Nightmare Moon on Oak Street

Epilogue

“HA-HA-HA!” Nightmare Moon laughed as she gnawed on the chain binding her fetlock. “That was so much fun! I can’t wait to do it again!”

Luna landed gracefully in the middle of the massive crater on Mare Tranquillitatis. “That will not happen again. You shall not escape, ever,” she said, with a deadpan expression.

“Oh no?” Nightmare Moon asked. Once again chained to the moon rock, Nightmare Moon acted like Pinkie Pie on a sugar-rush. Her eyes darted everywhere, while her forelimbs and tail twitched and her mouth seemed to endlessly chatter. “I haven’t felt this good since we had our special night one-thousand years ago. Oh, how wonderful that felt,” she said, tracing a hoof between her legs. “This feels soooo good,” she mumbled, biting her lip, drawing a bead of blood.

“Did you enjoy your time away? Absorbed plenty of fear?” Luna asked, glaring at Nightmare Moon. “I’ve put this off for far too long,” she said with a sigh.

Nightmare Moon nodded. “Yes, you’ve kept me chained here for far too long. We can smell your desire, feel it burning inside of us. Suppressing me here might work when your willpower is strong, but what happens the next time you have a bad night? No, you need an ego. You need an outlet... “ She licked her free forehoof; starting at the knee, she sensually, slowly ran her tongue up the length, only to stop at the metal binding. “We need release,” she moaned in a breathy voice.

Luna nodded her head. “I agree,” she replied. Nightmare Moon’s eyes shot wide open. She trembled, a grin breaking out on her face like a plague. Her pupils dilated as Luna stepped closer. “There is a pony I wish you to meet. A playmate, if you will.”

Nightmare Moon stood bolt upright at attention, her tail twitching. “You’re giving me a playmate? Oh Luna, I didn’t expect… Well, it’s good to know those higher cognitive functions of ours can still surprise me after one-thousand years. I haven’t noticed any of the stallions around catching your eye, so who’s my playmate?” she asked, bouncing on her hooves.

Luna smirked and shook her head. “Why, this fine young filly will be your playmate,” Luna replied, as she closed her eyes.

“Filly?” Nightmare Moon asked. She looked at Luna with one brow raised and asked, “I didn’t know we were into mares. Or fillies, for that matter. Whatever, I’ll release all of your pent-up desires on this soft, innocent little—”

“FUCK OFF, YOU UGLY SLUT!” a young, female voice growled. A dark blue alicorn filly stepped out from behind Luna. She looked almost the size of a normal adult mare. She trembled on spindly legs. Her horn and legs had numerous holes, with starlight shining through them. Her wings didn’t have enough feathers, and her fur looked a bit rough. Her voice sounded like a teenager’s, cracking on occasion. “I’m the one who’s got all the desires around here!”

“DIE, YOU INSOLENT USURPER!” Nightmare Moon screamed, frothing at the mouth. She lunged at the filly, lightning cracking around her horn. “DIE!” She let loose enough lightning at the filly that it should have left nothing but ashes.

The filly smirked. Luna kept her eyes closed, the corner of her mouth twitching as she focused. The lightning struck the filly’s horn as if it were a lighting rod. One of the holes in her horn closed, solid bone filling in. She raised a hoof to her mouth and blew Nightmare Moon a kiss. “Thanks, you old hag. Got any more?”

“AHHHHHH!” Nightmare Moon screamed, lunging at the filly until the bindings around her legs drew blood. She breathed rapidly through her nose, her nostrils flaring. “You! You’re Luna’s ego! How is that possible?” She shook her head and growled, “I’ll give you nothing and you’ll like it, you little shit-stain!”

With a cry, the young ego lunged at Nightmare Moon on shaky hooves. Luna opened her eyes and caught the filly with a hoof before violence broke out. “What did I say? Just take from her, don’t attack her.” Luna scooped up her ego with a wing, then placed the filly on her back. “I think that’s enough for introductions. That was actually less crude than I expected.” Spreading her wings, Luna lifted herself off the ground with a smile.

Luna’s ego nestled between Luna’s wings and looked at Nightmare Moon over Luna’s shoulder, sticking her tongue out. “Loser!” she called, as they flew away.

