“Do Princess Luna now!”

“Per your request.” He morphed into a black slender mare. Luna lifted a hoof and looked at it. “No, this is too boring.” She morphed back into Zex. He unwrapped his chest support and threw it on the ground. “We’ll just have to,”—His skin waved as he changed again. The size of dark mare’s body expanded.

“Well, I guess bigger is better,” Sweetie Belle said.

Fangs peeked from her snout as she bowed her head to mine. Dust gushed away from me in all directions as she screamed at me, “DOUBLE THE FUN!” My ears rang.

Her horn lit up and the strap that Rainbow Dash used before floated over my head.

“WE SHALL INTRODUCE THEE, TO THE ETERNAL NIGHT!”

The strap enveloped my eyes and tightened.

I moved my hoof up to loosen it.

“DO NOT TOUCH THAT, THOU SHALT MAKE IT DIRTY!”

My hoof dropped back to the ground. I bowed my head. “I just wanted to—”

“THOU WILL SPEAK WHEN BEING SPOKEN TO!”

My mouth stayed opened. I didn’t dare to move it. When I took a step back, her voice boomed from behind me.

“WHO GAVE THEE PERMISSION TO LEAVE?”

Was that a question? Should I answer yes to it? “No—nopony.”

“THAN WHY MOVEST THOU?” A voice came from right in front of me.

“I—I’m sorry.”

There was silence all around me. I didn’t know where she was. I perked up both ears and listened, but there were just forest noises all around.

A hoof touched me on my flank.

I moved forward, trying to avoid Nightmare Moon.

A gust of wind ruffled my mane from all sides as if it was blowing from above me.

I kept moving forward until I hit a wall of flesh.

“AHA! A CHALLENGER APPROACHES! THOU WISHEST TO TEST THY METAL AGAINST NIGHTMARE MOON!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“WE ACCEPT THY CHALLENGE! PREPARE THYSELF FOR AN HONORARY JOUST!”

“I can’t even see. This isn’t fair!”

“LET THE GAME BEGIN!”

I rapidly swiveled both ears back and forth, but I didn’t hear her anywhere.

Something struck me on my barrel.

“Ouch!” I crumbled to the ground.

“ART THOU FAST ENOUGH TO AVOID THE STAMPEDE OF THE NIGHT?”

The sound of hooves banging on the ground got ever louder. She drew closer—fast!

After clambering up from the surrounding undergrowth, I launched myself forward and ran away from the approaching hooves.

Bam! I ran my snout into a barky wall. “Aaa!”

Sweetie Belle snickered. “Serves you right, scardyfilly”

The pain rushed through my body, sickening me to my stomach. I curled up into a ball, holding my snout with both forelegs and kicking across the ground with my hind legs.

“THOU FIGHTS COWARDLY AND THOU SHALT LOOSE LIKE A COWARD!”

I heard galloping hooves again.

A hoof punched me in my back and I fell motionless on the ground. I couldn’t breathe.

The hooves retreated on the other side.

“You just broke her back!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“TIS A LIE; HER BACKSIDE IS WHOLE! SHE MERELY REFUSES TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS HONORABLE FIGHT”

“Clonie!” Sweetie Belle shouted. “Stop being so stubborn!”

“I’m scared!” I yelped.

“THY SHALL SURRENDER OR SUFFER!” Sounds of a gallop approached again.

I raised a hoof in the air. “No, please, stop! I surrender! I surrender!”

“HUZZAH! I HAVE WON! ACKNOWLEDGE MY VICTORY, PLEBEIAN!”

“Er, you won...”

Nightmare Moon stepped closer to me, poked me with a hoof and screamed in my ear. “I AM READY TO RECEIVE MY REWARD NOW!” She took off my blindfold.

I looked around.“Um… I don’t really have anything to give you.”

“THEN THOU SHALT LABOR THY DEBT TO US!”

“Like a favor?”

“WE HAD A SORE SPOT. WOULDST THOU SCRATCH IT FOR US?” She raised a foreleg and scratched the one she stood on.

“I guess I could do that. Sounds easy enough.”

“THE ITCH BE LOCATED IN OUR BEHIND!” She mooned at my face.

“Um...” I gulped as her tushy booped me on my muzzle.

“I NEED THEE TO TRAVERSE THE DARKNESS WITHIN!” A jab sent me on my back.

“I don’t like the smell,” I said as I put a forehoof on my snout. After just a short sniff, I had a hard time breathing. It was as if I smelled a rotten corpse.

“AND WE DISLIKE THE ITCH! OUR ROYAL NEEDS TAKE PRECEDENCE!” She backed until she towered above me, overshadowing the sun.

It was obvious that I wouldn’t get out of the bind she put me in. “Can I at least use my hoof.”

“THY STURDY SNOUT SHOULD SUFFICE!”

Her bottom eclipsed my whole field of vision. “Nnn!” I tried to scream, but my snout wouldn’t even open. The force of her poo-poo hole pressed against it from all sides. I tried not to breathe in, but I was running out of air fast.

“THE SHADOW'S EMBRACE THEE!” Her body dropped on my abdomen, forcing both hind legs to slide up her torso. “THOU ARE BANISHED IN THE MOON!”

I took a quick sip of air. “Nnn!” I tried to push her off, but my hooves just uselessly slid by her side.

“ONE CAN NOT FIGHT THE NIGHT!” She pressed with even more weight on me, making my snout sink deeper still.

I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. After pressing my lips apart, I sipped air through my teeth, but even so, the foul smell made its way to my nostrils. “Nnn!”

“THE SAFE WORD BE ‘I CANNOT SPEAK’!”

I sweated from the heat, but, despite that, my body shook uncontrollably. I tried to use the safe word, but I couldn’t speak!

“TIS THE NIGHT THAT ALLOWS FOR A SUNRISE. WE SHALL LIFT THE VEIL FROM THY EYES, SO YOU MAY APPRECIATE THE GIFT THAT THE NIGHT ALLOWS FOR.” With a pop, she lifted herself from me.

I gasped, but the terrible smell didn’t go away.

“Hehe!” Sweetie Belle laughed. “Clonie, your muzzle is all brown. You look like the reverse of Winona.”

I hoofed at my snout and some soft, brown mud-like stuff caught on my hoof. I wanted it off me! After plunging myself forward, I shoved muzzle-first through the leaves on the ground, pushing myself with my hind legs. I twirled around to clean my snout from all sides.

“I still don’t get it...” Sweetie Belle sighed. “What’s any of this got to do with love?”

A green light drew my shadow on the ground as he transformed. “Patience, foal. I’m about to tell you all about it.”

He whispered to me, “I’ll just skip the boring foreplay, okay?” His hoof found itself between my hind legs.

I froze.

Sweetie Belle yelled from behind her crystal, “Clonie, don't be such a stiffy. Why are you giving the changeling such a hard time? Encourage him, so that he knows you're into it.”

I wasn’t into it...

Author's Note

Don't forget to participate in the Comment section minigames when you're done reading this chapter.

GDoc