The door fully opens and bright light shines down on us. I wince as the light shines onto my eyes and I squint. With the door now fully open, I can understand why Celestia wanted me to stay in the shadows. My rapidly beating heart drops to the pit of my stomach as my ears pick up the sound of multiple voices talking, all of them unfamiliar to me.
Something clicks in my head when I suddenly understand why Celestia paused when she reached for the doorhandle. When she was reaching for it, she heard the voices from the other side of the door and possibly not wanting to start a panic, she decided to instruct me to stay in the shadows so she can talk with the voices without any issue.
“Come,” Celestia says to both Twilight and Luna. They nod and they all step out.
I stay in the shadows, just as Celestia instructed me to do, as the voices intensify in volume. They are so loud that I can’t understand what they’re saying. They are so loud that I feel like my eardrums are going burst, just from the sheer volume.
“Be at ease, my little ponies,” I hear Celestia say in a loud, but easing tone. “Be at ease.”
Immediately, the voices stop and I feel my heart begin beating rapidly in my chest again. The tension in the air is so great that it can be cut with a knife.
“Your Highnesses, is it true that Nightmare Moon has somehow returned?” I hear a female voice ask. There’s a moment of silence as apprehension fills the air.
I have no idea what the heck is going on out there, but something deep down tells me to let Celestia and the others handle everything and that everything is going to be okay. As much as I want to believe that, something else tells me that things are about to take a turn for the worse.
“Yes, it’s true,” Celestia replies. Loud gasps of horror echo down the dark staircase as a result of the reply. “However, upon awakening, she has shown no signs of her old self and appears to remember nothing.”
I can hear the voices murmuring something, though what I’m not able to tell at all. However, what I can tell is that the voices have powerful traces of fear and panic in them. I really don’t like the sound of that.
“So Your Highnesses, what are you going to do with her?” asks an unfamiliar male voice.
“For the time being, we will be having her stay in one of the guest bedrooms until we’ve decided on what we’re going to do with her,” Luna replies in a restrained tone. More fearful and panicked murmurs quickly follow.
“We promise that she’s not going to hurt any of you,” Twilight says softly. “You are perfectly safe.”
Nervousness fills my entire being and I begin breathing heavily and rapidly. I feel the need to come out of the shadows and see what is going on. However, I stay put, reminding myself that Celestia will let me know when it’s okay for me to come out of the shadows. I have zero intention on disobeying her.
“Okay Nightmare Moon, you can come out now,” I hear Celestia call out into the darkness. I try to move but find that I can't. My body is wrecked with nervousness that I can’t even find the strength to move my legs.
“I… I don’t know about this,” I say nervously. Loud gasps echo throughout the dark staircase and that only fuels my nervousness.
“It’s going to be okay,” Twilight calls out into the darkness. I stay where I am when I realize something.
‘If I stay here, they might come and pull me out,’ I think to myself. I take a deep breath in an effort to steel my nerves and look out with a burst of determination.
"Okay, I'm coming out," I call out, slight traces of determination present in my tone.
I walk up the last few steps and step out into the light, shielding my eyes with my left foreleg. Gasps of horror fills my ears and I feel my heart drop to the pit of my stomach once again. After what feels like forever, my eyes finally adjust to the brightness. I lower my foreleg down and what I see makes me want to run away as fast as I can.
Standing before me is a large group of ponies staring at me with horrified expressions plastered on their faces. A lot of the mares and stallions are wearing some kind of body cloth; the mares wearing some kind of black-and-white clothing I’m not familiar with and the stallions wearing some kind of armor that looks alien to me.
I feel all the traces of determination leave my body as I stare with wide eyes, my jaw hanging open. As I continue to stare, I notice something very strange. All of the ponies before look nothing like Twilight, Celestia, and Luna. To put this into perspective, I notice that some of them don’t have a horn or a pair of wings, some that have a horn but no wings, and some that have wings but don’t have a horn and the ones with the wings are hovering in the air.
‘Are there different kinds of ponies?’ I think to myself nervously. ‘I can think about that later. Right now, they’re all staring at me.’
