This was bad. Positively, absolutely, without a single doubt, very, very bad.
Here she was, her entire body frozen in shock, as Nightmare leisurely levitated her into the porcelain tub, humming happily to herself as she stepped in daintily afterward.
“Shall I wash your back for you mistress?” the disguised alicorn purred, smiling devilishly at the shocked purple unicorn, as one hoof rested teasingly on the golden knob and the other floated above her mistress' smooth backside, “I'm rather good with my hooves if I do say so myself...in many ways.” Twilight couldn't respond staring at Nightmare's corporeal form; her toothy smirk promised many things, and the lavender mare was sure that she didn't want any of them or anything to do with Nightmare's hooves.
And just as the dream goddess began to turn the knob, allowing the first few sneaky drops of water to fall through the silver shower head, she finally found her voice, yelping as she instinctively teleported out the goddess' clutches, barely missing the deluge of warm shower water that followed.
“Ahh...you're so mean mistress,” the dream goddess said throatily as she allowed the warm water to cascade over her body slowly, winking at the unicorn as her mane and coat became wet and glossy. The unicorn's retort died in her mouth as she turned to find Nightmare staring at her in a fashion that was usually only reserved for bedrooms. Helplessly, the inexperienced and pure unicorn sat, mouth agape, on the tiled floor, unable to tear her eyes away.
“What.....what are you doing!?” Twilight finally squeaked in an attempt to sound somewhat in control, mesmerized by the way Nightmare was washing herself; it was definitely not a normal way to wash one's self. The last time the purple unicorn took a shower, she was pretty sure she didn't sport an expression of absolute rapture.
“Well obviously, I'm taking a shower. But overall, I'm here to grant you happiness. We've gone over this many times already my lovely mistress,” Nightmare answered truthfully as she began humming to herself as she reached for the shampoo. Leisurely dripping the golden liquid onto her hair, she began to scrub, moaning happily at the refreshing sensation of cleaning a three-thousand year old mane.
However, the added noises only served to fluster Twilight further. “Just...just tell me how you...you got here alright?” the purple unicorn stammered, finally gathering the decency to turn away to face the other direction, but unfortunately, the half-fogged reflection in the mirror that only showcased Nightmare in the shower, only served to make her feel even dirtier as an uncontrollable explosion of blush spread across her face.
Desperately, she tried to face sideways, but her peripherals easily caught glances of both Nightmares, real and not real; if she couldn't face one Nightmare, how was she supposed to face two!? That idea went out the window. And finally, she just tried to close her eyes altogether, but then all of her other senses became amplified, including the less-than-publicly-acceptable noises the naughty dream goddess was making. Thus, she was left with the only option of facing Nightmare head on. “You're...you're not supposed to even have a body!”
“Well isn't that a bit mean mistress?” Nightmare pouted, flicking her mane innocently as she stared straight back at Twilight, delighted at the cute blush that flared across her mistress' face, “You could be at least be a little happy for me you know. This is the first shower I've had in almost three thousand years after all.” Twilight frowned, opening her mouth to retort, only to be suddenly cut off by Nightmare's next sentence. “But if you really must know, the zebra said it had something to do with a dimensional spell acting as a portal link with the corporeal world. Imagine my surprise to find my own mistress would let me out of my cage so willingly. Even Miss Zecora played along with it and said that gold she smelted stabilizes my form or something of the sort,” the goddess continued, grabbing the lilac scented shower gel next, moaning happily and purposely as the warm water washed away the shampoo left in her mane.
“W....wait....you mean this is my fault!?” Twilight exclaimed as she backed up, almost as if physical distance would make the situation less real.
“Yup.”
“But...but..but...I....wha....huh?” the purple mare said incoherently, her speech functions beginning to fail her spectacularly.
“Though I have no idea why Zecora would help me, I'll still thank her when I see her,” Nightmare added with a grin, “Oh...and I'll be having you take responsibility for me as well, since it is technically your fault... for both of my summons.”
