Accommodations

by Cyanblackstone

Chapter II: The Nightmare Awakens

The doctor looked up from his close examination of the petri dishes, just taken out of the incubation chamber. “Nothing,” he said. “Not a colony—not of even the stuff you’d normally expect.” He brandished the clear dishes around. “They’re the most sterile samples I’ve ever seen. Whatever she did, it worked.” He frowned. “Though this is probably going to wreak havoc with your digestive systems, if you’ve been completely sterilized.”

Neil waved it off. “We’ll be fine. Does that mean we can get out of this trailer?” Even with Luna’s assurances, for completeness’ sake, the samples had been dutifully allowed to incubate, searching for any trace of potentially harmful pathogens. It had taken several hours before there was positive confirmation of no growth, and even now, the aircraft carrier was within an hour of Hawaii. The doctor’s word would allow the door to be unsealed, just in time to face the cameras. Neil was sure that the president would want to milk this opportunity for all it was worth—if at all possible, he was going to trot Luna out on stage to rake in the good press.

Speaking of a certain alicorn, she was huddled over in the corner, sleeping. Immediately after the swabs, she’d slumped to the nook and fallen asleep, out like a light.

“Yes,” the doctor affirmed. “You’re free to go. There’s no sign of contagion.” He smiled. “On a side note, it means I’m also free to go.” He looked over at the soldier, who, after many hours of standing rigidly at attention, gun at the ready, had finally succumbed to boredom and was sleeping on his bed in the other section of the trailer, dead to the outside world.

“True,” Neil chuckled. “I’m sure that had nothing to do with your decision to break protocol.” He moved over to Buzz and Collins, who were over in another corner idly playing a card game, lazily throwing cards down at random, neither really paying attention to the game. “Hey. Doc says we’re good to go.”

Collins looked up. “Hey, that’s great news!”

Buzz immediately pushed his chair back and stood. “Thank heavens. I’m already tired of this tiny trailer. To think we would’ve spent two weeks in here…”

The doctor objected, “Actually, you’re all free to go… except you, Mr. Aldrin. You may be decontaminated, but you still have a severe concussion. You are going to head right down to the infirmary where we can keep you under observation.”

“What?” Buzz protested. “You can’t be serious.”

The flat look which he got quickly quailed any dissent. “Infirmary.”

He sighed and slumped over. “Fine.”

Michael shifted, pulling irritably on his sling. “Neil and I am good, right?”

The doctor gave them a onceover. “I suppose,” he conceded with a sigh. “Just be careful.”

Collins gave a discreet fist pump the moment the doctor’s eyes left him. Neil’s eyes crinkled as he silently chuckled, careful not to give the game away.

The doctor scribbled something on a piece of paper, rapped on the porthole, and held it up. Someone’s face appeared, quickly read the paper, and then disappeared just as fast. Before long, the two sides were frantically writing notes back and forth across the glass.

While this impromptu exchange was taking place, Neil moved over to the sleeping alicorn and nudged her. “Hey, wake up; we’re getting out of here.”

She didn’t budge, and he poked her a little harder. “Luna, hey, wake up!”

Lazily, one eye opened, cat’s-eye pupils staring irritatedly at the astronaut, and even though it was just one half-asleep glare, his knees tried to betray him via wobbling.

“Luna’s not here at the moment,” a deep, foggy voice answered. “Try again later.” The eye slowly continued to open, its twin joining it, as not-Luna began to awake.

Neil took a wary step back, remembering all too well the events of this afternoon. Collins noticed the unusual event, and he paled. “Oh, crud,” he muttered, hand twitching towards his belt. “That’s the Nightmare.”

Its ears flicked over in his direction. “Such a brilliant deduction,” it said laconically. “What gave me away? My stunning intellect? My piercing wit? Or maybe just my voice?” Its eyes tracked Neil, though it made no move to turn its head or get up off the floor. “Your dear alicorn friend is still recovering from the aftermath of complete magical deprival. She won’t be responding to anything for, oh, eight more hours or so.” It paused, eyes narrowing. “Seven hours, forty-seven minutes, and thirteen seconds, give or take a few, to be exact.”

By this point, Neil, too, had reached out of instinct for his belt, but felt only cloth and leather rather than the familiar metal stock. Being an astronaut had its perks… but carrying a gun wasn’t one of them.

“Oh, stop it with the cautious approach and the reaching-for-weapons-sneakily thing,” it sighed, rolling its eyes. “Like that would make a difference if I wanted to kill you. But moonbutt here seems to like you, and you don’t bore me, so you’re safe,” it grinned lazily.

Neither of the humans moved a muscle, beyond glancing at Buzz to see if he’d caught on to it or was still sulking about his infirmary visit. (News flash: he was still sulking, and had evidently noticed a grand total of nothing. The doctor had been right to order bed rest; his concussion was bad enough that he still wasn’t noticing things he would’ve caught onto instantly had he been healthy.)

“What, you don’t trust me?” it said, amusement coloring its sarcasm.

“To be honest, we don’t,” Neil muttered. “You did just kill two people and laugh about it.”

“But they were shooting at dear Luna’s friends,” it said, finally moving another muscle as it waved a hoof slowly in the air. “Enemies are free game. It’s in the contract, you know.” This still didn’t garner a reaction, and it closed its eyes and pressed the lifted hoof to its face. “But, if you’re going to stand there and be idiots about it, I solemnly swear I won’t murder you unless you turn into a threat.” It paused expectantly. “That good enough for you?”

Michael whispered, “Did Luna ever mention a contract or how trustworthy it is?”

Neil made the hand signal for ‘negative.’

“Oh, and please don’t refer to me as an it,” the Nightmare huffed, stretching languidly before slowly standing. “As you can see, I’m most definitely a she.”

By this time, Buzz had finally noticed the subdued commotion (the doctor was still exchanging notes with the outside, absorbed in whatever he was talking about—but what was he talking about? It seemed to be taking an awful long time), glass of water to his lips, just in time for the Nightmare to cock her hips, flutter her eyes, and strike a provocative pose.

He promptly choked and fell out of his seat coughing. Neil and Michael looked away, clearing their throats uncomfortably and shuffling their feet. “That’s just wrong,” Neil muttered, so low that he could barely hear it, but the Nightmare’s mouth curled upwards in a predatory smile.

“Oh, if that’s all it takes, we’re going to have such fun together,” she purred excitedly.

Author's Note:

Two chapters (which really equate to one, but I like breaking up my points of view, if they're in different locations, between chapters.) for you today, as an apology for the six-week absence.

Enjoy!

--Cyan

Comments

[Evilhumour]

Oh Nighty, you naughty girl

[Iron Comet]

Don't humans know how sexy evil alicorns can be?

[A Wild Magikarp]

I'm trying to picture Nightmare Moon (who we have recently discovered is basically Vengful Spirit from Dota), in Luna's body, seductivly taunting Buzz Aldrin... What is my life? What am I reading?

[LostArchivist]

Bwahahaha!