I gulp harshly before chuckling nervously. I give them a nervous smile as I raise my left hoof and slowly wave.
“Um… hello,” I whisper nervously. I jump as the ponies scream in absolute terror.
“IT’S NIGHTMARE MOON!!”
“SHE REALLY IS BACK!!”
“WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!”
“I WANT MY MOMMY!!”
“EVERYPONY RUN!!”
They all begin to run around in circles, bumping and colliding into each other before scurrying off. I stand still as a statue as the screams echo loudly before going quiet after a long moment.
Silence fills the hall as I take in what had just happened. The way all of those ponies screamed at the top of their lungs and ran away like their very lives depended it tells me one thing; they all fear me… greatly. I shouldn’t be surprised, considering this was something I thought would happen, but in all honesty, I’m surprised.
“Well, that happened,” I say, not knowing what to say.
“Come, we will take you to your room,” Celestia says. I turn to face her and nod my head before the four of us begin walking down the right hallway in the direction of one of these supposed guest bedrooms.
I walk behind Twilight, Celestia, and Luna as they lead me down this long hallway. I try to take my mind out from what just happened moments prior but is proving to be impossible. The screams of those terrified ponies echo loudly in my head and I can feel a migraine coming on.
I turn my head to my right to see one of those mares wearing a black-and-white piece of cloth looking at me with the most terrified look on her face. The second we make eye contact, the mare lets out a scream of terror before pointing at me with a shaky hoof.
‘Here it comes,’ I think to myself, knowing full well what is about to go down.
“IT’S NIGHTMARE MOON!!” the mare screams out. “SHE’S BACK!!”
Like her very life depended on it, she turns and runs down the hallway as she continues to scream. I let out a depressed sigh.
For the past 5 minutes, I witnessed a few stallions wearing armor, like the ones from earlier, let out a squeak before shaking violently in fear, some of the mares wearing that black-and-white clothing, just like the one that ran away from me just now, run down the hall screaming at the top of their lungs, and I’m pretty sure some of those poor ponies had an accident on the floor.
I let out another depressed sigh and I lower my head. These ponies fear me very greatly. I feel my heart ache at this. I really hate the fact that they are afraid of me. If anything, I despise being feared, period. It makes me feel like the bad guy and a criminal.
‘Obviously, this has something to do with me looking like Nightmare Moon,’ I think to myself. ‘They think that I am the real Nightmare Moon and are very much thinking that I’m going to hurt them.’
I turn my attention away from the terrified ponies and catch sight of Luna giving me that annoying glare yet again. She narrows her eyes at me and then arches her neck forward, as if she’s trying to look deep into my very soul. I resist the strong urge to let out another sigh, only out of annoyance this time as she turns her attention away from me.
‘What is going on with her?’ I think to myself in annoyance. ‘Why can’t she just stop looking at me like that? I wish it would just stop.’
I turn my head around slowly in circles at the structure of the hall in an attempt to keep my mind and attention away from the screaming and terrified ponies, as well as Luna’s piercing and annoying glare. The walls seem to be made out of white stone, a little bit too white for my taste. On the walls to the right, there are these large glass windows with pointed tops and I notice that some of these windows have color on them with images that seemed to tell some kind of story from what I can tell. There is a large red carpet on the floor that seems to have no end that has four hearts in the center and flowers on the sides.
Overall, the hallway looks pretty cool. I bet the rest of the castle looks just as cool as this hallway. I mean, it has to since this is a castle after all and it’s supposed to look as cool, as well as beautiful at the same time too. And besides, I have a feeling that a castle isn’t just something anypony can just move into and live in whenever they want. You will have to be one luck pony to ever get the chance of ever living in a castle. In my eyes, it is a big honor in its own right.
“We’re here.” The sound of Princess Celestia’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I shake my head to help clear it from any lingering thoughts.
Twilight, Celestia, and Luna stop in their tracks, and I do the same. They then turn their bodies to the right and I follow behind them. A feeling of amazement courses through my body as I look at the huge door that looks to be about a foot taller than me. It isn’t a fancy-looking door mind you, so don’t picture it as something super fancy.
