The Affection of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 7: The Carnival, Bandaid! (I of II)
Royal Vizier Twilight Sparkle looked uncomfortably across the table at Queen Chrysalis. With Prince Blueblood next to her and Princess Celestia to her right, she certainly felt safe, but it didn’t keep her from being uneasy. The overpowering magical scent of armor oil and desert winds clouded her senses just a little, and she could tell it was making Blueblood shifty as well.
The Changeling Queen sat, polite and upright, in front of an empty plate and teacup. Occasionally she would lift the dry cup to her lips as though she were drinking, but it was all just pretend—like a filly playing tea party. Changelings couldn’t have normal food like ponies did.
The conversation thus far had been nothing but polite how-are-you’s and such. Twilight and Blueblood weren’t sure what to talk about, and Celestia wore her usual mask of pleasant neutrality. Only the purple mare was sure of the white one’s anxiety. Only those really close to the alicorn could truly read her face. There was more conversation about the food and how wonderful it was. The weather. The up-coming Young Flyer’s Competition. You could cut the tension with a rusty spoon.
“Well, if Celestia won’t mention it, may I?” Chysalis finally broke down to smile. “I’ve heard of Twilight and Blueblood’s recent pairing, how are the two of you faring?” she turned to look Blueblood in the eye, her feelers extending. Why, the young stallion was positively glowing with love energy! She sipped at it before she could stop herself.
Blueblood shuddered but contained it, not really knowing why. “Wuh-well, very well I think.” The stallion gave a nervous smile.
“Do you intend to wed?”Chysalis asked with interest. Twilight Sparkle's full set of formal dining silverware launched itself into the stratosphere, straight out through the window. Celestia turned her head, brow rising sharply. Twilight hadn’t had a power-slip like that in over five years. (The last one had made an entire tea set explode like a bomb) The purple mare blushed like she’d farted at the dinner table. The alicorn opened her mouth to defend her adoptive daughter, but it was Blueblood the beat her to the punch.
“Well if I said yes that would be presumptuous, and if I said no it would be cruel. Like I was leading Twilight along for no reason.” Blueblood said smoothly, wiping the velvet of his muzzle with a napkin. He set it next to him with the same calm and poise. “We’re certainly happy the way things are right now, and whatever the future brings,” he paused to give Twilight one of his extra forks, “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.” He gave his golden mane a toss. Twilight beamed and Celestia smiled. Smooth. Very smooth.
Well then! He was not such easy prey. “Fair enough,” Chrysalis smiled politely, still sipping at him on the ethereal level. His love tasted of concentrated berries, like a pie filling or a jar of jam. Unusually sweet. He must’ve let it simmer for quite some time before giving it to Twilight Sparkle. The Queen admired a stallion that could let his love fester—it tasted better that way. Twilight touched Blueblood’s shoulder and he smiled quietly. Celestia feigned stretching her wings, whapping Chrysalis in the back. Her sister’s feelers folded back up sheepishly.
“What about you, Chrysalis?” Celestia parried the conversation away from the love birds. “Any potential interests?”
“Not with the hive to care for, I’m afraid,” Chrysalis sighed dramatically, lifting her empty teacup to her lips. “Several million children is quite an undertaking, after all.”
“I can’t imagine having a million Twilight’s,” Celestia chuckled. The purple mare smiled bashfully. “But I imagine they’d be a handful.”
“What about you, Celestia. No beau to speak of?” Chrysalis’ silver tongue pressed while they ate. “You had one long ago, you can’t stay out of the game forever, surely?”
Celestia gave a slight start. Nopony ever brought up Mountain Blood, and with good reason. She’d loved him deeply, and she’d been crushed when he’d died. It took immortal beings like her more time to recover, and her subjects knew better than to speak of it. “Not forever, just not right now.” The white alicorn shot a rather blatant barbed expression to her sister. It was more than clear, Chrysalis was wearing on the white alicorn’s nerves. Being around her all the time for the past week or two atop all her other royal duties was fraying her titanium nerves. “I’ve more important things to tend to.”
“More important things than she who brings the dawn, I can’t imagine.” Chrysalis mumbled into her cup. Celestia’s eyes turned to a pained expression before sealing themselves up behind her queen’s mask again.
Even the only stallion at the table could see Chrysalis had struck a very serious nerve. Blueblood’s expression turned angry and he set his utensil down with a clack. He made to rise, but an invisible hoof touched his back. It pressed him back down so he didn’t jump out of his chair and yell at her. He glanced over at Twilight, who shook her head. It wasn’t worth it, her eyes said. He slowly relaxed with a frown.
