Hoof and Claw Versus the World

by Chythar

Act 3, Chapter 10 - Completing the Circuit

Author's Note:

Author's note: Steamy scene ahead, you can't miss it. If you'd rather skip it, jump ahead to the next horizontal line.

A brony had found us and our new home, and Nightmare Moon had invited him to be part of her new court. Boy, was that a mistake.

---

Jealous. I'm actually jealous.

The brony actually came back the next night. I was sure that Nightmare Moon and I would have had to hunt him down and kill him. And he brought a few brony friends with him. Of course, Moony welcomed them all with open arms. Or would that be forelegs?

All the bronies did was eat, drink and kiss ass - but not to me. It was Nightmare Moon they loved. When she was around, they were all smiles and affection. But once they thought she couldn't hear them, they were condescending to everyone. Oh, did I forget to mention? One of the bronies couldn't keep their mouth shut, and told all his friends about us. There were at least a dozen bronies that hung around the Moon Palace at any time. And it was never the same bronies, either. When we went to bed, a bunch of them were still there. When we woke up, some of them were gone but new ones had arrived to replace them.

"Good morning," they said.

"We worship you," they cried.

"Don't hurt us," they begged.

It was SO annoying.

And Nightmare Moon just sucked up the attention. She laughed with them, told them stories about Equestria, and ordered pizza with them. She was even comfortable enough to leave her armor off when she held court. Now THAT was a high level of trust from her. I guess I wouldn't have minded the bronies so much if I had been able to party with them, too. But Moon Butt kept sending me out to conquer police stations on my own, so she could secure her hold on the LA Basin. Those missions always took the whole night, and I would get home right when the party was ending. I would have been happy to stay up late and party with the Bronies, but they weren't interested in me. It was the Night Mare they wanted.

Bummer.

Now, I didn't have a problem working on my own; that part was easy. Before the first brony showed up, Nightmare Moon had decided that we should split up and conquer police stations separately. She figured splitting up would double our capture rate and speed up her conquest. Of course, her plan had one flaw; I could not create the Savior dream spell nor create shadow parasites. Her solution was the gemstone in my armor. Just like the spell to change my cats into Shadowcats, the Night Mare gave me access to the Savior spell and the shadow parasite spell through the gemstone. It had six 'slots' that I could access; 'up', 'down', 'left', 'right', 'front' and 'back'. 'Up' still had a signal spell and 'front' still had the Shadowcat spell. After Nightmare Moon was done, 'left' had the 'savior' spell and 'right' had the shadow parasite spell. Well, to be honest none of the slots really had spells in them. The gemstone let me access Nightmare Moon's spells, so I could use complicated magic that I didn't have the skill to cast. Just like any cell phone - you know how to swipe and press buttons, but you don't know how it does what it does.

Splitting up worked really well, we did double our takeover rate. But after the bronies arrived, she delegated all of the conquering to me and let these suck-ups kiss her ass all night. She even set up her Shadowbolts as guards in her throne room, ready to threaten and intimidate the bronies at the whims of their goddess. Each time I returned to the Moon Palace, I was afraid I'd find she'd changed the bronies into her dark minions. And thereby removed the one thing that made me special to her.

I did get a good laugh one evening, when one of the bronies asked about Celestia. Moon Butt slapped a shadow parasite on him and had her Shadowbolts storm him out of the building immediately. The remaining bronies were a lot quieter after that.

My one saving grace in all this, is that I was the only one allowed to sleep with her. Meaning sleeping and snuggling, as we hadn't done the other meaning of 'sleeping with' someone yet. Surprisingly, she wouldn't allow the others to touch her or get too close to her. She wouldn't even let anyone but me sit on her throne-couch. However, she did let some of the bronies sit on the dais in front of the couch. Even so, I left one of my Shadowcats in the throne room every night to watch the bronies. I usually left Isis behind, as she was good at not being seen and remembering what she saw.

The hidden Shadowcat watched and waited, like a predator stalking its prey. Eventually, one of those kiss-ass bronies would screw up and try to make a pass on MY Queen. Nightmare Moon never accepted their clumsy advances, but I refused to take any chances. My Shadowcat would remember what happened, and when I returned near dawn she would tell me who did what. I made sure to have a 'talk' with that brony, so they fully understood the trouble they were in.

No hanky panky with the Moon Mare - that's MY job.

