//------------------------------// // An Important Message // Story: The Beloved of Princess Nightmare Moon // by Aegis Shield //------------------------------// The Beloved of Princess Nightmare Moon Chapter 4: An Important Message Bandaid wandered outside after dark. The chilly November air made him shudder, and he threw a little towel over himself. The small bathing area outside the house was perhaps fifty feet away. His mother and father had been quietly arguing for a few days now. Doing laps around the house and property to work on his legs was his mother’s bidding, but now he was sore. Throwing a soapstone and wash bucket onto his back, he stepped into the hot springs area. “So this is why Dad said the house was so expensive,” he said slowly, looking around. The steaming pools were surrounded by privacy fences, but little else. There was a spicket to wash yourself, and then the springs to soak in. His nose told him of the mineral contents. “They must’ve wanted this for Mom’s back and muscles,” he splashed the water a little bit with a hoof to see how hot it was. Pretty hot! Scrubbing quickly and eager to relieve his achy legs and chest, the brown stallion slipped into the waters. Filling a big cup with water so he wouldn’t dry out, he leaned back and relaxed. “Just not gonna talk to me, huh?” Rainbow Dash said. “Ack?!” Bandaid sat up with a splash. “S’okay, I didn’t say anything either,” Rainbow Dash was leaning against the far edge of the pools by some flowering plants. Bandaid’s eyes must’ve slid past her, thinking her a brightly colored flower or something. “S-sorry, I’ll come back later,” he rose to go. “I said its fine, sheesh,” Rainbow said, reclining. “But do what you want.” “A-alright,” he said, sinking back down again. “My legs were really sore, so I came to soak, is all,” he promised her. Careful to keep her wings out of the water for personal preening later, Rainbow turned a bit so she could look at him. “So you’re Master Dazzle Kick’s son, huh?” she said, eyeing him and not looking particularly impressed. “You must take after your dad.” “I’m a nurse, yes,” Bandaid said, sinking in up to his neck. “I’m hiding out here while uh… while my marefriend’s violent sister visits,” he told her. “I asked mom to train me like she’s training you.” “She’s not gonna train you like she does me, lookit you,” Rainbow said a little sourly. “You’re all soft and fuzzy and slow. I’ve been watching you jog around the place for the past few days.” He went a little hot in the face, “And how long have you been here, mooching off my parents?” he wanted to know, turning his ears back at her. “I pay a hundred bits a week, sleep on a cloud over the property, and I’ve never asked them for a speck of food. I’ve been here almost a year,” Rainbow said shortly, frowning at him. “You on the other hand, mooch away.” Bandaid found himself liking her less and less. “They’re my parents,” he said. Rainbow stretched lazily, and he saw the slickened muscles of her toned back work themselves back and forth. Even a quick, medical calculation in his head told him her body fat percentile must’ve been somewhere in the lower-teens. That cyan body was a well-oiled machine. No doubt his mother was molding her into something even greater than that. “I remember you,” he said at last, studying her rainbow mane. “You fought in my mother’s retirement match. You crawled out of the Tectonic Plate Crusher.” Her ego lifted just a little bit, “Yeah, that was me. The first and only pony to ever do that. I can’t imagine how strong she was in her prime.” She looked dreamily up at the full moon. “And someday, I’m gonna be the best just like she was. Even better!” There was a long silence, for Bandaid didn’t respond. “I heard you begging her to teach you too. You think you’re gonna be strong enough to fight off whoever’s trying to kidnap you? Haven’t you called the local guard?” “It’s… a little more complicated than that,” he sighed, looking away. When he looked back, she was fixing him with a disbelieving frown. “My marefriend? It’s… Nightmare Moon.” Rainbow Dash BURST into laughter, flailing back against the shore of the hot spring. She pointed at him with a hoof like he’d just told the best joke imaginable. “You?! You and Princess Nightmare Moon?! HAHHH!” she kicked her back legs and accidently splashed all the way into the water. Her wings sank into the hot water and she quickly stood. “Aww, dammit!” she said as they sagged with weight. She flapped them with all her might, but they did little other than droop and drip. “Well practice is gonna be harder tomorrow,” she grumbled. Then she cracked a grin again as she remembered what she was laughing about. “I’m serious!” he said before she could start into more giggles. “Nightie and I are…” he fished for the right word. He didn’t have stones enough to say ‘lovers’ or anything. His cheeks were flush with steam and hot water, so he took a long drink and slowly sank down again. “You don’t hafta believe me,” he grumpily decided, looking away. “Okay, okay, I’ll bite,” Rainbow just