The Beloved of Princess Nightmare Moon

by Aegis Shield

I Will Teach You

The Beloved of Princess Nightmare Moon

Chapter 3

Bandaid shouldered his pack, smiling as Nightmare Moon blessed him with her horn. “Safe journey to thy parents’ home, beloved,” she bade. “I will send for you the moment Chrysalis leaves the country again.”

“And the letter to my job in Ponyville?” he asked, adjusting a strap.

“Already sent, you’ve nothing to fear,” she nodded.

“Thanks Nightie,” he said. His hoof came up under her chin, steering her head until he could lean up to kiss her for several long seconds.

“Ooo,” said Cadance in approval, her wings lifting at the small shockwave of love only she could see from the couple. Celestia smiled at her sisters.

“See you soon!” Bandaid turned from the great archway and crossed the drawbridge and out of sight without looking back.

“I want that…” Celestia murmured without thinking.

“You may not have!” Nightmare blustered, pink in the cheeks. “He is mine! Get your own!” She lifted her wings aggressively, growling with all her fangs.

“I-buh-well…” Celestia flustered. “I don’t mean him in particular.” She looked down and to one side.

“Don’t worry, your training starts today,” Cadance said. “After I’m done with you you’ll have your pick of whatever stallion you want,” the goddess of love tittered. “Meet you in the ballroom!” she turned and was away.

“Good luck, sister,” Nightmare said, turning to go about her own activities.

“Yes… yes,” Celestia said after a time. She coughed twice, trying not to glance at the nearby trio of guards that were looking at her curiously. No doubt the rumor mill would start up soon. This was just the beginning. The white alicorn followed her pink sister to the grand ballroom of the palace. The Grand Galloping Gala and other events were often held here by the highest of society and all their servants. But now, it was just an empty shell with a few covered tables and the occasional passerby. The gala was in October, and that was a month behind them. The Feast of Hearthswarming wasn’t for another month at least. So the room sat empty for the most part.

“Here’s the table you wanted, your highnesses,” a strong looking teenage colt pushed in a tiny table for two on wheels, pushing it with the crown of his head. He leaned down, flicking all the breaks into place so it wouldn’t roll away.

“Thank you, Hammershot,” Celestia offered before he bowed and was away. The massive room seemed almost… intimidating, when it was this empty. She found her gaze wandering as she slowly seated herself at the small table and let Cadance do the same.

“Alright,” Cadance steepled her hooves and set her chin on them in a rather villainous sort of way. “Seduce me,” she said.

“What?” Celestia was caught off guard.

“Seduce me.”

“But you and I aren’t-!”

“SEDUCE ME!” Cadance demanded, turning her ears back and snarling.

“Right, right, yes… okay,” Celestia looked at the table before them. A tiny plastic rose, a pair of plates, some silverware, a tiny griffin plushie, some marbles, a soap stone and a few other odds and ends were before her. What to choose? She decided on the tiny griffin plushie. That was cute, and could be a good conversation starter. She shouldered it to herself. “H-hey there… ah... handsome,” she tried a cute approach.

Cadance’s magic launched the plushie across the room where it squeaked sadly when it hit the marble floor. “I am not one of your plushie stable colts! I am a stallion! I like my mares mysterious! Powerful! Confident!” She touched her own breast with a large hoof and glared across the table at her. “You want to be my lover?! Earn it! Seduce me!” she demanded. “I need to know what I’m working with, here!” Cadance said with an aggressive flap of her wings. When she settled, she waited. “What does Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Sun, Ruler of Equestria and all her Holdings say when she decides she wants a piece of stallion for herself?!”

Celestia hesitated for a long time, overpowered by her sister’s… enthusiasm. She’d not thought this far ahead, to her actual approach to this sort of thing. “Er,” was all she managed. She looked to one side, then the other, then hesitantly spread her vast white wingspan. Cadance noted the angle and shadow positioning. Not aggression, but an invitation to look. She allowed a small smile of approval and a tiny nod. Then the white alicorn offered her most dazzling Noon Day Court smile. Cadance nodded again. “No… No sooner met but I looked, no sooner looked but I loved, no sooner loved but I sighed… a-at the sight of you,” she tried.

Cadance deflated, “Shakespony is very sweet, sister, but not something used nowadays.” She tapped hoof to chin as she watched her sister flush in embarrassment. “Come now! Love me! Show me what you want and that you’re willing to reach out and— YAP?!” Cadance was seized bodily and thrown on her back upon the table with a bump. Celestia held her shoulders down, positioned firmly between her knees. “I said seduce me, not ravish me!” she barked, harshly booping Celestia’s nose with the flat of her hoof. Cadance’s four legs bicycled to try and get her off.

