//------------------------------// // Part one of many // Story: Nightmare Mooning // by CosmicAfro //------------------------------// The tapping against Luna’s curtained east window interrupted the princess from her scrawling. Rather than drop the quill and close the hefty tome, Luna decided it may well have been a small package or some such, as had happened before, and instead waltzed to the noise. At the second series of knocking, she called out, “Hold on, hold on, I’m coming.” She rolled her eyes as it continued to go on. With an invisible hand, she pushed apart back both drapes and peered into the night; no guard, no parcel, nothing. For a moment, she bathed in the soft glow of the moon before returning to work, shrugging it off as the wind carrying the leaves. The curtains were closed and she turned around to return to her duties. Tap. Tap. Tap. Slightly annoyed, she drew the lines once more. Again, there was no guard, no parcel, nothing. However, the moon was outrageously closer and surrounded with a peculiar purple horizon. In fact, it wasn’t even a horizon, she could see the whispy shadows of clouds suddenly interrupted by the purple. She zoomed in to focus on the anomaly until her eyes came upon- “Oh by the beard of Starswirl!” Luna stood there, mouth agape at her realization. Right behind this sight was a jet black pony with a wicked grin and a mild blush, wiggling her tush at her. Luna’s magic was stuck in between closing the curtains immediately and keeping them wide open and shooing the demon away. “Why are you staring? Isn’t that beneath royalty such as yourself?” the offending alicorn teased. Though slightly muffled thanks to the glass, the voice was certainly recognizable. The official princess of the night looked up at her face. “ Are you N-nightmare Moon?” “The one and only,” she replied, keeping her pose. Luna made an effort to close half of the curtain to shield herself from the night, but Nightmare Moon perfectly mirrored her. “I’m sorry, is this in your way?” Disregarding the delicate twilight sky in front of her, Luna replied, “What is the meaning of this? And…” she tapped the glass, “of this?” “Well, I’ve only been up for three days so I’m not too sure where we are on the bloodline, but I’m here for my revenge,” she stated as a matter of fact. “I’ve attempted striking you with lightning twice now, which ended up in my own clouds blowing up. I tried getting within striking distance of you with my own hooves when you were walking the hallways, but that failed as well.” Luna had to blink for a few seconds after hearing such blunt news. “What happened?” “You know that shattered window on the fourth floor?” “Was that-“ “Yes,” she admitted. “It would seem I do not yet have control over my powers, perhaps because of my rejuvenation, but I still lust for revenge.” “So, allow me to recollect your plan… you’re going to try and scar me through emotional impact? Through your cutie mark?” Nightmare Moon paused for a second. “I didn’t say the plan was brilliant, but at least it will amuse me. As for you, why aren’t you more traumatized than you should be?” She sighed. “I’ve lived for thousands of years; I’m pretty much immune to such trivial concerns with the nude body. I was more surprised with your return.” She turned around and looked her counterpart in the eye. “I suppose my plans weren’t always very thought out,” she admitted with a little regret. “But, I am still evil, so I need this.” “Regardless of stature or relation, I will not allow you to scar my subjects. Cease now and you can end this silly feud.” With a sinister smile, she spread her wings and turned around on the porch, allowing Luna get one last look at the dark side of the moon before taking off. The alicorn of the natural night pushed open her windows but failed to charge her horn before her target was out of her range. As she crossed the imaginary border of Luna’s aim, Nightmare transformed into her cumulus form and scattered away in a small poof. .-~V~-. By night, without her armour, Nightmare Moon was indistinguishable from the darkness. Most of its citizens had gone to rest and disregarded her precious night, but a few houses still had candles flickering in the windowsills. One house, or rather a twisted natural version of one, was wide awake compared to its neighbors with a familiar silhouette walking across the light. It was unmistakable. The hair was cropped neatly, her walking gait was professional yet approachable, and the horn was slightly longer than that of average unicorns. Softly descending as to not give herself away, she began circling the premises. Her flight pattern reminded herself of birds of prey getting ready to strike. The owl came to mind specifically though it didn’t circle as she did, but more sensitive ears would be a bonus for gathering information. Silently conjuring slightly warped owl ears, she eavesdropped onto the unicorn’s residence. “Dear Princess Celestia- Sometimes a pony just needs to relax, we all get stressed after a while. After Applejack had worked herself to exhaustion, I would have thought Rarity would have learned from her friend’s mistakes. However, she failed to pace herself and we found her in the nick of time trying to sew her cat to a dress as a new design idea. As her friends, we should have been watching her more closely. We thank you for your generous offer to rehabilitate her through strenuous therapy in Canterlot. Nothing should be so important that it makes you neglect everypony and you should always try and find time to socialize. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” Nightmare Moon perched herself on the balcony just as the letter finished and found this as a perfect opportunity for revenge. She heard the lavender mare call for somepony named Spike to send the message. Astoundingly, as she peered through the glass with extreme caution, a small purple dragon walking bipedal came out and sent the message aflame. The puff seemed to move of its own ambition, flying high into the sky and traveling in a linear path to Canterlot. “A pony trained dragon? My, my, Ms. Sparkle, you are full of surprises.” Pulling a quill and ink along with some parchment out of thin air, Nightmare began to dance her pen across the page. Within moments, “Celestia’s reply” was ready. “Perfect,” she said while rubbing her two front hooves together in a mantis pattern. A blue puff of magic almost immediately replied to her message. “Wow, I would have thought she was asleep right now.” Immediately, she opened the scroll with the midnight blue bow and began to read it out loud. “To my most faithful student, Seeing as you’re up writing letters so late, perhaps you should go to your balcony and appreciate the night some more? I’ll return with a more appropriate reply tomorrow. ~Princess Celestia.” Not feeling sure if it was sarcasm or an actual late night response, the unicorn decided to fulfill her master’s endeavor. She shook her head at the notion her teacher was upset with her over the letter as she waltzed up the stairs. Opening the balcony door, she stepped out onto the terrace and looked up at the sky… The midnight alicorn summoned three speakers, some colorful fireworks, some lighting equipment, and a record player as she heard her first target go up the stairs. Summoning an old vinyl disk with the appropriate music, she popped it in and waited. At the sound of the doors creaking and hoofsteps walking, she put the needle on the disk. She flared her wings out, raised her rump into the air, and fluttered her wings so that her moon would rise at a slow pace in tune with the music. Twilight heard the sound of a trumpet playing in the distance… sounding as if it was far away yet it seemed so close. Then, many came in and the percussion followed back through with a sensational thumping pattern. Suddenly, a purple object came into her field of vision along with the flare of the trumpet which was in a crescendo, rising above the balcony ledge. Above it was a swirling void of light blue stars and on the field of purple was a small crescent moon. From inside the branches of the tree, a light popped on and shone on the thing’s surface. The hushed sound of fluttering wings came through the music as the thing rose into the air. It was lifting the object in front of her as far as she could tell, but she didn’t realize what it was until an eye with a draconic slit looked directly at her from the side. Twilight’s eyes widened as the full extent of the situation filtered into her brain along with the climax of the song. She stood motionless as the ass in front of her continued to rise effortlessly into the air. She couldn’t help but stare at it in complete fear and awe as the dreaded Nightmare Moon’s rump invaded her eyesight. More lights came on and made it impossible to miss and in the background a symphony of fireworks appeared. Just as she was about to freak out, the act of optical villainy and its accompanying sound track ended with a mysterious poof. The mare sat on her haunches and continued to look at where the mooning had just occurred. One final explosion, resembling a pink heart, went off into the sky. “Twilight,” Spike called from the door, just missing the event, “aren’t you going to bed?” Without turning around, Twilight said, “Spike, get me another letter…” .