had to know. “If you’re knocking horseshoes with a goddess, why do you need to learn how to defend yourself? Shouldn’t you be surrounded by guards, or protective spells or something? Don’t the stories say that Nightmare Moon can see whatever the moon sees?” “She can’t, she only talks to the moon,” Bandaid said. “And it talks back?” “Yeah.” “What does it say, then?” “Moon stuff, I dunno,” Rainbow snorted, shaking her head at him. “You’re weird, you know that?” “Yeah,” Bandaid said, sidling down into the waters again. It didn’t seem to hurt anything to share what had been going on with this strange mare. If he was going to be around his mom and dad’s house for a while, Rainbow Dash would be around too. He may as well try to make friends. “Well, it all started when Princess Nightmare Moon came back from her banishment,” he said. He gave her the short, short, short version of what had been going on lately. “Ohhhh,” Rainbow said, tapping the side of the springs with a clopping hoof. “So you’re the mare in your relationship! I get it!” “Th-that’s not…!” Bandaid spluttered. “S’okay! I’m the stallion in mine!” she made a lewd gesture with floppy hoof hooked over a thrusting hoof. Bandaid’s eyes flicked down. “Not like that!” she said, regretting her joke immediately. “I got a marefriend back home, I meant!” “Oh!” he said, apologizing. “Do you write her, or…?” “Nope. When you’re as fast as me, you can fly from town to town in ten seconds flat!” she boasted. Bandaid wasn’t sure he believed her, but shrugged. “Anyways, newbie,” she was quite done talking about relationships by then. “Just make sure you don’t hurt yourself out there, huh? Master Dazzle Kick’s your mom, just don’t do anything dumb.” She rose from the waters and shook like a dog. She made to lift off and fly away, but her soaked wings wouldn’t let her. Grumbling, she grabbed a towel and threw it about her shoulders. “I’m a medically trained, grown stallion thank you,” Bandaid said lamely. “But you dunno a thing about how to fight in the octagon!” Rainbow shot back. “I do so! I watched Mom for years! I grew up with ring side seats!” “That must’a been cool… but you’ve never been on the receiving end of a kick to the face or a germane suplex. You’re just…” she paused to word it right. “Mommy’s little colt!” She winked, flicking her tail to make him look. When he did, she snorted and rolled her eyes at him as she left. “Am not…” he mumbled, looking down into the cloudy water at his reflection. He sat there for a long time, sipping at his ice water while the mineral hot spring worked its magic on his poor sore legs. “I’m not, am I?” he looked up at Luna. The moon shrugged at him, but his mortal eyes could not perceive it. The Next Day… Bandaid lay on his back, moaning in pain. “Do you give up?” Dazzle Kick leaned over him. “No,” he pouted. “Are you sorry?” “No,” he pouted again. “I didn’t tell you to do any additional push-ups or sit-ups this morning, did I?” Dazzle Kick said with no sympathy. “You want me to teach you, you work out how I tell you, when I tell you. Not before. And no extra work unless I give it to you.” She shook her head as Bandaid sprawled there on the ground on his back. “Now lookit you, exhausted barely past noon.” “Moooom, I gotta learn things!” he complained. “I need to be stronger!” “Being stronger and being stupid with your body are two different things, Bandaid,” she scolded. “Now, you’re gonna sit there for the rest of the day and learn from a proper student. RAINBOW DASH!” she shouted over her shoulder. Bandaid watched the mare smirk in a mightier-than-thou sort of way when his mother wasn’t looking. Her ego was just… just… grrr! She walked slowly, wings on display, and bowed with a martial artist’s respect to Dazzle. “You know why I work her harder than you? Because she can take it.” “Mom…” “She’s been here almost a year training under me, doing as I say instead of pushing too hard and destroying her body.” “Mom…” “Rainbow Dash knows a thing or two about taking care of herself, and she was in the octagon to fight me when we first met. I had a lot more to work with than with you! You’re starting from square one!” “Mom!” “What?!” Dazzle demanded. “I’m lecturing, don’t talk back to your mother!” “Dad’s leaving,” Bandaid said, gesturing. Dazzle Kick whirled around in horror. “What?!” she squawked. “Firstie, honey! No!” she dashed away towards the driveway. Sure enough First Aide had a fat saddlebag on his back and a sour expression on his face. “Where’re you going?!” she dashed past Bandaid before her husband left. Her voice faded with distance, though Rainbow and Bandaid could hear them both. “I’m not gonna stand here and watch while you turn our only son into a weapon,” First Aide said, shivering with anger and eyes brimming with tears. “You promised me the day we got married if we had a son he would be mine to teach! That you would NEVER show him how to hurt ponies like you!” Rainbow whispered to Bandaid, “Oh wow, I’ve never seen him yell like that, and I’ve been here like a year.” Bandaid watched, dumbstruck. “I’m