Chapter 2
“Princess Nightmare?”
Nightmare Moon stopped explaining about the constellation of Equiferus and turned to look down at the colt beside her. “Queen Nightmare, Sky. But yes? Didst thou wish to talk to us?”
“Did I say that mom’s going to have a baby soon? And she said it’s a filly today! I’m going to have a younger sister!” Sky Piercer said excitedly, hopping up and down.
Nightmare Moon gave Sky a soft smile. “T’is wonderful news, Sky. We congratulate thee. We are sure thou will become a good brother for thy sister.”
“A good brother for his sister…,” Nightmare Moon mused as she recounted the conversation she and Sky Piercer had a few weeks prior. Every time she was reminded of that phrase anger boiled inside of her, but for some reason, she couldn’t get the words out of her head. She looked up at the blue marble floating in the sky, glaring upon the planet of Equus where her accursed sister resided. “Thou were never a good sister for us, were thee, Celestia? The times thou ignored us, denied us, rejected us in our muzzles. Thou always obscured us with thy shadows, and yet thou didn’t care for us, not even once….” Nightmare lowered her head. Then her eyes glowed a brilliant turquoise as her horn flared, and she blasted a ray of magic without aiming at anything in particular. “We shall make thee pay upon our return!” she screamed, picking up and hurling Lunar rocks up at the planet with reckless abandon.
Soon, however, she ran out of rocks to hurl, and she just stood there, panting as rage overtook her mind and thoughts. ‘Twas all thy fault, Celestia, and yet we are the ones paying the price.
After a while, however, she took in a few deep breaths, calming her mind and clearing her thoughts of all the disappointment and betrayal she had suffered. Her face became calm and composed once again, before looking up to sneer at her sister. “Just wait and see, Celestia. We shall bring thee a present before long, one thou will appreciate….”
With that, she lit her horn and dove into the dream realm once more.
When she felt her hooves touch a solid surface, Nightmare Moon found herself standing on a grassy hill. The night skies were once again filled with stars, the sapphire dots shining under the tranquil light of a waning moon. A gentle breeze was blowing, the wind caressing the blades of grass and tickling Nightmare Moon’s fur and feathers. She paid it no mind, however, and began walking.
Soon she found the unicorn colt she was looking for. Sky Piercer was sitting belly down on top of a dune, with a much older pegasus mare sitting beside him. He was happily chirping away while the larger mare smiled down at him and wrapped one of her wings around the smaller colt, the unicorn snuggling into the pegasus’s side.
As Nightmare Moon approached the pair, Sky Piercer noticed her before turning to the pegasus mare and saying something at her. The pegasus nodded, and Sky promptly scrambled out from under her wing and galloped towards the alicorn.
“Princess Nightmare Moon!” he shouted, filled with joy. That joy soon faltered, however, replaced with a melancholy air. “…this is all a dream, isn’t it?”
“We are still in thy dreams, if that is what thou mean,” Nightmare Moon replied. “We, however, are not a dream. We are very much real.”
“Of course, it was too good to be true,” said Sky, letting out a sigh. He then turned back to look at where the pegasus mare had been sitting. When Nightmare Moon followed his gaze, however, the pegasus mare was gone, only gentle winds and silent moonlight filling her space.
After a moment’s silence, Sky spoke up once more, his voice subdued and trembling. “Mom’s not coming back. They said that she had gone on a long vacation because it was so hard for her to give birth to my sister, but I know… I just know better. They just don’t want me to know that… that she’s dead.” His voice cracked at that moment, and tears finally rolled down his cheeks as he hung his head.
“What… what am I going to do, Princess? Dad stays out most of the time, and the few times I’ve seen him come home he’s always drunk and just falls asleep…. I’ve been trying to look after Dawn the best I could, but… but…,” he trailed off, his voice getting buried under the sobs that traveled up his throat. He fell to the ground as he buried his face into his forelegs, his body shaking every time he sniffled or let out a muffled sob.
Nightmare Moon sat down beside him and tentatively extended a wing. He momentarily flinched when her feathers touched his body, but otherwise stayed still save for the sobs wracking his body. With the colt safely tucked in her wing, she shifted over so she could hold him with her forelegs. She then pulled him towards her chest, where he began sobbing in earnest against her chest plate.
She held him like that, cradling him while he clung to her for dear life. After a few minutes, his cries slowly died down, his sobs reduced to occasional sniffles.
