Living with Nightmare Moon Chapter 4

>Sleep didn’t come to you easily, but you managed to get some nonetheless.
>When you groggily opened your eyes it took a moment for everything to come into focus.
>The day’s events hit you like a semi truck to the gut, your store was gone.
> Everything you worked so hard for reduced to nothing more than a smoldering pile of rubble.
>Feeling your stomach sink at the sad realization you turned towards the nightstand.
>Reading your clock it, the numbers displayed a little past seven in the evening, you managed to sleep through most of the day.
>Might as well face the remainder of the day like a man, by sitting woefully on the couch drinking cider.
>Opening the bedroom door you walked into the hall and headed towards the kitchen, you needed that drink badly.
>A surprise greeted you when you got there, it looked like the construction crews worked tirelessly while you slept and managed to at least finish the gaping hole on the side of the house.
>Well at least something positive came out of today.
>Things weren’t all that bad, you still had a roof over your head and a modest savings so you wouldn’t go hungry.
>After grabbing your beverage you headed to the living room, and sat down on the couch.
>It all started with Nightmare crashing on your couch after you were conned into reforming her by her sister.
>And now you were stuck with two of the three sisters, you prayed to whatever deity was watching over this world you didn’t end up having to house all three.

---

>Speaking of which, where were the two creatures of catastrophe?
>After they destroyed the store and your brief mental shutdown neither had shown themselves.
>No matter how much trouble they caused you were still worried about them.
>That and you were going to figure out exactly what happened earlier.
>So with a new goal in mind you stood up and headed back to your bedroom to get dressed and begin your search.
>After throwing on a shirt and pants you headed out.
>The goal in mind was to find the two calamity mares and question them about the events that occurred earlier in the day.
>As you passed the various houses in Ponyville you saw many ponies on their ways home, most smiling without a worry in the world.
>None of them had these sorts of problems.
>Then again with this town housing the elements of harmony, the constant threats of cataclysmic events occurring were pretty high.
>”Hey Anon hold up!”
>You braced yourself as soon as you heard the voice.
>The owner of the said voice always had an unusual greeting whenever she ran into you….. literally.
>The impact of a small equine hitting you directly in the back made you face plant straight into the ground.
>Hello dirt my old friend, so we meet here yet again.
“How are you Lyra?”
>You managed to mumble out the greeting even with a face full of dirt obstructing your mouth.
>”Ijustheardaboutwhathappened,andthenIsawyouandthenIhadtoseeifyouwereokay.”
>Why were you suddenly reminded on of Pinkie Pie, maybe all the hits on your head were finally causing brain damage.
>Rolling over Lyra perched herself on your chest, her eyes showing real concern for you.
>Giving her a gentle smile you pointed at a bench that was only a few meters away.
>Both of you both got up and headed in its direction.
>Sitting down you looked down at the normally happy mint horse.
“Overall I guess I’m okay, the shops gone. And even now I don’t really know what happened.”
>”I’m so sorry Anon, I know how much you loved that place. But remember things happen for a reason.”
“What could possibly be the reason for burning down my shop?”
>As if by some divine intervention your conversation was interrupted by a what looked like one of Twilights guards showing up.
>”Anonymous the Human, the Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle has requested your presence at the castle.”
>Looking to Lyra she just gave a confused shrug.
>What else could go wrong today.

