The Moon Presence at Twilight

by Arcanum -Phantasy

Ch.2 CoNsEqUeNsEs (Behold the Mare Behind the Currtan)

Twilight awoke with a start, eyes wide with pure terror and her fur plastered to her body by a cold sweat. Heart pounding, she tried to get a feel for her surroundings. With a sigh of relief, she recognized the crystal ceiling of her bedroom.

A dream, she thought, a slight chuckle slipping past her lips as she rested the back of her left hand onto her forehead. Just a really bad dream. That's it, I'm taking a break from my research for the next couple of days.

A small smile crept onto her face as she pulled her hand away from her face. Her smile shifted into a confused frown as she spotted something on her hand. On the back of her left hand, a bright red circle surrounded her cutiemark along with a single red line that lead from it to her ring finger.

"What the hay?" she muttered to herself as she sat up.

As she examined it, the mark around her cutiemark didn't appear to be painted on. The fur in that area had turned red in much the same manner as the strands that made up the starburst pattern on the back of both her hands. But that was the only similarity the strange coloration seemed to share with her mark, as when she examined her right hand, there was no red ring. Aside from its sudden appearance, one other thing about the mark sent a chill down her spine; it seemed to give off a faint glow. Instantly, memories of a room flooded with blood jumped into her mind, memories she desperately tried to bury.

"I-I-I'll worry about that later," she mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

As she brought her hands down to rest on her lap, a bit of movement out the corner of her eye caught her attention. When she turned her head towards it, she immediately wished she hadn't. Sitting about ten feet away from her bed was a small gray blob no bigger then a baseball. Paralyzed by fear as well as fascination, she watched the strange creature go about its business. It was currently holding what looked like a wet rag with a tentacle that it was vigorously scrubbing into the wall with singleminded determination. Slowly, she rose from her bed and tried to creep towards the door. She didn't know what this creature was or what it was capable of and if it meant living to see another day, she would love to remain ignorant. It was as her hoof made contact with the floor that she found out something new about the creature; it was covered with eyes. She froze when three of its eyes locked onto her. It just stared at her, all the while continuing its task with little interruption. Cautiously, she raised one of her hands up and waved at the creature. To her surprise, it sprouted a new tentacle and mimicked the action, a small series of clicking sounds fallowing. Not sure if it was genuinely friendly or just imitating her, she stiffly walked towards the door only to bolt out the second she had the knob in her hand.

With a loud slam, she closed the door and rested her head against its cold wooden surface.

What the Tarterus was that thing? she thought as she tried to level her breathing. It looked like something Sweetie made when Spike and I tried to teach her how to cook!

Slowly, she started to get a grip of herself, especially after she used her sister-in-law's breathing technique a few dozen times. Now feeling a bit more grounded, she turned around to start the day. What she saw made any progress she made in restoring her composure completely moot. The entire hallway was filled with small gray blobs, all roughly the same size as the one in her room and each holding a washcloth. No space, save for the floor, was free of the creatures as en mass they scrubbed walls, ceilings, chandlers, and even windows. At the same time, they all had eyes locked onto the slowly panicking Alicorn Princess.

Yep! Way too much time cooped up in the library! she thought, pupils shrinking down to pinpricks. I think I need some coffee! A lot of coffee!

With that, she channeled some of her magic and teleported to the kitchen. To her immense relief, it was devoid of any little blob monsters. Though there was a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her. With shaky hands, she levitated her mug out of a cabinet and pored herself a cup. Her mind was racing as she brought the life-giving beverage to her lips, not even bothering to add cream or sugar like she usually did. Her castle was infested with an unknown swarm of lifeforms that may or may not be dangerous and she had no idea what to do about it. On one hand, none of them seemed hostile. On the contrary, now that she was a little less overwhelmed by their appearances, she found that they could be rather helpful if their inclination to cleaning was anything to go by.

"This will require further study," she mumbled as she set her cup down.

"What will?" asked a eerily familiar male voice.

Ice cold fear shot through Twilight to her core as she processed the voice, a large part of her choosing to deny the existence of the being it belonged to. But the rational part of her mind refused to lie to her, even if it was a lie that would give her the greatest of pleasures. Slowly, she turned her head in the direction she heard the voice come from. Sure enough, sitting at the dinning room table was a gray Alicorn dressed in black, his opal eyes and smile combining to form an expression of mild amusement.

"Y-You're real," she stuttered, voiced just above a whisper. "Last night actually happened."

He nodded, his expression shifting to something of a cross between confusion and concern.