“Er?!” a servant was standing in the double doorway, jaw hanging and eyes wide. The two goddesses were entangled as though in an act of passion, over a table for two. Celestia jumped off Cadance like she’d been hit with lightning. “I-I brought the things you asked for, Princess Cadance,” he pushed a large cart into view.

Cadance slowly got up, walking a half-circle around him. Meeting Celestia’s eyes for a split moment, she dragged the weight of her tail over the young stallion’s back. His face colored as she walked past him, taking the cart and pushing it along with magic. “Thank you for all your help. I’ll be thinking of you later,” she pressed a golden bit into his hoof, and oh-so gently shhhhh’d him as he slipped back into the hall. She offered a sensual wink before she closed the door in the stuttering stallion’s face. “See? Like that,” she said matter-of-factly. Celestia stared in awe. She made it look so easy! “Maybe we should start more simply,” she said, pushing the cart along to their little table. “When was the last time you wore make-up?” Celestia thought for a time. Perhaps the Grand Galloping Gala? No no, that night was all about dresses. She couldn’t recall. “…Do you know how?” Cadance frowned at her silence.

“Of course!” Celestia said, a little miffed. “It’s the three F’s, yes? Foundation, frame the face, five minutes, done.”

Cadance cocked her head, mildly impressed. “Mm! Well yes, but there’s one more letter there. The S.” She pulled the sheet off of the new cart and revealed a vast array of beauty supplies. Celestia blanched at all the powders and liners and pencils. “Subtlety. You want to accent what you have, not be a painted whore.” She picked up a couple of flesh-colored lipsticks and leaned rudely at Celestia’s undercarriage. She compared the colors to the pink of her belly.

“I’m not a canvas to be painted!” Celestia lifted a hoof defensively, leaning back.

“No but you are as white as a virgin dove, and white goes with everything,” Cadance said in a business-like way. Reaching she took a couple of other colors until she found the right one. She held it up and pulled off the cap. It was white. No, pink. A very, very slight pink one practically had to squint to see. She twisted the knob and the shining spike emerged. Celestia ooohh’d just a little, unable to help it. “Subtle beauty is its own reward, sister,” Cadance said, “I can smell your perfume, by the way. Only from very close, though. That’s smart.” She waited for Celestia’s flattered nod. “This is much the same. Ponies that like you or want to know you better will spend more time looking at your face. They, and nopony else, will notice a color this subtle.” With that, she slowly leaned to apply a thin, thin layer to Celestia’s lips. “There. Feel sexier yet?” she chuckled.

“Well I-!” Celestia stopped when she held up a small mirror from the cart. “Oh my,” she gasped. Even that tiny addition had made a difference. She wasn’t an especially vain pony when it came to her looks, but she’d not worn lipstick in a very, very long time. It was pretty on her.

“Now,” Cadance leaned back when she saw the boost in her sister’s confidence. “Seduce me.” She sat in the chair across from her again.

Celestia steepled her hooves and mimicked the look she’d seen Cadance give the poor servant stallion earlier. “I’ll have what you’re having,” she said sensually, as though they were in a restaurant someplace.

Cadance stared, then groaned and slowly face-hooved. Celestia deflated, disappointed. “That’s erm… better?” It came out like a question. “We have a long way to go.” Celestia sighed, sitting back in her chair to be lectured again.

Later…

Cadance and Celestia leaned Scooby-Doo style around a corner, peering into a large green house. It was in the far corner of the palace gardens, not far from the palace proper. A single, impressive looking stallion smiled over his dozens of tiny plants and flowering things. He was a dark brown thing with a dark green mane. The goddess of love gestured, and Celestia screwed up her courage before she emerged from around the corner. “Now just do exactly as I told you,” she whispered from her cover. Celestia nodded, taking a deep breath.

Opening the thick glass door, she peered about. “Sorry, this greenhouse is for the Hearthswarming Feast décor plantlife! You’ll hafta go someplace else if you need help with landscaping or somethin’!” the stallion called over his shoulder without looking up. He swung his watering can, “There y’go little guy…” he whispered soothingly. The plant seemed to dance under the shower of his tender care. He touched it once, twice, three times to shake the droplets off and his earth pony magic made one of its leaves enthusiastically unfurl.

“Is that hibiscus?” Celestia asked softly, making him whirl about.

“Princess Celestia!” he almost tripped over himself. “What brings you to my… erm… this greenhouse?”