Twilight wasn't even sure what she could do now. One part of her just wanted to curl up into a ball and scream until the nightmare went away, and the other just wanted to run as far and as fast as possible. However, she couldn't and wouldn't do either of those things. The first option wouldn't solve anything, and the second option was just asking for trouble. She did not, under any circumstances, want Nightmare free in the house, or, Celestia forbid, Ponyville.
Of course, Twilight did feel slightly happy for the freed, resident goddess on some deep, deep level, but this she just couldn't handle.
“You're free to handle me any time you want mistress,” the dark goddess commented casually, chuckling to herself.
"ARE YOU STILL IN MY MIND TOO!?" Twilight screeched, feeling her mental stability drop a few hundred levels to a point where it could be considered almost non-existent. She shut her eyes; this had to be a dream, a sick, twisted dream that fate had conjured up for his amusement.
"Well of course. Our contract is still in effect after all," Nightmare's voice answered in the darkness as the actual mare flicked a bit of shower water onto the lavender mare's face while carefully scrubbing away the gel, having given ample time for the herbal solution to soak in and clean her newly spawned coat, "And if I may reiterate it again. I rather like this new living arrangement."
“You are not! I repeat are NOT going to live here!” Twilight yelled while snapping her eyes open and thrusting her face forward in an effort to look more forceful. Unfortunately, she opened her eyes at a rather inconvenient moment and misjudged the distance. Her face ended up plastered against something soft yet firm, and the lavender mare looked to find, to her complete horror, the alicorn cleaning a rather delicate place.
Even Nightmare had a dreg of decency to blush at this moment, but simply looked away as Twilight, who looked like she was about to pass out from mental overload, wrenched herself away from the mare. “Naughty mistress...If you really wanted to look....you could have just asked you know,” the dream goddess whispered, her voice a bit nervous and timid.
And at that point, Twilight really did pass out.
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Twilight awoke in the darkness, her eyes flying open as the nightmare played itself over and over again in her head, causing her to shake and cringe. She already had enough trouble dealing with Nightmare in a mental form, so she was positive that a corporeal form would drive her insane. Luckily, that would never happen, but she didn't even know why she had dreamed of the goddess showering so sensually in the first place!
“Ha...imagine that...my pocket dimension spell creating a dimensional doorway from my mind to the real world, because I fell into the magic stream, cracking the dimensional barrier between my mind and the real world. Haha. I've really got to lay off the science fiction,” Twilight murmured, chuckling quietly in relief as she shuffled her position on her bed.
“Ugh...mistress...stop...ooh...not there,” a soft, half-awake voice suddenly whined as a powerful hoof wrapped itself around Twilight's side and another pair of hooves wrapped themselves around her lower body.
“Ack!” the lavender mare yelled, clamping her hooves over her mouth immediately afterward, hoping she hadn't woken anypony up. She turned her head to find herself face to face with Nightmare in her diminished, corporeal form. “What...no...no...no....” She flailed desperately in the body lock, attempting to escape but failing miserably. “This is impossible. There's just no....”
“Hmmmm...mistress....you make such a wonderful pillow,” the voice continued obliviously, snoring lightly into one of the trapped unicorn's ears, sending a smooth stream of warm air straight into it.
“Nightmare...” Twilight said shakily as her face flushed scarlet in the blackness, feeling the heat of that last puff of air go straight through her. Teleporting was a no go in the dark, so instead, she renewed her struggles, thrashing around until she was finally able to pry one hoof off of her, releasing her from the alicorn's death grip. Once free, the purple unicorn scrambled out of bed and onto the floor, sighing hopelessly, attempting to reign in her rampant heart beat.
“No....” the dream goddess groaned as she flailed her arms around randomly in the air, searching for the lost warmth, her voice distressed, “Don't leave me please....”
Twilight stared in the dark and face hoofed. Looking around, she noticed that Spike wasn't presently sleeping in his basket, and in fact, his basket wasn't there at all. Regardless, Nightmare Moon was there, solid, sleeping, rather fitfully at that, in her bed. The lavender mare shook her head and sighed. Watching the sleeping goddess reminded her of a newly born foal, but she reasoned the metaphor was quite suitable to the situation at hand.
