Bryan groaned. He had barely slept 4 hours that night, and he had important work to do today.
Getting up, he combed his hair and put on his work attire. Bryan was 18, and had recently landed a job at a local restaurant. It paid him about as good as a restaurant would pay an 18 year old - about $10 an hour - and was generally an interesting job.
It was summer break in California, and while most teens his age were watching TV or going on trips, he’d gone to work. Bryan exited his home and got on his bike. He rode to the train station and took the train into the city.
Strangely, the train was packed, but Bryan thought nothing of it. He’d been doing this same thing for about a month now, and had gotten used to riding the train. He took a seat and put his earbuds in.
In no time, he’d arrived at his job. Still very tired, he worked wearily throughout the day, wishing he could just go home and sleep.
During lunch break, Bryan plopped down on the couch in the employee break room and tried to nap. He had an hour, why not try and get some sleep?
Shutting his eyes, he slept lightly, but strangely enough he dreamed. Normally, you can only dream in REM sleep, but this dream was different.
Bryan awoke in a starry plane, seemingly expanding onwards into infinity. He looked around, seeing nothing until he spotted a black dot on the horizon. It was moving, or was that just his imagination? Dream visuals can be weird sometimes.
“HEY! WHO’S OUT THERE?” He yelled in the direction of the black dot, his faint Californian accent coming out in the sentence.
The black dot stopped and seemingly turned towards him. Suddenly, it started to grow bigger and bigger. Bryan watched as the black dot morphed from a dot, to the silhouette of something faintly equine. Except horses don’t have wings, or giant spires on their head, or massive cat eyes! The equine-shaped figure was upon him, staring him down from its insanely tall stature.
Bryan scrambled backwards, clearly intimidated by the now more familiar equine. Having watched his fair share of My Little Pony as a child, he knew who was standing before him, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“W-w-whaaaaaat? What’s happening right now?” Bryan stuttered, racking his brain for an answer. Finally, he found it, and was not pleased with the outcome.
“Y-You’re N-Nightmare M-Moon!” He exclaimed, scrambling further back, terrified of what would happen to him in the next few seconds.
“Indeed,” the now smirking Nightmare Moon said in response. “We are Nightmare Moon, but how do you know us?”
Bryan sat in silence, sweat dripping from his long brown hair, eyes wide open.
“We await an answer,” Nightmare Moon said.
Bryan was still recovering from the shock, and Nightmare Moon finally noticed this. She was never really adept at empathizing with others, but she would try anyway.
Stooping down, the alicorn put on a little smile.
“Do not fear, we will not hurt you,” she said softly. Nightmare Moon stepped closer. Internally she hated meeting the eyes of her “subject”, whatever it was.
Bryan looked up at her, still quite pale but otherwise well.
“You sure? Last I heard you were trying to bring about eternal night. Hope you know that would kill everything, including your entire empire,” Bryan said in his usual joking manner.
Nightmare Moon looked at him, a wave of fury passing through her head, but subsiding just as quickly as it started.
“Yes, what we did was wrong, and our reasoning was flawed,” Nightmare Moon said defensively. “Please refrain from discussing this topic.”
She turned her head away from Bryan and looked up into the sky of the dream world. A tear ran down her cheek.
“So uh, why are you in my dreams exactly?” Bryan asked quizzically, still slightly afraid.
Nightmare Moon looked at him, not turning her head. She had a pained expression on her muzzle that made Bryan rethink his choice of words.
“Have you been getting enough sleep recently?” Nightmare Moon disregarded his question.
“Not sure what you mean by that, but I have been really tired this past week. Lots of work to do at my job,” Bryan said tiredly.
“We hope you know by not sleeping you’re killing yourself slowly,” Nightmare Moon deadpanned.
“Yes, but I couldn’t care less. Who will be there to miss me?” He shrugged and laid down, putting his cap over his face. He had been orphaned as a child, and his adoptive parents weren’t too concerned with his well-being.
Nightmare Moon felt pained by that response. She had been sent to comfort him and ease his sleep, but she found herself with a strange creature who didn’t care if he died from sleep deprivation, and was clearly troubled with other things. She had to do something, because she did not want to see someone succumb to her night.
“May we know your name?” Nightmare Moon asked softly.
“It’s Bryan. Don’t know why you’d want to know,” he responded, still with his cap covering his face.
