> Nightmare Moon's Rise is More Erotic Than You Thought > by dracone > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna looked out over Equestria’s sleeping ponies and frowned to herself; there was almost nopony enjoying her beautiful night sky. The buxom alicorn mare was not happy about this. At first, she didn’t mind too much, but that was starting to change. Luna was feeling underappreciated, very few beyond the night shift were around at night, and even they spent next to no time marveling at her work. More often than not, foals that didn’t want to sleep would be the ones to marvel at her work. Luna didn’t mind; in fact, she liked it immensely; Luna always had a great love for children. But little did Luna know, something was going on in her own mindscape that would change the course of Equestria’s history. The darker side of her subconscious, fueled by her anger, disdain, and envy towards her sister’s praise by their subjects, had birthed a new existence, a figure that would eventually take over her mind for many years to come. It started whispering to her from her subconsciousness and left something buried within a corner of her mind that began to grow in the corner of her mind. This item planted in Luna’s mind by this entity growing her was a very special seed, one that Luna herself would unintentionally plant throughout the minds of Equestria’s citizens before the entity took over her mind. The existence was also born of her own sexual frustration and using that energy, it created the seed that was planted in her mind. This force, the Erotica Seed, was simple but effective; it would subtlely alter the behaviors and choices of those it was planted in to be more erotic. Luna was the first to have this planted in her to weaken her resistance to the entity birthed by her subconscious, and it slowly grew within the back of her mind over the course of months before it bloomed. Once in bloom, the seed was a fully matured Erotica Carrier and would spread its “seeds” throughout the minds of all those whom Luna’s magic touched; the seeds would be carried by her magic like dandelion seeds carried on the wind and find a place to take root. Ironically, the first to have these seeds take root in them were foals that had yet to reach physical or mental maturity. The plants would actually gestate and wait the months and years it would take for the foals to enter into puberty before exploding into a bloom not found in the more matured hosts it sank into. This escaped Luna’s notice until she visited some of the minds of those foals months later to see what appeared to be a strange plant growing within their mind; she dared not try to pull it out due to how firmly rooted in their psyche it now was. Seeking counsel from her sleeping sister, Luna unwittingly brought the Erotica Seed into Celestia’s mind and allowed it to firmly plant itself within the ivory alicorn’s mind. This also caused the first case of Erotica Resonance weeks later, which resulted in the pair of alicorns developing male genitalia on top of their natural female anatomy. Luna would often use her magic to converse with her elder sister for advice when she was confused about something. Celestia’s ability to divine powerful future events had some limits to it and was thrown out of whack for several years after the Erotica Seed took root and grew to full bloom a couple of months later. Her magic had yet to adjust to the parasitic mind plant her sister had unintentionally brought in with her. The effects of the Erotica Carrier and its seeds were simple, to begin with, but started getting more complex based on the host in question. First, the host would wear increasingly erotic attire over the course of a few months or years, completely unaware of the fact they were wearing more revealing clothing or outfits intended to induce a very sexual response in those around them; then, their mannerisms would get more erotic, and sometimes downright slutty, then the personality of the host affected the erotic results after that. The existence, now calling itself “Nightmare” was proud of its chosen method of weakening Luna’s resistance and the rest of Equestria’s potential resistance. However, Nightmare had forgotten one crucial detail, all the effects on Luna would be almost guaranteed to carry over to it when it assumed control. Even if Nightmare was aware of this quirk of her plan to erode Luna’s resistance, the entity wouldn’t see this as a problem; likely, it would see this as a plus. And Luna had unwittingly spread the Erotica Seeds throughout a sizable portion of Equestria’s population, and chances were the seeds would continue to spread through the population long after Luna’s influence by the very populous itself. Nightmare reasoned that erotic wear would be the norm in Equestria before the year’s end. The changes it planned for Luna were going to be quite erotic in their own right. Luna’s luscious double LL-Cup bosom would soon be a size that naughtily outclassed Celestia’s MM-Cup bosom. Why? Because Nightmare would transform Luna’s bust into a naughtily teasing NN-Cup bosom, quickly growing to a size more significant than that of Celestia. But before all that, Nightmare had to grow in strength and find the right place to ambush and corrupt Luna’s core consciousness; that would take time, and it had to wait until Luna’s defenses were warped and eroded away by the Erotica enough to have a guaranteed success. Nightmare could wait. It would be some time before the opportunity properly presented itself. > Erotic Changes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “We have had enough of the ponies only giving praise to our sister,” declared Princess Luna to herself. She was in a set of erotic silver armor. However, calling it armor would be pretty