“The things I have to do...” the lavender mare sighed, wiping her face hopelessly with her hoof as she allowed herself to be captured again by the goddess' wandering hooves. Nightmare wouldn't have quit whining until she got what she wanted anyway, and Twilight had decided on getting at least some sleep tonight.
“What in Equestria have I gotten myself into now?” she asked herself quietly as she rested in the dark goddess' hooves, finding that it wasn't as bad as she expected it to be.
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“Time to get up mistress. The day is wasting away! Mare's aren't conquered on sleep you know!” a voice that was altogether too cheery declared, and by habit, Twilight ignored the pestering, mumbling something about bothersome goddesses that liked to grope unicorns in their sleep. Nightmare giggled, moving her face closer to Twilight's. “If you don't get up, I'll start tickling you....everywhere that is.”
“I'm up! I'm up!” Twilight declared hastily as she jumped out of bed to save herself from being assaulted.
“Spike's already got breakfast on the table. We're waiting for you,” Nightmare said happily, drawing an unbelieving look from her mistress. When did the dream goddess become so chummy with her assistant? The last time Twilight checked, Spike wasn't good with strangers unless he could meet them with other ponies.
“What did you do to Spike!?” the lavender mare abruptly shrieked as she ran at the taller unicorn, pinning her down and igniting her horn threateningly. Despite the show of force, the pinned goddess grinned.
“Calm down a bit mistress. I haven't harmed a single scale on his head. Nor have I touched him with spells or anything of the sort, and I fully don't intend to. I wouldn't dream of it,” the dream goddess pledged, her voice completely serious and devoid of any lie. “But what you're doing now would definitely confirm what I told him,” Nightmare suddenly giggled.
“And just what was that?” Twilight snarled, pressing her face closer to the dream goddess' in an attempt to look more intimidating.
“Oh nothing. Just that I am your personal, pleasure slave that you received from Princess Celestia for doing such a bang up job of taking care of all the last few world threatening situations, and that it was a royal decree that we and only we share the same bedroom,” Nightmare answered with the straightest face and widest smile, reveling in the fact that all of the color immediately drained from Twilight's face.
“SPIKE!!” the lavender mare shouted as she threw herself off of Nightmare and sped down the stairs with the disguised alicorn following closely behind.
“Huh? Twilight? What's wrong?” the dragon asked as he was suddenly grabbed by Twilight's powerful telekinesis and shaken violently in the air.
“SHE IS NOT MY PLEASURE SLAVE, AND WE DO NOT HAVE TO SHARE A ROOM!!” Twilight yelled as emphatically as possible, dazing Spike briefly by the sheer volume of her declaration.
“Wha....wha...what?” the confused dragon muttered as he tried to recover from his brain being turned into a smoothie, “I thought Diana was you long lost cousin...she told me that it wasn't proper for a growing boy to sleep in the same room as a girl.” Immediately, the magic holding Spike aloft disappeared, dropping him straight to the floor while Twilight shook in anger and pure and utter embarrassment.
“Whoops....did I say slave? I meant cousin,” Nightmare said nervously, her mile-wide smile betraying any facade of contrition.
“Oh really? Well 'Diana', I'm giving you three seconds to run for your short-lived life before I end it myself,” the purple unicorn growled as she turned around to face the laughing goddess, her red horn-light thirsty for blood, promising pain, suffering and retribution.
“Oh would you look at the time!? I think I should go introduce myself to everypony else. Gotta go! Bye!” she suddenly declared, running out the door with all haste, leaving Spike and a fuming Twilight in the kitchen.
“She sure is energetic,” Spike commented, rubbing his sore skull and still wobbling around a bit, “I bet Luna will really like her. I never knew you had a long lost cousin that was so cool.”
However, as soon as the first uttering of the visiting lunar princess' name passed the dragon's lips, the purple unicorn stopped dead in her tracks. In all of the commotion, she had completely forgotten about Luna coming to stay at her house. Twilight's eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks, and she fell to the floor, curling into a ball and rocking herself slowly as she muttered frantically to herself: “dreams....doomed....discover....dungeon....disgrace....”
“Uh...Twilight?”