“I saw all the pretty flowers, and wanted to see them closer, master gardener.” Celestia said, walking a slow half circle around him to put his back to the doorway. A bush with a gigantic pair of pink wings swish-swished through the doorway and then lay still in a corner to listen. “What is your name?”

“Mossy Mane, your majesty. A-And yes, its hibiscus.”

“I thought those only bloomed in spring and summer!” She smiled, impressed. She less-than-subtly opened her wings when he turned to look at the plant she’d indicated.

“Well in here I can make it like spring or summer,” Mossy said proudly, picking up his watering can so she wouldn’t trip over it. She followed him as he showed off a row of this flower, and a row of that flower.

“Beautiful,” Celestia said whispily. “Your flowers are beautiful, Mossy Mane,” she said, careful to use his name aloud as Cadance had bade.

“W-well, they’re the palace’s flowers, I just work here!” he blushed a little, but smiled at her compliment.

“Well you take care of them, don’t you?” Celestia said. “Help them bloom and grow? Doesn’t that make them sort of yours?”

“Well I… guess I never thought of it that way!” he smiled, leaning to water a furry-looking something-or-another plant while he spoke. The color in his cheeks had not faded.

“May I have one of your flowers?” Celestia lowered her voice, fluttering her eyelashes. “For my mane?”

“Uh?” He looked up at her, eyes a little wider. “Oh! Yes, please! Take one!”

The white alicorn leaned over the many rows. “What do you think would look best for me to wear for the day?” she wanted his opinion. She watched him study her for a moment. His eyes travelled her impressive wingspan, much to her delight. “I know white goes with everything, haha…” she offered a tinkling laugh that reminded him of a wind chime.

“How about this?” Mossy Mane offered her a rather large pinkish-purple flower, “It matches your eyes.” He said before he could stop himself. He looked startled at his own words, then quickly turned about to find a cutting tool. She slowly knelt down and allowed him to put it into her hair, under her crown and beside one of her ears. His hooves trembled and his heart thundered at the close contact.

“Thank you, Mossy…” she said, tossing her head a little to make sure it was secure. “It’s beautiful.” She turned to go with a swish of her tail.

“You’re beautiful…” he whispered under his breath. If Celestia had been a mortal mare, her ears would not have been keen enough to hear his words. She smiled and stared at her hooves as she crossed the greenhouse and went out the door. She was careful to close it behind her so that the harsh November air didn’t invade the greenhouse.

Cadance popped into existence with a shower of pink sparkles as soon as Celestia went around a corner into the palace. “Wow! Hook, line and sinker! There’s hope for you yet!”

“Those were your words, not mine,” Celestia looked at her reflection in a corridor mirror. The flower was lovely. She decided to leave it in her mane.

“But you got the basics: name, flattery, please and thank you, easy gift, eye contact,” Cadance named off the long list of things she’d just practiced all by herself. “And never forget the tail swish. He’s gonna be thinking about you for days!”

“Yes well, this is just the first day or so of your help,” Celestia smiled gently, worry knitting her brow. “I’m not going to be flirting with every other stallion in the palace, am I?”

“It’s not going to hurt you to look available,” Cadance tutted. “After all, it’s been a few hundred years since you were available.”

“True,” Celestia relaxed a little.

“Who knows! Maybe somepony will approach you in the end!”

*****

Bandaid heaved a great, relieved sigh when he arrived at his parents’ home. It was nestled in a cute little valley surrounded by thick and lively woods. November had made all the trees barren, but ocassional animal calls and brilliantly colored leaves still dotted the scene. Shouldering his pack, he passed the mailbox, the well, a small cart barn, and a big open yard. To one side lay a strange square-shaped building he couldn’t identify, but he’d not been to visit in a long time. It must’ve been new. He wrote to his parents often, but life was rather busy when one was dating a goddess, holding down a job and… and… and he didn’t have much excuse. He sighed a little, then made himself smile. Clearing his throat, he rang the bell. “Mom? Dad?” he called. “It’s me, Bandaid!”

Bandaid’s father answered the door. “Hey, there he is!” he pulled his son into a big hug. “Glad you made it okay. We got your letter a couple of days ago, your mother just about had a fit.”

“Well, haha,” Bandaid scratched the back of his head. “Better here than home in Ponyville, right? Thanks for letting me stay here with you guys while Chrysalis is visiting in Canterlot.”