---

>There are times in a man’s life when you have to just say fuck it and go with the flow.
>So after saying your goodbye’s, you and Lyra parted ways.
>With a promise to catch up later.
>The guards themselves didn’t even hint at the reason for coming for you.
>For them fetching you was simply another task, so shut up and start walking.
>Then again a little probing never hurt anyone.
“You sure you guys don’t know why I got a summons by the almighty book horse?”
>”You would be wise to address the Princess by her full title in our presence.”
“Easy there seabiscuit.”
>Alright, talk about an uptight asshole.
>The rest of the walk to the castle was a relatively quiet affair.
>You tried starting up a conversation with the guard ponies a couple times with little success.
>Arriving at the castle you mocked a salute to the two escorts.
>Almost could’ve sworn you heard them mutter “asshole” as you walked in.
>”Anon!”
>It didn’t take long to see the small purple dragon wobble up to you ad hug your leg.
>“I heard about your store, I’m so happy you’re okay.”
“Oh come on, you think a little fire would be enough to defeat me?”
>Spike giggled at your statement.
“Besides, I was away when it happened.”
>Picking up Spike you put him on your shoulder.
>Little guy was like a younger brother to you.
>That and with all the girls around he needed some sort of male role model.
“So where’s bookhorse?”
>”She’s in the study with Nightmare Moon and Luna, those two scare me.
>You began walking towards the place in question.
“You and me both.”
---
>Where was he?
>You sent the guards to fetch Anonymous at least twenty minutes ago at least.
>Maybe you should make a new training list for how to properly fetch someone for them tomorrow.
>That’s it, that way they can efficiently get those you send for.
>Where’s Spike, he should be writing all your thoughts down.
>You’d have a nice talk with him later.
>Good, now where were you?
>…
>That’s right.
>Waiting on Anon.
>Looking to the other side of the table you spied the other two princesses.
>Luna looked apprehensive.
>Nightmare Moon however looked on the verge of a breakdown.
>Who could blame her though, their petty squabble destroyed Anonymouse’s livelihood.
>From what they both told you, they didn’t even dare to go see him after the incident.
>They rather chose to come to you, hopeful that you could somehow help them.
>Hopefully you’d be able to fix this.
>For all their sake and Anon’s.

---

>The anticipation in the study was palpable.
>Nightmare still looked like she was on the edge of either crying or breaking something.
>Luna devolved into staring blankly at several issues of Playmare magazine that were on the shelf in front of her.
>Why did you have those?
>Science…reasons.
>What?
>It got lonely here sometimes.
>The door creaked as it opened.
>Looking up you saw the human enter with Spike on his shoulder.
>That’s adorable!
>Shaking your head to clear your mind you set your eyes back on the human.
“Anon thank you for coming on such short notice.”
>”Yeah sure, it’s not like you gave me much of a choice in the matter.”
>Giving him an annoyed glare you motioned him to enter.
“Spike would you mind getting some tea for us.”
>With that Anon set the young dragon down and gave him a pat on the head.
>”Yeah sure thing.”
>Waiting until Spike was gone and the door closed behind him, you fixed your gaze back on Anon.
“Anon, I know you’ve had a trying day.”
>”Tell me about it.”
“And I’m sure you have many questions but I have to ask you to just listen. Nightmare and Luna both have something they need to say to you.”
>Slowly Luna approached Anon first.

---

>Soft blue eyes met your own.
>A varying jumble of emotions flashed through those eyes.
>You could make out fear, shame, regret, and lastly hope.
>”Anon there’s so much I want to say. I just don’t know where to start.”
>As promised you kept your mouth shut.
>You’d let Luna and Nightmare speak uninterrupted.
>”I guess the beginning is as good a place as any. After you left Nightmare and I got into a bit of an argument.”
>Casting a glance at the dark mare you saw her looking at the ground, as if it was the most interesting thing ever.
>”I know that a long time ago I may have come on a bit strongly, and for that I never truly got to apologize.”
>”Now I see that my coming here was a mistake. You already made a nice life for yourself and to tell the truth I wanted to be a part of it.”
>Soft tears made their way down the mare’s cheeks.
>”Then without even asking I began changing your home.”
>Sobs started the wrack her small frame.
>”I’m so sorry.”
>Man this hit you right where it hurt.
>You could never stand to see a girl cry.
>Making your way over to Luna you enveloped her in a big hug.
>Unfortunately this action had the opposite effect of what you were going for.
>Luna broke down completely.
>Without a doubt everything from the past day and whatever stresses she had before must have finally hit a breaking point.
>Luna’s tears just kept coming, soaking your shirt.
>Eventually her sobs began to grow smaller before finally stopping.
>”Anon, thank you. Thank you for everything.”
>As her head lifted of your chest she sported a small smile.
>”So I have decided to rescind my previous statement. I’m going to return to Canterlot, and be the princess ponies need.”
>With that Luna leaned in and gave you kiss on the cheek.
>Letting her out of the hug she smiled meekly, bidding her goodbye to Twilight she teleported away.
>Just as quickly as Luna had arrived, she was gone.

