
"No, no, no!" Eric was clearly unimpressed with something. "James, you need to help her up at the same time you're getting up. Get closer together, no further than an arm's length apart, and use that movement to get more, you know, physical!" Was he seriously doing this now?
"Dude, seriously?" I gave the best tired voice I could.
"Yes, now, try again."
We had to practice for five minutes. Five. Freaking. Minutes we had to get up and lie back down on the tile floor. I hoped it was recently washed to be honest.
When we finally past his first test, Eric had written down everything that he had seen couples do. This ranged from mild stolen glances and inside jokes to... Oh gods, he couldn't be serious.
"On a table!?" I nearly shouted, Nightmare following suit.
"Yeah." He answered simply. "My parents did it all the time."
"Not. Happening." I grunted.
"It will convince people you're dating!"
"No!" Nightmare shouted. "People eat on tables."
"And your point is?"
"We're not doing it, especially not on tables," my tone was monotonous, hoping he would accept no as an answer.
"Fine, you can sing to each other on the ground, but the table has a better effect."
"I really don't see how," Nightmare replied unconvinced.
"Look, we've spent enough time on this, we need to get to work," I tried to weasel our way out of this embarrassing situation. Eric stared at me for a long time, judging my intentions. He nodded curtly.
"Fine, but we are picking this up tomorrow," was his spoken reply, uncertain as may have been. Nightmare and I practically bolted away from Eric, moving as far away from him as possible before we gave ourselves the chance to breathe.
"That- that was *huff* embar- embarrassing!" Nightmare exclaimed through stolen gasps for air. "And I *huff* was the- the one who... Give me a while." She recovered her ability to speak coherently. "That was embarrassing! And I thought going around with a bad mane cut was a self esteem killer!"
Eventually, I saw a woman walking toward us, so I told Nightmare to watch what I did.
"Hello," I welcomed with a kind voice. "Can I help you?"
"Um, yeah, could you help me find some Once Upon A Time stuff? My daughter's birthday is coming up, and she loved the show."
I nodded, and walked her to the specified area. I told her about the certain things she could be looking for, and helped until she told me she found what she was looking for.
"Wait... Is that all we have to do?" Nightmare asked in disbelief.
I nodded. "Mostly, aside from register work, warehouse management, stall handling and the occasional random things we are told to do for the kids."
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes," I began. "We have to go over to the kids section and do something interesting and entertaining to them as their parents go shopping. I personally tell stories, use slight of hand magic, and sing songs to them."
"Like the one you sang for me earlier?" She guessed.
"No, that was one my mother would sing to me and my brother if we got out of control. I'm surprised I still remember it to be honest." I scratched the back of my head with that.
"It has a great melody," she commented. "If music soothes the savage beast, then I'll sing you an aria."
"Yeah, I'll have to ask here where she heard it. Anyway, let's see if you can handle some customers." I suggested smugly as a guy came up to us.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but uh, where is the dragon stuff?"
First floor, district seventeen, center aisle, I thought, wondering whether Nightmare remembered it or not. I doubted it, this was a huge store.
She instead gestured around her. "Right here," she smirked.
"What the-?" I was startled. How did I miss that? I looked around to see all things dragon snarling, glaring, breathing fire, talking, frolicking in the autumn mist in a land of Honah Lee, and so forth.
"Oh, hehe," the guy turned red. "Sorry to bother you then."
"No problem," she maintained a kind smile. "If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask."
"Thanks!" The unknown man went to searching the rows and columns of dragon figurines, posters, and other things.
"This doesn't seem too bad of a job," She mentioned under her breath.
"James, is this your girlfriend that I've been hearing about?" A voice of what could have been a high school cheerleader called from behind us.
"... I jinxed it, didn't I?" She muttered as we turned to see Jane smiling sweetly at us.
"Oh, big time," I answered. I didn't like Jane, and I had good reason.
"... Well, aren't you going to introduce me to her?" She smiled sweetly, betraying the bratty attitude that I knew lay underneath.
"Hi, my name's Diana," Nightmare grinned, something I knew would inevitably fall.
"I'm Jane, it's a pleasure to finally meet someone who can look past all of James' faults and-" she didn't get any further before Nightmare got right in her face.
"What did you say?" Nightmare growled dangerously. Smoke literally came out of Nightmare's ears, until I saw it was a figurine dragon behind her. But still, the effect was scary.
Jane gulped. "Nothing!" She squeaked.
