The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon

by Aegis Shield

First published 15th of October, 2012

Nightmare Moon returns as a battered, half-starved alicorn and its up to everypony to help her. Meanwhile, Blueblood lusts after Twilight Sparkle.

All of Equestria is united in celebration for the return of their beloved Princess Nightmare Moon. But when Celestia and everypony else recieve her she's skeletally starved, filthy, and very nearly dead. Meanwhile, while everypony's eye is turned, a lusty Blueblood pursues Twilight Sparkle, intent on adding her bloodline to his own so his family might step closer to godhood. (Alternate Universe, there never was a Princess Luna)

Prologue

A/N: Adjust your canon to where Twilight never moved to Ponyville, or obsessed over the return of the evil Nightmare Moon.

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The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 1: Prologue

Celestia looked demurely across the round, stone platform. It was raised perhaps a foot or two from the grassy field in which a massive crowd had gathered. It was almost time, time for the Princess of the Night to return. They’d read the stories, they’d seen the signs, and the stars were slowly aligning. The Princess of the Day smiled a little anxiously, studying the dais. It was marked with massive runes and power symbols. The moment her sister’s chains came undone she would be drawn to this place as an easy point of teleportation reception, like a beacon.

The giant crowd of gathered ponies milled about, chattering and smiling and waiting to meet their long lost Princess. There were massive, glittering streamers everywhere. Poles with star-covered ribbons had been erected. Little games with prizes were being played here and there, it was like a tame sort of carnival. Everypony was very eager to see Equestria’s other Princess. No one had seen her in an age.

It had been a thousand years since the Battle of Moon’s Apex. In a moment of jealousy and sibling rage, Nightmare Moon had fought Celestia to bring about nighttime eternal-- a sort of endless night with no dawn. But, in a thousand years the Day Princess had never allowed her sister to be villanized. She’d kept a close eye on all the history books, all the official mentions of her sister, and made sure everything was stark and correct. Yes, there had been a battle. Yes, Celestia had used the Elements of Harmony on her own sister to seal her in the moon as punishment for her destructive ways. Yes, the massive whiplash had left a giant scar on the land, and that scar had become the uncontrollable region called Everfree Forest.

Some ponies had tried to paint her as a monster, or just a jealous bitch who couldn’t stand not having her way. But no, Celestia would have none of that. Nightmare Moon was her sister, and she was still a Princess of Equestria. She would be respected as such. Celestia would greet her with open arms and her subjects would too, hopefully. Then, when all was said and done, all of Equestria would celebrate the return of their Princess. Celestia smiled, hopeful. She opened her wings briefly, to stretch them.

Twilight Sparkle approached, nodded to by the guards as they made way for her. “Princess, is everything going according to schedule?” she asked curiously. The purple unicorn mare put on her reading glasses, poor farsighted thing, and flipped open a dusty tome that had hovered out of her saddlebags. “According to this… ‘the stars will aide in her escape’ and we’ve got,” she looked up at the moon. There were four massively bright stars moving in conjuction around the mare in the moon. “One two three four of them. Is that going to be enough? Will Princess Nightmare Moon make it okay?”

“I hope so Twilight.” Celestia said gently, casting her eyes skyward. “This day is a long time coming… I hope so.” she mumbled, folding her wings extra tight to soothe the tension in her heart. Twilight had never seen her teacher look so anxious, so ready for something to happen. She was usually the picture of patience, simmering happiness and joy. Tonight, however, she was waiting with baited breath along with everypony else. “A thousand years ago today I smote my sister with magic more powerful than even I could control alone.” She whispered to her faithful student. “I can only hope she’ll arrive safely back, and we can begin to make amends…” she trailed off a little, and the little purple mare saw a softness in her eyes. Her teacher was seeing the distant past, some long-forgotten battle of the gods, and wincing in pain because of it.

“I-I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Twilight said, bringing up a big smile and putting the book away again. She pulled off her adorable reading glasses, putting them away. “I bet she missed you just as much as you missed her, probably more!” Celestia smiled kindly at Twilight, her usual motherly expression of peace returning. Twilight felt a little warmth in her chest as she often did when the Princess looked at her like that. It meant she really was happy.

Suddenly, the four moving stars touched the silvery outline of the moon. The mare in the moon flickered, flickered, then vanished. Instantly ponies in the crowd noticed and a great shout came up. Everypony craned their necks back, pointing and crying out. It was almost time! It was almost time! She was already free, she was on her way now. Daddy stallions scooped up their young, putting them on their backs so they could see over the crowd. Foals leaned eagerly with perked ears. Ponies surged forward, pressing in tightly and eager to greet the mysterious dark alicorn the moment she arrived. All eyes were trained on the heavens.

“H’ohmigosh, h’ohmigosh…” Twilight said nervously, jittering on her four hooves in an adorable I-have-to-pee sort of dance. Celestia smiled in a motherly way, extending a wing over the mare and pulling her closer. One might mistake them for mother and foal because their size difference, but the purple mare felt the same sort of comfort. Celestia’s body was always much warmer than the average pony. Being a goddess of the sun tended to make one hotter than average, Twilight supposed. She pressed lightly against her mentor’s side for support, peering around. Even the guards had their eyes on the sky, their neutral-line-lipped frowns opened into little o’s of anticipation.

Then, it began. Clouds began to melt into existence, glittering and swirling over each other. The quiet purr of thunder slowly rose into a growling, rolling sound of gathering magic. The sky and its beautiful starry night began to be blotted out. A slow vortex of turning clouds encircled the field-like clearing where everypony was waiting. The moon was at the top of the shaft, shining brightly and pointing a moonbeam directly down onto the platform where Celestia and Twilight stood.

“Stay still Twilight, the platform is activating…” said Celestia softly, her eyes getting wider and wider as everything began to fall into place. Without the blot of darkness, the mare in the moon, on the surface of the celestial orb it looked brighter than ever before. Its milky surface shone like a spotlight down upon them. Ponies in the crowd started whispering excitedly. This was it! This was it!

The raised dais began to hum like a tuning fork, every dark crack and rune and marking one it turning a glowing white. Twilight lifted a hoof, looking down curiously. It was like some sort of nexus, a gathering point of natural forces that anypony powerful enough could draw upon if they knew how. Massive symbols of power were flickering on and off, back and forth in a dizzying pattern that made the purple mare’s eyes dance.

“Look! Up there!” Somepony suddenly shouted, thrusting his hoof up. Everypony gave a great gasp. There was a sparkle of light coming down from the moon, glowing brighter and brighter as it came. It was ocean-blue, sparkling, and surrounded by an aura of black.

Descending from on high, surrounded in a divine aura of concentrated magic, a cloaked figure with wings and a horn rode the solar winds through space. She began to take shape, her aura igniting like wildfire as she came through the atmosphere. The powerful friction screamed at the figure, blazing heat that would destroy any lesser being. There was a super-sonic explosion of parted air as she finally came down into the oxygen rich environment. Massive black wings rose out of a threadbare cloak, and sterile white eyes homed in one the rune-covered dais. Twilight could feel the explosive, raw power of the one coming down connecting herself to the runes and feeding off them to make a safe landing.

Cli-cli-cli-clop, she landed. There she was, at long last.

“*Huhhhh*… *huhhhh*…” Her ragged, tired breathing could be heard aloud. The audience was dead quiet as they strained to see… to see… The massive pony laid her eyes on Celestia as the sterile-white glow of magic faded from her. “Sister, it’s… it’s eternity up there…” she whispered quietly under her breath. Celestia started forward to embrace her, her eyes alight with joy and wings opening-- until the black alicorn suddenly crumpled to the ground as though struck dead. Feathers from her wings went in every direction like a little cloud of sickness.

“Nightmare!” Celestia shrieked, aghast and fear in her eyes.

The crowd gasped when the Princess of the Night’s threadbare cloak flapped open in her fall. She was like a skeleton. Her ribs were sticking starkly out, the pudge of her belly was little more than a pot of organs and nothing else. Her legs were spindly and thin, shaking weakly. Her pelt was not of beautiful liquid night like the stories said, but a dry and pasty grey. She was covered with a strange grey dust, and her lips parched dry and cracked. The teeth in her mouth looked like jagged, unworn fangs. Her mane, the stuff of legends, stuck in all directions in a disarray of dust, grime, and centuries of no care. She looked wild, feral… and nearly dead.

Twilight gave a shriek of terror. This was not the beautiful Princess of the Night from all the stories, she looked like a skeletal monster! “Doctor!” she shouted while Celestia threw herself to her sister’s aide. Solar magic ignited to preserve the frail, dying alicorn. “Somepony get a doctor!” the Day Princess’ protégé gave a feminine cry of distress as guards closed ranks around the platform. Everypony who ever called him or herself a healer began to force their way through the crowd. Banners started coming down and fear set itself into the massive gathering. Was their newly returned Princess dead?!

“Wait, wait!” Celestia called out over them. The ponies steadied themselves as medically trained ponies were let up onto the platform. “She’s still breathing! She’s still breathing!” Celestia’s queen mask had fallen away in distress over her sister. “Make a path! We must return to the palace and get her to the medical wing!” Guards rushed to do her bidding, to part the crowd, while others made a fast and thick litter to bear away the battered Princess on.

Nightmare Moon moaned as Twilight came to her side. She looked up at the purple mare with dull green, serpentine eyes. There was little comprehension in her gaze, but the purple mare was certainly the focus for the moment. “Y-you’ll be okay! I promise!” Twilight said lamely, leaning down on her belly next to her mentor. Celestia was focusing hard, trying to feed magic into her sister’s skeletal form. But, solar magic and lunar magic did not mix well. It was very difficult. Twilight gazed upon her fretfully, not able to help at all while the doctors gathered around. They murmured back and forth about malnutrition, bad hygiene, infections, starvation, a thousand years with no oxygen around her body—all sorts of terrifying things the poor mare didn’t even want to know about.

Her armor was chipped, archaic, and ingrained with the same grey dust as the rest of her. There were cracks and splints all over her, some of them horrifically made with hair from her own mane and tail. The cloak had been tied and sewn here and there much the same way. It was little more than a shade of its former self, bare and coming apart as they watched. The clasp was dirty, unclean metal whose seal had been worn away by the centuries. Twilight couldn’t help staring at her jutting, hungry ribs. Listening to her quiet breathing, she reached to touch her. Celestia turned and nipped her a little, horn still alight with solar magic. “Owch!”

“We have to be very, very careful touching her, Twilight.” Celestia said with apologetic eyes. “Make sure they get the litter over here fast. Get the crowd to make a wider path.” It was a command, not a request. Twilight rose and spun about with great purpose. Swallowing, she quickly gathered up her courage. Lighting her horn to augment her voice, she shouted over the crowd to get them to make way. They had a very sick Princess to rush home.

End of Prologue

Intensive Care

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 2: Intensive Care

The nurses and doctors at the Canterlot Palace received a message via Pegasus that Princess Nightmare Moon would be among them soon. The medical wing went into a verifiable shitstorm of activity. A room was prepared with four long beds shoved together into one big mass. Medical machines were ripped out of their sockets to make room. A path was made so there would be no stopping between the door and the room. The eldest, wisest, and quickest doctors and surgeons were called in at the bizarre hour. The Princess was coming, and she was apparently very ill.

By the time Celestia, Nightmare Moon, and Twilight arrived with the rest of the entourage there was an army of ready medical hooves at the ready. Heart Starter and Rapid Pulse were the head doctors, ready when the doors were flung open. There was open gasping as the filthy dark alicorn was brought in, covered in grey dust and looking starved to death. “Make way!” Rapid Pulse shouted, sending the nurses scattering like so many chickens. “Bring the litter this way! IV drips are set, I want liquid vitamins cooled as soon as possible! Bring in the vitamin rags!” he directed them like an orchestra conductor or a ship’s captain.

Heart Starter started trotting alongside the litter as the guards bore the dark alicorn in. “This room over here, yes this one,” he steered them into a wide set of double doors and into the private room. Ripping the curtains to one side to show the massive bed. “Set the litter down, alright hold her head. I don’t want her neck to move an inch when you move her!” he was commanding guards now, and they readily obeyed. Celestia lit her horn, steadying Nightmare Moon’s back to keep it straight. “Easy boys, one, two, THREE!” Half a dozen ponies lifted the black pony from the litter onto the bed and set her down as gently as they could. They folded her wings and let her lay on her side. She moaned audibly, curling a little. “Get an IV drip started!” he flicked his gaze at the guards. “You boys did good, now let us do our job.” He shoo’ed them out of the room until only Celestia and Twilight Sparkle remained. He didn’t stop to bow to Celestia, but instead set straight to work on the Princess of the Night.

“Princess, she’s gonna be okay right?” Twilight looked up at her mentor with foal-like soft eyes.

“I hope so, Twilight…” Celestia said, wanting to go near but not wanting to get in the way of the trained medical staff. The Princess was not a doctor, and her solar magic would slip off of Nightmare Moon like oil if she tried healing her. They really were polar opposites, so there was little she could do other than stand and watch.

“Get that cloak off, it’s filthy!” One of the nurses had already come with scissors, and with a few snips they got rid of the threadbare garment. Celestia seized it before it fell to the floor, folding it quickly and giving to Twilight. The purple mare diligently folded it and gently put it in her saddlebags. It felt like spidersilk, it was so old and frail… how had it survived for a thousand years?

“Severe muscular atrophy, it’s like she can’t hold her own weight…” one of the doctors was already examining her long spindly legs. Nurses were working diligently, cutting away massive portions of the wild mane and tail until it was a more manageable length. Twilight winced while they bushwhacked great swaths of the royal mane to get rid of it and make Nightmare’s body easier to work with. Medical scissors were not barber’s scissors, to say the least. They lifted her wings, checking the feathers and looking sick at the sight of her. They’d never seen so MUCH wrong with one pony before, it was horrifying. Nightmare flinched a little when the IV pricked her several times. They could barely even find a vein to use, she was so sickly and thin.

The limp alicorn shifted a little, whimpering. Celestia stepped forward, leaning over the throng and putting a comforting hoof on her poor sister. “Rest, sister, we’re doing everything we can.” The bright green, serpentine eye looked up at Celestia but Nightmare did not have the strength to make words. Instead she lay there trembling while the medical staff fussed over her.

It was over an hour before any semblance of peace returned to the room where Nightmare was being kept. They’d pulled bad feathers, lots of them, from her wings. They’d chopped off more of her mane. They’d set up an IV, they’d taken damp rags to her face, her marehood, and other places that needed to be checked for infection. They didn’t brush or clean her just yet, they’d wanted to get the most important stuff out of the way first. When she was stable, she could be bathed. All the while Celestia and Twilight looked on and silently fretted. Finally, while the nurses were hauling out the dirty rags, blood samples, wads of knotted hair, and other things—there was quiet.

The doctor called Heart Starter returned with a pan and a small stack of damp rags. “Er, we usually let family do this bit, if you like?” he asked the Princess. Celestia peered into the shallow pan. It looked like it was filled with some sort of… juice? Medicine? It smelled sweet, but it was hard to tell. “This is juice, vitamins, and a few other things she desperately needs.” The unicorn stallion levitated the pan and rags to Celestia’s hooves. “Dip the rags, and let her suck what she can from them. She’s too weak for even normal drinking practices right now. I’m afraid the system shock of a lot of anything would really hurt her. We’re taking baby steps.” He said seriously.

“Yes of course, doctor.” Celestia nodded. Lighting her horn, she went and approached the bedside. The doctor bowed, posted a nurse in the doorway, nodded to Twilight, and then politely stepped out.

The alicorn and the unicorn stepped forward with some caution, leaning over the bed. Twilight held the little pan in her hooves, rearing up so she could see better. Using her magic, Celestia dipped the first soft rag into the strange, sweet-smelling mixture until it was soaked. Wringing it out, she leaned over her very still sister. “Nightmare?” Celestia whispered tenderly, concerned etched on her brow like a hieroglyph. There was a mild facial twitch, but little else. The starved, weakened alicorn made no other response. Twilight nodded encouragingly to her mentor, and Celestia moved closer. Getting halfway up onto the bed, she leaned quietly over her sibling’s face. “Sister, it’s me… we’re doing what we can to get your strength back.” She moved the rag under Nightmare Moon’s nose, letting her breathe for a bit to get the sweet smell. “The doctor’s say this… juice, will help.” Celestia named it juice since it contained quite a bit else, and that sounded the friendliest. Leaning with the gentlest of hooves, she parted her sister’s lips a bit and pressed part of the rag against her mouth. Making sure she could breathe through her nose, she pressed a bit. Nightmare got the idea immediately, and began to suckle on the damp rag like a foal at mother’s teat.

The Princess of the Night’s eyes fluttered and she looked dully up at Celestia and Twilight. There was little comprehension in her eyes, but she did suck the juice out of the rag as best she could. Celestia dipped it in the pan again, wringing it out a little less thoroughly. Nightmare Moon’s lips dribbled with the sweet liquid, and her tongue worked a little more animatedly after a while. Her fangs would sink into the fabric, ripping it a bit to get at the juice faster. More intelligence began to glitter in her eyes over time. After an hour or so, the pan was looking close to empty.

“Should we go ask for more?” Twilight wanted to know.

“The doctor said she can’t have a lot of anything right now, this was probably all she was meant to have.” said Celestia softly, using magic to wring out all the rags and get one more dip of the stuff for her sister. Nightmare suckled more eagerly, though she could still barely move otherwise. Seeing her throat try to work itself when she swallowed was just heart-wrenching for both mares that were watching over her. She panted a little after she’d gotten the last few drops that she could out of the rag. Twilight couldn’t help but stare at the poor mare’s jutting ribs, trying to be brave and put on a smile. Celestia saw Nightmare appraising Twilight silently with her eyes. “Sister, this is Twilight Sparkle. She is my protégé, and a very gifted magic-user.” Celestia made one-sided conversation to ease the misery in the room.

“Nice to meet you, at last.” Twilight said softly, making sure Nightmare could see her smile. “We’ve been waiting a long time, looking forward to when you’d come home.” The purple mare’s cheeks lifted a bit more. “I’ve heard such wonderful stories about you, I’m so glad you’re back.” She bubbled just a little, then tried to calm herself with wilted ears. “S-sorry…”

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m sure my sister is glad to have subjects that want to see her so badly.” Celestia put in. Nightmare’s eyes lidded, her eyebrows bunching up just a little bit. It was a distressed expression, for she was looking away. “You’ve been dearly missed, little sister…” Celestia went soft in the eyes after a few moments, leaning down to quietly brush her muzzle against her sister’s cheek.

Twilight took the hint and gathered up the pan and rags. “I’ll be back in a bit. I’ll ask the doctors what else we can do in the meantime, Princess…es.” She added the plural with an innocent and joyful smile that made Celestia chuckle just a little. Twilight left and quietly shut the door, having the nurse stand outside as well.

Celestia turned her great head back around to look down at Nightmare Moon. “H’oh Nightie…” she whispered quietly, lowering her head with a quiet, feminine sound of distress. “We’ll get you back on your hooves, I promise. All of Equestria is waiting with open arms, I swear to you…” her muzzle was at her sister’s ear while she was quietly nuzzling her. “I didn’t let them villanize you, I made sure they remembered you—oh Nightie…” the solar princess mewled softly, overcome with emotion now that they were alone at last. She wilted down until her solar-wind-blown mane fell over the dark alicorn like a warm blanket. Nightmare let out of a pleasant sigh, closing her eyes comfortably. The white alicorn lay there with her head by her beloved sister’s for over and hour, occasionally stopping to nibble her ear or offer some other quiet comfort. Just to make sure her sister knew she was there. Nightmare rested quietly, her bright green eyes peering about now and then before they closed to rest. After a time, her lips were moving. Celestia felt the light vibration of sound on her chest, and lifted her head. “What? What is it?” she leaned and lowered her ear quietly to her sister’s mouth.

“T…tides.”

“Tide?” Celestia whispered in quiet confusion. Nightmare gave a tiny little guttural breath, and Celestia held her tongue so she could hear the tender whispers better. Her thundering heart didn’t help, though.

“T-tides… crops… frost… and trees.” Nightmare Moon finally got the words out with much effort, quiet and reedy. Her voice was like a quiet wisp of breeze between broken bamboo stalks. It was a lot of strain and she quietly panted afterword. Celestia didn’t understand, pulling her head back to look at her sister curiously.

“Don’t strain yourself too much.” Celestia whispered, leaning to quietly nuzzle her sister again. Nightmare Moon’s jowls rose up a bit to display her fangs. Her ears turned back. Her annoyed face. Celestia turned her ears back. “Fine, but please save your strength?” she begged softly. “You’re so weak sister, I don’t want your to hurt yourself…” she kissed her sister’s face again, and quietly leaned down to put her ear to Nightmare’s mouth again.

“Night time eternal… bad… for tides… crops… frost… and trees.” Nightmare managed after a lot of effort. When she was done speaking, she turned her head to one side and quite suddenly fell asleep. Celestia rose from her leaning position, tears brimming over her eyes and going down her cheeks.

“H’oh, sister…” she whispered, leaning down to gingerly embrace her again while she slept. She gently stroked the mare’s cheek, gaunt and boney though it was, over and over. She couldn’t stop touching her little sister, couldn’t stop loving on her and thanking Faust above she’d come home at last. She prayed it wasn’t a dream. She’d waited so, so long with regret in her heart for locking her sister on the moon. Of course she would come home damaged. A wave of guilt hit Celestia and, making sure the room’s door was locked, she quietly wept over her sister’s prone body.

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The Next Day…
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Twilight Sparkle headed down one of the grand halls of the palace, a snap in her step since she was on royal business. Guards saluted her as she went by, officials made way for her—but there was one that watched her from the shadow of a rising column. She almost didn’t see him before he practically sprang out of the shade into her path. “Good afternoon, Twilight Sparkle.” It was Prince Blueblood, ever eager for Twilight’s attention.

“Oh n—er, hello Prince Blueblood.” said Twilight politely, adjusting her course so she could go around him and not stop for conversation. Walking with her head held high and her eyes closed as not to look at him, she almost staggered when he sauntered up to her, shoulder to shoulder. “Do you mind? I’m busy.” She told him with a frown.

“Of course not, Twilight, I’ve always got time for you.” He winked flirtatiously. Twilight fought down a shudder. The white with blonde mane stallion had about as much subtlety as a baton to the face, and he wasn’t ashamed of it. Tossing his perfectly groomed mane a bit, he matched her pace. “I heard that Princess Nightmare Moon returned last night, how is she?” he asked conversationally.

“She’s very sick, Blueblood. She’s in the medical wing, and so is Princess Celestia.” Twilight said a little shortly. The stallion perked a little. If Celestia’s gaze was elsewhere, this was a prime time to flirt and make advances. Who was of higher station than her Majesty’s protégé, after all? Why, a pairing between the two of them would be positively gorgeous. And imagine the foals, oh-hoh, powerful as her and beautiful as he! Mhh!

“You know Twilight, I was thinking perhaps we might find something to do together sometime.” He offered with an eyebrow-wiggling smile. “I mean, you are in the palace a lot and I have a bit of royalty in my pedigree…” he let the sentence hang for a few moments when she didn’t respond. “Perhaps we might… er… study together, sometime?” it was a lame, obvious shot in the dark and Twilight was NOT amused.

“I don’t think so, Prince Blueblood.” Twilight said, looking at him sideways with a frown. She caught him looking past her cutie mark and her face went a little red. “HEY! Eyes up here.” She stopped to snap at him rather boldly. The nearest posted guard turned his head at the tone of her voice.

Blueblood backed up, coughing loudly like he’d suddenly gotten a bug in his throat. Embarrassed at being called out so openly, he straightened his cuffs a little. “Er well, I hope you’ll think on it a bit. I think we could learn a lot together, since you’re studying magic in all fields.” He offered his friendliest smile, but Twilight Sparkle was not stupid. She knew where his mind was, and it wasn’t with Starswirl the Bearded and the other philosophers of the olden times.

“See you later.” Twilight said stiffly, cantering forward at a faster pace now that he’d finally stopped.

The greedy prince’s eyes followed the back and forth of her haunches, and a glimmering grin crossed his devilishly handsome face. If only a fly would land on her and her tail would flick to one side for just an instant. Mhhh-hm-hm-hm. Such a feisty mare! He could see why Celestia had chosen her. Powerful in mind, magic, and personality. He only wanted her more. “Mhmhm, Twilight Sparkle…” he tasted her name under his breath, smiling on only one side of his mouth. Twilight could feel his eyes on her rump and turned the corner quickly to be away from him. She let out the carefully controlled shudder as well. Creepy little Princeling. He may have had Celestia’s blood somewhere in his distant ancestry, but he was certainly nothing like her. Creepy, creepy, creepy…

Twilight finally came to the throne room, where a rather tense Princess Celestia was holding court between two arguing stallions. Her face was a mask of patience, for both were shouting over each other. “Ah, Twilight Sparkle.” Her face brightened a bit when she saw the purple mare enter. “Perhaps your wisdom would help us in this case.” Her eyes glittered with alicorn mischief.

“Uh?” Twilight blushed a little when several court officials and the two stallions looked her way. She froze in the doorway, caught off guard. Her Princess liked to jump her with pop quizzes like this now and then, to keep her on her proverbial toes. The purple mare cleared her throat. “Y-yes of course Princess.” She bowed. “What’s the problem?”

“This stallion is suing this one over lost supplies. He designated a ship to take them to a coastal island, but it sank.” Celestia said sagely. “He claims that he designated another ship, but the two ships shared the same name. H.M.S. Larago.” She gestured gently to the easels that had visual aids on them. One had a picture of a new-looking ship on it, the other with an old clunky one. Twilight understood the old clunky one had sunk, taking all the supplies with it. “So, my protégé? Who is to take responsibility here? The owner of the supplies, or the mover of the supplies?” she gestured to each stallion in turn.

Twilight thought for a moment, going through her half-decent knowledge of Equestrian trade law. “The owner.” She said carefully. “If he started a contract naming a specific ship, and there were two ships of the same name, he is obligated to specify which H.M.S. Larago he was talking about when striking the deal.” She tried to make it sound official and well-thought out.

Celestia nodded with an amused smile. “Very good, Twilight. You are correct.” Said the Princess. “And with that I pass judgement.” She tapped her gilded hoof twice. “Your mover has no obligation to pay you, I’m afraid. The integrity of the ship is not his responsibility if you named it in your contract and did not specify between two vessels. I am sorry, my little pony.” She smiled in a sad, but kind, way. The stallion looked heart-broken, out so much money and business, but he dared not argue with his goddess. He hung his head, and both stallions were dismissed. “And with that, I conclude the Noon Day Court for today.” Celestia announced with a bob of her head and three loud taps of a hoof on her dais. Ponies began to mill about to clean up for the day, storing papers and making sure records were kept correctly. With her guards flanking her, the solar alicorn swept down the throne platform steps to Twilight. “Come Twilight, we’ll visit my sister again.” she said cheerfully. It was easy for Twilight to see Celestia hadn’t wanted to leave the bedside at all, but it wasn’t as though she could stop being a Princess and let the country run itself. It didn’t work that way.

They traveled quickly and quietly to the medical wing, stopped by nopony and given a wide berth. It was odd to see Celestia walking quickly. The solar goddess never ran anywhere at all, but walking quickly was certainly unusual. Twilight could smell her eagerness and worry. When they arrived in the medical wing, the Day Princess made a beeline for Nightmare Moon’s room.

“*Huhhhhh*…. *huhhhh*…” Nightmare was laying on her side, eyes glassily open and a plastic oxygen mask over her muzzle. Celestia’s eyes widened, but a nurse rushed forward before she panicked.

“Oh, Princess Celestia! Everything’s fine, don’t worry.” She chuckled a little. “That’s just to make sure she gets clean, full breaths while she’s laying there on her side. She’s no worse than when you left her last, I promise.” She offered a winning smile, and thankfully Celestia relaxed a bit. “I’ll let you alone.” She bowed and made for the door.

“I hope you’re feeling a little better, sister?” Celestia approached and sat on a little stool by the bed, on her haunches. Twilight came up beside her, offering a smile as well. Nightmare did not respond, but her eyes moved up to take both mares in. She blinked a few times, and they noticed her gaze was a little sharper than before. She understood there were ponies in the room talking to her now. She worked her lips a little

“Hhhhhh….. hhhhh….hi…” Nightmare said softly, barely audible through her oxygen mask.

Celestia and Twilight both felt their hearts quiver with pity, but both held themselves up for Nightmare’s sake. The white alicorn looked over at her student, who nodded and flipped open her saddlebags. “I know you were always more into mathematics, sister, but I brought you something useful today.” The dark alicorn watched as a thick tome floated out into view and flipped open.

“Equestria’s history, starting on the day you… uhm… left.” said Twilight with a careful smile. She cleared her throat a little bit, offering Celestia a brush from the saddlebag as well. They’d smuggled it in to groom Nightmare Moon a bit. The Princess took it in her magical aura and went around to the other side of the bed, behind her sister. Nightmare’s eyes tried to follow and she turned her head just a little. “Don’t worry, we’re gonna take good care of you.” The purple mare said in a friendly way.

Celestia leaned down with the soft brush and gently, oh so gently, began to run it through her sister’s mane. Or, what was left of it after the medical staff had lopped most of it off with fabric scissors. Nightmare closed her eyes to rest them for a bit while Twilight began to read aloud to her and Celestia brushed her. She gurgled a quiet little purring sound under her plastic oxygen mask. It felt nice to be fussed over, it really did.

End of Part 1

Baby Steps

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 3: Baby Steps

A full week had gone by since the return of Princess Nightmare Moon. Word spread quickly of her weakened state, and guards were soon posted more thickly in the medical wing of the palace. Only registered staff and certifiably sick ponies were allowed to enter—along with Celestia and Twilight, of course. That didn’t keep a sea of flowers and get well soon cards from flooding the wing, though. Ponies from all over Equestria were sending their regards and well wishes.

Twilight and Celestia were making a visit, and Dr. Heart Starter met them in the main medical lobby. “Ah, Princess Celestia. I’m glad you came today as per usual. I’ve got a status update on your sister all set.” He smiled grandly, thick-paper’d clipboard at the ready.

“Oh?” Celestia had already begun her bee-line to the room where her sibling lay, but paused to hear good news. “What is it, then?” she smiled, turning about to hear him out. Twilight did the same, ever at her mentor’s side.

“Well, the vitamins and such in the juice you’ve been giving her are definitely paying off.” Heart Starter replied. “She’s gained a little weight, which is great. Her urine is coming out brighter in color, which is a great sign too…” he mumbled down a few technical things before continuing. “She’s staying awake longer, and seems more alert. I’d like to double up on her vitamin juice and,” he chuckled, producing a colorful curling straw from his white coat. “I think she can sip now. She’ll like that I’ll wager.”

Celestia smiled widely, taking the crazy straw and giving it to Twilight for safekeeping. The purple mare giggled. Princess Nightmare Moon would no doubt be pleased. “We’ll head in now.” The white alicorn smiled as a nurse stopped to give them a fresh jug and some plastic cups instead of rags and a pan.

“Oh and one more thing, Princess.” Heart Starter coughed a little.

“Yes?”

“We uhm… we couldn’t save her mane.” The stallion looked uncomfortably at his hooves. “I don’t know what was supporting her hair on the moon… or maybe some sort of heat shock here when she returned…? Most of it is gone now.”

Celestia frowned. “W-well… when her ethereal mane returns it won’t matter.” She said with a nervous chuckle.

“Her ethereal mane?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Like mine, Twilight.” Celestia gestured to her ever-flowing locks. Closing her eyes for a moment, the Princess made a concentrating face. Very suddenly, her mane POOF’D into a brilliant pink and obeyed gravity. It hung down around her in soft, frizzy little locks. She looked… mortal! Twilight and everypony else stared in open shock, taken aback at the radical transformation. “Hyn!” Celestia said softly, and her hair exploded back into its normal state. Several colors flowed back over her and she once again resembled a goddess with ever-moving hair. “Alicorns have two manes, my faithful student. A mortal one, and an ethereal one. My sister’s mortal mane might be gone for a long time, but when her strength returns her ethereal mane will take over and nopony will notice.” Twilight nodded dumbly, trying to process all the new information. “But let’s… try not to make a big deal about it.” She said gently.

Twilight nodded again, armed with the jug of vitamin juice and the cups. “Let’s do it.” She said officially. Celestia smiled a bit, turning and thanking the doctor. The pair of them went to the room where Nightmare Moon lay.

Nightmare Moon’s eyes were brighter and more alert when they came to her. The window had been left open to let in the nice summer breeze, and the sound of trees was quite nice. The skeletal mare was sitting up thanks to the adjustable bed, and had the strength to turn her head when she heard somepony coming. Her eyes lidded just a little, and she actually reached out a little when Celestia came near. The day Princess took her sister’s hoof and kissed it with affection before tucking it back on the bed. “S—ister.” Came the reedy voice behind the oxygen mask. “Take it off me so I… huhhhh… breath freshly.” It took a LOT of effort for the full sentence, and she panted a bit afterward.

Twilight smiled, impressed. “She’s getting stronger everyday. Full sentences!” she said with affection, leaving the jug and such at the bed side. Going and finding her usual stool in the corner so the Royal Sisters could visit for a bit, she flipped open her thick book. Fumbling for a bit, she found her reading glasses. She needed to go over what she’d be reading to Nightmare Moon today before she actually read it aloud, after all.

Nightmare flicked her eyes at Twilight Sparkle with mild amusement. Her gaunt face was getting more and more expressive every day, much to Celestia’s joy. A skeleton was so hard to read, but a mere week later she could ghost smiles now and then. That meant the world to the white alicorn.

“The doctor has doubled your juice feedings for the days coming.” Celestia said, smiling. “Your body is getting stronger, so it’ll be able to take the nutrients rather than just rejecting them out of pure shock.” She ran her eyes along her sister’s bald head. Nightmare had always worn a net and helm in the olden days, so the look was familiar—but the ethereal mane being missing made her look almost alien. Celestia tried not to linger on the bad, leaning and getting the jug. Producing the colorful straw, she poured a nice glass of the medicine juice into a cup and plonked it in with a grin. Nightmare’s eyes smiled and she relaxed against her mound of pillows.

They spent a good ten minutes getting the first glass down, but then she had a second and a third. So hungry! “Real… food?” Nightmare wanted to know.

“Not yet.” Celestia said softly. “Not for a while, sister. Until we can build you up a bit, we have to obstain from anything solid.” Flicking her gaze at Twilight for a moment to be sure she was entranced in her book, she leaned and whispered. “I’ve already sent for a griffon chef, from the far region of Prance. By the time you get better, he’ll be here and set up to cook whatever dishes you like. I know your tastes are… different, than most ponies.” She tried not to look warily at her sister’s fangs. An alicorn did not get sharp teeth because she ate cocoa leaves all day, after all. Nightmare Moon smiled with all of her fangs, a radiant and rather terrifying expression, until she couldn’t hold it and wilted weakly down again. Her slightly upturned lips were enough, though. She leaned back, breathing quietly and looking out the window for a bit. Celestia sat with her, stroking her long neck and being careful not to touch the IV, her poor ribs, or anything else sensitive. “Are they keeping you comfortable? Can we bring you anything, sister? Now that you’re a little more mobile, maybe you’d like a book or something?”

Nightmare Moon cocked her head just a little, and her eyes raced back and forth a little in projected thought. It wasn’t like she could go anywhere for a while. She did need something to do when she wasn’t being visited. She was awake more, so she was bored more. She looked over at Twilight and her big thick book, then nodded lightly.

Twilight sensed she was being watched and looked up. She saw Nightmare Moon’s bright green eyes focused on her, and smiled brightly. “Ready for today’s chapter?” she asked, full of energy as always. The emaciated Princess smiled with her eyes, and Celestia nodded a bit. She thought to get out the brush, but quickly thought better of it. Poor Nightmare had no mane for the moment. “Alrighty then!” the purple mare sidled forward, sitting on the other side of the bed from her mentor. “Today’s topic is about the building of the Vanhoover dam! You can see it from Canterlot, actually. It’s near Ponyville.” She gestured vaguely out the window, and began to read aloud.

Nightmare Moon listened carefully, as she had for the past week or so. There was so much to learn, so much to catch up on and hear about. It didn’t help that she could barely speak, move, or feed herself yet. She couldn’t debate or add to the conversation. Occasionally Celestia would drop an extra tidbit, fact, or personal experience to enrich the story. It was dream-like, being home and near her milky-furred sibling again. Working her lips a little, she wagered some of her strength for a smile, and reached a bit. Celestia noticed, and connected the dots. Helping her a bit, she propped Nightmare up on her side so she could both watch Twilight and sip on the crazy straw with a new cup of nutrient juice. It startled everypony when she suddenly belched, but there was giggling afterward. She was slowly coming back.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Spike!” Twilight called as she entered the apartment, throwing down her saddlebags.

“Yah?” Spike called from atop a bookshelf. He was sitting on a stack of books scribbling on parchment. “Oh hey Twilight! How’s the Princess…es?” he added the plural with a childish chuckle.

“Good!” Twilight said brightly. “They’re giving her more to drink, and she said five sentences today. Even smiled some!” She stretched a bit, turning and shutting her door. Twilight’s apartment looked much like a library, with a bed and a sleeping basket in one corner, and a little door to a bathroom in another.

“That’s good!” Spike said brightly, setting his work aside. “I can’t wait to meet her, I wish I could go with you.”

“I know, Spike,” Twilight smiled kindly. “But she’s still really weak and sickly. We don’t want her to see you and… I don’t know… have a panic attack.” The purple mare looked apologetic as her baby dragon assistant rolled his eyes. “She’s very frail.” Twilight added, but her assistant was already grumping down the ladder at her.

“I’mma nice guy Twilight, c’mon!” he begged. When the ladder proved too slow, he hopped down the last few rungs and landed on all fours before springing up again.

“Sorry.” Twilight sighed. “Princess Celestia said no one can go visit Nightmare Moon without her explicit permission. Unless you happen to be a doctor and didn’t tell me.” She smirked playfully, flipping open her saddlebags and rooting about inside.
Spike chuckled, shaking his head. When the amusement passed, he sat on a little stool with a look of concern. “She is getting better though, honestly?” he asked softly. Twilight nodded, producing a little candy bag with a select hoof full of rubies in them. “Is that for me?” he asked eagerly.

“You’ve been doing a lot, helping me put together all these readings for the Princess.” Twilight said, levitating the bag to his eager claws. He ripped it open and stuffed one in his mouth right away. Turning with a draconic chuckle, he clambered to the top of the nearest bookshelf like a clawed gecko and put his candies with a small pile of other shiny or delicious things. Twilight let him hoard, just a little bit, so he could be tall enough to handle his chores and paperwork. The purple mare marveled at his powerful jaws, crushing gems like rock candy. Wow. “You deserve them, number on assistant!” the unicorn lavished him with praise as he searched for the perfect place to put the candy bag in his pile of things. He found the right spot, took a few more out, then gecko’d headfirst down the bookshelf again until he was level with Twilight once more. He wasn’t quite her height when he stood erect, but he wasn’t a baby-baby anymore either.

“Mhm! I do!” the baby dragon agreed, chuckling and licking his chops. “Oh hey, I was meaning to ask, did you want to go on with the Equestrian History of pony-dug waterways? I’ll need your book to make cliff notes if ya do.” He said. “I know you like your lists and cliff notes.” He smirked at her.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Yes, it’s right here. I was reading out of it to the Princess today when—it’s gone!” she suddenly shrieked, turning the bag upside down. Odds and ends and personal things came tumbling out, but no library book. “I borrowed that from the royal archives! How could I lose it?!” she fretted back and forth. “Full room scan!” she commanded suddenly. Spike jumped up, saluted with all seriousness, and leaped up a couple of shelves by his claws. Climbing rapidly to the proper section he began pulling books like mad! “H’ohmigosh! H’ohmigosh! I’ve never lost a book before!” she was going from worried straight into panic. “What if I get-- *gasp!*-- a library fine?!” her mane twinged out into a frazzled sort of state as her pupil’s shrank into pinpricks. She rushed back to her saddlebag, opening all the side pockets and undoing all the clasps and little belts.

A white rose fell out, with a note attached and a seal. P.B.B.

“What’s that?” Spike paused, for his mistress’ face had gone from panic to a dark, dark anger. “Uh… Twilight?” he said, putting the book he held back on the shelf. Sliding down the ladder with ease, he turned about in time to see the purple unicorn begin to turn red in the face and clench her teeth. “What’s with the flower?” when she didn’t respond, he cautiously leaned down and picked up the sealed note. “Ahem,” he said. “To the lovely lavender Twilight Sparkle.” He squinted at the loopy and trying-way-too-hard fancy script. “I, Prince Blueblood, have commandeered your book ‘Pony-Dug Waterways of Equestria’. Oh jeez.” Spike held the bridge of his nose with two claws. “This guy again? Twilight, why don’t you tell the Princess about this slimeball?”

“He’s not actually DONE anything other than annoy me.” Twilight grumped, turning and putting her saddlebag back together now that the mystery had been solved.

“If you’d like it back,” Spike read, “Come to the Canterlot Royal library today at the appointed time. Maybe we can chat for a bit, and learn more about ourselves.” The baby dragon made a disgusted face. “Uergh. Seriously, can’t you just… turn him to stone or something?”

“Spike!” Twilight scolded.

“Sorry, sorry. But c’mon, he’s as thin as a sheet of paper at this! It’s gross!” Spike went back to the note to read the rest. “Please come alone, I’d like to get to know you better. Yours with a yearning heart, Prince Blueblood of the Solar Herd.” The baby dragon wadded up the letter and spat fire on it, reducing it to ash. “You’re not really going, are you?” he asked.
“I’m going, but not alone.” Twilight smirked. Leaning, she put her saddlebag back on. “C’mon Spike, we’ve got a book to save.”

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Prince Blueblood, this is your… I suppose ‘aunt’ is the best word, Princess Nightmare Moon.” Celestia said slowly.
The white stallion peeked around the alicorn. The withered, weak creature in the bed studied him back. Celestia lifted her wing and stepped aside so they might interact a bit more. Blueblood leaned forward with perked ears like a dog might have.

“Er,” he said awkwardly, his eyes sliding down her skeletal form. Nightmare Moon held a sort of sippy cup with a crazy straw sticking out of it. A pinkish-red liquid traveled up it now and then. Her eyes bore a vast, alert intelligence that were, honestly, a little intimidating to look into. “Dragon’s eyes…” he mumbled before he could stop himself.

Nightmare Moon snorted. Was that the first thing he could think to say to his dark goddess? If Celestia had been telling the truth and they really were related, it must’ve been quite distant. “Huhhh-hhh…” she made some effort to get ready to speak. Her thin chest rose a bit. “Blue… blood…” She rasped out, peering into his eyes a bit more. He had a cautious, almost fearful expression to him. But it didn’t stop him from coming near and putting his hooves on the side of the bed.
“I-I… hullo.” He managed after a time.

“My sister is going to be here for a while, but I think she might like a visit now and then to pass the time.” Celestia said, hoping to bring their family a bit closer together. The young stallion nodded carefully, peering at Nightmare Moon like she was a bug in a jar to be observed. She didn’t like the look on his face, and narrowed her bright green eyes at him. Celestia’s eyes suddenly flicked down. There was an unmistakable blush of ash on his royal hiney, like he’d been burned recently. “Are you alright, Blueblood?” she gestured.

The stallion quickly tucked his tail and went red in the face. “Er! Yes, yes of course! Nothing’s wrong, I’m perfectly alright!” he said quickly, coughing aloud and pulling at his collar. “I’m more concerned for auntie Nightmare, of course! Is there anything I can do for you? I’m ever-so-eager to see you on your hooves!” he leaned over her face in case she might speak again.

Nightmare knew a worm when she saw one. She shook her head no. He was hiding something. She didn’t like it. She’d only just met him and she could smell his lies. Reaching vaguely, she pawed at her crazy straw a little and pushed it out of her mouth with her forked tongue. Then, she lifted her jowls into the most horrific smile he’d ever seen in his life. The icy touch of fear flooded the air, and Nightmare Moon’s senses picked it up easily. “Nice to meet you…. *Hhhhhh*… nephew.” She said reedily, reaching with one icy hoof to put over his. He flinched visibly. “Tia… had a lover…?” she whispered, eyes moving to her sister.

Celestia had the decency to blush. “W-well, it was a long time ago, sister. Blueblood's family are distant relatives of mine from ages ago.” She looked to one side, smiling. Nightmare Moon looked like she was convulsing in the chest for a moment, but soon her guests realized it was quiet laughter. Such a feisty thing, despite her condition!

“Do the doctor’s know when she’ll be up and about?” Blueblood asked, not to subtly pulling his hoof away from Nightmare’s.

“Heart Starter thinks in a few days they’ll try some physical therapy. Walking, bending, and the like.” Celestia nodded slowly. Nightmare perked a little at this, eager to be out of the confining bed. Even walking someplace seemed like a great prize to think about right now.

“I can… walk…” Nightmare shivered as she tried to turn over sideways. She stuck a long and boney leg out from under the covers to reach for the floor.

“Oh sister no no, none of that!” Celestia rushed forward like a mother hen, pushing the leg back under the warm covers where it belonged. “Please, wait for the doctors and such to aide you. I know you’re eager to be up and about, but we’re taking baby steps right now. We don’t want you to be hurt.” She stroked her sister a few times to soothe her. Nightmare frowned some, sinking back into the covers with a sigh.

Blueblood stood to one side, not eager to touch the strange black creature again. “I… er…” the stallion said awkwardly.

“Brushy time!” A nurse suddenly appeared in the doorway, startling everpony. She had a toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste on a little tray. Her voice was loud, melodic, and made Nightmare jolt a little with her latent energy. Celestia soothed her, smiling sympathetically. “Hullo! I’m Colgate! I’ll be your dentist today!” she trotted across the room, right up to the bedside. She was a light-blue mare with a dark blue streak in her white mane. “Somepony told me they didn’t have dentists a thousand years ago, sooo--” she paused, getting the brush and toothpaste, “Basically I clean your teeth so you don’t get any infections or anything.”

Nightmare Moon cocked an eyebrow, looking at Celestia. The white alicorn nodded that it was true. The black one wasn’t sure she believed it. Washing out one’s mouth with water was always fine in her day, what was all that on the tray? “Hhhhh?" was all she said, setting aside her sippy cup and straw with shaky-weak hooves. She watched Colgate take in her shriveled body, but the mare really did seem more interested in her mouth.

“Open your mouth, say ‘ahhhh’!” Colgate was read to dive right in. Blueblood took the opportunity to slip out when nopony was looking. Celestia came closer to supervise from the other side of the bed. “I can’t say I’ve ever done to teeth of a Princeeee—ee-aaaahhh!” She whinnied in horror and backed up. “F-fangs!” she said, fear in her gaze.

Nightmare Moon snapped her mouth shut, looking annoyed. Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. “Remember sister, nopony’s seen you in a thousand years. Of course they don’t know about your teeth.” She smiled soothingly at Colgate. “Please, she won’t bite you, she’s not a monster. Please try again?”

“I-I’m sorry.” Colgate smiled apologetically at Nightmare Moon, deeply embarrassed. “I wasn’t expecting—I mean I thought it might be bad—ahem!” she tried to gather her professionalism again, coughing loudly and setting the tray down. Coming near, she apologized again. “Let’s get to brushing!” she said firmly. “I’ve got water, and a basin, and plenty else. So if the foam gets to be too much, you let me know and we’ll spit!” she chuckled, turning and lighting her horn.

Nightmare studied the energetic mare with a frown, then slowly and carefully opened her mouth again. Lifting her lips high to show her her teeth, she watched the strange pony lean with genuine interest. “Hrrrf?” Nightmare wanted to know.

“Oh no, not at all.” Colgate responded like a full sentence had been spoken. Nightmare looked a little relieved. Celestia chuckled, watching at Colgate put some toothpaste on the brush. “Let’s see now—hwah!?” She recoiled with a cry, almost to the floor.

Nightmare had stuck out her long forked tongue and wiggled it about Colgate’s face. Her chest was convulsing with reedy, silent laughter. Celestia smiled behind her hoof. If her sister was well enough to toy with one of her subjects, that was a good sign. Her sense of humor was still there.

Colgate giggled a little nervously. “Oh I see how you are, hee-hee!” she said, a little pink in the cheeks. “But scary chompers and a dragon’s tongue aren’t gonna keep me from cleaning that mouth of yours!” she armed up with floss hovering next to her on one side, and the toothbrush on the other.

Nightmare leaned back obediently as Colgate put on a surgeon’s mask with a pleasant smile. How strange, a mouth doctor. So specific! She squirmed a little while the mare played with her jowls, lifting them up to get to her gums. Brushie-brushie-brushie, her mouth was suddenly filled with a green and wintery taste. Her tongue came up, curious to lap at it like a dog’s tongue. The dentist leaned, gently pushing the tongue down to do her best work. There was a dull but happy ache in the black alicorn’s mouth while it was serviced. Little bits of gunk were coming away here and there, and foam bubbled up in her mouth as they worked. When she began to gag a little, Colgate let her spit and wash her mouth in a basin, before getting more toothpaste and returning. The dentist hummed soothingly while working on a massive, curved canine. Switching to the back view with a tiny mirror-tool, she affixed a bit more toothpaste and kept working.

Celestia watched the entire ordeal curiously, having never been able to do such a thing. She had her own teeth looked at on occasion, but she’d never watched a dentist work before. Colgate was very good at her job, it seemed. She kept the mood light, had a pleasant voice, and seemed to keep her sister occupied with slight conversation. She worked slowly, diligently, and didn’t miss a spot.

“So, you just got back about a week ago?”

“Hrrrgle. Rgle-grrl.”

“Oh that’s great! I can tell you’ve got a long road ahead, but we’re all rooting for you, Princess.” The mare said with a genuine little smile. Both Royal Sisters noted how perfect her teeth were, for they could be seen even through the paper muzzle-mask.

“Haff. Hargle-wurrhgh?”

“My whole life. I love working with ponies’ teeth. It makes them happy to see their shiny smiles when I’m done!” The mare had switched to floss, gently going back and forth and being careful of the black alicorn’s tongue. “You’re doing very well for a first visit. Almost done, almost done!” she’d taken a sharp tool, checking for cavities. But, since Nightmare Moon had not eaten much of anything in ten centuries, there was no damage to speak of. “I tell ya, you better be careful with pearlies like these, stallions are gonna fall all over themselves to see a smile like yours!”

“*snort*.” said Nightmare Moon, rolling her eyes a little.

“It’s true!” Colgate giggled, giving her a bit of water so she could spit one last time. “You can tell a lot about a pony by their smile! Now let’s see one!” she put her tools on her tray, backing up and encouraging her patient. Nightmare Moon smiled with all her effort. The dentist blanched a little. Every little red flag and instinctual warning told her to run from such a terrifying, fang-filled smile. “Eh-heh-heh!” she scratched the back of her head nervously, eyebrows bunching into a worried expression on her forehead.. “W-well, you rest up! I hope you feel better soon!” Turning, she left the Princess a toothbrush and a little tube of toothpaste. “Brush twice a day! Bye!” she bowed and was away with her little tray of dentistry goodies. Both sisters heard her sigh in relief when she’d left the room and shut the door. Poor thing.

Celestia chuckled slightly, watching Nightmare Moon work her mouth back and forth. Her teeth felt… good. Her forked tongue ran up and down them animatedly. They felt like smoothed little mirrors of ivory, minty and fresh. She couldn’t wait to try them out on some real food—or perhaps Blueblood’s backside. It was a punishable offense, after all, to lie to royalty. Even if you yourself were royalty. The black alicorn wondered how he’d taste. It had been ages since she’d gobbled up anything his size. Rolling her eyes and laying back to rest, she favored her sister with a weak smile. “Rest now, that was… a lot.” Celestia admitted with kindness in her eyes. “Dentistry has only been around for a couple of hundred years, at least in its current form. But it does help, huhm?” Nightmare Moon nodded a little, leaning back to rest on her back. Celestia helped her adjust the bed so she could take a nice long nap. Meeting distant relatives and then having a dentist visit was just exhausting.

End of Part 3

Physical Therapy

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 4: Physical Therapy

Nightmare Moon stood on shaky legs in the physical therapy room. For the past tenday, the nurses and doctors had been helping her get her motor skills back. With much effort, she’d told them that things were not as ‘heavy’ on the moon, so her muscles had grown weak over the centuries. For this, they’d decided that she needed to get on her hooves as soon as she could. They’d worked her knees and her ankles for hours and hours. They’d let her basically lay on a padded bench while four different technicians worked at her limbs. But now, after ten days, she was sort of standing on her own.

To the Princess’ left and right was a nurse (one male and one female) to support her. On the far end of the room was Celestia and Twilight Sparkle at a little sitting table. There was an empty seat for Nightmare Moon, and a hidden treat under a silver platter lid if she made it to the table. “Alright Princess, here’s the deal.” One of the doctors smiled. “We’ve been working your ligaments and joints for days now. We’re going to do what we call the ‘foal walk’ across the room.” Leaning down, he helped space her Majesty’s legs to even out her center of gravity. “When foals first learn to walk, they center themselves like a four-legged tripod.” He showed her how with his own legs. Nightmare mimicked slowly, with some effort. “It’s the most basic walk a pony can do because it puts their weight evenly on all their legs and spread out nicely so nothing is straining.” He smiled. Nightmare Moon cocked her head, leaning into a nurse to adjust herself a bit more. “We’re going to foal walk across the room, sit at the table, and there you’ll find a little something we think you’ll like.” He gestured with his muzzle.

“You can do it, Princess!” Twilight cupped her hooves about her mouth to shout. Her smile was radiant and excited. While Nightmare Moon was making ready to cross the room on her own power, the purple mare looked over at her mentor. “Princess, what’s under the platter lid? Not more juice, I hope? That’s all they’ve been giving her for weeks now!” she said with concern.

“Oh no, it’s special-order.” Celestia looked over at her faithful student, taking a slightly bigger breath than normal. “Twilight, by now you’ve noticed my sister’s teeth, no doubt?” she cocked her head, and let her student nod before continuing. “Well, she’s my polar opposite in many ways, one of which is her natural diet. The ponies of old once said she had dragon’s blood…” she trailed off a moment, letting the implication sink in. Twilight’s eyes wandered to the domed lid. The dish had been placed there by a servant before anypony had set up in the therapy room. Was it going to be… meat? How? Nopony could cook meat, how could they stand the smell?! “So, I expect you to be polite and respectful, Twilight.” Celestia said in her teacher’s voice. “This will be the first real, solid food she’s had in a very long time.”

“R-right.” said Twilight warily, “Of course.” She looked down at the display of celery with five different condiments arranged on her plate (one food, five flavors!). Maybe if she just stared at her plate really hard while Nightmare Moon was eating, she wouldn’t be too ill. And if she breathed through her mouth instead of her nose, she might be okay. Gulping a little, she returned her attention to the black alicorn.