“This is where you’ll be staying for the time being,” Princess Celestia says and I turn my head to my left to face her, but she doesn’t turn to look at me.
Her horn lights up yet again and is followed by the sound of the doorknob turning. I turn to look just in time to see a gold-like aura surrounding the doorknob before the door swings completely open. I see Celestia motion for me to enter the room with her head in the corner of my eye. I walk into the room and immediately survey the layout.
The room is huge, being about 2x bigger than my old cell, a large Queen-Sized bed with a large red blanket pressed up against the wall to the left, two large glass double doors that led to a balcony, a wooden nightstand that stands to the left side of the bed, a large wooden dresser with 5 draws that stands to the right side of the bed, a large wooden bookcase with a different variety of books that stands to the right side of the double doors, and a door that possibly leads to another room connected to the bedroom on the right wall. It isn’t the best-looking room, but it’s decent enough and it’s better than being locked up in the dungeons.
“So, what do you think?” I hear Twilight ask from behind. I turn my head to look her in the eyes and give her a small smile.
“I like it,” I say. “Not the best looking room, but it’s decent enough for me.”
“Wonderful to hear,” Celestia says. “We’ll be taking our leave now. Dinner will be ready by 6:00 PM. If you ever need anything, just ask one of the guards that we will have stationed outside.”
I nod and with that, the door to my bedroom closes. I look away from the door and continue surveying the room. I don’t know why, but it feels really cool to have a room to call my own for the meantime. And to top it all off, the room has a balcony with it so whenever I want to go get some fresh air, I can just step out into the balcony to do just that.
I walk over to the bed and rest my right hoof onto the large mattress. The mattress is surprisingly soft. I start to run my hoof on the large blanket in a circle. The cool feeling from just running my hoof on it makes my fur stand up. It radiates this refreshing and comforting feeling, which makes this much more pleasant. There is nothing in the world that can ever top it whatsoever.
I hop onto the bed and the bed creeks and bounces, the left side of my face resting onto the bed. I can feel my hindlegs dangling off the edges, but I don’t care. A soft moan escapes my throat as a blissful feeling flows all throughout my body. The softness of the bed makes it feel like I’m laying down on a cloud. I feel all of my worries flow out of me as a feeling of drowsiness hits me like a ton of bricks. My eyes slowly begin to close as I begin to lose consciousness.
Suddenly, my nose wrinkles when I pick up a very faint smell. I sniff and slightly cringe. The smell isn’t pleasant, but it’s not a good smell either. If anything, it’s a smell of filth.
‘What is that smell?’ I think to myself. I move my right hoof to my nose and sniff. I fight the urge to vomit as I realize that the unpleasant smell is coming from me. ‘Phew, I reek.’
For some odd reason, my eyes aim for the door to the right. I begin to feel curious for what could be on the other side. It might be something that can help me get rid of this stench. I seriously hope that there is because I certainly do not want to open and peek my head out of my bedroom door and ask the guards stationed outside, if there are any, if there is any place I can go to get clean.
‘I hope that what is on the other side of the door is something that I can use to get myself clean,’ I think to myself. ‘I rather save myself the utter embarrassment of having to ask a random pony to help me.’
I hop off the incredibly soft bed and walk over to the door. I reach out and try to grasp the doorhandle with my left hoof. It takes me a couple of tries, but I manage to grasp the handle and push it down. I push the door open all the way and step inside, closing the door behind me. I go wide-eye at what I am seeing.
It is a room with a sink, a toilet, and a tub with a different variety of soaps stacked on the right side of the tub. The floor has black-and-white tiles with the walls being paper white, and it is about half the size of my bedroom. I know this particular room has a name, but I can’t remember what the name is. Like for real, I know what a bathtub is, what a sink is, and for goodness sake, I even know what a toilet is, but I don’t know what the name of this room is? How the heck does that make any sense?
I look over to the tub and think about taking a nice bath. The idea of taking a nice warm bath sounds like a great idea. I walk over to the tub and peek inside. I am surprised to see that the tub is big enough for me to actually lay down in it. There is a large built-in seat within the tub, most likely there if I wanted to just sit down and soak in it whenever I felt like it.