“You’re always good to stay here with your mother and I,” First Aid patted his son’s back a couple of times, leading him through the house and out the back onto their deck. What once was a leafy, disheveled yard had transformed into a... big… sand pit? “It’s a zen garden,” First Aid whispered. “We’re working on your mother’s blood pressure and physical therapy.” The two males shared a private smile. Bandaid’s mother Dazzle Kick had given it one hundred and ten percent all throughout her octagon career, through the births of no less than seven foals, and had retired on top into a quieter life out in the country side. Bandaid admired the gentle waves in the sand, the ocassional pointed rock and the spheres of colored glass that glistened in the easy sunlight. A long wooden rake leaned against a tree nearby. A chilly breeze pushed some leaves about as they crossed the yard around the zen garden. “I think your mother is still in her dojo.”

“Is that what that square building is?” Bandaid said with disapproval. “What happened to retiring?”

“Well, as soon as we settled someplace word got around and ponies started showing up to ask her to train them in ‘her ways’.” First Aid rolled his eyes. “And you know your mother’s ego, she decided to take on a protégé or two to pass on her moves to. But…”

“No! No! NO!” Both stallions flinched at the bombastic shout as they approached the square-shaped building. “You have to be quicker than that!” A crashing sound sent both of them running instead of walking, along with the splinter of wood. “Rainbow Dash, show them how to do it right!” Dazzle Kick was sitting on a comfy pillow to one side as they emerged into the enclosed courtyard, but she was shouting up a storm. First Aid pushed his glasses up his muzzle to get a better look. Dazzle Kick was instructing no less than three ponies. Rainbow Dash, the mare that had “beaten” her in the octagon during her retirement match, and two strangers. Both were earth ponies that looked like they’d been hit with a boulder. Bandaid looked at the ramp that had been set up, the boulder laying against a wooden column, and the long trail in the dirt that said they’d been run over by it. Both earth pony trainees lay in heaps on the ground, their eyes replaced by swirls. “Go on, show ‘em!” she tutted her star pupil with a stomp of her hoof.

After replacing the big rock at the top of the wooden ramp, Rainbow fluttered down to be directly in its path. “Alright, ready,” she said. Dazzle Kick gave a rather subtle tap of her left-back hoof. The boulder wavered, then careened towards Rainbow Dash with all its weight. Rainbow Dash poised, squinting, then touch-step-pushed the massive thing to one side of herself with a shout. A huge crack appeared in the boulder as it rolled to a halt before it hit anything. She took her cleansing breath, relaxing.

“Oh for Celestia’s sake, honey, does it have to be boulders again?!” First Aid stepped over the two stunned students to nuzzle his wife.

“If they can shift a boulder they can shift a punch,” Dazzle Kick said matter-of-factly. “Rainbow Dash can already do it, she’ll learn my channeling-recoil techniques perfectly within the next year or so!” she praised her star student with gusto. “It won’t be long before she dominates the octagon in my place!” Rainbow’s ego inflated and she flared her wings while puffing up her chest. “And look, I finished my herbal tea like you wanted. I get points for that, right?” she showed her husband the empty cup. His eyes darted to a potted plant next to her to see if it was wet.

“She actually drank it this time!” Rainbow cupped a hoof to report. First Aid nodded his approval, placated, and kissed the top of Dazzle Kick’s head.

“Oh Bandaid, you’re here!” Dazzle stood, stepping over the dead-to-the-world stallions she’d been trying to teach. “You look good!” she hugged her son.

“Hey Mom,” Bandaid said, ommphing a little in her powerful embrace.

Dazzle Kick looked him over, tugging on his ears and stroking his withers with affection, “Well at least they fixed you up properly this time,” she thanked her husband as he gathered up the tea set that had been next to her seating pillow. “Rainbow, head to the sand woks for a while. One thousand punches!” she called past him. Rainbow wilted like a foal that had been given extra math homework. “Don’t sulk, go on now!”

“I take it you already heard?” Bandaid said delicately, looking at her face. His mother had gained weight, softened in the face, and looked a bit older now that she’d retired. No doubt she’d finally been eating what she wanted, sleeping as much as she wanted, and enjoying her retirement in the meantime. He was relieved she was finally uncoiling, relaxing

“Oh yes, I heard,” Dazzle Kick growled a little. “Princess Nightmare Moon lost track of her stallion again and you popped up in another country!” she sizzled and reached under her sitting pillow for the newspaper she’d stashed there:

Princess Nightmare Moon Leads One-Mare Rescue Charge Into Badlands!

Consort Bandaid’s Health Hangs in the Balance!

“Oh that’s not even close!” Bandaid said. “I was fine! Nightie came and got me, like she always does!” He wilted under his mother’s angry gaze.

“And what did she trade for you this time, huhm?” Dazzle Kick said.

“Nothing, nothing. Chrysalis didn’t take me this time.”

