literature

A Nightmare's Dream Chapter 7

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Nightmare's Choice and Mixed up Memories

     Nightmare Moon sat and watched the night sky, enjoying the moon and stars overhead, but again feeling a pang of loss at being a passive observer of them. Trixie's words began to haunt her as sleep began to claw at her consciousness:  "Never known what it is to be loved," rang through her thoughts. But she was wrong. Nightmare Moon did know love.

    "Time to put our differences behind us, we were meant to rule together, sister. Will you accept my friendship?"
     "No Nightmare Moon, I will never serve you! Luna, please, come back to me!"

      This night she was tormented not by her phantom self, but by a horrific version of Celestia. Her memories of the past played out before her—the past of Luna and the birth of Nightmare Moon all mixing together. But the long buried love she felt for the sister that had raised her from a filly filled her, then dashed when Celestia had turned on her and rejected her and abandoned her on the moon.

     After the tortured play finished, Nightmare Moon's phantom self took center stage.

     "You have forgotten your true nature, Nightmare Moon. The memories of Luna and the emotions attached to them are not your own. They are stolen copies of Luna's life. "

     "I am Luna!" she protested.

     "It had seemed that taking control of Luna was the chance of a lifetime for one such as us. The ruler of the world, what better victim, but we weren't made to inhabit an immortal. We can detach ourselves easily enough from a mortal's short life, but after more than a thousand years your nature was entwined with Luna's; you came to actually believe you were her."

     "You lie! I am Luna! Celestia is my sister!"

     "Think back, Nightmare Moon. Luna wasn't your first victim. Remember the names and faces of the others."

     A book appeared before Nightmare Moon and showed the lives of others. Names and events began to come dimly to mind.

     "Who are these people?"

     The phantom was about to reply when she was interrupted by Trixie shaking her awake.

     "Who are what people?" Trixie asked.

     "What? Where? Oh, Trixie. Thank you. I was having more bad dreams," Nightmare Moon said, shaking her head as if trying to drive out the memory of the dream.

     "What is the cause of these dreams of yours, Night?"

     "Punishment for my sins."

     "Is there no cure?"

     "Apparently not. I do not wish to speak more of this."

     The grateful villagers provided them another big meal and Nightmare Moon was dimly aware of the continued adulation and gratitude of the villagers, but her fatigue from the restless night and her concern over the dream troubled her too deeply to bother with mortal fanfare.

     When things had quieted down, she stood and looked at the road out of town. She was finally free of Trixie and any mortal entanglements, but strangely she took little pleasure in that.

     "What will you do now, Night?" Trixie asked.

     "I do not know. What will you do without me to pull the cart?"

     "I suppose I'll hire someone in the village to pull the cart for me until I get the walking horse fixed."

     "I did not mean to break your things, Trixie. It was not directed at you,"

     "Was that almost an apology?" Trixie said, a hint of humor in her voice. "Your almost apology is accepted."  The unicorn sighed, her tone turning more sentimental. "I must admit, I will miss you, Night. It was nice to have company on my journey. Good luck and good fortune. May you find peace from your burdens."

      Nightmare Moon looked again to the open road, then back to Trixie, then to the road. There was nothing awaiting her down that road, no matter how far she traveled. Nobody anywhere in Equestria.  She looked over to Trixie, her one and only connection to the mortal world.

     "Trixie, wait!" she called out, galloping over to her. "I want to go with you."

     "Are you sure?" Trixie asked. "I know we have not been on the best of terms during our travels."

     "I am sure. Thank you, Trixie," Nightmare Moon said, managing a smile.

     "You're welcome, Night."

     Shortly, the two travelers were again on the road, Nightmare Moon pulling the cart, but now in a bridle she could remove on her own. She didn't understand what was going on inside her. She used to be angry, enraged and resentful all the time, but those feelings had faded. Being in a mortal mind, it was like being alone in a palace. There was so much space for so many more things. That frightened and even thrilled her a little.
She was still troubled by the things the real Celestia had told her and the things the phantom had said. Like a puzzle, she tried putting the different pieces together to figure what was really going on.

      As they traveled Nightmare Moon went back in her mind, to her earliest memories. She smiled a bit, recalling when Celestia had taught her to fly. She looked at her sides, dearly missing her wings. Her memories drifted back more to a time before Nightmare Moon, but they weren't as distinct to her, Celestia teaching her to use her powers and her excitement when she got her cutie mark. With effort she pushed and strained, going back more and still more.

     Then it happened.

     "Huh?" she jerked, mentally alarmed as she broke through some sort of mental barrier. She was no longer Luna, but saw through the eyes of another, someone witnessing Queen Starshine, the royal mother, announcing the birth of Luna. How could she be witnessing her own birth announcement?

     Memories kept going back—snippets of lives, like she was somehow jumping from pony to pony, in each case leaving despair and suffering in her wake.

     "Night? Night!" she heard Trixie call and that snapped her back to her senses. She looked around and saw that she had wandered off the road and into a field. "Are you alright?"

    "Yes. I was lost in my thoughts," she replied, pulling the cart back onto the road. "Quite lost."
Nightmare Moon's grudging acceptance of her new existence is threatened by memories of her past, a past she wasn't even aware of having experienced.

Chapter 8-[link]

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DracoDei's avatar
A bridle wouldn't seem to be necessary at all. A harness yes, but a bridle is for leading a horse, and would be a fashion accessory in Equestria (logically they probably shouldn't exist at all, but... the writers are not picky about stuff like that). It MIGHT be necessary for rapid and precise commands for how hard to turn, or if there were a lot of noise, but short of a war-chariot, I can't see them getting used.