-~V~-. “That was brilliant!” Nightmare Moon congratulated herself while dispelling her owl ears. “Her face was priceless and she shall forever be scarred. A wonderful success of many to follow.” As she flew through the air, a residency designed to look like sweets and confectionaries made itself glaringly apparent against the actual moon’s light. There was a window alight on the very top floor and the temptation to investigate was too good to resist. Perching herself on the roof and bending down so that her vision was upside down, she carefully observed the pink mare inside. For some reason, she was intensely staring at a calendar. Her hair was incredibly poofy and she resembled of the one who had helped stop her at the castle. The balloon cutie mark definitely jogged her memory that this was one of the six she was after. The hour hand was resting on the tenth spot with the minute right at the top (or bottom, respectively). “Tomorrow…” she said with enthusiasm. “I should probably get to sleep now but I’m hungry. I dunno, what do you think tummy?” She looked down at her belly. Finding opportunity, Nightmare quickly conjured a voice modification spell and attached it to the window pane. “I think you should get some food now.” From the soon-to-be victim’s reaction, she would have guessed the voice displacement spell worked without fail. “Tummy!? You can talk now?” The alicorn rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’ve always been able to talk. Now get me some food.” “Hmmm, I would have thought I would have taught my belly to have better manners. What do we say?” “Ugh, get me some food please,” she added with venom. “Ok Ms. Cranky Wanky, after I get you some cake you’re going to manner school.” The mare went through her door and down to the first floor. Nightmare Moon followed as well but with an air light descent to the bottom. From the side of the window from where she now resided, the midnight pony carefully observed the current room. It was painfully obvious that the place was a kitchen if the multiple ovens and utensils weren’t enough of a clue. She turned her head to get a better look but noticed her horn cast a shadow on the ground. Pulling back, she realized she’d need to get inside. She also realized the fool was still blabbering to her innards, so she transferred the magic from the top window to the bottom floor. “- and that’s why I have Pinkie Sense.” The one apparently named Pinkie stopped and looked down at her belly. “Oh yes, fascinating,” replied the belly with sarcasm. “Now, can we please get some food? I demand nourishment.” Pinkie frowned. "…please?” “That’s better. Now, what would you like?” The question took Nightmare by surprise. “What?” “Well, normally I feed myself but now I can ask what you want for once.” The stomach paused as if in deep thought. Realistically, the actor behind the scheme was pondering how to moon her in the kitchen. Also, getting some free food wasn’t a bad bonus to the plan either. “Very well, I’ll take some cinnamon buns.” Nightmare licked her sharp teeth. “Extra icing.” “Okie Dokie Lokie! Breakfast for dinner it is! You just sit tight and wait for me. Well, I don’t know if you can sit, but I guess just… stay there I guess.” Immediately, the baker gathered the supplies she’d need and went to work. Coincidentally, so did the mooner. Pinkie heard the ding of the oven go off. She hoped her stomach was OK; she hadn’t spoken in a long while. Maybe her stomach was starved! Wait, if her stomach was starved, why wasn’t she starving? She was moderately hungry, but not in any mortal danger… unless her stomach talking was a new Pinkie Sense she hadn’t realized before. Pinkie pulled back the door and a huge blue cloud imbued with millions of stars poofed out and swirled on the ceiling. Pinkie reeled back and grabbed a frying pan hanging off of a hook. Out from the smoke dropped four legs… backwards from where she was facing. Then the rest of the figure dropped. “Two cinnamon buns,” laughed Nightmare as she balanced the sticky pastries on her hind quarters. Pinkie choked for a second as the purple scenery in front of her, though admittedly it smelled delicious, was no farther than two inches from her face. Nightmare then turned around and zapped the confused mare on the head, leaving a small but harmless scorch mark. “W-what was that!?” “Me, stealing your stomach’s voice too! Also, I’m taking these to go and not paying for them!” A tear dripped from Pinkie’s face. “You monster!” With an evil laugh that would scare the most jaded horror fans, she dissipated out of the house. Pinkie sat her bottom on the floor as the sudden realization sank into her mind. Then, her hair went completely straight. .