"Good answer," Nightmare grunted with finality, but wasn't done talking. "I don't want to hear you insult James again. Am. I. Understood?" The last words were spoken precisely, with a definite edge to them.
"Yes!" Jane was flustered, and scared out of her mind. I put my hand on Nightmare's shoulder. Nightmare spun around, ready to stop being the pony princess and become the war goddess, but her expression softened as soon as she saw me. Her body loosened, her eyes lost the deadliness, and any indication that she was ready to kill she had previously was gone. I could see how much she wanted to fight for me even without her murderous appearance, but I shook my head.
Jane watched our exchange with wide eyes. Nightmare turned to glare at Jane once more. Jane turned on her heels and quickly scampered off.
"Remember when I said that I was still afraid of you?" Nightmare asked, the question seemingly out of the blue.
"Um, yes," I half questioned.
"Not any more." She swore.
"That's, nice," I wasn't sure how to reply to that.
"Why did she say you have problems?"
"Well, she is half right, I do have some problems, but most of them have to do with her," I explained. "She doesn't think anyone is worth her time, unless she can get something out of it. She would rather sit around gossiping than actually work, has no people skills, and can't follow directions if they told her to stay alive. So of course Maublé tried to get us to work together on some things to see if she would pick up some of my working habits."
"What happened?" Nightmare sounded worried, and rightly so.
"She hated me, seeing that I was more likable than she was, how much more productive I was, that I was way more focused about work than gossip, you know, small things like that. Didn't help I could sense when she was going to trick me into something that could get me fired."
"What do you mean 'sense'? Do you have foresight?"
"It's more of when I see the right side of her lip upturned, left eye half closed, and a dangerous twinkle in her eye."
"I will keep an eye out for that sort of thing," Nightmare promised as we walked through the rest of the store, helping other customers and such.
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(Nightmare's Point Of View)
I don't know how to explain what had gone on that day. So many strange occurrences have happened to me, it should have overwhelmed me. Things I could not possibly understand became reality, but dissipated just as quickly at James' hand. I couldn't count how many times he saved me just by holding me, by comforting me, not raising a fist, but a finger to quiet my anxiety. And even when I turned against him, he brought me back.
I remembered how several ponies were driven mad by their instinctive fear. Few have ever came back from it, and none returned to their original mental state, often relentlessly terrified by the image of their hunter. And yet, within the hour, James had accomplished what would have taken months of careful treatments and therapy sessions would have called for otherwise. And he was the focal point of my fear! How did he do it?
My life had been thrown out of control since the moment I passed into this world. I have cried more in the past four days than I have in most of my life.
But I have honestly never been happier.
Maybe it wasn't just James, but the human race. Before my introduction to Jane, my fears were slowly fading from me. I was able to keep myself under control, although barely, when another human was around me, excluding James. And even with James, he still scared me. But there was something about that Jane that made the remnants of my fear break. And made me want to break her into remnants.
By the third sentence she spoke, she had tried to insult James. I could take an insult, I have been taking them all of my life. I couldn't handle the hatred of the ones I love, but their words, I could bear.
But not when they are aimed at my friend. No one hurts my James.
Wait, my James?
Where did that come from?
"Miss, I'm sorry, are you alright?" A voice intruded my thoughts.
"Oh yes, I'm sorry," I quickly apologized. "What did you ask for again?"
The man in front of me lifted his eyes to the heavens in response. "I'm trying to find the library. There has to be one , since I am checking you out."
... What?
"Um... I'm unsure of what you mean, but I don't think there is a library here," I responded unsurely, to which his jaw dropped. "Let me ask someone."
"It's okay, I'll just try my luck somewhere else," the man walked away moodily.
I turned around to face James, who was apparently trying to drink out of a folded newspaper in front of some kids.
"But it's a trick newspaper!" One of the kids yelled. The other young ones around him glared, and told the first to be quiet but James stopped drinking and smiled smartly.
"Is it?" He asked. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to use a different newspaper," he left his post and went over to the newspaper stand not twenty yards away. He returned with a different newspaper in his hand. "Alright, this is a real newspaper. Go ahead and examine it, if you like."
He handed the paper to the kid who spoke out, who checked it quite thoroughly, but found nothing arbitrary.
I watched James take the paper, fold it, and poured water into it. I was standing behind him, but I saw no special tools; he was filling up a newspaper with water, no tricks, no plastic bag, nothing special about the pitcher. Then he began to drink. I tried to move around him, to see what angle I had to be at to see the fault, but there was none.
Okay, how is he doing that? I wondered.
