Short Shorts

by Coranth

41. Nightmare Moon meets with her Beloved in secret...

It was as Jonas was drifting off to sleep that a dark mare entered his room, a dark mare with a not-so-dark purpose. Ever-so-slowly, the mare crept towards the bed - wherein the human lay drifting in a state of half-awareness - and then, she slipped beneath the bedcovers, crawled her way up his body and started nuzzling him gently. "Nightie..." he murmured as he wrapped his arms about her, burying his wonderful hands in her mane. 'This,' thought she, as she felt it happen 'is heaven...' The dark mare was Nightmare Moon - Exiled Alicorn Princess of the Equestrian Principality - and she'd been seeing her beloved, the human called Jonas, for nearly four years, now. Four years of nightly strolls, four years of watching the stars in the earthly sky, four years of secret kisses, gentle touches and soft caresses 'neath the moon, of telling each other their hopes, dreams, desires and darkest secrets without fear of judgement. Four years of sweet, gentle love... And the best part of it all? Her sister, Celestia, didn't suspect a thing! Jonas was totally, utterly, hers. "Yes, my love," said she in response to his gentle murmur as she lay her head to rest upon his chest. "It is We. How fare Thou, this night?"

"Oh, you know, the usual," Jonas replied, waking slowly. "Work is same old, same old, then I come home to await your nightly visits. You're the light of my life, you know. You're my sanity and my reason; I think of you constantly..." A sigh escaped him, then, and he scratched behind her ears, causing her to moan with bliss. "I only wish you could stay with me, love." His words made her heart ache, for she, too wished she could stay with him, but alas... "We wish it, too, beloved - we would share ourselves with thou in a heartbeat if we could - but you know that it is not possible with the way things are. Sharing ourselves with thou wouldst alter our magic in a subtle way and 'tis a way our sister could discern. We... we fear what she might do to Thou..." A shiver coursed its way through her form and upon feeling the subtle movement of her body, Jonas ruffled her mane, watching as the stars danced within. "Oh, come on sweetie, surely she can't be that bad. The stories you've told me of Equestria always portray her as a benevolent ruler." At his words, Nightmare Moon raised her head to nod then nuzzled his cheeks and softly kissed him before resting her head upon his chest again.

"'Tis true," replied she, wriggling blissfully as Jonas scratched her withers just so, "she is benevolent and just, but..." and here she whispered, "never to her enemies. She... she banished Us to Our Moon for a thousand years, Jonas. Even now we still recover from the effect this had upon us..." Her beloved Jonas nodded as he continued to scratch her. It was difficult to see Moon in the dark, noted he, but that was part of the thrill she and he got from doing this. "I know, sweetheart, but you've got to understand that when alicorns like you and Celestia quarrel... mortal ponies can be hurt and killed. Your refusing to lower the moon, for instance, was an awful thing to do. Plants and crops need sunlight, Nightie, and all ponies need to sleep - both mortal and alicorn - and the Moon affects the tides as well, both here and in Equestria," the human said. With his knowledge of astronomy, he knew what he was talking about and so Nightmare conceded, sighing through her nose. "Know We that now thanks to thee, but still... still... We wish it had never happened! We wish we could have talked to her more, but... we were so angry..."

Jonas nodded; he felt for her, he really did, but "If that's how you felt" said he softly, "then imagine - just imagine for a moment - how your sister, Celestia, felt when she had to make the awful, awful choice between her country, and her sister. Imagine the grief she felt as she cast the spell that sent you away; her sickness at knowing that she did this - exiled the only other of her kin she had... She must've been so ill, so heartsick for months..." Nightmare Moon tried not to listen to his words - tried so hard not to feel each as a blow upon her pained form - but came they from her beloved Jonas. Wise was he beyond his years, and he knew and understood. He made her understand. In that instant, her emotions overcame her and she whimpered, a sob catching in her throat as her reptilian eyes welled up with painful tears. The sounds she made - the feeling of his tears upon her fingers as he stroked her cheeks and muzzle - and the heaving of her body upon him as she wept caused his own heart to wrench in painful sympathy. "Oh, my girl..." uttered he, softly kissing her, "oh my dear, dear girl..." For a time he kept murmuring to her, soothing away her painful tears... and then, shortly thereafter he started to sing softly to his love:

"No more talk of pastime
Forget these wide-eyed fears
I'm here, nothing can harm you
My words will warm and calm you

Let me be your freedom
Let moonlight dry your tears
I'm here, with you, beside you
To guard you and to guide you"

Slowly, gently, the magic of the music overcame poor Nightmare Moon; a softened gasp escaped her and then, raising her head, she half-sang, half-cried:

"Say Thou'll love Us every starlit moment
Turn Our head with talk of dreaming time
Say Thou needs Us with Thou now and always
Promise Us that all Thou says is true
'Tis all We ask of you"

Without hesitation, Jonas nodded, holding his beloved alicorn mare close as he sang:

"Let me be your shelter
Let me be your light
You're safe, no one will find you
Your fears are far behind you"

Openly weeping now, nuzzling her beloved's face - as if she wouldn't ever see him again - Nightmare Moon whispered through her tears:

"All We want is freedom
A world beneath Our Night
And you, always beside Us
To hold Us and to hide Us"

Gently, Jonas gripped her cheeks with his gentle hands, making her look at him; they looked deep within each other's eyes as he responded:

"Then say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime
Let me lead you from your solitude
Say you need me with you here, beside you
Anywhere you go, let me go too
Nightmare, that's all I ask of you..."

Utterly overcome - neither able to form the words of the song in their heads, or sing anymore - the two illicit lovers held each other close as the black alicorn wept, "Yes," then kissed him and "Yes," kissed him again. Then... That night, in her beloved's bed, in his little house on Earth, Nightmare Moon made love to Jonas, with Jonas, for Jonas and he did the same for her. Together man and mare shared of each other as they danced the oldest of dances to that most ancient of rhythms; love, passion, desire. 'To Tartarus with Celestia and what she might think' thought Nightmare as they came together again and again, their passions rising and falling, rising and falling. 'Jonas is mine; he's mine; he's mine and she'll never take him away from me...' At the end of all things Nightmare Moon and Jonas collapsed into each other and slept the sleep of lovers. Come morn, when sated mare and sated man were wrapped in a tangle of arms, legs, hooves and wings - having moved that way during the long night - a beam of hazy sunlight shone through one of the windows of Jonas's bedroom... onto the figure of an alicorn mare, a mare as light as the other was dark. "Well," Princess Celestia said, smiling, her eyes misting with happy tears as she espied the two lovers asleep in their bed, "it's about damn time..."