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// Epilogue 
// Story: A Nightmare's Lament 
// by Draconis187 
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A Nightmare’s Lament
Epilogue
Author: Draconis187

It had been two years since I had set my mind to changing how ponies saw me. And it… had been a very trying time on me, mentally speaking. A few things happened in those two years so allow me to inform you as to what transpired during my first attempt to paint myself in a new light to the populace.

The first dream I tried to turn back from being a nightmare started with a small, lime green, Pegasus filly around six or seven years of age running through an incredibly dark forest. What she was running from was a strange, shadowy figure. How imaginative and scary… I saw the so-called ‘scary being’ and facehoofed. I had seen scarier things come from the Bearer of Generosity’s fashion line. I would never catch myself wearing something so… colourful. Ugh, if I ever did, somepony put me out of my misery for I would have to be insane.

Despite this, the filly was deathly afraid of it and eventually, as what usually happens in these types of nightmares, she tripped on a large, exposed root that she would have seen in real life. Then again, this creature would not exist in real life, nor is there a forest darker than the Everfree in real life but I digress.

The filly squealed and cringed as the figure caught up to her. But something was not quite right with this particular nightmare. You see, when you have a near-death dream/nightmare, you wake up before you hit the floor if you are dreaming of jumping off a cliff or in this case, before the hooves of your attacker touch your body in a fatal area such as your head or windpipe.

If you fail to wake when this happens then your body may go into shock and you might suffer a heart attack strong enough to kill you or at the very least land the dreamer in a coma. So in order to prevent either from occurring I froze the creature, and in effect the entire dream, in place except for the filly.

Now the filly stared at the figure for what seemed like hours, literal hours but in truth it was about four minutes. The filly shuffled and got out of the way as I finally decided to make her ‘monster’ vanish. It was time to let her see what a real monster looked like as I stepped out into her view.

The reaction was instant: she shrieked and tried to run off but her legs refused to let her move an inch. Another type of dream but I had better stop myself from rattling off again. I simply laid down a metre from her as she struggled, patiently waiting for her to stop. If you waited for a millennium for the right stars to enhance your magic to overcome the spell lock of your prison, you would have a lot of patience as well.

I kept waiting, looking around at the area she decided to have a nightmare in. It was much darker than the Everfree that was for certain and yet nowhere near as frightening. I scoffed a little, making the poor filly make some form of odd noise, somewhere between a squeal and a yelp as if I was directing it at her.

The filly looked like she was never going to calm down as she kept struggling so I got up and walked off, telling her to have a pleasant dream before unfreezing the dream and her legs. I just did not want her to run off. I actually wanted to talk, try to calm her down but I could see it in her eyes, I was wasting both my time and hers.

Before I left though, I made sure to change her dreamscape to a form of candy land since when could any young foal not resist free candy, let alone a world made up of it? The tree bark was chocolate, the grass was red liquorice, that kind of thing. I did hear her squeal with joy as she began to devour the very forest she was afraid of. Was quite the sight but I left as she chewed through a former oak tree. 

That was my encounter with my first attempt to change my modus operandi and my image. It could have been looked at as an abject failure but despite the response I got, I persisted and my dreamwalking had me encounter the oddest dreams I could have ever encountered.

One of the unicorns from that pat- that prestigious school Celestia had set up for unicorns had a dream his books were the size of buildings and were chasing him. I set them alight and changed the scene to graduation day with him as the top of his class. I could have seen his smile from the moon, it was that bright.

But… sadly I was finally found out by Luna. It was inevitable since I gained the dreamwalking ability from her. And by found out, I mean she and I were muzzle-to-muzzle in some filly’s dream she asked if we were kissing. I then discovered was known as blushing and embarrassment.

She forced me into her dreamscape and interrogated me to no end. I was sure two days passed in reality but I kind of lost the concept of time after the first four hours of questions, rage, and crying at a few moments.

Now I understand her frustration at me, I did try to shroud the world in darkness, twice in fact and failed but that was beside the point. I was the one in control at the time and then the strangest thing happened after what may have been the twelfth hour: she apologised.

Now why in Tartarus did she apologise? Because she created her alter ego, in other words, me. It was also her fault that what happened to us happened. That I was simply doing what was in my nature.

Now imagine Princess Luna with the most dumfounded, shocked look imaginable. Got it? Good, because that was the way she looked at me when I told her I wanted to turn over a new leaf. 

She confirmed my initial hypothesis that the Elements brought upon this change in my personality and that it simply needed time to ‘settle in’ as she so eloquently put it. It solved one mystery but even she was stumped by the fact I was in limbo and was able to dreamwalk.

She initially thought I had returned to flesh and bone which made her give me that look twice in one day. Or was it still night at the time? Oh well, I digress. You see, she decided since I was trying to turn over a new leaf, she would be something akin to my parole officer. If I was ‘good enough’ she’d see about giving me a body.

Okay, the reclamation of my body was far too tempting and I agreed without so much as blinking. She smiled at me and told me how she thought I wouldn’t disappoint her.

‘I won’t disappoint her’? Since when did I have somepony’s expectations to live up to? Not hers and that was for bucking certain. What can I say? I may have been turning over a new leaf but that didn’t mean I instantly became the poster mare for reformed villains.

Luna monitored me for the most part of the next year and a half. She and I had a rather rocky relationship but we both knew we weren’t going to be bosom buddies from the get go, if ever.

So at the end of that year and a half, Luna began to monitor me slightly less frequently, using the time to better attend other duties or tend to the dreams of other sleepers. It was strange to no longer have her almost literally breathing down my mane.

But it did not mean I was going to revert to my old ways. I meant it when I said that I was going to change how ponies perceived of me and I was slowly making progress. Bit by little bit, I had foals hugging my legs for saving them from their nightmares. At first I thought they were attacking me. Luna laughed when I told her that and almost made me want to buck her in the teeth, almost.

I also, at one point, had a fully grown stallion kissing my hooves, singing my praises. It was my turn to give Luna a dumbfounded expression and that only made her laugh again. Oddly though I found myself laughing as well, as if I found it humorous but how could I have found a clearly degrading act funny? Was it because Luna was laughing, or did I actually find something comedic in it?

The past two years saw me experience emotions like any normal pony. For those few moments I did not feel like the Nightmare Moon they all saw me as, rather I felt like the Nightmare Moon I wanted to be. And that made me feel like I could endure anything the world could possibly throw at me. I know I have many years ahead of me to fully get through this but I know that I am making progress.

I will continue to pick away at the pedestal they had put me on of the old me. I shall erect my own statue in their eyes and when they hear my name, they will smile.