The Beloved of Princess Nightmare Moon
Chapter 6: Sand Mare
It was a quiet night in the sleepy little town of Ponyville when four of the five children of Faust arrived. Unicorn foals, warm in their beds, fretted at the sudden influx of magic into the area. Even the adults murmured amongst themselves, frowning and sniffing at the air a little. Oil, rain-pregnant wind, soaps, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon, lavender and burnt firewood. The scent of strong magical auras pervaded in the atmosphere and seemed to make the very air heavy. Nopony was out in the street right then. The moon was high, the dinner hour was over, and everypony had retreated to their homes for the night. The beginnings of December had given the little hamlet snow, and everypony stayed warm and snug in their homes and beds. This was probably for the best, as the shimmer of light in Nurse Bandaid’s home was quite bright when the gods of Equis arrived.
Celestia promptly scraped her horn on the ceiling and ducked a little before she flicked it with magic to mend it. She, Cadance, Chrysalis and Nightmare peered about. “Remember,” Nightmare warned in a low voice. “We are here to look for evidence, not to root through his things. Disturbing things as they lay could destroy evidence.”
“Agreed,” Celestia said quickly, not wanting to intrude too much.
“You two are no fun,” Cadance snickered a little. “I wanna see what sort of stallion Nightie has been with this past couple of years. Dibs on the kitchen!” she pushed the bedroom door open, trotting away. “The way to a stallion’s heart is through his stomach!” she sing-songed as she went.
“I’ll go with her,” Celestia promised with an apologetic smile to Nightmare.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes, but did not move. “If there’s anything, it will be here,” she said, making for the sitting room. Her wings buzzed a bit, lifting her off the bright manilla carpet.
Bandaid’s home was a humble one. One bedroom, one bathroom, sitting room, kitchen, a few closets and a tiny storage room. It was relatively cleanly, no deep stains on the rugs or walls, and it wasn’t the worst paint job any of them had ever seen. There was a little bit of water damage in one of the corners of the kitchen, but nothing terrible. The house smelled a little. Not a bad smell, mind you. Just a stallion’s smell. A lived-in, bachelor’s pad sort of smell. Sort of like a corn tortilla or a salty chip. He’d not been home for a couple of weeks so there was a bit of dust here and there, but otherwise it seemed like a very normal pony’s dwelling.
Chrysalis peered around the living room with bald curiosity. The bookshelf hosted a whole row of Ponies and Castles books, a radio, a line of tiny plastic figurines, some picture frames of ponies she didn’t recognize, and a meager music collection. A pair of spider-webbed barbells sat sadly in the corner, five pounds each. A pile of mail was on the table. She pawed through this and that, but saw nothing unusual. His couch, his sitting chair, the windows… it was all so ordinary. Her eyes rested on a poster frame of a map of Maredore. Why, that wasn’t even a real country! The Queen rolled her eyes, sticking her head under the couch for a few moments. Nothing.
Celestia and Cadance emerged into Bandaid’s kitchen. A tiny, two-pony table sat right next to a little counter that hosted a toaster oven, fridge, sink and simple windows. His back door led to a tiny backyard with a garden that looked like it had never been touched since he’d moved in. The pink alicorn opened the fridge. Empty, save for a single can of pop and a baking soda box. “He must’ve known he was going to be gone for a while.” She checked the freezer. Also empty. “Hum,” Cadance shrugged a little as Celestia peered about the simple tile floor.
“No signs of forced entry,” the white alicorn was trying to stay on task, checking the frame of the back door for signs of breakage.
Nightmare Moon had allowed her siblings to fan out into the house so she could check the bedroom herself. There was no doubt in her mind her beloved had been snatched in his sleep to prevent a struggle. A sleeping drought or any such thing waved under his nose would’ve kept him in dreamland no matter how he was mare-handled out of his house. She pulled the bedspread to look for alchemy stains. None. She checked in the corners. She pulled his bedside drawer. Aspirin, sleepy pills, a dirty paperback novel, a box of lavender nose strips. Nightmare tapped her chin with a hoof, looking about. His medical degree was hung proudly on the wall… tilted. “Huhm?” she said, reaching and lighting her horn. She righted it slowly and a spill of sand hussshed from behind it to the floor. “Termites?” she wondered, pulling it off the wall. A clod of sand sat in a rather large hole in the wall. No. A hidden niche. Next to it sat a humble-looking piggybank of porcelain. Nightmare snickered a little, reaching and jingling it a little. It was heavy. A little note attached read ‘Vacation Funds, DO NOT TOUCH!’ “Cute,” she said, putting it back. The sand clod was gone. She replaced the picture on the wall, making sure it was straight. She dusted the top with a brush of her hoof. As she turned around, she saw the sand clod tumbling away and under the bed. “Oh dear,” she mumbled, lighting her horn and lifting the entire bed to fetch it. What she found made her shriek in surprise.