generous given how impractical and skimpy it was; the armor bore her symbol on the front of the panty-like groin guard and pasty-like chest piece, and the crescent moons were on the center of all the pieces. “We will make it so that our subjects know the glory of the night!” With a glow of her horn, Luna began to enter the dreamscape and visit the dreams of several politically and financially influential ponies and planted what she called the Noctis Seed in each of them. These would grow into a midnight blue “flower” she called the “Night Flower” and would make it so the ponies’ mind in question would become followers of the night and dedicated her cause no matter what. Luna only placed these flowers in the minds of adult ponies. She planted modified versions that looked like a white flower ringed by midnight blue leaves in the minds of foals that both slept and tried to be active at night with what she called the “Moon Seed,” which would grow into what she called the “Moon Flower” and would ensure she had a following of ponies young and matured. Her sister was mostly unaware of Luna’s machinations, having grown fascinated by her new anatomical growths and spent far more time doing research on the appendage and its accessories to get a better understanding of her body. Luna usually didn’t turn her power inwards, but she felt it necessary to find why both she and Celestia had grown stallion genitals. All Luna could find was a strange plant in their mindscapes; she couldn’t determine what the plant’s purpose was, but it seemed to be causing their psyches and physical forms to be expressed in a manner they hadn’t just a year ago. Celestia and Luna also found themselves desiring to drive their new anatomical parts into various mares they interacted with. Thankfully, they could hide their new growths from outside view with a simple enchantment on their attires, but that was a stopgap measure at best. The royal sisters could feel a conflict brewing between them; this wasn’t all that unexpected, siblings were prone to having conflicts with each other from time to time. To mitigate these aggressive tendencies towards each other, the royal sisters would often play various war games with each other. The planned pseudo-conflict was still a few weeks out, both were hard at work with their duties and concocting battle plans for the game, but both were unaware this would be all for not. Before their game could begin, the two would be involved in an incident that would change the very course of Equestria’s history. **************************************************************************** Celestia looked over her choices; what did she want to go with for the day? The slightly revealing gold armor with bronze accents? The really revealing armor that had no accents? Or her new excessively revealing armor with platinum accents? Well, it would be rude to the smith who made it to not try wearing it just once; it even had an enchantment in the groin guard to compact and hide her new stallion parts. Flare Hammer was a talented smithing pony; it was why she was ordained the royal smith. That said, the mare had minimal experience working with gold or silver before meeting with the royal sisters. To prove she was up for the task, she was tasked with making some random items both sisters asked her for from gold for Celestia and silver for Luna. Celestia nodded to herself and put on the excessively revealing armor. The groin guard, if you could call it that, was barely big enough to cover Celestia’s slit, but left her plot for all the world to see with a thin line of gold riding up the center of the back to connect to the rest of the piece’s upper part. And the chest piece was barely more than metal pasties that barely covered her nipples with a gold chain between them. Granted, all the features that were underneath were coated with a line of enchanted cotton and wool meshed together to form a distinct fabric that would help avoid irritation and the metal clinging to the wearer of the armor. Celestia had noticed her taste in attire, that of her sister, and that of a significant number of Equestrian citizens had been getting continually more scandalous. Still, nopony seemed to mind or care too much, so she just let it slide. Besides, it wouldn’t do for a ruler of Equestria to not show off the nation’s latest trends. That said, what her sister had told her about the mindscape of the both of them did bother her. How and when had the strange plant been planted in their psyches? Who or what did that? How had they done it? Why did they do it? When had it happened? There were just too many questions. The biggest being, if that’s what their mindscapes were like, what did it mean for their citizens? Attire all over Equestria, not just Canterlot, was getting more scandalous and erotic, and the royal sisters seemed to be affected by this desire to have such attire themselves. Celestia hesitated to think what this meant for the country’s more rural areas; they had always been a bit less conservative than the more metropolitan parts of the country. The thought of some farm ponies going around without any attire at all began to gallop through her mind, their nude bodies showing off their form in all their glory; she felt her penis twitch for a moment and did her best to shake the thought from her mind. **************************************************************************** Luna stood proudly in the dreamscape, her extremely revealing armor on her form. She had dealt with some incredibly kinky nightmares as of late, more than she was willing to admit witnessing, the kind she couldn’t tell if they were genuine nightmares or just dreams made look like nightmares due to the preferences of the dreamers. That all said, she had done her duty