-~V~-. Not feeling quite up to flying just yet, the mooner landed out of her teleport just outside the bakery. She looked inside for a moment as she watched the pony bawl. She had always wondered why ponies were so leery of such a trivial act of nudity, but she had never pressed the issue too far, concluding that knowing the answer would ruin the fun. Ignorance was bliss, after all. “And now, after that victory, I feast upon the spoils of glory,” she thought to herself with pride. She levitated the sticky pastry from her backside and maneuvered it up to her mouth, which was open and waiting impatiently for the succulent reward. As she bit into the soft bread, a scuffling of hooves rang about her ears. She stopped looking at the bun and towards the sound and soon discovered, panning from the ground up, a female mint unicorn staring at her with large eyes. Her ears twitched as the pink one let out an incredibly loud sob through her driveling. Nightmare watched as the unicorn’s eyes trailed from her own face to her tail and then back to her face. She herself followed along and discovered her backside had been covered in long sticky white strands that trailed up from her bottom to the upper regions of her back. “Worry not denizen of the night, this is not what your mind may perceive it as. This is only pastry cream.” The mare backed-up slowly as another wail penetrated the walls. “D-did you…” “No! She’s crying because I was messing with her buns! NO! I mean! She had some buns in her oven and-“ Hearing everything she needed to, the horrified pony turned around immediately and galloped away into the protection of the crowded building space. “Damn it.” .-~V~-. “That could have gone better,” she spoke through the last of her recently stolen food. As she gulped down the last bit of the admittedly delicious confection, she licked her lips with anticipation. “ Still, two for six…” She did one more precursory glance at her body, now completely clean, before resuming her original plans. Hovering over the town, a ruckus in the distance caught her attention. Near the forest of where she once ruled, a cottage had turned its lights on and a miniature stampede of small creatures bustled out the front door. At the door’s arch stood a silhouette of one that looked increasingly familiar. The hair was long and flowing and the wings looked about the right height. Changing directions to get another angle on the situation, Nightmare flew towards the house. “Now come on, it’s time for your shots everyone,” the pony cooed to the animals. Her voice was sweet and angelic… it was disgusting. “Nopony should have a voice like that after they are grown up. After causing her some turmoil, I’ll perhaps extend a hoof and teach her to garner some respect properly.” Circling down and landing gracefully on the roof, she observed the animals cowering in fear over the pegasus with the small needle. “With this new light, I can even see she is pink and yellow, the colors of weakness. It is no wonder that she is residing on the outskirts of this quaint town, she must be too weak even for them.” “And yet,” she continued, “she was an Element of Harmony. I must not get too cocky.” “Mr. Eagle? Do you want to have your talons infected again like last year?” The majestic bird perched on the flamingo’s back looked down at its claws and then back at its owner. It shook its head no but still refused to fly back. The pegasus walked forward a little. Nightmare watched with interest as they didn’t scoot back any further. “She seems kind to animals and perhaps everypony. In fact, I don’t need an extremely detailed plan to horrify this weak little creature, I could just land down there, wiggle my stars, and take off…” The matriarch of eternal darkness began to ready her assault… .-~V~-. Spike finished scribbling down the last bits of the letter with a vigorous yawn. “Okay, sending to the princess-“ Before he could conjure the flame, a belch erupted from him and with it a letter. “Oh, it’s a letter from Princess Luna.” Before he could swipe it from the air, the shaken unicorn already had levitated it to herself through a complex consortium of books and library furniture. “D-dear Twilight Sp-Sparkle,” she read while shaking under a chair. “I have n-need to inform you th-that my malevolent coun-counterpart has conjured herself into a physical form a-and is now off to go terrorize my night. If you observe an-anything that is out of the norm, I insist you report to me at once any findings on the matter. We will need to ap-apprehend her immediately for questioning and before sh-she can cause m-mental traumas. Sincerely, Princess L-Luna. P.S., this letter might come to you much later than normal. Th-the dragon mailing system is more complex than it used to be.” “Great timing,” he added with a roll of his eyes. After his blatant use of sarcasm, he sent the message to the princesses and then waltzed over to his barricaded companion. “Come on, Twilight. You read the letter, she needs us to go find Nightmare Moon!” The unicorn’s head popped out of a hole in the top. “But what if it’s another trap, Spike? She’s basically telling us to go look for her so she can do it again!” “Last time the letter appeared out of thin air instead of through me,” he reasoned. “I guess we didn’t notice it because we weren’t thinking about it. This one definitely came through the mail and-“ “Oh no, this just means she’s getting better at it.” As she sunk back into her fortress, Spike sighed. “Okay, I guess I’m looking for Nightmare Moon this time.”