“What?! What is it?!” Chrysalis, Cadance and Celestia crowded the doorway. A five-foot-wide sinkhole was hidden under Bandaid’s bed. Nightmare set the bed against the wall, leaning over it and lighting her horn for light. It was like a tunnel. Fifteen feet down it led southward and away. Chrysalis poked a loose rock. No reaction from the shadows below. A small tufting sound said it landed in loose sand somewhere below.
“I’ll look,” the Changeling Queen said with some authority. “But if I find some sort of kinky sex dungeon down here I’m blaming you, Nightie.”
“Bandaid would never!” Nightmare said angrily. “Clearly this is our napper’s entrance!”
“Agreed,” Celestia said. “This is big enough for us— it’s big enough for Bandaid to be whisked away through.” She checked her wingspan against the size of the hole. Even an alicorn with folded wings could fit comfortably down there.
They watched Chrysalis light herself up with a bright, neon green glow of changeling magic. Fastening her hooves to the sides of the sink hole, she motored down the sides like an insect. Folding herself flatter and flatter, she rounded the corner. Nothing. Leaning with a scowl, she scratched her hoof along the ground a bit. Sand. She frowned severely. Had the tunnel been collapsed, or had there been one there to begin with? “What do you see?!” Cadance called down.
“It’s a dead end.” Chrysalis took another cursory look about, then turned around to rejoin her siblings. She emerged with a troubled frown, eyes squinted. “How did he not notice this since his return?”
“Do you ever check under your bed for extra tunnels?” Nightmare scoffed. The changeling Queen gave her a look. “Clearly I am asking the wrong goddess,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes. “If only I’d been here the night of, perhaps I would’ve fought off this attacker,” Nightmare said glumly after a time.
An idea sparked across Chrysalis’ mind’s eye for a moment and she thrust a hoof up. “Ah! I know!” she grinned with all her fangs. “We can ask our dear brother!”
Celestia seemed hesitant. “I know he has Mother’s eyes, but… must we?”
“He’s so… unpredictable,” Cadance said, looking rather worried at the mere idea.
“He can see the past and present exactly as it happened. That is the best tool we can possibly hope for in this situation. One side, cowards,” Chrysalis smoothed her ethereal mane for a moment, coughed twice, and made herself look regal and presentable. “Oh Discooorrrrrd?” she called her brother by name. “Discord, brother, dear?” she asked, making puppy eyes at the wall. The other three children of Faust made rather sickened faces. Discord favored Chrysalis over the others, Faust knew why, but he was more likely to come when she called since to call his name-!
“—is to draw his eyes upon you!” Discord snapped into existence with a crack of parted air. Soap bubbled rained down his front and he spattered Bandaid’s bedroom rug with bath toys and water. “I swear it never fails, you’re taking a bath and there’s a call of one’s name.” he squeak-squeaked a rubber ducky before tossing it over his shoulder. It burst into ashes. “Hello? Ah! Chryssi!” he threw his mismatched arms around her.
Ponyville murmured. Each and every home in town seemed to ache and grown. All five gods had gathered in a single place all at once. The doorframes ached, the shutters flickered a little, candles lit all by themselves, scaring citizens far and wide. Baby unicorns all over town mewled and began to whimper and fuss, waking their parents. They were still very sensitive to the scent and feel of magic, unable to ignore even the slightest change in the tides of power in the world around them. A whistling little gait made citizens all double-check that their doors were locked. An eerie silence settled over the town as even wind seemed to fail dear Ponyville. As though the world were watching, waiting, holding its breath for such a gathering.
“Brother dear,” Chrysalis greeted sweetly.
Discord’s smile widened as he vanished the bubbles, dried the waters instantly, and banished to bath toys to random toy boxes around the world. He squeezed his baby sister tight, then set her down again. Rearing up on his back legs with a bit of a snort, he promptly bashed his head on the ceiling with a yap. “Ach, where’ve you brought me, it’s so cramped!” he shrank in size until the ceiling was no longer a problem. “This isn’t your hive chambers!”