Nightmare Moon’s legs were quivering a bit as she was allowed to hold her own weight. Setting her jaw into a dark expression of concentration, she listened to the doctor’s words and made ready. With a nurse at either side of her, she lifted a hoof—whump! Faceplant. She yapped aloud, and the nurses quickly grabbed her to make sure she was okay. “We are alright.” She rasped a little, red in the face with embarrassment. “Hhhhh--!” she struggled a moment to find her voice again. “Hold our shoulders.” She commanded indignantly.

“Don’t let her fall like that!” the doctor scolded angrily. “That’s why you’re there. Catch her if she loses her balance, for Faust’s sake!” he facehoof’d for a moment, groaning at his unprofessional staff. “She’s not going to bite you.” He sighed, shook his head, and quickly apologized. “Let’s try again. I know you’re feeling heavier now that you’re back on earth. Just take it slow, take your time. Your table isn’t going anywhere, I promise.” He gestured warmly.

Nightmare decided she liked her physical therapist, smiling a bit. Her forked tongue sticking out to one side, she made another attempted. Toddling forward a step or two, she wavered. The nurses pressed to either side of her before she fell. Resting a moment, she nodded and they let her go carefully. Clip. Clip-clip clop. Clip. Clip-clip clop. She huffed and puffed a bit, not used to the strain. But, her joints did not hurt her, and her muscles seemed able to hold her weight. She didn’t feel as wiry or weak as before. Nightmare just needed practice to build herself. Shuffling forward another eager step or two, the black alicorn spread her wings for balance.

“Therrrre you go, use those wings. That’s extra weight you can balance with.” The doctor nodded his approval. Using them like a tightrope walker, the Princess was able to make five or six more steps before stopping to rest. “Very good! You’re doing it!” The nurses jittered a bit, murmuring their encouragement as Nightmare Moon leaned on them both with all her weight (the poor thing barely weighed as much as an average pony mare now, much less an alicorn—but it was still weight gain!).

She lost a feather here and there, though she was growing new ones so it wasn’t much worry. Soon her great black span would be whole again, and it was getting there fast. Soon even the great sun wouldn’t be able to penetrate her feathers anymore. Limping forward slowly and with her eyes on the prize, she stopped to rest here and there.

Celestia watched anxiously, especially around her sister’s knees. They seemed to shake back and forth, and it worried her. She eyed her sister’s recovering body with a critical eye. The bare beginnings of a mortal mane were slowly returning, and her overall shape was slowly filling in again. She no longer resembled a sheer skeleton, but a starkly starved pony. Only a slight improvement, but an improvement none the less. “You can do it, Nightmare.” She said, smiling happily. “Don’t rush, we’re fine right here to wait for you.” The white alicorn spread her wings invitingly, and saw Twilight smile wide out of the corner of her eye.

“You can do it, Princess!” Twilight shouted, lifting a hoof high like a cheerleader. “Almost there!”

Nightmare Moon’s legs were starting to strain harder, she could feel the dull burn of exhaustion gathering in her upper legs. Moaning a little, she stopped to rest again, panting. The male nurse patted her a bit, letting her know it would be okay and to take things easy. She looked up at him, into his handsome face and smiled. There was a flicker of alarm at her teeth, but he still helped her back to her hooves. Just ten more feet, and she would be there. Clip. Clip-clip clop. Clip. Clippa-clip clop. She suddenly staggered hard and all three medical ponies caught her.

Celestia leaned forward, seeing her little sister’s distress. “That’s enough, bring her to the table. She’s exhausted.” She tapped her hoof twice on the table to make it so.

“Neigh.” Nightmare Moon countered with a loud panting. She lifted a hoof to keep them from carrying her. “We can… can do this.” Her poor heart was racing and, shivering a bit, slowwwwwly made it back to her hooves. The two nurses looked on in awe as her wings opened all the way to help her. She was barely touching them now. They could see the quiver of weak muscles, the shaking of pure will-power’d effort. The Nighttime Princess gritted her teeth, closing the distance. Six feet. Four. Two. One. She staggered and fell with a yelp, nurses grabbing her. “Unhoof us!” she snapped with a little more volume in her voice. Celestia caught a flicker of her sister’s pride, cocking her head and leaning forward anxiously. Twilight swallowed as the nurses backed off. Panting loudly, she poked her muzzle up over the table’s edge. “Hff! Hfff! Hfff! Hff!” she peered at Celestia, then Twilight. She was almost there. “Hynn!” she used her chin like a hook, bringing herself closer. Then she got frustrated when her body refused to obey her. She strained hard, then gave a rather beastly growl. Everypony but Celestia leaned back a bit, lifting a hoof like they might bolt. Lunging a bit, she sank her fangs into the table and, using the weight of the table itself, heaved herself into the chair! Twilight went a little pale and the giant gashes her teeth had left in the wood. Landing with a bump, Nightmare lay back in her seat, huffing and puffing.

“Hooray!” Twilight said quickly, clapping her hooves. The doctor and two nurses did the same, stomping on the tile animatedly. “You did it, Princess! That was great! You’re getting so strong, so fast!”

“That was excellent, yes.” The doctor nodded animatedly. “We’re going to let you rest for a while after doing things like this, but I can see you’re already well on the road to walking again.” He praised his patient. Taking his nurses with him, he left to let the trio enjoy their luncheon.

Nightmare Moon looked at both of her company, smiling tiredly. “Greetings.” She panted aloud, trying to sit upright and then sagging forward a bit. Crossing the room really had taken it out of her. “We doth join thee for luncheon.” Leaning, she lifted the lid of her platter with a hoof. Steam erupted from the plate to reveal a plate of spaghetti with tiny, tiny meatballs. The black alicorn went soft in the eyes. “Thou… remembered.” She said to her sister, eyes lidding with emotion.

“I had them make extra-small noodles and extra-small meatballs so you could handle it easier.” Celestia said. “Soft things like this should be alright for you to eat in small amounts, sister. I didn’t think a giant heaping plate would be a good idea, but,” the milky-furred Princess gestured gently.

Twilight gaped at it. BALLS of meat? Someone had ground something up, rolled it into balls and cooked it like that? She tried not to feel ill. She’d promised Princess Celestia not to make a huge deal out of it. Stomach churning a bit, she waited politely for the Princesses to start before she did.

Sure enough, Nightmare leaned down and popped a meatball into her mouth with all the eagerness of a foal with a gumball. She was regal enough to chew with her mouth closed, but it didn’t keep her from moaning happily. “Real food…” she whispered, nearly brought to tears at the mere taste and feel of it. “Really, real food.” She sighed, getting another meatball. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes with another moan, as though she were being made love to. After a time, she used a fork with her hoof to try the noodles. Much the same reaction.

“Eat slowly, Nightmare.” Celestia coached gently with a slice of zucchini halfway to her mouth. “We don’t want you to be sick from eager eating.” She chuckled gently.

Nightmare snarled, just a little bit miffed at her overprotective sibling. “We are not a foal!” Nightmare’s voice suddenly cracked like a teenager’s, went several decibels higher, and blew Twilight off her chair with a shriek! Both alicorns looked shocked. “Hhhhh!” she wheezed, hacked, and wheezed again. Holding her throat in distress and leaning over the side of the table, she tried to find the lavender mare. “Tuh! Tuh! Twuh!” she hacked, her voice shot for the moment.

Celestia quickly leaned under the table and found Twilight trembling on the floor. Her knees and other joints had given out from the pure, awesome force of Nightmare Moon’s voice. For a few long seconds, she couldn't move at all. Then finally the numbness wore off. Whimpering a little, she was shaking like a frightened foal and hiding her face under her hooves. “Oh Twilight, it’s alright. It was an accident, you’re alright, you’re alright…” she coaxed her faithful student back up. Stroking her long mane over and over to reassure her, she helped her back into her chair.

“Wh-what was that?” Twilight asked with a shiver in her tone. “I-I-I’ve never felt anything like it!” The purple protégé had been very suddenly overwhelmed on all magical levels, like she’d been struck physically by the power of the Princess’ voice.

“That was the Royal Canterlot Voice.” Celestia pushed a glass of water towards her coughing sister. “Nightmare Moon and I used it to speak to large crowds, to show authority, or even intimidate our enemies in the olden times.”

“You can do that too?!” Twilight said, gasping. “I’ve never even heard you raise your voice before!” she thought back and back through her foalhood. Surely she’d broken something, done something bad, and Celestia had yelled at her? Somewhere? No… no she couldn’t think of anything. Celestia was always the picture of pride, poise, and patience. She couldn’t imagine the sun goddess shouting so loudly that it could knock somepony down.

“Suhrr-r-r.” Nightmare rasped after swallowing some water. “Sorry.” She managed, rubbing her throat sorely. It had taken her off guard as much as everypony else.

“Your powers must be returning as well.” Celestia stroked her chin for a moment. “We’ll have to be careful. If your magic returns in spurts, it could be unpredictable.” Nightmare nodded her agreement, looking at Twilight with apologetic eyes. The lavender mare seemed shaken, but otherwise okay.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Blueblood was in his private office, at his condo in the heart of Canterlot. Though he was a Prince, the title did not mean he could live in the Royal Palace. It was more a ‘old money’ sort of title, rather than a Royal one. Surrounded by books, scrolls, and things pinned to his walls, he frowned in concentration over one of them. Lighting his horn to tilt his teacup at himself, he sipped a little as his eyes raced back and forth across the page. “Hrm.” He said to no one at all, setting the tea. Next to him, a quill and parchment levitated, writing what he thought it to. There were over eighteen inches of tiny writing already.

Rubbing his sore eyes a bit, he flipped back to a beautifully made family tree. At its heart in the trunk was Princess Celestia herself, and a stallion named ‘Mountain Blood.’ Apparently several hundred years ago, the Princess had taken a lover and actually bore a non-alicorn foal. Blueblood’s eyes flicked up to her portrait. ‘Cloud Dew’ had been a Pegasus with a beautiful face and white wings. Being half alicorn, she’d outlived no less than six husbands before she’d died of old age, and had had over a dozen children. One had been Blueblood's ancestor. That starting seed had sent branches of the Blueblood family tree in many directions over the centuries… only to have them return to Canterlot. Prince Blueblood’s family realized the royal bloodline was diminishing, and immediately began to surround themselves with powerful unicorn mares and stallions for better stock. The more powerful the magic, the better. Working greater sources of magic blood back into the family would edge them back towards godhood. Back towards the pure, extended lifespans and unmatched powers. Cloud Dew herself had been such a powerful Pegasus that the clouds obeyed her mere words, according to the stories. Blueblood wanted that power back in his family so, so badly. Careful, stealthy breeding and seduction had worked several mares and stallions of no small talent into his family tree. He himself was the beautiful product of a powerful pair of ponies, thusly his own skills in the areas of horn fencing, alchemy, magic, spoken diplomacy and baking (baking was the odd one out, but he had to feed himself, right?).

Blueblood closed the family tome with a sigh, scrubbing his mane a bit. Twilight Sparkle was a more than obvious choice for a companion. She was beautiful, powerful, smart, regal, and of high station. Princess Celestia’s protégé, no less. If the goddess herself had chosen the mare, then he could only do the same. Not just for excellent breeding, but simply think of the status! A descendant of Celestia’s bloodline and the Princess’ protégé! The social and economical prospects were simply mouthwatering! Well, she did have rather lovely hips too… and she was rather cute when she was squinting into a book without her glasses on. It was a rather nice plus that she was quite attractive.

The white, blonde-maned Blueblood chuckled amusedly, shaking his head. Turning about, he flipped open a few dating books. Thus far his interactions with Twilight Sparkle had not been the best. He was already and excellent specimen of great status, power, and wealth, but she just didn’t seem interested. So, he would have to study up and see just what it was that mares wanted these days. He’d not put much thought into it, really. Offering Twilight his hoof, in his head, was never much more involved than her blushing, giggling, and nodding some. He was, after all, a charming Prince.

“It is considered polite etiquette for a stallion to put his mare first.” Blueblood read aloud, turning up his reading lamp a little so the flame was high. Running a slow, easy hoof through his golden locks, he mumbled over the article. “Holding a door open for her, smiling, inviting the mare onward is considered good manners. The less effort she has to put forth, the better. It is the stallion’s job to provide comfort and security for his companion.” He paused, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “This is going to get complicated, isn’t it?” He read from that book for a long time, the same scowling expression of concentration on his muzzle. His quill danced on the page so he would remember the important bits. Turning to another book, then another, then another, be began to formulate a plan. If station, monies, and handsome good looks could not woo Twilight Sparkle, the answer had to be in those books somewhere.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=
The Next Day…
=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Twilight Sparkle was rushing down a corridor, saddlebags filled to the bursting. Princess Nightmare Moon had sent a messenger to her, asking for a long list of items to be brought to her hospital room. Now that she was in physical therapy and awake for much of the day, the black alicorn desired a few things to stay busy while she rested. The purple mare had done her very best and the mere mention of her majesty had gotten her most of the items for free, no less.

She darted around a corner, past a little group of cleaning servants, then suddenly slid on the clean floor. “Oh noooo-!” she tried to plant her haunches to slow herself, but her hooves were slip-sliding back and forth like crazy. The extra weight of her bulging saddlebags kept her momentum going, and a massive double door rushed forth to meet her. “Ahhhh-eep!” she jolted to a halt suddenly, for her body had been wrapped in a musky male aura. The scent of stallion’s magic touched her horn and she shuddered a little, shaking her head as she was placed gently back on her hooves. It wasn’t a bad smell, exactly, it was just a very male smell.

“Are you alright, Twilight Sparkle?” Prince Blueblood was perched on a stone bench with a book and tea set. He leaned a little. “You looked like you were about to crash.” He said innocently, frowning with concern.

Twilight wanted to scowl and tell the stallion off. Grabbing another pony bodily with one’s magic was considered rude no matter what sort of household one was brought up in. But, he’d probably just saved her a bloodied nose, so… “Er, thank you, Prince Blueblood.” She favored him with a mild bow, one fitting of a stallion with the title of Prince. He smiled a little wider, his face lighting up. “I’ll be more careful.”

“Be sure you do.” He scolded, trying to look playful but only coming off as smug. Twilight frowned at him, and he quickly coughed and looked away. “Ah, let me get that for you.” He turned his head, lighting his horn. The double doors swung gently open. “It’s only polite to get the door for a lady, yes?” his eyebrows worked into a worried, hopeful expression.

“Uhm,” Twilight didn’t quite know what to make of the normally pompus pony. “Y-yes, I guess that’s right.” She began to trot away with a concerned, raised eyebrow. “See you later.” She called over her shoulder.

When she was away, Prince Blueblood let out a gust of held breath. “Whew!” He immediately flipped open the book next to him. The inside was fake, containing instead a hidden notebook. “Holding… doors… open… good reaction.” He scribbled, mumbling aloud as he did so. The nearby guard rolled his eyes silently. Snapping the book shut, the stallion rose with authority. “That wasn’t so bad. Seducing Twilight Sparkle shan’t be as hard as all that!” he tossed his head back into a rather diabolical laugh. Catching himself he coughed a bit and was away, muzzle up in a regal expression.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“And we’re gonna eaaaaase you down, right there. There we go!” The male nurse was setting Princess Nightmare Moon into the bed. She found his strength refreshing, for walking across the room had taken most of hers. She favored him with another alarming smile. “You did good today, I think, Princess.” He smiled back in a friendly way, helping her with her covers and bringing her the wheel’d lap-table. Nightmare put her hooves on it, looking up at the clock on the wall (she’d learned in only an hour or so how to read it correctly)

“What is thy name, healer?” Nightmare whispered as she flopped her head back onto her pillow. She turned her head to eye him up a little, and the stallion smiled bashfully.

“Er, I’m Bandaid, your Majesty. Nurse Bandaid.”he turned profile to show the flesh-colored bandage on his flank. “And everypony knows your name.” he smiled playfully at her, glad her mood was improving as the days went on.

“It is good to know thee, Bandaid Nurse Bandaid.” Nightmare Moon folded her wings gingerly. “Fetch me some water?” she asked before her voice gave out entirely. He nodded eagerly, going to get it for her. No sooner had the nurse left when Twilight Sparkle appeared. “Ah.” She smiled.

Twilight stopped to smile, bow, and be acknowledged by the Princess in the hospital bed. When she rose, she came closer with a happy expression. “I got everything you asked for! It was quite a list!” She flipped open her saddlebag. Twilight produced for her Princess a thick pad of paper, ink wells, quills, protractor, straight-edge, rubber eraser cube, pencils, charcoal, forty-five degree triangle, compass, tissues, scissors, a paper knife, colored construction paper and a wooden abacus. “There you go!” she said at last when everything had been placed on the table in front of Nightmare Moon.

The black alicorn took the abacus first and, rather oddly, tucked it into the bed beside her. When she saw Twilight’s look, she shrugged. Well, everypony had their comfort objects. Flipping open the pad of paper and grabbing a pencil in her mouth, she began to work with the triangle and straight edge. The purple mare leaned, wondering what she was doing. After drawing a few perfect lines the Princess flicked her eyes at Twilight with a rather stern gaze, her draconic eyes flickering with an inner light. “Ehr-hrm.” She said with mild annoyance at the unicorn.

Twilight blushed. “W-well, I’ll leave you to your… uhm… things, then.” She backed away a bit. Nightmare Moon turned back to her paper, pencil in her mouth, carefully making another angled line. Her errand done, Twilight bowed and quickly backed away so she wasn’t intruding any longer. The Princess was probably doing something super-important, and didn’t want to be bothered. Twilight knew that she hated it when Spike watched her study. It felt intrusive. Nightmare Moon was probably just the same way. “Ommph!” she bumped into a stallion on her way out the door. “Oh, sorry!” she said, quickly going around him and out.

“It’s no problem.” said Bandaid warmly, coming in with a tray on his back. He put a jug and several cups on the bedside table. Nightmare nodded her thanks rather dismissively, already observed in her work. It was rather adorable to watch her draw with her mouth and see her hoof wandering the bed side table for a cup. The nurse chuckled a little, coming near and pouring her a cup. When she didn’t notice, he nudged it slowly into her reach until she found it. Still drawing very carefully with her mathematical tools, she lifted the cup to her lips. A few swallows later, she set back to work again. Bandaid smiled a little worriedly, but dismissed it. If she was busy with something, it meant she was active and awake in her own mind. That was a healthy sign.

End of Part 4

Straining

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 5: Straining

It had been a full, grueling six weeks of recovery time, but Nightmare Moon was at least on her hooves again. She was still very skinny, but otherwise slowly growing stronger. She could eat small meals, reach the bathroom on her own (an interesting ordeal to say the least, learning the toilet), and even stand upright for long periods of time! While she was far from back to full power, she looked less skeleton and more mare than ever before.

Dr. Heart Starter was giving his formal lecture on the Princess’ release. Nightmare Moon stood with Celestia, eager to be out of the sterile and white environment. “So then, I want you to keep up your regiment of vitamins, keep drinking your nutrient juice, and I’m going to have a nurse with you at all times in case something happens.” He went on and on about how very careful she needed to be. “I don’t want you straining on anything, either. That means not a lot of magic, no drinking, sex, or skipping sleeping hours. You know, the usual. Eight hours of sleep every night… day, in your case.” He smiled.

Nightmare scowled at the no sex bit. As though he had the authority to decide on her bedroom activities! Why, she’d been a thousand years through un-answered heat cycles! One of the first things she wanted to do was visit her sister’s harem and relax herself. “Very well…” Nightmare found herself saying slowly, scowling.

“Alright then. Princess Celestia, if you’ll sign her out for us?” He let Celestia put her royal hoof on the bottom line. “Now then, I’m assigning you Nurse--”

“Bandaid.” said Nightmare firmly, nodding. Her draconic eyes locked on the stallion, who was standing nearby. He perked in slight alarm, and she favored him with a close-lipped smile. “A most excellent nurse.”

“Er…” the doctor looked startled, but quickly shifted gears. That wasn’t the nurse he was going to name, but if the Princess liked one in particular who was he to say no? “Right, of course. Nurse Bandaid will be at your beck and call, medically speaking.” He rather frantically waved the stallion over. The earth pony smiled rather shyly as Celestia studied him closely, and he cleared his throat a bit. “Nurse Bandaid, you’ll be responsible for Princess Nightmare Moon if her ailments start acting up. Understand?”

Bandaid nodded firmly. “Yes Doctor.”

Celestia, done with the clipboard, gave it back filled out. “There we are. Come sister, we’ll head to a nice lunch. I’ve already sent palace staff to…erm… unseal, your room. Until then, you'll have to stay in the astronomy tower.” She smiled a little embarrassedly. (Truth be told, there was a group of stallions on the other side of the palace working with crowbars and acid cans to get the old archway door open.) How, exactly, Celestia had gone six weeks and not had a room prepared for her sister was beyond anypony. The raw joy of seeing the recovery had made her forget all about it, though. Ah well, the poor Day Princess couldn't think of absolutely everything.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

After the luncheon, Celestia excused herself to go to the Noon Day Court and left her sister to her own devices. Nightmare sat wiping her mouth regally, while Nurse Bandaid stood quietly to one side. The guards had eyed him up a bit, confiscated any sharp objects he had, and then let him be. The poor guy was a little rattled, but also flattered at the same time. Not just anypony got to be a Princess’ medical hoof servant. “Do you feel full?” he asked softly, coming to stand beside her. “We can’t let you eat too much, your body is still rebuilding and might reject all of it if it gets overwhelmed.”

Nightmare smirked a little at his fussing. “We feel better eating normal food instead of that juice over and over again, servant.” She said, setting down her napkin and slowly rising. Her legs protested and ached, but she was strong enough to force them to do her bidding now. “Come, we will journey elsewhere for entertainment.” Closing her eyes and lifting her muzzle upward into a royal stance, she started into the hall and made a right turn. Two guards and Bandaid followed silently, wondering just what the Princess might do now that she was up and about. “Ah, our bag. Bandaid, fetch our bag from ‘neath yon dinner table.” She coughed a little, having used her voice a bit too much. Bandaid obeyed, turning and going back to the dining room. Meanwhile the Princess started forward again with authority.

Then she turned a corner and smacked into Blueblood.

The stallion toppled with a shout, books going everywhere. He sat up, one book balanced perfectly on his face. “Oh! Watch where you're---! Oh dear.” He saw who he’d knocked down when the Royal Guards came to help her up. He was a white stallion, but he could still turn pale.

Nightmare Moon staggered to her hooves, shaking her head angrily to get her bearings. “Fool! Again we meet, wormling of my sister’s bloodline!” she peered around while Blueblood scrambled about to get his books out of her way. Watching him grovel about she snatched a couple of them up:

Three Dates to the Bedroom, by Smooth Talker.
When You Know She’s the One: A Stallion’s Guide to Dating and Seduction, by Arrow Heart.
50 First Date Ideas, by Con Mane.
Mare’s Delight and Stallion’s Smirk, by Sly Clop.

The Princess dropped them in disgust. “Clearly our instinct of thou was correct.” She squinted, her eyes crackling a sterile white. Blueblood flushed in humiliation, stacking the set of ten or twelve books as quickly as he could and to one side of the Princess.

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” he tried to smile, turning his ears back.

Nightmare Moon loomed over him, a great black shadow with rising wings. “It looks like,” she paused briefly as Bandaid returned with her rucksack of mathematical tools and papers. “It looks like thou have a bit more than Princely duties on hoof. Such filthy literature is hardly becoming of the solar bloodline.” She scowled it him, her jowls rising to show off her rather terrifying teeth.

“It’s not that, I just—I just--!” Blueblood was shaking now, fear working its way and running icy fingers down his spine. Why was it so, so cold in his aunt’s shadow? Was that magic? He sank slowly to his belly, his pupil’s shrinking into dots.

“If coitus is on thy mind, have the decency to hire a whore and be done with it. If thou means to simply seduce another of good standing, we forbid it.” Nightmare Moon scowled. Lifting a powerful hoof, she pointed it at him and bent her ankle slightly. A black, ear-itching hum filled the air around them. Both Bandaid and the two guards cocked their heads, flicking their ears a bit. Suddenly, the fur around Blueblood’s neck constricted like somepony had thrown a noose around him! He gagged and was hauled to his hooves by the invisible force, pawing helplessly at his windpipe as it was ruthlessly squeezed. “We find thy lack of respect for mares… disturbing.” said Nightmare Moon acidly, eyes narrowed into slits.

Bandaid boldly stepped forward, his nurse’s instinct unable to watch another pony suffer. “Th-that’s enough, Princess! Please! Let him go!” he said fearfully. He pawed at her chest, trying to get her attention away from Prince Blueblood.

Nightmare Moon’s draconic gaze slid to her caretaker, and she opened her mouth to disagree. But, just as suddenly, her focus began to slip. Her heart racing, she was forced to drop the choking spell. The sterile white left her eyes, returning to their normal bright green hue. She panted for just a moment as Blueblood collapsed to the ground, holding himself and gasping. She wasn’t yet back to full power, it seemed. “Thine is a filthy mind, little Princeling. Clean it before approaching any mare worth more than mounting.” With that, she snapped her wings closed and walked past him with authority. Her massive hoof crushed the October issue of Play Stallion, ripping a few pages from it in the process. Nose upturned, she was away. Blueblood panted, on his belly and just trying to breathe a bit. Who knew his aunt was so terrifying?!

=-----=-----=-----=-----=
That Evening…
=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“T-Twilight Sparkle?” Came the rather meek voice at Twilight’s door. She looked over from her open book and notes. The candle and fireplace-lit room was orange and cozy, but something was pulling her from her cloister. “Are you home?” there was a light tapping on the door. She glanced over at Spike, who was asleep on the top shelf on his little hoard. Not wanting to wake her little assistant, she shrugged and went to answer the door.

“Prince Blueblood?” Twilight frowned, wrinkling her nose at him. “What do you want?” she glanced over her shoulder, pondering if she should sic Spike on him. The fact that he’d shown up at her door made her nervous, and frankly she wasn’t above commanding Spike to light his butt on fire again.

“I… erhm…” The Prince had an odd, dark ring around his neck where the fur was mussed. If Twilight didn’t know better, she would’ve thought that he’d been put in a violent headlock recently. But, she did know better. Blueblood didn’t do much in the ways of physical activity other than horn fencing. “Erhm…” his ears were down, and his eyes were racing back and forth like he was trying to find words. “I… I…” he paused a moment. Grunting in frustration, he sighed. “Erhm, one moment, please.” Blueblood reached and, with some strength, shut the door on himself. Twilight blink-blinked, a little caught off guard. “Come on, you idiot!” she heard him say, muffled, through the door. She cocked an eyebrow and tilted her head. “Put it aside—something nice---!” she couldn’t hear all he was saying, but it did strike her as odd that he’d shown up only to shut her door in his own face. Usually, that was something she did on her own.

Leaning, Twilight magicked the door open a little. “Are you okay?” she asked with a troubled frown. She saw him with his horn and forehead on a nearby column. “What happened to your neck, anyway?”

“Do’re not sum pize.” Blueblood honked, for his nose was pressed into the cold marble.

“Sorry?” The purple mare asked, leaning. “Are you sick? Do you need help?”

“No no, I’ll be okay!” he shuffled upright, coughing loudly and trying to look presentable again. Princes had to be Princely at all times. “I’m sorry I came to bother you, I don’t know what I was going to say!” he smiled his usual impish, unsure grin that Twilight didn’t trust. He stroked his own mane a few times to make it behave. “Ahem!” he straightened his collar a bit, for it was ruffled and open until he fixed it.

“You came to see me but don’t know what you wanna say?” Twilight frowned dubiously. “Do I need to read your mind, and put you out of your misery?”

“No!” Blueblood shrieked, lighting his horn to defend himself from mental assault. “No, please don’t!” Why was he so upset? What was eating at him? “I—I’m sorry!” he finally said, backing up submissively.

“It’s okay, it’s not that late at night…” Twilight wasn’t following. She didn’t understand what he was talking about.

Blueblood was on the spot. He’d had a whole string of nice things to say to Twilight after he’d been studying those books. According to all the books he’d been searching through, mares did like compliments. Then Princess Nightmare Moon had choked-a-stallion and he’d gone all muddled in the head. Confidence shaken and the mare of his desires staring at him as she was, he was mute for a long time. Sweating a little and giving his mane a toss, he tried to find the perfect thing to say. Something Princely. Something regal and upright. Something nice that would make Twilight Sparkle’s face light up. There had to be a good one, worthy of the purple mare. Something, something good! Something grand! Ah-hah! “You smell nice!” he blurted loudly.

Twilight Sparkle stared at him in a long, awkward silence. Then she slowly closed the door. Prince Blueblood facehoof’d so hard the clopping sound to his forehead was audible. Inside her apartment, Twilight Sparkle stared straight ahead with a very, very confused expression. What… had just happened? She heard his hoof-steps retreating away from her home, but it didn’t make her feel any more at ease.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Princess what was that?!” Nurse Bandaid wanted to know, following closely. It had taken him some time to work up the courage to speak about the choking. They’d made their way all the way across the palace, up into the astronomy tower, and upon the grand royal balcony. Nightmare Moon looked up from the semi-circle of papers on the desk around her.

“Ask not of our motivations, servant Bandaid. Even Princes should be laid low when they surround themselves with such filthy literature.” She flicked her gaze back down. Having pulled all the pages out of the pad of paper she’d been given, she was starting to arrange them in a pattern now.

“Did you have to choke him, though?” Bandaid said, pawing at the ground a little and looking glum. “I mean, he looked sorry when you found all that. Maybe you could’ve just yelled or something? Violence isn’t--!”

“If we wanted to KILL him, we could have shouted!” Nightmare Moon concussed the room with one word, shuddering the bookshelves and windowsills. It was like a roll of thunder! Bandaid was shocked into silence and said no more, wilting a bit like a kicked puppy. After a long few moments, she glanced at him again. Sighing aloud, she rolled her eyes and waved him over. He came close cautiously. “Have a look, Bandaid.” She bade him.

Bandaid leaned, peering at the pages and pages of what looked like… well, nothing at all. There were precise angled lines going every which way across them. There were small circles, crescent moon shapes, dots, lines, dotted lines, little swirl marks, occasional numbers—it was a tapestry of madness that the nurse just couldn’t make heads or tails of. “What is it?” he asked finally.

“Tiz something that Equestria has not seen in a thousand years.” Nightmare Moon smiled lovingly down at the pages. “Something not even mighty Celestia can do.” She moved a page to be next to another. Bandaid saw some of the lines line up. It wasn’t just lots of pages, it was actually a bigger picture. Knowing there had to be an order to the madness, the stallion scratched his head. “Does it look familiar, servant?” she asked with a light chuckle. Bandaid frowned, and shook his head once or twice. She scowled a little, but did not voice her annoyance. Of course he would not know it, it was intricate and beyond his poor mortal mind. “Fair enough. Thou shalt see soon enough.” She glanced to one side, out the window, and cocked her head. It was turning dusk outside. The black alicorn rose from her seat and went to the balcony doors. The two guards opened them for her and she stepped outside. She wondered… staring up at the slowly greying sky, she looked down at her gilded hoof. Could she… maybe?

“Are you alright Princess?” Bandaid leaned around her a little, frowning in a troubled way. “I know you’re upset that you’re not fully healed yet, but it takes time! It does! Six weeks was a miracle in and of itself. It’s probably because you’re an alicorn, really, but you’re not back to one hundred percent yet.”

Nightmare Moon looked over at her nurse. His handsome face was laced with concern and his eyebrows were bunched together into a rather adorable expression. She reached over and patted his head twice. “Neigh, I am fine, Bandaid.” She tilted her head back and watched the sun slowly descend beyond the horizon. She could feel it slipping into subspace, the place between places. There was quiet. No stars ignited. No moon rose. Was Celestia waiting somewhere, to see if she would try it? She wondered… frowning, she reared up and put her front hooves on the balcony railing. The earth pony stallion next to her opened his mouth to object, but she’d already tilted her head down in concentration.

Canterlot hummed quietly, like a distant and silvery tuning fork. The stretch of her endless, web-like consciousness slipped into the breeze. Nightmare Moon lit her horn slowly as he chin lowered to her chest. Ancient magicks crackled across her being, startling Bandaid back. A phantom breeze blew his mane one way. Her wings opened like quiet antennae, dark magic arcing back and forth between them. She grit her teeth a little as she touched her celestial symbol, the moon. It was a cool, white thing, just beyond the horizon. The tuning fork sound got louder and louder, and the nurse began to back away. Rings of dust pulsed away from the dark alicorn as she revved up her magic once more.

“Obey me.” Nightmare Moon squeezed her eyes closed, clenching her fangs together. “Obey me.” She said more insistently, tugging at the moon herself. So hard was she clenching her teeth, her cheeks vibrated. Straining hard, powerfully, against the massive object, she reared and thrust her front hooves high. Her wings extended to their full black, apocalyptic span. She threw her head back, drawing on the deepest wells of her power. “Obey me!” she commanded shrilly. “Rise!”

Nothing happened.

Nightmare Moon strained and pressed, heaved and pulled at the moon. The white orb would not move. Then quite suddenly the Princess fell into a coughing fit, falling forward and holding herself. The spell of awe on her nurse suddenly broke. “Princess!” Bandaid rushed forward and she leaned on him. “What did we say about straining like that?!” he said, pulling her to put her weight on him. She hacked and coughed animatedly, holding her aching sides as her horn’s glow sputtered out into nothing. Well of course she couldn’t move the moon. She could barely choke somepony. Cursing herself, she gestured with a hoof to be led back inside. She sighed inwardly when she felt her sister raising the moon a few moments later. Panting loudly and shaking her head at the guards that came rushing to her aid, she flopped onto a fancy couch. Nurse Bandaid loudly fussed over her for a long time, reminding her how fragile she was—how weak she was compared to her former glory—how badly she could re-injure herself if she didn’t do as the doctor told her.

“Thou art as fussy as a midwife, servant.” Nightmare Moon informed him with a smirk, laying on her belly and stretching out. “Tend to our wings instead, some of the feathers itch.” She commanded.

Nurse Bandaid was a little taken aback by such an intimate command. One didn’t simply preen a princess’ wings! Plus, he was an earth pony. He didn’t know how to—well no, yes he did. He was miserable about the thought. All nurses were taught to preen winged patients that were in comas so that infections in the roots didn’t set in. He knew exactly how to preen feathers. Gulping and trying to steel himself as a medical professional, he nodded his assent and approached. Sitting on his haunches, he gingerly extended one of the royal wings. Touching here and there with medical hooves, he found a loose feather and pulled it with his teeth. The Princess flinched, but then gave an audible purr. That one had needed to come out, definitely. The pinprick of itching subsided into a warm feeling. Bandaid turned one of the lamps up so he could get a better light. Black feathers during the night were hard to examine. Squinting over his charge, he spent a long time finding the bad or damaged feathers. She’d lost a lot since her arrival and since her physical therapy started.

Princess Nightmare Moon’s rapid molting was a good thing, though. It showed the body was repairing itself, casting out bad parts. A little food here and there, and it had attempted new feathers. But then when actual, real food had been given, it had restarted and put real effort into more new feathers. “Beautiful.” Bandaid murmured before he could stop himself. Nightmare looked at him out of the corner of her eye, frowning, but said nothing.

She turned about on the couch, so he could see to her other wing. “Fetch us a chalice of fine wine, guard.” Nightmare Moon bade one of the nearby armored ponies. “Yon healer has skilled hooves, I shalt be on this couch for some time.” She gestured. The guard nodded, saluted, and turned to make it so.

“No don’t!” Bandaid said, turning. The guard hesitated, looking back at him. “You’re not allowed to drink, remember? You’re still recovering.”

Nightmare Moon baulked at him. “We can do as we please, thank thou.” She said with a scowl. We’ve just returned and have been released from medical captivity. We’ve a mind to enjoy the finer things of life as we are being fussed over.”

“I-I’m responsible for you! Please!” Bandaid said, ears turning down into a mournful expression. He couldn’t exactly tell a goddess no, but he had to try. “Doctor Heart Starter said no drinking, sex, or straining!” his face was rather pink at the list he had to voice.

“He doth take all the fun things out of life, the leech.” Nightmare Moon grumped, flopping down on the couch. “Very well. Belay my last command, soldier,” She said off-handedly. The guard nodded and returned to his post. “My nurse forbids it of me.” She poked fun at him just a little. Seeing his relieved flustered expression, alicorn mischief rose in her eyes. “But the moment we art free of such restrictions, thou shalt be fetching me all the drink and sex thou can gather. Understood?”

“Princess! Don't be a hypocrite!” Bandaid blurted, turning scarlet. Nightmare Moon threw her head back in a throaty and diabolical laugh, slapping the edge of the sofa once or twice. One guard smirked silently at the other. They liked this new Princess. She was funny… if a little terrifying.

End of Part 5

Aching

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 6: Aching

Celestia awoke with Nightmare Moon slowly curling into her. “Nightie…?” she whispered softly, ears lifting. Nightmare Moon’s draconic-pupil’ed gaze shifted to her sister, and she made a jerking motion with her head. The milky alicorn looked up in time to see a male nurse leave the room and shut the door quietly. His hoof-steps didn’t travel far, for Celestia knew the bench outside her chambers squeaked.

“Sister.” Nightmare said softly. “We… we missed thee.” Her eyes glowed in the blackness, woeful and a little tired. “We were preened a bit, and wished to lay with thee until the dawn?” it came out like a question.

“O-of course.” Celestia lifted one of her wings, sidling over on the massive bed to make more room. She could feel her sister’s thin frame press into her side, cool and black as the night she commanded. Celestia was white and much warmer, often the subject of bed-time jealousy in their eons-ago fillyhoods. But it made for wonderful snuggles, even to that night. “Are you well, little sister?” she checked under her wing and laid her head down.

“We art emaciated, bald, and grumpy.” Nightmare Moon said snootily, sticking her tongue out. Celestia giggled aloud, pressing her wing down over her sister’s head. The daytime Princess pulled the sheets a bit so they could hide from the darkness, briefly lighting her horn to pull the curtains around her bed closed. Ponies might get the wrong idea if they wandered in to find the Royal Sisters in bed together. “I was preened a bit this night, so… less feathers once more.” She folded her wings carefully so she wasn’t poking Celestia with them. Laying on her side at last, Celestia pulled Nightmare Moon to her breast and sighed loudly. The black alicorn froze awkwardly, taking in her sister’s scent. She smelled of soft soaps and quiet vanilla. Slowly, Nightmare closed her eyes and melted into her sister’s embrace. “C…Cellie…” she whispered into her sister’s chest.

There was a long, quiet affection between them. Though it had been little more than six weeks since Nightmare’s return, they’d had so, so little time to just be sisters. In the primordial era they’d always had eachother’s embrace, and only now were they truly returning to it after a thousand years of silence.

Did you miss me, sister, Nightmare’s hugs said.

Yes, yes of course--- every day, Celestia’s nuzzling said.

Please, please forgive me—I’ve missed you so, Nightmare’s quiet whimpers begged.

Shhhh-sh-shhh, sissie is here, shhh—Celestia’s tighter embrace and gentle nibbling assured.

It was a quiet, wordless, loving sort of thing that few ponies would recognize anymore. A passerby might think them lovers, but no, theirs was a connection only ancient beings like they could grasp. Boundless and unconditional love. Unbridled by embarrassment or public scrutiny, they warmed the bed with quiet sighs. Twas not sexual, no, merely what happens when two goddesses embrace with love. Hidden away from mortal eyes, Nightmare could quietly croon and be fussed over by a being as old as she, and not feel any need to put up shields or defenses. Her sister loved her, she’d been welcomed home—cared for—loved again by her little ponies—oh Faust—

Nightmare and Celestia slept in quiet embrace like two perfect, entwined swans. Their massive wingspans helped cover each other along with the sheets, and for the first time in an age Nightmare Moon slept during the night. Relief had filled her body, and then weighed it down for slumber. Celestia had never slept more deeply in the past thousand years.

The Next Morning…

Shining Armor nodded politely to the two guards posted at Celestia’s chamber door, cocking an eyebrow at the stallion asleep on the nearby bench. He was a handsome thing with a bandage on his flank. A medical pony? Why was he sleeping there? He made a silent gesture, nodding towards the stranger. “Princess Nightmare Moon’s private nurse.” said the guard on the left. Ah, so that was it.

Straightening his breastplate a bit and removing his helm as was polite, the Captain of the guard cleared his throat a bit. He’d not met Princess Nightmare yet, so this was a very big moment for him. He’d heard she was a strange black alicorn with demon fangs and a bald head, but he knew well enough to roll his eyes at such silly rumors. Approaching the double door, he knocked firmly and then entered as was customary for him some mornings. Being the Captain of the Guard, it was he who greeted Celestia in the mornings sometimes to make a brief report and wish her a good sunrise. (Several ponies shared this honor, he was just one of them).

“Good morning, Princess Celestia!” said the stallion, bowing to the close-curtained bed. “It’s Captain Shining Armor, with your morning report!” he stood stock still, perhaps three lengths from the bed.

“Mhhh!” said a grumpy voice from inside the curtains. The sound of a mare not wanting to rise.

“Er, I saw Princess Nightmare Moon’s hoof-nurse outside. Is she here with you?”

“Mhh!” said the same grouchy voice. There was some shifting in the sheets, and Shining Armor saw the vague shape of a massive wing lifting up to stretch before it flopped noisily back down again.

He dropped his salute, standing there a little awkwardly. “Princess Celestia?” an invisible sort of magnetism drew the stallion towards the bedside. The same that makes a horror-movie character go down the basement stairs or look in the dark closet. Gulping a little at the long, pregnant silence, he leeeeeeaned forward with one hoof. “P… Princess?” he whispered, like he was expecting to be sprung upon. Turning his ears back and narrowing his eyes, he slowwwwly pushed back the bed curtain. “FWAH!?” He was grabbed up by darkness and hauled into the bed by strength immeasurable!

“Ohhh, sister this one is handsome.” Nightmare Moon was holding the massive, armored stallion up as though he weighed nothing in a brief show of strength, before dropping him to the mattress. Shining Armor froze in mortal terror. In bed. With the Royal Sisters. Oh Faust, his heart! The poor stallion started to hyperventilate. “May we have him?” she rolled Shining Armor onto his back to paw at his chest a little greedily.

Celestia lifted her head with a smirk, sleep still in her beautiful eyelashes. She batted them a couple of times. “I think Captain Shining Armor is spoken for, sister. He’s engaged.”

“But not married?” Shining Armor looked over in time to see a bald, fanged alicorn lean over him like a piece of meat. He squirmed as he was eyed up.

“Nightmare, please.” Celestia chuckled good-naturedly. “He’s going to have a heart attack, release him.” She made a mild gesture.

“Poo.” Nightmare flopped down again, the icy grip of her magic releasing the white stallion at last. “Thou still needs to show me to thy harem.” She grumped as Shining Armor crawled for his life. Celestia watched him go with alicorn mischief glittering in his eyes. This was nothing if not just a little bit funny. The stallion tumbled off the bed, all four legs bicycling into the air as he comically righted himself.

“P-P-Princess Nightmare Moon, nice to meet you, at last!” He was backing away rapidly, until there was some good distance between himself and the bed. If ANYPONY had seen him just now, pressed between two goddesses, ohhh the rumors! The scandal! He bowed deeply to hide his flushed face.

“I don’t have a harem anymore, sister, I told you this.” Celestia rose, nodding to the Captain’s bow so he could rise. “Several times.”

“We know. But we enjoy ribbing thou.” Nightmare rose on achy legs, then fell over with a yip. “Curse mine weak body!” she grunted, squirming to turn and use the bed to rise. Her legs rattled back and forth like the thin, spindly things that they were.

“Oh, let me help!” Shining Armor’s honor sent him forward on autopilot and he used a strong hoof to help the black alicorn onto her hooves. “There! All… better?” despite being white-furred he still went a little pale when she smiled with all her fangs at him. “They really are…” he mumbled, staring at them.

“Thank thee, chivalry it seems, has some sliver of survival in this odd era.” Nightmare Moon nodded, stretching in a very achy way.

Celestia rose. “Your report, Captain.” She said gently, shaking her mane until the solar winds of the universe caught it and made it blow again. Shining Armor tore his eyes away from the giant canines in Nightmare’s mouth and coughed loudly, saluting and parting his lips to obey. Nightmare decided then was a good time to slip out.

Stepping out into the hallway and stretching once more, she saw her nurse laying curled up on a bench. “Rise, hoofservant. We journey elsewhere.” She said groggily, prodding him with a hoof. She was not all the way awake in mind and body yet, so it made her a little crabby. Nurse Bandaid moaned, sore and restless in his sleep. He’d camped out there on the bench, waiting for his charge to re-emerge. “Rise, hoofservant.” Nightmare said a little louder. She yawned with an unfurling, forked tongue. “We journey to my chambers, perhaps, to bed still.” She squinted distastefully at the sunbeams coming into the corridor from the massive windows. She didn’t like to be in sunlight, it made her very uncomfortable. The sleeping stallion groaned again, turning over. Growling a little and lifting her jowls, the Princess loomed over him like a great black shadow. “We commandeth thee—rise!” she BIT him right on the ass, sinking her fangs into him!

“AAAAIEEEEE!” Nurse Bandaid jerked like he were struck by lightning! He tumbled off the bench, bleeding two twin strands of blood down his flank. “My flank!” he cried, holding himself. “You bit me!” he gaped at her in horror, for when he looked up she was licking her reddened fangs a bit.

“Eat less sweets, Nurse Bandaid, thy blood is fraught with sugar.” Nightmare Moon informed him. He went a little pale at this. As though he would obey and make himself taste better for her! She watched him quickly fetch a bandage from his saddlebag of medical supplies, patching himself after quickly wiping the wound.

“Please don’t bite me anymore…?” he wilted before her slit-pupiled gaze. Bandaid whimpered a little, as though expecting to be eaten on the spot.

“Ignore us less.” Nightmare Moon said, turning her muzzle up at him. “Come, we return to mine chambers.” She started shakily down the hall, trying to be easy on her slender little legs. He followed, sore in the rump thanks to her.

There was a long silence. All who remained were the twin-armored stallions standing guard on either side of the door to the royal bedroom. One guard looked at the other. “You know, we guard doors for a living and we see some of the weirdest shit—”

“Eyes forward, private.” said the other stallion, though his mouth was turned up in a smirk of amusement.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Nightmare and Nurse Bandaid came to a large, angular archway. The door had been torn off and replaced, and the hall beyond furiously cleaned. “Ah, our home, at last.” The dark Princess whispered.

Bandaid cocked his head as they crossed the threshold. There were no windows, only tiny lights, and the floor was black marble. It was beautiful, in an intimidating sort of way. Just like the Princess he looked after. “What is this place? I’ve never seen it before.”

“The Obsidian Hall.” Nightmare Moon said reverently, stopping to stroke a column. “Our personal apartments, office, and chambers.” There were seven or eight doors in the long hall. “It is an off-shoot of the palace built into the mountain so that pesky sunlight may never touch it. Mine balcony is only meant for raising the moon.”

Bandaid could hear their hoof-steps echoing slightly. He looked up at the portraits on the walls. Nightmare with Celestia. Nightmare surrounded by the moon and stars. Nightmare dressed in armor. Nightmare surrounded by handsome stallions, draped on a big pillow. Plenty of self-celebration. He wrinkled his nose a little. “It’s… different.” He said carefully.

The Princess came to a stop in front of the far door. She lifted a hoof, resting it slowly on the cool mahogany door. “Our room.” She mumbled, a somber expression coming over her. Her nurse could see she was seeing the past, and watched her hoof slid down to press it open. Eeeeeehhhh, whined the door. They peered inside with perked ears. Darkness greeted them. As soon as the Princess crossed the threshold, a silver lining of runes ignited around the threshold. A hearth over twenty feet wide exploded into flame, scaring the nurse and making him run to her side like a frightened puppy. Wherever she walked, the Princess seemed to activate automatic room functions. Curtains closed themselves. The large writing desk opened. A massive table unfolded out of the wall. The bed pulled its sheets back. The vanity unfolded its compartment arms, tilting its mirror back and forth. It was as if the whole place were possessed and greeting her Majesty! “We are sure you’ll forgive the massive fire, Bandaid.” Nightmare said over her shoulder, going to a sofa and climbing up into it. It was high-seated, like a symposium platform. “We prefer a hot chamber to a cool one, unlike our sister.”

“It’s… very different.” Nurse Bandaid mumbled, slowly putting his bag down.

Nightmare lounged on the sofa in front of the fire, peering about the room. “Replica… replacement… new… replica…” she was studying each piece of furniture, every trapping, even the rug on the floor. “It seems all of our things were eaten by time herself. Pity.” She sighed. She cocked her eyebrow at the closet and it sprang open violently. Empty.

“Are you comfortable?” Bandaid was glad she’d finally decided to settle and rest. Coming over, he lifted one of her wings to check it for new feathers. There were a few sprouting. “Hm.” He mumbled. “Not as many as I’d like.” He frowned a little. Going over to his medical pack, he took a little flat instrument out. “Say ahh?” he asked. She obeyed, and he looked about in her mouth. Then he checked her hooves, her pulse, her blood pressure, and many other things. “Your mane is growing back, just a little.” He smiled. “I can see some frizz coming in.” he ran a playful hoof on her head. She scowled at him, and he smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I know it’s a touchy topic.”

“Indeed.” Nightmare said with a frown.

Bandaid checked the color of her belly, the sheen of her fur, and the flexibility of her Royal muzzle. When this got more and more fangs pointed at him, he finally stopped. “W-well, you seem stable for the moment. Maybe you can settle with a book for a few hours? Or I can fetch you a snack or something? I have more vitamin juice, actually, I’d like you to drink that before day’s end…” he trailed off, going through his saddlebags. “Where did it go?” he frowned.

“Mh?” Nightmare Moon said innocently, laying on her back and watching him while he searched. Perched between her two hooves was a juice box with medical markings all over it. She sucked hard on the straw, making empty juice box sounds. He looked up, a little startled. Troll’d. The nurse face-hoof’d a little and she smiled with her eyes. When had she…? Guh. Ah well, at least she was drinking it. That’s what mattered. “There.” She tossed the empty juice box into the hearth, where the fire snapped it up like it was alive. “Hath thou contented thyself with all thy poking and prodding?” she wanted to know, smirking. “Or is closely examining defenseless, sickly mares what excites thee?” she grinned playfully at him, wiggling an eyebrow.

“I-I-I! Th-that’s not--!” Bandaid looked completely taken aback at her.

Nightmare Moon threw her head back in a great, bellowing laugh, falling back onto the couch. “We jest with thee, hoof-servant!” she assured him. His painful smile finally ended her laughter after a bit, and she rubbed a happy tear from her eye. “But, we shalt not abuse thee always. Come, we shalt instead share a great secret with thee.” She pointed to her saddlebags, which had been moved to the room recently. “Go and get my stack of papers. You know the ones.” He obeyed, and brought them to her after fishing them out of the fat bags. “Ahem.” She took them gently and lit her horn with some effort. “Surely…” she gritted her teeth with great effort. “Surely we can manage a static charge. Hynnn!” her horn crackled, hummed, crackled again. “Ah, there we are!” The stack of papers before her were possessed by her magic at last, and hovered into the air. Moving like a ghostly fleet through the air, they arranged themselves into a grand, grid-like pattern and attached themselves to the wall. “Look upon my genius.” She said at last, smiling broadly.

Bandaid went to the wall. He’d seen these drawings before. All of the lines and angles and numbers… now was the first time seeing the entire picture, but it still didn’t make much sense to him. “Is it… artwork?” he asked, turning to look back at her.

“The greatest of artworks.” Nightmare agreed, gesturing. “Tiz my design for the new night sky, when my powers return enough to mold it again.”

“Can you do that?” Nurse Bandaid asked, astounded. “I thought you were the Princess of the Moon? You can move the stars too?”

“I am the Princess of the night, stallion.” Nightmare corrected him. “I oversee all things night-oriented.” She gestured mildly back and forth as she grocery-listed things. “Moon, stars, tides, fertility, death, wine… many things.”

“That’s a lot to be in charge of!” The stallion gaped at her, impressed. “You did all that, back in your… era?” he said, touching one of the pages on the wall a little gingerly.

Nightmare’s eyes softened a little. “…Yes.” She looked up at the grand design. “Tiz merely a sketch, though. When we are back to full strength, the night shall be more glorious than thou can imagine…” she whispered in a reverant voice. “Luna herself does not yet obey me, but as my strength returns, so she shall—and the stars as well.” She smiled, curling her hoof into a powerful gesture. Bandaid looked up at the massive, complex design and just trying to see it for what it was. He sighed when he saw he couldn’t. He would have to wait for the real thing, and that was going to be awhile. Nightmare’s horn lit again, and she coughed aloud. Too much magic. The pages fell in a massive scattering, all over the floor. Bandaid rushed about to collect them before the living fireplace got any bright ideas about burning paper. When he brought them back to her, she smiled softly and wiped her lips a bit from her cough. “Thank thee.” She mumbled, putting them away. She flicked her eyes to his rump. “Forgive us for biting, we should not have.”

“Oh, uh… s’alright.” Bandaid smiled a little bashfully, wiggling his flank a little. “It’ll be okay in a day or two. You didn’t tear anything, so the skin will close up right away.” He nodded with a smile. There was a long silence, and he sat in front of the couch while she quietly pawed through the stack of papers to check her angles and figures for the hundredth time.

Nightmare stretched out a bit on the couch with a throaty moan. “Our legs hurt us and we fell down when rising from our sister’s bed this morn.” She told him, not looking up from the papers. “When shall our legs be strong again?”

“W-well, you’ve been up and about quite a bit, and you’ve been in physical therapy for a while, maybe they just need more time.” Bandaid said. The response wasn’t very helpful. “But if they’re aching you, maybe I can help with that. I bet it’s the long tendons.” He knelt down at the far end of the couch, taking one of her massive hooves into his own.

Nightmare gave a slight start. Such a forward thing, mare-handling her back legs like that! She watched him, over the edge of her paper stack, work his firm hooves along the backs of her lower legs. She watched him coax, massage, and bend the limb back and forth until it was soothed in a warm and pleasant feeling. It felt like floppy dough in his expert touch, and she allowed a small purring sound. Laying her head down, she decided she could read perfectly well sideways. “Tiz… nice. Thank thee.”

“Mhm!” he smiled, staring intently at his work. “You’ve got such long, slender legs, there’s a lot to work with and strengthen up!” He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.

A black chuckle rose from Nightmare’s throat. “Why stallion, such appreciation for my litheness?” she said playfully. “Pray, touch me more!” His hooves JUMPED off of her like she were a live wire and he scowled at her. Hiding her face behind her papers, she chuckled again and then quieted herself. It was only after a long time of her being good that he returned to his work on her. If he could get the circulation going better, maybe it would help her aches… yeahhh…

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Twilight Sparkle?” Prince Blueblood said softly, from a safe distance from her study table.