"It did. Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes," she squeaked. "N-Never b-been b-b-better!"

"Don't lie to me," he frowned, tone soft but strong. "What's wrong?"

A million answers flew to the front of Twilight's mind, not all of them lies. And most of them centered around the being that was staring at her from across the room. Even in the form presented, she could sense the unimaginable power Nyarlethotep had at his disposal. Power to level the entirety of Equestria in a matter of seconds with little opposition. To say that Twilight was terrified of him was the understatement of twenty millenniums.

"I-I-"

Before she could find the words to answer, Nyarlethotep sighed then put a hand up to silence her.

"You fear me, don't you?"

With a nervous gulp, she nodded.

The Outer God looked genuinely saddened as he stared at the trembling Princess that stood before him.

"Please, my dear," he said gesturing towards the chair across from him. "Have a seat."

As he said that, the chair pulled itself out for her. For a moment, she was mesmerized by the magic she saw manipulate the object. It didn't have the colored glow that most Unicorn Magic had. It was like looking at an image through a pane of distorted glass, where the chair looked normal while the space around it seemed to ripple like water. Not willing to insult the cosmic being, she forced herself out of her trance and took the offered seat. For what felt like the longest minute of her life, Twilight stared at him, only now noticing something was different about her guest. He seemed thinner than she remembered. Not gangly by any stretch of the imagination, but not a mountain of muscle like Big Mac or Rock Hoof either.

"As I said last night," he started, snapping her out of her observations of his current build. "I wouldn't dare hurt you. You are my bride after all."

That made her blink in confusion. Though a small part of her remembered that he said something to the same effect last night, but her muddled mind had a hard time grabbing that memory with any clarity.

"When you say that, what do you mean?" she asked, a small amount of her courage coming to the surface.

Nyarlethotep tilted his head in confusion, then said, "Exactly what it means my sweet. Did you not know?"

"K-Know what?" she asked, already suspecting the answer but not willing to accept it.

"Last night, you read a Contract of Binding from my Necronomicon. And not just any type of Contract of Binding, but a contract of marriage which I so happily accepted. For better of worse my dear, we are now husband and wife."

Twilight's blood froze in her veins as her greatest fear took center stage.

"P-Please," she whispered, a tear sliding down her face. "Tell me you're kidding."

Nyarlethotep frowned as he took in his wife's appearance, the slight blow to his pride ignored in the face of her sadness and fear.

"No my dear," he said, tone somber. "I'm not."

***

Nyarlethotep sighed as he stared out one of the castle's southern windows. Through it he could see the picturesque landscape of the world he was released upon. While he was glad to be free from the book, he was less than thrilled with how things turned out with his bride. From the moment she set foot (or hoof as it were) in Hallow Shades, he had found her fascinating. A person with a much stronger heart and sharper mind than the last two people to hold his book in this world. But it wasn't until he gazed into her past that he truly began to fall for her. Along with a heart of gold, she held a madness that would make the most unhinged look like modal citizens in comparison. And the best part? The more lawful and orderly she became, the more her madness grew to compensate. An unfortunate quality of the Harmony magic that flooded this world. An energy that made him feel nauseous from time to time due to the nature of his own magic.

As soon as I figure out what to do about Twilight, I'm going to fix that, he thought bitterly as his form trembled as a wave of harmonious energy washed over him. Perhaps when she returns from the school we can work something out. Maybe I could get Telzelec to reorganize her library for her. She likes reorganizing her books at random points through out the year.

He was just about to summon the Shoggoth, or at least one of its offshoots that wasn't cleaning a portion of the castle, when he sensed a presence in the room. A presence he hadn't felt in over twenty million years. Curious, he turned around. standing in a darkened corner of the room was a pink equinoid, a plain white T-shirt and bluejeans her only articles of clothing. Her curly mane and tail was only a slightly darker shade of pink when compared to her coat. Her blue eyes and knowing, cock-shire grin gave the Outer God a sense of nostalgia that few beings were capable of.

"Hiya Nyarlethotep ," she said, casually stepping out of the shadows. "Been a while, hasn't it?"

"Indeed," he said, smiling himself. "Far to long for my tastes. Where have you been, Droom-avista, The Jester?"

The mare giggled heavily, then said, "Fantasterific! And please, call me Pinkie."

Comments

[Soluna Eclipse]

Somehow, Pinkie being an Eldritch Horror makes far to much sense. Laughing so much at this so far Can't wait to read what happens next.

[Venerable Ro]

And absolutely no one was surprised...