“It’s complicated,” Chrysalis gestured to everypony else present.
Discord gave a genuinely startled pause before his usual snaggle-tooth’d smile returned. The brief moment of seeing under his shields made Celestia lean forward with a gentle smile. “Discord, how have you been?” she asked. “I heard you’d been spotted on the edges of the Tri-Corn mountains, planting trees at all angles!”
To everyone’s surprise, his smile fell for a moment. “Yes. A tribute to the diseased.”
“Diseased?” Nightmare tilted her head a little.
“All the ones I killed. One tree for each soul I killed.”
There was a deafening silence. Snow swirled outside, and Bandaid’s house groaned a little. They all stared at him, more than a little shocked. Chrysalis was the first to recover and coughed a little, putting an arm about her brother’s shoulders before one of his darker moods got a hold of him. “W-Well, perhaps you can help your sisters and take a brief respite?”
“Anything for you, Chryssi,” he said with a snark of a smile, scrubbing the top of her head with his lion-paw hand. “Pray tell.” They briefly explained what was going on, and the mystery laid out before them. “You know I hate giving things away to others,” he said, folding his arms and looking to one side. “Spoilers never help any story develop the way it’s supposed to. It’s cheating!” he stuck his forked tongue out before winking at (reader's name here).
“To know the future is to change it,” Celestia said wisely. “But we need a glimpse of the past, so we may know who is trying to set us on each other.” She gestured to Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis with concern.
Discord sighed and grumbled to himself for a few moments. “Fine. One room. One look. No more. I’m not your mirror to see into the past at will. And I’ll be expecting payment,” he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together in a money-honey sort of gesture.
“What do you want?” Chrysalis asked innocently.
“I’ll decide later,” Discord said cryptically. “But when I call you for a favor, you will obey. Yes? Take it or leave it.” There was a short silence, until Chrysalis drew herself up and nodded seriously. “Very well. Let’s see then.” Discord’s pupils began to slowly expand until his eyes turned completely black. The eyes of Faust saw the past perfectly, could see everything in the present without error, and could glimpse the glimmers of the future. Mother’s Eyes. Discord’s Eyes. He could see anything, anytime, anywhere. “Hrm,” he said, putting his hands on his hips. He walked up the wall, then stood on the ceiling, looking curiously about.
Discord watched the sun and moon fly about, backward, counting days back. Ponies raced by as colored blurs. Plants shrank. The lawn grew tidier. Weeds wilted back into ground. Bandaid left for his parent’s house. Then he returned and flopped backward into bed. Then he dashed about the house, to and fro, walking in reverse. Food left his mouth and went back into the fridge, made whole. He dirtied himself in the shower, grabbing his medical bag and walking backwards to the end of his shift at the local hospital, Ponyville General. Then he returned clean and groomed for the start of his day. He regurgitated his breakfast onto his plate, returned it to the fridge, hopped back into bed… Discord skipped back and back until he arrived on the proper night.
“Can you see anything?” Nightmare Moon’s voice was very far away.
“I see everything,” Discord’s voice made his four sisters shiver and press together like a frightened herd of cattle. “Everything, all at once. Just gotta focus… a moment, hang on…” he startled when his vision was suddenly obscured. “Eh?” His eyes had not left Bandaid’s house, but the whole thing was billowing about like—! “A sandstorm,” he murmured, his brow furrowing.
“A sandstorm?” Cadance asked. “In the house?” She almost shrieked when Discord’s dead black gaze turned in her direction. He looked through her and into the past. The all-seeing-eyes of Mother never failed to pierce her very heart like a splash of ice water. The eyes were the windows to the soul, and when Discord used his Mother’s eyes, it was like he had no soul at all. Merely time. Time and forever and everywhere. She squeezed her eyes shut with a shiver, touching the doorframe so she wouldn’t fall over. Celestia stood next to her, carefully averting her gaze.
