Nightmare Night Part 11 - chapter draft complete · 1:38pm Oct 29th, 2018
Finished it this weekend. Tentatively titled Weather Teamed, it's with prereaders now, standing just shy of 8000 words and full of adult goodness on multiple fronts. Expect it to release tomorrow or Wednesday, once prereader passes are finished and I've been able to make any corrections or changes they want. Trick or Treat, folks! Actually, both, in this case...
I know I said no previews, but in the course of writing this weekend, I came up with something that could be made teaser-ish with a little editing. So here you go:
Watching the events of the hallway from her study, a content if only briefly-sated Eclipse observed the proceedings through a mirror-linked crystal she’d hidden in the corridor walls of the castle along with Pinkamena, who wore a sly but contented grin of her own, the two now lying side by side on the plush study rug.
“So close and yet so far,” the former shook her head at the scene, the recording spell she’d placed on the crystal allowing her to see right through her Starlight’s privacy spell, hearing all their conversation and plans. “To say nothing of so predictable. You disappoint me, my former student,” she tut-tutted, though she never lost her smile, looking to the latter like she was enjoying what she was watching greatly.
“Not bad, Queenie,” Pinkamena conceded in some grudging admiration and amusement—in truth, she didn’t think it’d be that fun to watch, but she’d been proven wrong; seeing Starlight Shimmer fumble about and flustered was almost worth the price of admission alone to her, to say nothing of the look on Eclipse’s face when Trixie instead of Starlight defeated her trap. “It almost got them. Have to say, I really like the way you think.”
“Thank you, Pinkamena. But in truth, I’m disappointed. Not that it failed, which I fully expected and intended it to—for what fun would it be that my former student succumbs to me so soon?—but that she couldn’t figure it out how to escape it herself,” she said in some disgust. “That it took Trixie of all ponies to beat the simplest of my snares with what barely amounts to parlor tricks is not so much concerning as disgusting. Great and Powerful she categorically is not, and by all rights she should be more hindrance than help to Starlight Shimmer.”
“Maybe. Interesting about Granny Smith, though,” Pinkamena noted idly. “So she’s part Timberwolf, huh? I like that. Pity she’s so old, though. To see her now, I’m sure she was quite the player back in her day.” She closed her eyes and smiled at the thought, deciding that this version of Granny Smith was far more fun than the lunch-serving one at Canterlot High.
“Indeed. Though perhaps she is not as removed from those days as one might think,” Eclipse answered easily, wearing a coy smile and not looking concerned in the least. “I sensed her presence along with Starlight when she teleported in. Timberwolf magic is rather hard to block, but also very hard to miss, and in truth, I’m amazed she and the rest of her clan hid it from me as long as they did. But no matter. Her presence is unexpected, but not unwelcome. Despite what she thinks, I could have defeated her rather unique means of egress, but I think not. For she, too, is now part of my plans, if as yet an unwitting one,” Eclipse noted with a sly grin.
“Oh?” Pinkamena asked in something more than casual interest, admiring the sharp talons at the end of her erstwhile queen’s new bat-pony wings, already thinking of possible weapons they could wield that she could forge for them. “You don’t mind them heading for your library? If they get word across the portal to Sunset Shimmer...”
“Not at all, as it matters not, my passionate Pinkamena,” Eclipse answered, turning back to kiss her again. “Sunset Shimmer is no more a match for me than Starlight. She and your human comrades will be lured here and dealt with in due course. As for the library itself, it was an obvious target, and I have readied the room to receive them. My future acolyte’s overconfidence is her weakness. She has yet to grasp the full import of what she faces, and how cunningly all-consuming it—and I!—truly am. For even if she somehow evades the traps she has yet to trigger, in dear old Granny Smith now lies the seeds of Starlight Glimmer’s downfall.
“They will take some time more to come to fruition, but that’s fine with me. It will give me plenty of time to help her slow descent into mating madness and gather other allies to my side as well. And I believe that one such ally awaits you?” She reminded the other mare with a coy grin.
The dangerous gleam in Pinkamena’s eyes returned. “As you wish, Queenie,” she said somewhat theatrically. “Have fun with your own hunt, as I know I will with mine!” she announced with a parting—and rather aggressive—kiss, one that took Eclipse’s breath away. She savored it, but by the time their embrace was broken and the former Twilight had opened her eyes again, Pinkamena had disappeared without a trace.
That's not the entire scene, as I cut out some more adult moments for purposes of a blog post. So don't skip it over when you read it in context!
