The Nightmare Night Knightmare

by Wings of Black Glass

Knightmare's Name

Weakly I opened my eyes, the bright light hurt as they adjusted, something was wrapped around my head and blocking my left eye. Above me was an unfamiliar ceiling. My right forelimb hurt, a dull throbbing ache I couldn’t quite explain.

“She’s awake. Please tell the Princess.” A voice I didn’t know, a stallion. Hoofsteps left the room.

“Where?” I meant to say more, but my mouth was dry as the desert. A glass of water floated over to me, hovering in a neon blue aura.

“Canterlot royal hospital.” I tracked the sound as I drank, finding the voice’s owner to my side. It was the dark purple Unicorn with the magic wings. His angular helmet was sitting on the floor next to his long sword, propped up against the corner. “That was stupid and reckless. But…” He bowed, lightly tipping his head to one side and closing his eyes. The simple gesture seemed to be deeply respectful. “Thank you.” I didn’t understand, and he must have read my confusion. “I didn’t get there fast enough. If you hadn’t stood against Deimos, even for those few seconds that you did, it probably would have killed Luna.”

“Who… are you?”

“Ah, my name is Stardust.” He nodded again. “You may have guessed I was to be the villain in our show.” He tipped his head, and his eyes shot to the side, listening for something I didn’t hear. “The Princess is coming, she wishes to speak with you.” He backed a few steps away from my hospital bed as Luna entered the room somewhat unsteadily. Her wing was held in a splint, and her body wrapped in bandages, her Nightmare Moon illusion and costume removed.

“It is good to see you alive. I wanted to personally thank you for what your action, and to ask why.”

“I… I don’t know.”

“You must have a will like tempered steel to have faced down a monster like that.” Stardust spoke again and Luna nearly laughed at him but winced when she drew in a breath. I supposed, from his point of view, that might be the truth.

“Was anypony else hurt?”

“Many of the guards have injuries, although none as severe as your own.”

“My…?” I tried to look down, but my neck was stiff. When I tried to push myself upright I only succeeded in pushing myself over, rolling onto my right side and sending a shooting pain through my body.

“Easy.” Stardust caught me before I could push myself out of the bed, and set me back against the headrest so I could see what had happened to me. “It will take some time to adjust.” I couldn’t respond, I was too busy staring at my right forelimb.

Or rather, the bandaged stump where it should have been.

Everything went fuzzy, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe right. For all my years of fears of injury, I had never imagined actually losing a limb. The shock of it hit me with all the weight of a brick wall. All sound vanished beneath the pounding in my ears, all sensation washed away. What was I going to do? I hadn’t a clue, and then everything just kind of went numb. Tears built in my eyes, I couldn’t see past the blur. I reflexively tried to wipe them away, but my stump wiggled uselessly and I couldn’t work up enough willpower to even try to use my other limb.

“The doctors couldn’t save your forelimb.” Luna dropped her head. “There was too much damage, and Deimos had some kind of destructive venom. They had to remove the limb or it would have killed you.” They were silent for a while, as I tried and failed to compose myself. “If you wish, we will leave you to grieve.” Luna even turned to go, but Stardust did not. Ordinarily, I might welcome solitude, but at that moment I feared to be alone more than anything I’d ever experienced, excluding Deimos.

“I understand.” He spoke quietly, his voice softer than before. “Loss.” He fell silent for a long moment. “Let me overwhelm you with some advice. It will sting, you will feel it every day. Every moment you spend dwelling on it will drag you down. If you don’t learn to fight against that feeling, it will bury you.”

“I’ve had to fight my fear, every day of my life.”

“Then you’ve had plenty of practice, the two are not that dissimilar.” He glanced down at his own hoof, and I somehow noticed that it was shaking. “I’ve had my own experience with that kind of fear.” Luna stood closely next to him, and her presence stabilized him.

“If you need our help, we’ll gladly provide it.” I stared down at my stump again, trying to comprehend what I was going to do. “This is embarrassing, but I never got your name.”

“A nightmare, it’s all a nightmare…” I mumbled it to myself, I hadn’t really been listening to her question.

“Knightmare?” I blinked in confusion and met the Princess’s eyes. I was about to correct her when the doctor came back in.

“I’m sorry Princess, but I have to ask you to return to your own bed. You both need rest to properly recover.”

“Only a moment longer, please.” The doctor obliged but remained nearby, tapping his hoof expectantly. “Thank you again, Knightmare, for what you did for me. I will remember you.” She nodded deeply towards me and then allowed the doctor to lead her away. Stardust watched her go, and then looked me in the eye.

“So, what is your name, really?”

“…Fragile Flower.” I almost expected him to laugh. Instead, he studied my face, and I soon felt the need to squirm uncomfortably under his stare. He gave me his respectful bow one more time and then gathered his helmet and sword from the corner. Before he left he looked back and said one last thing.

“Perhaps… the flower is not so fragile after all. Farewell, Knightmare.”

---

“So you got your name because the Princess misheard you?”

“That’s right.” I laughed briefly. “At first only the Princess and Stardust called me that. But then so did my friends as they saw me get stronger. I even tried to sign up for the royal guards under that name. Between my missing limb and my scrawny body I couldn’t cut it, but they still respect me for trying. It’s been what everypony has called me ever since.”

Skybright was silent for a few moments, eying my missing leg.

“I didn’t know you lost your forelimb.” The filly gingerly touched my stump, it had long ago stopped hurting. “For some reason, I thought you just… never had one in the first place.”

“It took me a long time to learn how to live without it.” I pulled my gaze from my daughter and over to the prosthetic by the front door. “Longer still to learn how to live without depending on the enchanted leg Stardust made me.”

“Why don’t you wear it at home? I’ve always wondered.”

“Can you keep a secret?” I smiled down at Skybright until the filly nodded. “Ever since that day, whenever I felt afraid, I would look back and remember I had already faced a terrible monster. My everyday fears seemed so much smaller in comparison. Stardust told me I had to fight, so fight I did. In a strange way, my missing limb is a source of strength. Sometimes I still feel one of my old phobias resurfacing, but then I focus on my leg and living without it. It takes so much to face life missing a limb that I don’t have time to be afraid of the little things.”

“Things do scare you? Still?”

“Of course. I can still be startled and surprised, and I still shake when I’m the center of attention in a crowd. But I can fight back now, I can push down the fear and stand straight. I never would have met your father if I couldn’t, I’ll tell you that story some other time.” I paused for a moment, reading Skybright’s confusion. The depth of the conversation just a little more than the young pony could really understand. “So you see, it’s not that I’m not afraid of anything, it’s that I know how to control my fear.” Skybright was silent, considering my words.

“Can you teach me? To be like you?” The filly looked up at me with begging eyes and hopeful wide wings.

“How to get over your fear? I can teach you some of the tricks I’ve learned, yes. In the end, you have to overcome your mind on your own.” The little wings slowly fell. “But when you fall, I can be there to catch you.” I stood, heading towards the front door, then stopped and looked back at Skybright. “Well? Are you coming?”

“Right now?”

“If you want to start practicing, now is as good a time as any. Although we’ll start at something a little lower than the mountain.” At this Skybright cheered out in joy, and darted towards the door ahead of me. As I passed, I glanced down at the stump on my limb and then the prosthetic. For a moment I could feel the eyes of everypony who might see me, and my remaining limbs began to shiver. “Not today, Deimos.” With a determined smile on my face, I slowly strode away with my daughter at my side, shutting the door on my fears.

Comments

[mushroompone]

Nice entry!! I love how closely this story sticks to the style of the show. It has a wonderful lesson!