The Princess of the Night walked over to Bryan and laid down beside him, bringing a wing across his chest.
“We were sent to comfort you and ease your sleep, but we can see there is much more going on that meets the eye. Are you comforted by our presence?” She asked, her sultry voice flowing over the dreamscape.
Bryan flinched when her wing touched his body. Regaining composure, he removed his cap and placed it nearby.
“I guess so,” he said, looking into her cyan eyes. “I haven’t ever really thought about interacting with you before, but it’s better than what I expected.”
“That’s good to hear, Bryan,” Nightmare Moon said softly. “Now tell us, what did you expect from us?”
Bryan thought a moment before responding.
“I kinda thought you’d be really angry or something, like you are in what I’ve seen and read. Never thought you’d try and comfort me,” he said with a smile, slowly warming up to her. “And to be honest with you, I like it.”
Nightmare Moon smiled. “We’re also enjoying your company. We don’t usually get to venture far from where we’ve been imprisoned, but it seems we have wandered off into a different world, where Celestia’s magic does not apply,” Nightmare Moon spat Celestia’s name, a look of anger appearing on her muzzle, before she calmed down and smiled.
The two laid together on the floor of the dreamscape for a while longer. The dreamscape was surprisingly comfortable to lay on.
Suddenly, Nightmare Moon stiffened, and stood up with a start.
“Bryan, the dreamscape is fading. You’re waking up,” Nightmare Moon said softly.
“Interesting, guess I’ll see you later?” Bryan responded back.
“Possibly, if our assistance is required in the future,” Nightmare Moon said as she turned away, preparing to take flight into the sky of the dream world. “For now, this is goodbye. Get some rest.”
The Princess of the Night flapped her wings, and within moments she was streaking across the strange sky of the dreamscape. Moments later, Bryan awoke, still on the couch at his workplace. He still had half a day’s work ahead of him.
Bryan lay awake on his bed. It had been several days since his first encounter with Nightmare Moon in his dream. Since then, he’d been thinking about what she’d said to him.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Bryan thought. “She’s one of the coldest, cruelest beings to ever come from a TV show, yet she was being nice to me?” He looked over at the clock, which read 1:33 AM. “Maybe she was right…probably ought to catch a few hours of sleep.”
Bryan fell asleep shortly, and awoke to the still strange but familiar dreamscape.
“Here we go again,” he thought, walking around. Nightmare Moon was nowhere in sight, but he spotted a strange wall in the distance. Heading over, he noticed the familiar ethereal mane of Nightmare Moon, flicking and floating lazily on one side of the wall.
Before he could go any further, she teleported in front of him, seemingly sensing his presence. Surprised, Bryan jumped and fell backwards onto the floor, and scrambled backwards.
“We meet again, Bryan. Have you not followed our advice?” Nightmare Moon said, her characteristic grin plastered on her muzzle. Her eyes stared him down, reminding Bryan of a certain drug-dealing villain from a TV show his dad watched.
“I-I guess not,” Bryan replied, still reeling from the sudden teleportation. “Why did you have to scare me like that?”
Nightmare Moon looked concerned for a moment. “I did?”
“Yeah, you just teleported straight in front of me,” Bryan said sternly, a twinge of annoyance in his voice. “Do that on Earth and the right person will shoot you.”
“Ahh…we apologize for startling you like that. That was not our intention,” Nightmare Moon stammered.
Bryan was starting to get annoyed with Nightmare Moon.
“Drop the ‘we’ and ‘our’ and that crap. There’s nobody around us besides you and I, and frankly it’s getting a bit annoying,” Bryan deadpanned. “In fact, I read up on you some more since you first visited me, and I think you’re pretty stupid. You didn’t feel loved enough so you decided to instill a state of eternal darkness, to MAKE ponies appreciate you? You’re crazy!”
“It was not our inten-” Nightmare Moon started, before being cut off.
“And besides, this is probably making it harder to sleep! Can you just leave me alone for a bit?” Bryan said loudly, almost yelling. He walked a ways away and sat down, head in his hands.
Nightmare Moon’s expression changed from one of concern to one of sorrow and sadness. She had been…hurt…by his words, and she contemplated shutting down the entire dreamscape, but sadness took over her consciousness, and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing.