not teaching him to hurt ponies like me!” Dazzle protested, putting a hoof on his chest so he would go no further. “I’m teaching him to defend himself!” “That colt is my legacy, he went all the way through medical school at the top of his class on his own bit. He got such high honors he was recruited to the palace staff of Canterlot!” First Aid swatted her hoof away. “He didn’t have to get his hooves dirty like you and me to get by in the world. Now you’re doing to him what you did to all our little fillies!” Rainbow flinched when First Aide threw his bag down to yell some more. “You want him to be weak and helpless?!” Dazzle Kick demanded, cutting him off. “He’s been kidnapped like four times! Four, Firstie! I don’t want my son to be some kinda… kinda princess in a tower somewhere.” “Oooh boy,” Rainbow said awkwardly, her wings slowly folding as she began to back up. “Now might be a good time to make ourselves scarce. You in?” she didn’t wait for Bandaid to answer, but shoved her head under his limp body. “C’mon ‘princess’,” she teased a little, smiling awkwardly as she heaved the sore stallion up onto her back. “You smell,” he said weakly. “My wings are still wet,” Rainbow grumped at him. “Now c’mon.” she turned about. Bandaid watched the screaming match heat up until the cyan Pegasus rounded the corner. “He’s my son too! You made every one of our fillies into warriors! Why can’t I have this one?!” “He’s already an accomplished nurse, imagine what he can do if we both instilled him with our talents!” “Bandaid is a healer like me, not a bruiser like you!” “I did what I had to to put food on the table for our whole family, and I put six fillies through college!” “Four of them dropped out! Bandaid paid his own way!” “I’m not gonna sit around while you teach him to buck the fuck out of somepony! Let go of me!” “No! You’re my husband! Stay!” “Let go, dammit! I am leaving so long as you are doing this!” They were both pulling on the fat brown saddlebag, until it suddenly ripped right down the middle. Both ponies were flung back and landed on their backs. Clothes, travelling supplies and photographs went everywhere. The photos fell like leaves all about them. Dazzle recovered instantly, but First Aide stayed down where he was. He touched a hoof to his face, his bangs shadowing his eyes as tears went down his cheeks. “Did I hurt you?!” Dazzle swept to him, pushing everything out of the way to look for scrapes. She steered his face to hers, and he snuffled. She stroked his bangs out of his eyes. He wouldn’t look into hers. “Oh Firstie…” she whispered, slowly sinking down on all fours to his level. “I-I hate it when you do this,” he murmured when she pulled his head to her chest. “Y-you just do things without consulting me. I’m your husband. You promised you’d change when you retired. You promised…” he said softly. His glasses lay strewn on the ground. She picked them up and gingerly gave them to him. “Please, Dazzie…?” he whispered to her. “Please don’t? Don’t teach him like you?” There was a long, pregnant silence. His ears wilted when she wouldn’t speak. But finally, she did. “Tell you what,” she whispered, crooning over him. “I’ll compromise.” “C-compromise?” he said, looking up at her with large moist eyes. “I won’t teach him how to fight like I did in the octagon,” she whispered. “I’ll teach him to… dodge,” she decided. He stared at her, ears perked, then tilted his head. “Dodge?” he said, questions in his eyes. “N-now come back inside, before this old mare starts bawling along with you.” “…kay,” he allowed. They spent a moment or two cleaning up the ripped bag and its contents, before going inside. She made love to him that night, to mend some broken bridges and to bring her husband closer to herself. Rainbow Dash and Bandaid ended up camping out farrrrr away from the two older ponies having sex in the privacy of their own bedroom. ***** Celestia leaned around the corner Scooby-Doo style, Cadance behind her. This was a test, the first test she was going to fly solo for. She coughed, examining a little something-something under her wing. The task was simple: she had to flirt without saying more than a few words to a stallion. After only one day to think over her strategy, Cadance brought her to a random hall of the castle and turned her loose. If Princess Celestia was going to seek out a new colt friend or lover or husband, she needed to be able to show more than polite approval for somepony. She needed to show interest. She had to practice the feminine art of appraisal. “Alright, go,” Cadance coached softly. The white alicorn bumbled around the corner when she was rudely shoved, but straightened up quickly. Both of the guards standing there were looking at her. She cleared her throat a little. “Princess Celestia!” they said as one, saluting and then standing at attention. “At ease, gentlecolts,” she stopped in front of them. Cadance leaned around the corner with a pair of binoculars to watch her technique. Hrm, she wasn’t opening her wings or smiling very wide. She was