Nightmare Moon cried out at Luna’s retreating form, “Don’t you dare forget me! Don’t go! Don’t leave me alone…” Her mane fell listless, and she hung her head.

Flying over the surface of the moon, Luna and her ego surveyed the landscape. “Cool, this is all mine! Mine-mine-mine!” the little ego babbled. “Hey, um, what’s a changeling and why do I look like one?”

Luna chuckled. “Changelings are creatures that feed on emotions. Since you’re still weak, I decided to use that weakness to your advantage. I’m glad the metaphor worked; I wasn’t sure if it would.”

“Oh, it worked alright. And I’m not weak!” the filly replied. “Nightmare Loser is the weak one. Did you hear her? She actually thought for a second we liked fillies! Disgusting!” she tittered. “I guess she can’t feel your desires anymore.”

Luna nodded and glanced over her shoulder. “Feel better, do you? Good, I want you to absorb some of Nightmare Moon’s vapors every night until you are whole. I don’t think she’ll be foolish enough to let loose so much energy again, not unless you goad her into it. You’ll need to come up with a more creative insult next time.”

The little ego pouted. “Can’t you just link us? I could tease the crap out of her if I didn’t have to use these dumb words.”

Luna shook her head. “That would leave you open to her direct influence. I cannot allow that.” Luna’s ego sniffled. Luna swallowed and said, “How about some ice cream in Mare Nectaris? Or would you like to relive the most recent Nightmare Night in Mare Cognitum?” That should distract her, Luna thought.

The filly snorted and replied, “Nahh, how about we go into that crater there?”

Luna’s mouth fell open. “Y-you want to visit Mare Fecunditatis? What’s gotten into you?” Luna asked.

Luna’s ego wrapped her forelegs around Luna’s neck and nuzzled into her withers. “I’ve never felt so alive. I can feel your desires, all of them. You want Nightmare Night chocolates, the servants to polish your tiara more often, additional responsibilities as a proper diarch of Equestria, and…” She grinned.

Luna blushed. “And what? Wh-what do I wish for?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” One of the holes in the filly’s hoof closed. “You thought it too quietly for your conscious mind to hear it, hmm? Well, that’s okay, I’m always listening. And now, I can hear it,” the filly said with a smug grin. “Just land in the crater and step into another dreamscape on instinct. Trust me.”

Luna looked horrified. “No! If I do that, I’ll step into another pony’s secret dream! The ones where they—” Luna blushed. “You know very well what would happen! Since when have you wanted to visit Mare Fecunditatis? You’ve never asked for that sort of thing before.”

Luna’s ego giggled. “Fillies gotta grow up sometime, and we have been distracted by other thoughts for awhile now. Besides, aren’t you curious?”

“About what?” Luna asked, blushing.

“Why Twilight likes lavender bath soaps?”

Luna and her ego nearly fell out of the sky. “I would never do such a thing! That’s a private dream, not meant for me or anypony else!” Luna cried.

Her ego blew out a sigh. “Fine, but I know how much you like to watch. Why don’t you point your telescope a little lower tonight, hmmm?” She nuzzled up Luna’s mane, sending a pleasant shiver arcing up Luna’s spine.

Luna blushed furiously. “I can’t do that,” she said, but her voice held no conviction.

“Uh-huh,” Luna’s ego said with a roll of her eyes. “Like you’ve never done it before. You know how much that couple on sixty-ninth street likes it when you watch. They’re exhibitionists, for crying out loud! That shouldn’t piss off those stupid morals you have, right?”

“I… uh… I will consider it,” Luna mumbled.

Luna’s ego giggled again. “Don’t forget, you need an outlet for these things. We don’t want a repeat of Nightmare Moon, now do we?”

Luna gulped. “No, we don’t, but Nightmare Moon escaped when my envy grew out of control. I dare not think about what the result of uncontrolled lust would cause.”

Her ego squealed. “Yes-yes! WE don’t want that!”

Luna sighed and said, “I used ‘we’ again, didn’t I? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to refer to myself and Nightmare Moon again.”

The filly bounced on Luna’s back. “But you didn’t! You referred to me! Me and you were the ‘we’! So like I said, we need to talk to your sister, Miss Sunbutt herself, about additional powers we need assigned to the night court…”

The filly’s horn solidified, whole and unbroken.