The idea of just sitting down and soaking in it sounds way much better to me for some reason. As slowly and as cautiously as possible, I step into the tub and look over at the little silver wheels, the left wheel labeled as ‘hot’ and the right wheel as ‘cold’. I grasp both of the silver wheels and turn them all the way, the left wheel to the left and the right wheel to the right. Water comes gushing out and immediately begins to fill up the tub at a very fast rate. I flinch instinctively when I feel the warm water make contact with my body. I begin to relax as I feel its soothing effect spread throughout my body.
After about like 3 minutes, the water is almost to the top and I feel like it’s enough. I turn the wheels in the opposite directions and the water stops. I slowly lower my butt onto the seat until it comes into contact with the built-in seat. I let out a sigh as I lay my back against the wall and let my forelegs rest on the edges of the tub.
As I sat in the tub and soak in the water, I feel the stiffness that is still present in my body, although not as intense as before, wash away like dried dirt and relief flows all throughout my body. I don’t know how, but it completely and utterly amazes me on how water can have this really amazing effect on ponies, how in the heck water has this magic-like effect on washing away tension and have this calming effect to it. To be very honest, it’s a complete blessing to have something like this in the world.
As I continue to soak in the warm water, my thoughts suddenly shift to what happened back in the dungeons. The way both Celestia and Luna gave me those hateful looks, how Luna was throwing all those countless accusations at me, and Twilight telling me that they found me in some place called ‘the Castle of the Two Sisters’ earlier this morning, all of it gives birth to countless unanswered questions.
‘Why were the Princesses giving me those hateful looks? What did this ‘Nightmare Moon’ pony do that would strike unbridle fear into so many ponies? What did Luna mean by ‘come back’? What is this ‘Castle of the Two Sisters’? Where is that castle even located at? And more importantly, why was Luna continuously glaring at me?’
Not having the answer to those questions is truly pretty frustrating, but the water keeps the frustration at bay. Maybe someday, I will get the answers to those questions, but I know deep down that it won’t be any time soon. It might take a long while before that happens. I doubt that Twilight, Celestia, and Luna will give me the answers so easily since they don’t trust me at all but hopefully, I will find out soon enough when the time is right.
Speaking of trust, I highly doubt that they believe me on not remembering anything. I like how Celestia and Twilight gave me those warm smiles, but that didn’t mean that they believe me or anything. Then there’s Luna. There is no doubt that she is going to be a big pain in the butt later in the mere future. The way she was acting back in the dungeons tells me that she isn’t going to be one where I can earn her trust easily.
Speaking of Luna, I think back to all of those continuous glares Luna was giving me. I can’t help but frown at this. What the heck was wrong with her? I know that I have been asking myself that question so many times, but it’s one that I really want the answer to. The way she was glaring and narrowing her eyes at me like that gives me the impression that she was doing something but what is the question.
Lastly, there is the mystery on the relationship status between Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare Moon. I can tell that whatever happened between them is something personal. It does shed some light on their hateful expression that they had on their faces back in the dungeons. I get the feeling that somehow, Luna has the most personal connection with this Nightmare Moon, judging from her behavior. You have to be incredibly stupid to not notice.
‘I wonder what happened between Luna and Nightmare Moon?’ I think to myself. Maybe I can ask either Twilight or Celestia about that in the future.’
My thoughts suddenly shift to what Celestia said to me back in the dungeons.
‘It is clear that something’s very wrong here and until we decide on what we are going to do with you, you will be staying in one of the guest bedrooms in the meantime.’
What did she mean by ‘decide on what they are going to do with me’? Did it mean that they will be deciding on what my fate is going to be? If that is the case, did that mean that I might possibly be punished for what Nightmare Moon did? Will I have to suffer the consequences of Nightmare Moon’s actions? Do they think I am going to repeat whatever it is that Nightmare Moon did? Or better yet, what kind of punishment are they coming up with? All because I look like her.
I feel anger begin to boil up in my veins over these thoughts. Just because I look like her, doesn’t mean that I have to face the consequences of Moon’s actions. In my eyes, I see that as unfair and unjust. I deserve to have at least a chance to prove that I am not who they think I am and that I am able to make my own choices, not follow down Nightmare’s hoofsteps.