Twilight turned and looked at him over the rims of her thick reading glasses. “Huhm?” she said, cocking her head. “Oh it’s you, Prince Blueblood.” She said. He noticed her voice was not filled with its usual distaste, but rather an awkward sort of ‘hi there’ ring. “What brings you here?” 'You smell nice!' hung pretty plainly in the air between them, but neither voiced it.

“W-well I wanted to ask you about something.” He turned and produced a flyer from his saddlebag, levitating it over to her. “The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up, you see, and—”

“No.” said Twilight flatly, pushing it back.

“Let me finish, please.” He said, ears turning down and eyes going soft. “I’ll let you alone after, I promise!” Twilight sighed a little, pulling her reading glasses off her face. “The Grand Galloping Gala is coming up, and its required that you come with an escort if you’re of noble blood, yes?”

“I’m not of noble blood.” Twilight said, tilting her head.

“W-well I am, you see, and I don’t really know many mares…” he smiled in a bashful sort of way. “N-now, I know you’re not that fond of me, and you’ll be spending that entire evening with Princess Celestia—but perhaps we could arrive together?” he asked her. “I would leave you be if you liked.”

Twilight calculated in the back of her head. Every single year she was often bombarded by requests by perfect strangers. Eager stallions (and sometimes mares!) that just wanted to be near royalty, or see the Grand Galloping Gala for themselves. She was never pleased, and always sour that time of year because she always had to spend precious study time turning them all down and away. She was the Princess’ protégé, she was always spending the Gala next to her mentor! She didn’t have time for a date. BUT, here was Blueblood, offering to take the spot… and NOT bother her for a hundred dances, or showing her off to other nobles, or anything? He’d leave her alone? “I wouldn’t mind being spoken for, for that evening. It would keep other suitors off my back…” she stroked her chin, seriously considering.

“Then, perhaps at night’s end, we might share just one dance?” the Prince pushed his luck a little. Twilight stared at him sharply. “I’d leave you with the Princess all evening, perhaps on your way out?” he begged.

“Hmm.” Twilight considered again. He really was taking a lot of mess off of her shoulders, serving as eachother’s escort could be mutually beneficial. She imagined all the turning-down letters she wouldn't have to write. All the free time with the princess…? One dance wouldn’t hurt. “Alright.” She smiled a little. “I think we could do that.”

Blueblood’s face lit up like Hearth’s Warming had come early. “Ah! Excellent!” he tossed his golden mane with a grand smile. “I’ll pick you up a half-hour before the Gala begins, and escort you there in my chariot!” he made sure the flyer was on the table so she wouldn’t forget, and turned on his heels.

Twilight looked at the flyer again. It was of a mare and stallion bowing to each other before a dance, with a few musical notes around them. “Hmm.” she said again. Maybe it wouldn’t be so painful after all.

As soon as Blueblood was away, he quickly pressed himself between the stacks and spied at Twilight Sparkle. She’d tucked the flyer in a saddlebag and had gone straight back to studying... whatever she was studying. Ah! He should’ve asked her what she was reading. That would’ve at least drawn the conversation out a bit. His hoof wandered on the shelf for a bit and plucked a book, wondering if perhaps he could study something to impress her. His eyes flicked down at the title. A baking book. Bah, he could already bake. He returned his gaze to Twilight, stroking his chin a little. Beautiful thing… for a time, he forgot about his family line and about his mission’s means-to-an-end. The purple mare had a sharp mind, he really did like that. Even his best negotiating had drawn sharp, wordless criticism from her. With a powerful razor mind like that, she really was just a little bit intimidating. And he… liked that? He frowned, catching himself. Why? It was the stallion’s job to be in charge, wasn’t it? No, herd instinct bade that mares were the ones in charge. His noble upbringing clashed hard with the books he’d been reading, which clashed hard with his natural herd instincts. “Hynn…” he rubbed the bridge of his muzzle a little. This was getting a little complicated. It was well over an hour before he remembered that he’d originally started pursuing Twilight Sparkle for magical-power-breeding purposes. Huh. One didn't just forget that sort of thing. Maybe he was ill. It was early October, after all.

End of Part 6

Eating

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my hero, HoovesLikeJagger. I loved “Robotic Stallion Big Lugnut” so muuuch!

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 7: Eating

Blueblood mixed his concoction fiercely, turning the batter over and over with a levitating whisk. Grumbling, he rolled his eyes and took the whisk into his hoof instead. It was much better to do it by hoof instead of with magic. A bit of the batter splashed up onto his coat, but he hardly cared. The kitchen was a place that a Prince like he could be fierce and passionate, like a piano player or a fencer. And while he did horn fence, his heart was hardly in it most of the time. But baking, ah, baking was an art form he could get behind. Besides, he was a big stallion and he liked to feed himself, thank you very much. He had servants in and around his royal apartments, but now and then he threw all of their flanks out of the eatery and took it over. This evening was one such time. It wasn’t as though the royal kitchens were needed twenty-four seven.

It wasn’t fluffy enough, it needed more air to keep it like. Thick batter wasn’t good enough. Sneaking just a little bit of water into it, he continued to mix and froth the giant bowls contents until it was nice and light. The blonde-maned stallion became aware of a presence nearby. “Yes, Tombs?” he said in a tired way, slowing his mixing so he could hear.

The grey-furred butler bowed deeply. “Sire, just coming to check on you. It’s always so odd to see you putting on a chef’s hat and well… all this.” The mustached stallion with a mixing canister on his flank said. Tombs’ special talent was mixing drinks, but it certainly came up in his job as a butler now and then.

“It takes my mind off things.” He turned and very gently poured the fluffy batter into the proper pan. Cocking his head, he pulled an oven open slightly to check it was pre-heated.

“The usual rounds of charity calls,” Tombs held up a silver platter with a stack of mail on it. “A few bills, invitations to a local country club, and seven invites to the Grand Galloping Gala next week.”

“Oh good Faust, unsolicited Gala invites again this year?” Blueblood rolled his eyes. “Throw those things out, Tombs, we talked about this.” He tossed his mane haughtily, though he didn’t look very Princely with a smudge of flour on his face. Getting a flat tool, he began to coax his batter to smooth very, very gently. Squinting at it seriously, he grabbed a pin and popped a pesky bubble that was rising in it. “Send the bills to the secretaries as per usual, and throw away the country club garbage as well. I’m already in horn fencing and debate clubs.” He opened the oven all the way and lit his horn. Carefully, he levitated his creation to the center shelf of the oven. Closing it, he let out a long whewww, and flopped onto a stool.

Tombs tossed what needed to be tossed into a nearby waste bin, twisting his mustache a bit. “Quite.” He said with a dutiful nod. “And the, ah, charity calls?”

“The usual anonymous donations. Education-centered charities only.” Blueblood said, washing his hooves in a sink and then getting his saddlebag from under the counter. “Four figures, divided equally among the ones in the stack there that meet that requirement.” He pulled out a notebook, pencils, and a stack of books.

“If I may, sire, why not donate to a hospital now and then, or something similiar?” Tombs ventured gently, going through and finding three envelopes in the stack that the Prince had deemed worthy.

“Hospitals always need money to buy the shiniest new machines, Tombs. Or to build another wing, or to pay their surgeons just a bit more.” Blueblood said, flicking his gaze at his servant with a stern frown. “I could give them every bit I had and they would only want more.” His butler stared at him for his rather blunt reasoning. True though it was, it did sound a little… gruff? “A foal, however,” Blueblood peered down to check on his creation in the oven window, “Needs only a good start, and he can provide for himself for a lifetime. A free education is worth more than the couple of thousand bits I throw in to make it happen.”

“…perhaps that’s something to tell Twilight Sparkle?” Tombs said quietly. He’d heard of the Prince’s latest ventures, word travelled fast in the castle. “That you donate such charities with your monies?”

“No!” he said angrily, rising. “You go too far! Away with you!” he snapped, pointing. Tombs wilted back, stuttering an apology and excusing himself. When the door closed, Blueblood sank back into his stool with a growl. One did not donate to charity merely to brag to others about it. That defeated the purpose. Since he was old enough to control his own royal coffers, he’d given every year to educationally-based charities. Though, always anonymously. If word ever got out he was throwing money at foals by the hoof-full, he would never hear the end of it. They would come in droves asking for a hand-out, without end. He’d be broke in mere weeks. Grumbling about his butler’s intrusive foolery, he returned to his studies. With his cake-to-be in the oven, he would have a long while to read and formulate his latest strategy to impress Twilight Sparkle.

Using the counter to open a semi-circle of books, the Prince flipped open his latest selections from the Canterlot Library. It was quite a spread, perhaps a bit more appropriate than the last set:

What Mares Want by T.A.W.
Impressin’ Your Mare With Your Sweet Dancin’ Style by Jagger Hooves
The Right Time for the Right Compliment by Sweet Talker
Romancing the Modern Mare by Match Maker
Proper Etiquette for the Proper Stallion by Noble Cause

Going to the etiquette book and flipping a few pages, he furrowed his brow and mumbled the words quietly. His pencil occasionally lifted by magic and scribbled. Blueblood checked his cake now and then, very protective that it didn’t burn. Turning to the Modern Mare book, he read aloud, “The modern mare considers herself complete equal to her stallion, if not higher. Herd mentality dictates that the alpha mare was in charge, and a stallion must understand that there are times to be in charge, and times to bow down to the fairer sex.” He stroked his chin a little as he said this. “Hm.” Touching the page with his hoof, he continued. “It is a stallion’s duty to understand that a mare is capable, but also be able to back her up if there is something she cannot do alone. A supportive role without taking over the situation is key, to when the heart of the one you want is at stake. Let her understand you wish to be near, but not crowd her. Offer help, do not force it on her.”

The Prince frowned over the article, unsure about it. In other words, the mares wore the pants? Pfft, that was just a little bit silly, wasn’t it? After all, he was in charge of his own household! …then again, Equestria was run by two immortal god-Princesses. Female rulers. He sat back a moment, tapping his pencil, and then went over to What Mares Want. Running his hoof through his mane a few times, he chanced a glance at his saddlebag. Another book waited for him there, and it was full of his family lineage. His ancestors expected him to find a powerful mare to bring into the fam—he flipped the bag closed. Weary of the thought for a few moments, he concentrated all the harder as the author called ‘T.A.W.’ told him about the ins and outs of gift-giving for mares a stallion wanted. He was over an hour into that book when a loud, bossy voice started to assault his ears.

“—care NOT if this kitchen is closed, we shalt find food in it regardless!” It was female. Powerful, and female. Blueblood felt his blood run cold. He stood so hard from his stool it tumped over. He looked around quickly, eyes wide in panick. He flipped books closed with loud snaps. “One side, servant!” the voice was getting closer. He gathered his pencils as fast as he could, stuffing them away. There was a clatter in the next room over, and some squeaky stuttering from somepony else. “Out of our way! We smell something cooking in here! Lies hath been told, that this kitchen is shut down for now!”

Blueblood whipped around, looking at the cake in the oven window. It was nearly, if not already done, and was filling the place with its pleasant smell. Oh gods! Oh Faust! What was he gonna do?! Jamming the books hard into his saddlebag, he let out a mare’s squeak when the door began to swing open. He dove under the counter, saddlebag clutched to his breast.

“Ah-HAH!” it was Nightmare Moon’s massive hooves that went past Blueblood as he hid there. A stallion was with her, one Blueblood didn’t recognize. “Come Bandaid, let us see what is being so secretly made here,” she opened the oven. “Cake!” the Princess said, flipping the door open all the way. “The best kind of baking!” she levitated it out, putting it on top of the oven and snapping the lid closed.

“Princess, that’s not your cake.” said the stallion boldly. “You wouldn’t steal it, would you?” he said, going to stand beside her. Prince Blueblood saw a bandaid on his flank. A medical pony? But, the bandaid had a bandaid on it, covering some minor wound on his flank. It was cutiemark-ception on his butt, the Prince pondered despite how terrified he was.

“Hyn, it is not iced yet. And the chef is absent. It would have burned.” Nightmare Moon said snootily. “Besides, we art not eating it. Merely… admiring.” The hiding Prince saw her lean, heard the deep intake of air. “Mhhhh.” She said happily. “The missing chef must be talented. We’ve not seen such smooth cake in ages!”

“I wonder where he or she went?” Bandaid said, looking around. “It’s not like a chef to just leave something in the oven and go somewhere else. I was hoping we could find a cook to make a snack for you.”

“His loss for negligence of his confection!” Nightmare Moon decided. “I shalt find a knife, and sample his unfinished work regardless!” she licked her fangs a bit, her ancient sweet tooth turning on despite the lack of icing on the cake. She peered about the room, but before she could step towards a set of drawers, her gaze fell on the counter in front of her. “Huhm?” there was a notebook there, flipped open to a page full of scribblings. “What’s this?” she said with interest. Under the counter, Blueblood was chewing his hooves and shaking like a leaf. If she found him she’d choke-a-stallion again! He just knew it!

“I bet it’s the cook’s notes.” Bandaid said, searching a series of drawers on the other side of the room. He couldn’t seem to find the cutlery. If his Princess was going to steal cake, the least he could do was make sure she wasn’t just going to stick her hooves in it.

Nightmare Moon flipped through it. “The modern mare desires…” she mumbled through a few things. “Etiquette and design…?” she frowned. Then, her eyes flicked to the bottom. “Twilight Sparkle and Prince Blueblood?!” she saw a big intricate heart drawn at the bottom surrounded by smaller hearts and little doodles. “What is this drivel?!” she threw it back to the counter. “That stallion cannot see past his own lust, how dare he pursue that delicate creature?!” she flipped a few pages, frowning as her eyes raced back and forth.

Blueblood wanted to die. He’d left his notebook out. He was so dead. She was going to track him down and hang him by the neck with her black magic, he just knew it. She knew that he’d been going after a mare before, now she knew who it was. He was so, so dead. Sweating and shaking and pulling at his collar a bit, he tried to stay as quiet as possible as the black alicorn went on through the notes.

“Gift ideas, meeting places, habits and likes— he is researching her, the sick whelp!” Nightmare said with disgust, slamming the notebook closed and throwing it to the floor-- right in front of Blueblood who kept getting paler and paler. “This shalt not stand! Hoofservant!” she turned, her wings snapping open angrily. “Forget yon cake! I have a grown stallion to gobble!” Anger fueling her power, she kicked the door down and stomped on the splinters as she left. Her jowls were up, her fangs exposed, raw spittle dripping from her mouth. “Hyssssss!” Nightmare Moon sent servants fleeing in terror at the icy aura her body emanated. Mares fainted, stallions fled, knocking things down as they went.

Nurse Bandaid stampeded after her, his face flushed with worry. “P-Princess! Please! Calm down! Remember, you’re not supposed to strain yourself and--!” the voice had faded with distance.

Blueblood slowwwwwly peeked out of his hiding spot. Shaking and trying not to pee himself, he quickly snatched up his notebook and stuffed it away. Maybe if he went out a side door, through a mud-room, he could get away. Pushing his golden mane out of his eyes, he abandoned his cake and all the rest as he slunk forward. Holding his breath, he peered out into the hallway. The coast was seemingly clear. Cantering slowly out and looking back and forth, he perked his ears for any sign of his doom. He couldn’t hear anything—until a black shadow cast itself over him.

“A chef does not wander far from his creation when he does wander, we know.” The dark, icy voice sent goosebumps up his spine. Blueblood froze in place, then gulped, slowwwly turning his head to look back at her. Standing in the shadow of a column, fangs out, was the Princess of the Night and her nurse. His mouth slowly gaped open, his pupils shrinking into dots as she started forward with authority. He was not foolish enough to stand still for her, and bolted.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Twilight! Twilight! Please, let me in!” Twilight jolted from her studies when a thundering of hooves screeched to a halt in front of her apartment and started desperately banging on her door. She frowned, brow lowering. She knew that voice. “Twilight! Twilight are you home?! Please hurry!” The purple mare’s apartment was closer than his own, and closer than Princess Celestia’s throne room. If he was going to hide, this was probably the best place. “Twiliiii—oof?!” he fell forward at her hooves when she opened the door.

“Prince Blueblood? What’s the matter?” Twilight frowned down at him as he scampered forward and into the room and past her undercarriage. “Hey!” she said angrily at his invasion. (Normally Spike would've had fangs in his backside right then, but the dragon was out on errands.) His saddlebag spilled to one side sending pencils, notes, and books everywhere.

Blueblood was on his hooves and took Twilight violently by the shoulders. “SHE’S GONNA EAT ME!” his voice crackled with some distant ghost of the Royal Canterlot Voice (Celestia’s blood, after all). Not as powerful, but certainly very loud. He slammed his hooves over his mouth, eyes in a panic, and shut the door quickly behind him. “Twilight, you must hide me! She’ll stop at nothing! She said she would gobble me up!”

“What?! Who?!” Twilight demanded, looking shocked.

“Nightmare Moon! Princess Nightmare Moon!” He said, shaking her violently until her head lolled about. “You’ve got to help me! You’ve got to hide me until she gives up searching!”

Twilight steeled herself and shoved him away. “Get ahold of yourself!” she bopped him over the head, but the Prince was inconsolable. She’d never seen him so frazzled, so panicked, so off his hinges before. Where was the regal, upright and snobby Prince? What was this shaking colt of terror?

“I c-can’t! She’s looking for me right now! She said she was going to eat me!” he seized her shoulders again. “You’ve seen her fangs, she’ll do it!”

“She’s not a cannibal, Blueblood!” Twilight said, shaking out of his hooves again. “What’s gotten into you?!” She watched the stallion fling himself across the room and shove his head under a series of sitting pillows. With his royal backside sticking out, it didn’t make a very good hiding spot. Fleeing that, he went to a bookshelf and tried to fit behind it, but it was no good. The purple mare stood stunned when he had the gall to shove himself under her bed, pull the sheets down to hide the space, and stayed there. “Hey! Come out of there!” she ran over to the bed, pulling the sheet up. “This is my bed! Get out of there!”

“Neigh! I—!”

“The scent of fear and piss stops here, hoofservant!” Nightmare Moon’s voice was suddenly outside Twilight’s door. Twilight whipped around, shocked.

“Please, Twilight, don’t let her get me!” He whispered, backing into shadow and out of sight.

“I—uhm--!” the Princess sounded angry to Twilight, and she was at an indecision. If she really was the polar opposite of Celestia, and a meat-eater, would she really… no, no that was ridiculous. Twilight refused to believe it. Maybe she could just tell her Blueblood wasn’t there, and later when they met she would be calmer? She didn’t like the idea of lying to royalty, but… hrm…

“The dwelling of Twilight Sparkle.” said the voice on the other side of the door. Bang-bang-bang, went a heavy hoof. “Twilight Sparkle! Emerge! We command thee!” Nightmare Moon demanded. Gulping, Twilight went and answered the door. “Ah! Thank goodness we find thee unmolested.” She nodded, shouldering her way into the room with a rather flustered looking stallion. Wasn’t that the nurse from the clinic. “We know he is in here, one moment.” She tilted her nose up, sniffing like a dog.

“P-princess, wh-whatever you’re angry about, surely you can just talk about it?” Twilight tried, smiling nervously as the alicorn paced about the room. She checked the pile of sitting pillows, then behind the bookcase. She really could smell fear, couldn’t she? She trailed Blueblood all around the room like the path had been laid with orange road cones. “I mean uh, whatever he’s done, I’m sure you can work it out!” she wilted back when Nightmare fixed her with a boiling gaze.

“Thou shalt thank me later, Twilight Sparkle. Our sister too.” Nightmare said. “Hoofservant! Block the exit. If the whelp flees, I wish not to chase him more.”

Blueblood cowered under the bed, wishing so very hard he’d paid more attention in teleporting class. If he could teleport, he would’ve been long gone already. But noooo, it was extra horn-fencing lessons for him, why would a Prince ever need to teleport anywhere? Well apparently when a dark, hungry goddess was hunting him down! He watched her hooves stop at the bedside, and he froze. Holding his breath, he waited.

“Princess, what do you intend to do with him?!” Twilight said a little more shrilly, cantering close as the alicorn squatted. She saw her see him. Saw her jowls rise to show him her fangs. She heard the mare-ish shriek of terror as he was hauled out into the open.

What she didn’t expect, though, was to see the black alicorn’s horn hum to life. It arc’d with black sparks, crackled, and tickled her ears like a tuning fork. The magical ‘scent’ was a little overpowering. Rain pregnant wind. Blood. Perfume. Dust. It was unlike anything Twilight had ever sensed before, and she was briefly stunned. There was visible effort on the Princess’ face as she reared up. “Lust after my sister’s protégé wilt thou?!” she demanded shrilly. “The solar herd would be ashamed! Face oblivion!” She flung the shrieking Blueblood on his back onto the bed, and zapped him with a terrible arc of dark magic. He writhed and cried out, possessed by it. Outlined in terrible purples and blacks, he felt his clothes unravel into nothing and his golden regalia burst into yellow dust. Naked, he levitated into the air and began to shrink. Shrinking down to a size even smaller than a newborn colt but keeping his adult proportions, he was almost lost on the bedspread. What was this mad magic?!

Twilight stood stunned in terror, unable to move for no reason at all. Nurse Bandaid started forward, his mouth opening to plead withi his Princess to stop this madness. Seeing him, she snapped out of it. “Princess no! Stop!”

Unheeding, Nightmare Moon seized the tiny Prince Blueblood in one hoof and brought him to her fang filled mouth. He flailed and screamed in a tiny voice as fangs rushed forward to meet him. The forked tongue came forth, wrapping around his middle. “No! No! No! Nooooo---!” Then, she gobbled him up and the stallion was no more. The purple mare jolted to a halt as Nightmare’s forked tongue ran over her lips and she swallowed. Twilight’s jaw dropped in icy, disbelieving horror. Blueblood hadn’t been lying!

“Thy virtue is safe, Twilight Sparkle. Worry not.” She told the paling mare proudly, rubbing her belly a bit. My, he’d been filling. Solar ponies were usually so light and airy. Must’ve been his diluted blood. Thankfully she hadn’t chewed, so she’d not gotten any on her fangs or in her mouth.

Twilight screamed bloody bucking murder!

End of Part 7

Belly Aches

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 8: Belly Aches

On the other side of the palace, sitting serenely on her throne conducting royal business, Princess Celestia suddenly flinched like she’d been slapped on her royal tooshie. Some light buzzing was tweaking in her ear, a frequency she’d attuned herself to the very day she’d met Twilight Sparkle. The harmonic signature of her voice, in case she should ever be in truly mortal danger. It slapped her upside the head so hard she stood, startling everypony in the throne room. “Guards!” she said, rushing down the dais. “With me!” The gold-armored stallions rushed forward, their faces etched with concern and confusion.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Twilight backed up until her butt hit her bed’s end-table, screaming in mortal terror. Nightmare watched with a wince on her face at the horrible sound. Nurse Bandaid stared in slack-jawed horror, unable to even process what he’d just witnessed.

Princess Nightmare Moon had just eaten a pony! And she was rubbing her belly like it was a good thing! “I caught the worm with lewd literature, intent on stealing thy virtue, Twilight Spar—”

The door BURST open as a pair of stallions kicked it in. The room flooded with guards, Celestia rushing in with them. “Twilight!” she gazed quickly around the room. “I heard you screaming!” she pushed past the armored stallions. Twilight ran like a foal who had the boogieman on her heels, rushing up and under the white alicorn’s undercarriage. Celestia stutter-stepped and almost fell forward as the grown mare hid under her and between her back legs. Safest at mother’s teat, as was a foal’s instinct (though they weren’t related). Apparently it stuck well through adulthood, given Celestia’s size. “Twilight, what’s happened to you?” the white alicorn tried to back up before things became too personal in front of everypony, but Twilight only hid under her and shook like a leaf.

“Sh-she ate him!” Twilight said, shaking hard. “Ate him whole!”

“Sister?” Celestia looked up, aghast. “Did you eat somepony?!” She’d instantly believed Twilight, because she knew her sister quite well. In the olden times, it was not below Nightmare to simply eat somepony as punishment for some terrible deed. It served as a reminder to those that would cross her. In THIS era, though…

“The whelp from your bloodline, Blueblood. He lusted after thy protégé.” Nightmare said, making an off-handed gesture with one hoof. “Thou art welcome.”

“Spit him out!” Celestia demanded, wings opening aggressively. There was a shift of many armored ponies, all of their faces startled. Most of them had never seen the Princess make an angry face, much less hear her with anger in her voice. “Spit him out right now!”

“We hath already swallowed.” Nightmare said snootily, looking to one side and tilting her muzzle up. “Consider it a favor, thy protégé’s purity and thy bloodline’s reputation is saved for it.”

“Nurse?” Celestia turned to Bandaid, who startled like he’d been slapped. “Didn’t you say my sister should not be consuming large amounts of food? How did she manage to eat an entire stallion?”

“She shrank him.” Bandaid said miserably, feeling more and more guilty he’d done nothing to stop her. “B-before I could even stop her.”

The alicorn mischief was already rising in Celestia’s eyes as the master chess player side of her rose up in her gaze. “The metal from the horse shoes? And his clothes? What about those? Wouldn’t that be very unhealthy for my sister’s fragile state?” She was going somewhere with this, he could tell.

Truthfully, Blueblood had been naked when he’d been… chomped, but nopony had seen his horseshoes come off. Bandaid’s face lit up suddenly. “No! No that would be terrible!” he suddenly turned and started fishing in his saddlebag.

Nightmare Moon cocked her head. She’d eaten something bad? “What dost thou mean? We have a stronger stomach than that!” she stamped a little with one hoof, startling a few guards back. Twilight Sparkle whimpered from Celestia’s undercarriage.

“Not in your weakened state!” Bandaid caught Celestia’s eye for only a split, twinkling second as he produced a dark brown bottle from his medical kit. It had a series of warning labels all over, and had a triple foal-proof seal on it. “You could get really sick from all that.” He twisted at the top with some strength, tossing it. “As your nurse, I must insist you drink this. To settle your stomach before you get sick.” He put on what was quite possibly the biggest, fakest smile anypony in the room had ever seen.

Nightmare leaned, wrinkling her nose. “More juice, hoofservant. Hhhhh,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. “Even during such drama, though art for my welfare. Admirable.” She patted his head and took the bottle. Celestia held her breath as she put it to her lips. Exactly two of the gathered guards saw the bottle’s label, and winced openly. Gulp, gulp, gulp… “A terrible flavor!” she declared, pushing it back towards her nurse. “It fizzes and burns like bad rum!” she complained, wiping her mouth animatedly.

“It’s not rum…” Bandaid stepped back a little, turning his ears back and getting a safe distance away. Celestia’s eyes lidded with a mix of both pity and relief.

Nightmare looked startled at his behavior. “Didst thou poison me?!” she demanded. “Sister how could you let him?!” she turned, demanding of her solar sibling and thrusting a hoof at her nose. “I did thou a favor getting rid of that whelp, and thou…” she trailed off suddenly, for her belly was feeling… off. Sort of fizzy, really. Like a cola that had been shaken up. “Hhhhm?” she said breathily, eyes racing back and forth.

Celestia steeled herself a little. “I can’t let you just eat somepony, Nightmare. This is a new era. I did away with the death penalty almost three hundred years ago.” She winced when the black alicorn suddenly rushed a hoof to her mouth, looking terrified.

“What did you give her?” Twilight whispered, peeking out from under her mentor’s great wingspan. “She looks like she’s gonna—”

“BLRRRRRRGH!” Nightmare suddenly vomited violently all over the floor, falling to her knees and holding her sides. “Oh Faust! Mother! Mother, my insides! BLERRRRRGH!” another fountain of sick went everywhere and the gathering of guards jumped back as the floor was covered. “My insides! My insides are on fire!” she cried out for mercy as the ipecac she’d been given boiled her stomach like a poison. It was a medical drink used to make a pony suddenly and violently vomit whatever was in their stomach. It was an excellent way to relieve poisoning, or other bad things in the belly. The black alicorn staggered about the room, clutched at the bed as she writhed in agony. “Why would you-- BLERRRRRGHHH!?” suddenly a lump of white with gold flopped wetly out onto the bed. Magic arc’d back and forth as it left her body, and Prince Blueblood’s limp form suddenly popped into existence, full-sized! Nightmare Moon flopped over, violently ill and moaning. “C---curse thee, hoofservant…” she whispered, coughing before darkness took her.

“I-I’ll get her to medical.” said Bandaid quickly. A few guards rushed forward to help. All of the others stood stock still, horrified. The Princess really had eaten somepony!

Celestia and Twilight moved forward quickly. “Is he breathing?!” The purple mare pushed his sick-covered mane out of the way, and the smell punched her in the head. Oh gods the smell! High on desperation and panic, the mare pushed his mane back and back to get to his face. She put her head to his nostrils, holding her breath. Nothing. “I-I think he’s-!” she backed up, panic rising in her eyes.

“Let me try.” Celestia came forward, leaning over him and horn aglow. “Nephew, I’m so sorry—” her eyes briefly glowed a sterile white. Bzz-zap! She jolted him with raw power. His body twitched wildly, like he’d been struck with lightning. “Blueblood, come now…” she said, zapping him again. A third time, she jolted him with raw power.

Suddenly the white stallion’s eyes shot open and he pitched onto his side to vomit right onto Celestia’s hooves. “Ohhhhh!” he moaned, holding himself and flopping onto his back.

“Blueblood! You’re alive!” Twilight came and threw her arms around his head without thinking, squeezing him.

“I think I died…” Blueblood mumbled blearily, staring up at Twilight with uncomprehending eyes. Was he dead? Was she an angel? Heaven was pretty nice if all the angels looked like Twilight Sparkle… why did heaven smell like sick? He passed out again.

“You’ll be okay nephew, I promise.” Celestia leaned, rubbing his chest gently with a hoof. The returned Prince stared up at her in confusion and shock. “I’ll have more than words with my sister Nightmare, I promise.” She turned to her guards. “See Prince Blueblood to the other medical wing, and have him checked out. Then, have him escorted home to bed. Send for a cleaning staff as well.” Celestia dished out orders to the guard stallions like it was ice cream, and they scrambled to obey. “Twilight?” she looked to her faithful student, who for some reason was still clinging to Blueblood’s head. “It’s okay…” she said gently, lowering a wing about her shoulders.

“S’not okay, Princess.” Twilight said, looking up at her with soft eyes. “Nightmare Moon just shrank him down and ate him like it was no big deal! She was so casual about it!” she turned and quivered, resting her chin on Blueblood’s forehead (the stallion melted happily). “She’s so different from you! You said she was but I had no idea!”

“I’ll…” Celestia paused for a moment, and gave a little sigh. “I’ll set her straight, Twilight, I promise.” She leaned down and quietly nuzzled the length of her faithful student’s mane. Twilight gave a little shudder of calm, but otherwise didn’t move. The Princess nodded, and guards moved forward to help Blueblood get to a doctor, get a bath, and maybe even some councilling. It wasn’t every day that somepony got eaten alive and lived to tell the tale.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Twilight Sparkle wandered Prince Blueblood’s bedroom. She’d brought him home unconscious on a cart, thanks to the help of some of the palace staff. The Blueblood estate staff received him gracefully, and the head butler (“Tombs”) had insisted she stay and rest a bit. If such drama had been going on, surely she needed a spot of tea and someplace to sit for a bit? The purple mare had agreed, and after Prince Blueblood had been tucked into his bed by a trio of maids, Twilight had been left alone with him. She studied the royal stallion’s natural habitat. A wide bookshelf with mostly untouched-looking items on it. A horn-fencing trophy. An academy graduation cap. A writing desk with plenty to write with. A bed, couch, and some tall windows. It seemed almost strictly functional, if not for the war-room table pressed to one side. On it was a strange mountain of disorganized papers, receipts, and other bits of madness that made Twilight’s OCD itch.

Taking out her glasses and making sure nopony was around, she picked up the first thing nearest to her. It was a pie recipe. She tilted her head, setting it aside. The next thing was a trio of articles about the pro’s and cons of using corn flour and wheat flour in breads. Huh. Next she found a receipt for 10,000 bits to the Education Equestria Fund. Wasn’t that a charity to send poor foals to academy? 10,000 bits, too, whoa! Twilight felt herself fluster a little. It was probably thanks to a stallion like Blueblood that mares like her had gone to academy. Celestia had paid her way through, but… it was a lot. She glanced over at the unmoving Prince with concern etched on her face. He wasn’t as shallow as she’d thought. Quickly putting the receipt down, she saw something stamped with the familiar seal of the Royal Canterlot Library. “What’s this…?” she mumbled. It was an agenda of the past two month’s check-outs and late fees. Of course a pony like Blueblood would scoff at simple late fees, so he could practically keep any book he wanted, but… the long list of titles was what made Twilight frown:

Three Dates to the Bedroom, by Smooth Talker.
When You Know She’s the One: A Stallion’s Guide to Dating and Seduction, by Arrow Heart.
50 First Date Ideas, by Con Mane.
Mare’s Delight and Stallion’s Smirk, by Sly Clop.
What Mares Want by T.A.W.
Impressin’ Your Mare With Your Sweet Dancin’ Style by Jagger Hooves
The Right Time for the Right Compliment by Sweet Talker
Romancing the Modern Mare by Match Maker
Proper Etiquette for the Proper Stallion by Noble Cause
The Complete Egghead’s Guide to Finding Your Very Special Somepony by Super Smarts
Dining With Somepony Special: A Guide by Silver Fork
The Beginner’s Book to Ballroom Dance by Tip-Tapper
How to NOT Buck Up Your First Date by Wing Mare
Mare’s Government, Stallion’s Citizenship by Municiple Engines

“What have you been up to…?” Twilight whispered, rather impressed at the long list of books. As she scanned the titles her expression went from disgusted to curious to thoughtful. There was an evolution to be seen there, just in the titles. The first few were easy to understand… the middle ones a little less dodgy… and the new ones were—“Right here.” Twilight looked up to see the stack of books on the massive table. She picked up Mare’s Government, Stallion’s Citizenship and studied the summary on the back. It was a book that explained the herd mentality of mares being in charge and why this was generally better for the world. Sexist, but generally better. The purple mare rubbed her chin a little, trying to piece it together. She wasn’t thick, she knew Blueblood really wanted her, in some form or another. But this, all this? This was a scholar’s workload and then some. “Blueblood…” she mumbled, looking over her shoulder. Was he really and truly trying to better himself? She’d always known the haughty and stuck-up Prince Blueblood, but in a few short weeks now he was seeking advice from the masters of pony relationships? What had changed? She didn’t know. Carefully putting the book back, she pondered over him with a frown. She sat next to the bed with her things.

Later…

Bueblood awoke on a bed of the softest cotton, under a comforter that bore his family seal. He was… home? He lifted his head blearily, “It’s alright, your safe.” A cool, tender hoof touched the side of his face and guided him back to the pillow. He strained his eyes a bit, for the sun was bright streaming into the windows.

“Who…?” The golden-maned stallion rasped.

“It’s me.” She said, leaning into view so he could see clearly. “Twilight Sparkle?” The Prince studied her for a long few moments. She was seated at a little travel desk next to his bed, a stack of books on one side and a little stack of ruffled papers on the other.

“Have… have you been watching over me?” he said a little meekly.

“After you were cleaned up and such at the medical wing in the palace, I had you brought straight home.” She nodded a little, speaking softly.

“Y-you didn’t have to. My room is a mess.” He confessed, turning to lay on his side with his hooves hooked over the edge of the bedspread.

“Your butler Tombs insisted I stay to rest. It’s not every day you see somepony eaten alive.” She winced as soon as the words left her mouth.

“Ah!” Blueblood quickly checked under the blankets. He was there. He was all there, he was okay. He let out a long breath of relief, sagging down into the pillows again. “I was sure I was done for.” He stared at the ceiling, then looked over at Twilight slowly. “How did I… escape?” he said delicately.

“Princess Nightmare Moon’s nurse made her throw up with some ipecac potion.” Twilight winced, trying not to smile. “My room is still being scrubbed, you should see it.” The two of them shared a laugh, their very first shared laugh. Blueblood liked the feeling, despite where he lay. He didn’t know what ipecac was, but if it was the reason he was still alive he was glad it was… a thing. Whatever it was.

“Thank you.” said the Prince in a small voice, studying his hooves.

“What for?” Twilight said, blinking.

“For saving me.” He said in an equally small voice. “You could’ve just let her, you know— digest me.” He mumbled, looking anywhere but her. “Thank you.” He said again.

Mild color found Twilight’s cheeks. “We don’t get along very well, but that doesn’t mean that I’m gonna let somepony eat you.” The purple mare said matter-of-factly. There was an awkward silence, which Twilight quickly filled with a very clinical, “How are you feeling? Dizzy? Anything?” She came to the bedside to look him over a bit.

The stallion shrank as though she might bite him. Twilight Sparkle was in his bedroom, eyeballing him. He would’ve given anything for this some weeks ago, but today it was very frightening. He wasn’t ready for such things, ancestors be damned! “Just tired, I think.” He quickly answered, eager to be away from such topics.

“Well, I’ll let you rest I think.” Twilight nodded, smiling a bit awkwardly. “If you need anything, well, you’ve got your servants I guess.” She thought better of whatever it was she was about to offer. Why was she feeling this connection to him? Was it because she’d seen him almost die? Was it the stack of book titles already banging around in her head? Something was tugging at her curiosity.

“Oh yes, my servants.” Blueblood said, coughing a bit. “They’re quite good. Tombs too.” He said.

“Oh yes, he’s really nice.” Twilight was backing up. “W-well, see you around the palace. Hope you feel better!” she turned to go.

Blueblood tried to find some wonderful compliment to shout to her back, but the ‘you smell nice’ weighed heavily on his heart and he couldn’t bring himself to say much more than, “G’bye!” and awkwardly lay back in his sheets again.

Sometime later, while Blueblood was sleeping, Tombs slipped into the room. Twirling his oiled mustache just a bit to make sure it was pristine, he motioned a pair of maids into the room with him. Quietly, very quietly, they began to gather up all the papers, receipts, and other things on the war-room table. They would be returned to their proper folders, drawers, and other hiding places by the time the Prince was awake again. He would never know that they’d been laid out on display for Twilight Sparkle to see.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Nightmare Moon was staring at her personal nurse with the biggest, darkest scowl she could conjure. Sitting behind her desk in her room, she looked away when he chanced a glance at her. She would NOT look at Bandaid, at least not to his knowledge. He had poisoned her to make her vomit up Prince Blueblood, and she was very cross about it.

Celestia had banished her to her room for one thousand minutes. Some quick work on her abacus told her that was a little over sixteen hours, but the veiled jab did not fall on deaf ears. After lecturing her ear off about new Equestrian law, the solar sister had all but locked her sister in the Obsidian Hall and posted guards there. Nightmare wasn’t powerful enough to get past them all. Attempted murder, she’d said. Ignorance of the law was not an excuse, she’d said. Twilight could take care of herself, she’d said.

Nightmare Moon could not be in a fouler mood. Poisoned by her own nurse, locked in her room like a foal, and a bit sick to her belly too. She turned to glare at Bandaid while he was reading a magazine by the fireside. She would not admit she was in pain because her belly was empty. Scowling over a more detailed version of her night sky works, she corked her ink well and set the quill down with a snap. This made the nurse look up at her with a cautious, though curious, gaze.

Bandaid smiled carefully at his Princess. He knew she’d be mad at him, but somepony’s life had been at stake. He had a medical oath to uphold. He could not, by action or inaction, let somepony to medically come to harm. That included being digested by another pony. After Nightmare Moon had been given some real stomach meds and escorted back to her room, there had been a tense silence between them.

“Hoofservant.” Nightmare finally spoke, turning and rising from her chair.

“Yes, your Majesty?”

“How near are we to being well again?” she asked with a frown.

Bandaid sighed a little. “I don’t know, Princess. Your body is still filling in, your magic is growing stronger, and you’re a bit more lively than before. Other than that, it’s all foal-steps of progress.” He closed his magazine and stood to face her. The dark goddess admired him for his courage. She knew of lesser ponies that would tremble before her. “Are you hurting, maybe?” he asked. “I could preen you again…?” it came out like a question but she shook her head.

“Niegh, our feathers feel fine.” She flapped her wings just a bit. “We are still cross with thee, make no mistake.” She leaned forward a bit, her tone threatening. “For now, however, we are prisoners in my room. We shalt at least make the best of it.” Going over to the sofa in front of the hot fire, she clambered up onto it. “Wilt thou rub my weak legs again?” she offered a Royal hoof.

“Yes, of course!” he said, setting his medical bag down. “I even found something for your while were in the medical wing today.” Bandaid smiled. “It’s a medicinal lotion, meant for joint pain. I know your knees and ankles have been hurting you a little, by how you walk.”

Nightmare startled a little. Had he been looking that close? Well… yes, she supposed he was. It was his job, after all, to see to her welfare… or to dose her with poison at her sister’s command. She frowned a bit, feelings mixed. Draping herself onto her belly, she cautiously laid out a leg for him. “This shan’t make us spasm or something of the sort, we hope?” she made a jab at him with lidded eyes.

“I’m sorry about the ipecac.” The medical stallion finally sighed aloud, wilting at her. “I couldn’t just… just let your eat somepony.” He fiddled with the lotion bottle, setting it next to him. Although he knelt next to her and had her hoof in both of his, he couldn’t bring himself to look up at her.

“Our sister tells us –ahh, cold!” she flinched when he touched her with a blob of the greenish lotion. He smiled helplessly, breathing on it a few times until it was warm again. “Our sister tells us the death penalty has been removed from Equestrian law, along with many other things that were around in our time.” She watched him lather and swirl his hooves, gently and expertly, around one of her ankles. Lathering the lotion into her, it felt cool and tingled like mint. The warmth of over-use slowly passed, and she really did feel a bit better. “It was not unusual for us to simply devour somepony that overstepped his bounds. Why, there was even a night deemed appropriate where I would gorge myself on evildoers from a nearby town.” She serenaded him with the horrific tale. “Of course, some households had no criminal or bad sort to give us, so they would leave little bowls of sweets on their front doorsteps.” She smiled fondly at the memory, shaking her head.

“Offering sweets? That sounds a lot… like…” Nurse Bandaid stared up at her, then trailed off, getting back to work and trying not to draw attention to himself too much.

“Mhm, those on death row, murderers, rapists, traitors to the crown— all of them.” She patted her belly a couple of times. “We were proud to cull the herd for them. Seems now it is frowned upon, though.” She scratched her chin. “We shalt need to keep my meat-eating confined to meals, perhaps, and our punishments less severe. If Equestria has evolved into a virginal utopia, perhaps some of our ways are a bit…” she trailed off again.

“Outdated?” said Bandaid gently, laying her ankle down and switching to her knee.

Nightmare frowned at him severely, but did not disagree. “About Prince Blueblood, however: The solar herd was always known for its virtuous stallions and virginal mares.” The Princess articulated. “Seeing him with lewd literature and his eyes set upon my sister’s protégé— it does not bode well.” She looked down at bandaid. “How does a mare repel an unwanted suitor in this era, Bandaid?” she asked in all seriousness.

“Uhrrrmmm… I wouldn’t know, really.” He said, his cheeks pink. “I’ve never asked a mare out.” He wilted a little when she cocked an eyebrow at him. He focused on his work so he wouldn’t have to meet her draconic gaze.

“Thou fibs!” she declared. He paused to flick his eyes up at her meaningfully. “Thou tells the truth?!” she said, shocked. “But thou art a fine specimen! What could a mare possibly want, if not a healthy and well-employed stallion?” she eyed him up and down as though there were some flaw that she’d not seen yet. Bandaid shifted a little uncomfortably. He was glad she was talking to him again, but not about that kind of stuff. He’d shoved himself into his medical books most of his life, with little time for marefriends. There were tests in the nursing profession, after all, that you could only take ONE time. If you failed, that was it. No pressure, right?

“Er… I…” Bandaid’s ears perked when there was a knock at the door. “That sounds important!” he dropped the lotion bottle and rushed to the door with all speed. Clearing his throat a little, he opened it. “Yes?” he said, trying to look like the dignified hoof servant of the dark Princess that he was.

“Is Princess Nightmare Moon at home?” It was a pair of stallions, both exactly the same in the face and chest. Both brown with blonde manes, both pegasi, and both with the same twinkling blue eyes.

“How did you get past all the guards?” Bandaid blanched at them both. One held up a scroll, which he unfurled to read.
“To Nurse Bandaid, allow these stallions in to see my sister. They are soldiers of the royal guard and would like to—” he trailed off, looking surprised as he mouthed the rest of the letter. “Signed Princess Celestia!” The medical pony stood aside. “Oh, okay!” he coughed a little. “Princess! Someponies here to see you, with permission from Princess Celestia!”

“Huhm?” Nightmare Moon sat up quickly, trying to look regal. “Come!” she called. The two ponies came in, peering around with interest. She studied them with a quick and discerning eye. “Our sister sent thee to us?” she asked with a mild frown, eyeing their sameness.

Both stallions nodded. “Yes, your majesty.” They said in unison. Nightmare looked back and forth between the two with some concern. She wasn’t sure she believed them. And they were twins. Huh. Didn’t see that very often, even back in her original era.

Bandaid came and stood next to Nightmare’s sitting place, by the couch. He wasn’t sure what to make of them. They were royal guards? Why weren’t they in uniform? One stallion had a brick wall on his flank, and the other had a circular shield on his. What were their special talents?

“Princess Nightmare Moon.” One of the two stepped forward. “My brother and I were selected for your approval to be your private guards, much like Captains Grey Slate and Lion Heart are for Princess Celestia.” He bowed and spread his wings upon the floor (a gesture of submission to the crown so old even Nightmare Moon recognized it).

Nightmare eyed them, unsure. “What are thy names?”

“My name is Aegis Shield.” said the one with the round shield on his flank.

“My name is Stalwart Hide.” said the one with the brick wall on his flank.

A great and terrifying fang-smile worked its way across Nightmare Moon’s face. Both stallions blinked at her, ears perked and curious. The black alicorn looked over at her nurse, her expression turning lewd and filled with mischief. “Don’t you say it!” scowled Bandaid. He knew his Princess well enough already to know where her train of thought had gone.

“Our sister is so kind to us!” belted Nightmare Moon with uproarious laughter. “She has sent me TWINS for my enjoyment!” She threw her long arms around them both, tugging them up onto the sofa. Stalwart Hide burst into laughter before he could stop himself, not sure if he was terrified or truly laughing at the perverted joke. Aegis Shield chuckled nervously, wincing in pain at the powerful one-armed hug. It was because of their laughter that she decided to keep them.

End of Part 8

Boon

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 9: Boon

“I think it’s very nice that you’re doing this, Nightie.” Celestia said, a serene smile on her face. The twin goddesses were standing in the deepest vaults of the Obsidian Hallway where Nightmare Moon kept her treasures. It had been sealed up and perfectly preserved not long after she’d been banished to the moon, so everything was where it was when she’d gone.

“If thy… nephew, is truly on the up and up, sister,” Nightmare Moon pointed to a series of crates. Her twin guards went to attack them and break the lids off. “Then I owe him a boon for his suffering.” She turned her nose up regally, waiting for the splintering of wood and nails to stop.

The sisters watched the two stallions open several crates rather forcefully. “Here it is! Mahogany, just like you said!” said one of the twins, turning and pointing.

Nightmare swept across the room, lighting her horn. With a bit more strength than she previously had, she levitated the fancy chest out of the crate. Nurse Bandaid smiled. She was getting stronger! Leaning over it, the black alicorn examined the carvings and symbols all up and down its shape. It wasn’t too much bigger than a large jewelry box. Undoing the clasp with the tip of her horn, she flipped it open.

“AHH!” Both guards and the nurse cried out, shielding their eyes as a monstrous light poured into the room. Celestia squinted a little, but her lineage kept her from being overwhelmed. “What is that?!” Nurse Bandaid cried, seeing spots and pressing his face between his hooves.

“A wishing star.” Nightmare whispered. “We art surprised it has held up so well for so long.” She smiled. “They are not easy to make, after all.” Cocking her head, she pulled the ball of molten white light from its container. The spherical indentation in the velvet of the box smoothed when she lifted it, telling how very little it weighed. She inspected it for dust, for magical fluxuations, for anything and everything that might be wrong with such an old artifact of such grand power.

“It’s beautiful, sister.” Celestia complimented, extending a wing over Bandaid. “But, perhaps better in its box?” she said gently. Nightmare looked over, seeing what it was doing to the mortal ponies in the room. Quickly she put it back in the container and flipped the lid closed. All three stallions were rubbing their eyes and staggering a little while she worked the clasp closed.

“You’re gonna give Prince Blueblood a wishing star?” Bandaid wanted to know, tilting his head curiously. “And he can wish for whatever he wants?”

“Within reason.” Nightmare Moon nodded. “It’s magic isn’t infinite. If he, for instance, wished for the end of the world, it would not happen.” She gingerly handed the box to one of her two guards. “But if he wished for a million bits, well, that is well within its power.” She scoffed with a bit of laughter. “Though we would tax the ever-loving buck out of him if he did.”

“Nightie, language.” Celestia said automatically, sighing. Nightmare ignored her scolding.

“If our nephew wishes for something material, the wishing star is more than capable.” Nightmare Moon went on, checking the box over once more while her guard held it up for her. “Perhaps with this boon he will forgive us for eating him alive?” it came out like a question, and Celestia fought down a very real smile.

“You’ll have to see what he says.” Celestia said, nodding sagely. “But again, I’m proud of you for trying to make amends.” Her lovely white wings extended to their span to show her approval.

“Yes, yes, amends and such.” Nightmare said, waving her off. “Twas my misunderstanding that Equestrian law has shifted so much. With a stable population and an admirable food stockpile, murdering criminals is no longer an option.” She said rather frankly. “Hoofservant, come! We make for the house of the Blueblood family!” The black alicorn sidled forward, sore in the legs still. Her blasted legs were just taking so long to getting used to her weight. Well, her growing weight. Her body was still filling in, and her ribs were almost vanished into her sides. She looked less sickly and just very, very skinny.

“Yes Princess.” Nurse Bandaid bowed, turning to go get his medical bag from her bedroom so they could be off.

“It’s still light outside, sister. Will you be okay?” Celestia asked softly. “You won’t be able to shield yourself as you usually did in the old times.” Her face was etched with concern. “Maybe I should come with you--?”

“Nonsense!” Nightmare cut her off with a toss of her head (she didn’t have enough mane to do a dramatic mane-toss yet). “We shalt make arrangements for safe daytime travel, do not fret.” She tapped her hoof twice, summoning her twin guards. “Aegis Shield, Stalwart Hide! Arrange for our safe travel to the house of Prince Blueblood. Our skin is photo-sensitive, find a shield for us.” She said, gesturing. The two stallions looked at each other, puzzled. She stared at them, and they stared back. There was an awkward silence. “Well? Go on!”

“What’s photo-sensitive?” Aegis Shield asked in earnest. Both brothers were looking up at their Princess, curious. Nightmare Moon looked offended, and opened her mouth to scold them both.

Celestia stepped in before her sister started shouting. “It means the bright light of the sun can harm her, if she stands in it for too long. She needs a covering of some kind, to keep her from being too exposed to it.”

“Ohhh!” said the twins in unison. Setting the mahogany box down in front of Princess Nightmare Moon, both stallions galloped away. The dark Princess looked at her sister gratefully.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Tombs’ ears lifted when the doorbell rang. Being the head butler of the house Blueblood, it was his duty to answer the door to visitors. “Bother.” He grumbled, setting down the silver platter and tea set he’d been bearing to his master. When it was safely on an end table in the hallway, he turned with a snap of his horse shoes and went down the stairs. Stopping to check his mustache in the mirror, he twisted it a bit to make sure it was immaculate. When both handlebars were just so, he composed himself into the stiff and upright servant he was supposed to be. Opening the door all the way with his muzzle tilted up a bit, he asked, “Mmmyes?”

Standing on the stoop was a bizarre sight. It was a toweringly-tall pony, garbed in a great black cloak. It went from her neck to well past her tail to cover her entire body, and the hood rested easily upon her brow with room to spare. She was wearing massive sunglasses that covered most of her face, and a stallion with a medical bag next to her was holding a black umbrella over her head to shade her. “Servant, we art Princess Nightmare Moon. We demand thee produce thy master to this doorstep.”

Tombs' monocle fell off his face as he gaped at her for all of three seconds. The fangs. The fur. The height. The wings and horn. It had to be her. The mare that had eaten his master, and populated the stories of old. The unprofessional gaping lasted all of two and a half seconds, before the shields came back up. “Er-herhm. Yes of course, your Majesty. Please, come and sit in the tea room.” He stood aside. Nightmare Moon walked slowly and regally into the indicated room, seating herself on a pillow. Her hoofservant closed the umbrella and stood to one side, as was expected of him. Tombs bowed, offered them tea from the tray meant for his master, and then was away to fetch Prince Blueblood.

Nightmare pushed back her hood and removed her sunglasses, setting them on the coffee table. Sipping her tea and looking about the décor, she frowned a bit. Whites and golds and ivories, the lot of it. There was a hearth burning bright (it was mid-October, after all), and above it was perched a portrait of some long-dead stallion and his wife. She didn’t bother to squint at the names, merely observed their faces. She could kind-of-sort-of see her sister’s blood in their faces. The smooth, almost feminine curve of the jaw. The slightly-longer-than-average horns. Hmm.

Cellie must’ve hit a very real heat cycle during her absence if she’d allowed herself a pregnancy. She was usually so strict with her foal-staying brews, if she even took a lover. The poor thing could go for centuries without one if she pleased. It made Nightmare ill to think of having a cold bed for that long. Though Celestia was the shining, virginal symbol of light and purity it was not beneath her to have foals it seemed. Mortal foals, but foals. It was the way of the lunar herd, not the solar, to enjoy mating for… well, just enjoyment. The solars had always been more upright, chaste and tidy about it. Nightmare scoffed a little, smirking at her distant relatives in the picture. They could be white and regal all they liked, but lovemaking still happened at night, and that was her realm. It was the regal and uptight sorts that turned savage and passionate in bed, anyway. She made note to poke her sister for details about her long-passed lover later.

Sipping her tea again, Nightmare Moon looked over at Nurse Bandaid. She was still a little sore at him about the epicac potion, but… perhaps it really had been for the better. Who knew. She frowned a bit, returning to her cup until movement drew her eye.

Blueblood was leaning back into whatever was pushing him through the doorway. It was only the light layer of wax on the floor that kept him moving forward. The butler must’ve been powerful indeed, thought Nightmare, to shove a stallion so large for such a distance. She adjusted her opinion of the servant up exactly one notch as she stood. “Y-your Majesty!” Blueblood smiled, wide and nervous. Beads of sweat went down one side of his face. When he found the Princess staring at him, he threw himself forward to bow instead.