The newspaper had been drunk dry, literally, and James passed it around to the kids to show it was. I kept my eye on him, but he did nothing. When the paper had made its round, the children returned their eyes to James, who had picked up the pitcher once more. It was made of glass, so it could be clearly seen through. He then breathed out deeply, causing the pitcher to fog up. He did so again, and I saw the water begin to condense inside, forming liquid droplets. He breathed, more water returning to the pitcher with each bit of air. Within thirty breaths, the pitcher was full of water, with James bending his head over to put the lasts bit of fog into the pitcher.
He set the container down, and took his bows to the applauding audience, which I was happily a part of.
He began doing things that I thought nothing short of magic could accomplish: making fire dance in the air without strings, candle, or pitch; blowing bubbles into shapes outside of the normal sphere; holding up a see through tarp, dropping it and vanishing, only to appear beside me; making what looked to be streams of living light swim in the breeze.
Applause was a constant companion to his tricks. He never let his smile cease, and I don't think he could have if he wanted to.
"For my finale, I shall pull a rabbit from my hat," he announced, to which many chuckles and groans responded. He raised his hands in admission. "I know, I know, it's cliche, but bear with me here, for you shall see what I add to this trick."
He went over to a table at his side, and removed the curtains of a cage, to reveal a small white bunny.
"Now, this is my friend, Jermichiah. How about you go say hi to the audience." The bunny hopped up to its cage, pawed at the lock and released itself, and jumped off of the table. It raised its paw, and waved. Already, rounds of applause started up.
"Jermichiah, are you ready?" James asked, obviously with genuine concern. The bunny looked at him, and nodded its head. It leaped back into the cage and waited patiently. James went to one of the kids in the audience, and asked if he could borrow the hat the little kid was wearing. Obtaining the hat, James reached inside, and I looked to see a hand coming from the top of the cage which the bunny was in. James' hand was far too deep inside the hat to be natural, and the hand in the cage was without a doubt his own.
The crowd pointed and gasped at the cage, seeing the displaced hand. The bunny was grabbed gently, and was raised to the top of the cage and out of the hat. I could not believe my eyes; what did I just see?
"Alright, I'm going to go give Jermichiah a chance to rest, and I'll let my friend Diana entertain you for a while," he announced.
I rushed over to him and spoke as quickly and quietly as I could. "Wait, what do I do? I can't do anything to entertain them."
"Tell them a story of your world," he suggested in the same manner. "Tell them of your life in the castle, maybe a story you were told as a child. Maybe read them a story. Teach them a game."
"But, I don't know what to do," I whispered. I turned around and grudgingly walked towards the stage.
I suddenly felt arms lightly wrap around me, and heard James whisper into my ear "you'll be fine," and he was gone. I had walked up the stage, and tried to do what I was told.
"Hello everyone, my name is Diana, and um, I'm going to tell you a story. But before you say anything, I want you to know this: it is a true one."
A number of gasps came from the audience. I waited until they finished, and I began my story.
"There once was a princess named Nyxus. She had ruled along side her sister Solace for years before. Despite her sister and her entire kingdom, there was not a more lonely soul than she. While the subjects of her land followed Solace, she had none. The people of her realm feared her, but loved her sister. Nyxus, in a bout of anger, pain, and loneliness, tried to force what she saw was a great gift upon her subjects, but it was only seen as a curse. And for it, she had been sent away.
She returned to the kingdom after many years, hoping that her gift might be accepted the second time around. It was met with retaliation, and failure. The people believed her to be dead from the second attempt, but she was merely hiding away. She saw the fear that she had created, and hated herself for it. But even more so, she saw how she could never be trusted, never be with anyone.
'Please, don't let me be alone anymore!' She cried out in the torment of her dreams. 'I never wanted to be alone, and now I am forever!'
'You are not, my child,' a voice from the unknown came. 'From this point on, you will never be alone'.
'Who are you?' Asked Nyxus.
'A friend, my dear Nyxus,' was the answer.
'I do not have any friends!' Nyxus screamed, tears stinging her eyes at the horrid truth.
'Until now, poor lost heart,' returned the hidden entity.
'What is your name, If I may ask?' The princess inquired.
'I am a wanderer,' came the reply. 'But if you wish to be more specific, then I am a magician. I have watched your tale, young monarch, and it fills me with such sorrow for any soul to be dealt such torture. Thus, I shall take you to a new world, one for which you will not be judged for your actions here, but for your actions from now on. A knight will await your arrival, and you must trust him with your life, as he will always be there to save it. He is the only one you should risk telling your tale to.'