with grace and poise, as always. Since you couldn’t take physical items into the dream realm without special magical preparations, Luna had taken the time to dedicate herself to a marital class that didn’t require such things as weapons beyond what the body was capable of. She had been told by her mentor she was the most compatible with the way of the Rune Monk. Granted, that path was old when she was young and was waning when she found the monastery that trained her, now she was the only known remaining Rune Monk in all of Equestria. Maybe she should try and find students to instruct in the way of the Rune Monk, but finding the properly compatible students was challenging, which is why the way of the Rune Monk found itself dying out when she discovered her teacher. Unlike other Monk paths, the way of the Rune Monk was able to operate with armor without losing the bonuses to their defense monks usually had when not wearing armor. Due to the abilities of the Rune Monk, most light armors, and some medium armors, could be treated as if they were virtually nonexistent. Luna was contemplating how to find students to revive the path she followed to Equestria when it happened, the Nightmare began to take control while she was back in the waking world. The darkness began to flow through her body, turning her coat pitch black, slightly lengthening her horn, enhancing and further toning her plot, extending her legs by just a bit, and enlarging her bust while also working to make sure her attire conformed to her new dimensions. Nightmare Moon flared out her dragon-like wings and gave a malicious laugh that lasted for almost a minute. Luna, that poor sweetly gullible mare, had further worked towards Nightmare’s goals of conquest without realizing it. She first needed to make sure Celestia was none the wiser until the time was right. Using the magic at her disposal, Nightmare returned to Luna’s form but made sure to slightly have her bust be a bit bigger than usual for Luna. She had been watching Luna for quite a few years now, and when she took over the mare’s mind, she also gained access to Luna’s full memories and experiences. The Rune Monk was pitiful, in Nightmare’s opinion, why work to make your body a weapon when you can create the most superior weapons of all with a thought? Nightmare was her own class, the Shadow Dragoon, a class that took advantage of her powerful magic, used heavy weapons, and wore highly durable armor. Celestia would be expecting to face a Rune Monk, and had likely created plans for countering her sister. She would be less prepared for a class like Nightmare’s as a result. First, she would need to rally her troops to deal with Celestia’s army. > Celestia's New Challenge > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestia started hearing about attacks on caravans on the route to Canterlot and decided this was too important to leave to the guard, mostly because they seemed to have been fucking up in the defense part when they were assigned to the traveling caravans of the job when they were assigned to. This matter required a more personal involvement. As a Solar Paladin, Celestia was duty-bound to at least give it a go at investigating the cause and playing her part as a protector. Unlike Luna’s Rune Monk order, the Solar Paladin order had started growing after Celestia had first stepped up as an accomplished member of the order. And after being made one of the nation’s leaders, she was ordained by the order with their highest rank, Sol, a position that had ironically been left vacant over a decade before she started learning from the order. It would be in everyone’s best interest if the populace didn’t know their illustrious leader was playing guard duty; asking around for more details was fine. Still, everyone would be acting unconvincingly if she were to be known to be playing guard duty. First, Celestia had to prepare for everything. The presentation was always important for one of her station; she had to look the part for her position and to make sure everyone knew she was taking things seriously. After the initial investigation, which would involve a lot of legwork, she would have to don her disguise and make her way along the route to find the ones responsible for the issues. The alter ego she crafted for this endeavor would be a unicorn mare named Noon Effulgence. To her knowledge, no pony had that name just yet. Celestia would need to prepare her gear before going out to investigate. She thought about the gear she would need. Armor is a must but deciding which weapons to carry is a bit more difficult. Celestia got ready to head out to Canterlot; she made sure to put on the appropriate attire for seeming to be out on the town in Canterlot. Her outfit for the first part of this was a sparkly lime sea blue formal dress that showed off quite a bit of the cleavage of her MM-Cup bosom. She also made sure to wear underwear with a special enchantment to keep her new...developments from being readily available for the populace to see, no telling what could happen if her subjects saw her with stallion parts. The residential area of the castle at Canterlot was still being made. When the palace is finished it will act as the new home for Celestia and Luna, a castle with more space, better defensibility, and less potentially dangerous wildlife to worry about. Before moving on to wearing her planned attire for the investigation, she would need to get a new set of armor, one that’s less ceremonial and more practical. As things stood, all her more combat type armors would no longer fit her figure; she had outgrown them in what felt like ages ago. As things stood, the only armor that fit her was ceremonial, it looked pretty but was practically useless for combat purposes. If she was going