Satisfied at his respect, Nightmare spoke. “Prince Blueblood.” She said with a particle of friendliness in her tone. “We’ve come to make amends for our… misunderstandings.” She said delicately, gesturing to a mahogany box on the coffee table. “We’ve brought you a gift, and hope this may be placed behind us in memory.”

“Wh…what?” Blueblood said, slowly rising with fear in his eyes. Tombs gave him a less than subtle CLONK on the backside, startling the Prince forward until he landed on the sitting pillow across from the Princess. Nightmare’s eyes betrayed amusement as the butler bowed and vanished from the room.

Nightmare lit her horn and poured tea from the tea set, which he took. “Our sister tells us that we may not eat anypony that displeases us like in the olden days, and that the death penalty does not exist anymore.” She sounded a little annoyed at this, but quickly shifted back to him. “We… apologize,” she almost had to gag it out. “For what we have done to thee, and we have brought thee a grand gift to make up for it.”

Blueblood stared at her. An honest-to-Celestia apology? He was even more caught off guard now. “I… erhm… thank you.” He said, awkward now that he didn’t know what was going to happen anymore. He expected threats, maybe a second attempt on his life, not an apology. He eyed the fancy, carved box on the table between them. He wondered what could possibly be in it that Nightmare thought would make up for her eating him alive.

“It is a wishing star.” Nightmare said, seeing his curious look. “Within reason, it will grant you anything thou wishes for. Merely place your hooves upon it and speak thy desire.” When she saw his disbelieving stare, she spoke again. “We are a goddess of the night, nephew, think thou we did not craft the very heavens in our hooves?” she said with just a grain of challenge. Blueblood didn’t have the stones to tell her no, and stayed silent. “In the ancient eras, thou shalt now know, we occasionally hung a wishing star in the sky for somepony to wish upon. Once it is in the sky, it merely needs to be looked upon and spoken to.” She smiled at the cleverness of it all. “One star every hundred years or so was a grand game. So, consider thyself lucky.” She pointed at him a little, pushing the box his way. “We give thee anything thy little heart desires, in this box, for thy forgiveness. Consider it a peace offering between our herds.”

“I-I… of course.” Blueblood nodded quickly, a little overwhelmed by the impossible miracle that had just been given to him. A wish? Anything he could want? Right there, in that box? “I-I’m glad we can be… friends?” it came out like a question.

“Perhaps not close friends yet.” said Nightmare, arching a brow at him. It was clear she did not approve of him, but was willing to at least move up from enemies. “Perhaps we shalt be on neutral ground for the moment.” She nodded a bit deeper, a show of respect from royalty. Blueblood bowed from the base of his withers, holding the bow until she spoke again. “We shalt not linger in thy dwelling. Come, Bandaid. We shalt retire until the night.” She addressed her nurse, who popped the umbrella opened and nodded, making for the door. “Farewell, nephew."

Blueblood watched them go, barely able to utter a goodbye. “Goodbye… erhm… aunt Nightmare.” It was so, sooooo awkward to say that, even if it was true. There was such distance between them it felt really inappropriate. But, if she’d come to extend an olive branch it was only right to return the term of endearment. He gulped a little, before looking down at the artifact again. Nightmare glanced at him over her shoulder, seeing him stare at the box curiously. She smiled on one side of her muzzle, her glittering fangs showing for but a moment.

Tombs showed both of them to the door, aiding her majesty in donning her cloak and adjusting her sunglasses. As soon as the door came open Nightmare threw up her hood to cover her head, and Bandaid held out the umbrella to shield her from the sun’s rays. “Let us away, hoofservant.” The black princess said. Bandaid nodded, following her with a smile. That hadn’t gone badly at all!

The mustached butler watched them go, stroking his facial hair thoughtfully. Hrm. He watched the black alicorn stop and look up at the house from the sidewalk, then turn and start to stride away. He closed the door slowly, locking it. Turning with a slight sniff, the servant returned to the tea room. “Sire, the Princess is away. Will you be needing anything?”

“No, I’m okay.” said Blueblood absently.

Tombs had been listening in from the hall, as butlers tended to do. His master had a big decision to make, it seemed. Anything his heart desired? Why, that would be an easy one for him, no doubt. But, he would not voice it. It was not his place to meddle— too much— in his master’s affairs. Leaning and taking the used tea set, the servant dutifully vanished from the Prince’s sight and let him alone.

Blueblood took the black-purple wooden box in his magical aura, going upstairs and to his bedroom. Closing the door for security, he drew the curtains to hide himself. Clambering up onto his bed, he lay on his belly amongst all the books and notes. That’s what he’d been doing when Tombs had rather literally dragged him downstairs to meet his guest. Turning it this way and that, he set it down and pawed at it a bit. It didn’t feel heavy, or cold, or unusual. Hopefully it wasn’t some spring-loaded trap of doom. Would his 'aunt' try to assassinate him in such a way? Nah, she’d eaten him in front of Faust and everypony in Twilight Sparkle’s apartment. She wasn’t the sort to kill subtl--- Twilight Sparkle.

Prince Blueblood’s eyes suddenly lit up and he grinned down at the box. Why, this solved everything! It was perfect! All his efforts and hard work in pursuit of the purple mare could end here, right now. Reaching for the clasp, he unlocked it and flipped it open. Instantly, he was blinded by the light. Crying out and holding his face, he toppled off the bed with a bump. Pawing around until he found it again, he flipped the lid shut. Rubbing the spots out of his eyes, he squinted around until he could see again. “Well, it is a powerful artifact.” He scolded himself, handling the box a bit more carefully. Sweeping his books and notes aside with a grand smile, he settled himself onto the bed again. “This could be the answer to all my mare problems.” He said, stroking the fancily carved box.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“—And when he wishes for Twilight Sparkle’s affections, we shalt squash him like a bug!” Nightmare cocked an eyebrow when Bandaid looked up at her frownily. “Er, throw him in a dungeon!” she corrected. “He has a one track mind, we’ve seen his lewd literature more than once.” She turned her nose up. “Tiz inappropriate for a solar stallion!”

“Isn’t it, well, none of your business, your Majesty?” Bandaid ventured, massaging her legs with the tingling lotions. Nightmare scowled at him, but he went on. “I mean, so what if Prince Blueblood wants Twilight Sparkle? Shouldn’t he be free to pursue her?” he stretched her back leg up, out, and around. The black alicorn bit her lip so she wouldn’t moan at the aching pain.

“Neigh.” said Nightmare Moon. “He doth not be courting her. Merely lusting after her. It is not his intent to make her happ—EEE!” her nurse stretched a tendon a little too hard. He smiled apologetically, easing her leg down. “It seems ironic, too.” She stroked her chin a moment. “Twilight. She that stands between the day and the night.” She philosophized for a time, narrowing her eyes. “Our sister hath always played the longer chess game. We only ponder what sort of role Twilight Sparkle has to play in the long run.” She watched the stallion reach for more lotion, and move to her ankle. She purred slightly at his handling, resting her head on the couches arm. Her draconic eyes stared into her massive hearth, the flames dancing in her gaze.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

An orange earth pony mare approached the throne, bowing deeply. “Yer Majesty.” She said, taking off her Stetson. “Wh-uhh? Who’re you?” she frowned at the purple mare that was standing rather nervously on the throne.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle.” The purple mare said, very very careful not to sit. To sit upon the throne was to claim it, and that was a biiiig no-no. She was literally just a stand-in, standing ON it. “Princess Celestia had to step out for just a moment, and left me here to see you.” She gave a formal bow, as proper throne room behavior dictated.

The orange mare scowled rather openly. “Ah came here to see a Princess, not a stewardess! Ah had an appointment and ever’thing!” she said stubbornly, stamping a hoof. The guard posted at the bottom of the dais snapped his head in her direction like a bird of prey, frowning angrily. “Whut? You got somethin’ to say?” she said, backing up defensively.

“Twilight Sparkle is the Sun’s Favoured Foal.” He snapped in his deep base voice. Twilight winced. She hated that title so much. “While she’s on the throne, you do what she says or you get out!”

“Captain Slate!” Twilight said a little desperately to the armored stallion, trying to salvage the situation before somepony got hurt or thrown in jail or something. “I-It’s fine, really. Princess Celestia will be back in a few minutes. I’m more than capable of helping you, though.” She put on her most winning smile, hoping the orange mare would try to cooperate.

“Welllll,” her southern twang was endearing, but she didn’t seem so sure about all this. “Ahm here about the Grand Gallopin’ Gala.” She said slowly, fishing into her hat for a very old, beaten up piece of paper. Unrolling it, she offered it out. Twilight took it with her magic, unfurling completely it in front of herself. “The Apple family’s got dibs on some prime real estate at the Gala, but we’ve gotta renew the license every decade ‘r so.” The orange mare said as the purple one scanned the document.

The scroll bequeathed the ‘Apple’ family with the front and center location for selling refreshements at the Grand Galloping Gala, which was due to happen in the middle of November (perhaps a month from then). Celestia’s royal seal was on it, too. The original signature date was over a hundred years old too, wow. This must’ve been the tenth version of this particular document, if not higher in the numbers.

Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat, getting parchment from the ready pile next to her. Igniting the ancient ink on the document, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Advanced magic grasped the deed, and the words themselves peeled off the original--- then slowly drifted to rest on the new paper. With a flick of magic the purple mare burned the original and vanished the ash. With the crisp, new document ready, she leaned over it and signed it with a flare of the quill. The signature turned gold, and she set the date for ten years in the future. “There we are! Royal license renewed!” Twilight said.

The orange mare gaped at the magic she’d just seen. She’d peeled the words right off her family’s deed and slapped it on new paper! Unicorns never failed to amaze her. Clearing her throat a little, she gave a rather humbled smile. “Thank ya, er… Twilight Sparkle.” She said awkwardly, feeling bad for her earlier rudeness. She smiled apologetically, and gave a bow to her and the throne.

“See you at the Gala!” Twilight said brightly, waving as the orange mare turned to walk quickly away. She smiled, then when the stetson’d mare was gone she let out a huge breath. “Whewwww!” Captain Slate looked up at her, a certain kindness in his eyes. She was doing fine, his eyes said to her. She smiled gratefully.

Suddenly Celestia appeared in the archway and Twilight let out a second sigh of relief. Vacating the throne before the alicorn even reached the bottom stair, she received nuzzles along her withers. “Thank you for standing in my stead, Twilight. I knew you would be just fine.”

“Where did you go?” Twilight wanted to know, ever the curious student. She just had to know, what made a princess vacate her throne so suddenly in the middle of the day. Some emergency? Some big matter of state? Burning orphanage?! What was it?!

“I had to pee, Twilight.” Celestia said simply, trotting up the dais.

“…oh.” Twilight said, blushing.

Captain Slate eyed his Princess, and they locked gazes as she passed him on the way up to the throne. The middle-aged soldier knew she was full of crap. If he could put bits on it, he'd say the Princess had just been listening at the door-- maybe invisible or something. But, it was not his place to say anything about it. Whatever the Princess was up to, was her own thing to worry about, not his. He was just a guard, and he didn’t need to complicate things learning about the giant chess games that the royals played. Grooming Twilight Sparkle to stand on the throne, even for fifteen minutes, was a big deal indeed.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Blueblood shifted in his bed, trying to come up with the proper words. Wishes were fickle, in every story he’d ever heard or read. If he didn’t word it right, something bad might happen. Genies tried to trick their masters out of their wishes. What if the wishing star could hear him through the box? He’d better watch his words. Looking at the mahogany chest, he tied a bit of cloth around his head and fiddled with the clasp. Even through the blindfold he squinted at its brilliance. The wishing star. This was it. Twilight Sparkle would be his forever, he need merely ask it.

Reaching slowly into the box, he felt the velvety pillow. It was similar to a chest one might keep a valuable gem in, or some other very, very important object. Of course not expense had been paid for the lining. His ankles touched the cool, slick surface of the finished wood. He could feel his heart pounding. Months and months of curious prodding and poking about the beautiful purple mare, skulking to find out about her, then the past month or so to try and truly improve himself-- Now this glowing miracle had literally fallen into his lap. She would be all his. His hooves touched what felt like finely-spun glass. It was cool to the touch despite its radiance.

Prince Blueblood closed his eyes, sitting on his haunches as he lifted the glowing object out of its resting place. “It’s so light…” he whispered reverently. He licked his lips, trying to find a good way to say it. This was his moment, his moment of triumph. His bloodline was secure! His goal within his grasp! Twilight would fall madly in love with him, marry him, and lift her tail like the lovely bookish little minx she was! His family was back on the road to godhood!

“I wish…”

“For Twilight Sparkle…”

“To fall in love…”

“With…”

Blueblood’s hooves suddenly trembled. A shivering, icy-hot sort of sensation went down his back, down his front legs and into his hooves. He dropped the wishing star onto his bedspread. A great sickness suddenly turned his stomach.

The visceral image of Twilight Sparkle floated into his mind’s eye. Their wedding night. Twilight with her hips in the air for him. She was looking over her shoulder as he made to mount her, eyes aglow with… magic. Not love. Wishing star magic, grasping at her beautiful mind to make her love him.

The Prince suddenly gave a great and miserable cry, stuffing the wishing star back in the box. He slammed it shut and threw the chest across the room. It crashed against the wall, sending a single splinter to the floor. “Oh Faust!” he cried, ripping his blindfold off. “Wh-what am I doing?!”Angry tears suddenly went down his face and he rushed to the bathroom. When he was done being ill into the toilet, he slumped against the tub and lay on his side with his golden mane strewn about his face. There was a long silence of his struggling to breath. Had he just had a panic attack? He wasn’t sure. It just… hurt. Everything hurt.

There was a quiet creak at his bedroom door, startling him. Tombs leaned in quietly, studying his distraught master briefly. Blueblood wiped his mouth, unable to stop shaking for some reason. “Sire.” said Tombs gently. “I was listening at the door. Forgive me, I couldn’t help it.” He stared briefly at his hooves and gave an apologetic bow.

“S’nothing compared to what I almost did.” Blueblood hung his head, his face hidden behind his shining mane. Tombs came near and slowly helped him to his hooves. The Prince leaned on him miserably. “I’m a monster, Tombs. A monster.” He mumbled, looking at the floor as he was guided along.

Tombs brought him to a chair and eased him down. Opening the hidden panel of the liquor cabinet, he poured his master a long drink. Pushing it into his hoof and not moving until it was vanished down the stallion’s throat, he shook his head gingerly. “Monsters are spineless, Sire, and they don’t truly care for others.” Blueblood looked up at him with soft, moist eyes. Tombs straightened his mustache a little. “And monsters don’t hold the power of the gods in their hooves, and then refuse themselves their heart’s desire in a sudden bout of good conscience.”

Prince Blueblood sank, his face in his hooves. “Oh Tombs…” he mumbled, ears wilted down. Tears kept going down his cheeks, and they just refused to stop.

“I would not assume to tell you what to do with your wishing star, master Blueblood,” Tombs coughed a little, stepping towards the door to let him be. “But I can tell you, for what it’s worth, I am proud of you for not taking such an easy road.”

Blueblood looked up at his butler for a few long seconds before the stallion stepped out and quietly closed his bedroom door. He looked at the mahogany box for a long, long time-- well over an hour. The box It lay on its side on the floor, the clasp having miraculously stayed closed. If the wishing star really were made of glass, it might have shattered if it hit the floor. The white stallion sank to his belly on the floor, sidling forward bit by bit. He took the chest back into his hooves, squeezing his eyes shut as he took out the wishing star again. Smiling bitterly at how much it hurt to make progress at becoming a better pony, he heaved a dry breath. Slowly lifting the artifact until it touched his royal brow, he enjoyed the cool touch of glass on his face. His selfishness laid bare, the Prince was repulsed with himself, and something deep inside him changed for the better just then. A deeper infection began to drain out of him. With a purer heart than before, Blueblood began to speak. “I wish—”

End of Part 9

Mane

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 10: Mane

Nightmare Moon sat on her haunches on her highest balcony, in the Obsidian Hall. She’d been staring at the night sky, her horn aglow for over twenty minutes. Bandaid had protested, but since she didn’t seem to be hurting herself, he’d soon quieted. The blackened goddess held the regal pose, taking deep breaths and trying to regulate her body’s flow of magic. Now and then a pebble would roll away from her and burst, or a mote of dust would shoot off into the evening sky, but little else. What was she doing?

“Princess?” Bandaid put a hoof on her shoulder. Her body tingled lightly, as though she were charged with static electricity. “Princess?” he tried again.

“Yes, hoofservant?” Nightmare’s eyes lidded open slightly. Her draconic gaze regarded him with a certain quiet calm he didn’t often see in her. “What is it?”

“Is there anything I can do?” Bandaid asked softly. “You’ve not had any juice today, and I’ve not worked on your legs at all either.” He dropped some verbal bait for her to scarf up, smiling inwardly.

“So eager to touch our legs, how forward of thee.” Nightmare Moon took the bait and smirked, closing her eyes and tilting her head back a bit. Her nurse grinned, knowing she was okay now. “We converse with the stars for the moment. We’ve not been able to for some time.” She told him in a whisper. He tilted his head back to look at the sky, coming to sit next to her. He couldn’t see the stars yet, but if she was talking to them they must’ve been there.

“What do they say?” Bandaid wanted to know, gently setting his medical bag down. He pawed it open lightly, getting a juice box and sticking a crazy straw in it. It had a red medical sign on it. Leaning, he gingerly pressed it between her front hooves in a less than subtle way. She smirked just a little, raising the straw to her lips while she concentrated.

“They say many things, there are millions of them.” Nightmare sipped lightly, feeling like a foal as she did so. Her nurse smiled at the small victory. At least she was taking her ‘meds.’ “Ah, the first pokes his head out.” She nodded a little, for a pinprick of light had appeared in the twilight of the day. “Now, I shalt try again to coax luna forth.” She took a long drink, setting her juice box down and blimping her wings open. Rearing up and putting her hooves on the balcony railing, she arched her back and thrust her hips forward like a drawn bow.

“Princess, please--” Bandaid sighed, but he knew she would not listen. She was the Princess of the night, the Princess of the moon. She would not be happy until she could raise the moon again. He stood just behind her, to catch her if she broke into another coughing fit from the strain.

“Obey me.” Nightmare Moon clenched her fangs together. The light around her horn ignited brighter. “I am thy mistress, the embodiment of the dark!” her wingtips quivered, and the stallion jumped back when an arc of magic went across the alicorn. A ring of dust rushed away from her, and he took another step back. Squeezing her eyes closed with strain, Nightmare pressed at the space between spaces. Luna refused to budge, the stubborn bitch, but Nightmare was just as stubborn. Heaving against the celestial body’s unbelievable weight, the black alicorn moaned with effort. Black and purple sparks shot this way and that, like her horn was a Romane candle. Bits of power raced up and down her body as a black aura began to surround her.

“Princess be careful! You’re not supposed to strai--!” Bandaid cried out when a hard rush of wind nearly knocked him down. His medical bag spilled its contents out over the balcony and he reeled, pressing himself down on his belly with distress.

Nightmare Moon stood on her back hooves, her front ones thrust towards the heavens. She rode the rush with a long, breathy cry. Her voice reverberated amongst the towers of the palace, making Canterlot herself hum in distress. Raw magic power poured from her in a molten flame of bodily light as she pressed herself higher and higher into the lunar spectrum of god-magic. “OBEY ME!” she roared, the Royal Canterlot voice demanding and concussive. Like a roll of savage thunder, her words shuddered the windowsills of countless homes and frightened many foals for miles around. Spark. Crackle. Spark-crackle-crackle. Her magic lit the crevices of every stone around her, her eyes glowing sterile white and the stars of the cosmos glittering across her pelt.

Luna did not obey. She remained hidden from Nightmare’s control. Stubborn bitch!

Princess Nightmare Moon’s concentration soon gave, and she collapsed onto her belly again. Panting loudly and growling with frustration, she pounded the balcony with an angry hoof. “Denied once more!” she snarled, eyes lidding and eyebrows drawn together nastily. “What must I do to move luna once more?!” she demanded, frustrated and ego-bruised. A thin blanket came down over her shoulders, and she batted at it. “We art not cold, Bandaid, away with thy blankets.” She shoved it away, but it landed around her shoulders once more. The nurse stared at her in disbelief, ears turned forward and his mouth open. “Enough, we proclaim!” she tossed her head once more, but the blanket came warmly down around her once more. “Stallion! We demand thee—” she turned about, only to find Bandaid several stretches away. He was on his belly, quite out of reach.

“Yuh!” he pointed dumbly, scrambling to find his voice. “Your mane!”

Nightmare reached up suddenly, grasping at a long, flowing ethereal mane. It embodied itself around her head, and flowed out of her backside as a tail. “Our… our mane!” she gaped, eyes widening in shock. She pulled at it sharply. “Ouch!” she said, then laughed. She let it go, shaking her head about. It disobeyed gravity, flowing freely in the air as though it were underwater. She gave a girly, mare-ish shriek, rearing up and flailing her hooves. “My mane!” she even lost her royal ‘we’ for a moment in her joy. “My mane! It returns!” she cried out joyfully.

Bandaid stared, transfixed. It was like the night sky. It was misty and blue, starry and black. It was ever-shifting, ever-flowing, and yet somehow still hair at the end of it all. Entranced he came close, staring up into her mane, into the cosmos, with glittering eyes. “It’s beautiful…” he said in a whispery voice, unable to take his eyes off of it. “It’s full of stars…”

“Yes, yes it is!” Nightmare said, grinning from ear to ear and tossing it about wildly. “We have missed it so!” she flopped down onto her belly, taking an arm-full of the ethereal thing into her grasp. She shifted it back and forth, and then tossed it free again. “Ohhh, so lovely!” she chirped, leaping to her hooves again. “We must show our sister! Come!” she wheeled about to head back inside, only to nearly run over a white alicorn in her doorway.

“Sister, your mane!” Celestia gasped, the residue of teleportation magic rolling off of her fur like glitter. “I felt your magic spike and came to see—it’s so lovely!” it was rare indeed to see Celestia truly enthusiastic.

“We must brush it!” Nightmare demanded happily, jostling past her sister and into her room. The white alicorn followed, giggling a bit. “It’s been so, so long! We must brush it!” she began tossing entire drawers over her shoulder as she took her vanity apart to find a proper brush. “Ah-hah!” she hopped up onto her massive bed, nickering and patting a spot for Celestia to join her.

The Princess of the day nudged the moon skyward while her sister was distracted, then came to eagerly join her on the bed. Bandaid scrambled about to collect the scattered contents of his medical bag while the royal sisters fussed over Nightmare Moon’s fresh new mane. The surge of power in her body must’ve ignited it, they decided, and now it was back in full. Her normal mane would continue to grow, out of sight, underneath it. But my goodness, she really looked like a goddess again now!

Curiosity was burning in Nurse Bandaid by the time he came in from the balcony. How did one brush an ethereal mane? It was like brushing smoke, wasn’t it? Well, apparently it took solar or lunar magic focused through a brush. Nightmare Moon was lying on her belly, her lips in a great big smile, while Celestia brushed her over and over. The brush was aglow with golden magic, and somehow it seemed to grasp at the ghostly locks like normal hair. The stars and swirling galaxies in the Princess’ mane shifted and moved about, seeming to come to an unspoken order as they were worked at—CLONK! One star suddenly fell out of her mane and struck Nightmare right on the head.

“Erk!” Princess Nightmare Moon made a sour face, and Celestia leaned around her to see. Nightmare picked up a dull, glass-like orb. “Ohhh, hullo there.” She smiled with her fangs. “Used up already, are we?” she turned it over and over, then looked at her sister. “Our nephew has made his wish, it seems.”

“Oh?” Celestia went back to brushing, swan-like how she was sitting behind her sister. “What did he wish for?”

“We think we know.” Nightmare said nastily, raising the dead star up to her ear and listening. Shhh. Shhhhh. Shhh. It sounded much like raising a conch to one’s ear. When she was sure it was devoid of its wishing magic, she gave it a slight flick with her hoof. The whispering ends of a voice, Blueblood’s voice, still echoed within it. One of the fun bits of having a wishing star used up was when it returned to her. Nightmare did like finding out what the magic had been used on, so wishing stars were always equipped with return-spells so that she could always find out.

“Well?’ said Celestia, smiling serenely. She watched Nightmare listen quietly for a time, trying to make out the echo of the stallion’s voice within. Extending a wing to hold her sister steady, she ran the brush over and over through her mane.

“What?!” Nightmare demanded suddenly, her face turning shocked. The answer caught her so off-guard that her wings flared open and almost slapped Bandaid in the face when he approached the bedside. The stallion whew’d in relief, but his Princess turned to look at him. “He doth not wish for Twilight Sparkle’s desire!” she told him.

“He didn’t?” Bandaid said, looking both relieved and happy.

Celestia quirked a brow, her brush pausing in Nightmare’s mane. “Could you excuse us, Bandaid? Guards?” she addressed the armored stallions by the doorway. Nightmare’s guards bowed respectfully, and also stepped out. When the room was empty, the white alicorn leaned around her sister with a frown. “Did you give that to Blueblood thinking he would use it to gain Twilight’s affection?” the day Princess wanted to know. Nightmare Moon nodded. “And you gave it to him anyway?” She nodded again. “Nightie, that’s baiting!” she said, pulling the brush free and taking the dull orb from her. Putting it to her ear to listen, she could hear Blueblood’s voice in a distant whisper.

“I wish for the perfect--”

“I thought to expose him for the worm he is.” Nightmare said, shrugging a bit. Celestia frowned at her, closing her wings. “What? I would not eat him a second time!” she said, turning her nose up a bit.

“I’m disappointed in you, sister.” The white alicorn said sadly, wilting. “I thought you were genuinely apologetic.” She gave a little sigh, leaning and listening to the wish again.

“He hath proven me wrong, Tia.” said Nightmare quietly, her pride vanishing for a moment. “I handed him the power of the Gods themselves, and that is what he wished for?” There was a long silence between the two alicorns as Celestia set the dead wishing star on the bedspread. She looked at Nightmare, who had a puzzled expression on her face. Perhaps her distant nephew was not such a lusty monster after all. “I have,” she hesitated a moment. “I have met worse princes than he, I suppose.” The black alicorn finally admitted. Celestia smiled quietly, then slowly went back to brushing her sister’s mane. It would take more than a little time to get a thousand years of knots out of an ethereal mane.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=
The Next Day…
=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Prince Blueblood was dashing around his mansion like a madpony, hyperventilating. Rushing to one bookshelf to another, to all the tables in the building—he was flipping open books, savagely tearing at pages and sweating. The three maids had gathered in the great room, watching the white stallion vroom back and forth between rooms. “Ahh! Ahhh! Ahhh! Oh gods!” He zoomed past them, back and forth in rabid search for something. “This is the worst thing ever!” he shouted, pulling at his mane in a very un-princely way. For a pony with a compass rose on his flank, he sure did seem lost. In his own house, no less.

“What is this madness?” Tombs had emerged from one of the wings of the mansion. All three maids stood at attention. Feather Duster, Squeaky Clean, and Cheery Cherry all bowed formally to their leader. He nodded, asserting his question again silently with a twist of his mustache. Vroom! Blueblood raced by again, tearing a book off a shelf and flipping through it quickly. That wasn’t it either!

“We think he lost a book or something, he’s been tearing things apart looking for it.” said Feather Duster gently.

“Hrm.” Tombs cocked his head and adjusted his monocle. Coughing once, he watched his master go back and forth in his frenzy. After a few long moments of judging a pattern, his hoof lanced out and grabbed his master’s golden mane. Hauling him back by the scruff of his neck, he pulled the charging pony to a halt. “Sire, your running about is quite unbecoming. Perhaps we staff might aid you?”

“Tombs! It’s terrible! I’ve done something terrible!” Blueblood seized him by his immaculate collar. “How could I be so stupid?! I thought I had a book on it but I think I took it back to the library!”

Swak! Blueblood gave a mare-ish yap of pain when Tombs smacked him upside his head. All three maids winced openly. Coughing once, now that his charge had calmed for a moment, he spoke. “Sire, get ahold of yourself. Whatever it is, I’m sure it can be put right.”

“I asked Twilight Sparkle to the Grand Galloping Gala!” Prince Blueblood exploded, eyes wild.

“Oh, that’s quite good.” Tombs allowed himself a whiskery smile, nodding his approval. “Tiz only proper that a lady like her be seen with a proper stallion like yourself. Keeps away the riff-raff.” He straightened his collar with a singular snap of movement. The vest cocked itself back into place, as though Blueblood had never grabbed it.

“I asked her to the Gala, but I can’t dance!” Blueblood said desperately.

The room went quiet after all three maids had gasped. The butler stared at his master, his face a careful mask of mild uncertainty. It was an alien expression that no member of the household had ever seen. “…wat.” Tombs said after a long silence. Digging into his vest for a moment, he produced a tiny little leather book. Flipping it open, he scanned it. The little book was, quite literally, a brief summary of Blueblood’s activities and habits. Everything from his schooling onward. Horn-fencing. Cooking. Reading. Princely duties. Politics. Visiting the royal family. Twilight Sparkle. Everything of significance for the master’s habits and preferences. How he liked his bath. How he liked his wine. How often he invested in this or that to compound his fortunes for charities. There was no mention of ball room dancing, one of the staples of a standard noble’s long list of skills. Snap, went the little book as it was closed. He stuffed it away. “There has been… an oversight.” He said slowly. All three maids gaaaaaasped with wide eyes, their hooves at their chins. His monocle flashing, he turned and jutted a commanding hoof at all three mares present. “You three! Strip!” he snapped.

There was no hesitating when Tombs gave a command to the household staff. Blueblood stood there, rather stunned, as all three maids cast aside their complex and layered outfits. Tools, keys, and other odds and ends fell out this way and that as the dresses went flying. The master of the house briefly wondered if his staff wandered the house armed. With the odd pile of things, he decided they probably did. Soon, all three mares were naked, standing there and saluting their leader.

Blueblood stared at them, heat in his face. “Er, Tombs, what’re you—?”

“Look closely, Sire.” Tombs said, standing shoulder to shoulder with the white stallion. “Which of them is closest to Twilight Sparkle’s shape and height?” he gestured. Blueblood cocked his head, looking all three mares over for a moment. There was a bit of pink in a few cheeks.

“Feather Duster is closest.” Blueblood said after a time, pointing. She smiled coyly, and the other two maids eyed her a bit with wonder.

“Feather Duster, you will be the master’s new dance partner, while I teach him how to dance properly for the Grand Galloping Gala.” Tombs said, nodding officially. “At least one hour per day, until the Gala, you will practice with him.”

“Yes sir!” she saluted, smiling and making it a promise. “You can count on me.”

“You two, redress and back to work.” He dismissed the other two with a nod. They obeyed, and soon it was just Blueblood, Feather Duster and Tombs in the room. “We have a little more than a month until the Grand Galloping Gala.” He told his master and his underling. “I suggest we start now.”

“Yes!” said both Blueblood and Feather Duster in unison.

“Now then, let’s begin.” Tombs nodded, stepping back and shoving some furniture to the wall with his earth-pony strength. Cocking his head a bit, he went to the phonograph in the corner. It was a decorative antique, but it would have to do. Fishing into the record stand it sat on, he murmured over the titles until he found something worth dancing to. Turning the crank a bit and setting the record into motion, he touched the needle to the disk. A slow, morose sort of tune came out. They would speed it up later, but for now it was slow for learning’s sake.

Blueblood smiled a little awkwardly at Feather Duster. She smiled back, a little flushed at him. Coughing a little, the Prince pushed his mane back to get it out of his eyes. He tried to be friendly about it, to start out. “May I have this dan--!?”

Swak! Tombs whomped him upside the back of his head. Feather Duster jumped, startled. “No.” Tombs said in a quick, even voice. Sniffing a little, he stepped in from the side to correct the stallion’s posture and approach. “Twilight Sparkle is a lady, not some side street strumpet. A gentlecolt approaches with a bow, Sire.” He gestured to himself, bending at the base of his withers with his muzzle pointed down at an angle. Feather Duster giggled a little at all the attention, smiling. Blueblood was quick to note this. “Now you.” He said, nodding at Blueblood. The Prince bowed a bit awkwardly. This was going to take some work.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Alright Twilight,” Celestia smiled demurely. They both lay on little pillows in front of a lovely little ivory hearth. “One moment, and we’ll finish for the evening.” Closing her eyes and hunching just a little bit, Celestia lit her horn with a quiet golden light.

Sol giggled a little, warm in his proverbial bed in the space between spaces. The sun goddess coddled him with her expansive wings. The bright and shining Sol sighed softly, happy in his resting place. Celestia always made sure to check on him just as the last of his light was leaving the horizon. He adored her for it, and always obeyed when she called him the next morning to shed his light on Equestria. Leaning, still in her astral form, she nuzzled him. The spirit of the sun, such an innocent thing. If only Nightmare would cuddle Luna now and then, she really was quite cute once you got to know her. In a black, endless void sort of way.

Celestia’s eyes slitted back open and she gave a coy smile. Twilight cocked her head, waiting patiently until the glow of her teacher’s horn faded. “Everything okay?” she asked softly.

“Mhm.” Celestia nodded a bit. “Now, for your final question of the evening.” The white alicorn had been quizzing her student across various subjects to see how her studies were going. Particularly in the areas of politics, Equestrian law, sociology, etiquette, and court tradition.

Twilight sat upright, ready for anything with an adorable expression of seriousness on her face. She steeled herself. “I’m ready.” The purple mare nodded.

When she was sure her student was paying apt attention, the sun goddess nodded slowly. Folding her wings in a regal way, she actually cocked her head and looked at Twilight in a sideways manner. Twilight leaned a little, curious. “Would you accompany my sister to Ponyville for Nightmare Night this weekend, and make sure she doesn’t eat anypony?”

“…wat.”

End of Part 10

Nightmare Night (I of II)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 11: Nightmare Night (I of II)

Nightmare Moon lay on the ground, bloodied and weakened, her wings sticking out at odd angles. A Lunar Stallion leaned into her view, casting off his helmet and wiping blood from his mouth. “My queen!” he said gutterally, suffering from many wounds. He hacked throatily, spitting to one side as he cradled her head up. “My queen!” he said again, shaking her. “Get up! She’s comi—AUGH!?” he suddenly arched his back, eyes wide as a spiraling white horn sprouted from his chest. He cupped his chest with his front hooves, blood fountaining out of him. “M-my…” he was flung to one side as Nightmare looked up in horror.

Celestia loomed over the black alicorn, stained with blood and battle while she panted steam into the night air. Her wings were folded over her chest, and she thrust her helm from her head. “This… *pant* this ends here sister. We won’t allow thou to spread thy darkness anymore!” She snapped her hoof out towards their surroundings. “Look! Look where thy path of hatred and jealousy hath brought us!” The milky goddess gestured harshly. Nightmare turned her head. The ground was carpeted with the dead and dying, so many bodies everywhere. The battle had been a massacre for both sides. The palace was ablaze, and Canterlot herself cried out as yet another building fell into rubble. “Have thou no remorse?!” Celestia cried, tears going down her cheeks even as she shouted at her sister in fury. “None at all?!”

Nightmare struggled to her hooves, backing away and panting like a savage beast. Neon-green, acid-like spit dripped from her maw. With a quick haulk-tooie, she sent a blob of it into Celestia’s face! The mare barely had time to react, turning to let the side of her breastplate catch it. The armament smoked wildly as the acid ate away at it. “Hysssss!” Nightmare had gone fully feral by then, drinking in all the abyssal powers of the under-dark to do battle with her sister.

“Then thou leaveth me no choice!” Celestia gritted her teeth, blimping her wings open. Across her breast was the Yoke of Harmony! The six gems glittered fiercely in the dark, driving Nightmare back a bit. “For Equestria!” she reared up, flailing her hooves like a war-horse. “Forgive me!” Her horn lit itself with a white and molten light. The six gems reacted, and the Yoke of Harmony ignited into a mystic golden light.

Nightmare was blinded, but she could feel the vertigo of being driven up, up, up so far up she did not know how high. The striking cold of space hit her in the face. She cried out into the airless environment, pressed hard on the beam of chromatic light. Luna rushed up to meet her, the cold grey surface suddenly filling her vision. The black alicorn cried out in terror as she fell, fell, fell. The crater she created when she struck the moon was massive. She lay there for ages, weak and cold and alone. When at last she could rise, she looked around—she was alone. So terribly alone. She looked up at the sky to see fair Equestria hanging above her. Her eyes widened in horror. “No! Nooo! Noooooo!”

“Nightmare, Nightmare wake up!” Celestia was nuzzling her sister fretfully, until her draconic eyes suddenly snapped open. The black alicorn stared at the white one. They lay strewn out in a massive bed, intertwined in the most intimate ways, under thick covers. How had she gotten here… oh yes, she’d gone once more to Tia’s bed out of want for company and her sister’s affection. She’d missed it so, and every few nights ventured to Celestia’s chambers for just that… Nightmare Moon suddenly burst into tears and flung herself into her sister’s embrace.

“I-I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” she blubbered aloud, shaking like a leaf as her night terror’s icy grip slowly receded from her spine. The royal we vanished in her vulnerable intimacy. Celestia’s great white wingspan pressed in around her little sister on all sides. She didn’t need to ask what she was dreaming about. She pressed her muzzle into Nightmare’s mane, nuzzling hard and reassuringly while she cried her eyes out. A guard cracked the door of the chamber, and Celestia bonked his nose closing it again with a flick of magic. That would have to do, to teach him about privacy. “Tia, I-I-I…”

“Shhhhh…. Sh-shhh-shhhh…” Celestia wrapped Nightmare Moon into her motherly arms, curling her hooves around to stroke the base of her wings. It was an old, comforting gesture that came to pegasi by instinct, but were remembered by gods like them. Though they were sisters, the sanctuary of the massive white embrace felt wonderful. The black alicorn felt smaller, but safer. Quieting herself into little sniffles, she could only press her nose into Celestia’s embrace and find quiet comfort in her scent. “I’m here, Nightie… shhhh…” she stroked her over and over again, soothing her distressed sibling. “I’m here…”

“I was all alone,” Nightmare whispered intimately, hiding under the blankets like they might be spied on. Celestia checked that the bed-curtains were closed with a flick of her eyes, before sinking into the covers as well. “All alone on that cold, grey rock for so long. So very long, Tia!” Nightmare squirmed and fretted softly. The white alicorn could feel her sister’s fast-beating heart, and could only keep petting her. It was the best way to make a nightmare’s power vanish. Leaning into her sister and tucking her head under her chin (careful of her horn), Celestia intertwined them like two perfect swans. Extending a wing over her sister for her to hide under, she coo’d quietly. Nightmare had, during their filly-hoods, hidden under her wings during the daytime sometimes. The black alicorn had found the sun scary back then. But even that night, she still found sanctuary under them.

“Shhhhh-sh-sh-sh…” Celestia kept tutting, slowly calming her sister back down while she stroked her. “It’s all in the past, Nightie, you’ll never have to worry about it again—I swear it.” Touching horns quietly with her sister, she allowed a small touch of magic to pass back and forth between them. It was sort of a unicorn kiss, in a way. Mixing magical auras was only for lovers, mothers and foals, and very close siblings. It required the lowering of so many defenses, it was hardly ever practiced anymore. Nightmare leaned eagerly into it, purring quietly. Light mixed with dark into a syrupy, milky sort of in-between that both sisters could share. The warm glow of love warmed them, and soon Nightmare quieted herself. Her head felt very heavy, and she hid her face in the crook of Celestia’s neck to rest. “You’re home, you’re here, shhhhh…”

“Everytime I close my eyes—”

“You’ll find me when you open them again, Nightie.” Celestia soothed.

“H’oh Tia…” she clung to her sister with all her might, tears beginning anew.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Ponyville was not a stupid town, by any stretch of the imagination. It may have been a small, rural place that mostly supported by a local apple orchard, but the ponies that lived there were as bright and charming as they came. So, when word reached them that Princess Nightmare Moon had returned, they were suddenly whipped into a frenzy of activity. It was Ponyville, after all, that was the source of the holiday ‘Nightmare Night.’

Nightmare Night was the night when Princess Nightmare Moon descended from Canterlot to gobble up any murderers, rapists, or thieves that were left tied up in the street for her. How she did this was anypony’s guess but the claims were in history books, not mythology books. Princess Celestia had been very careful with the more gruesome details but yes, she’d confirmed many times, her sister did EAT such evil ponies on Nightmare Night. If a household or local law enforcement did not have such an evil pony to give, they would instead leave a little bowl of sweets. Her stallion escort (a pony elected every year to please and keep Nightmare Moon company while in their town) would keep the candies until night’s end, and then make sure they all went home with her when the event was over. Now, this tradition had of course fallen by the wayside when Princess Nightmare had been banished to the moon, but Ponyville had done its best to compensate.

At first, they held public executions on Nightmare Night. But, this dark tradition really didn’t please anypony. They didn’t enjoy seeing the worst of the worst get beheaded, much less in front of their foals. They’d relied on Nightmare Moon to gobble them up, so they didn’t have to worry about such evil citizens. So, eventually, those ponies were sent to Canterlot in a big cart to be executed by Princess Celestia. The tradition didn’t hold long, to say the least. So, after that, the holiday evolved again to revolve more around the sweets.

Foals would leave little candy dishes on their homes’ front porch, and when they woke the next morning, some of the candies would be eaten and the wrappers strewn everywhere. Their parents would tell them Nightmare Moon must’ve passed them by, because nopony in their house deserved to be eaten. This made all the pony children happy, knowing they’d defended their families from being eaten.

Then, over the centuries, Nightmare Night evolved into a sort of cross-breed holiday. It was a harvest festival, a costume festival, and a candy-gathering-and-eating sort of festival. Foals still left offerings for Nightmare Moon, but got to keep most of their candy themselves. There was also a grand feast every year—not to mention the Pumpkin King.

The Pumpkin King was a stallion, elected by Ponyville every year, to represent Nightmare Moon’s escort in the olden days. He would preside over the events, make sure everypony was having a good time. He would also be the one to take the offerings to the local Nightmare Moon statue at the end of the night, and pray to her. Who was the Pumpkin King? Well, it was different every year, and just like the feast it was always spectacular to learn who it was.

As previously mentioned, Ponyville had WHIPPED itself into action as soon as Princess Nightmare Moon literally fell from the sky sometime in late August of the year. They’d been growing pumpkins, setting up songs, games, parades and decorations. Ponies from all over Equestria were packing into the town just to get a glimpse of her Majesty, and the local economy had sailed through the roof. Prosperity was a small word for what was happening. Madam Mayor Mare was up to her eyeballs in unfamiliar ponies spending money, staying in hotels, buying food, setting up things for the special night—and she was loving every minute of it. The town was seeing such a financial influx it was filling the coffers to the bursting. They’d be re-paving roads, fixing buildings, and everything else for years to come!

Now was the time. Now was the night. The feast table was set. The wooden effigy of the Pumpkin King was set up. The sun slipped from beyond the horizon, and the stars began to emer—no. Clouds. Clouds were gathering, swirling, thundering back and forth. Ponies stopped what they were doing, looking skyward with curious eyes. She was coming! They ran to their homes, their hotels, and other places to hide. Anypony caught on the street when her Majesty arrived might be thought of as a snack! Windows slammed closed, doors were barred, and foals fretted as they put bowls of candy on their front porches.

Suddenly, a cloud exploded with lightning and a chariot burst from the darkness. It was covered with spikes and severe-looking angles. Twin stallions with sharp fangs for teeth pulled it with heavy-looking chains, darting around the night sky like vultures. The wheels spun wildly as the cloaked figure within smiled down at the town below. Her hood flapping in the harsh wind, she gestured and her chariot-pullers darted to the road below. Stopping a good twenty feet from the ground they stopped.

Nightmare Moon leaped dramatically from her vehicle, clad in a black cloak with silver lining. She landed daintily, tossing back her hood as thunder blasted across the sky. Grinning from ear to ear with all her fangs, she peered around. “Hulloooo?” she called melodically. “Hath thee any murderers, rapists or thieves for me, Ponyville?”

“Ooomph!?” Bandaid had crawled out of the chariot when it was laid to rest on the ground. Green in the face and very, very motion-sick, the stallion leaned against the nearest feasting table. “Ohhhh…” he moaned a little, holding himself. “How can you stand riding in that thing?” Twilight Sparkle POPPED into existence next to him, gently hushing him as Nightmare Moon made her rounds. According to old scripture… yes, there she went.

Nightmare Moon walked from front porch to front porch, sniffing like a hungry dog. She pawed at each door a couple of times with her big hooves, pretended to suddenly notice the offering bowls, and nibbling a candy or two out of them. When she’d passed over a certain place, she didn’t step back to it again. She was careful to leave wrappers strewn about so the ponies within would know she’d passed by.

She could hear foals whimpering in one house. “What’s that big black shadow outside?”

“No no, shhh! We don’t want her in here with us! She’s looking for ponies to gobble, shhh!”

Nightmare Moon chuckled blackly, taking a sweet from the offering bowl and snapping it up neatly. “No evil ponies here!” she said aloud, turning and cantering off to the next home. She heard the loud whewwww’s from within. This ritual went on for perhaps an hour and a half. Twilight Sparkle and Nurse Bandaid watched the Princess work diligently, careful not to miss a house and careful not to take more than once candy from each offering bowl. There was a feast later, after all, she didn’t want to be ill on sweets. Once the majority of the town had been visited, and the other buildings decidedly businesses and not homes, Nightmare Moon returned to the town square.

There were covered tables all around her, no doubt ready for the feast. There was a big cart with a wooden stallion perched on it, which she eyed curiously. Hrmph, they used to give her real stallions— pity. Her gaze slid to the black and dark purple streamers, the little images of herself here and there… all the games and prizes set up… it was just wonderful! Fake spiders on fake webs hung here and there, and there were bubbling cauldrons of who knew what dotting the landscape. It was so dark and sickly and she simply loved it. Bandaid and Twilight both put their hooves over their ears when they saw the Princess take a deep breath.

“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!” Nightmare Moon concussed the night like a roll of thunder with her voice. Ponyville had been prepared. Reading enough old scripture they’d learned of her Majesty’s powerful voice. It didn’t keep them from jumping in terror and holding their rattling windows, though. “YOU HAVE DONE WELL TO RESPECT OUR ANCIENT TRADITIONS! OUR COVENANT REMAINS STRONG, WE ART PROUD OF THEE!” she gestured grandly, and her cloak exploded into a hundred bats. Uncovered, those with their noses pressed to their windows saw a grand and royal sight. Nightmare Moon, in her full silvery regalia. Helm, yoke, glittering horse-shoes, she was simply beautiful. More than one stallion, and a few mares, stared drunkenly at her dark beauty. The curve of her flank, the length of her pillar-like legs. The barest hint of ribs still showed at her chest, but other than that she was simply divine. “WE BID THEE FREE OF EVIL THIS NIGHT! I HATH ACCEPTED THY OFFERINGS AND BID THEE COME! LET THE FEAST AND CELEBRATIONS BEGINNNN!” she reared up on her hind-legs, thunder exploding across the sky as lightning blinded all those who looked upon her.

Doors opened and ponies stuck their heads out. Foals scampered out into the street, leaping up so they could get a good look at their Princess. Ponies filed out of homes, businesses, hotels, and alleyways. At the same time, however, there was music. Nightmare Moon peered about, but there was no stage of musicians. She didn’t see any instruments anywhere. Where was it coming from? It was like the music was creeping up on her form somewhere, yet everywhere. The Princess gaped in open shock as she was led to the head of a feasting table with Bandaid and Twilight Sparkle. The Ponyvillians, were they… were they breaking into song?

Fillies and colts of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us to get a fright
This, our town on Nightmare Night!

Nightmare Moon’s face lit up as she seated herself. Why, the whole town was in on it. The music wasn’t coming from anywhere, it was coming from everywhere! The open windows, the slanted roofs! Anyplace that held a reveler, they’d all practice and knew the words. The reverperating sounds rolled over the Princess like her own Royal Canterlot Voice.

This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night!
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night!
This is Nightmare Night, everypony’s in a fright!
Trick or treat, evil ponies gonna die tonight!
It's our town, everypony's fright!
In this town on Nightmare Night!

A mare suddenly BURST from the punchbowl, garbed from head to hoof in fake blood. Her mouth was full of fake fangs and her lit horn told all she was coloring her eyes crimson. Foals scattered, squealing in terror and delight. Nightmare clapped as the song paused for the harliquinn unicorn of doom:

I am the one hiding under your bed!
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!

A stallion literally exploded from a nearby barrel, sending shards of wood in every direction and making a group of mares cry out. Nightmare snapped her head around to see him burrow under a set of open stairs, leaving long striped trails behind him. Realistic-looking snakes spilled out of the opening and his bright eyes glittered in the shadows where he now lurked.

I am the one hiding under yours stairs!
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!

The whole town joined in once more as a massive apple pie was wheeled in on a cart. Nightmare Moon clapped in delight as the table was weighed down. Strange creatures of the night gathered to the little stools, benches and chairs to her left and right. Tables filled rapidly, and the planks groaned with the weight of all the foods. Corn with butter, grean beans, apples, candies, peeled grapes with spaghetti, stuffings, and everything in between! Massive trays were passed down the long tables, making sure everypony had plenty of everything within hoof’s reach. The Princess gave a short, delighted shriek when a brave pony briefly choked her with an eating bib. She shoved him away with a laugh, and he skittered away with an impish cackle. Such mischief!

This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the night time song!
In this town, don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise
Round that corner, hiding in the trash can
Something's waiting now to pounce, and how you'll...
Scream!

A grown, tough-looking stallion gave a mare-ish shriek when a spider was launched in front of him. Mares all around him laughed and he flushed crimson. A trio of foals rushed away, laughing like jackels as they tried to find their next target. Maybe they could get their cutie marks in scaring the buh-jeezus outta everypony!

This is Nightmare Night
Red 'n' black, green 'n' blight!
Aren't you scared?!
Well, that's just fine
Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night!

A powder-blue unicorn mare thrust her hooves skyward, igniting fantastic fireworks in a brilliant display. There was shouting and clapping as Nightmare Moon’s cutie mark was formed in the shower of sparks. Then a ghost! Then a manticore! The Princess gave a shout, pointing and grinning widely. Tossing her silvery mane, the fireworks artist sent another barrage skyward much to everypony’s delight. It was amazing—but was there ever any doubt? She was an expert at this. Who knew the Ponyville librarian could be such a pyromaniac, hahaha!

Everypony scream, everypony scream!
In our town of Nightmare Night!

A bright pink mare leapt up on a table right in front of the Princess, startling her. Her face was outlined in gore, and a pair of twin butcher knives hung from holsters at her hips. A horrific cloak made of shorn-off cutie marks was draped around her. Reached up, she pulled her face off with a shriek, to reveal another painted face beneath. She was the stuff of nightmares—then she vanished with a crack of flash powder.

I am the clown with the tear-away face!
Here in a flash and gone without a trace!

A ghostly, enchanted unicorn drifted by. Her complex magic had made her look like a levitating ghost. Nightmare Moon shivered at her creative woven spells, and even gave a delighted laugh when her mane was ruffled by the ‘spirit’.

I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"
I am the wind blowing through your hair!

Nightmare couldn’t help it. She just had to join in. Standing with authority, she raised a red-filled goblet to all the ponies around her. Bandaid laughed at her enthusiasm. She was so energetic! Twilight smiled despite herself. It was good to see the Princess enjoying herself after suffering for so long in the medical wing. It was an equal delight to hear her put her own lyrics in:

I am the shadow on the moon at night!
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright!

Princess Nightmare’s cloak reformed, then exploded into bats a second time. The loud, twisting chaos of the song was taking the town over—it was everypony’s game. The wild dancing, parade formations, and filling tables were swirling in every direction. It was growing wilder and wilder, what a party!

This is Nightmare Night, this is Nightmare Night
Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night! Nightmare Night!
Nightmare Night! Nightmare Niiiiight!

Madam Mayor Mare waved for the Princess’ attention, which she gave after drinking deeply from her goblet and messily wiping her mouth. The government pony had a solo lyric, “In this town! Don't we love it now? Everypony's waiting for the next surprise!”

Four or five big, strong stallions were pulling the cart with the wooden effigy on it towards the Princess. She chuckled a little, clapping as they brought it near. It was a wooden stallion with a great big barrel chest, made of straw and branches and timber. His eyes were dark and his mane was of the brightest straw anypony had seen for a long time. They brought the creation close the table, and Nightmare gave a shout when it suddenly sprang to life!

The wooden stallion leapt off the cart, snatching a candle from the display and jabbing himself in the heart with it. Nightmare stood, eyes aglow with morbid fascination as the huge figure caught flame, dancing wildly upon the table. Leaping off, onto the cart again so the table didn’t burn, he turned and bucked like a wild beast. Nightmare was entranced, watching the smoke curl and the ash fly about him.

Skeleton Mac might catch you in the back
And scream like a hydra
Make you jump out of your skin!
This is Nightmare Night, everypony scream!
Won’t ya please make way for a very special guy?!

Nightmare was suddenly ushered out of her seat by excited ponies. She laughed wildly, watching the strange burning stallion dance his jig on the cart. The vehicle soon burned and his sheer weight crushed it into a ground-level platform. The crowd parted so she could see him clearly. He blackened into ash, bucking wildly and leaping off the cart. He landed hard on the road with a crack of thunder with his hooves. Terrifying cracks rushed away from where he’d landed, and the nightmarish figure walked towards her at a brisk pace. The Princess recoiled a little, not wanting to be set on fire herself.

Stallion Mac is King of this Nightmare Night!
Everypony hail to the Pumpkin King now!

Ponies, gathered to either side of the parade street, bowed as pegasi suddenly brought in the ugliest rainclouds anypony had ever seen. Nightmare Moon watched them dump gallons upon gallons over the burning stallion. Bits of wood began to fall away, straw curling and sticking to his hooves. Lines of rope and twine began to come undone at his joints. There was flesh beneath the flames. The Princess perked up. He wasn't an effigy at all, he was real!

This is Nightmare Night! This is Nightmare Night!
Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night, Nightmare Night!
In this town we call home
Everypony hail to the nighttime song!
La la la la-la la! WOO!

A massive, rugged, handsome stallion walked out of the burning brush and ash. Nightmare gaped at him. He was quite possibly the most virile, masculine thing she’d ever seen. He was bright red with an orange mane, bearing a green apple on his flank. He had unshorn fetlocks and reeked of male scents and work. A farmer? A workhorse? Did it matter? He was positively luscious! She watched the fireproof spell wear off of him as the last of the wood fell away and he leaned up to plant a firm kiss right on her lips.

“Meep!” chirped Nightmare Moon, red in the cheeks at his forwardness. He bowed silently, pressing his gorgeous muscled chest to the ground for her. The Princess grinned, nodding her approval. So this was her escort for the evening. She liked. She liked a lot. Leaning down, she kissed the top of his head as was tradition. The crowd burst into cheers. It was good to be Princess.