'But will he not fear me?' Wondered the concerned princess.
'Neigh, my lonely liege. He will not. He will not care of your past, only of who you are now,' answered the magician. 'Now allow my spell to send you to another world.'
Nyxus awoke to see a creature unlike any she had ever seen. She also discovered that she was not of her original form, but of one not unlike the creature in front of her."
"I'm sorry, but how is this a true story?" Interrupted one of the children. "There isn't magic or monsters."
I tried to come up with an explanation for what he laid claim to. "James did magic earlier," I tried. It's not like I could have performed any magic right now.
"That wasn't real," the little one replied.
"And how do you know?" I asked.
"Because it can't be; magic isn't real," certainty was dripping in his voice.
I thought back to something I had heard from my father long ago. "To disbelieve is to make it false to your own mind. We live in a world we cannot easily explain, but what occurs happens whether we believe it or not. An open mind is the best one for this day and age."
I smiled as much of a real smile as I could towards the child, who seemed to accept my words.
"I think I should let my colleague entertain you for a while," I claimed as I noticed a person wearing a uniform carrying a book walk up to the stage. A couple of kids began to groan, but didn't move as I stepped from the raised platform.
I found James waiting for me by the exit of the kids section. He was smiling, but I couldn't understand why.
"What's so funny?" I asked, able to hear the agitation in my voice.
"You, thinking that you didn't know what you were doing," he almost giggled. "Nightmare, whether you knew it or not, you had those kids practically hypnotized by your words, and most of the adults. In fact, if I wasn't trying so hard to compare your story to your life, I would have been gone too."
I certainly didn't feel like that was what happened. "But, that one kid-"
"- Is a tough one to impress, and even harder to convince. He has been here more than once, and it is hard to get him to be surprised at anything," he interrupted. "And I saw how much he wanted to believe your story, in my magic, in anything and everything that the people perform. But his mom kind of hammered into his head that magic and stories aren't real."
"You know his mom?" I was surprised.
He smiled sadly. "So do you. It's Jane."
... Wow.
"Let's not think about that. Come on, we have about an hour left, so let's go check on some of the other customers," and I walked around the store, checking on any of the people inside. He left most of the customers to me, but was able to interrupt if I didn't know where exactly to go.
"I'm surprised you actually remember most of this store. Most people would have no idea where the bathroom is when they first try working here," James commented at one point.
"One and a half thousand years of practice does not hinder learning," I shrugged.
"... You know, I honestly forgot about that bit of your life," James uttered as his face was frozen in shock. I felt another wave of pain hit my heart.
"I wish I could," I moaned bitterly. James snaked his arm around my shoulder.
"I can never share your sorrow, but I'll be at your side nonetheless," he grinned. "Whether or not I can understand your grief, I shall give you a shoulder to cry on."
I honestly wanted to cry, but for James' sake, I only spoke; he had enough of me crying that day, no doubt. "Why? Why do you care so much? You have known me for around four days, most of that time was spent sleeping anyways. What did I ever deserve to have a someone to be there for me?"
He waited for a moment, and made to answer my question. "The universe isn't always about being fair, or being correct. Sometimes, sometimes the guilty go free, and what they do with it is their choice. Sometimes the best of people get the worst of fates. Sometimes, everyone needs someone to show them how to feel cared for."
"So them what does that make me?" I had to hear his reaction. If nothing else, then to keep me from crying once more.
Once again, he paused before speaking. "It makes you, a person given the worst of life, trying to get something out of it by getting others gratitude, and being punished for it by getting stuck with an idiot of a guy who is barely able to keep you from crying on an hourly basis."
Curses! I felt the tears begin to sting my eyes. And I was doing so well. "Yeah, you're kind of horrible at it," I let small tears crawl down my face, but I never let my smile drop. These were not tears of sadness, but of joy, of happiness. These were the kind of tears I would shed with James. "But you aren't a punishment, James. You know that right?"
"KNIGHT AND MAGRENITH TO THE WAREHOUSE, KNIGHT AND MAGRENITH TO THE WAREHOUSE!"
"What the heck was that?!" I nearly jumped out of my fur from the unknown sound. In fact, I imagine I would have, but James' arm was both literally and figuratively grounding me, so I was capable of maintaining my wit about me.
"That could be answered in two ways," James spoke drily. "The least accurate would be the intercom. It's a sound system running through the building, which allows the guys at the front to relay messages to other people in the rest of the store."
"... What's the other way to answer it?" Worry managed to creep into my tone.