What pissed me off even more is that I could understand why they were doing it. If I hadn't been approached by Nightmare Moon when she first arrived on Earth, I'd be tickled pink to be part of her court. Just knowing that Equestria and its denizens were real would make all the ass-kissing worth it. I'd be hot to trot with the Moon Mare, too - and likely fail as bad as these jokers. I just couldn't bring myself to ask Nighty to kick them out and deny them their fantasy come true. Doesn't mean they'd get to fulfill EVERY fantasy, though.

Despite my annoyance with those boot-licking bronies, I kept going out and conquering police stations. What else could I do? Nightmare Moon made it an order, so I had to do it. The sooner I finished, the sooner I could join the party. Though I did have a lot of work to do. Back when the Moon Mare was helping me, we had split up Los Angeles County between us; she took north while I went south. Fall had just started to creep into the weather by the time we moved into the Ventura and Orange Counties, respectively.

Then the first brony arrived, and Nightmare Moon began to hold her accursed court. When she ordered me to continue my conquests, I chose to continue my work in Orange County. Each station still took about two days to conquer: one to take over the station, and a second to enslave the officers not on duty that evening. So it took me about a month to finish up my work. The next night, I flew north to pick up where the ebony mare had left off. There were thirteen stations that Nightmare Moon hadn't conquered yet; it took me about four weeks to complete her share of our conquest.

The night I conquered the last station, I called the Duty Officer at that station over for a chat.

"Yes, Master?"

"Do you have a way to talk to the other conquered stations? I have a message I want to send them."

"Yes, Master. Our shadow parasites can send out a cascading chain of messages. It's much more secure than email."

"Oh? How does it work?"

"Well, remember that we all can communicate with any shadow parasite that is nearby. We don't have to touch or talk to or see each other to send a message. I can send your message out to all the shadow parasites nearby, and each one that hears me can send it as far as they can. And so on."

Sounds weird, but nothing about these shadow parasites surprises me anymore.

"Sure, here's my message. Have all subverted officers in the LA, Ventura, Riverside and Orange counties check their area for any officers or stations that have not been conquered. Have the results sent back to the Duty Officer at the Central Community station in downtown LA, and he or she should bring the final results to the Building Manager of the US Bank Tower. I will notify her to bring the officer and their results to me. Understood?"

"Yes, but the cascading chain doesn't work that way. I can send the messages out they way you want to, but they have to be returned back to me or the messages will be lost."

I shrugged internally.

"Okay. I don't care who reports the results to me. Either you report them to me personally or you can give the results to someone else. As long as I get them."

"Understood, Master."

"Any idea how long this will take?"

"Hmm. The messages will spread out quickly, probably within a few hours. But investigating who is not one of us may take longer. Perhaps two days?"

"Good enough. If I don't hear back from you soon, I'll give you a call. I'm out."

"Good night, Master."

Why I didn't have the Duty Officer just call me instead of reporting in personally I don't know. Maybe Nightmare Moon's archaic ways were rubbing off on me. Regardless, when I returned home that night to the Moon Palace in the US Bank Tower, I reported immediately to the Mare in the Moon. I told her that the conquest of Southern California was now complete, and her minions were double-checking that nothing and no one was missed. Until they reported back in, my task was done. Nightmare Moon declared that this was a good reason to celebrate, and I was finally able to join the party. We partied day and night for the next four days, and it was GLORIOUS! I was finally accepted, or at least tolerated, by Nightmare Moon's suck-up court filled with bronies.

The party was filled with food and alcohol, though there was plenty of soda and water for those that did not drink. While the bronies were constantly eating and drinking, Nightmare Moon herself would only take a nibble here or there. Perhaps she feared becoming more like her sister, who she said indulged herself to the point of excess. However, the ebony mare was excessively fond of hot spicy buffalo wings. She only ordered them once during the party, but she ordered a 50-pack just for herself. She ate all of them, bones and all, and practically moaned in ecstasy after every bite. I admit, the sound of her sharp teeth cracking the chicken bones combined with her guttural moans was a bit disturbing. But the bronies were outright uncomfortable. One by one, they moved away from her as she ate. Some ran to the meeting room and closed the shoji door behind themselves.

To keep themselves entertained during court, the bronies had set up several activities in the open areas of the throne room. They had tables set up for playing games. One had a stack of games including Risk and Monopoly, along with several decks of cards and the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game. One dedicated group ran a session of Tales of Equestria all four days. Someone else had brought several game consoles to play, along with some small displays to play on. I kept my PS4 to myself however, and didn't let anyone else play it.

Nightmare Moon had given me the tour when I first joined the party, showing me what events and activities were available to all. She expressed little interest in board games, stating that she was a mare of action and moving small pieces around bored her. The video games fared little better in her opinion, though she did say she could see some of their merits. Yet her eyes lit up when she trotted over to a pile of foam weapons leaning up against the windows.