Suddenly the doors came open, “Hail and well-met, sibling and friends!” Nightmare Moon exploded into the room, all smiles and happy fangs. With a bounce in her step she found her place at the table. “Good evening to you all!” she was pretty energetic for having just risen from bed. “Forgive my tardiness, I arose late.” She took her place at the table, sitting upright on her sitting pillow. Chrysalis opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off, “Speak, and thy cut lip shall be the least of thy worries,” the black alicorn said sharply. “My mood is grand, and I’ve no taste to have it ruined. You’re here on Celestia’s bit, not mine.” Chrysalis stuck out her forked tongue. Nightmare seized it with her magic, pulled, and let it snap back into her head. The Changeling squawked, holding her muzzle. Celestia cleared her throat just a little to calm the mood of the table.
Twilight and Blueblood held hooves under the tablecloth. It was not often that two gods and a pseudo-god bickered over a meal. They glanced at each other, pondering how would be best to excuse themselves. “Er, what’s got you in such a good mood, Princess Nightmare?” Twilight tried to be diplomatic.
“I have been to the private royal theatre many times this week,” Nightmare explained, nodding her thanks when a servant set a line of broiled shrimp in front of her with garlic butter. Muzzles wrinkled at the sight of her eating meat, but nopony said anything. “There has been invented a type of film that mixes both romance and comedy! Did you know this?!” she said excitedly. “I only discovered film a month ago, quite by accident, but I saw nothing worth seeing until now.”
“What have you been watching?” Celestia asked, eager to steer the conversation in a much safer direction. Chrysalis scowled, but said nothing.
“Fifty First Trots, Sleepless in SeaSaddle, The Ugly Truth, Shall We Dance,” Nightmare went down a long list of romantic comedies that had been released in the past ten years or so. They nodded along with her list until she fell silence. “I’ve been trying to see what sorts of things the modern stallion finds appealing, you see,” she turned to look at Blueblood, “I must say sorry for eating you over your literature all that time ago, my distant descendant,” she smiled slyly. “I find myself doing research to woo a companion as well.” Blueblood smiled awkwardly, and Twilight cleared her throat while she looked to one side. Celestia fought down a groan, carefully maintaining her mask. Eating with ghusto, Nightmare addressed the stallion again, “By the by, Blueblood, have you any advice for me? I am trying to modernize my ways, but not all rules are written.”
Blueblood froze. Nightmare Moon wanted dating advice from him?! “Uhm! Uh-hh…” he looked back and forth, pleading for help from any of the mares present. But no, they were all looking at him with interest. Even Chrysalis had paused and turned to see what he had to say. “W-well,” he wracked his brain extra hard. “J-just uhm… treat him with respect. Respect and love.” It was vague and broad and didn’t help much at all, but at least it was a safe thing to say. Twilight and Celestia’s expressions seemed to approve.
“Respect,” Nightmare tasted the word with her fork in her mouth. She looked at the ceiling as though considering. “Hmm!” she hmm’d like she’d never thought of such a thing. Sure, dear Bandaid had her affection, sensual desire and a few other things. But her respect, that was new. She would have to try that. “Very well then, thank thee!” she offered him a smile full of curved swords that never ceased to make anypony shudder.
The rest of the meal went on without too much incident.
=-=-=-=
Celestia and Chrysalis walked side-by-side to a private sitting room. “Will you feed me, then, sister?” Chrysalis asked in a mewling little voice. “I’ve been here over a week, and you won’t let me have a taste of anypony not right in front of you.”
“I saw you sipping at Blueblood,” Celestia wasn’t having her act. She was smarter than that.
“He was radiating love energy,” Chrysalis defended, lifting a hoof. “I didn’t touch him.”
“No, but you wanted to,” Celestia said, lifting a wing to invite her into the room. She gave the six guards posted there a pointed look. They nodded solemnly, lighting their horns to close the door behind them.
“Of course I wanted to, I’m hungry!” Chrysalis complained as they came into the nicely-dressed sitting room. “Please, Cellie? Pleeeease?” she offered up great big shiny doe eyes. Celestia paused to consider. It had been over a week since she’d fed properly. She couldn’t imagine the political explosion that would happen of the Changeling Empire found out their hive mother had been starved out of Equestria.
There was a long silence as both of them settled on the sitting cushions. Celestia considered for a few moments. There was room to rebuild, somewhere in this mess. She was the oldest, she had to try. “Chrysalis,” she whispered, leaning confidentially. She lifted her grew white wings up, around, then back down around her sister. It was much like a wing meeting with Twilight Sparkle: warm, feathery and confidential. “Come here,” she crooned softly.