‘I have to find a way to prove them wrong,’ I think to myself. ‘I have to find a way…’
Suddenly, my thoughts shift to Twilight and how she acted in the dungeons. The way she became nervous and sweating like crazy after I’ve asked her why I wasn’t the most popular or well-liked pony tells me that there’s something she doesn’t want me to know about. On top of that, the way she said that it was nothing too big tells me that what Nightmare Moon tried to do was indeed something very big. Bad even. There is no other explanation for her nervous behavior.
I suddenly think about her cute smile. I can’t help but smile at this. A strange feeling forms in the center of my chest. It is a feeling that feels warm and pleasant, one that makes my heart beat a bit fast. I feel it spread all throughout my body and I can’t help but moan softly by how pleasant it feels.
‘She is cute,’ I think to myself and I feel the smile on my face grow wider at this. I shake my head violently to get rid of this thought. ‘What am I thinking? I’ve just met her. But… why am I thinking like this? It doesn’t make any sense.’
A wave of drowsiness hits me like a ton of bricks and I feel my eyes become heavy. I shake my head in an attempt to shake off the drowsiness, but it does little to help. I try with all my mental strength to stay awake, but the drowsiness grows stronger by each passing second.
‘Gotta… stay… awake…’ I think to myself. ‘Have… to…’
Then nothing.
*SLAM*
My eyes shot open and I let out a scream, squirming wildly in the bathtub. Water splashes in and out of the tub as I sit up. Once I sit up, I place my right hoof on my chest, feeling the rapid beating of my heart as I turn my head in the direction of the door.
Standing in the doorway looking frantic is a stallion with a horn on the top of his head. He is wearing the same gold-like armor that I’ve seen some of the other stallions here wear. He has small beads of sweat on his forehead and he’s breathing heavily like he had been running for a very long time or something.
He instantly looks in my general direction. The second he sees me, I see the frantic look leave his face. A look of utter embarrassment instantly forms on his face as his face turns dark red.
I feel my entire face become hot and I instinctively cover myself with both of my hooves and forelegs. I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel naked and vulnerable in this situation. I want to scream at the stallion for barging in here while I am soaking in here and tell him to get out, but I can’t. I am so embarrassed that I don’t even have the strength to speak. I can do nothing but stare at the stallion, who stares back at me.
“Um, is there something that I can help you with?” I ask sheepishly, my entire face still feeling hot. I embarrassingly watch as the stallion begins to shake in terror, his eyes growing wide.
“I-I’m so sorry ma’am, I-I was sent here by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to i-inform you that it’s time for dinner and that t-they wanted to speak with you a-about something i-important,” the stallion says in a very shaky voice. ‘W-when I saw that you w-were nowhere to be seen, I began looking for you, so I charged into this bathroom and well…” He pauses as a fearful expression forms on his face. “I-I’m so sorry, ma’am. P-please don’t hurt me!!”
I look at the stallion with a frown as I see him looking down at the floor while literally quaking in his gear. The heat in my face finally fades away. That familiar ache resurfaces in my heart and I try my best to not show it. He is so afraid of me that he believes that I’m going to hurt him for barging into the room the way he did. I feel the ache in my heart spike at that and I grasp my chest with my right hoof.
‘Whatever Nightmare Moon did, I have to try to show everypony that I’m nothing like her,’ I think to myself. ‘Maybe if I show and tell this stallion that I’m not going to hurt him, he might ease up. That’ll be a good place to start.’
After a while, I feel the ache go away and I look to the stallion, who is still quaking in his gear. I give him the best comforting smile I can muster. When he notices that I’m not going to do anything, he shakily lifts his head up and looks fearfully into my eyes.
“It’s okay,” I say in a soft tone. His jaw opens slightly and remains still as a statue for a brief moment before he snaps out of it.
“W-what?” the stallion asks, his voice still shaky.
“It’s okay,” I repeat in that same soft tone. “I am not mad at you nor am I going to hurt you. Yes, I’m a little embarrassed that you came barging in here, and giving me quite a scare, but I refuse to hurt you over something this small.”