End of Part 11

Nightmare Night (II of II)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 12: Nightmare Night (II of II)

Now, one might think at first glance that Nightmare Night was just a massive orgy of indulgence, eating, dancing, and wild horse-play. But no, there were sacred duties that Princess Nightmare Moon was honor-bound to see to while she was there in Ponyville. The ancient convenant was that she would eat the evil ponies left out for her, and the town in return would throw a festival to celebrate her. There were other things that needed doing, though.

Nightmare Moon sat in a big circle of foals, the ones brave enough to approach her. She blessed no less than thirty-seven of them. Alicorn magic was powerful, after all, and she could make good fortune follow a pony around for a few days if she so desired. It was a little straining on her, still recovering from her return from the moon, but she could push a little for the sake of the little ones. She made sure nurse Bandaid wasn’t looking when she wiped away the sweat from her brow. Thirty-seven blessings was a lot, after all.

The black alicorn also saw to more personal matters. A married couple or two came to her for fertility blessings. You know, the couples that had had trouble having foals of their own. Nightmare Moon, being a goddess not only of the night but of fertility, blessed the couples as well. It was not uncommon in the old era, and the tradition could still be upheld today. For the next week or so, conceiving would hopefully go much better for those lucky couples.

Toasts were made to Canterlot, the crown and country. Nightmare Moon sang along with them with songs older than the holiday itself. Nightmare Night was a time of unity for Ponyville and all those visiting. Then it was time to feast.

Ponies tried to make sure the dark Princess got a lot of everything to stuff herself, but her hoof servant stepped in for that part. “Allow me, Princess, we don’t want you to get sick.” Bandaid said, smiling. “Too much food and your body might reject it, remember.” He thinned out some of her portions. When she made to protest, he made up for it with greater variety. When she could not have that massive slice of pumpkin pie, she instead got a thinner slice and some corn next to it. This seemed to placate her. When finally a proper royal plate was filled, she sat to eat with everypony else.

Big Macintosh, the Pumpkin King, sat to her right as was tradition. Twilight Sparkle, the Sun’s Favored Foal and ambassador from Canterlot, sat to her left. Nurse Bandaid felt a little left out, and just a wee bit jealous of the strange red stallion sitting next to his Princess. Didn’t he deserve a place at her right hoof too? Sensing his apprehension, Nightmare looked up and over at her hoofservant. “Come! Make room!” she bade a few ponies. They scooted down the long benches, and Bandaid ended up next to Twilight Sparkle. He felt better, getting a seat close to her majesty. His own plate was filled and set in front of him, and he was able to eat in peace as well.

Twilight was the fastest to clean her plate. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was. The stress of the hard flight from Canterlot and the craziness of the festival had held her awake with adrenaline. Now, she was feeling the hunger pangs. She rose to get more, smiling and bowing to the Princess as she did so. There was a certain friendly caution between them. They’d not spent a lot of time together since Nightmare had gobbled up Prince Blueblood—and then vomited him up—in the middle of her apartment, which had to be scrubbed for days by the palace staff. Word had reached her that peace had been brokered between Prince and Princess, so she’d been careful to be friendly and polite when she could. It wasn’t nice to hold grudges.

When Twilight got up to refill her plate, Bandaid sidled over on the bench to see how his Princess was doing up close. “Are you feeling okay, Princess?” he asked around his corn cob. Her great head swung about to meet his gaze. “Aches? Pains? If you need to rest a moment, we could find someplace quiet. I’m sure Ponyville won’t mind if you needed a breather.” He was eyeing her wings, still forming feathers, and the slight lines of her ribs still visible. Poor stallion, ever the worrier even at joyous festivals.

Nightmare Moon was very much reminded of a mother hen. Reaching out, she scrubbed his mane a bit. “Thou art always thinking of me, Bandaid. Bless thee.” She leaned and kissed the end of his muzzle, which made him turn scarlet. A bright tingle of alicorn magic washed over him, and he felt a hazy heaviness travel through his chest. He felt like… ohh, it was that nice heavy warmth that one got when waking up late on a Saturday. You know the sort—when your covers have been kicked off and there’s already light streaming in the window to keep you warm? That hot achiness? It was nice. Bandaid gave a bashful smile as the blessing sank into his being, shivering. “Stallion, didst thou go and collect my offerings?” Nightmare Moon turned to the big red stallion on her right.

“Nnnope.” He slurred a bit, perking his ears.

“Well then, away with thee!” she said, gesturing grandly. There was some laughter when the poor stallion banged his knees on the underside of the table in his haste. The Princess winced, but before he rushed away she stopped him. “There is no hurry, dear escort, take thy time.” She reached and pressed a corn cob into his mouth like a bar. Hot butter dribbled on his chin and the stallion pawed at the ground a little embarrassedly. He smiled with his ears and ears before cantering off. Big Mac would need to visit all the stalls and centers of the festival for candies to fill his saddlebags, and then Nightmare Moon would take those home at the end of the night. It was the Pumpkin King’s duty to do such. “Better?” the Princess smiled at Bandaid when the barrel-chested Big Mac had gone.

“Uh?” he said, food lifted halfway to his mouth.

“Think not I did not see thee eyeing yon virility.” She gestured a bit. “Jealousy upon thy brow does not befit, hoof servant.” She snickered scandalously, fangs exposed in a saucy grin.

“Wh-wh-what?!” Bandaid’s cheeks went a deep red. “Jealousy!?”

Nightmare leaned and whispered into his ear. “Thou art no good with mares, thou claims, but also thou has grown used to stroking mine legs and wings in the night, methinks.” Her eyes lidded into a lewd expression.

Twilight Sparkle arrived back at the table just in time to see the Princess’ private nurse go blood red, from the base of his neck to the tip of his ears. “Are you okay?” she asked, setting her plate down and leaning at him with concern. “Mr. Bandaid?” she asked again after a moment. Nightmare Moon straightened, a knowing smile on her face. Without warning, the medical pony bolted from the table, yammering something about taking a breather. “Is he okay?” The purple mare asked the black one instead.

“My hoof servant’s insecurities with the fairer sex are brought to bear.” Nightmare said kindly, smiling as she watched the poor stallion gallop away to hide himself. “But he is so innocent.” She shook her head with an airy sigh. “It is in our nature to seduce what ponies we enjoy, but his kindness need not our syrupy touch.” She shook her head a bit, then smiled down at Twilight.

“Did… you just say you don’t plan to seduce him?” Twilight frowned up at her, after having worked through the clunky old dialect. “That’s kind of pompus, isn’t it?”

Nightmare Moon frowned at the sudden bolt of insult. “Hath Celestia waxed that silver tongue, or a few too many adventure novels?” she shot back. “I am a goddess of such things, Twilight Sparkle, think thee I do not… enjoy…?” the sentence ended with a tone like a question. Twilight frowned, ready for more verbal fencing, but the Princess wasn’t looking at her anymore. In fact, there was a light pinkness in her black cheeks. “Oh my.” She said in a throaty whisper, eyes shining in adoration.

Twilight rolled her eyes. It was nothing but food, sex, and night time with this mare. Was she that narrow-minded? Turning with a bored expression to see what stallion the Princess was eyeing this time, she gave a mild start. There in the crowd, was a pony that was not dressed as some horrible monster or creature of the night. The purple mare leaned, studying her closely.

She was a butter yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, trotting about the different stalls of the Nightmare Night festival. She was wearing some sort of green, leafy outfit that had dark pink floral designs on it. A little circlet on her head and a staff strapped to her back said something along the lines of ‘druid.’ Her face was innocent and her expression kind—until anything remotely scary came near her. In which case she would freeze up, or squeak, or hide behind the nearest obstacle. Every little thing seemed to startle the poor mare. She dashed this way and that, trying to make conversation with one pony or another, trying to be brave but failing horribly.

“Who is yon pure innocence?” said Nightmare Moon in a little whisper of fascination. Twilight blinked a little. She didn’t know who that was, but she certainly stood out amongst all the scary costumes and partying ponies. “She is lovely!”

“Don’t tell me you like mares too.” said Twilight sourly.

“Hush, revelry wallflower!” Nightmare honked most of Twilight’s FACE with a giant hoof, not taking her eyes off of the shy-looking mare. The purple mare struggled out of the grip to be able to breathe again, but by then the alicorn had risen from the table and started towards the yellow Pegasus.

“Ugh, she’s impossible.” Twilight flopped down over the table, laying her head in her arms with a moan.

“Surely not all royalty is that way, darling.” A white mare with a purple mane had appeared next to Twilight at the table. The purple unicorn sat up, startled. “You’re Twilight Sparkle, yes? The Sun’s Favored Foal?”

“Yes, I am.” Addressed by her full title, Twilight had little choice but to do a little bow. She hated that title so much. Why couldn’t she be the Sun’s Favored Mare, or the Sun’s Favored Pony? Maybe it didn’t roll off the tongue as well. “And you are…?” she let it hang.

“My name is Rarity.” She returned the gesture, a bit deeper of a bow because of Twilight’s elevated status. “I’m a local dressmaker, but I’ve done quite a bit of work in Canterlot as well. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?” she gave her perfect mane a little toss.

“Oh uh… no, sorry.” Twilight smiled a little.

The white unicorn deflated a little. “Well, I’ve had quite a few designs on the backs of a few nobles here and there.” She said conversationally. “What do you do around the palace, huhm?” she sidled up, rather cozy-like, next to Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight winced inwardly. A skirt-chaser, bright and bold, to speak with somepony near royalty. She could smell the social-ladder-climbing desire on the mare next to her. “Ohh uhm… a little of this, a little of that.” She said, smiling her best fake smile as her brow knotted a bit. Why was she suddenly reminded of Prince Blueblood? Well… a past version of him anyway? The current version was at least a decent pony, it seemed… Twilight coughed once, trying to clear her thoughts. “I do whatever Princess Celestia asks me to do, and I study in the Canterlot Royal Library.”

“Really, darling?” Rarity leaned on an elbow, her eyes full of starry glitters at the very thought of the palace. She seemed positively fascinated with Twilight’s lifestyle. “That must be amaaaazing!” she gushed. Twilight gagged on the inside. “So is being the Sun’s Favored Foal like being her assistant? What kinds of things do you dooo?” she was fiddling with the end of Twilight’s saddlebag.

Twilight suddenly wished she was back with Princess Nightmare Moon. She quickly peered out over the crowd. The Princess wasn’t hard to spot, having made her way across the crowd to meet the butter yellow Pegasus. Currently, she looked to be flirting, for she was holding out a caramel apple to her and smiling grandly. Of course, the massive fangs did NOT help soothe the shy-looking pony in the slightest. Even from the great distance, Twilight could see her shaking. “Well, right now I’m here with Princess Nightmare Moon. Princess Celestia wanted me to make sure she didn’t EAT anypony.” A flick of purple magic snapped the clasp of her saddlebag closed, startling the other mare with a nip of pain. “But if the Princess needs me to reside over the Noon Day Court sometimes, I can do that too. For short amounts of time, of course.” This only made the stars in the other mare’s eyes get bigger and shinier.

“Wow!” Rarity gushed again. “You must be quite the important noble lady!” she wanted to be best friends out of rank, Twilight could sense.

“I’m not noble born, so no.” Twilight cut that at the bud.

Rarity deflated. “You’re not?” she said.

“Nope.” Twilight shrugged, taking a bite of pudding to fill the now awkward gap.

“But my! How you’ve moved up in the world.” Rarity said with a smile. “You’re an inspiration to mares like me!” she slathered on the praise, trying to regain the lost ground. “Why, I bet all the noble stallions just nip at your heels everywhere you go.”

“Just one.” Twilight actually laughed a little. Rarity tilted her head, and the conversation began anew there. She told Rarity all about Prince Blueblood, and his efforts to woo her. About how they’d been growing more upright and sophisticated lately, and how she’d promised to dance with him at the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala.

“Why, he sounds like a real gentlecolt!” Rarity said, swooning at the thought of a real-like Prince. Twilight gave her a look. “Well, not at first, but if he’s trying his hardest surely that warrants a little attention?”

“He’s… better than he used to be.” Twilight admitted quietly, staring down at her plate. “I think it might be because the Princess ate him.”

“Ate him?!” Rarity gaped.

“She threw him back up, don’t worry.” Twilight smirked at the other mare’s expression.

“I thought all that eating ponies thing was just nonsense and folklore!” she said, looking terrified.

Twilight sensed a way out of the conversation at last. “Oh no, she’s a carnivore. And a cannibal.” She smiled just a little as the white unicorn went just a little bit whiter in the face. "The Nightmare Night stories are literal."

“O-oh my!” Rarity said. She suddenly looked nervous. It probably wasn’t a good idea to get too close to the mare that was with Nightmare Moon… anytime soon. If she made Twilight Sparkle angry, she might tell the Princess of the night, and then--! Oh dear, that would be the worst! Possible! Thing! “E-excuse me, I need to go… freshen up!” she moved away, between a few stalls.

Twilight sighed in relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t like other ponies, it was just some of the star-struck ones that really got under her skin. That Rarity character had been an odd one, that was for sure. Royal-skirt-chasers were in Ponyville too, it seemed. How had she known who she was? Hmm.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Thank you for your report.” Celestia flipped the little leather-bound book closed, stuffing it amongst the other things she needed to read and make decisions on that evening. The stallion in front of her desk bowed and slipped out the door. The white alicorn sighed a little, stroking her chin for a moment. Things were developing in such an interesting way lately, she could only ponder what it would all mean for Equestria in the long run. She was known as the long-game-player amongst world leaders—not that she minded the title, it was an alicorn's nature to live for eons without aging. Leaning for a moment to favor her teacup, she paused over a series of little charts.

Appleoosia needed a bit more rain this year. They’d just made peace with the buffalo herds after moving their orchards about two miles south of their original location. The marriage of the town sheriff and the chieftain’s daughter had cemented that nicely. Cloudsdale would have some long runs to make. Hmm.

There was a knock at her office door, which startled Celestia a little. The Princess straightened regally. There were not many ponies that her guards would allow to disturb her. “Enter.” She said kindly. The door swung open to reveal Prince Blueblood, who came in looking rather sheepish. “Oh, hello Blueblood. Close the door, sit for a bit!” she invited, happy to have a brief escape from the endless drudgery of paperwork.

He bowed, as was expected, then obeyed. “I hope I’m not disturbing you from something too important, Auntie Celestia.” The white stallion said in an unsure way. Celestia stopped a moment. He only put ‘auntie’ in front of her name when he was about to confess something. Or if something was wrong. Or if he wanted something from her.

“Did you need something, Nephew?” she said carefully to the fidgeting stallion. He was looking everywhere but her, including the floor, her shelves, and the window. Celestia patiently waited for him to work up the courage to speak.

“I’m uhm… I’m doing this a bit backward, Auntie.” He said in a quiet way. “I do hope you’ll forgive me. It’s about Twilight Sparkle.” He fiddled with the carpet a little, shuffling at it with a hoof.

“Twilight? Has something happened?” Celestia said, more alert now. “Is something wrong?” She leaned forward just a little. If something had happened to Twilight, quite a bit would have been thrown by the wayside. She was too important, too precious, and now the little Princeling had her full attention. Not just her musings. If anything happened to Twilight, anything at all, Celestia’s plans would be laid to waste.

“W-well you see… I asked Twilight Sparkle to the Grand Galloping Gala.” Blueblood said sheepishly, meeting her eyes for just a moment before returning them to the carpet. “B-but I should not have. Not in the way I did.”

Celestia tensed just a hair. Twilight had sometimes complained about Blueblood’s advances in the past. How shallow, eager, and rather blatant they’d been. She'd always allowed Twilight to handle him, though. She was strong enough to halt any eager stallion she didn't like. But then, perhaps two months ago, she’d stopped such complaints. When she’d mentioned him, in passing, it had been in a mildly calmer—sometimes positive, tone. The white alicorn knew anything and everything about Blueblood’s activities (she had her sources, thank you very much), but this sudden meeting had caught her off guard. “What do you mean? Did something go wrong?”

“W-well, uhm…” he pushed his golden locks out of his face a bit, trying to find good words to put to his thoughts. “You… you got Twilight Sparkle from an orphanage, yes? Adopted her?” he asked. Celestia nodded slowly.

Twilight was called the Sun’s Favored Foal because the Princess had plucked her from an academy entrance exam and brought her to the palace to live. It was only later that she’d found out the grown-ups with the little one were her caretakers, not her parents. Seeing the extraordinary raw talent, the alicorn had snatched her up as her own. Almost like a daughter, very very close. The talent, the smarts, the raw power, and the un-ending love that radiated from the purple mare was amazing. Mentoring her into marehood had been a joy, and they’d become very close because of it.

“Yes. I took care of her and she stays at the palace as my protégé. Everypony knows this.” Celestia said as neutrally as she could. Where was Blueblood going with this?

“Th-the thing is…” it was frustrating, but at the same time a little bit cute, to see the regal Prince struggle so hard with his words. “I’ve been reading these books, you see, and they say that a stallion should ask his interest’s parents for permission to… to see her, you know?” he put it as simply, if as awkwardly, as he could. “And Twilight Sparkle doesn’t have any parents. She has you.”

The white alicorn blinked a few times. “Yes?” said Celestia, equally as carefully.

“I… I would like to ask your permission, oh dear this is so backward,” Blueblood fretted. He’d already asked Twilight, and she’d already accepted. “I would like your permission to take Twilight to the Grand Galloping Gala.” He finally got it out, throwing his chest out just a bit, like he’d just crested a mountain. There was a long silence. Celestia stared at him, rather taken aback. Her permission? He wanted her permission? “I-if you don’t want me to, I won’t!” he quickly said. “I know I’ve not been the… the best of your descendants…” he mumbled through the last bit. “B-but I’m trying! I am!” he came to the desk and set his chin rather pathetically on its cool wooden surface, ears wilted. “But I would give anything for just one dance with Twilight Sparkle.” He whispered reverently.

Celestia was touched. More than touched, she was pleased. After a whole lifetime of being a spoiled brat, of turning his nose up at common decency and embracing bloodlines over friendship… and Twilight’s comments rang in her head as well. He was improving. And he wanted her permission. Her permission! Faust that was adorable! A smile worked its way across the goddess’ muzzle while her 'nephew' looked up at her pleadingly. She stood and went around her massive desk to hug him with both arms and wings. “Of course you may, my little pony. You have my permission.” She chuckled her tinkling, bell-like chuckle. She felt all the stress and tension drain out of the stallion.

“H’oh thank you, thank you!” Prince Blueblood embraced her back. “Thank you so much, Auntie!” he squeezed her large frame with all his might, and she returned the affection. He jittered a little when she kissed the top of his head, but he was ready to be off. “I must go! I have to get ready!”

“The Gala is a month away, though.” Celestia cocked her head.

“I know! I’m still learning to dance!” The white stallion was out the door even as he spoke. The guards cocked their eyebrows as a grown stallion went by, skipping like a filly. His joyful laughter faded with distance, and one guard automatically reached sideways to close her Majesty’s door.

Celestia smirked a little, shaking her head. If Twilight had already said yes, it wasn’t as though she was going to stop her from attending the gala with Blueblood. With him bettering himself, perhaps there was something to be gained for both of them. After all, Twilight tended to stand within ten feet of Celestia and never stray during the gala every year. It was a little sad really. She’d often prayed for Twilight to find a crush or somepony to get rosy-cheeked over. The white alicorn was NOT one to arrange or meddle in such things, so it had been up to Twilight to settle her own love-life. But the poor thing had just never shown interest. And while she doubted Blueblood was the sort she might end up with, it was encouraging that she was at least entertaining the idea of bringing a date this year.

The Princess of the Day shook her head a little, seating herself at her desk to return to her work. But, rather than reaching for the latest rain charts she pulled out the little leather book again and flipped it open. She didn’t feel like working, after all that excitement. It really was an interesting read, and she wasn’t entirely sure she could predict the ending of it. Royalty like her had to entertain some fancies, after all, and she did like surprise endings. She would need to thank the stallion that had delivered it to her, mere minutes before Prince Blueblood had arrived. The title of the book, you may ask?

Project: T.O.M.B.S.

End of Part 12

Bandaid

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 13: Bandaid

“Princess what was that?!”
“Ask not of our motivations, servant Bandaid. Even Princes should be laid low when they surround themselves with such filthy literature.”
“Princess! “What did we say about straining like that?!”
“Thou art as fussy as a midwife, servant.”
“The moment we are free of such restrictions, thou shalt be fetching me all the drink and sex thou can gather. Understood?”
“Princess! Don’t be a hypocrite!”
“My flank! You bit me!”
“Eat less sweets, Nurse Bandaid, thy blood is fraught with sugar.”
“Is closely examining defenseless, sickly mares what excites thee?”
“I-I-I! Th-that’s not--!”
“It’s not like a chef to just leave something in the oven and go somewhere else. I was hoping we could find a cook to make a snack for you.”
“His loss for negligence of his confection!”
“Lust after my sister’s protégé wilt thou?! “The solar herd would be ashamed! Face oblivion!”
“Princess please!”
“Princess be careful!”
“Princess don’t strain so hard!”
“Princess!”
“Princess!”
“Princess!”

She never listened to him, never. Nurse Bandaid’s mood was a FOUL one on the ride back from the Nightmare Night celebration. He found himself hating her. It had built up, and built up, and built up more over time. He thought he might grow used to the strange, other-worldly creature that had descended from on high less than three months ago. He’d been put in charge of her care, but it hardly seemed worth it. It she decided she wanted something, she just went after it anyway. Stallions, food, attention, trying to raise the moon… she didn’t give a damn about what he had to say. Then, at the Nightmare Night festival, she’d accused him of being jealous of another stallion at her side. That egotistical wretch. The hot, boiling anger began to froth over in the stallion. He hid himself in his humiliation, over by the royal chariot in a dark alleyway. The twins were there, dutifully guarding it, but one potent glare was all it had taken to shut them up and avoid their questions. Bandaid had had all night to let it stew in his belly as he went over every conversation he’d ever had with her.

Don’t eat that stallion, Princess! She had.

Don’t hurt yourself trying to raise the moon, Princess! She had.

Don’t eat so much or you’ll be ill, Princess! She had.

Don’t be such a hypocrite, Princess! She was.

The poor nurse could only take so much, and now he’d really and finally reached his breaking point. He glanced over at Twilight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon in the chariot with him, a certain hotness in his ears. Nightmare had her head buried in a giant bag of sweets that had been given to her by the Pumpkin King, Big Macintosh, in Ponyville. Bah, the black alicorn even had a holiday all in her own honor, the egotistical thing. Bandaid scowled as she rooted around, chattering animatedly about this and that. When her great head emerged, she spoke to Twilight, “And I promised her a set of tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala next month! Fluttershy’s adorable smile shalt grace the ball like a star on the waters of an ocean!” she smiled dreamily for a few moments.

“’Fluttershy’, huh?” Twilight said neutrally, watching the Princess to make sure she didn’t fall out of the chariot in her revelry. The alicorn was, for lack of a better word, drunk on herself. She’d just come from a festival where everypony celebrated her, gave her sweets and food—she was a bit full of herself at the moment.

“Perhaps we will set her up to dance with my hoofservant, Bandaid!” The Princess chuckled scandalously behind her hoof. “He hath a few issues with the fairer sex, Twilight Sparkle, a good shove into a mare's arms would do him good.” She playfully talked about him like he wasn’t there.

“No thanks.” Grumbled Bandaid, leaning on the railing and carefully watching the twins pull the chariot along. Stalwart Hide glanced back at the group now and then to make sure everypony was still there, holding quiet conversation with his twin brother. Both guards were weary of their nurse-friend. Why hadn’t the Princess noticed yet?

“D’ohhh, Bandaid, thou and Fluttershy would make an adorable couple!” Nightmare crooned, sidling up next to him with her big bag of candy. She stuffed a few in her mouth, chewing animatedly. The colors made him furious for some reason. “There is no shame in having a middle-mare to help you find happiness! It happened all the time in our era!” she gestured jubilantly at herself.

“In the dark ages.” Scowled Bandaid, staring at the moon. Twilight Sparkle cocked her head. She could suddenly sense the poison in his voice—but said nothing. Maybe he had the post-festival blues? The purple mare wasn’t one to prod.

“Pfffft-hahaha!” The Princess threw her head back in a laugh. “Perhaps! Perhaps so!” she clapped his back way too hard for his liking, and his eyes lidded into a deeper and deeper scowl.

“Please don’t eat so much candy, Princess, you’ll be sick.” Bandaid said offhandedly, glancing at her. He didn’t know why he bothered, for she shortly thereafter sampled a new toffee for herself.

“Oh come, Bandaid, a few sweets never hurt anypo-!” SWAT! The bag of candy went flying over the edge of the chariot and to the ground below. The lip of Canterlot was suddenly showered with Nightmare Night candy, and the foals in the streets out candy-hunting shrieked with happiness. “My confections!” The Princess leaned over the lip of the chariot as they scattered over the cobblestones perhaps a hundred feet below. “Hoofservant! what is the meaning of thi--”

“Land. Now.” Bandaid grabbed the reins and roughly snapped them. Twilight Sparkle flinched as both pegasi got little pink lines on their sides. The twins shouted in painful unison and the chariot jolted towards the ground.

“We demand thee explain thy-”

“Shut up!” Bandaid suddenly turned and shouted savagely. “You just shut up!”

Nightmare Moon gaped at him. The nerve! Twilight Sparkle sidled to one side a little, sensing the sudden, oncoming explosion of anger. “HOW DARETH THOU SPEAKEST TO ME IN THA-- *cough-cough-cough*?!” The Royal Canterlot Voice was still not quite a stable thing, for she leaned on the rails to hold her sides. Her blasted recovery time was still not over.

“You never listen, do you?!” Bandaid gave her a rather rude shove as soon as the chariot struck the ground and started rolling. The twins held up as soon as they could and brought the vehicle to a rather halting stop. “You don’t listen to me! You don’t care!” the stallion shoved past them all and hopped to the ground with a clatter of hooves.

“Nurse Bandaid?” Twilight asked, concerned.

“I was put in charge of you to see to your well-being and all you do is whatever the hell you want!” The stallion shouted as the black alicorn angrily righted herself and loomed over him with open (tattered, still) wings.

“Thou must’ve lost thy little mind!” she accused angrily, lifting a hoof as though to grab the angry stallion. He jittered away from her like her touch was the plague. “And here I was trying to arrange a companion for thee since--!”

“SINCE ITS ALL YOU BUCKING THINK ABOUT!” he turned and threw his medical bag at her with all his might. It struck Nightmare’s chest and burst open, sending juice boxes and lotions and salves in all directions. Little progress reports and scrolls tattered themselves, along with his quills and personal effects. He clenched his teeth at her so hard his cheeks were shaking. “Sex and food and you, you, YOU!” He was not a pony who was used to shouting, and his voice broke like he was in puberty. The stallion was drawing more than a couple of turned heads. Foals in costume were backing away fearfully, their parents hedging away from the madpony.

“Bandaid! T-take it easy!” Twilight was off the chariot and trying to play the diplomat already. But, she could see by his trembling, angry frame that he was not in any mindset to be reined in now. “The Princess was just-!”

“The PRINCESS is a cannibal! A hypocrite! A murderer!” he exploded, pulling off his little medical vest and throwing it on the ground. “And an unrepentant SLUT!” he spat the insults at her rapid-fire, unable to stop once the floodgates had opened. The twins had had enough of that, turning and unhitching themselves angrily. They started for Bandaid, but he was already running away even as Nightmare watched open-mouthed. “You’re a terrible Princess!” he shouted over his shoulder as he fled. “No wonder Equestria has known peace for a thousand years! It doesn’t need you-u-u-u-----!” His voice had faded with distance, and soon Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide lost him in the fog of an alleyway. Nightmare stood there, stunned, as her two guards returned to her empty-hooved. She couldn’t move. She was seeing the past with wide eyes.

“Thou art a terrible Princess!” said a sepia-toned little foal in her memories.
“Equestria doesn’t need you!” said an equally sepia’d stallion in olden-time garb.
“Harlot! Whore!” a mare with freckles all over her face said, a bonnet hiding her mane.

The past of precisely one thousand years and six weeks ago was very, very ugly.

“Princess!” Twilight snapped her out of it, herding her gently back onto the chariot. “Back to the palace, boys, double-time.” The purple mare bade the two guards. The twins didn’t question Twilight, and they quickly rolled down the street towards their sanctuary. They made it all the way to the lip of the palace grounds before they took to the skies again, rolling up to the balcony of the Obsidian Hall. Twilight quickly and carefully helped the Princess dismount the chariot, taking her to her room after dismissing the twins. Then, she went to get Princess Celestia as quickly as she could.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Nightmare?” Celestia poked her head into her sister’s bedroom. Checking back and forth, she heard pathetic whimpering sounds coming from the close-curtained bed. “Sister, I’d been told you returned from the festival. Are you alright?”

“F-feign not ignorance sister, it doth not befit thee.” sniffled Nightmare miserably. “My hoof servant Bandaid hath declared his hatred for me.” Celestia pushed the curtain to one side as she spoke, then leaned and clambered into the bed with her. The black alicorn was a quivering, moist-eyed thing.

“Oh Nightie.” Celestia crooned softly. “He doesn’t hate you.”

“He does!” Nightmare said stubbornly. “He calleth me a harlot! And a cannibal! And a hypocrite!” she looked up at her sister with tear-streaked cheeks. “He vanished into the night cursing my name!”

The white alicorn tried very hard not to wince, since pretty much all of those things were technically true. “Tell me everything.” Celestia said quietly. In her mind-- her ancient and calculating mind-- the white alicorn moved a chess piece and struck a pawn from the proverbial board. The poor stallion ‘Bandaid’ had served his purpose, wounded though he was. She would pull strings to make sure he found nursing work with excellent pay elsewhere. Nightmare would not have believed this revelation if she had not found it through pain. Foals did not respect fire until they were burned by it, and Celestia's words were not different when it came to her sister's return. She had planned for this, and sacrificed poor (pawn) Bandaid to break under her sister's powerful personality.

A doe-eyed Nightmare told her sister everything that had happened that night. She spoke of how wonderful the festival had been. Then, how true to tradition Ponyville had kept everything. She told all about how handsome the Pumpkin King ‘Big Mac’ was. How the festival had showered her with love and praise and happiness, that foals were blessed and couples endowed—and then on the ride home her hoof-servant had exploded in a rage. It had been nearly an hour when Celestia had been caught up on everything. When at last the black alicorn fell silent, she looked to her wise sister for guidance. “W-well?” she asked after a long silence.

Celestia leaned and nuzzled her sister quietly, extending a wing for her. Nightmare sidled over and hid under it quietly, whimpering miserably. “Well… if all those things are true, doesn’t he have the right to be angry?” she said very gently. Nightmare looked up at her in horror. “Equestria has only had me for the past thousand years, Nightie. They don’t know your ways anymore, and you seem alien to them.”

“I merely act according to my nature!” Nightmare defended, on the verge of more tears. “But I did not expect Bandaid to abandon us!”

“He was your nurse, yes?” Celestia said quietly, stroking her sister’s back over and over. Nightmare nodded, shifting while her sister removed her silvery helm and set it to one side. “Maybe he was frustrated with you because of your health?” The black alicorn cocked her head. Dear Bandaid was always dancing about her hooves, trying to keep her from straining, hurting herself, or otherwise. Always worried, always squawking, always there watching her to make sure nothing bad happened. “Did you listen to him for all of your medical woes?”

“N… no.” Nightmare wilted her ears and hunched a bit with a guilty face. “We ignored him at our convenience.” She said in a small voice. “He is merely our servant, after… all…?” She glanced at her sister and saw a rare Celestia-frown, which made her wince and trail off.

“Bandaid is a highly educated stallion who spent years in medical school, making perfect grades, so that he could work in the palace’s medical staff.” Celestia said in a low tone. “Nightie, you should not have treated him like a lowly squire or stablecolt. He is a trained professional, and there are few that can match his skills in physical therapy.”

Nightmare Moon face-planted, throwing herself into the bedspread. “And I made fun of him for stroking mine legs with lotions.” She moaned into it miserably. Celestia cocked her head for a moment, but decided not to comment on that particular bit of information. “Why did I not listen to him?” she whispered, turning her head.

“I think maybe you got a little too caught up in your return to Equestria.” Celestia said softly, stroking her sister’s mane. “Indulging is fine, sister, but stepping on everypony around you is not. You’re still a Princess, after all. You need to act like a modern Princess.”

“A modern Princess with no harem, no festivals, no fun?” Nightmare Moon frowned at her sister. “Forgive me if I doth not jump for joy at the thought of imprinting myself upon thee, Tia. We art as different as… well, you know.” She nodded towards Luna, who hung listening to the goddesses from her place in the sky.

“I didn’t say that,” said Celestia gently. “I’m merely saying that perhaps now may be a good time to study modern ways and… curb yourself a bit?” The angelic solar pony whispered. Nightmare looked at her sister, unsure. “After all, if one stallion spending time with you sent him running away screaming—perhaps it’s a good idea to make some adjustments before you return to helping me run the country?” The black alicorn nodded slowly and thoughtfully, her eyes going back and forth.

“But, if I am to learn the ways of modern Equestria, it would take a powerful mind to teach me about everything.” Nightmare whispered. “And thou has no time for such tutoring, thou art running our nation already.” She turned over a bit, looking up into her sister’s pinions with a frown of thought. “If only there were such a smart pony, a scholar perhaps…” she trailed off in thought, a rather adorable wrinkle of her brow making the gears in her head turn.

Celestia smiled on the inside, pushing forward the proverbial pawn on the chessboard. A pawn that had been there since her sister’s return, and even before that. A piece of Celestia’s grand game that had been polished, loved and nurtured for a lifetime just for this moment. Wait for it… wait for iiiiit…

Nightmare’s face suddenly lit up and she sat upright with a jolt. “Twilight Sparkle!” she exploded, turning towards her sister with a brilliant smile of fangs. “Thy protégé is a brilliant scholar and politician! She even read to me whilst I laid in the hospital bed!”

Celestia made a surprised face, her ivory wings lifting. “Oh? That’s right!” she said, smiling genuinely now. “You could ask Twilight for her help, I’m sure she’d be happy to help you adjust and be a better ruler. That’s a wonderful idea, Nightie!” the two sisters affectionately kissed each other beautifully on the lips. Hugging and giggling at each other, the two alicorns smiled like twins. The purple mare was the perfect plan!

=-----=-----=-----=-----=
Later That Night, Almost Dawn…
=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Nurse Bandaid was more than regretting his little temper tantrum by then. He was alone in the park of Canterlot, his chin sitting on the lip of a fountain. He sighed in depression as it burbled animatedly in front of him. The little garden lights did little but to highlight the gloom of the night. He refused to look up at the moon, it would only remind him of her.

After his fiery explosion had ended and he’d gotten away from the twins, he’d aimlessly wandered Canterlot until he’d ended up where he was now. “She just doesn’t listen… doesn’t listen at all…” he mumbled, closing his eyes in exhaustion. He lay there and just tried to breathe, the gentle sound of running water soothing his angry mind. He’d just called the Princess every insult he could think of and then run off. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was arrested and thrown in a dungeon soon… or eaten, for that matter. She didn’t seem to mind eating ponies.

Hours passed, and he became accustomed to the near-dark. The stallion perked his ears a little when he spotted a trio of ponies at the children’s playground across the way. How long had he been there, he wasn’t sure, he hadn’t been paying attention. It was two stallions and a mare. He stared at them blankly. The mare and one of the stallions were dancing together, as though they were at a ball. The third was standing back, watching, occasionally cutting in to correct one of the two partners. Dance lessons? At this hour? Bizarre.

“N…. nurse Bandaid?” a familiar voice made him jolt, and the stallion tumbled over himself when he tried to stand. “Ohh.” The mare commented. He rose quickly, scowling angrily. “Art thou okay?”

“What do you care? I have no candy to give you and I’m not sleeping with you.” Bandaid grumped at her, scowling. She flinched like he’d slapped her. “How did you find me?” He finally asked.

Nightmare rather meekly sat on her haunches, a safe distance away as not to intrude on his personal space. “We know thy scent, our nose is like a dog’s.” she said in a small voice. “Thy sweat and misery was not hard to track…” she trailed off, looking to one side in an awkward way.

“Here to lock me up? Or maybe eat me?” he said boldly, though he hoped it was neither.

“I doth come to… say sorry.” She rubbed one of her forelegs with a hoof, looking sheepish. “I have been ignoring thy medical advice… and taking advantage of thy offers of friendship.” The black alicorn shifted a bit to get into her saddlebags.

“I don’t want a wishing star, if that’s what you’re getting out, there.” Bandaid said. “I saw what you were planning with the last guy you gave one of those to.” He saw her pause, then wilt some. Her hooves came to rest at the pavement, and she stared at it instead of him.

“Thou hates me… I understand.” She said to the ground. “With my return I have indulged in every little thing I could hope to want for, and thought nothing of thee.” She admitted softly. “My sister hath already scolded me about my ways, and I am going into a sort of… modernizing therapy.” Nightmare tried to explain as best she could. “I would only hope, though, that thou might join m-”

“No.” Bandaid said firmly. “I’ve been trying and trying to make you listen to me. You’ve grown strong again. I did my best. You don’t need a nurse anymore.” He was still angry, still feeling savage at her. Nightmare sighed, defeated. Turning, she undid her saddlebag as she was about to do earlier. “I said I don’t want-!” he stopped, though, for she’d produced his weather-beaten medical bag. He’d thrown it into her face hours ago, sending the supplies everywhere. It was bulging, though, with all of his things. Had she gone back and collected it all? “Oh. Thank you.” He mumbled as she magicked it over to him. She didn’t dare come close.

“I cannot raise the moon, still?” Nightmare said in a small, hopeful voice.

The stallion strapped his medical bag on, sighing loudly. “I’ll… talk to the medical staff at the palace. I’ll see about sending you a unicorn to help with your magical weakness.” With that he turned and was away from her.

Nightmare quietly hung her head. She really had abused him too much, with her constant innuendo and ignoring of his pleas. He had only been trying to help her. She felt monstrous. She only hoped that Twilight Sparkle could aid her half as well as Bandaid had. She could only pray to be so lucky. Luna tsk-tsked at her from the sky.

In the highest room of the tallest tower of the palace, Celestia watched the scenes through her ornate telescope. Both Blueblood's dance lessons (where she could see them, thank you Tombs), and the one with her sister and her nurse. Now the pieces of the game were really moving. The Grand Galloping Gala was in a month, she would need to be ready. They all would. She flipped open Project: T.O.M.B.S. and began to quickly write within its most recent pages. Word for word to the Prince's utterings, of course:

"I wish for the perfect set of..."

End of Part 13

Wing Meeting

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 14: Wing Meeting

When Twilight Sparkle was just a little filly, she stole a cake. She’d just been brought home by the Princess to the palace, given her own room, her own toys, her own bed, and even the baby dragon she had hatched (“Spike”, she’d decided to call him). She was ready to live the high life, it was any filly’s dream to be adopted by royalty. Then, one drowsy summer afternoon while it was spitting rain and super-humid everywhere you went, she was hungry. Lunch was a long distant memory, and dinner was eons away. So, being the new ‘Sun’s Favored Foal’ that everypony kept calling her, she went to the kitchens. Given free roam of the palace and with a guard on every corner to make sure she wasn’t harmed or foalnapped, she was able to explore the place until she found it. Then when nopony was looking she made off with the massive confection. Princess Celestia caught her red-hoof’d, stuffing her face with cake. This would NOT do. Taking the cake from her and vanishing it with magic, she swept the little purple filly up onto a sitting pillow in front of a hearth. Then, she unfurled her massive wings and hunched, closing her newly-adopted foal in a cage of hot feathers. Curling her wingspan about the filly until the she was pressed into darkness, the solar pony loomed over her and gave her a very firm talking to. Then, little Twilight had to go and apologize to the kitchen staff. Then she had to do a homework assignment about why stealing was wrong. Then, she had to help one of the chef’s make a new cake to replace the one she’d stolen. She never stole again. Somehow, being wrapped in Celestia’s wings had been the most terrifying experience she’d ever had, the poor thing. The closeness of the goddess’ face and the flickering of her eyes as she taught Twilight very firmly what was right and wrong—it stayed with her.

Years later in the spring time, Twilight hit her first estrus as a young mare. She started looking at male guards, pondering what they looked like under all that shiny armor. Why were all of them white or grey? They were so shiny and studly, every last one of them. She was eyeing them all the time, wishing she could just get a quick peek at their virile… underbellies. She fantasized about one of them having his filthy way with her, for looking after her all the time—ohhh! *shiver*! She didn’t even know what that meant, but she knew she wanted it! She looked at the handsome nobles around the court, occasionally panting and wishing they weren’t quite so beautiful and perfect in their garb. She eyeballed even some of her other teachers. Instinct drove her mad, like any other young pony that was in heat for the first time. It didn’t take Celestia very long to notice where her faithful student’s eyes were during that time. They certainly weren’t in her books, or on her face when she was speaking to her. She once more swept in for an intervention. Gathering Twilight into her private chambers, they had ‘the talk.’ Princess Celestia gathered her up into her wings like a pressed pinion chamber, holding her protégé to steady her. The young mare learned all about sex, foal-staying brews, seasonal instincts, herd dynamics, where foals came from and all surrounding subjects. Hunched over her student and lovingly telling her about life, Celestia only wanted her to look at her face and nothing else. The flushed, flesh-sensitive Twilight could only squirm while her mentor and mother figure explained the birds and the bees. Afterward, Twilight was given a little smattering of books on safe sex, abstinence, contraception, all those sorts of things. (A few years later Twilight quietly lost her virginity to a fellow scholar in the academy, but she was an adult by then so Celestia was not about to butt in about that and embarrass the poor thing.)

The reason we speak of such things, is because Twilight and Celestia came to call such occurrences ‘Wing Meetings.’ They, and a couple of others, happened in key points during Twilight’s life when something pivotal had just happened. Learning right from wrong. Weathering one’s first heat cycle. Being patient with the common citizen. Raising dragons and being sensitive to their needs. What Twilight did NOT expect, however, was to suddenly receive a written invitation to one. Spike had belched up a scroll with a simple drawing of a feather on it. That was Celestia’s symbol for such a thing. Twilight both feared and looked forward to such things.

The purple mare strode up to the doors of Celestia’s private chambers, coughing a little and raising her hoof to knock. “Come in, Twilight.” said the Princess from beyond the door. The guards nodded to her respectfully and she went in. Lingering in the little alcove that was the entranceway, she heard the doors being quietly closed behind her. She fidgeted for a few long moments. Was she in trouble? Had she done something wrong? She sweated, doing a rather nice rendition of the I-have-to-pee dance as she fretted. “You’re not in trouble, my faithful student.” Celestia smiled from across the room. “Don’t worry.” She’d lit the hearth, for it was evening in late October, and the room was pleasantly lit.

“Y-you wanted to see me for a… Wing Meeting?” Twilight said a little meekly, coming into the room proper with her ears turned back. She wasn’t sure she believed her mentor that she wasn’t in trouble. The world was a different place inside her goddess’ wingspan embrace.

“Come.” Celestia said, gesturing to a little sitting pillow across from where she was in front of the fireplace. She smiled in a friendly way as Twilight came closer and settled on it. “How did your chess game go?”

“I’m not sure why I needed to play against five ponies all at the same time, Princess.” Twilight said a little sheepishly. She’d been put up on a long table across from five different opponents, playing five different games. It was a serious strain on even a brilliant mind like hers. “What did you tell them that made them so excited?” she asked, very much aware that the match had been arranged by Princess Celestia. Her mentor did love to test her, but reading the body language of the five stallions across from her betrayed a certain… eagerness. Like their heads weren’t in the game.

Celestia chuckled a little. “I promised a kiss on the head to anypony that could best you.” She folded her wings in a playful way, smiling at Twilight’s giggling. “I had to give them incentive to play their hardest.”

“Ahhh, I see.” Twilight snickered just a little.

“So? How many kisses do I owe?” Celestia wanted to know.

“Just one. I beat them all.” Twilight said, leaning forward to display the top of her head. Celestia gave a little laugh, leaning and pecking her between the ears. She grinned happily, finally relaxing a bit.

“I can’t imagine playing five games at once.” Celestia shook her head. “But it’s a good way to stay sharp and adjust to constantly changing situations. Or to cope with multiple complex situations.” The alicorn pushed her mane out of her face as she spoke. “It’s very important when it comes to leading.”

“Yes.” Twilight agreed.

“But, to business, I suppose.” Celestia said, sitting upright on her haunches. Twilight nodded, leaning submissively forward and bowing her head. The great white wingspan went beyond even her peripheral vision. She sidled towards her just a little so that the fit would be snug. The purple mare was much bigger than the little filly that had stolen the cake in their first Wing Meeting. Slowly, she was enveloped in a loving goddess’ embrace. Twilight closed her eyes as the feathers folded around her and the Princess’ body heat and heartbeat were all that were left. It was very much like a womb, she imagined. Nothing in the world there but mother there to soothe you. “H’ohh Twilight, how big you’ve gotten.” Celestia giggled just a little, finally hunching down into her mother hen stance. She rested her long muzzle on Twilight’s withers, and the purple mare leaned into her for comfort. “You’ve grown so big, so important,” she whispered, her warm breath pressing through her student’s mane. “It’s time for you to move up in the world.” She confided.

“Move up?” Twilight whispered.

“Twilight, I brought you home with me when you were just a little filly.” Celestia was nuzzling up, then down, up, then down her mane. It was a quiet, comforting, natural sort of soothing that made Twilight lean into her Princess breast. The purple mare sighed quietly, content and almost sleepy in the warmth of her wings. “You were so powerful for your age, so raw and powerful…” she cooed softly. Twilight blushed a little, enjoying the praise. “I knew I would need somepony like you someday very soon, and that time came when my sister returned. You see Twilight, I’ve been grooming you for a very specific purpose.”

“Purpose?” Twilight whispered in the darkness, relaxed and warm against her mentor in the darkness of her wing-hug.

“I don’t make you sit on my throne for fun, dearheart.” Celestia whispered intimately, nosing her mane and quietly adjusting herself with liquid grace. “I don’t constantly test you just because of my whims. It’s been leading up to something.”

“Something?” said Twilight dreamily. She should’ve felt more excited and jittery, but the Goddess’ embrace kept her docile and happy. “What is it?” she whispered.

“I knew when my sister returned she would be out of her element.” Celestia confided. “Nightmare has been gone for a thousand years, and Equestria has changed so much in that span—its alien to her. So, I had to find a filly. A powerful, brilliant little filly,” she nuzzled Twilight’s ears. “With which I could endow all the tricks and techniques to ruling a nation, so that she might teach my sister and sit at my side… as Vizier.”

The revelation struck Twilight in the heart and she flinched visibly. She pulled away from the intertwining hug to look up at the shadow of her teacher. “V-vizier? A royal advisor?” she asked, heat in her face. “There hasn’t been a vizier in the noonday Court in… in…”

“Almost four hundred years.” Celestia said. “The last one was… well… my lover. Prince Blueblood’s ancestor.” The goddess felt a touch of pink in her cheeks when Twilight gasped at her. The Princess? A lover? Really? She knew Blueblood was ‘supposedly’ related to Celestia in some way, but she thought it was all rumor and scandal amongst the nobles… but he really was! He REALLY was!

Twilight cocked her head, quickly SQUASHING the image of Celestia tumbling into bed with a shadowy, chuckling stallion and caught herself. “I… I don’t know what to say.” She said softly, looking up at her with big eyes. “You really picked me as a filly and trained me all this time, so I could grow up to teach Princess Nightmare Moon about modern Equestria?” She watched the solar pony give an earnest nod. “A-and… sit with you in the throne room?” she sounded a little dazed at that.

“No longer the ‘Sun’s Favored Foal.’” Celestia nodded, chuckling a little. “I think you’re a little old for that title. Instead, Court Vizier Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight looked a little overwhelmed. Did Celestia really play a chess game so very long and complicated that even she was a piece on the board? With Nightmare’s return, yes, there was going to be some adjustment period, but— tutor her? About what? Anything and everything? Also, sit in the throne room WITH her mentor? Not off to one side taking notes or waiting to be addressed? It made her feel light and airy— and a little faint to be honest. “Is… is this my destiny?” she asked.

“Yes.” Celestia nodded softly. “You are the most powerful unicorn I’ve ever seen, Twilight. I could trust no other with my court, my sister, and my ear.” Twilight shifted a little when a weight touched her head and the alicorn’s wings began to unfurl. The purple mare reached up and touched the object on her head. It was cool, and thin like a cord. “Here.” Celestia said pleasantly. “I’ll get you a mirror.” She leaned to one side and felt around under her sitting pillow for a hoof mirror. Levitating it, she brought it up to Twilight’s face.

The Sun’s Favored F— Court Vizier Twilight Sparkle stared at herself. There was a bright, golden circlet perched on her head, just above her ears. In the middle of her forehead hung a little circle of metal. It was shaped like a circle, carved with symbols of both the sun and the moon pressed atop each other. She felt her cheeks color. “All my life, you trained me for this?” she whispered, touching her own face like it wasn’t hers.

“Yes.” Celestia said tenderly.

“I… I kind’a like my destiny.” A sheepish sort of smile worked its way across Twilight’s face. “Wait until Spike and Shining Armor see this.” She began to giggle behind a hoof, looking at herself in the mirror Celestia was holding up. “Why hello, I’m Twilight Sparkle. Royal Court Vizier-rrrrr!” she said to her reflection in a fancy French accent. Both mares laughed.

Celestia gently nudged her most beloved chess piece to the far end of the proverbial board. The tiny little piece, after so much nurturing and love, blossomed into a beautiful little queen. The long game master was pleased with both herself, and the way things had finally come to fruition. Just as suddenly, the queen left the board. Twilight could stand completely alone now, she had reached her true and beautiful potential.

Now, all she had to do was mind Blueblood and modernize her sister. Master manipulator? She was doing it to help them learn life lessons and better themselves but... manipulator? Probably. But, one could only lead a pony to water, not make them drink. It would ultimately be up to them to learn their life lessons. With Twilight's ascension, it was bound to be very interesting. Celestia could only turn their heads in the right direction, not bend their necks to the proverbial water's surface. Blueblood's piece was moving, and Nightmare's was idling while she waited for Twilight. At least, she was pretty sure she was idling.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Princess Nightmare Moon approached the medical wing at a limp, her twin guards following closely behind her. They looked concerned. Her tongue was green, and she looked as pathetic as she possibly could as she entered the doctor’s office. “Princess!” Doctor Heart Starter rushed up to her as soon as he saw her coming. “What happened? You look terrible!”

“I doth be ill, having stayed in a chill bath too long!”

“But you’re limping!” the stallion said, aghast at her sorry state.

“I… I fell out of the bath as well!” She added quickly. “My legs are hurting me, doctor.” She whined a little, wilted and weary-looking. “Where is Nurse Bandaid? Only his soothing touch might revive me!” she flopped dramatically onto a series of waiting room chairs.

“I-I’ll go get him, your Majesty. Nurse!” He turned on his heels towards a waiting mare. “Take Princess Nightmare to her medical room, please?” she nodded.

Nightmare gave a convincing moan of effort as she got out of her laying position and was led away. She recognized the room. It was where she’d been staying when she’d first arrived home. There was a little balcony with closed windows (October, after all), a huge bed made of four little beds, some chairs, and medical supplies at the ready on the nearby countertops. The medical staff of the palace had been waiting, in case their new Princess suddenly relapsed into deadly illness. Which ‘apparently’ she had.

The twins posted themselves outside, yabbering back and forth while Nightmare splayed out on the bed. Only minutes passed before a very ticked off Bandaid appeared, scowling at the two of them. “What’s she done to herself this time?” he wanted to know, eyes lidded angrily. “Doesn’t she know not to lay in a cold bath? Is she stupid?” he didn’t expect them to answer, but went in anyway and glared at her. “Princess.” He gave a curt bow. “I seem to recall… distancing myself.” He said. “What do you want from me?”

“I am ill, my healer!” Nightmare said, showing him her bright green tongue. She squirmed about a little, lifting a sorry-looking wing and showing him where it hurt. “My legs doth ache me so! Only thine skill could soothe me!”

“Don’t be such a drama queen.” He grumbled at her. Leaning and getting a tongue-stick out of his medical bag. “Say ah.” He said. When she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue, he scraped at it a few times. Then he leaned and sniffed the sticky green substance he’d gotten off of her tongue. “Green candy. I thought so.” He said, giving her a bored and annoyed look. The Princess had eaten an un-disclosed number of green candies and suckers to color her tongue green and make herself look ill.

“My legs really do hurt.” She said in a small voice. “They ache from standing too long still, sometimes.” Her ears wilted under his gaze. The stallion was not having any of her bologna.

“You can rub this lotion on yourself, you know.” Bandaid said, going into his medical bag again. “I can get you a prescription, and even instructions on when and how much to give yourself.”

“Neigh!” Nightmare Moon gasped. “Thy skilled hooves are the best! You make it tingle so wonderfully…” she trailed off under his frowny face. Finally, she dropped all her pretenses. “Wilt thou hate me forever?” she asked softly, looking at the floor.

“Maybe. Lay on your back.” Bandaid said, squeezing a bit of the medically-enchanced rubbing lotion onto her long legs. She obeyed, turning and spreading her wings so she didn’t crush them with her weight. Rearing up so he could see all of her, he rubbed animatedly. Nightmare supressed a purr, knowing it would only make him angrier.

“Would thou feel better if I begged forgiveness and said I was acting like a…” her face screwed up for a moment as she tried to recall the word. “Cunt?” she said hopefully.

Bandaid choked on his own spit, his hooves jerking out of their rubbing rhythm in surprise. They almost went flying right up her inner thighs as a full, loud bark of uncontrolled laughter exploded from him. His weight misbalanced and he face-planted into her soft belly, making her OOF loudly. He scrambled up, his eyebrows having migrated into his bangs in shock. He held himself with full, choking guffaws of disbelief. “Wh-where did you hear THAT?!” he demanded, his mouth plastered with a wide, red-faced grin. “Princesses shouldn’t say that word!”

Nightmare allowed herself a careful, coy smile. He’d laughed. She’d gotten her hoof in the door. Truthfully, she’d learned the word from the twins and was perfectly informed about how dirty it was and what it meant—but that hadn’t kept her from using it on her beloved hoof servant. Their back-and-forth had always pleased them both, she knew, and she had it as her back-up plan. “Who knows.” She finally answered. “With no loyal hoofservant at my side, I am unprotected from the filth and danger of the modern world.” She gave him large, soft doe-eyes. He face-hooved, unable to stop laughing.

“Wh-wh-…. Hahaha!” He had to steady himself a little to make the laughter stop. “What do you want, Princess?” he finally managed, returning to his duties. He wanted to be mad at her. He was mad at her. Why was it so hard to stay mad after that completely unexpected outburst. He’d been angry with her for over a week now, he could keep it up! He could!