Bryan heard the thump as Nightmare Moon hit the floor, and saw the once imposing mare in a vulnerable, sad state. “Drama queen,” he thought, but the pangs of guilt entered his head, and he began to reconsider his words. “You don’t have to be an asshole to someone you’ve just met,” Bryan thought to himself.
After a few minutes, he took a deep breath, stood up and walked over to Nightmare Moon. Kneeling down, he put a hand under her chin and raised it up.
“You know, maybe I said some things I shouldn’t have,” Bryan said to the alicorn. “Humans make mistakes, and I probably ought to apologize,”
“Don’t bother. I am not deserving of an apology,” Nightmare Moon said softly. “I have done many horrible, terrible things to my subjects and-”
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” Bryan interjected. “We all do stupid stuff, just don’t dwell on it or anything.”
“But-”
“Quiet. Don’t even think about it,” Bryan said sternly. He sat down next to Nightmare Moon and the two watched the strange landscape warp and warble like it always did.
Nightmare Moon’s ethereal mane danced around herself, sometimes venturing near Bryan, tickling his neck. To him, it was almost as if she was wearing the night itself.
“Hey, your hair is tickling my neck, can you get it to stop?” Bryan asked the alicorn.
“Well I really have no control over what my mane does when I am not doing anything. I have a theory that it is being controlled by my emotions, but I can’t really prove that at this time,” Nightmare Moon responded flatly.
“Controlled with emotions?” Bryan thought. “I would imagine she has some level of control over her mane-”
Bryan was broken from his thoughts after he realized her mane was tickling him again. Yet when he looked over at Nightmare Moon, she had a slight smile and had turned away from him. Bryan started to laugh, a strange look appearing on his face.
“I knew it, you’re doing this on purpose!” Bryan exclaimed.
“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” Nightmare Moon snickered, looking back at him. “Either way it’s funny.”
Bryan suddenly remembered this was still a dream, and that he could do almost anything. With his mind, he summoned a long, white feather, but it disappeared shortly afterwards.
“Don’t try that on me!” Nightmare Moon said with a grin on her muzzle. “I sensed you thinking about doing that before the feather even appeared,”
Bryan gave the alicorn a small punch to the shoulder. “You’re no fun! I was trying to liven the mood,” he said back.
“I have already done this, have I not?” Nightmare Moon responded, content. “I was fully aware I was tickling you with my mane.”
“I suppose so, it’s better than fighting over senseless stuff and brooding,” Bryan said to Nightmare Moon.
“I have to agree with you on that one, I would imagine it becomes harder to sleep,” she said back. “Speaking of sleep, I can already feel the dreamscape fading away,” she added, standing up, ready to fly away.
“Well I’ll see you later I guess. Before you go, I’d like to actually say sorry for what I said a while back. I’m sorry, Nightmare Moon, and I’ll try not to be such an asshole to you. It’s just how I act after years of neglect, I guess,” Bryan said.
“Thank you, and I apologize for anything I have done that may have made you feel…annoyed,” Nightmare Moon responded.
Bryan stepped back, allowing the Princess of the Night to take flight. She flapped her wings and took off, racing away from the dreamscape. Moments later, Bryan was shaking off the sheets from his bed, and getting ready for work.
It had been several weeks since they’d last communicated. There had been intermittent dreams where the two had been able to talk a while, but they were mostly a few minutes long before Bryan awoke or the dream switched.
The few minutes they had together were spent talking about meaningful things, such as Bryan’s work and life, and Nightmare Moon’s experiences in Equestria.
It was the weekend now, and Bryan thought it best that he’d catch up on some sleep he’d lost after cramming for a high school exam.
Climbing into bed, he felt the similar strange sensation of entering the dreamscape. When he entered, Nightmare Moon was seated nearby, sipping on some coffee, one of the things Bryan had told her about in past dreams. Somehow, she managed to get some.
“Good night, Bryan, how are you?” She said in her characteristic, sultry voice, placing her coffee cup nearby.
“I’m well, just catching up on some sleep I guess. Had to cram for an exam recently.” Bryan responded.
“I am guessing that means you’ll be asleep longer, to recover the hours you missed,” Nightmare Moon said. “It will be nice to talk a bit longer than five minutes.”
“Agreed,” Bryan said with a smile. “But what do I talk about?” he thought.