The stallion stops shaking and I watch as his face transforms into one of genuine surprise. His surprise tells me that the stallion wasn’t expecting this turn of events.
“W-what?” he asks in a shaky voice. “Y-you’re not going to hurt me?”
I allow the smile to grow slightly.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I reply in that same soft tone. “It was only an accident and what kind of pony would I be if I assaulted you for barging in here?”
The smile on my face grows as I watch the stallion begin to relax, although he was still shaking but not as much. I hope this helps him not be as scared of me as before.
I look around the room and notice that there was nothing here that I can use to dry myself off. I look back to the stallion and give him a sheepish smile.
“Oh, and while you’re here, can you get me something that I can use to dry myself off please? While I dry myself off, you can wait for me in my room.”
He quickly nods before leaving the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. I slowly step out of the bathtub and begin waiting for him to come back with something that I could use to dry myself off with. The warmth that the water provided begins to get cold and I begin shivering like crazy. I feel the strong urge to jump right back into the tub, but I resist and push the urge away.
As I wait, I feel my fur slowly begin to dry and knot. I grab at my chest fluff and try to unknot my fur. I flinch and grind my teeth together as pain shoots through my body. I walk over to the tub and hop back inside. A loud splash echoes throughout the room and the water hits the floor, soaking it some more. I splash myself with the water, soaking my entire head and body. I feel the knots come loose and I find myself starting to grow impatient.
‘Come on, please hurry,’ I think to myself as I continue to splash myself with the water. ‘I don’t know how much longer I can take this.’
I hear a few knocks at the door and I stop splashing myself with the water. I smile as the voice of the stallion that came barging in here moments prior call out from the other side of the door.
“Ma’am, I have a towel for you.”
“Thank you,” I reply back as I hop of out of the tub and walk over to the door.
I grasp the handle and push it down. I pull the door back and see a hoof slip in-between the opening with a large purple towel wrapped around it. I grab the towel and the hoof slips away. I shut the door and walk over to the center of the room. I sit down on my haunches and wrap each end of the towel around my hooves and begin drying my body off.
As I dry myself off, I take notice of how fresh and clean I feel. Something in the back of my mind tells me to check out the water in the tub. Curious, I turn my head and see that the water is not as clear as it was before. Was I really that filthy? I cringe at the thought. I don’t even know how I never noticed how filthy I looked. I guess with my fur being all black that it’s pretty much impossible to notice any dirt on my body. Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I decided to soak in the tub when I did because I definitely don’t want to sleep on the bed with me being covered in all that filth.
After a few minutes, I finish drying myself off and unwrap the towel from my hooves. I press the towel on my head and begin drying it off. I scrub the towel as I want to make sure that it’s dry and not one spot of my head is wet. In my eyes, that will be considered sloppy.
The towel makes contact with something on my forehead and I can’t help but let out a loud gasp. I remove the towel from my head and unwrap the towel from my right hoof. I slowly raise it to my forehead and it makes contact with something hard. I slowly rub my hoof on it and I let out a really loud moan. Whatever it is that I have on my forehead is something incredibly long and sensitive.
I move my hoof away from whatever it is on my forehead and I look in the mirror above the sink.
My eyes widen when I see my reflection. The towel slides off my left hoof and it flops onto the floor. I step closer to the sink to get a closer look at my face. I am both in awe and shock as I stare at my reflection.
I support a small muzzle with my facial structure looking almost similar to Luna’s, only just slightly different. I have messy, light blue hair and on the back of my head is the same magic-like cloud with stars, and I have a long black horn on my forehead, which is probably the thing that is pretty sensitive. That alone isn’t what shocks me the most; what shocks me are my eyes.
My eyes are large, but instead of looking like how Twilight, Celestia, and Luna’s look, the white part of my eyes are light turquoise with my irises being a darker colors, and my pupils are dagger-shaped. I feel nothing but dread when looking at this face. It’s like I am staring into the face of a monster.
‘Maybe that’s all they see me as; a monster,’ I think to myself, still very shocked at my reflection.