“Treacherous,” Discord said to the doorway where they all stood. “Treacherous indeed…” he watched the sandstorm billow about the house, obscuring his vision. He leaned over Bandaid’s bed, watching a tendril of earth and stone snake its way free. The stallion lay sleeping, hugging a pillow and resting peacefully. The long tentacle of earth snaked its way between his legs, past his groin and his ribs and his neck—up to his muzzle. It grew into a cone shape, then thrust itself over his face. A light whimper was all that was heard, and his brown body flushed to a deep grey of stone and rock. “Oh my…” Discord said, watching the cone grow bigger until it sucked him in like a vacuum. Statue Bandaid was quickly collected and pulled under the bed. He CLANGED against the ground like metal. Ah, not stone, he’d been turned into a durable metal statue. “Interesting!” Discord said, sticking his head under the bed to watch Bandaid be pulled through his own floorboards and into a sinkhole. As soon as he was submerged, the lump that showed where he was ZIPPED away as though it were a fish in water. “Well then,” the god of chaos said slowly, standing erect again.
“What did you see?” Chrysalis said urgently. Discord’s gaze flicked her way and she shuddered, grabbing the doorframe a little. His gaze was too much even for she. Celestia flicked her body temperature a bit higher so she would not suffer. Lifting her wings and folding them over her sisters’ backs, she encased Cadance and Chrysalis into her body heat. Both of them sighed in relief, sagging against her. The room began to swelter in the sun goddess’ aura. Nightmare stood there, carefully watching her brother’s feet and not looking into his eyes while he worked.
“You have such an interesting taste in villains,” Discord said slowly, watching an unfamiliar figure cross the room. Whoever it was, it was vaguely pony-shaped. Earth and sand swirled all over its body, never really resting. And the face. There was no face, not really. Slits for eyes, yes, but… it was hard to even get a gender out of the craggy thing. Discord leaned back and forth around the figure to get a better look, but it was merely an image, not something he could touch or affect.
“Mistress,” it was a double-voice, but mostly female in the echoes of the past. “It is done. Bandaid is on his way to the Changeling Empire.” Discord leaned verrrrry close, trying to get a good look but just as suddenly the figure dissolved into earth and rock, sifting under the bed and into the sinkhole. Out of sight.
“An elemental…?” Discord wondered aloud. “No, no… something more potent,” he tapped his chin a few times. After moving back and forth in time to watch the scene a few times over from different angles, he returned his gaze to the present. “It’s safe now,” he told the four of them.
“What did you see?” Chrysalis shouldered her way out of Celestia’s protective wings. He told them in detail. “A metal statue?” The changeling Queen wondered. “Well that makes more sense, given his rate of travel.”
“I could transport a metal statue of a stallion from A to B without destroying it, with my Sun-Step,” Celestia offered before she was asked. “But we know it wasn’t me, by the evidence we just heard.”
“Well, your sand mare is certainly an interesting pony,” Discord said. “As soon as she came apart and rejoined the earth, I couldn’t see her at all!” he returned from the ceiling back to the floor, so he was upright again. “But yes, turning your Nurse Bandaid into a statue for quick transport isn’t the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. He’d be less likely to break under the strain of magical travel like that-!”
“—Only to be restored back to normal in time for us to fight over him,” Nightmare said, looking at Chrysalis.
The Changeling Queen nodded with a troubled frown. “A sand mare, you say,” she said slowly. “I know of no such magic.”
“High-end transmutation isn’t out of the question,” Celestia said thoughtfully, sitting on his haunches. Cadance emerged from under her wing as she spoke. “Turning ponies into statuary was a popular punishment, once upon a time,” she winced when Discord folded his arms at her. “Er, that is…”
“It’s behind us now,” Discord said just a little crabbily.
“But Discord is right, at least that piece of the puzzle is in place,” Celestia quickly amended. “Turning Bandaid into a metal statue would make him very easy to transport at any sort of magical speed. And keeping him underground would keep anypony from seeing where he was being taken.”
“But whom? And why?” Nightmare demanded.
“That remains to be seen,” Discord said neutrally, walking up the wall and sitting on a curtain rod as though he weighed nothing.
“Well, look and see!” Nightmare said loudly. “Look upon Gnosis and see who emerged from the earth with Bandaid in tow! Perhaps they betrayed their face when restoring him to flesh and blood.”