"Trouble."
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"If it might end up badly, why don't we just ignore it?" I asked as we made our way towards the back of the store.
"Because it might actually be important," came James' reply. "As much as I doubt it being an actual call for us by Mr. Maublé, I'm not willing to risk it."
Customers in our path had decided to wisely move out of the way as we rushed away from the front entrance.
"Why is it so bad anyways?" It occurred to me that we were hustling for what could be nothing, so I added "and why are we running?"
We unfortunately did not slow down, but James did back up on his running so he could speak more clearly to me. "The store is about to close, to answer your first question. And for your second, I will give my first answer. The doors lock in three minutes, and not just the front doors. The night guard skips checking the warehouse on Mondays for, some quirk of his I guess. Anyways, if they shut down while we're in there, we'll have to spend the night."
"On the other hand, if we spent the night alone, together, it wouldn't hinder the belief that we are dating," I joked. James gave me a short laugh, but his face scrunched up in forced emotion.
"True, but tell me, would rather sleep next to me on the cold, concrete floor without any dinner before hand, or a nice, warm, bed with some good vegan food in your tummy?" He gave a sarcastic smile, but left me in confusion.
"Vegan? What does that mean?" I had to jump to the left to avoid colliding into a rack of books.
James stared at me blankly for a millisecond, before nearly crashing into an aisle. He twisted out of the way in the nick of time, and smiled. "No meat."
"I like that idea," I smiled blissfully at the thought of not having to eat... You know what. "But as for the other bit, I'm going to use you as my bed either way. I won't be the one that has to worry about the comfort underneath."
There was a slight pause in the conversation. "... Crap," I heard James mutter. I got a good laugh from that. "But you wouldn't dare do anything to hurt your 'hunky piece of masculinity and manliness', now would you?" Oh, he was seriously asking for it.
I purposefully showed my slowing of pace, grinning how I imagined an evil mastermind would. "Try me," I challenged him.
But my attempts to trip him up were foiled, as we reached the warehouse by the time I tried slowing down.
A sign reading "employees only" hung on the door. James looked down at the contraption on his arm. "One minute," he groaned to himself.
We pushed through the doors to enter a room that I could only describe as seeming bigger on the inside than on the outside. Rows of aisles that appeared to be by the thousands that held objects of unknown purpose and origin in a near haphazardly manner lined the barely lit place. I could not believe my eyes at the sight.
"No people here," James muttered. "Which means..." His entire body stiffened. "Nightmare, get to the door, now!" James commanded me. I rushed to hold the door, but it swung shut. I heard a click, which I learned meant a door locked, and it didn't take a genius to figure out which door it was.
"James, we're stuck here, aren't we." I moaned. To be honest, I never wanted James to feel uncomfortable, but it now seemed unavoidable.
"I think so," he hung his shoulders dejectedly, but rose them up just as quickly. "Or maybe not!" He started searching his pockets, and gasped in elation as he removed three cylinders. He quickly put them together, forming what looked like a woodwind recorder, but with a series of lights and wires that gave it a futuristic appearance. He played a short number of notes, aiming at the lock mechanism, and I heard a click, meaning we were free.
"What is that?" It seemed like a reasonable question.
"My fifth happy birthday present," He answered swiftly.
"You were given a lock breaker at five years old?" Came my uneasy voice.
A twinkle in his eyes told me that maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. "No, it's an inside joke. A 'happy number' is a number that can have the squares of the digits added, then repeating the action over and over again until it becomes one. My fifth 'happy birthday' was when I turned nineteen. So I've only had this thing for a while."
I stared at his hand. "What is it? It looked like something the Doctor had, but it wasn't activated through the mouth and didn't play music."
He smiled slyly. "It's a sonic recorder, the only 'sonic' tool the Doctor ever made that actually made sense to be sonic. The draw back is that I have to play certain notes in order to activate it in certain ways, so he thought I would have more use of it, with him always in a hurry and such. I'm still uncertain about some of the command keys to be honest. Now come on, it's time to eat."
We ran back to the entrance to the store, which was a lot farther than it would have been deemed reasonable. He played his recorder again, and the front doors swung open. After exiting, he played a different set of notes to lock the door.
As we got into the car, James stopped moving and stared at the store. I followed his gaze to the light-up sign, which had many of the letters not working in an eerie manner.
BAND RSN H WO DER EM OR UM
"James?" I tried snapping him out of his deep thought. He shook his head and smiled at me. We got into the car and made our way to what I guessed to be the vegetarian restaurant.