I shake my head, remembering that the stallion is currently waiting for me in my bedroom. ‘I can worry about this some other time. Right now, I shouldn’t keep the stallion waiting for me for much longer.’
My eyes widen as I suddenly remember the stallion that is waiting for me to quickly finish my business in here. Strong feelings of both utter horror and embarrassment flow throughout my body at the possibility of him hearing me.
‘Oh no, I hope he didn’t hear me moan when I rubbed at my horn,’ I think to myself, feeling my face grow hot. ’I really hope he doesn’t say anything about it. The last thing I want is to tell him what happened.’
Turning my attention away from the mirror and shaking this out of my head, I pick the towel up from the floor and resume drying my head and hair off, this time, making sure to avoid touching the long horn on my forehead. The last thing I want is for the towel to touch my horn and make me moan like that again. I don’t need anymore fuel to be added to the embarrassment that I still feel.
I remove the towel from my head and unwrap my hooves. I let the towel fall to the floor and I raise my hooves to my head. I rub them all over my head to make sure that I didn’t miss a spot because if I somehow did, I will use the towel and dry my head and hair off more thoroughly. I feel no wetness, which I take as a good thing.
With my body now fully dry, I walk over to the door, grasp the handle with my left hoof and push it down. Pulling the door open, I walk out of the room and close the door behind me. I look back to see the stallion waiting for me. The stallion looks in my direction and I notice that his face is slightly red.
“Are you done, Ma’am?” he asks sheepishly.
“Yes,” I reply cautiously. I walk over to him and watch the stallion flinch in fear when I stop about a foot away from him.
“I’m very sorry to intrude, but were you okay in there?” he asks, his face turning into a dark shade of red. I feel an icy cold feeling begin to spread all throughout my body as I fear the worst.
“Yes,” I say, trying my best to hide my embarrassment. “Why do you ask, if you don’t mind.”
“Well…” The stallion hesitates. “While I was waiting, I heard you moan very loudly in there. I wanted to go in there to see if you were okay but feared that you would hurt me if I did it again.”
I feel my heart drop to the pit of my stomach at his words. The stallion did hear me. I feel my entire face grow hot as I feel small beads of sweat form on my forehead. I really wish he didn’t say anything because what am I even supposed to say to that? That when my towel touched my horn and made me gasp, I decided to check what it was, rubbed it a little bit and moaned as result? Yeah, that wouldn’t work so very well because to be honest, that will be a little too much.
I swallow harshly, hurting my throat in the process before I allow a nervous smile to spread across my face. If ponies can die from embarrassment, then I’m pretty sure I would be dead by now because of how embarrassed I feel at this point.
“Y-yes, I-I’m fine. I-it’s nothing i-i-important,” I reply rather quickly. ‘Please don’t ask anymore.’
“Are you sure?” he asks. Of course, he asks. Just my luck.
A rush of frustration flows throughout my body, all traces of embarrassment washing away like dried dirt. All I want is to just forget about what just happened and move on. Why did this stallion have to become curious and ask me all of these questions.
“Yes, I’m very sure,” I reply with frustration evident in my tone. “Can’t we just get going now?”
He look at me for a moment before he nods and the two of us walk out of the bedroom. I let out a low sigh of relief as my face finally returns to normal.
‘Thank goodness that’s over,’ I think to myself. ‘I don’t think I would be able to take any more of that.’
As I follow close behind, I suddenly think back to when the stallion told me that the Princesses wanted to talk to me about something, something very important.
‘Maybe they have decided on what they are going to do with me,’ I think to myself. ‘I just hope that my fate won’t be something bad.’
****************
As both the Royal Guard and the Nightmare Moon lookalike walk out of the bedroom, a unicorn mare with gray fur and a rich blue mane and tail reappears in the room. Unbeknownst to them, she had been secretly following Nightmare Moon since ‘it’ happened and had noticed a few things that concerned her a lot.
“Looks like it worked,” she says to herself, “but something is not right. I best go report this to Her Majesty. She definitely has to hear about this turn of events.”
The unicorn mare lights up her horn and then teleports out of the bedroom, leaving it empty like it should have been when following the Nightmare Moon lookalike to the bedroom moments prior.