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“Diana” was humming happily to herself as she trotted down the streets of Ponyville, feeling happy at the fact that no pony seemed to recognize her as Nightmare Moon, Goddess of Death, Destruction and Discord. It was quite nice to not have ponies running away in fear for their lives the moment they ran into her.
Many of the shopkeepers bid her warm good mornings, despite not even knowing her name, and it was a pleasant change of pace for the notorious dream goddess.
Sure, she wasn't the only pony involved in the whole “Endless Night” incident, and Nightmare didn't blame Luna for placing her in such a damnable position. However, it didn't take away from the fact that just being herself garnered hostility and hatred from much of the populace.
But now, she could walk the streets like a normal pony; she really would have to thank that zebra witch for allowing her to create a new body for herself.
“OHMYGOSH! I DON'T BELIVE IT!” a sudden and high voice exclaimed as the disguised alicorn was tackled from behind, ending up underneath another pony. Nightmare gasped. Had somepony already seen through her?
“I..I can explain,” she stammered fearfully as she spit a few pieces of curly, pink hair out of her mouth. The dream goddess looked up to find one of the six ponies she didn't want finding out her true identity straddling her, her face completely serious and pensive. The mare was pink, party pink, and was, without a doubt, the Element of Laughter herself.
“I don't believe it. I just can't believe it!” Pinkie declared, bugging her eyes out as she scrutinized her prey.
“Wait! Please don't tell anypony!” the black alicorn begged, trembling slightly as imaginary crowds with pitchforks and torches filled her head.
“DON'T TELL ANYPONY!? DON'Y TELL ANYPONY!? ARE YOU CRAZY?!” the pink, party pony yelled as she too began to shake, “I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVLY HAVE TO TELL EVERYPONY ABOUT THIS!”
“No! Please!” the frightened dark goddess pleaded desperately, wanting to hold onto to her bit of existence for as long as she could, “Don't send me away. Please!”
“Huh? Send you away? Now why would I do that silly?” Pinkie asked, her voice completely confused, “You're a new pony! Now I have to tell everypony that there's a new pony in town and throw you a party! And you know, I immediately knew you were new, because I know everypony here and everypony knows me! And when I saw you I was like 'OHMYGOSH' because there hasn't been a new pony to come here for a long time. So this means I can throw a super-de-duper, huge, awesome, fantastic, welcome party for you along with Princess Luna's 'Welcome to Your Vacation Party!'”
Visibly, Nightmare relaxed, feeling an unnatural weight that didn't have anything to do with the mare sitting on her chest, disappear.
“I'm Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet ya,” the pink earth pony said as she hopped off of Nightmare's chest and helped her up, “What's your name?”
“Diana. Diana Dreamscape,” Nightmare answered firmly, extending her hoof to shake Pinkie's.
“Alrighty then Diana. I'll be throwing you a super fun party this afternoon at Twilight's house. Do you know where Twilight's house is? It's a tree, but it's actually the library,” Pinkie said, her impossibly wide smile widening even further.
“Yeah. I'm actually living there right now. I'm Twilight's cousin,” “Diana” stated, chuckling a bit at Pinkie's enthusiasm and energy. However, Nightmare stepped back, a bit alarmed, when she noticed Pinkie was shaking violently, and the disguised alicorn wasn't sure if she was happy or not at the latest revelation.
Ultimately, she got her answer as Pinkie literally exploded into the air like a rocket, trailing a sparkly rainbow behind her.
“OH! MY! GOSH!” Pinkie yelled as she floated down to the ground, “That means I'll have to make this party a hundred...no...a thousand times better! I need to grab a catapult, a giant rubber duck and a couple hundred bowls of pistachios. Gotta go! Bye Diana!”
Before Nightmare could return the farewell, the pony was already gone, almost as if she had teleported away, and the stunned goddess simply sat there until she was overcome with laughter. She wasn't even sure what she was laughing about, but it felt good to really laugh with her own lungs after so long.
“Well...let's hope the rest of Twilight's friends are as fun as Miss Pie,” Nightmare said as she looked up to the blue sky with her own eyes. It was good to be free.