losing points for this! “Hm,” Celestia said, touching hoof to chin. She leaned at them. They blink-blinked. Was this a surprise inspection? Both stallions threw out their chests as best they could. Their armor was shiny, their fetlocks were trimmed, they could hold up to scrutiny! “Impressive,” Celestia whispered rather sensually. She leaned one way, then the other, then walked a slow semi-circle about them. Her tail flicked, almost touching the nose of one of them. They chanced a glance at each other. Reaching under her wing, Celestia produced a napkin wrapped cookie. Soft, warm, straight from the kitchens. She magicked it to the hooves of one guard and not the other. His brow rose in surprise. “Very, very impressive indeed,” she punctuated, turning slowly from them both with a wink. There was a long and awkward silence as she passed around the corner and out of sight. The guard with no cookie looked at the guard with a cookie. “I fucking hate you,” he decided with a frown. “You gonna share that or…?” “Nope. I’m the impressive one,” he picked it up and snarfed it in front of him. “Ge’ ‘our own!” he said around a mouthful of bulging cheeks. The first guard growled like an angry dog. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, sheesh,” he tossed a quarter-piece to his partner. Meanwhile, Cadance caught up to Celestia with a tinkling giggle. “Not bad, not bad!” she said. “You forgot a few things, but not bad.” “What did I forget?” Celestia said. “Wings and smile.” “But I had gift and tail swish.” “We’re adding things as we go, you need to remember them all if you’re going to have a new romantic partner!” “How is that going to happen, by the way?” Celestia said, looking at her sister sideways. “Do you have a magic book full of all the single ponies in the world, with sub-sections on who is where?” “I locked that silly thing up a long time ago!” Cadance said with a laugh. “It takes the fun out of things!” She stopped and put a hoof out when she heard some ponies arguing ahead of them. Celestia and Cadance stood behind an impressive indoor hydrangea to listen. “I don’t understand why you need a hair appointment every two weeks! You look fine!” “Honey this kind of beauty takes upkeep! How else am I supposed to look my best!” “It’s a lot of money!” “It’s a lot of mane!” “It’s a waste on our funds that’s supposed to be for our couple’s activities on our days off!” “We are not having this argument again, end of story!” “We are if my half of our money is going into spa treatments and other garbage we don’t need!” Celestia opened her mouth to play diplomat but Cadance stopped her, reaching into her saddlebags for a moment. A cocking sound was heard. The white alicorn gaped when Cadance drew a small hoof-sized crossbow. What was she doing?! Without waiting or giving reason, she shot the stallion right in the ass with a tiny, five-inch bolt. When the bolt struck him, it burst into pixie dust and pink sparkles. With a quick flick of her other hoof, she reloaded and shot the mare as well. Both of them flinched for a moment, their eyes glazing over. “Oh smoopsie-poo, I guess you’re right. I mean, if I read up on how to do some of those stylings myself maybe I wouldn’t be at the salon all day every other weekend,” the mare admitted, hearts dancing around her head. “Oh honey bear, maybe I shouldn’t eat out so much. That would free up some bits so you could go every three or four weeks, instead of every two, y’know?” the stallion’s eyes were pink and his pupils were heart-shaped. “I did want to start working on my midriff again anyway…” “You looked so handsome with those abs in high school!” she crooned. They leaned into each other, lovey-dovey-ing down the hallway and out of sight. Celestia stared with a mix of horror and curiosity. “Is that-?!” “Cupid’s Crossbow, yes,” Cadance said, quickly stuffing it away. “The mare that helped me make this was a genius matchmaker… oops!” one of the arrows split through the side of her saddlebag and spilled a bunch of arrows and other things onto the floor. “Please don’t use that around my little ponies anymore,” Celestia hoof’d a singular, heart-headed arrow under her wing when Cadance turned to check under the hydrangea for more. “Oh I don’t use them to spawn love, just re-enforce it,” Cadance said, lighting her horn to fix the rip in her bag when they’d picked up all the things she’d spilled on the floor. “Like fanning a flame, to help them remember what’s important; Compromise between lovers.” “Those two could’ve just used counselling,” Celestia said. “Don’t lecture me on how love should be,” Cadance said sharply, a spark of temper in her eyes. Celestia looked away, apologetic, until she deflated and relaxed. “I’m well-aware of the ramifications of love magic. That’s why it’s illegal in just about all its forms for everypony, save for me.” She saw Celestia’s look. “But I am in your home, so I’ll not use it anymore,” she compromised and promised. Her sister nodded approvingly. “I’ll store it in the palace vaults if you don’t trust me.” “I trust