“We had a deal,” Discord said, shaking his head. “One room. One look. One favor in return. No more. I would hate to give too much away and let everything just solve itself in a nice neat little bow. What’s the fun in that?!” he guffawed a little, turning upside down and hanging off the curtain rod like he was a foal on the monkey bars at school. Nightmare harrumphed at him. “Besides, I would hate for all my dear siblings to owe me favors all at once,” his lip curled a little and Cadance shuddered. “But I know Chrysalis gives the best… favors,” he wandered down the wall again, and into the sitting room. They followed him and he tapped one of Bandaid’s Ponies and Castle’s figurines. The tiny, five-inch-tall red dragon burst to life, yowling a tiny roar and spitting sparks. It spread its wings and flapped away like a bird, hiding who-knew-where in Bandaid’s house as it screeched territorially.
****
December had come to Dazzle Kick’s dojo. A quartet of woks had been lit ablaze with firewood, and a canopy of brown fabric kept the heat in, while being thin enough to let sunlight in. It was pretty toasty, really. And it made for a great practicing ground for Bandaid and Rainbow Dash. Dazzle was resting her injured leg, but Rainbow had recovered much more quickly. She’d been tasked with teaching Bandaid some very basic wrestling moves, and she was certainly hooves-on with her own lessons. The dotted bruises all over the stallion’s body was more than proof of that.
“Are you trying to hump me, or what?” Rainbow demanded while Bandaid awkwardly wrestled with her. “C’mon! You gotta grab more firmly. You’re an earth pony, let’s see that terra strength!” So far, the stallion had been a complete loss. The cyan mare was barely trying! But finally he’d managed a very basic, two-shoulder pin that… honestly… looked like he was trying to mount her.
“Shut up!” Bandaid said defensively. “I’m trying!”
“—trying to hump me, is what you’re trying,” Rainbow sniggered, wiggling free with a bit more strength than before. Bandaid reared up and put a bit more pressure on her left shoulder while pressing hard down the center of her back. Snap-crackle-pop-pop-pop. Her back popped gloriously, in a way only an athlete’s can after years of bodily punishment. Rainbow Dash groannnned, going limp.
“Oh jeez did I hurt you?!” Bandaid said, brow going up.
“No no! Do that again!” Rainbow demanded, spreading her wings out so he could reach easier.
“Uhh, oo-kay,” he carefully repeated the motion. Crackle-snap-pop-pop-pop-pop. Rainbow’s legs all went out from under her and her tongue loll’d out.
“Fucking Faust that was good…” she sighed. “D-do it again,” she begged.
“I’m not a chiropractor,” Bandaid said, a little red-faced from all her moaning. “J-just one more.” He started at the base of her spine, applied pressure, and traced up to the back of her neck. The number of popping-snapping-popping was just a little bit alarming. Her moan was long, loud, and sounded like she was in agony. Then she went limp with a purr. “You might wanna see a chiropractor though, sheesh…” he said, a little worried for her.
“Nah, man, I’m just…” she let out a long, luxurious sigh. “I just needed that…”
A little crashing sound drew both of their gazes. A formerly potted plant lay smattered across the ground, the pot in pieces. First Aide stood there, mouth hanging open. “Are you two-?!” he stuttered. Rainbow suddenly saw Bandaid in his father’s face. Easily embarrassed, overly emotional sometimes and kind of a wussy. Well, they did look like they were… ah… well… ehheh. “It’s not what it looks like, old timer,” Rainbow said from under Bandaid’s, well, mounted position with his hooves dug into her back.
“Hey Dad,” Bandaid said, glad he was there. “C’mere and help me with this.”
“I WILL DO NO SUCH THING!” First Aide said, backing up with a horrified expression.
“No no, she has some kind’a vertebral subluxation,” Bandaid said clinically, kneading the poor mare’s back a few times. Rainbow took the cue and moannnned. First Aide stopped a moment, seeming to take this in. “C’mere. Remember when Mom got body-slammed by Titanic Tina at the Grand Griffonian Octagon Cup?” he said.
“Yeah, her third vertebra had to be adjusted professionally,” First Aide was already wandering forward with interest. “Is your back hurting you, Rainbow Dash?” he pushed his glasses up his muzzle. Father and son stood over the cyan mare, gesturing and touching and prodding a little to see if her wings would flex. They compared notes and conjecture over the lay of her muscles compared to Dazzle Kicks, taking the wings into account and then readjusting their assumptions based on her age and weight and-- Rainbow watched them both from her head-down-ass-up position, puffing air to get her mane out of her eyes.
“Y’know if I was straight this would sort of be a turn on, but can we get to the point here?” Rainbow loudly reminded them of their position and set both stallions to stuttering. “Heh! You guys are too easy!”
End of Chapter 6