“I want thee back.” Nightmare said in earnest, putting on her cutest and most attractive (fang filled) smile. “I even come bearing gifts.” She lifted her wing a bit to search for something she’d tucked in her feathers.

“Princess that’s not gonna—” The black alicorn shoved a deck of cards under his muzzle. Instead of normal playing cards, though, they instead had short phrases written on them: Shut up. No Straining. Less Food. More Food. Rest Now. Sleep Now. There were over fifty of them, with multiple copies of the main ones. He stared at them with a cocked eyebrow, a little confused. “What’s this?”

“Binding contracts.” Nightmare said, gesturing that he turn them over. The stallion turned the deck over, and found that his Princess had signed every single card with her spidery hoofwriting. “If thou shalt return to me, thy basic commands are set in stone for thee so I may no longer ignore and disobey.” She smiled at him hopefully. The stallion gave a more earnest smile, and she took the top card (shut up) from the deck. “They are even adhesive!” she turned and peeled off a little hidden square of tape. She stuck it on her hoof and it stayed there. Bandaid snorted. “And.” She said, feeling like she was selling something to him by then. “There art a few blank ones in the bottom, for thine own enjoyment.” She winked at him playfully. Spek. He stuck ‘shut up’ on the tip of her nose. He waited. Nightmare looked at him sheepishly, sorry she’d made the lewd comment while trying to win him back. But, she didn’t speak. He watched the clock on the wall. A full, agonizing minute went by. The Princess fretted, giving him pleading eyes.

“If you really, truly would go by these—” Bandaid began cautiously, peeling it off of her.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!” The black alicorn crushed him to herself, pulling him up onto the bed so she might fully embrace him. The twins peeked in from the hall at all the commotion. Both of them looked startled, then quickly looked away and shut the door. Apparently the cure for green tongue and limping was nurse-ontop-of-me-while-I-lay-on-my-back-and-scream-yes. Yeah. Neither Aegis Shield or Stalwart Hide dared question it, or breathed a word to any of the medical staff that happened to go by the room. “MOST WONDERFUL OF NIGHTS!” vibrated the door, and both stallions blushed.

End of Part 14

Visitor

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 15: Visitor

“And for zee Princess Naight-mahrre, we have zee love-ah-lee salmon nuu or-leens!” The French chef was a gripphon named Blackfeather, and he was the one summoned by Celestia to aid in Princess Nightmare’s diet. Salmon New Orleans was a wonderful fish dish, and he’d spent nearly an hour slaving over it to make it positively perfect. After all, when one cooked for royalty, things had to be positively perfect. Celestia and Twilight smiled politely and tried not to wrinkle their noses as the scent of cooked meat assaulted them. The steaming dish was dipped in yellow butter sauce over a bed of dirty rice, pricked with a tiny little sprig of broccoli (mostly for decoration). Nightmare smiled wide, eyes dancing over the dish. But, she gave pause. Frowning a bit, she looked about. “What iz wrong Preen-sess?” Chef Blackfeather wanted to know. Didn’t she like what he’d brought for her?

“Nurse Bandaid!” Nightmare pushed the plate away from herself just an inch. Closing her eyes and tilting her head rather snootily up, she waited.

The brown stallion came forward with a shy smile, bowing the chef as he went. The gripphon could only blink at him in confusion. Leaning over the rather large plate, he studied and made a quick nutritional count. Comparing notes in his head for a moment, he gave a few idle nods and made a light gesture with a hoof. Celestia and Twilight both watched curiously. Daintily, Nightmare lifted her knife and fork with magic. Taking a little saucer from a waiting stack in the middle of the table, she mounded a bit of rice onto it, and cut a twenty-percent portion from the main bit of salmon. Then, she set it aside. Nurse Bandaid nodded his approval, and smiled a little when she offered the extra rice to him. Now the meal was a more proper size. Bowing and trying not to be intrusive at the royal dinner table, Bandaid returned to his place at a side table to one side, near the wall. The twins Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide eyeballed him until he snickered and pushed the saucer to the middle of their little side table to share. The two stallions promptly bashed heads trying to get the first bite and Bandaid facehoofed.

“What was that all about?” Twilight asked curiously.

“My nurse doth watch my diet diligently. I am still on the mend, after all.” Nightmare gestured with much dignity. “The palace medical staff knows what is best for my recovery, Twilight Sparkle. Eating too much is just as bad as eating too little.” She gave a sagely nod and Twilight nodded back. She did recall the Princess’ nurse fussing over her food at the Nightmare Night festival. It made sense. The chef bowed and was away once the table was set, and the meal began.

“So tell me Twilight, are you looking forward to the Grand Galloping Gala this year? A little birdie told me you might have a date.” Celestia’s eyes smiled after she’d lifted spiced bread to her mouth. Her heart was still bright with Blueblood’s formal request for Twilight’s hoof to the gala.

Twilight smiled a small smile. “W-well, yes.” She fidgeted a little. “It’s Prince Blueblood you see. He asked to be my escort to the gala.” She said.

“Really?” Nightmare asked, astounded. After all that had happened? He was a brave one.

“He’s been really nice to me lately, and he promised to let me alone so I can see to all my usual duties.” Twilight said cheerily. Seeing Celestia cock her head, she soon added. “He’s… changed, I think. Since Princess Nightmare got back, maybe a little after, he’s been trying to be a better pony.” She told the Royal Sisters everything that had happened with Blueblood, how he’d been trying to improve himself—probably to impress her, she’d already surmised. But effort was effort. “He used to be such a…” she tried to find a proper word for the dinner table. “Well, he’s nicer and more proper than he used to be. He’s changed.”

“Near death experiences can do that.” Nightmare nodded conversationally, patting her lips with her napkin when a bit of juice went down her muzzle. Both of the other mares at the table gave her a look and she smiled guiltily. “But, it doth take a certain type of stallion to wish for the perfect set of indestructible—” Suddenly Nightmare cut herself off, and her ears flicked up and forward like she’d heard something.

“Is something wrong, Sister?” Celestia’s fork paused partway to her mouth.

“Something is here…” Nightmare set her silverware onto her folded napkins. Her eyes traveled to the ceiling for a moment, darting around as though the answer lay there. There was a fell scent on the air, the scent of magic. Celestia tilted her head up a little too, eyes lidding with a neutral frown..

“I feel it too.” Celestia said quietly, ears turning back. She pushed her mane out of her eyes for a moment so she could concentrate a bit. The white alicorn sat up a little straighter, and the room became a bit more tense.

“What? What is it? I don’t feel anything!” Twilight said, looking back and forth between the Royal Sisters. Twilight tried to expand her magical senses, to feel even an inkling of what had touched the noses of her goddesses. The twins and Bandaid looked over, concerned. There was a long silence as the two alicorns turned their heads this way and that, as though something were scrambling their magical radars. They just couldn’t seem to lock it down and figure out where it was coming from. The purple mare slowly stood, not sure if she should be prepared for some sort of attack or what.

“I sense something…” said Nightmare quietly, repeating herself. “A presence I’ve not felt since…” suddenly her eyes widened. She could smell it. The scent of powerful magic. It smelled of honey, of oiled armor and humid desert winds. She knew that magic smell. She stood so hard her chair almost toppled, panic rising in her face. “I must away!” she whirled about and left the table. “Stalwart Hide! My dinner!” she said over her shoulder, running to the door to make her retreat.
Nurse Bandaid jumped to his hooves as the appropriate twin dashed to the table, bowed quickly, and snatched the Princess’ plate from where it sat. Celestia blinked, and the four of them were gone. The doors left wide open, the galloping of the black alicorn faded with distance.

Celestia caught the scent too, a few moments later. She gave what looked like a tired smile to Twilight. “Things are about to get interesting, my faithful student.”

“What? What is it?” Twilight whispered, eyes wide at the fleeing black goddess.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Sire, if I may, what’s troubling you so badly?” Tombs had appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, standing on the threshold.

Blueblood was stained with flour, sugar, bits of this and that from his fury storm of cooking. “What? Nothing! I’m fine!” he smiled lopsidedly, working with shaking hooves as he furiously whipped whatever was currently in his mixing bowl.

“Sire, you only make blueberry muffins as a nervous comfort food.” Tombs said with a slight sniff, stroking his mustache to make sure it was perfect. When it was, he stepped into the kitchen and right onto an egg. How an egg had travelled to the floor and not broken was beyond him, but the stallion wrinkled his muzzle none the less. “And you’ve made more than four dozen.” The butler said, gesturing to the waiting counter. There were some cooling racks set up, all of them weighed down with the same confection.

“I like muffins.” Blueblood said snootily, avoiding his butler’s gaze and turning about to work with his mixing bowl. “I can make as many as I like, thank you very much.”

“You’re nervous about the Gala. It is only a week away.” Tombs predicted. He saw his master’s ears wilt, but the white stallion didn’t say anything. “You’ll be fine. Your dance has much improved, you’ll have all day to groom and make ready for the occasion, not to mention that you’ve very much refined yourself In Twilight Sparkle’s mind.” The stallion wiped the egg from his hoof with a hoofkerchief, stuffing it in his breast pocket afterward. “The evening shall go perfectly.” He encouraged.

“B-but what if it doesn’t?!” Blueblood suddenly burst out, setting his bowl down with a ‘tak’ and leaning on the counter. “The Gala is the place for romance, Tombs! Romance and dancing and music and wonderful foods…” he trailed off dramatically, scrubbing furiously at his golden mane. “What if Twilight forgets that she promised me a dance? Or what if something bad happens and I am called away? What if—”

“Go back to your muffins, Sire.” Tombs said gently.

“Th-thank you.” Blueblood mumbled, hunching over his creation. Idle hooves, it seemed, drove the Prince’s stress level way up. His butler knew this. “I’ll be here if I’m needed for something important.” The royal stallion said over his shoulder. Leaning, he poured a measured amount of blueberries into his mix, busily stirring them in. He magicked the muffin-shaped pan from its resting place, getting ready to pour.

Tombs left his master in peace, going up to his room and shutting the door. When he was sure it was locked and secure, he pulled the curtains. Reaching into the inside breast pocket of his butler’s attire, he pulled out a little leather book. Mumbling to himself and going over to a nearby writing desk, he pulled it open and sat down. In truth, there were two books. Whatever was written in one, would appear in the other. It was like a magical penpal sort of item. But, secretly, Tombs had no penpal, but was actually in contact with the most powerful pony in the world. Princess Celestia.

Grumbling a little and itching his face, the stallion pulled off his mustache and set it down next to him. Furiously scratching his naked upper lip and setting his monocle aside so he could see properly, he dipped a quill in ink and began to write. “Dear Princess Celestia… Project T.O.M.B.S. report number 6495…” he mumbled, but didn’t speak after that. A good half an hour of writing passed.

There was a knocking at the door, and Tombs flinched. “Tombs? It’s Feather Duster!” the young mare called. “Are you in there?” the doorknob worked itself, but it was locked so she couldn’t get in.

Tombs snapped the book closed, stuffed it away, closed the desk--- then opened it again to fetch his mustache and monocle. Rushing over to a mirror, he donned his mustache and monocle. Straightening and patting himself here and there until he looked presentable, he put on his most professional face and went to the door. Coughing a bit, he unlocked to door and opened it partway. “Yes, miss Duster?” he said, tweaking his mustache a bit. “What is it?”

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“This door doth not open. Nopony comes out, and nopony comes in. Understand?” Nightmare bade the twins in her most serious tones. The twins nodded nervously, neither knowing what had spooked the alicorn so badly that they’d run all the way back to the Obsidian Hall to hide. The Princess had closed the massive main door and thrown a bar across it. Then she’d sealed the balcony by turning the glass into hardened crystal and closing it. Then she closed all the curtains, plugged her bathroom drains, and turned all the torches all the way up to their greatest brightness.

“Princess what’s going on?” Bandaid tried to rush back and forth with the alicorn, but she was already digging in a chest near her bed. Emerging with her war-helm, terrifyingly enough, she slammed it onto her head. Her ethereal mane popped out of the back of it like it wasn’t there, ever-flowing and shifting like the ghostly hair it was. “What did you sense in the dining room?”

“Evil, hoof servant.” Whispered Nightmare Moon seriously. “Aegis Shield! Stalwart Hide! To me!” she commanded. The twins obeyed as she drew up the curtains of her bed. “Into the bed! Now! We will be safer in an enclosed space!” she gestured in a circular motion. The twins leapt up into the curtained-off darkness, turning circles and then settling. Nightmare followed them and settled between the two of them.

Bandaid was not convinced, and cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Feigning ‘evil’ to get us into bed with you, Princess?” He frowned at her, turning to the medical bag to get into his deck of cards and command her to quit it.

Nightmare Moon looked fearfully at her nurse, truly for his safety. “Neigh! In! In where it is—!” BOOMPH! The door suddenly jarred on its hinges. Everypony froze. A little spill of dust fell from the ceiling. Nightmare stared in horror, draconic pupils turning into slits. The twins flinched, their ears perking at the bedroom door with a mix of fear and curiosity. What was it that went bump in the night that could terrify a goddess? Bandaid wheeled around, eyebrows shooting up. “Hoof servant we command thee!” Princess Nightmare begged. The stallion didn’t need any more convincing. He grabbed his medical bag and dashed for the safety of the curtained bed. Nightmare closed the thick curtains, leaving only a little space to peek out through. The door JARRED again, like more than one creature had thrown itself against the thick wood and barring. Turning back he leapt into bed with the other three ponies.

“Please, Princess. Tell me what’s--!” A battle axe that was pulled from exactly nowhere was shoved into Nurse Bandaid’s mouth. He gaped down at it. He could barely lift the thing!

Nightmare Moon thrust the curtain all the way closed and pulled her little ponies around her like a shield. “Whatever happens, my little ponies, I doth commend thee all for thy service.” A bead of sweat went down the side of her face. The twins pressed up against her like needy puppies, growing more and more fearful and agitated as the seconds ticked on. Bandaid looked over as both the armored stallions tried to steel themselves for whatever terror lay beyond the door. BOOMPH, the door cracked a little, along the hinges. Nightmare grabbed all of her pillows and made them into a little fort, squinting through the curtain. The card for ‘Answer Me!’ appeared, stuck to the Princess’ breast. She glanced down at it, then at her nurse. He fixed her with a pointed, frustrated glare.

“Answer me.” He said firmly, pushing the battle axe aside to one of the twins. “What is that?!”

“The most sickly and evil thing Equestria has ever known.” Nightmare Moon whispered. She lit her horn to hold the door, but another BOOMPH made her lose her focus. Her magic had not yet completely returned, much to her regret. “It is old. Very old. Just like me.” BOOMPH. Chips of wood were coming away from the beautiful mahogany door. All four ponies swallowed. “How it got into the castle, I do not know but,” BOOMPH. “If it is here, I do not wish to meet it and,” BOOMPH-crackle! The door was starting to give, and they watched in horror as the bar came away. A hole had been formed.

“Skreeee!” said a very high-pitched voice from out in the hallway. Something that was too ugly and misshapen to be a hoof reached through the hole and started jarring the bar. It wrenched it free and tossed it to the floor before withdrawing. BOOMPH-BOOMPH-CRACKLE! The door suddenly gave way as a blast of magic hit it from the outside. It hung on its hinges. “Skreee!” another voice responded. There was more than one of them!

“Battle axe.” Nightmare whispered fiercely, holding out a hoof. Bandaid passed it to her, terrified. He was a nurse, not a warrior! What was going to happen to him if whatever monster was out there decided to come after him?! The twins were soldiers and she was a goddess, he was perfectly killable! Bandaid found himself shaking as Princess Nightmare eaaaaased onto her hooves. Silently, like a zafrican tribal warrior, she raised her weapon in her teeth and waited.

A trio of black shadows swept into the room. Two small, one large. “Sniff! Sniff-sniff!” it was audible, as the larger of the three tilted its nose up, turning its head back and forth. The three beasts cautiously entered the royal bedroom, peering around. They passed the couch, eyeing the burning hearth. They curiously looked at the half-eaten dinner plate at the table. They even paused to admire the wall of pinned up soon-to-be night sky Nightmare had been worked on. But then, they locked their gazes onto the massive, curtained-off bed.

Princess Nightmare Moon coiled herself, silently rearing up and gathering her strength. She would only get one shot. Bandaid looked up at his Princess in awe. Despite her frailness, she would still step up to defend herself and her little ponies. In that terrible moment of fear and tension, he found himself adoring her for the royalty she really was. He could imagine her charging into battle with her own soldiers. (Well, not the twins, they weren’t especially bright, but just in general…) Licking her lips, the alicorn checked the shining edge of her weapon, turning it a bit for the proper angle.
FLING! The massive weapon spliced through the bed curtains and out at the intruders, spiraling like a buzz-saw! The largest of the three beasts ducked just in time, losing some of the hair off its head. The two smaller were too short to need to move. “Skr-skreeeeee!” the two smaller ones zeroed in on the bed, and the bigger one made a mad dash for their hiding spot.

“For the Princess!” Stalwart Hide suddenly roared, shouting a whinny of battle.

“For Equestria’hhhh!” Aegis Shield launched himself out of the bed alongside his twin.

The two soldiers tackled the lesser monsters with their sheer weights, biting and wrestling and flailing back and forth. They slammed into furniture, shouting and roaring and scratching each other wildly. The bedroom erupted into a melee! The largest of the three, however, made it through to her Royal Majesty. Nurse Bandaid stood quivering, and was HEAVED out of the way by a bizarre and tingling aura of magic. “Hwah?!” he cried, launched off the bed and to the carpet in a heap.

“NIGHTIE-POOOOOO!” Queen Chrysalis squealed, tackled Nightmare Moon onto her back and kissed her so hard their teeth clicked together! “OH HOW I’VE MISSED YOUUUUU!” She forced their lips together again while the black alicorn flailed for her life, wings flapping and hooves going everywhere. Tongue! There was tongue there! There should NOT have been tongue there!

“OH GODS NO’HHHHHHHH!” Nightmare roared when her mouth was free.

End of Part 15

House Guests

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 16: House Guests

Aegis Shield had never met a more squirmy opponent. The changling soldier flailed back and forth as they tumbled, snarled, bit, thrashed, and punched each other wildly. Come into HIS Princess’ bedroom would it?! Not tonight! The stallion clamped his teeth onto the swiss cheese-like hoof, and it screeched in pain. Shifting its weight it tumbled over him, punching him repeatedly in the face and cheek while its fangs tried to clamp onto him someplace. But, the stallion was armored and well-protected. It just couldn’t find a latch-on point.

Stalwart Hide was in a head-butting contest, up on his hind-legs and arm-locked at the shoulder with his own changling enemy. He was wearing a helm, sure, but the changling’s carapace was just as good as armor. Clank! Clank! CLANK! They wavered back and forth, trying to better each other and shift the weight of power. They knocked a chair over and then tumbled, crashing into a bookshelf and sending books everywhere. Stalwart snapped his body forward in a whip-like fashion to add pressure, but the changling soldier reeled against him and they butted heads again. “Aegis! Bon gambit!” he cried out in twin-speak (the language the brothers shared that nopony else could seem to understand).

“Neigh!” said Aegis through gritted teeth. He cried out when fangs entered his leg and he crashed animatedly against the wall. Hoping to crush his enemy he rammed himself against it over and over, but the teeth were latched on now. “Augh! Specto gambit!” he shouted over his shoulder.

“Bon! BON!” Stalwart Hide crashed hard into the bookshelf, shattering the shelves and avalanching books everywhere. I lucky buck sent his opponent off of him and he scrambled to recover. “Bandaid! Do something! There’s three of us!” he was suddenly pulled into a headlock by the screeching changling, his face turning red as his neck was mercilessly squeezed. Flailing wildly, he crunched his teeth over the bend in his enemy’s leg armor. The changling skreee’d, then started punching him wildly in the face.

“Oh jeez, oh jeez…” Bandaid was practically turning in circles. The guards were fighting, the Princess was fighting (and swearing a blue streak), what was HE supposed to do?! He was a healer! That was the opposite of what everypony else was doing! Shaking fearfully at the melee around him, his mind racing, he ran to his medical bag. Pulling it open and undoing all the straps, he pulled it over himself like leather armor. He gulped, looking back and forth. If he could free up even one of the twins, he would save the Princess. He paused suddenly. What did anypony that couldn’t fight do, when about to be challenged? Bluff! “Hey there, you big buggy gits!” he galloped over where both changlings could see. He was hissed at, and he recoiled a bit while the twins wrestled them wildly. “Before you go attacking anypony else, maybe you can have a look at MY arsenal!” forsaking the popping buttons that flew everywhere, Nurse Bandaid THRUST his nurse’s vest open like he was flashing somepony.

The twins and both changlings froze to stare.

Seven scalpels. Four syringes. Five pill small pill bottles. Two flasks. Bandaging ropes. Twine. Sharp metal clips. An array of tongue sticks. Needle-sharp tweezers. Stethoscope. Epecac potions. Air-pressurized needle gun stocked with anti-venom and generic poison antidotes. They lined the inside of his nurse’s vest like some sort of freakish action movie star displaying all his guns. The twins stared in awe, and the two changlings did too. How did he move normally with all of that weighing him down?! He looked ready to murder somepony! Of course, the four of them had no idea what half of the things lining the white vest were, but it sure did make Bandaid look intimidating.

“Hisssss!” said one changling to the other, eyes wide. “Bon hisssss!”

“Bon hissss!” the other agreed, untangling herself from her pony opponent. The two changlings bared their fangs at Bandaid, rearing up and flailing their hole-filled hooves at him.

“Bon hiss?” Aegis Shield gasped, ears perked. “Stalwart! They’re twins like us!” he shouted to his recovering brother. Stalwart Hide dug himself out of the mountain of books with a moan, rubbing his head. “Bon gambit hiss!”

There was a pause as both creatures turned about with wide eyes.The changlings displayed their wings at the twins, cocking their heads curiously. The twins snapped their wingspans open, throwing their chests out. Bandaid looked back and forth, slowly letting his vest flap closed. What had just happened? “Specto gambit, gurf bon hiss!” said one of the two changlings.

“Gurf!” said both stallions in unison, nodding animatedly.

Bandaid almost facehoof’d. Twin speak didn’t work like that, according to medical science. Every set of twins had their own version of twin speak, it didn’t reach from one set of siblings to the next! “Gurf?” said the two changlings, coming close and standing in front of the twins. They seemed unsure, eyeing them up and down with a mix of suspicion and curiosity. Bandaid marveled. He was sure Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide were the only ponies he’d ever meet that really could speak in unison a good portion of the time. But no, apparently the two changlings were siblings as well, and could do the same. Bizarre! The two black creatures leaned as one, sniff-sniffing at the twin pegasi with marked caution. Aegis and Stalwart both reached, startling them back, but reached none the less. The boys leaned, smiled, and kissed the hooves they’d grabbed. Both changlings blushed, tugging away and chittering a set of exotic-sounding giggles.

“Oh Faust they’re sisters.” Bandaid groaned in realization, face-hoofing again.

“Bandaid!” scolded Aegis, turning his great head about. “They’re visitors from a foreign nation!” Stalwart was in the background, translating everything into twinspeak for them. The two soldiers nodded along politely, seated on their haunches.

“You were all just fighting!”

“That was before we knew they were twins like us.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Your FACE doesn’t make any sense!” As soon as Stalwart translated that part the two changlings laughed wildly, stamping the ground with their hooves. Both boys grinned, nodding at each other.

“Auuugh!” Bandaid facehoofed for the third time. So suddenly they were all best pals and being polite gentlecolts?! And kissing hooves?! The poor nurse felt a migraine coming on.

“GET OFF ME FOUL THING!” exploded across the room, reminding Bandaid very suddenly that his Princess was being assaulted. Smacking, kissie noises were still floating over the bed. “AIDE! I REQUIRE AIDE! GET OFF ME!” The black alicorn was weakly trying to pry the changling Queen off of herself, pushing hard with both hooves while kissie faces were made at her.

“Oh Nightie-Poo, I heard you’d returned and I came as soon as I could!” Queen Chrysalis sighed dramatically, suddenly flung off the bed into a heap on the floor. “I missed you so, so much! You’ve no idea!” she clopped her hooves together, leaning her cheek on them and shifting back and forth with joy, girlishly giggling.

“One taste of alicorn love and thou were addicted!” Nightmare gestured harshly to Bandaid, who came rushing and aided her out of bed. All the strain had made her legs weak and she faltered. The twins rushed to aide her as well, and the two changlings came to rejoin their mistress. “Hoof servant, let us away before she hugs me again!” she limped along, but Chrysalis would have none of this.

“Nightie-poo you were my favorite foreign ambassador before you had your little tantrum!” Chrysalis was walking alongside her, nuzzling animatedly up and down at her cheek. Nightmare groaned, rolling her eyes as she limped along, unable to get away. “Don’t forget those lovely nights were had in my own cocoon chambers and--!”

“Bite thy tongue!” Nightmare barked, cheeks flushing hot. “It meant nothing! It was ages ago and it meant nothing!” She worked her fangs, turning her ears back in an angry, pouty sort of face. “I was merely fostering good foreign relations with my… presence!”

Bandaid began to slowly relax and kind of enjoy himself, in a really sick sort of way. So there WAS somepony out there that his Princess not only didn’t want, but regretted having been with? Ohhh, this was gold! “I’m Bandaid, her Majesty’s private nurse!” He put in, leaning into Nightmare still to steady her. He waved a free hoof at the strange, hole-filled creature.

“Greetings!” Chrysalis leaned back and over Nightmare’s withers, resting her head there to have a look at him and nuzzle the Princess at the same time. “I am Queen Chrysalis, your Princess’ most favored lover!”

“Lies!” Nightmare Moon scowled, approaching the twins as quickly as she could. “Aegis Shield, Stalwart Hide! Remove them from my chambers, now!” she was desperate, one could tell by the twitching in her neck muscles.

“Where are you from?” Bandaid said conversationally while the twins began to herd the two female changlings out of the room. He’d never seen such a repulsive-yet-beautiful creature in his life. Such large gossamer wings, the little platelets on her body, they were rather enchanting.

“I come from the wastelands to the south!” Chrysalis smiled grandly, showing off fangs very similar to Nightmare’s. “The hive is several million strong,” she smiled at the Princess. “also at your beck and call of course, m’love.” She kissed Nightmare’s cheek with a blushing giggle. “I still have that lovely little painting we had done on your third visit…” she trailed off and winked.

Bandaid watched the black alicorn’s face turn scarlet. “Faust smite me, please. Even lightning will do.” The Princess begged the ceiling as they came to the threshold of the broken door. “Out.” She finally declared.

“Oh sweetheart, weren’t you at dinner?” Chrysalis said. “Maybe we can have a bedroom picnic!” she brightened, her beautiful wings buzzing and lifting her a few inches into the air. The humming sound made everypony’s ears tingle and itch. “I could go grab a criminal from your dungeons, and we might share!” She smiled toothily, like it was a done deal.

“No!” Nightmare tried to shut the door in her face, but it was already off its hinges and refused. Stalwart jumped back before it landed on him. “Away to me, abusive creature!”

“D’ohhh, you’re probably just exhausted. Poor thing. I heard you were still under the weather,” The Queen made a pouty sort of face, landing again. “I’m going to be staying for a week, perhaps we’ll meet up later?” she gave her mane an adorable toss, stroking it in a sexy sort of way. Nightmare’s stomach churned.

“Yes! Later!” Nightmare turned and coughed a bit, quickly walking away from the threshold and away from the changlings. Bandaid was ready to burst into giggles… no wait, he already had. Trotting after his Princess with a great big grin plastered across his face, he turned and waved goodbye as the changlings left them be.

“Bye for now, Nightie-poo!” Chrysalis called, trotting away with her guards. One of them turned and blew a kiss at Stalwart Hide, whose eyebrows jumped up as his cheeks turned red. Oh-hoh-ho?! Was she displaying her wings at him as they went around the corner? Stalwart started forward eagerly, but his brother hauled him back by the scruff of his neck. He had to focus on his Princess now, no time for exotic mares from other countries!

There was a long silence when the changlings had gone, and Nightmare slid into a chair to rest her face on the table with a moan. “Such travesties have remained in memory for so long!” she cursed herself. “It was only a few ambassador trips! A mere smattering of days and she never forgot!”

Bandaid threw his head back and laughed. “What’s the matter, Nightie-poo?” he teased, stroking her back between her wings. She shot an icy glare at him. “One lover too many, and this one decided to wait for you?” he cackled a little.

“Silence thy tongue, hoof servant. We must hide until she is gone. I do not wish to be molested.” Nightmare stood with authority, stroking her chin. “Where to hide ourselves, though… the castle is too obvious.” She furrowed her brow.

“She said she was staying for a week, isn’t the Grand Galloping Gala in six days?” Aegis Shield wondered aloud, tilting his head. Nightmare flinched, eyes widening. “Ohhh, I bet that’s why she’s here. To welcome you back, and to be seen at that big party. You know, as a gesture of friendship to the crown.” He smiled a little nervously as the Princess’ expression turned foul.

“Friendship my glittering, starry backside!” Nightmare snarled, rushing over to her dresser to get some papers and things. “Come! We are going… someplace!” she said. “Out of the castle where she cannot find me!”

“Oh, how about the guard barracks? You could come stay with us!” Stalwart Hide said, gesturing to his brother. “It’s a little place, but I’m sure we might have a cot or something.”

“I’m not letting the Princess stay in one of those tiny little military establishments. Those stallions live in cubby holes and cots!” Bandaid frowned, shaking his head no.

“My nurse is correct. Besides, the barracks is an offshoot of the castle, we might be sought there by yon sexual predator.” Nightmare gestured to the hallway with a shudder. Bandaid bit back a scathing remark about his Princess and the phrase ‘sexual predator’. “We shall instead go to Bandaid’s home to hide out.” She smiled down at him.

“What?!” the stallion barked, his pupils shrinking into dots. “My place?!”

“It is perfect. It is a civilian home in a random portion of the city. Even the Queen of the changlings cannot search an entire city in a week.” Nightmare gloated, tilting her nose up as she levitated a big stack of papers into a waiting suitecase, along with a few odds and ends. Clipping it closed when the contents were secure, she turned on her heels. “Come! We make for Bandaid’s residence!”

“Oh jeez…” Bandaid wilted.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“Good evening, Queen Chrysalis, I hope your trip was pleasant?” Celestia said politely, rising from her chair with just a hair of tension. Clearly the alicorn-sized changling leader and her two guards were… unexpected. Twilight eyed the three strange creatures curiously. She’d been trained not to gape or stare at ponies that looked different, but they were making it really hard. She’d heard and read about the changling nation, yes, but she’d never met any of them. Equestria all but banned them since, well, they fed on raw emotions and ponies were full of them. Nopony wanted to be treated like a buffet, and Princess Celestia had kept a rather solid peace corps at the border. There was trading and interaction, yes, but the main populations almost never mixed outside of emergency.

“Skreee!” said one of the two guards in shrill greeting, startling the poor purple mare.

“Why yes, thank you! When I heard that Nightie had returned I just had to drop by for a visit! I trust my messenger reached you just fine?” She cocked her head and seated herself at the table like she owned the place.

“He may have been stopped at the border.” said Celestia a smidgen less gently.

Twilight wrinkled her nose. The towering creature smelled like honey, armor oil and desert winds on the magical level. It was odd and very different than the soap and quiet vanilla that her mentor had to her aura. It was more… alien. Just who were these three, and how did they so easily wander into the palace? “Uhm, hello.” She said, tilting her head forward into a polite bow. She’d seen the crown on the mare’s head. Despite her… odd-ness, she was definitely royalty. “My name is Twilight Spar-!”

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Chrysalis suddenly boomed in delight, making everypony in the room jump a little. “Why, the last time I saw you you were… yay tall!” she reached to show her a short filly’s height. “You were napping too, come to think of it, Celestia wouldn’t let me wake you during my brief visit.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to traumatize my little pony.” Celestia said with a honey-touched tone that carried exactly one grain of scratching sand in it. Only Twilight was familiar enough with Celestia to recognize the subtle shift in tone. Her mentor was not happy about their new guest, it seemed. “I suppose you’ve come to see my sister, and stay for the gala?” she surmised, daintily sitting and sipping her water from a tall-stemmed glass.

“Of course! I would love to!” Chrysalis took it as an invitation. “Nightie was so enthused to see me earlier, you should have seen her.” Her insectoid wings flapped open and she sighed in adoration at the thought of the night time princess. “You should’ve sent word that she’d returned, Princess, I would have come to witness her return in person!”

“My sister was not well when she arrived home.” Celestia said delicately. “She was hospitalized for weeks.” Queen Chrysalis’ face fell, and her wings wilted a little. Concern etched across her features. “But, she’s growing stronger and stronger. Soon she’ll be able to return to the Midnight Court and take her place on the throne beside me again.” The white alicorn allowed herself a dreamy smile. It would be nice to split the workload of running the nation, not to mention the rumors would stop flying. There had been some talk amongst the commonfolk that Nightmare was still sick, or had died in the hospital, or something. Celestia had also her hooves full putting out fires and controlling the flow of information so nopony decided that the night time alicorn had been assassinated by Donut Joe from Sore Saddle Street. How, exactly, the poor baker was supposed to assassinate a goddess, she didn’t know. But rumors were just that: rumors.

Queen Chrysalis looked over to see her twin guards staring up at one of the solar guards posted by the door. He was a full head taller than they, and they found him fascinating for some reason. They were chittering back and forth at each other, then looked up at the stock-still stallion’s armor. He didn’t look at them, only stared straight ahead as trained. It didn’t keep a bead of sweat from going down the side of his face. Both changlings let their horns glow and FWOOSH! Suddenly there were three of the standing stallion guard. The two copies giggled at each other, before shifting back. “Pupa! Geode!” she snapped. They wheeled around, quickly returning to either side of her. They hunched a little, looking very sorry. “Forgive me, Princess, they tend to wander if I don’t keep them on a tight leash.” She smiled apologetically.

“I’ll have rooms arranged for you three.” Celestia nodded quietly. “I assume you made sure to feed before you got here?” Again the touch of grainy sand came back to her voice. “I won’t be handing you any of my guards, just so you know.”

“Have you no murderers I might have?” Chrysalis cocked her head a little.

“I’m afraid not.” Celestia smiled a little. “Murder has all but faded from fair Equestria, thank goodness.” She sighed a little. “I’ll not have you draining anypony dry while you’re here. I must insist that you fast.”

“Fast? Ohh… poo. Very well.” Chrysalis pouted a little. She turned to her two followers. “You heard her. No biting and draining the love out of anypony as long as we’re in Equestrian borders. As long as we are here, Princess Celestia’s word is the rule.” She gestured to the white alicorn. Both guards nodded dutifully, but they did not look happy. Changlings could live for an astoundingly long time without feeding, but it didn’t mean they liked it. “Just don’t expect any of my royal jelly the next time you visit the hive!” she said to Celestia with a playful smirk.

“I hardly think it’s a good idea to consume anything that comes from your thorax, dear Chrysalis.” Celestia said with a sly chuckle. “Only my sister ever partook in that.” Twilight gaped at the wild conversation between the royals. Feeding on ponies? Royal jelly? THORAX?! The purple mare felt a little overwhelmed. “The lower dungeons are completely empty, if you like?” the white alicorn offered. “I know you prefer the dark and cool areas of the castle for sleep. I can have a guard take the doors off so you don’t feel locked up.”

“That would be lovely, thank you.” Chrysalis bowed happily. “Say thank you, girls.” She bade her twin guards with a teasing smile.

“Skree!”

“Skree!”

“Er, they said thank you.” Queen Chrysalis put in. Twilight giggled before she could stop herself. Their new guests for the gala were strange, but still charming in their own bizarre way. The vizier decided she kind of liked them. It wasn’t every day that her mentor seemed a little bit tense around somepony. She could only wonder about their previous encounters.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

“This is thy abode?” Princess Nightmare was actually more than a little curious. She peered up at the scrunched little string of economy apartments. She hadn’t even put any thought into where her nurse lived before. It had simply never crossed her mind… but this had not been what she was expecting. “Stallion, thou art a royal nurse and hoof servant to the Princess of the land, do they not pay thee better than this?” she gestured with a troubled from at the rather run-down looking place.

Bandaid wilted a little embarrassedly. “Er… I’mma bachelor, it’s all I need.” He sounded only halfway convinced of the words, but he coughed a little. “Besides, do you have any idea how expensive medical school is? I’m going to be paying off student loans for years to come.” He sighed a little, but it was true. The Princess cocked her head in mild pity, but said nothing. She watched him trot up the trio of stairs to his stoop, work the key in the lock and press the door open. “Come on in, its uh… messy, but its home.” He offered. Nightmare nodded, stepping out of the shadow of the alleyway from whence they’d approached. When she was sure the coast was clear, she streaked out into the sun. Holding her black umbrella over her head, cloaked and behind sunglasses, she quickly vanished beyond the threshold. Bandaid checked around to be sure nopony had seen an alicorn rush into his home. Nopony was around, thank goodness, it was the middle of the day. Heaving her majesty’s suitecase inside, he quickly shut the door and drew the curtains to block out the bright sun. His Princess was sensitive to its rays, after all. “Er, welcome.” He said awkwardly, setting down his medical bag and taking off his nurse’s vest. (It suddenly occurred to Nightmare she’d never seen him not wearing it. He wasn’t bad looking in the chest and midriff.)

It was certainly humble little place. The tiny office was also the bedroom, the kitchen was also the dining room. There was no living room. Coming in the front door meant you were in the bedroom. There was a tiny bathroom that you could barely open the door because the toilet was right behind it. You could see the back door from the front door, and there was only one window, since the apartment was pressed between two others. The walls were a rather sickly ‘old’ yellow, and the cabinets looked cracked. The sink in the kitchen dripped a bit, and the refrigerator had certainly seen better days. There was a little heater in the corner, which ached and groaned when he went over to turn it on. Bandaid couldn’t afford to keep the place heated all day, so her only turned it on when he was home.

Nightmare stared around with an odd mix of fascination and mild pity. “This is…” she trailed off when she stepped on a sock. “You wear stockings?” she smiled wryly. He snatched it quickly, red-faced, stuffing it under the twin-sized bed. How did the poor stallion sleep? Curled up in a ball, perhaps?

“It’s called an economy apartment.” Bandaid told her. “Pretty much the polar opposite of what you’re used to.” He smiled a little embarrassedly. “Go ahead, have a seat on the bed. Sorry I don’t own a couch.” The brown stallion offered her. “Bathroom, be right back.”

Nightmare looked around while he was away from her. “How does he live in such tiny quarters, the poor thing…?” she found herself whispering. “High education is expensive, but this place is so… tiny.” she leaned to look at the homely little bookshelf that was squatting in the corner. It was only two shelves, but it was crammed full of books that all seemed to have the same design on them. Lighting her horn, she pulled one to have a look. “Ponies and Castles Sourcebook, Deities and Demigods.” She mumbled, flipping it open. She turned a few pages, looking at the bright pictures and boxes full of numbers and facts. She saw what were undoubtedly holy symbols, spells and rituals… bad ones as well. The book seemed to touch on evil gods as well, and how to recognize them. “Hmm… I am not in here at all!” she said, shocked. “Neither is Cellie, for that matter.” She ho-hummed down a list of gods she’d never heard of before. Not that there were many in the world, but none of those names looked familiar to her. She replaced the book, pulling another one. “Ponies and Castles, the Player’s Handbook.” She opened that one instead, frowning through its contents. Why, it was a statistics book! Who knew her nurse was so mathematically studious?! She smiled and sat on the bed, turning pages until she saw a picture of a fierce-looking Zafrican warrior priestess. She was painted down with blood, holding a spear in her mouth… and posed rather provocatively, to tell the truth. But, the box of numbers next to her told everything about her! “Strength, Agility, Wisdom…” Nightmare went down the list. “How informative! I did not know a Zafrican warrior priestess could charm another pony with her mind powers three times a day!” she delighted, picking up a third book from the shelf and levitating it over to her. She was learning about the upside down castles of the frozen north when Bandaid returned. The stallion looked startled when he found his Princess pawing through his tabletop game books. “Why Bandaid, we did not know thee so varied in thy studies! These are delightful!” she commented, four books floating around her as she peered back and forth with interest.

“Oh-h jeez…” he mumbled, face-hoofing a little. “Th-those are gaming books, Princess.”

“Gaming?” The dark alicorn looked up in disbelief. “Thou plays games with such fierce things?” she turned one of the books over to show him a screaming, bloodied minotaur wielding a great-axe.

“It’s just pretend, here, let me put those back…” he felt flushed and embarrassed that the black alicorn was rooting through his things, but he couldn’t really stop her. There wasn’t much to his place to look at. Nightmare Moon kept one of the books to study (“Arms and Equipment”), sitting silently on the bed. Bandaid stood there staring at her for a long time, but she seemed engrossed in the five kinds of rope an adventurer might need on his travels. “I’ll just uh… get some dinner for us.” The Nurse sighed a little, happy she was at content to do something quietly for a bit. Ah well.

=-=-=-=
Later…
=-=-=-=

“I’m back, Princess.” Bandaid arrived home with two little boxes of Chinese food. Nightmare looked up from a long notepad, her quill dancing on it. Her suitcase lay open next to her, some papers strewn about. She was working on her night sky project. “Er… make yourself at home I guess?” he smiled a little when she looked up and smiled with all her long teeth.

“Welcome home, dear.” She said playfully, eyeing the food he’d brought. She set aside her work. “Do not worry about your funds, I shall replenish them when I return home.” She promised. “And an extra inconvenience fee as well, for being in your home for a week.” She added.

“Oh uh… okay.” Bandaid wasn’t going to argue with money, given his current circumstances. Then he looked over and saw her struggling with chopsticks. “No no, like this.” He sat on the bed next to her, putting his smaller hoof over her bigger one. “One stick like that, and the other like this. One doesn’t move, the other does the grabbing.”

Nightmare struggled with it for a bit, scowling over the steaming box of rice and vegetable bits. (How did hooves manage chopsticks at all? Shut up, that’s how.) Finally, she managed to get some of it into her mouth. She chewed carefully, and her face lit up. “Delicious!” she declared, nodding her approval.

“Heh! I’m glad you like it.” He rolled his eyes a little, shaking his head as he slurped a few noodles. “There’s this little place on the corner I go to a lot. They give you a lot of food, and its cheap. Keeps me full.” He commented.

Nightmare paused for a bit while Bandaid was busily eating. She’d not stopped to wonder about money or anything from Bandaid’s perspective. “Er,” she said softly, looking over at him. He looked over, about five inches of noodles hanging out of his mouth. “Th… thank thee for thy hospitality. I know I invited myself, and it is a burden.” She leaned forward into a sort of quiet half-bow. “But it will keep greedy hooves off of me, thankfully. Please know I am grateful, and you will be repaid.”

“It’s fine.” Bandaid said after slurping a little. “Just a uh… extended sleepover, I guess.” He stopped to yawn. The dawn was coming, that meant it was almost bed time. Luna was sliding gently over the horizon. The stallion was worn out, full of food and ready for sleep. He looked longingly at his bed, and then it very suddenly occurred to him. “I only have one bed.” He said aloud, setting his food aside. “Uhhhhhhh… ah!” he rose and went to his tiny little closet, pulling an arm-load of thick blankets out. They were ratty and a little torn in places, but otherwise perfectly fluffy. While Nightmare watched and articulated with her chopsticks, he made a little nest for himself beside the bed. “You can take the bed. You’re the guest.” He said warmly, smiling at her.

“Thank you.” She mumbled behind her box of Chinese. She tucked her ears, a slightly stronger twinge of guilt touching her. “Er, I need not so many pillows.” She pushed three of the four pillows off of the bed as she settled onto her belly on the bed. When her food box was empty, she levitated it into the nearby bin and yawned. She did get sleepy when she ate late. Peering about, she stretched out a bit—her hooves went off the end of the bed. Looking over her shoulder, she lay on her side instead. Cocking her head, she saw her wings were sticking out.

“Eh-heh, yeah it’s pretty small.” Bandaid apologized. “I sleep curled up, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for thy lodgings. It is meant for thou.” She stepped off, stretching out. Lighting her horn, she grabbed him bodily and set him up on the bed. “This nest is perfectly fine.” She settled herself onto the floor as he sat up with concern. “Ah-ah. Hush.” She held up a hoof before he could protest. “Thou would not want me falling off the bed in the dead of day right onto you, would thou?” she gave him a rather lewd smirk, winking. The stallion didn’t argue, and sighed tiredly as he flopped down. Working magic once more, the Princess removed her helm and other vestments. Bandaid watched quietly. He’d never seen her naked before, except when she was a skeleton in the hospital. She really was quite beautiful, in a terrifying-endless-void sort of way. He watched her tuck her head under one of her great wings after pulling her blankets up. It was just a little bit endearing. “Good morrow, hoof servant.” She said quietly from where she’d hidden herself, swan-like. “Thank thee again for thy kindness.”

“Good morrow.” The brown stallion mumbled, for ‘good night’ was not proper for ponies like them, who slept through the day. He laid his head down once all the lights were out, trying very hard not to stare at her beautiful starry mane. It was entrancing, and it soothed him just to look at it. Beautiful…

End of Part 16

INTERMISSION

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
INTERMISSION: The Twins Go On a Date

“Aegis, why am I wearing a pink bowtie?” grumbled Stalwart Hide. He and his brother were walking down the spiraling staircase to the lower dungeons where the changlings were staying (not as prisoners, they just liked the cool darkness).

“Bowties are cool.” Aegis insisted, adjusting his collar a little. Both stallions, though they were of brown fur and blonde mane, had dressed differently so they could easily be told apart. “Besides, I look better in a long tie anyways.” He smirked a little. Stalwart rolled his eyes. They both looked the same, neither looked ‘better’ in anything!

Finally, they reached the bottom of the stair and worked their way down the torchlit halls. The dungeon was rarely if ever occupied by anypony, a relic of the past that only occasionally housed a devoted criminal. The foreign changlings were used to such cool, dark locations, though, so it was quite comforting for them. The two brothers stopped to inspect each other. Stalwart adjusted his brother’s tie, and Aegis pushed his sibling’s mane just so. Nodding at each other in perfect unison, they came to the archway with no door on it. Queen Chrysalis and her two guards were staying there, they could tell, since the studded iron door had been taken off its hinges and set to one side. “Anypony home?” the two of them called as one.

“Skree!”

“Skree!”

There was shuffling in the darkness until two sets of glittering eyes peered at them out of the darkness, from the ceiling. Both ponies looked up curiously, finding a trio of cocoons on the ceiling. They were a sickly green, crusty and recently made. Little flaps opened and two heads poked out of two of them, peering down at them curiously. It made them look like beds… if your bed hung you upside down from the ceiling. “Whuh?” A third, larger voice made itself known. The biggest of the three cocoons shifted animatedly, and a pair of gossamer wings exuded out of the slits in it. It wobbled back and forth, until Queen Chrysalis poked her head out as well. “Whossat?” she said, her droning double-voice matching her bizarre appearance. “Pupa! Geode! We have guests.” She pressed her way free and, still upside down, crawled out of the insectoid enclosure. Her wings unfurled all the way, then started going like a buzzing copter. The changling Queen buzzed down to the floor as her twin guards crawled down the sides of the walls to peer at the newcomers. “Oh, its you two again.” Chrysalis grinned a bit with her front feeding fangs. “Princess Nightmare’s guards. Come to summon me to her for dinner, perhaps?” she asked hopefully. Both stallions shook their heads a bit. “Oh, perhaps she’s skipping the wine and dine and getting straight to the good part…” she clapped her hooves together a few times, licking her chops. Alicorn love was, for lack of better words and puns, the most divine food a changling could ever hope to taste. A mere sip of it was enough to keep one going for years and years, and Nightmare had offered up a feast when they’d shared a bed during their… political trips, many years ago.

“Er, actually we’re here to pick up your guards.” Stalwart said. Aegis punched him in the shoulder with a scowl. He didn’t have to put it so bluntly! “I-mean-uh! Can they come out to play?” he got punched in the shoulder a second time. “I-mean-uh! Can we-!” Aegis put a hoof over his mouth to shut his stupid brother up before he dug the hole any deeper.

“Ahem!” said Aegis Shield loudly, perking his ears forward into a friendly expression. “In the interest of uh… foreign relations, your majesty, my brother and I would like to escort your two guards around to see the Canterlot night life. To uh… foster… good…” he struggled to make it sound good, his eyes darting back and forth like he was reading a badly-penned script. “Friendliness! Between national guards!” he ended it so lamely that his brother moaned, pushing his hoof away.

Chrysalis was more than amused, she was elated. “Hahaha! Go on then!” she gestured. “Pupa! Geode! You’ve the night off! Shoo!” she pushed both her guards forward. Both changlings chittered in their odd insect tongue, looking at their queen in concern. Leave the queen alone and unguarded? That didn’t sound safe… They were in a foreign nation after all, what if something bad happened? “Ah, I’m in the Canterlot Royal Palace, down in the dungeon. Not only will I be safe, but nopony would look for me here. I’ll be fine to nap for a few hours.” She chuckled, watching the two stallions’ faces light up. Her guards hesitantly went along, looking curiously at the tie and bowtie they were wearing. “Have them back in a timely fashion, or I’ll suck out your intest-innnes!” she called melodically, waving a massive hoof at them as they were leaving.

Both brothers looked at each other, unsure if she was serious or not. Gulping a little, they started forward and nosed their dates to come along. Little red hearts danced between all four of them as they trotted away.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Some wine-ing, dining, and sight-seeing later…
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide sat on a nice hill in the Canterlot Royal gardens, staring up at the moon together. They’d paired off with their dates, but they’d not separated by more than five feet or so. The boys got separation anxiety when taken away from their siblings, and the two changlings seemed to feel safer with each other nearby.

“Bon, gurf skambit…” Aegis apologized for dinner in twin-speak. He’d not known that changlings literally could not eat regular food like ponies. They really did survive from feeding on the positive emotions of others. “Yaka-mare, eye-neilo.” He said, reddening in the cheeks and looking to one side as his ears turned nervously back. His date gave a chittering giggle, her hoof over her mouth. She leaned and said something in the changling tongue to him, stroking his cheek a little with a soft expression. Aegis looked into her eyes quietly, seeing the moon reflected in them. They were an icy blue—very beautiful. “B…bon.” He whispered, and her cheeks pinkened a little. While they sat their on their haunches, looking up at the moon and admiring the night, he slowwwwly edged his hoof over until it rested next to hers. Their ankles touched, and he quietly wrapped them together. She looked down, ears perked, then up at him with questions in her eyes. “Soo-mat, ibella.” He whispered romantically in twin-speak.

She flushed darkly, chittering in a mix between nervousness and genuine flattery. Touching her chest as though to say ‘me?’, she waited for him to nod, then leaned into his chest. He smiled when she gave a purring little chittering sound, her wings opening. They gave off a lovely obsidian light, all the colors there were all at once. Looking up at him, the changling extended her feelers quietly. There was definitely affection there. He was quietly glowing, on the magical level, with positive energy. Well… as long as it was leaking off of him and she wasn’t sucking it out of his body like a leech… Aegis’ date quietly sipped at the air around them, where he couldn’t see, filling her belly with his boyish puppy love. It was tasty, like some odd mix of cream and peaches. It made her red-cheeked and even more giggly—not to mention it helped with a few hunger pangs. She would have to share with the queen when she got back, yes, but for now she could gently enjoy him.

“Hahhhh…” Aegis sighed quietly, pulling at his tie a bit. Did he kiss her? Did he hold her hoof? Say something else nice? He’d not gone on a lot of dates, being hardly separable from his brother, Stalwart. Neither pony was good at expressing a lot of mushy feelings. They were still soldiers, after all. He found his date looking up at him with her eyes, her big pretty blue eyes.

“Chitter-murr?” she said in the changling tongue, blushing and looking to one side as she let him see the full span of her wings. Aegis smiled coyly at the quiet invitation, eyes lidding. He opened his mouth to consult his brother, looking to one side. But he gave a start when he saw that he and his date were already furiously making out by a tree some distance away. How had they moved away without making any noise? Aegis felt her hoof on his cheek and she steered him back to looking at just her, chuckling.

They knew what they wanted. They were soldiers after all. They strove for speed and efficiency in all… in all things and… her face was so close… so pretty. Her wings so beautiful… leaning in… hyesss… The handsome stallion felt his lips press to hers in a quiet, coy little kiss. It was a kind and innocent kiss, not lusty, and the warmth travelling between them made him shudder. She wrapped her arms around him, and they pulled close, quietly embracing under the moon as the kiss slowly deepened. He slowly let his eyes slide shut, and leaned into her. “Bon…” he gasped in a soft way when the kiss broke, his wings rising happily.

“Bon.” She nodded in quiet agreement before slowly returning to his soft lips for another kiss. She delighted in his firm, broad chest and silky blonde mane as one of her hooves rushed up and through it greedily. Both sets of twins knew they’d found their dates for the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala— as long as neither of their respective royals did anything to mess it up, that is.

END OF INTERMISSION

Bait and Switch

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 18: Bait and Switch

Bandaid walked quickly and quietly through the palace, cocking his head and looking around rather nervously. Normally he was not so frightened of its massive, sweeping halls and galleries. But, the enemy was among them and he knew it. Princess Nightmare Moon was hiding at his little apartment, but he still needed to report for work, check his medical bag in, have it restocked, and then check it out again. It made sure no medical staff made off with things they shouldn’t.

Doctor Heart Starter stopped him while he was in the supply room, “Nurse Bandaid, how is the Princess?” he said, clipboard levitating next to him as he made friendly conversation.

“Getting stronger every day, Doctor.” Bandaid said carefully.

“I’ve not seen her around the palace lately, has she been holing up in her room?” the stallion leaned against the doorframe. “I know she probably likes her privacy, but she shouldn’t be a shut in either.” He cocked his head with concern, watching his underling restock himself with salve and lotions. “Are her legs still hurting her?” he asked a bit more seriously.

“Yes.” Bandaid said, wilting a bit. “I don’t understand why the rest of her is healing so well, and her legs are not. She’s complained about them since the day she could start talking normally.”

“Very odd, hmm.” Heart Starter said, stroking his chin. “Tell you what, why don’t you give her a more thorough examination and get back to me? If she’s got an infection or something we should treat it right away. Or worse yet, she might have a chip of moonrock under the skin or something. That would be agonizing!” he gestured harshly with a hoof. Bandaid nodded officially, making a little salute of promise. “Well, let me know what you find, there’s got to be a reason.”

“Yes doctor.” Bandaid sealed up his bag, redoing the straps and putting it on his back. “I’ll do it right away.” He turned about and was away from the medical wing of the castle with haste. Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner? Of course there was going to be an outside source for Nightmare’s leg pain. The rest of her body was healing just fine. Hmm. Lost in thought, the brown stallion almost didn’t notice when two solar guards peeled off of their posts and started following. “C-can I help you, gentlecolts?” he asked timidly. Though he was a nurse and a fine stallion as any other, Bandaid was always rather easily intimidated.