A few moments later, Sky slowly lifted his muzzle off of Nightmare Moon’s chest. He wiped his eyes and snout before mumbling, “Sorry. That was… that was inappropriate of me.”
“Thou art forgiven, Sky. ‘Tis never an easy thing to deal with, losing one thou lovest so dearly,” Nightmare Moon replied, gently caressing Sky’s back with a hoof. “Trust us, ‘tis a feeling we understand very deeply. We, too, have lost several loved ones.”
Sky looked up at Nightmare Moon, eyes wide with surprise. “You had someone die too?”
Nightmare Moon let out a little smirk. “‘Tis something that comes with living for a long time, Sky. Thou live on while those around thee move on to their lives beyond this world, whatever that may be.” She then raised him onto her back and said, “Hold on to us. We have something that we would like to show thee.”
She lit her horn, and the dreamscape melted away before their eyes.
When Sky opened his eyes once more, he found them floating among the stars. Every direction he looked was filled with those shining jewels against the pitch-black backdrop of space. Every one of them was unique in size and color, some looking like flaming marbles of ruby while others appeared no bigger than a speck of coral blue dust stuck on a canvas covered in black ink. Some seemed to be enveloped in a cloud of glowing motes, while others had smaller dots buzzing around them in rapid motion.
“Woah…,” Sky breathed out.
“Take a good look at them, Sky. These are the beauty of our skies, the ones that decorate what would otherwise be empty patches of pitch-black darkness,” said Nightmare Moon.
Sky only nodded, continuing to stare slack-jawed at the majestic view before his eyes.
Nightmare Moon then let out a small hum and looked around, before letting out a small “Ah!”. She spread her wings and began gliding over to one of the stars, while Sky busied himself with looking at all the stars.
They came to a halt a good distance away from their destination, the light from the star casting a pleasant warmth over the two of them. As they looked at the star shining brightly in front of them, Nightmare Moon asked, “Sky, did thou know that stars live and die too?”
“Stars die too?” Sky exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.
Nightmare Moon nodded. “But worry not, for they live much, much longer than we have been in existence. It would be a miracle to see even one of these stars die during thy lifetime.”
“So why are we here, Princess?”
“Queen Nightmare Moon, Sky. We art here so we can show thee how stars begin and how they end.” She then turned to watch the star in front of them, the ball of flaming gas pulsating as tongues of fire flickered from its round surface. “We shall speed the flow of time up a little. Thou shan’t worry, we art still in thy dreamscape and thus time flows differently in here and in the outside world.”
She then lit her horn, and Sky could see the time speeding up as the star began revolving on its axis. Multiple flames flickered before disappearing in the blink of an eye, while a myriad of patterns evolved then dissipated on the surface of the star. Then, a few moments later, the star began to swell. Its shell turned an angry shade of red, the star growing in size as it did so.
“Princess, what’s… what’s happening?” Sky asked, becoming a little frightened.
“Shh! It’s happening!” Nightmare Moon whispered loudly, giddily jumping up and down like a filly waiting for her Hearth's Warming’s present to be opened.
Now the star was filling most of their vision, having swollen so large in size that it would be almost impossible to believe that it had once been the small, calm star that was in its place a few minutes ago.
Then, in a massive display of fireworks and colors, the star exploded, letting out a massive blast of light and gas into the space around it.
“Woah!” Sky exclaimed as the blast of plasma enveloped the space around him.
“Thou hath just born witness to the death of a star, Sky. After a star burns up all of its fuel, it will die in a majestic explosion one like thou saw, ejecting out its material into space. However, thou shall soon see something much more fascinating than that,” said Nightmare Moon, once again lighting her horn.
For a few seconds, the clouds of colorful gas continued to expand, slowly dissipating away into the cold outer space. Then, for a moment, the expansion stopped. For that short moment, the pulsating gas seemed to be suspended in space, while its colors were the only things to change as the plasma let out its heat into space.
Then, slowly, very slowly, it began to draw itself back together. Gradually the gas particles ejected into space were brought together once again, working under the magical force of gravity. Soon enough, the space around Sky had become so densely filled with dust that he could barely see Nightmare Moon standing right next to him.
“Erm… Princess?” he called out, squinting as he tried to see through the dense gas.
A hoof grabbed Sky’s foreleg before Nightmare Moon called out, “Hold on, Sky. We shall head into the center and see the show from up close.” A bright white light came from the direction of her voice before the two were whisked away in a flash of magic. The next moment they found themselves within what looked like the hole of a donut. Dust swirled around them, but above and below him Sky could see the clear emptiness of space. In the center of the donut was a large sphere that seemed to be constantly sucking matter in from the surrounding gas clouds. It was glowing a dark red color, and Sky could feel the heat it was letting out even with the distance he had between himself and the sphere.