to find herself in a fight, Celestia had to make sure her armor could actually hold up in combat. Celestia went to see Flare Hammer for her new combat-ready armor. Celestia went to the royal smith and told her she required armor that was intended for a combat scenario. This was not meant to be some ceremonial armor she would be parading around in with all the eyes of the nation on her; it was meant to be an armor that would see the battlefield. It took a few days, but her new “combat appropriate armor” was ready for her. Said armor was basically a golden suit that accentuated her feminine figure, had a breastplate with cleavage window, one that basically made a good portion of the breastplate nonfunction (even if there was an extra optional plate in the collection to cover it up), and said breastplate was molded to the form of Celestia’s on buxom bosom (just a bit bigger to give some extra space in case someone actually hit that area). And that’s not to mention groin guard was more akin to a modern bikini bottom, with an optional codpiece (of all things, and said codpiece was modeled surprisingly well on Celestia’s penis (it was even the same size as Celestia’s dick in practically all its dimensions), Celestia decided to keep that optional armor accessory stashed away in a personal cache of hers in Canterlot Castle. At the same time, she wore the optional cover for the breastplate to make sure she had full coverage for her torso. The armor also came with a golden helmet that evoked the image of the sun rising behind the head of the wearer and a removable face covering. Even though her armor was more practical, Celestia felt like her armor was constraining her when she covered up the cleavage window; she was confused as to why. After making sure her combat armor, and all its pieces, fit her, Celestia got to work conversing with the ponies in Canterlot. It would still be a few years before the castle was ready for Celestia and her sister to move in. Still, some of the more socially elite ponies had managed to procure territory for their own personal residences that were far easier to bring to a liveable condition; there were also a few shops and diners that had sprung up across the city, chances were they would change with the markets. Still, the city's current condition meant they could at least make enough to justify their presence and procure enough stock to last a few months. That was before the incidents that lead to Celestia launching this personal investigation. After almost a month of investigating, Celestia wanted to be a thorough as possible, even if it did mean more incidents would happen in that time, Celestia learned that while the raids were sudden there were no potentially dangerous injuries; in fact, it seemed the assailants went out of their way not to hurt anyone, they also passed up anything trembling money or gems and only seemed to target food, cooking materials, and occasionally raided medical supplies. For all intents and purposes, the evidence suggested a party or parties that were far more intent on survival but did not wish to make their presence tangibly known to the ponies of the area, possibly they were fearful of the Equestrians and merely turned to this method because of some factor or factors that she was not yet made aware of. The next step of her plan was to masquerade as one of the caravan escorts until the culprit or culprits made their move. As Noon Effulgence, Celestia was able to play her part as a guard well. She was able to provide a believable story about being a newly appointed Solar Paladin, and even had official papers written up for the ruse; the only one in the order that was in on the ruse was Bright Wind, who coincidentally was also her Captain of the Guard, she wasn’t too happy about all this. Still, she knew why and had a team ready to jump into action at Celestia’s command. ****************************************************** Three days after she finished her investigation, Celestia, under the guise of Noon Effulgence, was playing the part of escort from Canterlot to a new community that was just beginning to go up, the place didn’t have a name yet. Still, a few of the ponies there were debating (read getting into some very odd duels) on what the community should be called. Celestia was thankful she had finally settled on her weapons, an arming sword as the backup weapon, a crossbow with 2 cases of 20 bolts on her right hip (one case was in her bag while the other was on her back hip), a war hammer on her back for when she had to get serious, and a spear her primary weapon which was also using as a walking stick. The caravan was moving at a much more cautious, slower pace than it usually would; reports of attacks would do that. Celestia, as Noon Effulgence, had chosen to position herself at the midpoint between the carts for food and medical supplies, her investigation told her the assailants would likely target one of those carts above any other. Even though no ponies were hurt, and the only damage to ponies on record were minor injuries, the fact that stock was basically stolen from the caravan was still a serious concern. Currently, the food provisions were a bit lacking, the caravan was heading to an agricultural community that was a good week’s march from Canterlot, so chances of an encounter while on the way to get the food would mean no attacks on the way out but it was still important to keep vigil just in case. As they were passing through one of the forest paths closest to Canterlot things started to get ominous. Before she knew it, Celestia and her charges found themselves suddenly beset by an unknown assailant at a little past where the forest shade began to dominate the environment. Even with illumination spells, it was necessary to slow down considerably to avoid potential obstacles. Celestia had to admit, this was probably one of the best spots for an ambush, seeing as some of the provisions were already pilfered. After the caravan had been going through the overly shaded forest route for maybe half an hour of the hour or so that part of the route comprised the assault began. The assailant, or assailants, it was hard to tell on account of the quality of the illumination spells, and Celestia not wanting to reveal herself too soon, had begun their move.  