“Skree.” said the bass voice of one of the two big-chested stallions. The other nodded silently. Bandaid stared at them both blankly. “Skree-bar-skree.” He said, his gravelly voice tickling Bandaid’s inner ear.

“Oh it’s you two.” Bandaid frowned as the FWOOSH of magic cancelled out the two massive stallions in front of him and replaced them with changling mares. They looked a little winded. It must’ve taken some effort to change genders as well as forms. “What is it?” he asked. One of the two jittered nervously back and forth, like she needed to pee. The chittered at him in the changling tongue. “Little Pippen fell down the well?” he asked, chuckling a bit. “The barn is on fire?” she cocked her head at him, not understanding what he was saying. The twins looked at each other and chattered in a rapid string of insectoid noises and clicks. The nurse waited patiently, studying them. Finally, one swatted the other on the back of the head and gestured to her companion’s saddlebag. She turned, opened it, and produced a little stack of what appeared to be drawings. “Oh, what? Art time?” Bandaid leaned to see.

“Chitter-creak! Skree!” They held the first one up for him to see. It was a crude crayon drawing of Queen Chrysalis (he could tell by the large stature and long legs). Ohh, nice! They had visual aids for communication! It occurred to him to wonder why and how those two soldiers had gotten ahold of paper and crayons, but he soon dismissed it. He stared at the drawing for a time, and they made sure he got a good look.

“Uh huhhh?” he asked, tilting his head. They flipped to a new drawing, and it showed the Queen upside down with her four long legs up in the air. Her face had a big exaggerated frown on it, and her wings were at odd angles. “Oh dear…” he said, frowning. They flipped the page again, this time it was a head-shot of a poorly crayon-drawn changling Queen. Her mouth was open and there was a lot of graphic green crayon-color coming out of her mouth. Projectile vomiting? “Oh jeez.” He said with concern. “I’d better come see. The last thin Equestria needs is a foreign leader dropping dead in our borders.” He pointed to himself, then made a jogging motion, then pointed to the drawing.

They chittered at him, looks of relief flooding over their odd faces. They cantered back and forth like excited puppies, stuffing their drawings away. Then, the two changeling sisters pressed up to him on either side and began to lead him away. They were all smiles and upturned, regal muzzles as they led the medical pony to the entrance of the dungeons. They hissed at a guard as they went by her, but the confused mare made no move to stop them. Those foreign changelings sure were strange. Bandaid nodded at her as they went, showing that he was going with them willingly.

Turning down into the dungeon they went down, down, down the spiraling staircase and to the lower floors of the crypt-like space. It was dark, dusty, and a little spooky. Had they not lit all the torches for light, staying down here? How strange. Steadying himself, the healer broke away from the two of them and called out into the dark. “Queen Chrysalis?” he asked. “Are you there? Your guards came to get me, they said you were sick!” he cantered forward, ears perked and eyes wide. It was dark and gloomy down there, but it was cool and comfortable, probably how the changelings liked it best. He peered around, and saw several long hallways leading deeper into the dark. He was chirped at, and pointed down another hall as the two guards followed closely behind him. Turning as instructed, he found a dungeon cell whose door had been carefully removed and set to one side. “Ah, here we go.” He smiled, straightening his white vest. He cleared his throat, wanting to look his best for the foreign royalty. After all, he kind’a liked Queen Chrysalis. He got Princess Nightmare’s proverbial panties in a wad, and it was kind of cute to see his mistress genuinely freak out about something after having seen her boundless ego and self-interest. If the changeling queen was ill, he had a moral responsibility to provide care. And if he couldn’t help, he could always get more skilled hooves and bring them down there.

“Skree!” one of the twins nipped him on the butt with her fangs, impatient.

“Hey, easy! I’m here aren’t I?” he said, rubbing his butt with a scowl. “Queen Chrysalis?” he called into the hallway. As he came near the doorway, he found there was a weak, pulsing green light in the room. Sticking his head in, his voice fell lower. “Queen Chrysalis?” he found himself whispering for some reason, like he’d wandered into a mare’s bedroom without permission. He immediately saw there were three cocoon-like structures on the ceiling, made out of Celestia-knew-what, glowing with a neon-green inner light. They dangled by strong little stalks and the bottoms of them glistened as though wet. Were they filled with some strange gelatinous ooze? They seemed to shift like they were. “It’s me, Nurse Bandaid. We met a few days ago?” He still couldn’t see her anywhere. Was she curled up in a dark corner, suffering a bad bellyache? Bandaid stepped into the room, and there was a sudden loud CLANG behind him. “Huh?” he whirled about to see the studded iron door had been forced back into its frame, and both soldiers were holding it from the other side. “Hey!” he called, rushing to it and peering out of the little prisoner’s window at them. “What gives?!” he demanded. He was hisssssed at, and he recoiled with a startled whinny.

“Good job, girls, he’ll do nicely.” The alien, double-voice of the Changeling Queen murmured through the room. “Who better than the Princess’ close hoof-servant, after all?” Bandaid was aware of a low humming coming from behind and above him. He whirled around just in time to see the tall creature land before him— looking perfectly healthy, and not projectile vomiting at all.

“Ohhh, look at you!” Bandaid began to sweat, backing up against the door with a fearful smile. “Looks like you vomited out whatever was making you sick, I’m gonna go now and—HWULK!?” he was grabbed up by magic by his neck and hauled forward. “L-let me go!” he shrieked, sweat going down either side of his face.

Queen Chrysalis’ wings hummed idly before they came to a stop in their fully extended position. Slowly bringing them to rest, she reached out and pulled him to her by the front of his vest. “Such a loyal little hoof servant, just the way you speak around her is telling.” Her jowels rose to reveal fangs, fangs very much like Princess Nightmare Moon’s. But no, no they were different, he saw when he was close enough. He realllly didn’t want to be close enough, but he could see that the tips were hollow. Did changelings have poisonous fangs? No, or one of the twins would be ill, for he’d been bitten by one of the two guards.

“P-put me down! I’ll scream! I scream like a mare, it’ll carry to the nearest guard!” he threatened, squirming about as chilling sweat worked its way down his neck in droplets.

Chrysalis eyed him up and down, admiring his features, his underbelly and other traits. “Hm, yes, you’ll do very nicely.” She hauled him with just one foot away from the door and pressed him harshly against the wall. The nurse squealed a bit, panic rising in his eyes as she loomed over him. “You know, it takes a good deal of energy to morph into the opposite gender?” she told him sweetly, stroking his chin. His eyebrows went up as she leaned over him. “I’ll need a bit of your love energy to make it happen. Before he could scream she LUNGED for him and sank her saber-like fangs into his neck!

Bandaid seized up, expecting agony and fountains of blood. But no, all he felt was cold, like he’d stepped into a blizzard. He didn’t feel any trickles of red going down his body, but he knew for a fact he had at least three inches of sharp teeth in either side of his neck. She held him firmly while he whimpered and squirmed pathetically, tears going down either side of his face. His hooves bicycled uselessly as she lifted him off the ground in a great feat of strength. Then, the soft whirring of changeling magic filled the air. “Nuh! Ah… no---!” he whimpered out, such a quiet little voice. “Please!” it was like a cracking little whisper from a colt in puberty.

Chrysalis searched his essence to find the love within. The love for food, the love for friends, the love for Princess and country. She sipped at it lightly, tasting each one until she found the nice-tasting versions. The twinkling of puppy-love for the Princess, the fling of lustful joy that came around every spring in everypony, the warmth for his family and loved ones. Ahhh, he had plenty to give for his patients! There was the good stuff! The changeling queen clamped down on his neck like a vampire, and started to suck the love from the helpless pony. He gave a strangled yelp of pain, but he wasn’t going anywhere. He was a healer, of course his most beautiful and potent love would be for those he helped. She fed adoringly on him. She couldn’t say she’d particularly drained a male nurse before, so it was an interesting experience. She was reminded very much of blueberries and light sugar-frosting. Mmm! She sampled his mind, his memories and habits. It was protocol for a changeling to make copies of all the important things to blend in nicely as whatever they were going to copy. She felt him crying quietly as she had her way. “Ahhhhh!” she said enthusiastically when she’d released his neck. Bandaid hit the floor when she was done feeding, a quivering mass of pale flesh and weakness. The holes in his neck sealed themselves because of her special saliva. She could’ve drained him dry and killed him, sure, but she might want a snack later. Turning and lighting her horn, she turned him rather gently upside down and stuffed him into her own cocoon. There, now he would be safe and out of the way for… well, however long she decided she needed him. “It’s done. Come!” she bade.

The twins came in after moving the door aside. They studied their queen, then saw the victim up in the cocoon. They smiled at chittered at her animatedly.

“Yes, everything’s fine.” The queen nodded. Turning, she fiddled with the saddlebag that Bandaid had dropped. “Ah-hah…” she smiled, wiping her mouth briefly. There was an address tag on the inside of the bag, in case it were ever lost. The stallion had purchased his medical bag from the palace so he could take it back and forth to work, so he’d written his information. “So that’s where you’re hiding.” She chuckled. “Well then.” FWOOSH! Suddenly the creature became a handsome, brown-furred stallion with a bandaid on his rump. “I suppose I should head over and check on the Princess.” The voice was his, but the evil smirk was not. The twins giggled behind their hooves. Everything was going according to plan. “After all, even a smidgen of the love of a goddess could power the hive for years to come. Imagine how much we’ll get once I’m done seducing her. It’ll be just like old times, huh Nightie-poo?” he threw his head back into a rather diabolical laugh. "If Queen Chrysalis can't have you, maybe Nurse Bandaid can!" he chuckled.

While sex was certainly not equal to love, it did produce potent ‘affection energy’ from anypony that happily experienced it. He couldn’t wait to see the vast stores of power that could be obtained from mounting a goddess… as a stallion. Huh. That was going to be weird. He stopped his laughter, leaning and peering down between his legs with a frown. The twins chittered at each other, leaning to have a look at the imposter’s undercarriage as well. All three mares stared at each other rather awkwardly. Hrm...

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

'Nurse Bandaid’ arrived home with a flourish, opening the door after fumbling with the key for a bit. He poked his head in, looking around suspiciously. It was a small, rather messy dwelling. He could hear the shower going, and there were papers strewn everywhere. He stepped inside and quickly shut the door, locking it. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the place as quickly as he could. Books, small desk, nest of blankets… it smelled of food and soaps and male musk. A rather standard bachelor dwelling for a pony. Sidling around the room like he shouldn’t be touching anything, he ventured into the kitchen and poked his head about the cracked bathroom door. He saw the black figure standing under the spray behind the curtain, and gave a rather lewd grin.

Getting back to the main room, the imposter took stock of anything that might be off good use in the upcoming seduction. Remembering himself, he dug into his saddlebag and pulled out a red wine bottle, two long-stemmed glasses, a rather erotic pair of socks, and a fresh blanket. Spreading it out over the bed, he was pouring the wine when Nightmare emerged from the bathroom. “What’s this?” she looked shocked at the sight of the drinks.

“I thought we should celebrate!” said not-Bandaid, smiling grandly and offering her a glass. She took it, staring at it in surprise. “I know we said you shouldn’t be drinking at all, buuuut I think we can bend the rules just a little. You’ve been getting so much stronger, so much faster than we all thought!” sifting through the borrowed memories, he praised her for her fast recovery time with ghusto, raising his own glass.

“Thou art certain I can partake?” Nightmare cocked her head, looking down into the blood-red liquid. “It shan’t harm my mending?”

“Of course not!” he said with a smile. “I don’t think a glass or two could hurt. You’ve been working so hard on your new night sky lately, I thought you could use a little drink to soothe the stress.” He clinked his glass against hers with a very handsome smile. Nightmare smiled coyly back at him. There was something in the stallion’s eyes she’d not seen before. A certain… confidence. She decided that she liked it— especially if it got her wine when that stuffy doctor at the palace wouldn’t let her have a drop. Grinning a bit, she clinked back at his glass and raised it to her lips. Not-Bandaid sipped, but Nightmare drained the glass with a few loud gulps. Goddess of wine indeed! “Ch… cheers.” said the imposter, a little awestruck at her.

“Ohhh, we’ve missed this!” The Princess chuckled, sidling up onto the bed with a happy sigh. The fake hoof servant leaned and refilled her glass from the bottle, settling on the floor next to her. “Thank you, Bandaid, this really does make me feel better!” she said enthusiastically, sighing as her nose took in the scent of the second glass.

“I won’t tell if you won’t, Princess.” He winked playfully, making her giggle.

“Why Bandaid, thy confidence has grown somehow methinks!” Nightmare smiled at him. “Does this liquid courage taint thy innocence and uprightedness?” The black alicorn said playfully, swirling her wine at him. She hoping to get an embarrassed rise out of him, he was so cute when he got upset and stuttered.

“Maybe just a little.” He said coyly, looking away and sipping his wine a little. Nightmare gaped at him for a moment, then smiled even wider. Why, maybe he was more fun when drunk! She made it her goal right then to see what would happen when wine colored his cheeks. Leaning and getting the bottle with her magic, she topped off his glass and he gave a shy little smile before taking another swallow.

The two of them giggled conspiratorially, naughtily passed the bottle back and forth. They toasted to Nightmare’s good health, to Equestria, to the birds in the trees, anything they could think of. Sometime later both swooned a bit with drink (Nightmare from having gone 1000 years with none, and Bandaid because… well you know…), red in the cheeks and wide in the smile. “I think you should, you should, you should… interrupt me not!” Nightmare giggled loudly, leaning off the bed. “I think you should come up here! With me!” she waved him up to her.

Not-Bandaid smiled diabolically. This was too easy. One bottle of wine and a few friendly words and he was already in her bed? She must’ve really liked this nurse Bandaid fellow! She sifted through a few more memories, to make sure the act was kept up. How would he react… oh. “P-Princess!” he said, backing up and looking to one side with back-turned ears. “I-I-It’s hardly appropriate!” he said. “I could lose my job if we… I mean if I even…” he looked everywhere but at her in a grand show of shy, mare-muddled Bandaid. Nightmare thought it was adorable. The poor thing had said again and again how bad he was with mares. Maybe he just needed a nice jump-starter, she decided in her wine-hazed mind.

“Ohhhh, psssshhh.” Nightmare chuckled, flopping down on her side so he could see her undercarriage nicely. “Come up here, we shan’t bite thee… much.” She patted the bed a few times. Bandaid made a show of sidling forward like a frightened rabbit, until she got a leg around him. Giggling a bit, she leaned and boldly kissed his cheek. “Thou art so loyal and upright, dear Bandaid.” said the wine-addled Princess. “So loyal, so virile…” he hoof stroked his cheek with long bottled-up desire. She’d grown to adore him over time, the stallion that had cared for her, helped her, even had the stones to stand up to her— he was worthy for her bed, she’d decided. Even against doctor’s orders. She’d make him be gentle, as not to ‘strain’ herself. She was pulling him into the bed, smiling widely. He went willingly, flushed in the cheeks and already panting in a needy way.

“O-Oh Princess…” whispered the imposter innocently. “Wh-what if I’m no good?” she’d tugged him atop her, but he only looked away with wilted ears and a soft-eyed expression of virginal self-consciousness.

“I shall teach thee.” Whispered Nightmare softly, stroking his mane with affection. The changeling could taste the cloud of lewd affection in the air. She was primed for harvesting. “Now come, my hoof servant.” She wrapped him up in her long, beautiful legs. “Let us break a few rules together.”

“Oh Princess…” he smiled wickedly as he leaned down into their first ki—!

BANG BANG BANG! The door shook as somepony knocked firmly on it. A pair of soldiers were standing outside. “Princess! Bandaid! We got the stuff!” The twins had arrived at the door, bearing bags from a local string of stores. “Let us in.”

“Oh poo.” Nightmare moaned, sitting up and sending not-Bandaid flipping off the bed with a crash. “If the twins discover us they’ll tattle to my physician. Perhaps even my sister.” She scowled, grabbing the wine bottle off the floor and shoving it under the bed. “Straighten thy mane, we can’t be found in bed together.” she gave her head a toss, fixing the mussed parts of the fur on her chest. She leaned and quickly whispered, “Perhaps the night of the Gala, when everypony has gone to bed exhausted.” She pecked his cheek to make it a promise.

A very angry nurse Bandaid rose and answered the door to let them in. Blast it! He’d been so close! The two stallions spilled into the room bearing junk food, sodas, a brand-new folding table and some folding chairs to go with it. “I wanna be the Paladin!” declared Aegis as soon as they’d set all the bags down.

“But I was gonna be the paladin!” whined Stalwart Hide to his twin as they slammed the door behind themselves.

“There can’t be two paladins in the same Ponies and Castles party!” Aegis insisted.

“Can so!”

“Can not!”

“Can so!”

“Can not!”

“Bandaid, can’t there be two paladins?!” Stalwart demanded.

“Er,” Bandaid furiously flipped through his stolen memories to figure out what the hell the two rambling stallions were talking about. With a proverbial crash into a brick wall, he suddenly found a rather overwhelming knowledge of a tabletop game in his head. He frowned with both interest and mild pity. How much of this stallion’s brain was taken up with the rules and statistics of a pretend adventure game? “There uh…” he actually held his head for a moment to stave off a headache. “There can be two paladins, but it would mis-balance the party. Having more than one of any class is redundant.” He gave the fluid (and true) answer. Whew!

“Hmm…” said the twins in unison, stroking their chins.

“Fine. I’mma be the bard then.” Aegis turned his nose up indignantly. “Bards get all the mares anyway.” He leaned to start sifting through all the bags of chips and cheese doodles they’d bought for the game to come. Ever since Princess Nightmare had discovered Ponies and Castles, there had been a game promised and the twins had been invited. So of course they’d stocked up on snacks! One did not simply play Ponies and Castles without snacks!

Not-Bandaid scowled on the inside. So he would have to wait a few days. Meh. It would be worth it. He could play innocent little hoof servant for a bit. A vast storage of goddess-born love energy to bring home to the hive was more than worth a few days’ worth of work. He would just have to be patient. He could use his own twins to distract these twins during the proper time. Easy.

…now he had a Ponies and Castles game to run, apparently. Hrm.

End of Part 18

The Grand Galloping Gala (I of III)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 19: The Grand Galloping Gala (I of III)

Tombs leaned back, admiring his work. The golden-haired Prince looked positively perfect. The three maids stood back, mouths agape in awe. His majesty’s fur was pristine, his yellow locks shiny, and the perfect pressed tux he wore magnificent. Stroking his mustache, the butler leaned with a pair of tiny barber’s scissors and clipped a few stray hairs on Blueblood’s fetlocks. “There.” He said officially, stepping back. “You are ready.”

Blueblood turned and looked at the full-length mirror. His image said he looked nervous and a little pale. Kind of sweaty too. The quiet musk of upset stallion touched Feather Duster’s nose. She knew his scents quite well after dancing with him for so many weeks. They’d worked each other ragged for a long time getting better and better… now the reformed stallion was ready to persue his true love. Murmuring and shifting a little to look at himself, he studied his hooves and then his vest. He heaved a great sigh to steady himself.

“You can do it, sire!” Feather Duster said.

“Don’t worry too much, sire!” said Cheery Cherry.

“Remember everything we’ve taught you, and you will do just fine.” Tombs assured his master, leaning and straightening his bowtie a little. Blueblood smiled in a rather bashful way. “Now go. Go and pursue your lady love.” The middle-aged stallion smiled gingerly.

“Thank you. All of you.” Blueblood actually bowed to them, dipping his head. All three maids blushed happily. Their master was all grown up, having refined himself into a true gentlecolt. “I know this night will be unforgettable. I could not have done it without you.” He gave a rather bashful smile as he rose, turning towards his front door. He paused there, staring at the knob. This was going to be quite possibly the most important night of his life so far. The stage was set. The event was now. Everything he’d been preparing for came down to this… and Twilight Sparkle… Twilight… he suddenly vomited all over the tile.

“Oh jeez.” Cheery facehoofed a little, before rushing forward with the others to help their poor little Princeling. “Mind your mane, sire, we’ve just brushed it!”

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Green. Green. Green all around him and he didn’t know why. Gravity said he was upside down, but he was floating in something green. He panicked at the lack of air, but it was in his lungs too, feeding him oxygen somehow. Medical science said no, that was impossible, but he would’ve drown long ago if that were true. The half-conscious nurse Bandaid slitted an eye part of the way open, looking out a the world through the membranes of his cocoon. It was cool, quiet and dark. A small pulse of neon green light came from his prison, making it hard to see out.

He wiggled a little in the sludge, it felt like snot or runny eggs or… something nasty and slimy he couldn’t name. He was a medical pony, he’d dealt with all sorts of nasty things, but he’d never been submerged in any of it. He shuddered a little, until suddenly a changling face popped into his view. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut, fretting as though having a bad dream.

“Skree!” said one of the changling twins to her sister.

“Skree-reef!” said the other, looking up curiously. She watched her sibling crawl all over the primary pod, poking it this way and that.

Was something wrong? The occupant was struggling a bit, as though in a fitful sleep. Usually encased ponies were as limp as noodles. Why did he move? She poked and prodded at the stalks a little, wondering If they needed to be reinforced. She lit her horn, but no, it all seemed perfectly fine. Maybe it was just a night terror and he was wiggling because of it. Oh well. “Skree-vah.” She buzzed down to her sister with a shrug. They went back to guarding the door. Now that they had food in there, they couldn’t let anypony wander in. So, they wouldn’t be able to see their dates at all unless they just happened to wander by.

Bandaid wiggled actively, the pod swaying on its stalk until he found a little folding point with his hooves. Peeling at it, he saw the ecto-goo start to dribble out like pudding. Pulling fiercely when the twins had gone, he suddenly spilled out onto the floor. Gagging and sneezing violently, he slopped back and forth as he vomited, gagged again, and expelled the nastiness from his lungs. Gasping desperately for air, it was some time before he could breath properly again. What was all that gunk?! How did the changlings make it?! They’d not brought anything with them… ewww! Thrashing about and getting filthier and filthier as he went, he flopped down just to try and breathe.

His mind spun. How long had he been in there? Hours? Days? What day was it? Was it night? His sleeping cycle had thrown off his internal clock, and the dungeon had no windows to tell him the time of day. Turning his head miserably, he looked for his medical bag. It was gone. Then he remembered. Chrysalis. Chrysalis had taken it, sucked the love out of him, and stolen his bag. How she’d conjured his vest onto herself and not his bag was beyond him, but it was magic so maybe it didn’t need explaining.

Angry, the earth pony finally forced himself to his hooves after a time. His idiot Princess was probably chest deep in her lusty ways by now. Or drinking. Or straining. Or doing some other number of things he’d told her not to do time and time again. He hated her for it. He HATED Nightmare Moon. She’d brought him nothing but misery and made his job a living hell for it! Standing forcefully he frothed at the mouth a little, dribbling green goo down his chin and from his mane. It reared its ugly head so suddenly, so potently, it was staggering. He needed an outlet. He needed something right then right now. He peered about the room, then down at his front. He was still wearing his vest. He opened it briefly. He still had all his tools. All the sharp objects and needles and medical poisons. A terrible, vengeful grin began to rise on his muzzle, and an equally terrible plan began to form. He scrubbed at an itch in his scalp and he very suddenly looked like a mad scientist who’s latest experiment had gone wrong and drenched him with green goo. Wild. Frothy. Angry. So, so angry.

The changling twins patrolled the hall, only pausing to peer into each cell curiously. They didn’t want anypony sneaking past them and seeing their prisoner, after all. “Bon.” Said one in twinspeak. “Gerf-narh-hah-argh.” She chittered a bit, fluttering her wings some. Should they leave? Maybe their prisoner would be okay.

“Nox!” snapped the other. Of course not! Anypony could just wander by and discover everything. “Gamba-tooie mock neeko!” They had a responsibility, no matter how much they liked those two handsome ponies and wanted to give them kisses (and more?), the queen’s orders were priority. Why, when they got home they could have all the royal jelly they… could… eat? Both twins stopped, staring into the doorway of their staying room. The main pod was open, there was slime all over the floor, and the stallion was gone. “Skreee!” They shrieked in unison, rushing into the room.

Bandaid-GRABBED-one-of-them-as-they-rushed-in-from-behind-JAB! A syringe found its way between carapace plates, and he pumped her full of local anesthesia. Smiling wickedly and using his other hoof to keep her quiet while she writhed in agony, he yanked it out just as quickly. The soldier flailed, trying to make noise and alert her sister. But no, he was an earth pony. He wasn’t a fighter, but he was still abnormally strong for a creature his size. Her wings buzzed, trying to lift off, trying to throw him off and… and the world was tilting and… she felt… she felt… thump. She hit the ground, completely drugged.
The other guard turned in time to see the healer-turned-monster give a gloating grin to her fallen sibling. He kicked her for good measure, then fixed his maddened eyes on the remaining enemy. Skreeching in feral fury the changling charged, horn lowered to gore him! The nurse panicked briefly, but then turned and THREW her sister’s body into her path with his abnormal earth pony strength. She-stutter-stepped in her charge, crying out fearfully so she didn’t kill her hive sister. She dove forward to catch instead of kill, and he was on her in an instant. Using his much broader stallion chest he battering rammed straight into her. She tumbled along the ground with a screech.

Spitting to one side with anger rising in her bright eyes, her back split open to free her wings. She buzzed into the air to attack him from on high. “No you DON’T!” Bandaid roared. He reached into his white vest and pulled a hoof-full of scalpels from the inside flaps. He always carried some in case an infection needed to be split, or debris needed to be cut from flesh before moving a patient. But no, now they were like kunai knives. He threw them wildly, aiming high on purpose. They spattered into the poor changlings wings, ripping the gossimar wide open. She barrel-rolled wildly when one of her wings became useless and she crashed face first into the ground.

“SKREEE!” she threw herself to her feet, flailing wildly and leaping upon him to tear his wretched throat out! The stallion and soldier crashed together, and the soldier easily overtook the healer. She scratched at him, drawing blood and ripping his vest apart with her fangs as she tried to get an open shot at his jugular. Bandaid worked quickly and carefully, zeroing in on just the right… There! He found where her knee and ball-joint sockets joined. The changling physiology was different, but not too alien in the legs. With a surgeon’s precision and a newfound hatred for life, he snapped her leg at the knee. Blood poured from his face as he rose and she tumbled off of him, holding herself with a scream. Savage and not done with her yet and leaped onto her to pin her to the ground. “Skreee! SKREEEE!” she shouted ferally, flailing and trying to just murder him at this point. Her horn jabbed him here and there, but the sparking magic wasn’t enough to fend him off. She couldn’t get enough concentration to zap him properly through the maddening pain of the broken limb.

“You know what you get when you drain all the love out of a healer like me?” Nurse Bandaid said, frothing at the mouth and mind full of all his hatred. He grinned at her like a madpony. “You get a stallion that knows wayyy too much about exactly how to hurt others!” Then, he began to beat her. He beat her, and he beat her, and he beat her somemore until orange blood began to gather on the floor. She stopped moving after a time, beaten bloody and into a welcoming darkness. He’d not killed either of them, but they would not ever cross him again. Not any time soon.

Panting and rising from his prey, he looked around. The rush, the thrill, the glory of all his HATE! It felt good! Healing ponies was so hard, so time consuming and expensive to learn. He was in debt for at least another ten years for it all. Why hadn’t he become a soldier!? Hurting ponies was so much easier, SO much easier and satisfying. He threw his head back and laughed wildly. Turning and ripping the cloak from one of the twins, he scrubbed his face and hooves a bit. He didn’t care to get completely, clean, but he didn’t’ want to stink of orange blood when he went to expose the imposter. “Chrysalis-ssss…” he hissed, turning and leaving the scene of the carnage with purpose in his eyes. The hateful stallion had tasted the blood of the enemy, and now he wanted more. With no love left in his heart, he was more than ready to get rid of the changeling that was agitating his patient.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Blueblood cleared his throat. He straightened his bowtie. Checked his little chest-flower. Nodding to himself, he looked down at his perfect set of indestructible golden dancing horseshoes. “Completely worth a wishing star. They go with my mane.” He snickered just a little, trying to steady himself with laughter. Truth be told, he’d wished for something tiny and selfish to keep himself for wishing for something outrageous. What if he’d asked for a million bits? Haha! He’d get the buck taxed out of his entire estate! Something small and simple like dancing horse-shoes was much, much safer. Having the power of the gods in his hooves was too tempting, too much, so he had to us it up before he thought twice. Nodding to himself, he knocked on Twilight Sparkle’s door.

“Coming!” Came the distant reply. Blueblood held his breath, and smiled when she opened the door to him. “Hey Blueblood!” his eyes locked on the golden circlet on her head. The sun and moon symbol glittered like the finest-spun spells. That was the unified royal seal on her forehead! “Do you like it?” she saw him looking. “I’m the Court Vizier now!” she grinned proudly, throwing her chest out a little bit.

The stallion felt a very sudden, very real blow to his pride. Twilight Sparkle outranked him! He felt a little overwhelmed, and swallowed audibly. “Er!” he quickly leaned forward into a little bow. “You look… lovely.” He said, admiring her gala dress and styled mane. “As a lady should.”

Spike suddenly appeared at the door, appraising Blueblood with suspicious eyes. “No funny stuff now.” He said, pointing a hooked claw at the white stallion. Twilight gave him a look, but he wouldn’t falter. “Have her back before dawn, huh? I know the Gala runs late, but it’s not something I like goin’ to.” He said a little gruffily. With his little hoard atop the bookshelves he was Blueblood’s height, and could squint into his eyes at eye-level. “But if I wake up tomorrow and she’s not in her bed --!”
“Spike!” Twilight said a little angrily. “I’ll be fine!” she insisted. When she wasn’t looking, Spike made a lewd gesture with his hands, pointed at him, Twilight-- then mimed slashing his claws across his throat in a threatening manner.
Blueblood leaned back, lifting a hoof in a worried way. “I-I’ll be sure she’s home safe.”

“We’re not even leaving the palace.” Twilight grumbled, kissing Spike’s forehead (Blueblood’s heart leapt, he wanted kisses too!) goodbye. “The Gala is in the far wing, and if you decide you wanna join us you can.” She smiled, touselling his head a little.

“I’d rather… eh, have a good time you two.” Spike caught himself and waved lightly. The dragon didn’t see the appeal of dressing up all froo-froo and then letting other ponies smirk at you if something was even a little rumpled while you ate or danced. So, he’d elected to stay home and play Ponies and Castles with a couple of friends. Twilight didn’t know that, but she wouldn’t be home for at least eight hours. They got on him sometimes for playing his own race (“You’re too OP, Spike!”) but ehhh, it was fun to be a dragon and smash stuff sometimes in a tabletop game rather than in real life.

“I promise I’ll be a perfect gentlecolt.” Prince Blueblood promised, but Spike’s only response was to shut the door in his face with a grumble. The stallion wilted a little, but Twilight giggled.

“He’s very protective, is all. C’mon.” she was already trotting away from the royal apartments and towards the heart of the castle towards the gala. The fireworks were already starting, and the songs were being sung. Every year there was a new ‘At the Gala’ song, and it was cute to hear everypony’s dreams for how wonderful it would be. Truth be told it was a rather formal event, but the occasional true partygoer never hurt anything. Twilight actually liked it when things didn’t go according to plan at the Gala itself. It kept it from being boring.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Princess Nightmare Moon cocked her head, leaning around yet another corner. “Come, no sign of her!” she beckoned the twins and not-Bandaid along with her. They’d come in from Canterlot, checking every corner, sneaking into the palace… as best as an alicorn could sneak, that is. It was rather comical, really. She was a foot taller than anypony and jet black. She DID stand out amongst the sweeping marble and bright colors. “We shalt prepare for the Gala with haste, and then stand with our sister for the evening.”

“Wouldn’t you want to dance? Even a little?” Not-Bandaid said a little flirtily. The twins eyed him, but said nothing. He’d been a bit braver around the Princess the past few days. Almost like he was in love with her or something. Both brothers shuddered at the thought of their two bosses doing anything… intimate. Blergh!

“Er, perhaps another time.” Nightmare responded at last. “My legs have still been aching me more lately. Even a slow dance would bring me a bit of pain.” She hung her head a little, but perked at his reassuring smile. “But, perhaps we may stand closely on the dance floor during a slow song and pretend to dance?” she offered. The imposter smiled and nodded rapidly, liking the idea. Leaning around the final corner, she came to the entrance of the Obsidian Hall. “Ah, finally!” she nodded to them and they all dashed inside. Chrysalis could’ve been behind any corner, any column, but the hall would be safe. When they were all inside Nightmare shut the door and warded it with lunar magic. “There, we are safe now. Come, I must dress and prepare!” she tilted her muzzle up regally, making for her room and the Royal Dress closet. All three stallions followed, tilting their heads. Had the Princess gone to be fitted for a dress? Would she wear a dress when Celestia never wore anything to the Gala? Hmm… Princess Nightmare thrust her closet open, and stopped. “I have no dresses.” She said flatly, sounding annoyed. “Blast.” She stroked her chin, then went to the balcony window. “Perhaps a bit of moonlight…” she mumbled, staring up at fair Luna. The moon regarded her sourly, but it was with a genuine coy smile that Nightmare asked, “May I have a bit of moonlight, Luna?” She didn’t NEED permission, she could just take it, but she really did need to repair her relationship with the celestial body and the spirit within. Luna was surprised to say the least, though a little wary. There was silent permission given, and the black alicorn thanked her. “Let’s see now… ah.” Her horn lit and, grasping strands of silvery moonlight, she began to gild herself with thin ceremonial armor. A bib-like shape worked over her chest, crested with a moonshape. Her horseshoes molded up into glorious filigree that almost reached her knees. Her war helm slowly melted down and shined itself into something less intimidating. The sparkle of stars in her mane reflected this way and that, and she slowly spread her almost-recovered wings. She turned about to show the boys, and they all ooooh’d appreciatively.

“Beautiful!”

“Sexy!”

“Gorgeous!”

They laid it on thick, for they’d never seen their goddess dressed in such a lovely way. They clapped their hooves some and she smiled. “Now then, something for all of thee.” She smiled in a mischievous way. Moonlight washed over the twins, decking them out in handsome purple and black armors. Their eyes tinged gold and their coats flushed to an ashy grey. They squirmed a bit, looking at each other and gasping in unison. They had dorsal fins on their heads! And bat wings, whoa’hhhh bat wings! Their feathery wings had been replaced with membrane, gliding-style flappers. “It is merely an illusion, I’ve not morphed thy bodies.” She giggled a little as they strutted to the nearest mirror to check themselves out. Sexy! “And now thee, Bandaid…” she turned to the stallion, who backed up immediately.

“Ohhh that’s okay, I’ve got something already!” Not-Bandaid said nervously, backing up to the far closet. He knew if she touched him with transformative alicorn magic, she might rip off his disguise by accident. Chrysalis couldn’t let that happen. “Just a sec, I’ll slip into it!” he tutted her when she lit her horn. He disappeared into the closet and out of her sight. Nightmare made a pouty face, but if her nurse had something ready for the occasion she supposed that was fine. Closing the door behind him, he made some stomping, shuffling sounds. In the dark, Chrysalis’ horn lit itself and she pasted a flat, black tuxedo vest onto her disguise. Nodding in satisfaction, she slipped it back on and straightened herself. Slicking his (now his, in disguise again, remember) mane down, he looked rather charming and handsome. Grinning in a confident stallion sort of way, the imposter stepped back into view.

“Wheww!” whistled one of the twins, eyeing him up and nodding. “Slick!”

“He thinks of everything!” said the other twin. They nodded in agreement at each other.

“Thou does look very handsome, hoofservant.” The Princess nodded her approval. “Perhaps, since I already have guards, you may be my escort for the evening?”

Not-Bandaid had the decency to blush and nod quietly. “Th-that was the plan, I guess…” he said shyly. Very much like the real Bandaid would. His memories painted the picture of a very mare-shy stallion, and he had to play the part until the time was right. He scuffed the floor with his hoof just a little, and Nightmare chuckled.

“Thou would make a worthy stallion for any mare who set her eyes upon you, noble Bandaid.” She leaned and kissed his forehead. Bandaid went red in the face, stuttering nonsense for a few moments and giggling helplessly. Nightmare adored him for it even more, touseling his mane a little. Her nurse’s imposter smiled coyly up at her.

The twins jittered a little. They wanted kisses too! Ah well… They wouldn’t be able to feel them through their helms anyway, so they would be wasted kisses. Oh wait, they had dates! Dates gave kisses! “Princess, can we go pick up our dates before we go?” Aegis Shield asked hopefully. “I know they’re changelings and stuff, but they’re really nice and… and my brother and I like them a lot.” He said, staring at her hooves and not her face.

Princess Nightmare considered for a time. “Very well. If only to foster good foreign relations, go and fetch them. Meet us at the stairs at the Gala entrance. My sister should be there, so we will chat with her for a bit.” She nodded her permission. The twins flashed grins at each other, and took off running out of the room. Nightmare and not-Bandaid heard the Obsidian Hallway vault-like door open, and the galloping hoof-steps faded with distance. “They are certainly enthused for those two changeling mares, are they not?” the black alicorn shook her head.

“They’re nice once you get to know them, I bet. You don’t get to guard royalty by being incompetent.” The imposter stallion shrugged a little. “Besides, at least they’re not treating them like life-sucking monsters or something. Ponies are scared of changelings. The ones that know what they are anyway.” He tilted his muzzle up in an indignant way, but suddenly caught himself and winced. “Er! Anyway!” he quickly amended. Clearing his throat and stepping into the moonlight, he stood quite near to her. “I uhm… I’ve really been looking forward to tonight.” He said in a romantic way.

“Oh?” said Nightmare. “Will thou think to show me off like a trophy mare?” she teased him.

The imposter wilted in a shy way, turning his ears back. “Th-that’s not what I meant…” he mumbled. “I mean, all this time we’ve had together, you’ve not really been in the public eye very much.” He reached up and put a more-than-friendly hoof on her shoulder. “Ponyville is just one town.” He said softly, looking into her beautiful draconic eyes. “Canterlot will have nobles from all over the country, straining to have a look at you.” It came out like a compliment, and Nightmare smiled coyly at him. “I mean… I mean…” he scuffed his hoof on the ground a little.

“My health and well-being will have a reflection of how well thou hast cared for me, in other words.” Nightmare teased, leaning and putting a long leg about him. She pulled him into a light hug. “Thou art my trusted and faithful friend, Bandaid. Be not nervous for the scrutinizing eyes of the public. With thou at my side and the twins at my aide, I shalt be as regal and beautiful as the most lovely full moon.” She gestured to Luna, who proverbially blushed at the compliment.

“D-do you feel up to it?” not-Bandaid eyed her up and down. “If you get tired partway through the Gala, I’m sure no one would mind if you stepped out for your health. Or if you didn’t wanna dance or--!” she put a big hoof over his never-ceasing, adorably cute mouth.

“I am well enough for the moment. Let us enjoy that luck, hoof servant.” She adjusted her breastplate a bit with one hoof, smiling at him a little. There was a stretched, awkward silence. The promise of intimacy after the Gala hung in the air between them. Would they really do it? Wasn’t it unbelievably inappropriate? Couldn’t he lose his job? Wouldn’t she be making herself into a hypocrite? The goddess sighed a little, but did not find herself caring. In the sealed Obsidian Hallway, things would stay quiet and private as they should be. If she took her hoof servant as a lover, it was her own business. “Bandaid.” She said after a time.

Bandaid smiled, feeling hot in the ears. They looked into each other’s eyes, standing very close together. His quiet, bright blue eyes were so handsome, just like the rest of him. He wetted his lips lightly, leaning at her just a little. She was so tall, so beautiful… she chuckled a little at his subtlety, leaning down until their necks crossed in an intimate pony-hug. “Oh Princess…” he gazed up at her, tilting his head back because of her height. “I know this is gonna be the best night ever.” He whispered softly, his eyes soft and doe-like. Nightmare sighed happily, deeply touched. They leaned to kiss—

BAM!

The double doors of the Princess’ bedroom nearly knocked themselves off their hinges. The doorknobs crumpled themselves against the stone walls, and a monster swept into the room. He was a stallion, garbed in scraps of what used to be a crisp white medical vest. Tinkles of metal could be seen poking out here and there, his tools in a disarray like his clothes. He was spattered with neon orange changeling blood, and stank of violence and rage. His steps slopped green pod goo all over the place, and the horrible stuff dripped from his mane and fur. He was ragged, unshaven, and his eyes held nothing but hatred for everything around him. “Who’s there?!” Nightmare flared her wings, pushing her precious Nurse not-Bandaid behind herself. “How DARE thee enter the Royal Chambers uninvited?!”

A love-drained pony who had nothing left in his heart but hate emerged from the shadow of the archway. He looked pale and sickly, but no less dangerous and feral. Bandaid glared daggers at not-Bandaid. He spat some pod goo that had gathered in his mouth from his sinuses. He wiped his mouth and drew a pair of scalpels from his vest as weapons. Nightmare startled back, looking from one brown stallion to the other. What was this sorcery?! There was savagery in his voice when he spoke at last.

“Get away from her you BITCH!”

End of Part 19

Author's Notes:

Nurse Bandaid. He will **cking kill you. :3

(Image by Carmack21)

The Grand Galloping Gala (II of III)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 20: The Grand Galloping Gala (II of III)

There was no time for words before Nurse Bandaid charged wildly at his changeling clone. The Princess watched, open-mouthed, as the stallions crashed into each other with wild equine screams. Their hooves flailed back and forth, the fire raising monstrous shadows of both of them on the far wall. Nightmare ignited her horn, ready to blast the imposter— but which one?! One had come in with changeling goo all over him, stinking of violence and pain. Much like a pony that had been taken prisoner. The other had hardly left her sight and had been properly fussing over her like Bandaid always did.

She began to second guess herself. Suppose Queen Chrysalis slathered herself with pod goo and came rushing in so Nightmare would harm the genuine article? Had they been switched? When had the switch happened? Bandaid had off-nights and breaks like anypony else, it could’ve been anytime! The black alicorn let her horn’s glow die down and she watched the fight with morbid curiosity. The terrible thing about changelings was, even if you knew one pony was false, you couldn’t tell which one it was when you thought too much about it. “Bandaid! Stop this madness!” she shouted as they crashed into her writing desk and smashed it. Wood and inks went everywhere as paper was scattered into the air.
Both stallions were dotted with ink and, in the whirl of papers and craziness a tapestry fell from the high part of the wall over both of them. They wrestled wildly in the darkness, one stallion with a scalpel in his teeth and the other with glowing green eyes. “I don’t know how you awoke but I’ll put you down again.” growled the fake with gritted teeth. He got a headbutt for his trouble, and little cut across his cheek.

“Dosed myself with adrenaline going down into the dungeons, when your guards weren’t looking.” Bandaid said. “S’not hard, just a little is enough to overcome natural anesthesia like your saliva.” They gripped each other, trying to choke one another into submission. The fake got a good hoof into his belly and the real Bandaid belted a grunt of pain. Tumbling over each other and out into the open again, they crashed into the wall and then across Princess Nightmare’s standing wardrobe. It shuddered violently, then one of the doors fell off. Seizing it with his earth pony strength, not-Bandaid swung it like a frying pan straight into Bandaid’s face. Clock! He staggered, shook his head quickly, then walked straight into another blow. Clock!

Spinning about, Bandaid thrust his back hooves high, shattering the weapon into impressive splinters. “I hate you!” he roared, spinning about and tackling the creature that held his image. “I hate you! So much!” spittle flew from his mouth onto his enemy’s face. They slammed into the four-poster bed, bouncing rather comically, barrel-rolling off the side and to the floor.

Princess Nightmare ran about the bed to keep watching, unsure of what to do. Let them fight? One was a minor goddess and the other a healer, neither was a war pony. “Luna!” she turned and rushed to the balcony, throwing open the glass door and tearing down the curtains. Luna peered in with silent concern, full and bright as she’d ever been. “Bandaid needs our aide!” she pressed the double-doors open all the way, spinning about. “I cannot do it alone! Help me reveal the false creature!” She spread her wings, tilting her head down like she might charge. She pointed her horn back and forth, unable to figure out which was which. Luna hesitated a moment, watching the Princess’ wings rise and display themselves in a full apocalyptic expanse. Her shadow was long and black. Oily and finally grown back to their elegant glory, they took in moonlight like a solar panel did with sunlight. Then, as she stood there waiting, the Princess felt the hesitation. She looked over her shoulder, up into the heavens. “Please!” she cried desperately to the moon. “We cannot tarry! Bandaid will suffer!” Luna was not ready to commit to allowing Nightmare to use her powers again. They were one, in certain ways, and the celestial body was not sure she deserved it.

There would have to be a price, Luna bade silently.

“Anything! Anything just do it!” Nightmare Moon roared angrily. Just as the words left her mouth a concentrated beam of white moonlight lanced down from the heavens. Ice crawled up the alicorn’s spine. An aura of liquid night enshrouded her, saturated her, filled her with all the potent powers of the heavens. Luna gave her everything she wanted and more. She cried out in exhilaration, her long spiraling horn crackling with raw power. Arcs of black magic raced back and forth across her body as she began to glow blue-black. The power! It felt good!

The twin stallions crashed violently into each other, head first, falling to the ground and then tumbling over one another. A scalpel went flying, lodging itself in the ceiling. Suddenly one grappled the other into a perfect full nelson. Teetering back and forth, the brown stallion exposed his enemy’s belly to her majesty. “Do it! Get her!” he roared angrily.

“No! He’s the fake you idiot!” shouted the one being held.

“Don’t listen, he’s using you for your love energy!” shouted one.

“I am the real thing!” snapped the other.

Nightmare gritted her teeth, horn igniting brighter and brighter with cosmic magicks. Luna pumped her full of everything her poor, still-recovering body could take. “How dare thee wander into my home and think to take the place of a pony *I* love so dearly!?” her spine was crackling as she began to seize up. Like so many muscles tensing up, her body was starting to give. The moonbeam pressing into her back and wings was like a physical force.

“Blast him!” shouted one stallion over the painful hum of magic.

“No him!” they wiggled back and forth, but one held the other firmly as they tottered on two hooves. Exposed and with the moon herself bearing down on them, both stallions were ready to face doom to spite the other. “Do I need to use one of those stupid cards on you?!” Nightmare blasted them both in an all-encompassing ray of white light and sparkling magic. The one in the tuxedo went spiraling through the air with a feral equine shriek. The one in the slime-covered vest felt his last bit of clothing explode into threads and all his tools go flying as he flew through the air. They both hit the ground hard. There was silence.

Nightmare stood there panting, weakened and feeling like a cracked stained-glass window. She stumbled a little. “Stupid… stupid straining…” she mumbled, leaning on the archway of the balcony. Her wings fell from their sheer weight. She felt drained and winded. Both smoldering stallions were quiet for a time, and she looked blearily back and forth as she waited.

“Urrrrrgh!” shreds of Changeling magic began to rip away from one of them like so many burnt leaves, exposing the black carapace within. Not-Bandaid rose, holding his face and green eyes flashing. “You bitch! You bucking little whore!” he roared in a voice that was both male and female. The droning tone had returned, and she didn’t have the energy to repair the disguise. “Look what you’ve done!”

“So that’s why you came.” Nightmare mumbled in understanding, leaning hard on the archway frame. Her eyes were lidded, half-closed already with exhaustion. She hadn’t been ready for it. No wonder her magic had not returned to her yet, her body had not been able to bear it. She sank down further, growling feebily. “To reinstate yourself as my lover so you could harvest a wealth of love energy from me, and return home to feed your hive. Parasite!”

Queen Chrysalis peeled off her disguise with a slap of rude magic, letting it melt off her like so much oil. Her wings sprouted out, and she finally returned to her normal form. Buzzing into the air with a snarl of anger, she gestured harshly. “If you’d welcomed me back as enthusiastically as everypony else welcomed you back, I’d not have resorted to this!” she snapped. “My hive thrived for five centuries thanks to the last time you graced my bed! Alicorn affection is worth more than ten times its measure in royal jelly and gold combined!”

“I went home ill and twisted.” Nightmare grumbled rather embarrassedly, rolling her eyes. “I remember it well. You fed on me while I slept, exhausted from our sex.” She pushed herself upright with a groan, trying to right her wings and look intimidating again. She lost a few feathers in the process, failing rather badly. “It was right around the time I—!” There was sudden, long quiet. Nightmare looked over at the fallen Nurse Bandaid. Something terrible, truly terrible clicked into place. A shroud was ripped away, revealing the ugliest secret ever hidden away. Nightmare had gone to bed with Chrysalis, been fed on, then went home and shortly thereafter… betrayed her sister in a rage. Then, she’d been sealed in the moon. “It— was— you.” Nightmare said softly, her eyes going wide in realization. Her pupils contracted into slits, and Chrysalis was not fast enough to contain her wince. She’d not expected Nightmare to figure out the secret. “Not I. You were why I betrayed fair Equestria a thousand years ago! Sucked the love out of me until I was a ball of rage, then unleashed me upon mine own sister!” She snapped a hoof towards the untidy form of Bandaid. “You did THAT to me! And I suffered a thousand years for it!” her jowls rose, exposing her fangs. The Royal Canterlot Voice exploded from her breast, “I’LL KILL YOU----!” and she dove forward with all her alicorn might. But, even as she dove upon the changeling queen, cracks were going up and down her legs like she were made of glass. A tiny bit of it fell away from her midnight body as she slammed into Chrysalis. Luna watched with a proverbial frown.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Blueblood held the door for Twilight, who smiled kindly and giggled as she went first. The royal dais had been moved to expose the ballroom, which was only used now and then for very special occasions. Princess Celestia stood at the top, at the head of a long line of ponies. Being the acting royal of the evening, the white alicorn was greeting every pony that came in. “Welcome to the gala. Oh yes, welcome back. Ladies, welcome to the gala.” She nodded and smiled to anypony that came before her, ushering them into the party.

“Looking forward to the evening.” Blueblood said softly as they stood in line.

“What’ll you do all evening?” Twilight asked. She’d not forgotten that she’d promised Blueblood a dance, but that wouldn’t be until the end of the night.

“Oh you know, mingle, chit-chat, wait for night’s end when we might share a dance.” The Prince said a little boldly. He looked at her in a sideways, only to find her smiling shyly behind a hoof. He smiled back, pushing his mane coyly out of his face. “I erm… I want you to know I’m very honored, Twilight.” He said humbly, offering her a deep-nod-almost-bow. “For giving me the chance, and such.”

“I’m glad we could go together. The gala’s a big event, you never know what’ll happen.” Twilight nodded back, standing side-by-side with him. His heart soared at her words. She was glad they were going together, eee! He studied her lovely mane for a few moments, and longed to stroke it. But, twas not proper and he suppressed the urge to stare, like a proper stallion. The line was moving steadily, he would need to use his time wisely, for he wouldn’t see Twilight again until the last dance of the night.

“You should come over sometime,” he slammed into a conversational brick wall so hard it made his head throb. Twilight gave him a look, but he quickly chained the sentence into a rather suave, “I could cook for you. Perhaps you and Spike, for lunch?” He smiled handsomely. Whew…

“You cook?” Twilight said, shocked. “But you’re a Prince!” she showed interest, which helped lift the tension a bit. “Surely you’ve got servants for things like that?” Twilight couldn’t cook, and she sat at the royal table every day. The poor mare didn’t know the difference between a whisk and a blending spoon, to tell the absolute truth. The alien topic hadn’t made its way into her studies since, well, it was a skill she’d never needed to use. She was always provided for, and she’d been groomed to pursue things of importance— now revealed by her mentor what she was really meant to do.

The white stallion chuckled. “Just because I’m a Prince doesn’t mean I can’t feed myself now and then.” Blueblood said, happy with his recovery. “I make very good fruit-flavored muffins, I’ll have you know.”

“Sounds like brunch to me.” Twilight smiled, eyeing the line and then returning her attention to him. “That does sound like something fun to do. I’d love to see a Prince get his hooves dirty.” She teased, trying to imagine his perfect coat stained with batter or something of the sort.

“I’ll get a stool for you and everything, you can sit in my kitchen while I make it.” Blueblood smiled more genuinely, teasing her. It was a lopsided, coltish smile that charmed Twilight Sparkle very much. She was seeing the real him right then, she knew.

The two of them made small talk for perhaps another twenty minutes while the line kept moving steadily forward. Twilight would’ve gone forward to take her place at the Princess’ side, but she would’ve had to leave Blueblood behind and that wasn’t nice. She didn’t mind staying with him for a bit. “Ah, Twilight! Blueblood!” Celestia smiled when at last they came to the head of the line. “Good to see you both, welcome to the Gala.” She bent forward a bit further for Twilight, being one of very high station. “I’ve got your rug as usual this year, Twilight.” The white alicorn gestured. Matching the ceremonial rug she was standing on, she’d prepared a smaller one for her protégé.

“Thank you!” Twilight cantered up onto the dais, leaving Blueblood looking hopefully up at her. She turned about, slowly seating herself on it in a regal way. She could see from the entrance all the way out the door, tons of ponies waiting to greet the Princess and herself. The purple mare knew she’d become somewhat of a fixture at royal events, so it was expected that she be at her mentor’s side.

Celestia eyed Blueblood with a neutral smile. She wasn’t sure she approved of the pair of them, but she’d long ago sworn off meddling in affairs of the heart. Twilight Sparkle was no exception to this rule. Was Blueblood worthy? She wasn’t sure, but Twilight would be a good judge of that. The past couple of months had changed the stallion greatly, and Project T.O.M.B.S. had reported every little bit. It wasn’t every day that one could profess to having a secret agent observing and protecting her descendants after all. But, that’s what Project T.O.M.B.S. was. (“To Observe My Bloodline Subtly” …T.o.m.b.s.). “I hope you have a good time this evening, Nephew.” Celestia offered kindly, but he wasn’t even looking at her.

Blueblood held Twilight’s gaze as he leaned regally forward. Her hoof lifted a little, and he hooked his ankle gently— oh so gently, under hers and pressed his lips to her. Smek. It was a coy little sound as he kissed her hoof and let it go. Such a gentlecolt! “I’ll see you later tonight.” He said, smiling that same coltish smile. Without waiting for a response from the blushing Twilight, he cantered past both royals and into the ballroom beyond.

“Why Twilight, you’re blushing.” Celestia smirked just a little. This only deepened the red in the poor mare’s cheeks, and the alicorn giggled softly. “He’s not a bad stallion when he tries.” She said, nodding mildly. “Ah, welcome to the gala!” she went right back to greeting ponies, to leave Twilight with her thoughts.