Where did she get Dagorhir weapons?

Dagohir is many things, but at its core it's an athletic sport where you beat each other up with foam weapons that looked like swords, spears, shields and the like. Using foam weapons meant that players could fight without the risk of seriously hurting each other. And the Night Mare loved the challenge! Well, she didn't get too much of a challenge from most of the bronies, though a couple could put up a good fight. But the mare had many years of experience fighting with real weapons, so she could easily best any and all that challenged her.

Though after watching her fight for a while, it seemed to be her alicorn stamina that gave her the advantage. If she couldn't beat an opponent with skill, she simply had to wait until they got tired and sloppy. Even I didn't do so well against her my first time. But I got lessons from a brony that was a Herald at Dagorhir events, and I got better over time. Oh, you should have seen Nightmare Moon's face when I got my first 'kill' on her! Of course, she beat the crap out of me in the next match but it was still worth it.

On the fourth day of partying, Janice came up for a visit and brought a uniformed police officer with her. She interrupted my Dagorhir duel with Nightmare Moon, then inform me that the officer was enslaved (meaning that she was safe to bring to us) and she had asked to see me. The officer, whom I recognized as the Duty Officer from four nights earlier, stated that she had the results I had asked for. The dark mare and I agreed to pause our duel, and summarily dismissed Janice. We led the Duty Officer to the meeting room, and sat down to hear the results of her search.

She stated that there were eleven shadow parasites, working at eleven different police stations, that were having trouble controlling their hosts. Also, there were seven police stations that had not yet been enslaved. After looking at the location of the police stations on Google Maps, Nightmare Moon decided that they were not important to her plan. She tasked me to reinforce the failing shadow parasites, but to start the following evening as she and I had our Dagorhir duel to complete. We dismissed the Duty Officer and resumed our battle, which I won by the way.

The next evening, I left to visit the officers that were fighting their shadow parasites. They were spread out across the four counties we had conquered, so I had to work on them one at a time. Thus, progress was slow. I had to visit the police station the officer was working at, then find out if they were on shift that night. The ones that were in the station were easy; I just ordered them into an empty office or cubicle, then put them into the Savior dream until their shadow parasite had full control. If the officer was on duty but not at the station, I had to wait until they were called back in. The ones off-duty were the trickiest. One of them was never home, I had to wait until they were back on shift before I could pay them a visit. One was at home, but was awake all night playing video games. I finally had to burst into their house and force them to fall asleep with magic. Fortunately, this officer was single and did not have any roommates. Hopefully the neighbors would mistake the shouts and sounds of fighting as a loud movie.

Five days later, I returned to Nightmare Moon's Moon Palace and announced that my task was complete. My ebony Queen, who happened to be sitting on her throne-couch telling another story, called all of the bronies to her and praised me in front of them all. She then declared that she and I had to plan the next step of our conquest privately, and dismissed the bronies for the rest of the evening. After a bit of bitching and moaning, they reluctantly filed out of the throne room and left via the elevators. Once the last one was gone, Nightmare Moon beckoned me to sit next to her with a pat of her left forehoof on the couch. I obediently sat down on her left and cuddled up to her.

"Ah, it feels like an age since we have enjoyed some peaceful time together."

"I know what you mean. I've gotten used to all the partying and all the noise all the time, it seems weird to have some peace and quiet."

"Aye."

The ebony mare and I just enjoyed the warmth of each other while we cuddled. Now and then, we would nuzzle each other. I loved all of the attention she gave me, but I couldn't help but wonder if she was delaying our meeting for some reason. Or was cuddling her plan all along?

"Hey, Luna?"

"Hmmm?"

"Were we going to have that planning meeting you talked about?"

"Why Captain, dost thou enjoy my company so little?"

Huh. She always slips into Old English when she's nervous.

"Oh, not at all. But I'd rather get it out of the way before we get too comfortable."

"Is that all? In truth, there is no planning to be done. Now that we have conquered the local guard stations, we shall continue our conquest with the larger military encampments in the area. Our successes with the Savior dream were so great, that I see no reason that the same plan will not work on the soldiers of this world. We will travel to the nearest military encampment tomorrow evening and begin our conquest of its soldiers without issue.

"There, our meeting is concluded."

The Night Mare turned her head to face me, a sultry look upon her muzzle.

"However, there is another conquest I have in mind this evening."

What?

The Mare in the Moon nudged me away with her left foreleg, then pushed me to my side with a forehoof.

"What are you doing?"