Celestia spotted some of the food and medical supplies from various carts had already been removed from their carts, she quickly ran five spells in concurrence, something that even the talented unicorns were noticeably unable to do since even the most magically skilled unicorns could only do three spells at most without completely losing focus or accidentally blending one spell into another in a potentially hazardous manner, to scan all the carts for intruders, move the carts to a point further down the route without her or any unwanted occupants, identify how many opponents she was dealing with, the nature of her opponents, and quickly illuminate her immediate area to better give herself the advantage. It would be best if her subjects didn’t know their ruler had resolved the situation, it would be far better for their further development to believe a dedicated member of the guard achieved such a tremendous feat. Of course, she would probably have to hold a ceremony for her guise, making the appropriate arrangements would prove somewhat problematic. Before her was a singular creature, it appeared to be reptilian no bigger than a young foal. Celestia wondered what a mine kobold was doing here, there wasn’t anything resembling a mining location anywhere near this place. The kobold was dressed in what looked like a belt with a brace made of interlocking spirals around his cock. It was armed with a sword in one hand and spear in the other, both looked to be of shoddy workmanship, but the attire around its waist and phallus seemed to be of excellent quality, it seemed to be made of black leather and black steel. The kobold itself was a dark shale color, it was no wonder it was so hard to find in the dark forest path. The creature’s penis was quite large, a good third of the size of a large pony cock, by her rough estimates, kobolds usually were not so well-hung. “Well, that’s certainly some...unique attire you have there,” said Celestia as she dropped her guise and ready hear spear. In doing so, the part of her armor that was supposed to block her cleavage fell away Apparently, it had a broken locking mechanism, not that she minded all that much, but she still found it reasonably annoying. In a broken, but understandable, version of the common Equestrian tongue the kobold said, “You dare mock the cock armor of my tribe, cock armor is the greatest achievement of the tribe. Pony with armor must pay for the offending tribe.” With that, the kobold attacked Celestia, the white alicorn tried to mount a defense but found her defensive spells had almost no effect on the kobold. At best, her defensive magics slowed the kobold down for a second or two. Before she knew it, the kobold was violently thrusting his dick into her cleavage as an attack before bounding away and running about to disorient her for a minute or so before doing the same action over and over again.  The battle went on for much longer than Celestia would have liked before she finally managed to dodge out of the way of her opponent and literally catch him by his penis, the little lizard creature cried in surprised agony and dropped what he was holding then basically went unconscious from the pain, seemed Celestia was gripping his dick a bit too tight. Celestia wanted to see if she could get a read on just what she was actually dealing with, but she was also curious as to why a monster known for occupying mines like a diamond dog was present in this forest. So she set the creature down and waited for it to wake up, which took far longer than she would have liked. The moment the kobold was up it was on its knees groveling and begging for her to not hurt her anymore. It also went through a rapid-fire explanation that it was stealing food and medical supplies for its tribe because they were desperate for those sorts of things. Seemed their food sources had become scarce, Celestia would have to look into how that happened. “Alright,” said Celestia, “I understand, and I will help move your tribe to a more advantageous location, I’ll also set up a trade network between your tribe and the ponies. That way, you’ll be able to trade whatever it is you manage to craft for things you need, I’ll start things off small by providing you with enough food, water, and medical supplies to last about a week as a sort of disaster relief but then it will be on your tribe to ensure good relations for your own survival.” The kobold nodded eagerly and enthusiastically with the agreement and lead her through the woodland to where his tribe was holding up, “We found big shiny cache nearby, dragons like shinies so kobolds like shinies.” Celestia blinked for a moment before recalling that kobolds worshiped dragons as they were gods, some tribes even consisted of worshiping a specific dragon. Still, most kobolds worshiped dragons as a whole pantheon that walked the mortal realm. It took almost an hour to make it to the community but when they did Celestia’s jaw would have hit the ground if she wasn’t so good at holding her composure, she still had a look of awe but it was far more restrained than it should have been. The kobolds had built an entire hidden town in the trees around a mine that was literally under the roots of a golden oak at the center of the whole