“Yes?” Chrysalis whispered softly, sidling forward until Celestia had her in a proper wing-hug. Their muzzles touched at the nose, and she blinked at her swan-like sister.
“I want to rebuild what you and Nightmare destroyed. I do,” Celestia said quietly, her face softening. “But I can’t shake the feeling you simply want to feed off of one or both of us again. Can I truly trust you to behave and not betray us again? Discord is still sitting in time-out for reversing gravity on this planet. You remember how Mother had a fit about that--!”
“Don’t speak of her.” Chrysalis said sharply, turning her head away with an angry face. “Never speak of her.” There was a long, awkward silence between them. Celestia was the favorite. She’d always been mother’s favorite. If Faust ever decided she was done creating the cosmos, Celestia would no doubt be first in line to take her place as High God. Bitch.
“I’m sorry,” Celestia said softly, leaning to nuzzle Chrysalis’ cheek. “I know it’s a tender topic, forgive me,” the alicorn worked to knit calming, soothing magic between them. Gingerly, the day princess weaved a powerful sleeping spell in the fabric of reality around them. Chrysalis swooned a little, but didn’t smell the magic. Being pressed into Celestia’s wings already meant the smell of soaps and quiet vanilla. Her magic smelled exactly the same.
“Cellie, I’m hungry,” the magic-drunk Changeling said, her voice small like a foal’s. Her eyelids were already drooping. She leaned into Celestia’s great chest. “So hungry, all the time,” she whispered vulnerably. “All the time…”
“I know,” Celestia whispered, still holding her sister in her winged embrace. “I know.” Tighter and tighter the sleep spell wove around her sibling, like a cocoon. The invisible threads spun and spun until they were so thick nothing could unravel them. Not even a powerhouse like Nightmare. “Therrrre.” She whispered softly. “It’s alright now,” The Princess extended her neck to rest her long face on her sister’s shoulder. “Shhh-sh-sh… it’s alright now. Go ahead.”
Chrysalis turned her head eagerly, her fangs unfurling. Her gripping strength was gone, but she still sank her fangs into Celestia’s neck. The white alicorn flinched a little, and she lost a feather from her wings. The changeling Queen moaned in pure extacy. The honey-touched magic of royalty and godhood slide across her tongue and down her throat like a golden waterfall of glittering energy. She drank it in.
One. Two. Three seconds.
Celestia unfurled her great wingspan as the sleep spell collapsed on Chrysalis. The Changeling Queen moaned, her fangs retracting as her legs suddenly refused to carry her. She was head down, butt up and in a deep sleep. The white span of wings slowly folded to the Princess’ sides. Three seconds was enough. Alicorn love was potent to her race. She would be fine for a week or so. Twin droplets of golden blood escaped Celestia’s neck and she quickly wiped them away.
The Princess looked around the room, at the six guards that had quietly filed in when the ‘wing meeting’ had begun. Celestia had planned for all of this, just in case Chrysalis got love-greedy. All of the armored stallions had loaded cross-bows with cold steel tips dipped in something poisonous. “As you were, gentlecolts. Thank you for helping me, I’ll take her from here.” They nodded, filing back out and holstering their weapons on their backs. The day Princess took Chrysalis to her guest quarters. She would sleep heavily until morning.
Afterward, Celestia retired to her bedchambers. Across a massive hearth lay a massive painting. Easily five feet by twelve, it covered a huge swath of the wall and was the main reason why her ceiling was so high. Going and sitting in front of her fireplace, she lit it with a flick of alicorn magic. She studied the painting, as she had for many centuries in the past. The message was as plain now as it was the day it was made. Faust was a shy goddess at heart, and had only ever posed for one painting. God-magic had preserved it for all time, though. Celestia guarded it well.
The painting was of a mother mare and five foals. It was meant to be Faust and her five children: Celestia, Nightmare Moon, Cadence, Discord and Chrysalis. The Mother of creation had been very specific on the details of how things were to be arranged in it. Faust herself lay on her belly under a shady tree.
Sitting between Faust’s front hooves was a foal-sized Celestia, listening intently. She was the eldest, the wisest, and the most learned of the five children. Her coat was a pure and shining white, symbolizing purity and royalty. The tiny tiara on her head was a cute detail. The white alicorn couldn’t recall the last time her mane had been that pink. Celestia liked to think that Faust in the painting was looking at her, but with the whited out eyes she could never be sure. The artist had refused to paint the eyes of the High God, so they were a bright and shining white.