“As the Sun’s Favored Foal, I welcome you to the gala.” Twilight bowed to the next couple, a pair of nobles, who tittered happily as they passed. It was her old title, sure, but she'd not been Vizier for even a week yet, and she didn't want to cause confusion. Celestia approved. “He’s changed some, I kind of like it.” She said to her mentor softly, her face making a quiet expression of fondness. Celestia knew that face. That was the face of a mare that sighed, smiled, and thought of her stallion now and then. Then, sure enough, she heard her student give a rather troubled, aching sigh. Was she getting feelings for Prince Blueblood?

A mustached stallion passed between the Princess and her adopted daughter, nodding politely as he went. Celestia felt one side of her mouth rise into a smile. Everywhere her nephew went, that poor stallion went too. Though, he did enjoy that fake mustache a little too much since he couldn’t seem to grow his own with any success. Not for the first time, the alicorn longed to just rip it off his face and vanish it with magic. But that would be mean and trollish, and she wasn’t that sort of Princess. Steadying herself, Celestia favored the next pair of ponies with a royal smile and a lighter heart.

But then, black magic suddenly arced across Celestia’s supernatural radars like an overzealous stallion had slapped her royal butt cheeks. She gave a visible start, her eyes widening with a mix of surprise and horror. “Nightmare.” She mumbled worriedly. What was that she’d just sensed? Her sister had not wielded such powerful magic the entire time she’d been back. Such a sudden escalation smelled like desperation. Turning quickly to Twilight, she commanded, “Twilight, you’re in charge until I return. Do not leave this spot.”

“Uh-buh-wha--?!” Twilight watched her teacher burst into a shower of golden sparks. “Princess?!” the purple mare squeaked in fear and confusion. Most of the guards rushed away, following the signature of Celestia’s teleporting powers. This left the Royal Vizier to run the Grand Galloping Gala all by her lonesome. She gulped.

Just then, a group of six mares came before the royal dais. Two earth ponies (one orange one pink), two pegasi (one blue and one yellow) and two unicorns (one white and one powder blue). They were led by an earth pony mare in a stetson and a fancy cowgirl get-up. Twilight openly winced, for the mare had seen the Princess teleport away and was all frowns as she approached Twilight. “Ah do appreciate y’all sharin’ yer Gala tickets with us, Fluttershy. Princess Nightmare was right-kind giving you so many.” She said in her deep southern twang, glaring at Twilight as she spoke. “But I get this weird feelin’ that Princess Celestia is avoidin’ me!”

“W-welcome to the Gala?” Twilight smiled nervously, and her words came out like a question. “Please, go on in, ladies.” She said, gesturing for the little herd to head inside. To one side, one of the guards watched Twilight very closely. Everything was fine, she would be fine. He tried to send good vibes her way, the poor thing. She was the royal vizier, and now she was pretty much on her own until the Princess got back. Nothing could go wrong with such a smart and powerful unicorn at the helm, right?

End of Part 20

The Grand Galloping Gala (III of III)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 21: The Grand Galloping Gala (III of III)

Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide dashed into the room, gaping in horror. Their changeling companions were spilled out over the floor like limp dolls. There were spatters of orange blood across one of the walls, and blobs of green goo beneath a hanging pod.

“Pupa! Pupa -sweetie speak to me!” Stalwart Hide cradled his love into his arms, flinging himself onto his belly to hold her close and pat at her cheek a few times. “Why don’t they wake up?!”

“Geode! Geode, oh my Faust!” Aegis found that all of the blood flung about the room horror-movie style was hers. She’d been brutally beaten, probably left for dead, and her carapace had horrific cracks all over it. One of her legs was broken, and she was just as limp as her twin. “What happened to them?!” He pulled her head to his chest, shaking like a leaf. He was a royal guard of the palace of Equestria, but never had he seen such brutality in his life. He wept over her freely.

“W-we’ve gotta do something. Do something, call a doctor!” Stalwart Hide shrieked at his brother. He shook Pupa firmly, but she was out like a light. She had no physical signs of injury, but who knew what was keeping her unconscious like that? It couldn’t be normal, it couldn’t be good. The poor pony knew nothing about changeling physiology, but it didn’t take a genius to see she was hurting somehow. When he shifted to hold her close, she gave a drunken moan. His ears perked, hope glimmering in his eyes— but she turned and went limp again. Laying her out on her back, he pawed at her here and there. Had she been struck over the head? It was hard to look for bruises when her entire body was basically like armor.

“G-geode?” Aegis leaned until there were merely inches between them. He could feel her labored breathing. Just barely, barely breathing. “She’s alive!” he turned to tell his brother. He leaned and pressed the side of his muzzle to hers, nuzzling slowly. She whimpered, stirring a little. Her eyes slitted open. “Bon…?” he whispered to her in twin-speak while her eyes were focusing.

“B…bon?” she whispered in confusion. His face slowly came into focus, and her pained expression softened into a happy one. She shook a little, and he held her closer as though to keep her warm. “Tak-oo-mah-eelio…” she coughed a little, and he wiped the blood from her mouth. “Mada-ehh…” He gaped at her in shock. Bandaid had done this?! The whimpy little nurse stallion?! “Na-dah-boom-cho-nee… *cough*…” she put a shaking hoof on his chest, whimpering pathetically. Oh. Oh wow. Even being under orders, that was… that was… the poor stallion could not hate her. When one’s Royal commanded, it was a guard’s duty to obey. And Geode had been broken to pieces for it. Ohhh, it wasn’t fair! Geode was good! She was loving and flirty and beautiful and… and…! It wasn’t fair!

Aegis nuzzled her again, his eyes soft and doe-like. Was she dying? Would she ever be the same? Very suddenly a piece of her broken leg carapace came away like black eggshell. He thought he might vomit for a moment, looking at the exposed muscles and veins beneath. “Bon, eye-neelio!” he sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks. She keened a little, cupping his cheek. He looked at her blearily. “Geode…” he whispered softly, tucking his ears down as his lip quivered. He was radiating love. Sweet, syrupy love that filled the air like so much tantalizing perfume. Hormones, magic, raw emotion, it was like the dungeon had suddenly become a changeling’s pantry. Geode could feel it sinking into her like so much medicinal lotion. Her feelers extended, pulling in the love particles like a magnet. Her body coiled and squirmed about a little. The raw urge to clamp her fangs into him was devastating, and she gave a little shriek that startled him. She turned sideways and a massive piece of her breast carapace fell away. Aegis moaned, unable to look at it. He tucked her head under his cheek, rocking her back and forth as he cried.

He didn’t see the new shells beginning to form on her leg, nor her chest. Geode squirmed, itching like mad. Love didn’t have to be sucked out with one’s fangs, it could just as easily be absorbed through the air, or taken if it was willingly given— oh so willingly! The changeling had never been the object of anypony’s love before. It was like the sun coddling a single tree, giving it all its light and energy and brightness. She curled into him orgasmically, her wings breaking free and straightening themselves. As he cried and nuzzled her miserably, his tears dripped over closing cracks in her carapace. Her leg crackled back into place and the platelets within realigned themselves. Muscles began to knit. Her hole-filled hoof rose, curling around his neck to pull him closer. Thinking her miserable and in pain, Aegis clung to her desperately. She fed on his radiating love, and her fangs never even came into view. She fed, and she fed, and her body rushed to repair itself while receiving such a bounty. She ached, and gave a slight chirp when the cracks over her eyes and face finally clicked closed. Her back-plates snapped back into place and her wings folded properly before they were hidden. “Gerf.” She said in twin-speak after a time. Aegis Shield startled, pulling back so he could look at her. “Beeno-gonda-whait?” She smiled, her eyes soft.

The stallion stared at her, blown away. Why… why she looked just like new! She eyed him up and down, tilting her head curiously. He looked at his own strange appearance. The bat wings. The yellow eyes. The grey fur. He was still in Princess Nightmare’s outfit she’d made for him. “Stooma.” He said coyly, eyes glistening with tears. Then he could take it no more. “BON!” he yelped passionately, mashing his lips to hers. She barely had time to tilt her head and not get her nose mooshed.
Red hearts exploded across Geode’s vision, and her hooves rushed through his gorgeous mane. Her wings rose, displaying their odd patterns and lighting colors. She whimpered happily into the kiss, and even chittered when the stallion’s tongue shyly came to taste hers. The kiss deepened and he could only gasp through his nostrils. By the time both of them had to breathe, Geode was feeling stuffed. The love weighed in her belly like a great big meal and she felt like it was nap time now. Her lids were getting droopy.

Aegis Shield looked over to see his twin had had much the same luck, for his kisses were ending and Pupa was squirming happily. Whatever strange sleep had possessed her had been revived by Stalwart Hide’s loving kiss. Just like a fairy tale! Both brother’s caught each other’s eye. They looked at their marefriends. Then at each other. “Buck this. Let’s go.” They said in unison, getting their changeling loves onto their backs. Both females clung weakly, quite full and sleepy from the massive meal they’d received. The sister’s looked at each other. This was… kind of nice, really. To be fussed over, to be loved on and kissed. They didn’t get that back at the hive. They were practically forbidden fruit, none of the drones would touch them. Not these handsome studs, though. The girls smiled to each other, laying their heads down on their stallions’ withers. They could definitely get used to this.

Turning, the boys peeked out into the hall and snuck away. Let the gods and parasite queens and cranky nurses play their power games. As far as the two sets of twins were concerned, they were out of here. WAY out of here! They took the narrow tunnels up out of the dungeons, and started to make their way through the castle.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Blueblood blinked at Twilight Sparkle from one of the juice bars in the ball room at the Gala. Why was she alone up there? Where was Celestia? He frowned, putting a few bits down to pay for his apple juice on the rocks and started forward. Something was most certainly wrong, he could see the distress on her face from way over there. What could drive a Princess from one of the most important balls of the year? He didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to let Twilight stand up there all on her own in front of so many strangers.

“Why, you must be Prince Blueblood!” A white mare with a purple mane suddenly POPPED out of the crowd like an apparition from a coffin, startling him. “I’ve heard such things about you! My name is Rarity, from Rarity’s Boutique Magnifique!” she gave her mane a lovely, practiced toss. “I can’t believe I actually get to meet you here, in… in this place…” she watched him try to lean over her, and she stood on her hoofy-tips to try and regain his gaze. He leaned to the right, “And… and here at the gala…” she was trying very hard indeed.

“Yes. I am Prince Blueblood.” He said shortly, sighing in resignation. This skirt-chaser was persistant, he would have to give her a minute or two before rescuing fair Twilight. “And what a charming stallion you must be here with.” He hinted.

“Oh no, darling, I came looking for a special somepony.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him. Oh my Faust she was laying it on thick. No tact at all, he could practically see the stars in her eyes as she gazed upon his perfect white coat and golden locks. “Perhaps you might… fill in for me? A dance?” she gestured to the dance floor, where slow music was being played and stiffly-dressed couples were already swaying to a rather drollish tune.

Blueblood’s nose wrinkled. He didn’t have time for this, and she was not giving him an inch. “I’m not much of a dancer.” He lied, ohhhh my Faust he lied. He was an excellent dancer, and he knew it. He’d been practicing for weeks to please Twilight Sparkle— not to press up against some odd pale prince-chaser.

“Why that’s alright, I’m sure we could figure out a nice… bahx-step.” She leaned and fluttered her eyelashes again. Just how much perfume had she put on. Blueblood felt a mild tingle in his thighs, and he instantly knew she’d touched herself with hormones as well. Clever girl. She was out to win.

Suddenly, he caught it. The chink in her frilly little armor. He knew that accent. That subtle little ‘ah’ that sometimes popped in where there should’ve been a plain ‘o’. Turning suddenly and authoritatively, Blueblood seized her by both her cheeks with his hooves. She gave a startled yelp, and he pulled her close so that their muzzles almost touched. She blushed at their closeness. “Go home to Ponyville.” He bade her. “Marry somepony who loves you. For love, not for blood.” He pecked her nose with a touch of magic, released her and dashed past her into the crowd. Some distant ghost of the Alicorn Blessing pressed into her body (Celestia’s blood, remember), and she shuddered without realizing what had just been done to her. Good luck would follow her for the next day or so.

Rarity stood there, stunned and a little rumpled. “Wh… what just happened?” she stared after the pearly stallion, watching his golden locks flow in his galloping. He was so perfect! Ohhh, whyyyy?! This was the Worst! Possible! Thing! “Wait! Prince Blueblood, wait!” she started after him, almost jostling a waiter to the ground in the process.

“Ohhh, most beautiful creature!” A handsome stallion suddenly POPPED out of the crowd, ripping off his mustache and stuffing it in his vest before she turned to look. “I’ve looked upon you all evening, please favor me with your name!” he turned the dramatic, glistening eyes of love up to eleven. On his knees and with her hoof in his, he looked up at her adoringly.

Rarity jolted to a stop. W-well, wasn’t he a handsome thing? “O-oh my, hello there! I’m Rarity!” she smiled coyly as her hoof was kissed. A flower appeared from precisely nowhere and he placed it about her ankle on a little strap. “Such a gentlecolt! You must be a lord or something!” Rarity swooned happily, her eyes turning into hearts. She forgot all about Blueblood.
Tombs put a hoof about her to lead her away into the crowd. Away from his master Blueblood. Being in Her Majesty’s Secret Service really did have its perks sometimes. Tombs got to seduce brainless mares now and then for the greater good. A few dances, he’d slink away, and she’d have a lovely story to tell her friends when she went home. The stallion smirked over his shoulder. Go on Sire, he bade silently. Good luck.

Prince Blueblood shouldered past a few guards and up onto the dais. “Twilight Sparkle, you’re all alone up here!” he said, peering about. “Where has Princess Celestia gone?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight said a little fretfully. “W-welcome to the gala! Ah yes, welcome!” her tone was strained as another and another set of ponies went by and into the ballroom beyond. “She just vanished, looking worried and, oh helloooo, welcome to the gala!” The purple mare looked overwhelmed, for she was sweating and looking just a little bit frizzy. It wasn’t that she couldn’t greet Ponies to a gathering like the gala, but all by herself was something else entirely. Was this a test? Another test from her mother figure and goddess? It felt cruel. They always did this together, every year since she’d been adopted. Why, the first year she’d hit her little muzzle on the floor she’d bowed so hard to the first group that had come. Celestia still had framed pictures of Twilight’s poor bloodied muzzle and dress, calling it an ‘adorable little memory’! Why would she so suddenly—

Suddenly, Twilight felt a firm, muscled warmth stand firmly pressed to her side. She looked over, and a bit up at Blueblood. He’d shouldered up next to her, half-standing on her ceremonial rug and inflating his chest in a very masculine way. What was he doing? He set his face in a bit of a scowl, clearing his throat and tossing his golden locks out of his face. “Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala, go on in!” he flashed a rather dazzling smile to a trio of mares that came in. They tittered happily, wandering past. “Gentlecolts, welcome to the Gala, have a great evening!” he said enthusiastically as another set of ponies went by. “Easy on those juice bars, ay boys?” he winked, and was greeted with roaring laughter and slaps on the shoulder.

The separation anxiety began to ease. Twilight stared up at his handsome face in wonder. He had never done this before, but here he was helping her. Twilight felt her face warm just a little. She cleared her throat, smiled at the next set of guests and bowed to greet them. “Welcome!” she sounded far less stressed out now, and her frizziness began to relax itself. Maybe… maybe they could have two dances that evening. Not just one. You know, as a reward for helping her. “I hope you have a great time here tonight!” her smile was bright as the stars.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Nightmare roared angrily as Chrysalis did her best to hold her back. Little rivulets of black were falling from her legs as they locked in a power struggle. Under the blackness of the stained-glass window that was her legs, Nightmare had nothing but blackness. It was like she was molting, but there was nothing underneath. Chrysalis was not about to take all of this though. She’d just gorged herself on a healthy stallion’s love, she was energized and Nightmare was not. With all the tact of a baton to the face the changeling queen headbutted Princess Nightmare. The black alicorn squawked in pain and rage, tumbling back over herself as shards of her body began to decorate the floor. “Nightie-poo.” said Chrysalis with interest, standing quickly and wiping her mouth where a fat lip was forming. “What HAVE you done to yourself?” she gestured to the strange things happening. Her jowls rose, exposing the wicked fangs that had ruined Nightmare’s life a thousand years ago.

Nightmare glanced down at her legs, her accursed and always-hurting legs. Never since she’d returned home had her blasted legs decided to get better with the rest of her. Growling ferally, she scuffed her front-left hoof a few times and lowered her head to charge… straight into a magical shield. She crashed into it with a yelp of pain, reeling as Chrysalis towered over her. An arc of green lightning arched blasted from Chrysalis’ horn, lancing across the black alicorn’s body mercilessly. She gritted her teeth, writhing back and forth. She refused to scream, she refused—it went from green to neon green and she did scream. A throat-ripping, body-writhing scream. Her wings twitched back and forth as her eyes clenched shut and her legs flailed about. She couldn’t control her own body, and the stink of burning flesh began to fill the air. “NYRARGH!” the recoil came so fast, so hard that Chrysalis was bowled over by her own power. Bending the flow of energy was powerful magic, but Nightmare had nothing to lose. It bent around her, went through her, arced around her and blasted back into Chrysalis’ face. Splinters of changeling carapace went flying into the air and she roared in surprise and pain. Cartwheeling ass-over-tea-kettle across the room, the queen crumpled with a moan. So much power, it… it was all back at her again and… she felt woozy.

Princess Nightmare stood there, then tried to take a step. Crinkle. Crack-crinkle. It didn’t even sound like hooves anymore. Shivering, she made herself look. Bits of her crystalized legs were coming away like fire-blasted sand. Was she really so frail, even after months of healing upon her return. She felt angry tears well up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Had she not suffered enough? Not only having been unleashed on her own sister and homeland by a parasite, but she couldn’t even heal properly when she got back. “Luna! What did you do to me?!” she husked softly, a tear of pain trailing down her cheek. “Hynn!” she tried to walk straight, but hobbled in zig-zags instead. She used her wings to balance, just as the doctor had taught her so long ago. She loomed over the fallen Chrysalis, her shadow blacker than black. “Yuh… *pant*… yield.” She commanded, at the end of her strength. She lowered her horn to point it at Chrysalis.

“Never.” Said Chrysalis acidly, holding the side of her face where the carapace had broken off. Nightmare could see the pink and red muscles beneath. She’d literally taken her own face off. Symbolic, no doubt, for a changeling.

“A thousand years… you’ve grown powerful, Chyrsalis.” Nightmare’s horn flick-cracked with what little magic she had left. Posturing to scare her, but little else. The black light on the tip of her horn could be a death spell, for all the queen knew. “But you are not a goddess yet.” She husked for a few long moments while they glared at each other. “That honor went to your other siblings long ago, and you are still perfectly mortal.” She came closer, lowering the sparking, crackling horn into the queen’s face. The monster began to sweat, crossing her eyes to stare at the tip fearfully. “Give up. Equestria forbade the death penalty long ago.” Nightmare narrowed her eyes as her draconic slits narrowed into lines. It was tempting, oh Faust her mother above above it was tempting. One quick jolt of even simple magic between her eyes and it would be over. Or maybe just jab her through the eye socket with her spiraling horn, to see the amazing spray of orange blood and gore. No! No, she had to adhere to the modern era’s justice system. Nightmare heaved strained breaths, prodding Chrysalis between the eyes. She whimpered a little, recoiling. “Don’t make me destroy you.”

“That honor should’ve been MINE!” spat Chrysalis suddenly, dropping her hoof to expose the ugly, spaghetti-like structure of her face’s muscles. Princess Nightmare felt a wave of revulsion. “I did everything I was supposed to do! Mother should’ve chosen ME TOO!”

“Ironic that, of the five of us, you will be the last to ascend to god-hood. If ever.” Nightmare scowled. “ Celestia, then I, then Cadance… even our brother Discord made it before you, and he’s certifiably mad.” She named off the five children of Faust, mother of creation. Her five children had to earn godhood, they’d not just been given it. Chrysalis still just didn’t get it. “Mother is disappointed in you.”

“SHE SHOULD’VE HELPED ME!” Chrysalis’ ancient wounds came open and she dove at Nightmare with a shout. Some sort of… not-Royal Canterlot Voice? “MY KIND IS STARVING! THEY HAVE BEEN FOR EONS! WE ALWAYS HUNGER AND SHE DOES NOTHING!” They locked horns and recoils of magic blasted back and forth. Cracks began to form in the floor, and columns began to shake threateningly. Nightmare gritted her teeth in agony, her legs threatening to give out entirely. “I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL FOUR OF YOU!” Full-blooded anger rose out of the monstrous creature and she suddenly ducked, taking Nightmare’s legs out from under her.

Princess Nightmare tumbled to the floor with a sound of crackling glass. She cried out in mortal agony, and she felt the side of her head break. Her flank spread with cracks. Her ribs were giving away and her organs were starting to give. “M-mother!” Nightmare mewled, holding herself and shaking. She could do nothing but lay there in white-hot pain, whimpering. The impact of the fall had been too much on her poor body. Whatever Luna had done to her, it had dilapidated her completely. She was like a porcelain doll!

“YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO DIE BUT I CAN STILL SMASH YOU TO BITS!” Chrysalis reared up, flailing her hooves like a war horse. Flaring her wings to gain her momentum, she brought herself crashing down on Nightmare and—

Buck.

A couple of white feathers was all Chrysalis saw at first. White feathers, and ghostly white eyes. The ethereal buck at a speed unknown to mortal ponies made her stop in mid-stomp. She stepped back a couple of times, not feeling any pain and looking startled. There stood Celestia, her eyes whited out and her pearly fur shining like the sun. Her mouth was a neutral line, and her wings closed in a non-threatening way. What had she done? Chrysalis felt funny. She felt… she was shaking, why was she shaking? Daintily, the white alicorn lifted a hoof gilded with a golden horse-shoe. She snapped it down on the marble floor, never taking her eyes off of Queen Chrysalis. A humming sound began to fill the air. A hum like a tuning fork. It filled Chrysalis’ vision with white spots as it grew louder… louder… LOUDER!

The changeling felt the shaking get worse and worse as the tuning fork sound grew more intense. Chrysalis’ entire carapace body suddenly burst apart like a sonic-boom. Every shell, every piece of her armor-like body came away to reveal the muscles and sinew beneath. She was an ugly creature. She shuddered, her eyes wide. Even her horn-bone was exposed. She felt cold. Cold and drafty. Then she crumpled into unconsciousness.

Celestia’s frown turned into a quiet, caring smile and her eyes returned to normal. “Nightie…?” she whispered softly. Nightmare whimpered softly as the tuning fork sound faded. The cracks were spreading over her body. “Nightie what’s happening?” she said a little more urgently.

“I don’t nuhhh…” her voice suddenly gave out entirely and she seized up like a statue. A whining sound escaped her, and very suddenly it all fell away like molting. Her ribs caved, her massive horn broke off and she collapsed like a shell. Celestia shrieked in horror, backing away from the corpse.

Ting. Tinkle-tink. The white alicorn looked down. A piece of solar steel lay before her. She lit her horn, bringing it up to eye-level with a frown. “Solar Steel? I’ve not made any of this since… since I fought Nightmare a thousand years ago.” Suddenly a wave of realization swept over Celestia. “It must’ve been lodged in her during the battle. No wonder her legs never stopped hurting her.” She looked down at the pile of glass and dust as it began to morph and mold back and forth. “How long are you going to stay like that, sister?” she frowned.

Lunar magic spilled down from the heavens, melting the pile of glass and hair into a pool of pure life energy. Eons ago, when gods like they were nothing more than furies, they would take on shapeless forms like this—and since they couldn’t die, it was what form they took when they were ‘killed’. Celestia waited patiently while Nightmare Moon struggled to reform her body. Luna aided her as best she could, and the moonlight gave much to the goddess as she made herself a new body. After some minutes and struggling back and forth, Nightmare Moon came back to her hooves. She was weak, but as good as new. “Thank thee, Luna. But perhaps letting me die was too much of a price?” she grumbled. Luna snorted, rolling her proverbial eyes at her caretaker. “It really hurt!” Nightmare snapped at the moon. Celestia smiled tiredly.

“I bet your legs feel better.” said Celestia serenely, showing her the spear tip that had tumbled out of her body. “I found this.”

“That explains much. A lucky soldier smote me under the arm with a spear during that battle, and broke his weapon upon me before I took his head off.” said Nightmare thoughtfully. She lifted and lowered each of her hooves, then made a little prancing motion. “No pain! Sister, no pain!” she said gaily, rearing up and stomping her hooves a bit. “That didn’t hurt either!” she squealed happily. The sister’s embraced, all smiles. But, while her head was tucked on Celestia’s shoulder, she suddenly saw something. Nurse Bandaid still lay limp on the floor across the room. “Bandaid!” she broke away from her sister to rush over to him.

End of Part 21

Happily Ever After (I of II)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 22: Happily Ever After (I of II)

And just like that, the gala was over. Blueblood and Twilight were manning the entrance and never got the chance to have their dance the poor Prince had been waiting for. Watching ponies trail out with a dejected sigh, he watched the barponies and the band begin to pack up their things. The ballroom slowly emptied out while the two of them stood in the grand archway, watching everypony leave.

Twilight smiled tiredly, sighing aloud. “What a night.” She said, adjusting her golden circlet a little. “I can’t wait to get home and just crawl into bed.” The purple mare turned and smiled at Blueblood, who quickly smiled and nodded.

“Y-yes.” He said. “Come, I’ll escort you home.” The white stallion gestured and she nodded slowly. Dismounting the dais and heading for the high-ceiling’d halls of the inner palace, the pair of them walked side-by-side.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Prince Blueblood.” Twilight smiled affectionately at him. “Princess Celestia just sort of vanished on me, and I was all alone up there!”

“W-well,” Blueblood said, “It’s only right for a gentlecolt to be there to support his… his uhm…” Oh gods, he shouldn’t say marefriend. Or companion. Or… what… what should he call her? “Friend?” it came out like a question. Twilight thankfully nodded in agreement. Friend. Whew. That was a close one.

“We never did dance together.” Twilight said sadly, turning and frowning at him. The Prince startled a little. He’d thought she’d forgotten all about it. “We could still go back and—”

“O-oh no no.” Prince Blueblood said quickly. “Nevermind it, Twilight. I… I uhm…” he wrestled for words for a moment. He did want to go back. He did want to go back and dance with her and know the scent of her mane and whisper affectionate words in her ear while lovely music played. He’d dreamed of it so often he… he just couldn’t… he sagged a little, then smiled in a tired way. “You’re exhausted. Things didn’t go as planned, we should get you home.”

Twilight looked at him oddly, but swerved her head about when they passed a window. The royal gardens lay outside, tantalizing any couple who wanted to for a midnight stroll with a… friend. “I’m a little sweaty from all that pressure.” Twilight told him with a smile. “What do you say to a walk around the gardens, so I can cool off?”

Blueblood’s face lit up. “Oh? Alright, sure!” She giggled at the sudden radiance of his smile. They turned left instead of right at the next hallway intersection, and found their way outside after a few minutes. The late-autumn breeze bit at them a little, but with the heat the gala had created with so many ponies it was very refreshing. Both of them stopped in the doorway, heaving big breaths and exhaling aloud. The blonde-headed stallion turned and looked at his date, smiling bashfully. “My lady?” he said, offering a hoof. She took it and he helped her down the stairs in her complex gala dress. He pretended not to see the slight color in her face.

So, they walked about the park together making small talk. They commented on the late-blooming flowers, the lovely stars, how big and exciting the gala had been. But, there was a certain tension in the air between them. They stopped at a stone bench, seating themselves on their haunches. “Can I— tell you a secret?” Twilight asked after a time. He looked at her, nodding solemnly. “I don’t know how to dance!” she blurted. He stared at her. Wat. She hunched a little, looking ashamed. “I never learned how.” She mumbled. Blueblood looked positively crestfallen. She’d promised him a dance at the biggest ball in Equestria, and she didn’t know how? He felt used. “I thought you would do something piggish between when you invited me and tonight, so I could send you away and pretend like I still had a date.” Twilight confessed quietly. “I’m… I’m sorry, Blueblood.” She mumbled, hanging her head. “I shouldn’t have, I mean, I… I let you down.”

Blueblood frowned for a time, and then realization swept over his face and he perked up. “But I didn’t do anything piggish over the weeks.” He offered with a smile. She looked up at him with a sorry expression, but his lopsided smile stayed. “I tried very hard, honest.” He broke into a grin.

Twilight smiled a little, huffing the steam of her breath. “You did. You did.” She nodded, pinkening in the cheeks. She sidled over to be closer to him. With all their daring and social awkwardness combined, they leaned into each other and stared up at the stars. Sharing body heat, neither dared to speak for a long time. The silence of the deep autumn held no crickets, no chirping locusts or insects, just the sweet quiet and the gentle, chilling breeze. Blueblood turned his head only slightly, and she could feel is breath on her bangs and forehead.

There's a calm surrender
To the rush of day,
When the heat of a rolling wind
Can't be turned away

Twilight turned and looked up at him. He’d changed so, so much. He was upright… charming… and rather handsome, really, now that she was actually looking. Was this the true face of the royal bloodline? The descendant of a goddess? They looked shyly into each other’s eyes. Reaching up, he pushed his mane out of his face and she caught a glimpse of his high, noble forehead. “It was fun just to stand next to you, Twilight Sparkle.” He said softly, blushing. The purple mare smiled awkwardly, but nodded none the less. They’d stood united against an endless thrall of party-goers, yabbering nobles and strange invitees they’d probably never see again. Standing atop that dais had been trying, exhausting, and without end for several hours.

An enchanted moment,
And it sees me through
It's enough for this restless warrior
Just to be with you

He didn’t dare try to kiss her, he couldn’t bring himself to. Was he cowardly? He couldn’t stop staring into her beautiful face and feeling the rise of heat in his own. They leaned a little more firmly together, sharing the plush warmth of each other’s presence. A stroll after dark in late autumn was a terrible idea, but you know what? It was worth it to be near Twilight Sparkle. The Prince shivered a little, and when the silence seemed too heavy, she suddenly leaned and tucked her head under his chin. His eyes widened when she cocked herself to one side because of her horn, but he rested his chin between her ears. The cold metal of her royal circlet pressed against the curve of his throat. His heart quivered happily. So this was it. This was what love was really like.

And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far

Twilight could hear his fierce heartbeat when her ear pressed to his broad chest. She made a slow nodding motion. The softness of his coat was comforting, and his steady breathing eased her. She’d been so tensed up with responsibility all night, finally she could relax. Throwing caution to the wind, she leaned all her weight into him at last. He didn’t move, nor make comment, but bore her excellently. She heaved a quiet, tired sigh of contentment.

And can you feel the love tonight,
How it's laid to rest?
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

Twilight will you be my marefriend? Twilight Sparkle, will you honor me and be my marefriend? Twilight, I love you and I want to be with you always. Say it. Say it. He tried to coax himself to make it perfect, to just try— just TRY— for her hoof. He couldn’t do it. He’d somehow stepped beyond such blunt things, and it didn’t feel right anymore to just up and ask it. He couldn’t ruin the serenity of the perfect little moment with her. It didn’t need words. He tucked her tighter under his chin while she pressed to his chest. He looked up at the full moon, wishing he had a bit more courage. Had he come so far only to be silent? Yes… yes he had. And that was alright with him.

There's a time for everyone,
If they only learn
That the twisting kaleidoscope
Moves us all in turn

Twilight’s hoof rose, slinking quietly around his shoulder. She pulled away to speak, “I’m sorry I doubted you, Blueblood. You’re a good stallion.” She said, her face mere inches from his. He smiled, looking at his hooves. She hugged him quietly, and he her. His heart soared into the icy sky, exploding like fireworks and making him shudder. “You’re a good Prince.” He felt like he was being told he was king of the world, that he the greatest noble ever, that he was a stallion’s stallion that everypony should want to be. And anypony that got such praise from Twilight Sparkle deserved such happiness, his heart said. He dared stroke her mane just once. A quiet, approving little feminine sound touched the air like a falling feather. Their hearts thundered. They didn’t want to leave this embrace, it was too wonderful.

There's a rhyme and reason
To the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager
Beats in time with yours

Blueblood mumbled some nonsense, furrowing his brow. It had been worth it. He was a better stallion. He knew better now. He WAS better now. Twilight Sparkle was not just a prize to be sought, but a mare to be loved. A pony that deserved a good stallion in her life, and he wanted to be that stallion. Sure, the books had helped, the dance lessons had… well, been for nothing, and now his golden horseshoes meant exactly squat. But, it was the journey, not the destination, that meant the most to him. He felt like an older soul, deep down in his heart, as though he’d gone from a childish colt chasing after what he wanted, to a stallion that knew to revere what should be treated well and desired. He pondered great mysteries of all things male and female for a few long minutes, until he felt Twilight’s weight shift. She was looking up at him with a soft, expectant expression. She leaned up at him, blushing quietly. His heart revved up. Their horns slowly began to cross, until their foreheads clacked together softly at their bases. Their lips… touched. Brushed together. Tenderly pressed.

And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far

The kiss was innocent, tentative, and filled with quiet questions. Blueblood felt his eyes slip closed, as magic flowed back and forth between them. A unicorn’s kiss was far more intimate in some ways, for their magic aura’s mixed. They touched, tingled, mingled with each other. Twilight's magical scent was like morning dew on leaves. A quiet, green smell of feminine innocence from years of study and walking the straight and narrow path of royalty. Blueblood's was a fuller, more forward musk of yellow dough, of a thousand days in the kitchen baking with love in his heart for his craft.Twilight exhaled softly through her nose, and Blueblood felt her drape her arms about his shoulders. If he were suddenly struck with lightning, he would die happy.

And can you feel the love tonight,
How it's laid to rest?
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best
It’s enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

They broke apart, not daring to look at each other, barely daring to believe what they’d done. Twilight hid under his chin, smiling shyly. Blueblood swallowed a little, resting his chin atop her head again. A long silence followed. “I should teach you to box step.” He mumbled into her mane.

“T’hahaha!” Twilight burst into girlish giggles, hiding her scandalous laughter behind a hoof. The tension broke and they both felt normal again. She sat up, looking about. “I should probably head for home, or Spike will kill me. See you for brunch? How about tomorrow?” her tone said she was leaving him there, not to be escorted home.

“S-sure, that sounds wonderful.” said the stallion a little airily. Prince Blueblood had not quite come down from his euphoria yet, and there were little hearts dancing about his head. Twilight turned, lifting her skirts a little so that she could get off the stone bench safely, and stood a safe distance away. After a few moments of her concentration face, she teleported away with a crack of parted air and a shower of purple sparks. Blueblood sat there, more than stunned. He wasn’t allowed to escort her home? He hung his head a little. He’d wanted to spend more time with her that evening. He sat on the bench, watching his own cool breath.

“Nephew.”

“HWAH?!” Blueblood tumbled off the bench with a girly shriek, then quickly righted himself. Princess Celestia stood, regal and kind-faced, in the shadow of a nearby tree. He bowed as she approached, “Princess Celestia!” he said reverently, shaking a little.

“I did not mean to spy, but I couldn’t help but stare.” Celestia said, smiling in her mysterious way. Blueblood felt the blood drain from his face. She’d seen?! Seen them kiss?! He was going to be smited. Smoted? Smotten? Smitten? He didn’t even know! Being eaten was bad enough, now he was going to be smote with lightning, he just knew it. He wasn’t supposed to kiss her, just be her dance partner, just take her to the gala and take her home! It had just happened, he couldn’t help himself. H’oh Gods, H’ohhh Gods! She’d trusted him, given him permission to—! “I was expecting you to ask her out.” The Princess planted her royal bottom conversationally on the stone bench, opening a wing invitingly for him to sit next to her. He calmed a little when there were no bolts of lightning aimed at him, and he slunk over to sit with the goddess. Her wing closed halfway over him. It was thick and warm, like a blanket. He had foalhood memories of her hugs, she was always so warm compared to other ponies. Like a big glowing blanket. “Why didn’t you, if I may ask?” she prodded gently. Her face was genuinely curious. “Tonight seemed like the perfect moment, after all of your self-improvement. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Blueblood hung his head. It was what he wanted. It really, really was. But he hadn’t been able to do it. He wasn’t ready. He’d prepared for a dance, for an evening to perhaps to earn her smile and converse and if he was lucky make her giggle a few times. He hadn’t expected to be seen with her so publically, be pressed up to her, stand with her like a proper stallion should on a platform of royal authority— “No.” he said softly, his golden bangs spilling over his face. “No, it isn’t.”

“It isn’t?” Celestia’s brow rose. She hadn’t expected that response at all.

He looked up at her with soft eyes and smiled in a half-defiant, half-crying sort of way. “I want… I want her to be happy.” Blueblood sighed, looking down at the sidewalk path before them. Celestia’s expression softened. The Prince bore his soul to his goddess. “I want Twilight Sparkle to be happy. I love her. Th-that’s what love is. Being with somepony to be happy.” It was like poetry, but he meant every word. “If it worked out between us, that would be all I could ever ask for…” he trailed off a bit, looking to one side.

“But?” Celestia added softly for him.

“But if it doesn’t,” Blueblood nodded a little. “W-we could still be friends.” He looked up at Princess Celestia, a quivering smile on his face. “I mean… I can just start with brunch, can’t I? I don’t have to rush along too quickly.” The pearly stallion looked up into her unreadable expression.

I want her to be happy.

The profound words rang in Celestia’s head. She smiled at him kindly, turning and embracing him. “Nobler words have never been spoken, Blueblood. Bless your heart.” She whispered proudly. She touched him with alicorn magic, blessing him. “You’ve grown up into what a Prince really should be. I’m so proud of you.” He smiled, and then he couldn’t stop the tears. Why was he crying? He felt so happy! He shouldn’t be crying! She pulled him to her breast, wrapping her arms and wings about him until he was in a warm little encasing of feathers and love. “Go.” She bade. “Go and rest, you’ve had a long night I’d say.” He nodded, drying his tears quickly and huffing to make himself look presentable. Then, bowing once more, he was away into the palace again. Celestia smiled a bit, tilting her head and pretending not to notice the aura of the invisibility spell that was not twenty feet away from her.

Twilight had never left to begin with, she’d stayed to see what might happen or if Prince Blueblood would talk to himself after she’d gone. Instead she’d gotten so much more. She felt touched, and quickly moved away to go back to her royal apartment. The sun goddess was soon alone on the little bench. Celestia stood and shook her head, her proverbial chess board scattered in all directions.

Blueblood was moving of his own accord, and in a lovely direction. Chrysalis had been sent home in a body-cast and was leaving the game rapidly. All that remained was her sister Nightmare, the other queen on the board. Nurse Bandaid was hospitalized but stable, and his little pawn was back on the board. Where things went from there was anypony’s move.

Celestia pondered her little chess game, thinking of this move and that move. Then she quite suddenly smiled and did a little royal face hoof. Things seemed to have worked themselves out, really. Maybe she should butt out for a bit.

End of Part 22

Happily Ever After (II of II)

The Return of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 23: Happily Ever After (II of II)

“…and in so doing, a bearer may choose to spend the power of one of the gems imbued on the Helm of Disintegration to destroy one metallic object. This may be done until all the gems are spent, and they may not be recharged under any circumstances outside the ‘wish’ spell.” Nightmare Moon was sitting next to a hospital bed, regal and quietly reading a Ponies and Castles book to an unconscious stallion. Right then, she happened to be in the magic items chapter, and had been reading them alphabetically for hours. She sighed quietly, closing the tome and setting it on the stack with the others.

Shortly after the battle with Crysalis, Nurse Bandaid had been rushed to the hospital wing of the palace. There, he’d been treated with the greatest care bits could buy, laid in a Royal suite, and put under constant watch. The stallion had not stirred much beyond the occasional twitch of a hoof, or a slight stirring of louder dreams. They had him tied to several machines that monitored him in every way, and other than the braver medical staff he was not disturbed.

Nightmare had not left his side, and had even made a little nest of blankets in the corner to rest on. After having slept on his floor in his tiny apartment, she found the firmness most agreeable to her rejuvenated back and legs. But, now was not the time for sleep. She leaned over his handsome, sleeping form with a delicate frown. Healing was not her way, and neither was tenderness. It was alien to her, and she wished there was something she could do to help. She’d already sent for a powerful healer, but who knew when she would arrive. The Princess leaned over him, stroking his cheek with a troubled frown. “Stallion, thou hath been a the chew toy of the fates.” She whispered apologetically. “Wilt thou not wake for me, that I may set it all right?” she hung her head, wishing very much to crawl into the alicorn-sized bed with him and just hold him. But, she dared not. With so many wires and straps criss-crossing him this way and that, it would be difficult to cuddle him properly. And if a Princess like she could not cuddle properly, she did not cuddle at all. There would be no less-than-godly cuddling.

The sound of large hoofs stepping daintily upon the tile perked Nightmare’s ears. She swerved her head about, and saw her. “Princess Nightmare Moon.” She bade softly, bowing at the base of her neck. The light reflected from her trappings here and there as she stepped forth into the room. “I came as soon as I heard. You’re looking well.”

“Cadance.” Nightmare Moon rose rather stiffly, trying to regain her composure and regality. “I would not summon thee if the need were not dire, I thank thee for thy attendance.”

“So formal, sister!” Cadance swept the black Princess into a hug, which she uncomfortably returned. There were certain… histories, there. A goddess of love and a goddess of lust, in their own ways, were very close. But, Nightmare had always harbored a more than mild jealousy for her pink sibling. What was love, if not a purer form of lust? It made Nightmare’s mind itch, and she cleared her throat as Cadance came to lean over the wounded stallion.

“So this is him?” Cadance whispered rhetorically. “Oh yes, I see. Right there in his neck.” Her eyes flickered from pleasant over to milky-white. She stared into the poor pony’s soul, looking at the damaged emotions and drives of rage within. “If Crysalis had taken much more of his love, he would be beyond even my aide.” She whispered worriedly. Blinking to return her eyes to normal, she went and closed the door. What was about to happen was both secret and sacred. A goddess did not often stop to meddle in the health of mortals, but this was special. He’d been wounded by a goddess while caring for another goddess, so a third had come to help him. Such a strange twist of fate, this little brown earth pony had endured.

“You can cure him, then?” Nightmare leaned forward eagerly. “I blasted he and the imposter so hard, and he was already hurting with his rage when it was done.” She hung her head guiltily.

“You did what you thought was right, for better or worse.” Cadance said gently, smiling. Turning and returning to the bedside, she leaned over and surveyed his soul once more. “His spirit is mending, but it may take more time. Or it may not. It’s hard to say.” She frowned as she tried to describe what she saw. Nurse Bandaid’s soul was like parchment with a rip in it, right where his heart was. That was where a changeling fed. It was all very metaphysical. Books and books had been written about it.

“Can you aide him or no?” Nightmare said impatiently. Her worry had made her rude, but her sister understood this. Tossing her mane a little, the black alicorn stared Cadance down, as though that would bring answers.

“Much of the love has been drained from him, Nightie.” Princess Cadance whispered. “While it will recover on its own over time, there’s no telling what sort of bad things he might do during the weeks of its recovery. He’ll be nothing but hate and violence for a long, long time.”

“Weeks?!” Nightmare squawked. “Unacceptable! We must speed this recovery. Pray tell!”

“Do you love him?” Cadance said, eyes lidding in a silky way.

Nightmare flinched like she’d been struck. “I--- erm--!” she floundered a little, indignant. “I do not love others. I am the goddess of the night! I am of fertility and wine, sex and magic!” she turned her regal muzzle up, though there was a quiver in her back legs as she spoke. Cadance affixed her with a long, quiet smile. “What? Tiz true! I may have a friendly affection for those around me, but tiz not love!” she denied again. Cadance’s smile grew a little. Pink began to stain Nightmare Moon’s cheeks. “And even if I did, he is mortal! Not a proper companion! There are no male alicorns and we may only indulge in the fleeting affection of our subjects!” she held the words up like a glass shield. Cadance leaned against the table on the wall, smile only getting bigger and bigger. “Stop that! Stop grinning like a hyena at us!” Nightmare said, turning her head away with an angry pout.

“You do. You do love him.” Cadance whispered. “Perhaps sprouting from the fact that he took care of you for so long… but maybe in spite of that its grown into a more solid friendship…” the pink alicorn trailed off, lighting her horn to feel the bonfire that was her sister’s spirit. There was resentment, embarrassment, and pride boiling all around her. She was a Princess of love, but Cadance could feel Nightmare’s conflicted feelings. “And then it’s come to this.” She whispered. She finally found it. The little flicker of honest-to-goodness love in Nightmare Moon’s heart. She was a lusty, squawky, selfish thing— but she was harboring feelings. The stallion lying still in the bed between them held some piece of her heart in his hooves. “I think I can help.” She said at last, nodding. Nightmare’s face lit up.

“What boon doth thee desire, sister?” Nightmare wanted to know. “Any price, merely name it.” She confirmed with all seriousness. “I’ve a set of wishing stars, perhaps. Or a coffer or two of gold? He is easily worth his weight in gold if you like?”
Cadance laughed easily, shaking her head. “No no, I’m just here to help my big sister.” She opened her wings, fluttering them a bit. Nightmare looked confused. “You’re so materialistic and weighted, Nightie.” She chided softly, looking at the goddess sideways. “This is love. Love has no price.” She lit her horn with powerful magics. Nightmare backed up a step and shielded herself with a wing, for the light was almost solar. Though lovemaking happened at night, ponies gazed lovingly at each other during the day, so it was divided between the two divine halves. “Alright, we’re ready. Kiss him.” Cadance chirped.

“Kiss him?!”

“Kiss him.” She nodded. “I can only enhance what love is there. He needs a conduit to ‘feed’ from.” Cadance said, closing her wings when her spell was done. “Sort of like a changeling, really, just in reverse. He has less love than he should in his heart, and you give him some of yours to fill in the gap.”

“…kiss him?” Nightmare said, looking unsure. “I almost kissed the false Bandaid, b-but I’d not wagered such a thing with the genuine one since his… since well…” she trailed off uncomfortably. “He doth not love me in return, he would not consent.” She said, looking away with red cheeks.

“Well, I could kiss him instead I suppose. I am the goddess of love, after all.” She preened a bit, winking.

“I would punch thee in the head for molesting him!” Nightmare exploded, blimping her wings open threateningly.

“You’re thinking about it all wrong, sister.” Cadance said gently to her volatile sister. “I love all things equally… save Shining Armor of course, but that’s something else.” She giggled a little. “I could do it if you can’t bring yourself to.”

“No! No, I just… I just…” Nightmare leaned over Bandaid, placing her front hooves on the bedside. She studied his peaceful face, and watched him deeply breathe. Despite all his wires and tubes and such, he did not look to be in pain. “I do not know…” she frowned down at him. She considered her feelings. He had done everything asked of him and more. She’d already paid his student loans and had his things moved to a palace apartment, which he would receive when he awoke. But surely he deserved such a small token as a kiss, also? Sure, she’d flirted and made lewd comments at him, but he wasn’t like any other stallion. He’d stood up to her, talked to her rather than up at her, and had given her the tender loving care she’d needed to recover. She leaned down and kissed him. Smek. Raising herself up, she peered at the limp stallion. Nothing happened. “Thou fibbith to me!” Nightmare accused angrily.

“’Fibbith’ is not a word.” Cadance snorted, calling out her older dialect. “And that kiss was terrible.” She rolled her eyes, once more leaning against the table a few paces away. “For one that has had so many lovers, one would think that you would know an honest kiss and how to give one.” Nightmare scowled angrily, opening her mouth to roar. “Look at him, Nightie.” Cadance gestured quietly. There was a heavy silence, but the black alicorn did so. “Really, really look at him.”

Nightmare settled down to the bedside again, studying Bandaid’s handsome face. A brown earth pony with a darker brown mane. It was the least-interesting thing imaginable when it came to pony hues and breeds. Yet somehow he’d done the impossible and put up with her for so long. He stuck by her no matter what. “Just a kiss…” the goddess whispered in a troubled way.

“A real kiss.” Cadance said gently. Mutely, her horn lit and magic quietly permeated the room. She didn’t so much create love as she did bring it to light. Now was the time, if Bandaid was not to spend months being either unconscious or strapped to a bed screaming in a rage for Faust knew how long. Love was precious, and not something that returned easily when it was sucked out by a Changeling.

“A real kiss.” Nightmare mumbled in a troubled way. She reached up to caress his cheek again, then pulled away to stand on all fours. Cadance opened her mouth to beg her to try again, but stopped. Leaning a bit, Nightmare Moon reached up. She quietly removed her helm and set it on the stack of Ponies and Castles books. Her ethereal mane hung in all directions, and she tossed her head to tame it. Stepping slowly out of her silvery horse-shoes, she pulled the trappings from her breast and levitated them to one side. If she was to give a true and honest kiss, it would have to be as something more than trappings and power-endowing symbols. Quite naked she leaned over him again, a hoof on his shoulder and cheek. She swallowed a little, staring into his peaceful face. Nightmare leaned down, and the quiet musk of stallion touched her. Closing her eyes, she cupped his face. “Bandaid…” she murmured softly. So rarely did she call him by name, instead of hoof servant, or nurse, or something else. His name, it tasted right on her lips. She could feel the warmth of his skin, and the velvety touch of his muzzle calling. Love magic flowing through her, Cadance, and her lips, she pressed them to his. The feeling made her heart pound. A quiet moan wisped out of her throat. Time slowed for a long time, until she pulled away. She looked down at him, mewling softly. The stallion still had not moved. She hung her head, wilting.

“…huhhhhh.”

He suddenly took a deep breath of waking, his eyes flicking open. Nightmare gaped at him as the stallion shifted, turned on his side and flicked his tail. “Mhhrm-- Princess it’s still day. Go ‘way…” he moaned, sticking his head under the pillow.
“BANDAID! Thou art alright!” Nightmare flung her arms about him as Cadance worked feverishly at the hospital machines to make sure nothing got ripped out. Nightmare crushed the stallion to herself, stroking his mane and mewling aloud. “I thought thee forever a rage monster!”

“Rage monster…?” he said blearily, cocking his head. “Whassat?” he rubbed his eyes some, looking over Nightmare’s shoulder at Cadance. The pink alicorn giggled behind her hoof staring lovingly at the scene. “Who’s that? Why am I in a hospital bed…?” he peered around blearily, blinking in an owlish way.

Nightmare sat on her haunches and began to eagerly explain everything to him. She made sure he had a little juice box in front of him the whole time, pawed at his blankets now and then to be sure they were soft, and told the narrative with ghusto. What a tale! Over an hour had gone by, and when she looked over, Cadance had slipped out beyond notice. Nightmare would have to thank her later.

“So I got bitten, I kind’a remember that part,” Bandaid said with a screwed up face of concentration. “It’s all so muddled.” He said, frustrated. He could not recall anything about beating down two changeling soldiers, going on a rampage and going up against a false copy of himself. Everything from when he was drained of his love forward was a fog.

“You were not yourself.” Nightmare coddled him a moment, then eased him onto his back. “And I shalt take care of thee until thou art ready to resume thy duties…” she trailed off suddenly. She wasn’t weak, or sick anymore. Why did she need a nurse? She suddenly looked horrified.

“You do look a little pale.” Bandaid murmured from where he lay, nodding. He turned on his side, heaving a great breath. “So wait.” He stopped to ask, looking up at her curiously. “If you were sort of killed, and reformed perfectly healthy, why didn’t we let you die when you first arrived home?” he frowned. “That would’ve really helped to know, y’know. We could’ve saved all this mess.”

Nightmare Moon looked rather offended, and coughed a little. Putting on a sweet and motherly smile, she leaned and cupped his cheek. “I know thou art feeling poorly, and may be bedridden for some time, dear Bandaid. But, would you allow me to plunge a knife into your heart, and thou may be better right now?” her tone dripped with liquid sweetness and she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“…oh.” Bandaid mumbled meekly.

“It doesn’t hurt any less for an alicorn to 'die' than it does a mortal. We’d rather suffer and be fussed over by handsome stallions like thee for a few weeks,” she paused to wink at him playfully, “Than to pitch over dead for even a few moments.”

“But… but why didn’t you starve on the moon, then?” he wanted to know. He sure was full of questions now that this titanic revelation had been brought to light. “If you’re practically mortal in some ways, wouldn’t you starve?”

“You’d be surprised what you can live through.” The Princess said a little sulkily. “Especially when you can sustain on liquid moonlight.” She watched him open his mouth for another question, but she shushed him. “Hush now, stallion. Thou still needeth rest and relaxation.” She patted his head. “I hath reading material,” she gestured to the stack of books. “And a staff of beautiful medical mares to see to thy every need.” She winked at him.

“Princess, those are my co-workers!” Bandaid squawked.

“Stallions too!” Nightmare amended playfully, standing at last.

“Oh for Faust’s sake, you’re terrible!” he moaned, face-hoofing.

“And thou art in my care now, hoof servant.” Nightmare giggled a bit when the stallion moaned, long and loud. The black alicorn levitated her nest of blankets from the corner, bunching them up under her so she would have somewhere to sit on the bed and not be pressed up against him. “Here.” She levitated a familiar deck of cards to him. He smirked a little, looking comforted. His Princess command cards would help, if even just a little.

Bandaid carefully reached over after shoving Nightmare’s helm aside, pulling a Ponies and Castle’s book to himself. Ah, it was Ice Storm, the book of games that took place in an arctic environment. He did love adventures that took place in unusual places. Flipping it open to read, he finally lay back and relaxed into the warm embrace of the pillows. “Hahhh…” he sighed.

After a time, Nightmare shifted in a bored way. Cocking her head, she stared out the window, then at him, then about the room. She wanted to help, twas only right after all that had happened. She made to rise from the bed, but he raised a hoof. “Yes?” she said eagerly.

He pressed a command card from the deck to her breast. It was one of the blank ones, filled in with scratchy hoof writing. ‘Rub my legs’, it said. Nightmare blanched. When had he… he… he didn’t have a quill there with him… and he… when…? She suddenly threw her head back in uproarious, joyful laughter.

…then set to work.

=-----=-----=-----=-----=-----=-----=-----=
Meanwhile in the Throne Room…
=-----=-----=-----=-----=-----=-----=-----=

Celestia was opening some mail that had arrived to her, post-marked the Southern Badlands. Perhaps it was from Crysalis, begging forgiveness after only a few days? That was awfully grown-up of her. At this rate, perhaps she’d be a goddess someday after all. Celestia’s face fell when she saw it was not, in fact, from the changeling Queen. “Dear Princess Celestia,” she read aloud to herself. “We’ve gone to elope with the changeling soldiers Geode and Pupa on the south-western coast of the badlands. They have beaches there to enjoy, it’s not all just jagged wasteland. Please give our regards to Princess Nightmare Moon. We quit. Sincerely, Aegis Shield and Stalwart Hide.” She stared at the letter, mouth agape. Wh... what?! The milky alicorn looked down at the singular, rather nervous creature standing at the bottom of her dais. The changeling messenger had a heavy crate next to it, which she was sure contained two sets of solar guard armor. Celestia face-hoof’d.

THE END