thing, kobolds were hauling out simple buckets filled with gold, silver, and platinum beneath the great oak tree. There was no telling how rich the mine actually was, it actually handily explained why the kobolds were the forest but not why came to settle in the first place or what prompted them to mine here, to begin with. “Please gather the tribal elders and chief,” said Celestia to her guide, “and tell them that I am here to discuss things to make things potentially better for everyone. I will wait outside the bounds of the community until you are all ready to speak with me, I don’t want to possibly intrude where I am likely unwanted.” With that, the kobold left Celestia at the edge of the community, a vantage point from which she could observe some of the village's goings-on. When the kobold returned with the chief, a female winged kobold with onyx black scales over most of her body with a few red scales forming a sort of highlight on her arms and legs and head and neck and tail in a simple dress clearly made from the local flora. The elders, Celestia told them all she had considered letting them stay in Canterlot for a bit but worried about unintentional interaction that could ignite turmoils between the ponies and the kobolds so she was going to compromise by giving them the entire lower half of the mountain, minus the road network (and any other fast transportation methods that could happen in the future) leading up to Canterlot proper.  That all taken care of, Celestia informed them that anything they found within the mountain was theirs to use as they pleased. And given everything she was promising, and as a means of showing the kobolds meant no ill will towards the ponies, she suggested they offer up peace offerings to the ponies of Canterlot and the caravans that frequented the area they were currently were in as a show of good faith, the elders were in agreement about that, but the chief was having doubts. To assuage the chief, Celestia gave the kobold the spear that her alter ego was equipped with and the optional piece that had come off of her armor, that seemed to satisfy the lizard woman, likely because worked metal like that was hard for kobolds to come by. After the negotiations were done, Celestia gave them a map to where she intended to start them off as a new home, reasoned it would take them a few days to get there (time she would be using to properly prepare for them), and teleported back to Canterlot in a flash. What she didn’t see was the awe the kobolds had of her casual uses of powerful magic when she left. The moment she was back in Canterlot Celestia started prepping for the kobolds, which mostly meant finding the necessary resources for them and storage for said resources. Hence, they weren’t all over the place when the kobolds arrived. > Nightmare Moon's First Preparations > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nightmare Moon had plans for Equestria, starting with Celestia; the thought of the mare that was her literal sister on her knees sucking Nightmare’s cock was an enticing image in Nightmare’s mind. Nightmare could hear the now confined consciousness of Luna screaming about how wrong that all was. Fantasies of making Celestia her erotic plaything aside, Nightmare still needed a proper military force, and Luna just so happened to lay the groundwork for that. The Night Pegasi that were granted Luna’s blessing centuries ago, effectively turning those clans into an unofficial 4th pony tribe, was a good start towards a proper military force. But she needed to build up her forces away from their castle within the Everfree Forest. The city of Canterlot was an impressive establishment, seeing as the whole city was practically carved out of the mountainside of which it was being built upon, but the castle that would act as the residence and command center of the nation’s rulers was still not complete enough to be used as a residence just yet, the security measures were still being put in place, an act that severely slowed down development at times. With all that said, Nightmare would have a problematic time establishing the foundations of her overthrow in the place without drawing unwanted attention at a very inconvenient time. So instead, she chose the town and residence of a slightly subversive but mostly harmless noble as the beginnings of her staging for takeover. The figure in question was known as Duke Gold Leaf, the line of nobles that Canterlot nobility would come to be known for wasn’t quite established yet, Gold Leaf was from a line of Unicorns that supported the Unicorns that raised the sun and moon before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna came along and showed such things could be accomplished by a single pony. Regardless, his inclinations and proclivities would prove problematic in future generations if not properly dealt with. Gold Leaf was of the opinion that stallions are superior to mares, despite the fact Equestria was ruled over by a pair of sisters, and used the fact that there were more stallions in high positions of the sociopolitical structure as his justification. Correlation bias is more like it. He also was rumored to have his residence filled with maids that were mares he took some sort of interest in and put in a variety of demeaning positions in and out of work to exercise his power over them. Nightmare decided this one would be more than worthy of experimenting on, along with all his property and possessions. Gold Leaf was the duke who ruled over one of Equestria’s larger gold mines; his manor was just a 5-minute flight from the mining grounds. His holding would serve her well, even if he required a bit of…encouragement. Nightmare, still in the guise of Luna, was approaching the edge of Gold Leaf’s territory, and for