She did not answer, but instead reached down to me with her left foreleg. She lifted my right leg up and over, to rest against the back of the couch. She then used her magic to shift my body so I was lying on my back.

"You know what it is that I desire."

Luna slowly leaned over and placed her hooves on either side of my hips.

Oh.

Oh!

I was too stunned to react as the sultry mare slowly crawled her way up my armored body. She kept her body low and pressed down upon mine. Her abdomen dragged sensually across my crotch and my hips, then up and over my belly. Her fetlocks caressed my sides one by one as she slid her forelegs up my body. And the whole time, she kept her teal eyes locked upon mine. Inevitably, her hips bumped up against mine and she methodically ground the two together. Her muzzle slowly dropped down lower, and lower, then stopped just a whisker's width above mine. She spoke, her hot breath caressing the fur around my nose.

"Ah, that is much better.

"Though I believe you have no need of your armor at this time."

With a blink, my armor vanished from my body. Luna's chest now rested directly upon mine, her body heat radiating into my fur. But that wasn't the only reason it felt really hot all of a sudden.

We stared into each other's eyes for what felt like forever. And then, Luna kissed me passionately on the lips.

WOAH.

We had shared soft kisses before, but nothing like this. Not even our first kiss, made so long ago, could compare to this one. It felt like my head had been lit on fire, then exploded into tiny, sparkling stars. The heat behind her kiss burned every single thought of mine away, until all that was left was the feeling of her heavenly lips upon mine.

It was all that I had ever wanted, and all that I would ever need.

But still, I wanted more.

My hands moved up on their own, to reach up and caress the midnight mare's muzzle. The mare's body shivered against mine, and earned me a shuddering sigh through our most intimate kiss. Tenderly, gradually, I reached higher with my left hand and ran my fingertips across the side of her neck. And then reached ever so higher to caress the nape of her neck.

Without warning, I clenched my hand and tightly grasped her ethereal mane in my fist. Luna froze in place and let out a little gasp, one that experience told me was out of both surprise...and pleasure. I chose to wrest control from the mare, and used the fist clenching her mane to pull her in for an impassioned kiss. I held her close and poured all of my pent-up feelings for her into that one long, wild kiss. Then opened my fist and released her mane from my grasp.

Luna gasped at the sudden release, then immediately dove in to attack my lips with hers. I met her frenzied kisses with my own. I could only guess that her heat was rising as much as mine, and mine felt so hot that I felt I would burst into fiery flames at any moment.

As suddenly as she started, Luna broke our hot-blooded kisses to simply stare into my eyes. I will swear to this day I saw stars sparkling and popping all around her, and they weren't coming from her mane. Eventually, she spoke.

"I want thee, my love."

In that single instant, I suddenly realized that I wanted her too.

But I was also really nervous, of taking that final step in my relationship with Nightmare Moon. To take my Queen, to have Princess Luna as my lover. I hesitated a mere moment, and my sense of humor took its chance to sneak out.

"Was that your idea of foreplay?"

I expected her to say 'yes', to which I would reply 'I really like it' or something equally cheesy. But Luna took things in a different direction.

"You desire foreplay?

"Then foreplay is what you shall receive."

She leaned her head upwards and began to nibble on my left ear.

OH.

Oh god, here we go again.

Just as before, Luna's nibbles sent these electrifying shocks all through my body. Shocks that sent all sorts of erotic jolts into the more intimate parts of my body. But this time, Luna drove her point home by grinding her hips up and down against mine. And I couldn't help but notice that the place where our hips touched was getting really wet.

That was all my body could take, and my urgent need began to swell between us. And as close as we were pressed together, there was no way Luna could miss it.

"Oh! I see my attentions are finally appreciated.

"Or dare I say, very desired."

Luna leaned down again, and huskily whispered her next words into my ear.

"I grow impatient for thee, my love. I want thee, no NEED thee to quench my eager need. What say you?"

How could I say no? I needed her too.

We made wild, passionate love that night. Even though we were of two different species, we made it work somehow. And it worked VERY well indeed. Too bad for you, the reader, for that's all I'm going to give you. After all, some things are meant to stay private. Let's just say that night 'joined' us together in more ways than one.

(Tease)

(You know me so well.)

---

I awoke the following evening to find myself alone in bed. It was a surprise, for I had not fallen asleep alone. Luna and I had retired to our shared bed together, after our amorous adventures the previous morning. The mare was usually in bed when I woke up, so I was curious as to where she had gone. Thus, I crawled out of bed and made my way to the throne room. I left my armor on its stand as I had no conquering to do that evening. I entered the throne room, and expected to see Nightmare Moon with some bronies. But for once, the large room was empty of both. The only creatures in the room were the dark mare's Shadowbolts, who stood guard in their assigned places around the room.