On Faust’s back, straddled and yowling, was a tiny Nightmare Moon. With stubby little legs and a wide-open mouth, she shouted for attention from her mother’s back. Ever needy, ever competing with Celestia for the spot of favorite. She was as black as a blot of obsidian, shining with all colors even there in the shade of the tree. She was all the want, all the desire anypony ever felt. The (sometimes ugly) truth in everypony’s heart of hearts. Lust. Desire. Fear. All the most basic instincts that every living thing shared. She was the want to breed, the fire to fight, and the world-driving desire to survive.
Sitting in Faust’s mane with his head between her ears was Discord. Even back then, the little foal had learned to twist his body into a puzzle of everything that was great about everything. He was chaos and madness, yes, but he was also the unbound spirit of life. He was the thrilling joy of experiencing new things, inventing new plants and animals and formations of land. He’d had the biggest hoof in crafting the planet, after all. He was a big fan of uncontrollable areas like Everfree, sure, but he’d done very well on all the rest. Tons of variety so that no one mortal could ever experience it all. Life would always been interesting and full of surprises for every single mortal walking on the planet. That was his gift to them.
Cadance was splayed out on her back, listening to Faust’s heart. Her bright pink little wings were all the way open, and her tail was the wildest. She relied on Mother for all matters of the heart, and constantly prayed to her to help In her decision-making. For, if not for her kindness and generosity, the Crystal Empire would not flourish out on the tundra. Love kept them warm, and she symbolized it as much as spread it.
Lastly was Chrysalis. Celestia often stared at her more than even her Mother in the painting. The little foal that was Chrysalis stood to one side, a few inches away from the pile of mare and foals. She was fixing the group with a coy smile, like she was about to tell a delightful joke. Her eyes were large and expressive, and her hooves were positively huge compared to the rest of her. Mother had been very specific that Chrysalis stand on her own in this painting, and her daughter had never forgiven her for it. But, Celestia could read between the lines.
Though she could not tell it for certain, Celestia would swear that their mother was looking at Chrysalis in the painting, not Celestia. It was Chrysalis and no other that stood on her own hooves in the painting, and the symbolism was great. Terrible-- but great. The poor changeling was meant to be mortal. She hungered like the rest of her people because, if she became a goddess, she would not. She would lose that primal connection. Of the five children of Faust only one was powerful enough to stand on her own powers, and it was not mighty Celestia. The white alicorn feared, not for the first time, what would happen if Chrysalis ever became a God like her siblings. She didn’t need coddling. She didn’t need reassurance from Mother. She was strong all by herself and Faust herself preserve Equestria if somepony like her ever became immortal. She could easily overtake the rest of them and rule the planet. Nevermind the endless hordes of drones at her command and her incredible ability to lay thousands of eggs after one night with a (lucky?) stallion. She would suck them dry and start a dark age. Mother knew it. Celestia knew it. The others did not and, thank goodness, Chrysalis did not either.
Celestia brushed her mane, sighing quietly. At least now, Chrysalis would sleep and think less of food. For now.
=-=-=-=
That Evening…
=-=-=-=
The Spring Festival was a semi-fancy sort of thing. It wasn’t like a normal carnival with candy apples, clowns and a midway. It was more of a trader’s show of interesting new rides, expensive foods, and culture studies. They even had a booth where you could learn to make hats with hay and a series of drinking straws.
Banners fluttered on the evening breeze as it carried with it cool air and the wonderful aroma of food. Laughter rang back and forth as city foals pranced down the sidewalks, gasping and ooo-ing at everything they saw. They ran in packs, laughing and giggling and declaring what games they would play. There was dart-throwing, strength-test-with-bell-and-mallet, a house of mirrors—all sorts of wonderful things.
“I just don’t wanna lose you in the crowd,” Bandaid smiled playfully up at Nightmare Moon.
“We art two feet taller than anypony here, I shalt not be lost,” the Princess chuckled. “But! Now then! What shall we do?” she leaned down to see what her date preferred.
“What? You want me to decide?” The plain brown stallion was a little startled. Usually the Princess just plowed ahead to whatever interested her. “Uhm, let’s see…” he trailed off, looking in all directions. “How about the dunking booth?” he grinned. “Those are always fun!” Turning in a random direction, he took the Princess with him. Ponies stopped to stare, bow, and call out to them as they went. Nightmare offered them small smiles but little attention. Bandaid was the goal this night, the rest of them could mind their own. The sign read:
CHARITY! Dunk the Stallion For Canterlot School’s New Health Program!
Feed Our Foals Healthy Food and Help Your Community Thrive! Win Prizes!