the first time in a long while, the sight before her actually had her agreeing with Luna. This territory was in rough shape, and accommodations for the ponies working the land were in a nearly decrepit state and clearly showed signs of having the minimal mandated expenses for them utilized. Juxtaposing it all, on the hill overlooking the work town and the mine, was Gold Leaf’s manor; almost the entire hill was encircled by clearly imported marble bricks with gold leafing in intricate designs, and the gates were high-quality steel gilded with gold in intricate designs, and the manor itself seemed to have been built of fire marble with gold leafing accenting the natural design of the stone. Nightmare, as Princess Luna, threw open the gates rather forcefully with her magic; if gates or their art got damaged in the act, she didn’t care; the little show she decided on was a bit more forceful than initially planned, which would ironically turn out better for her later on. As she approached the doors, Nightmare noticed they were mahogany and covered once more in gold leafing, the hinges and handle for the door were also plated in gold to the point you couldn’t see the metal they covered. Before she could force these doors open, they opened to reveal a pinkish-green pegasus mare in a maid outfit that looked far more degrading than the professional types seen around Canterlot, “Greetings, your eminence,” said the mare nervously, “to what do we owe this pleasure?” “I am here to see the master of the estate,” said Nightmare in Luna’s voice, with a stern tone that had a noticeably displeased edge to it, “it seems he has been falling behind in what is required of him, his last report to Canterlot was almost three months past due, we do not like when regular reports are so poorly delayed. And the fact I am here and am seeing failings of what is required of him on cursory glance does not bode well; we do hope he has an explanation that can prove satisfactory.” The mare noticeably gulped audibly as she let the night ruler in while saying, “His lordship says repeat reports are a waste of time and resources, and refuses to listen to the counsel of those he calls his assistants and aides.” “It would seem his appointment to such a notable position was premature,” said the midnight alicorn, “let him and the staff know of my presence here, and if he refuses to see us, then you all are under our royal decree to drag him before us, but before that happens, be sure to gently remind him of the consequences of shirking his duties as a lord and host.” The mare nodded vigorously and disappeared behind a hidden doorway in the wall to the right, a powder green unicorn practically appeared out of thin air by the stairs to the alicorn’s left before seeming to fly up them and out of sight, likely to Gold Leaf’s private office. Nightmare smirked internally at Luna, the trapped mare not giving her tormentor the satisfaction of any words, just a coldly annoyed stare. Nightmare looked around; the walls were gaudy and garnished, egg white wallpaper with gold leaf all about them; stone flooring that was clearly imported from outside the area, possibly even from outside of Equestria itself, judging by the fact it was marble; the stairs seemed to be some sort of imported wood, they had a tropical air about them, clearly not what you would get from Equestria proper and its temperate climates, and the vibrant red with gold accents on the steps and railing didn’t help much; the supports for the railing seemed to be some kind of steel with gold plating, both in regards to the stairs and upper level; the visible doors seemed to be crafted of mahogany as well, with golden handles that had silver or platinum accents done in mockeries of artistic flourishments. Luna, and by extension Nightmare, knew art and all of this was something that screamed it was not art but tried to imitate it; it was all decided that an uninformed showboat that believed they knew art when they barely became aware of it. The ceiling was covered in a fresco that was made to imitate the sun, and done entirely in gold paint and precious jewels, any one of the gems would be enough to pay the staff in the manor alone a reasonable wage for several months, at least. In short, things were worse than anticipated, which meant Nightmare would be changing her punishment plans to something she decided to be more fitting, and far more degrading to the stallion that called this place their own. After being kept waiting for over a half-hour, Nightmare finally saw the pony in question. She narrowed her eyes, squared her shoulders, and took a more imperious stance than she had a moment prior. Gold Leaf was a navy blue unicorn with a golden mane and tail, he even sported a golden mustache; he was in a white robe adorned in gold leaf with intricate and very flashy, designs; as he trotted over, it could be seen he had both golden slippers and a golden monocle on, you could still make out his mark, also in gold, as an abacus with clearly golden beads next to a sheet of cloth of some kind. “So sorry, your grace, I was under the impression some pony was using your good name to force their way in, until your little message about duties and responsibility was said.” “So, why did it take you over half of an hour to come and greet your guest,” Nightmare inquired icily in Luna’s voice, “your domain and behaviors are not painting a picture we wish to continue. Thankfully, your vassals seem to be of proper mannerism, at a glance anyway.” “Well, I had to make myself presentable, and I doubt your ladyship would care to see me in…” “At most,” said Nightmare, cutting off the stallion, “it should have taken you 5 minutes to get ready, and another 10 minutes maximum to get here from wherever the dresser was. Even if