---

>”I think I hear Spike having trouble with that tea, sooooo I’m going to go check on him.”
>With that Twilight rather quickly hurried out of the study.
>Now it was just you and Nightmare.
>Boy that floor must be really interesting, she still hasn’t looked up from it.
>But being the literal bastard you kept your mouth shut as promised still.
>The minutes ticked by.
>Seriously what the hell is so interesting on the ground?
>”Anon, I….”
>She lives!
>Her head rose and your eyes met hers.
>Come on Moonie, use your words.
>”I’m so sorry.”
>Ok, got the apology. Now how about an explanation.
>”Earlier today I did something that caused you a lot of pain. I know I’ll probably never be able to get you to forgive me for it. And after everything you’ve done for me I just…”
>And there’s another crying mare.
>”I’ve been nothing but a burden.”
>Two in one, might be some kind of record.
>And like the you did for Luna you hugged the sobbing mare.
>Maybe you could get Twilight to get you a new shirt.
>This one’s stained with alicorn tears.
>Well you heard them out as promised.
“I have only one question before I render my verdict.”
>Nightmare’s face went back to the same apprehensive look she held before.
“Why were you and Luna fighting?”
>Wow look at that! You didn’t know indigo could change to bright red that fast.
>”It was a just a disagreement, quite silly now that I think about it honestly.”
>I don’t buy it.
“Nightmare.”
>”Okay we argued over who would be a better marefriend.”
>Seriously? Two grown mares with enough power to level a city, and they argue over teenager bullshit.
>I’m getting to old for this.
“So who’s the lucky stallion?”
>As if by some magic you were on the ground clutching your groin.
>What sorcery is this?
>”Anon I’m so sorry, I didn’t think I hit you that hard.”
>You thought the days of getting hit in the balls were behind you.
>Boy she had good aim.
>Slowly you came back up.
>”So?”
“Very well, in light of this information I hereby render thee Nightmare moon, guilty. And as such you’re going to help me rebuild everything with no complaints.”
>As much as she caused this mare has grown on you, and to be honest all these shenanigans were bound to stop…. Right?
“Let’s go home.”
>Our home.
>And quickly, you needed an ice pack.

---

>“Nightmare Wake up.”
>Silence peasant, thy princess requires her rest.
>”Get your butt up or no breakfast.”
“We shall make you pay for your insolence.”
>”Uh-huh.”
>After the whole thing with burning Anon’s store to the ground things went back to normal.
>Well as normal as you could expect.
>Sitting down at the breakfast table you dug into the eggs and hay bacon.
>Thankfully your sisters did come through for Anon.
>Luna managed to send just about every royal engineer and architect to Ponyville to rebuild the store.
>And if you add the funds that Celestia allocated, the shop was going to be back in business within the week.
>”I was thinking we could just lounge around for a bit then go out for lunch today.”
“That sounds pleasing, we did have an appetite for pizza.”
>”What is it with you and pizza?”
>You ignored the humans comment about the intricate dish.
>After finishing breakfast you floated the empty plates into the sink to let them soak.
>A quick trot into the living room you sat on the couch right beside Anon who was engrossed in what looked like the local paper.
>Picking up a book with your magic from the shelf you brought it over.
>Today was a start of something nice, for you and Anon.