Maybe they know where Luna went.

I walked over to the closest Shadowbolt, who was standing guard next to the shoji doors leading to the elevators. I idly noted that this was the Shadowbolt mare, which meant that the two stallions were on the other side of the room.

"Excuse me."

The Shadowbolt looked up at me, a bored expression on her face.

"Do you know where your Mistress is?"

The mare pointed a hoof straight up in the air for a moment, then let it fall back down to the floor.

Oh yeah, Nighty forced them not to speak.

"Oh, up on the roof?"

The mare did not look at me, but simply nodded.

"Okay, thanks."

I made my way to the emergency stairwell and walked up the three flights to the security door on the roof. Once through, I walked up the stairs to the helicopter pad while the brisk autumn night air gently ruffled my fur. As always, the twinkling of the city lights and the stars in the sky took my breath away. The dark mare was easy to find, as she was sitting upon a pile of pillows right in the middle of the helicopter pad. She was unarmored just like I was, her ebony form bare to the stars and the wind. When I got close enough to her, I could see she had a sad or wistful look upon her muzzle. She did not turn to greet me, though her ears did twitch in my direction. So I was sure she knew I was standing there.

"Hey."

"Greetings."

"What's up?"

"I do not understand the question."

"Oh, sorry. It's a greeting that gives you a chance to say what you are doing and how you are feeling."

"Ah."

When the mare did not speak for a bit, I sat down next to her on the pillows. I schooched over until our sides touched, then I slid a hand across her back to rest over her hip. I gave my lover a small squeeze with my arm, and earned a soft sigh in return. After a moment, Luna leaned her body up against mine. However, she kept her gaze up to the stars in the sky.

"I miss Equestria."

"Oh?"

"Aye. Our worlds have much in common, but I find myself longing for the things that are different. And for the days of old, before I attempted to overthrow my sister. Those times were sad, but there were happy moments within them."

Luna turned away from the night sky to look upon me.

"I came to this place to be alone in my thoughts. But now that you are here, I am glad. Your presence has eased my somber mood a great deal.

"If nothing else, this exile upon your world has brought one mote of happiness into my life."

Luna leaned down and kissed me ever so softly on the lips.

"It is you, of course. You have brought much brightness into my darkened soul, and our lovemaking has greatly deepened my love for you. I do wonder, had we met earlier in our lives would I have become Nightmare Moon? Would I have been so jealous of my sister if I had your love in my heart, as I do now?

"These are questions that can never be answered. And foalish, as you were not yet alive when my jealousy first sprang forth.

"Enough of this melancholy. It is time to resume our conquest of your world."

Nightmare Moon's horn lit with her magic, and in a flash our armor stands appeared next to us. The Night Mare broke our embrace to stand up, then began to slowly walk towards the edge of the building. As she walked, individual pieces of her armor floated towards her in her magic. Each piece buckled itself to her ebony form before the next one came forth. She always made the process look so elegant, I was always in awe of her every time I watched her armor up.

My process was so simple and easy, it was boring in comparison: the cast of a spell, and my armor was instantly upon my body. I walked quickly to catch up to the mare, who had nearly reached the edge of the helicopter pad. Her one remaining piece of armor, her helmet, floated towards her. In a smooth and practiced motion, she slid the helmet over her horn and brought the metal helm down to rest upon her head. Finally, her eyes narrowed in steely determination. To me, she looked ready to take on any who opposed her.

"Our conquest tonight shall be Camp Pendleton, near a city called Oceanside. Dost thou know the way?"

I nodded. I had driven past the military base many times in my previous life, and could easily make my way there.

The Mare in the Moon beckoned with a wing towards the edge of the building and the open air beyond.

"Shall we?"

I answered by jumping off the rooftop. The brisk wind rushed past me and buffeted my body as I plummeted towards the ground. With a thought, I summoned my magical wings and snapped them open. A quick twist of my wings to catch the air, and they carried me out and away from the US Bank Tower at a rapid rate. I made a mid-air turn to angle my flight to the south, and then poured on the speed. Not long afterwards, Nightmare Moon pulled up next to me and took a position just off my right wing.

Together, we sailed off into the night sky together.

Comments

[Nebulous Draco]

You dare to hide their loving from us!? HERESY!
Good chapter regardless.

[Chythar]

9894450
Thank you. While I'm not up to writing clop, if anyone wants to write the 'missing' scene I'd be happy to link to it.