Meanwhile, Nightmare Moon had finished her coffee and was waiting for what Bryan was going to say. After about three minutes, she had resorted to phasing things in and out of the ether, just to occupy herself. It was only when a loud MOO jolted the two of them out of thought to laugh at their unlikely visitor, a cow. Nightmare Moon lit her horn, causing the cow to disappear from the dreamscape, still snickering.
“Hey Nightmare,” Bryan started. “This is a bit strange of a statement, but you’ve been a great help to me.”
Nightmare Moon looked up from her musings, arching an eyebrow. “I have?’
“Yeah! You’ve really helped me with my mental state and all that. I can’t thank you enough, honestly. My adoptive parents have been quite neglectful as of recently, and I haven’t been able to get any kind of help from anyone, besides you,” Bryan said happily.
Nightmare Moon was taken aback, she’d never received this kind of praise for anything she’d done. She sat still for a minute, processing what Bryan had said.
“I....helped you? I…” she said, trying to process what was happening.
Bryan thought about his past experiences with Nightmare Moon. All of them ended up with the two of them learning something invaluable, and they had forged an interesting bond together. Over the past couple months Bryan had developed a liking towards the mare, surpassing even that of anyone he knew personally, but wasn’t able to find a way to express his love for her. He had a chance here, why not take it?
Bryan got up and walked over to Nightmare Moon. “Can you stand up?” he asked.
“How come? I mean I wouldn’t mind taking a walk throu-” she said as she stood up, but was cut off as Bryan wrapped her in a crushing hug. “Oh, I see now,” Nightmare Moon smiled, wrapping one of her forelegs around Bryan’s body, returning the hug.
After a short while, the two broke off.
Nightmare Moon blushed a bit. “I…really needed that, thanks…I haven’t hugged anyone in years,” she said softly.
They sat down on the floor, and Nightmare Moon closed her eyes, thinking about the recent events. She too had been developing feelings, and was unsure of how to put them into words, but Bryan’s hug had allowed the two of them to embrace each other, and express their feelings for one another.
Bryan suddenly had an idea, one that he thought might display his feelings towards Nightmare Moon. Recalling his experiences with animals, he knew one thing that would do this. Bryan reached over and scratched her ears. They were soft and velvety, as was the rest of her coat. He scratched them like he would a cat, as he had never scratched the ears of any other animal, not to mention an alicorn.
Nightmare Moon stiffened, but quickly relaxed and let out a sigh. She opened her eyes halfway and looked at Bryan with a look of content.
“I have not felt such emotions in a thousand years…” she purred. “Please, continue.”
“Whatever you say, Nightmare,” Bryan responded, a smile appearing on his face.
Some time had passed. The two had curled up together and Bryan was resting his head on her shoulder. Bryan felt a strange feeling, one that suggested to him that he’d never see Nightmare Moon again. He opened his eyes and tapped the alicorn, signaling that he had something to say.
“Hey uhh, I got a feeling that I won’t see you again,” Bryan said hesitantly.
Nightmare Moon looked at him with a saddened expression, signifying his fears were indeed true. “I…probably should have told you that my sister has been attempting to restrict my magical capabilities, which includes walking dreams. I may be able to work out something…but it could all be in vain,” she said, hanging her head in shame. “I hope you’ll be okay without me.”
“I hope so,” Bryan started, before he sensed himself waking up. Evidently he had sensed it before Nightmare Moon did, as the mare remained on the floor of the dreamscape. “Shit, I’m waking up!” he exclaimed.
Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened, realizing she had but a few minutes to say goodbye. “I understand this may be our last time conversing, but remember me, please. Remember the good I have done for you,” she said softly.
“Of course, I would never forget you,” Bryan said back.
“Goodbye, Bryan. May we meet again,” Nightmare Moon said to him, as she prepared to take flight into the sky of the dreamscape.
“Hold on! There’s one last thing I need to do!” Bryan said.
“Hurry! I don’t have much time!” Nightmare Moon said frantically.
Bryan went in front of the alicorn, cupped her head in his hands, and kissed her. Nightmare Moon returned the kiss, and the two broke off after a short while. Nightmare Moon smiled, tears running down her cheeks.
“I love you, Nightmare, and I hope you feel the same way. I hope to see you again,” Bryan said, tears in his eyes.
“Goodbye, my friend, I hope to see you again as well,” Nightmare Moon replied, as she spread her wings and took off, streaking across the sky for the final time. Bryan watched the dark alicorn fade into the horizon, as the dreamscape warbled and warped into nothingness.