We were to be lenient with your time allotted as host, that is still 15 minutes of inexcusable tardiness. Being fashionably late is only mildly acceptable when you are a guest, not the master of the manor. It would seem YOU have failed in all that is expected of you, especially to the minimal extent mandated by your station. We will be taking control of your holdings, and you will be suitably punished for your transgressions.” “Now, just wait a moment,” said Gold Leaf as he saw the alicorn’s magic flare to life upon her horn, “I was…what the!!!!!!!??????” He found himself completely naked, his stallionhood on full display, it seemed he was well-endowed as a stallion, probably another reason for his pointless sense of superiority. He then began to cry in agony as his body began to shift and change, a few moments later a well-endowed mare with Gold Leaf’s colors and mark was where the stallion once was, “What happ…” a clearly feminine voice came from the mare, “you turned me into a mare? This is a punishment I shall...why is your horn glowing again?” Suddenly the mare’s eyes glowed white as she went silent, her mane and tail shifted from golden yellow to silvery white. When that was done the next words from the mare’s mouth were, “How can I be of service, your eminence?” “This is only the beginning of your punishment for the transgressions of your past life,” said Nightmare, suddenly all the maids of the manor were around her and the transformed stallion in a flash, and they were all naked. Nightmare made her horn glow again and all the mares around her had their eyes glowing white for a moment. When the glow died down, Nightmare said, “You understand your new roles now?” “Yes,” said all the mares in unison. “Good,” said Nightmare, “now, bring me all the maid attire of this place, it’s time to properly adjust it. As for you,” she turned her attention to the mare that was formerly Gold Leaf, “Silver Sheet, when all the adjustments have been made and you have your new attire, you are to go over all documentation with a fine-tooth comb and mark all the problematic purchases, shipments, imports, and so on, be extra mindful of the reports with some connection to foreign markets.” The mares all bowed and began to get to work. While she waited, Nightmare flared her magic again and turned the interior design into something more fitting to her tastes, which meant all the sun imagery was changed to a moon aesthetic, all the gold was transformed into silver and platinum, and all the white was changed to midnight blues and purples with a few touches of black. *************************************************************************** Eleven minutes later, the mares that left to get all the made outfits returned and dumped them on the floor before Nightmare, Gold Leaf’s robes were suspiciously in the pile as well but the staff didn’t seem to notice or care for that point. Nightmare flared her magic again and all the attire before her transformed into skimpy, yet somehow dignified, maid outfits adorned with crescent moons. She then floated one of the outfits that was formerly one of Gold Leaf’s gaudy robes over to “Silver Sheet” and said, “Here is your outfit, always wear it when on duty. With that, she used her magic to put the outfits on the rest of the maids, “Now then, ladies, take all this and make sure to wash it all properly before returning the outfits to their assigned rooms. Now then, who is the Head Maid?” “His lordship never assigned that position to anypony,” said a dark green earth pony mare with river blue mane and tail. “What is your name,” Nightmare inquired. “Irrigation Trail, ma’am,” said the green earth pony mare, “my family was one of the farms that supplied produce to the area but they’ve been in a rough patch the past few years because of the prior lord’s…habits.” “Very good, I’ll address the farms and housing before the day is through,” said Nightmare, “in the meantime, you will play the role of Head Maid until a more suitable candidate is identified. While that’s all happening, ladies, We want a full inventory of everything in this manor, from the smallest crumb of food to the largest piece of furniture and beyond. You are to break things into 3 categories, Necessary, Useful, and Pointless, and explain why everything on the list is on which list. Once we consolidate a definitive list of each, we will see about getting everything squared away regarding the requirements of this manor and the residents of this territory. *********************************************************************** Seven hours, that was 2 hours more than Nightmare had estimated, to get everything squared away for the manor, the town, and surrounding farms. After all that, she dropped her Luna guise, along with giving the order that nopony outside the manor is to speak of this, ever, until the proper time. Nightmare then brought Silver Sheet into the master bedroom, which she claimed herself and made some alterations to with her magic, and then began fucking the mare that was formerly a stallion, said mare just cried out erotically. Nightmare had confirmed a few things, the Erotica Seed had a noticeable effect on the effectiveness of transforming others, but the best results were with those of weak mind and/or will, stronger minds could hold back the mental changes and even somewhat resist the physical changes. Gold Leaf was a weak-minded fool, most of the maids had stronger minds than Gold Leaf, probably one of the reasons he made them a maid at the manor and tried to break them mentally. That worked in Nightmare’s favor, amusingly enough, but after making sure to embed them with loyalty to her, Nightmare went about empowering her servants and followers, it would make them more of a force to be reckoned with in the future.