you,” Celestia smiled in earnest, keeping the arrow tucked under her wing out of sight. ***** Chrysalis was a light sleeper. She always had been, before she’d become a goddess. But now it was especially light. Oh sure, gods didn’t actually need to sleep. But being up and about twenty-four seven could be very mentally taxing. After staying awake for two and a half months to feverishly work on the changeling capital city, she’d at last surrendered to the idea that she at least needed leisure time. And if that leisure time was eight hours a day away from everyling else, well that suited her just fine she supposed. She read, napped, lazed about, and ate what she pleased in the meantime. It was a good compromise. Now, however, was not a particular time for sleep. She was on the border of Equestria and the Badlands, just beyond the range of one of Celestia’s border forts. She and her entourage of a dozen changelings had stopped for the night. Her gossamer litter had been taken apart and made into bedding, and would be reassembled at sunrise to bear her further. A queen did not walk from one place to another, after all. Chrysalis watched over the camp while everyling slept, ever the quiet guardian. Their little nests had blankets, tiny pillows and were soft enough on the sands for rest. Now and then, one of them would kick and whine a little. Chrysalis coddled one changeling, then another, like a mother dog with her puppies. She nuzzled them between their wings, humming a vibrato down in her throat to soothe them. When they would go limp she would move on to the next. Life had been good to the changeling empire these past twelve months or so. The city had risen up about her, the grasses around the river grew thick, and there was food. Food enough for everyling and that made everyling happy. Queen Chrysalis smiled. They worked so hard to please her. For themselves too. None were more selfless than the changelings that worked to make sure the changelings prospered. And noling worked as hard as she! Chrysalis gave her ethereal mane a toss. She did enjoy her new mane, for it glittered under the starry desert sky and refused all gravity. An eternal wind blew it slowly, luxuriously about. She adored it. One of her servants whimpered, turning over in her sleep and curling up in a tighter ball. Chrysalis leaned over her, putting her chin between her wings. She hummed for a time, until the poor thing relaxed. It must’ve been a bad dream. She stroked the little one’s back until she purred, and moved on. “Abandon this road or die on it,” said the changeling she’d just stroked. Chrysalis whirled about with a hiss. The little one was on her hooves, eyes open and rolled into her head. Was she… sleep-talking? Why in the pony tongue? “Who dares?!” Chrysalis whispered angrily, as not to wake the others and cause a panick. “I see my little changeling but I hear someling else! Who dares?!” “Why travel back to Celestia’s lands, she will only hurt you again! She doesn’t deserve your presence and neither does Nightmare Moon!” A long line of sand spilled out of the changeling’s mouth. She wandered forward a step, out of her nest. She stumbled comically, but the way she rose again was horrific. All the joints were at odd angles, like an old fashioned wooden puppet. Chrysalis sneered, then hissed with her fangs unfolding. “Celestia plots to kill you as we speak!” “She cannot, I am a Goddess!” Chrysalis snapped. “She sealed Nightmare Moon for a millennium, turned Discord to stone for an age, do you think she can’t be rid of you too?! Take everything you ever worked for away from you?!” The changeling’s eyes began to sprout tears. Whatever was possessing her was hurting her. Badly. “Hasn’t she already killed you once…?” her head tilted wayyyyy too far to one side, and Chrysalis’ stomach turned. “Release my servant!” Chrysalis demanded aloud, growing angrier and angrier. Her entourage began to stir. “Lest I tear your soul in half!” “Who do you think placed Bandaid in the tallest tower of your city, then set Nightmare Moon on you?! It was just an excuse for more changeling lives to be sacrificed!” “What?!” “Who else is fast enough to move that quickly and not be seen?!” The poor changeling began to weep sand out of the sides of her eyes. She coughed a little, and a shrill little squeak began to rise from her throat. “Only… Celestia’hhhh…!” she sighed, then flopped to the ground as though struck dead. Chrysalis launched herself forward and turned the poor creature over. “Healer!” she shouted to her slowly stirring group. “Get up! Get up this instant!” she roared. The changeling she cradled cried in pain as she tried to work the sand out of her eyes and mouth. What was happening?! Why did she hurt so much?! “Help her!” Chrysalis demanded angrily. He quickly rushed to her side, taking her and laying her out to be examined. The Changeling Queen rose, looking northward. Was it Celestia who stole Bandaid? “But who…?” she murmured, looking down at the poor thing that had been used as a mouthpiece for someling else. End of Part 4