“'This time', he says,” Dazzle Kick settled with a loud grunt onto her pillow. “Bandaid you’ve got to stop being the bargaining chip of the gods. It’s not good for you! You’re going to get hurt bad one of these days!”

“Nightie takes good care of me, and she always rescues me when things go bad!”

“Because they always do!” Dazzle threw the paper on the ground. Rainbow Dash, who was punching a large wok full of sand, flinched at the snapping sound some distance away.

“Maybe we can just not worry about it, and have a good visit?” First Aid returned with some tiny finger foods, hoping to quell the frustration with the offering. His glasses slid down his nose. “Honey, our son came home to us to be away from all that, and who better to protect him than you?” he played to his wife’s ego.

Dazzle Kick grumbled, thanking her husband for the afternoon snack. She was on a special diet that was tiny meals throughout the day, while he body settled out of her super violent lifestyle. “The only pony responsible for you is in the mirror,” she said slowly, not looking at her son for once.

“W-well, why don’t you teach me then?” Bandaid said without thinking. “I can defend myself!”

Dazzle Kick looked up at him, shocked. First Aid dropped his tray in horror, spilling food everywhere. Her eyes got big and moist. Had Hearths Warming come early?! “You… you want to learn from me?” The old mare whispered. “But you’ve never shown an interest… a-and your sisters were always so rough with you… took after your father…” she stuttered a little.

“Honey, honey no,” First Aid said, sweeping closer to her and taking her by the shoulders. “Don’t. Please. All the girls learned from you, Bandaid was mine to teach! You promised.” He was visibly upset at the mere idea.

Bandaid watched them argue back and forth. He looked at his hooves. Then he looked over at Rainbow Dash, working hard and trying very hard not to evesdrop. Their eyes met for a moment. Then she was back at it. “Dad…” he said slowly.

“Please don’t. You’re a nurse! You're a healer! You’re like me!” First Aid took his son’s shoulder to plead.

“I… I need to learn to defend myself,” Bandaid said firmly after a few moment’s hesitation. “If not Chrysalis, then somepony else. As long as I’m with Princess Nightmare Moon, I’m a target. W-whether anypony wants to admit it to my face or not.” His face fell. First Aid opened his mouth to argue, but his son cut him off. “And I’m not going to dump her to be safe. She loves me. And I love her. I love her very much.” He looked to his mother, taking a deep and resolute breath. “Mom, everypony out there that’s powerful enough to take me away from Nightmare Moon… I need to be able to stop them.” He watched the smile on his mother’s face grow and grow and grow. “Teach me the Tectonic Plate Crusher.” There was a silence. First Aid hung his head like he’d just lost a child, and quietly went back into the house, taking the tray with him. Tears were starting in his eyes.

“That’s the one thing I never taught your six sisters,” Dazzle Kick said slowly, touching a hoof to her chin. “Since they’re so irresponsible. But maybe you…” she trailed off, looking up at him. Kind Bandaid. Gentle Bandaid. Nurse Bandaid. Her little colt. Her mind's eye saw the tiny, scrawny, yowling thing that he'd been as a baby. The bright eye'd gentle soul the took a tin of bandaids to school with him every day in case one of his friends skinned a knee. Now a handsome young stallion, dating a goddess, no less. “...Maybe you.” She stood slowly and hugged him. “Your father is going to kill me,” she whispered with soft eyes. “Alright. I will teach you.”

First Aid wept in the house with the bedroom door closed where nopony would hear him.

End of Chapter 3

Comments

[KMCA]

It's not the end of the world... unless he goes beserk again

[-Brutus]

and now Bandaid is learning and how to use that, the VERY thing that Nightmare Moon is scared of in last fanfic when she watched her mother's match.

Nevertheless, both of them are good parents and nothing can take that away

[Coranth]

Poor First Aid... Damn this story is so good!

[White Wolf]

Alright.

[Airy Words]

Looking forward to Mom’s reaction when she hears her gentle, caring son has kicked the stuffing out of Queen Chrysalis not once, but three times. Should be entertaining!

I can almost hear Chrysalis next chapter talking to Nightmare. “Honestly? If I never see tour pet stallion again, it will be too soon. Every time I end up in pain or my children end up broken or dead. That pony is just bad luck, plain and simple.”

One hole in the storytelling so far—what happened from Bandaid’s perspective when he was spirited off to the Badlands. Even if it was just “I went to sleep in Ponyville and woke up in the tallest tower of Chrysalis’ castle,” the reader needs to hear it. The longer it draws out before we learn this, the more annoying it becomes, at least for this reader.

[Black--Soul]

Had Celestia not already a harem of three stallions?

BandAids family is awesome