Suddenly, the sphere let out a blinding light, and Sky shielded his eyes as the light threatened to blind him. After a few moments, the light slowly faded, and Sky opened his eyes. In front of him was a brightly shining star, its young atmosphere constantly spewing out arms of flames that stretched out into the gas clouds and beyond.
“Woah… is that a new star?” Sky asked.
“It is, Sky. Though it has been born from the remnants of the previous star that thou saw earlier, we wouldn’t necessarily say ‘tis new. But wait, ‘tis not over yet!” Nightmare Moon whispered loudly, prancing in place in giddy excitement.
As more time passed, the star slowly calmed down, it’s blinding light slowly dimming to a pleasant yellowish glow. The dust ring gradually thinned as well, and Sky could see what seemed like small bits of rocks and ice flying around within the thinning halo. As Sky watched the particles whiz around the newborn star without a pattern, he could see them slowly grow in size as they absorbed and collided with each other. Soon the entire vicinity was filled with fireworks as objects constantly slammed into each other, spraying debris across the region.
Yet, even in the midst of all the chaos, Sky could see two prominent figures slowly emerging from the carnage; two large spherical objects had managed to survive the constant bombardment. One was several times larger than the other, and both were glowing a red hot hue as they radiated the heat from the recent collisions. Gradually, the two planets slowly drew together before coming to a halt.
At this point, the dust halo had completely cleared out, and Sky could see the details of the newly born planet and its companion. As the planetesimals cooled, their color changed, their surfaces changing into a rocky grey color. More time passed, however, and Sky saw the two planets becoming distinct in their features. The smaller object retained its ghostly whitish-grey hue, while clouds began to form above the mountains of the larger one. Clear turquoise oceans filled the ravines and basins, covering the planet’s surface with water.
“Woah, is that—,” Sky began, only to be interrupted by Nightmare Moon.
“Shhh! Thou best sit and watch for now,” she hissed, eyes fixated onto the rapidly changing planet.
The planet was now rapidly changing colors, chunks of whites forming at the poles while green and brownish yellow filled other areas. Flecks of white formed above the ground, churning pieces of snowflake-like clouds dotting the planet.
Lush green filled the plains and mountains, foliage covering the ground as plant life began to flourish. Trees and bushes grew, and animals soon filled the lands.
Then, the surface began changing in earnest as cities began to form. Streets and railroads spread out from commercial centers, gridlines crisscrossing the continent as ponies built and developed their civilization.
“Thou hath just witnessed the birth of the planet that is thy home, and the civilization thou livest in. Thou, and everything around thee, were made from the remnants of a star that lived many eons ago,” Nightmare Moon explained, turning to Sky Piercer with a smile.
“Woah…,” Sky breathed out, his mind too enraptured by the scenery he had witnessed to form coherent words.
“Everything thou hath known and seen so far is made from star stuff, Sky. ‘Tis passed down from generation to generation, from parents to children. Your body contains material from your parents and everyone who hast lived before that. When they say thy parents are alive in thee and thy sister, they are saying it with a bit of truth. Whether they art aware of the truth is a different matter, of course,” Nightmare Moon continued, a smirk palpable in her voice.
Sky gazed up at the planet for a few seconds before turning to the alicorn next to him. “Do you think I’ll be a good brother, princess?” he asked, his voice quivering ever so slightly.
Nightmare nodded. “Thou will be a good older brother, Sky, just like how your mother was a good parent. We see it in thee.”
Sky hugged Nightmare Moon tightly. “Thank you, princess. I… I needed to hear that, I think.”
“‘Tis our pleasure, Sky,” she said as she patted Sky on the back, holding him against her chest plate once more. He took in a shuddering breath before letting it out, relaxing in the Nightmare’s embrace. He did not see her scowling up at the illusion of Equus. Dost thou see this, Celestia? Even this colt is a better sibling than thou were to us. We shall show thee what it felt like to us a thousand years ago. We shall show thee…, she thought as she held Sky tight against her.
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Keep it up!
I love how this chapter was able to fill me with a positive mood. (despite the fact that I expected otherwise)
maybe someone needs to be slightly directed with the help of nightmares that more attention should be paid to children so that they are not taken to an orphanage?