There was a large pool with a window to see in, and there was a stallion sitting on the end of a diving board. He waved to the crowd, then grinned at the Princess when he saw her. The object was to throw balls at a target, and if you hit the middle the plank would give out, dunking the pony and making a big splash. “A worthy cause!” Nightmare nodded at the sign, lifting a wing and depositing a few bits into the box. The stallion behind the counter gave her a series of heavy rubber balls. Bandaid chuckled as she was shown to the little yellow line. It was the distance that did it, really. You had to throw really hard, dead center, to make the plank give. The stallion was only damp at the moment, so it had been some time since he’d been dunked. “Prepare thyself for dunking!” Nightmare lifted a ball with her hoof.
POW! The stallion careened backward when the ball struck him between the eyes, not even close to the target. He tumbled into the water with a cry of pain. “Oh jeez!” Bandaid blurted. “You were supposed to aim for the target, not him!”
Nightmare’s mouth made an o-shape, and she quickly dropped the rest of her balls. Rushing to the pool-side, she lifted the stallion out with her magic. “Forgive me, stallion, we did not understand the game! We thought thee the target, not the… erm… target!” she gestured to one side, fanning him with a wing.
The stallion had big swirls where his eyes were supposed to be, and he looked completely out of it. “Oh no, what am I gonna do?!” The pony running the attraction cried, hooves on his head. “With him knocked out there’s nopony to sit on the plank, we won’t gather enough bits tonight!”
Bandaid leaned over the unconscious pony, examining the bruise. It was dark purple—Nightmare had really beaned him hard. “How are we gonna fix this?” he asked the Princess worriedly. “You really hurt him!”
“I--- I—“ Nightmare chewed on her hoof for a moment. Not five minutes in, and she’d already ruined the night! Bandaid was going to be furious with her.
“I’ll have to take him to the medical tent,” The brown stallion shook his head at the Princess. “Stay here, and don’t cause any more trouble!” he scolded her. With that, he galloped off down the aisle with his patient.
Nightmare felt terrible. She’d thought it was a strange game, pelting a stallion with rubber balls to make him fall, but she didn’t want to seem out of the ‘now’. She’d not questioned it… and had hurt somepony with her backward thinking. Bandaid was angry, and this other pony’s worthy cause was going to suffer for it. She did notice more than a few ponies staring as well. Some of them wore accusing looks.
Bandaid returned some twenty minutes later, “I think he’s going to be okay,” he told to the pony running the attraction. But, the stallion was paying him no attention, instead he was busily taking money from an array of ponies that were eagerly buying throwing balls from him. “What the--?!”
Princess Nightmare Moon sat perched on the end of the plank, above the water. She spotted Bandaid and gave a sheepish, floppy-hoof’d wave. She’d put herself up in the stallion’s place. “Come one, come all!” she trumpeted. Ponies that were walking by stopped to stare, but a Princess was never crowd shy. She was used to having many eyes on her. “When in thy lifetimes have you ever had the chance to drop royalty into a pool?!” she demanded, hopping up and down on the plank. It bent and groaned under her alicorn-sized weight. The crowd murmured back and forth with interest, growing by the minute. “Then buy your chances, and see if you may dunk thy Princess!” she did a little, in-place dance. A stallion or two threw balls at the targets, nearly hitting the button. “Bah! Thou throws like a three-legged filly!” the black alicorn laughed, which made the crowd laugh too. “Come now, put thy muscles into it!” More balls battered the target, but at the range they had to stand it was hard to hit the dead-center. Bits piled higher and higher as the pony running the attraction looked on. Soon he was limiting it to three balls per pony so everypony could have a chance. “Muh-hahahaha!” The alicorn taunted them, bouncing a bit more. Then a stallion with a ball and bat on his flank stepped up. “None of thee hath the fortitude to dunk an alicorn, what poppyco—awwwgh?!” SPLASH! Down she went, shooting a wave out over the gathered ponies. The crowd laughed and cheered, stomping their applause on the ground. The black goddess hung suspended in the water, kicking like she was running. Foals ran to press their faces to the window in the side of the pool. Nightmare came up puffing like a walrus, pushing her mane out of her eyes.
Bandaid laughed along with the rest, helping her out of the pool. The piled mound of bits spilling out of the massive charity jar said she was done. The alicorn shook like a dog, flapping her wings a bit as the crowd slowly dispersed. What a carnival! Still nickering in amusement, Bandaid kissed her cheek with affection. Her face lit up happily and she leaned down to nuzzle with him for a few moments. Most glorious of nights, and it was only just beginning!
End of Part 7