The Man In The Moon

Clip-clop!

Clip-clop!

Clip-clop!

The sound of the Nightmare's hooves echoed loudly down the endless desolate tunnels of her fortress. But rather than the eerie slow steps of any other day when she contemplated her exile, today the lunar princess was trotting fast and with an undignified spring in her step to see her one and only subject.

Many years ago, when she'd finally accepted her inability to escape her prison world, the Nightmare had sought to build a worthy home for herself and stop lying in the dust even though it made no difference in terms of comfort. Stubborn and still furious at Celestia, she had painstakingly recreated her Equestrian stronghold on the moon, sans her sister's rooms.

There were no carpets, no furniture(besides the royal throne), no servants. But there were dungeons. And that was where she had now put her new, interesting toy.

His arrival had been such an unexpected shock that for several hours, Nightmare Moon wasn't even sure if it was real. She'd been alone for so long, spoken with everything from rocks to stars to her own limbs that she had to seriously ponder over whether or not she was hallucinating. But when the thing came to, as confused as she was, all doubt vanished. She indeed had someone to rule over at last, even if he was some sort of mutant.

"Where am I? What are you?!" The thing had asked timidly, his voice a terrified squeak befitting of someone as low as him.

The Nightmare snarled. "Thee has't the privilege of speaking to Nightmare Moon, rightful princess of Equestria, night and day! And thee shalt telleth us nothing, but the truth, if thou want to live!" The one and only way someone could reach the moon was if her sister made it so. And if she made it so, she must have truly despised him.

All that mattered now was to determine whether he'd be a threat to her or not. Physically, of course not. But he did look like something Discord may have vomited up back in the day.

The creature cowered in front of her and began to blabber about some other world, a technological metropolis where ponies existed only as mindless cattle. The insult nearly made her see red, but her magic told her he was being truthful. "Thee art not in thy home. Thee art in mine. And hither, thee art... Slave! One word, one single word against us, and thee shalt die."

The threat was short and effective - the whimpering ape thing immediately pledged his allegiance to her, and the Lunar Princess decided to be merciful and treat the arrival for now as an oppurtunity rather than an attack.

A giddiness bubbled inside her as she approached Slave's cell. When one has nothing, but one's own thoughts to entertain oneself, one learns to glean entertainment out of the smallest things. But now she had her very own subject who could cater to her every whim!

Channelling magic through her horn, Nightmare Moon moved the boulder in front of his living space. Slave was asleep, curled up in a fetal position because of the tight space. His grimy jacket served as a makeshift pillow.

"AWAKEN, PROPERTY OF NIGHTMARE MOON!" The Nightmare gleefully exclaimed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, and took special pleasure in watching the ape's face droop as he remembered what had happened to him. Slave shuffled to his feet and gulped, giving her a nervous military salute. "A-at your service, my lady." It pleased her.

"Thee wilt accompany us." She ordered, and turned around, leading him to the throne room. It was as dark and depressing as any other room in the palace, and this was the first time she had any use for it whatsoever. The Nightmare remembered etiquette well - it would not do at all to be anything less than perfect when the lower caste saw her. So, as the ape had slept, she had spent hours cleaning and brushing her clumpy and frankly embarrassing mess of a mane, and rubbing the rust off of her old shoes and headgear that she now wore again. In hindsight, Slave probably should have done that, but then she couldn't have awed him. There will be many chores in the future, the Nightmare reasoned.

And of course, now that she had a slave, she had to look down on him from a throne once more. The Nightmare teleported from Slave's side onto the impressive carved stone seat and adopted an impassive expression. "Slave, thee art chosen to cater to us and us alone. We do not deny thee initiative on how best to please us, but disloyalty of any kind wilt mean the immediate end of thy life. Do thee understandeth us, little insect?"

"Yes, your majesty." The ape mumbled. "I won't, uh... I won't be a problem. Just please... please don't hurt me..."

Nightmare Moon smirked. "Your first task, Slave, will be to clean the royal court." A broom and a pitiful little bucket materialised under the throne. Slave gulped. No one had been in this hall for centuries, and it was covered in a layer of dust. It would take him days. The Nightmare half-expected him to protest, but he was too scared and merely began pouring dust into his little bucket. When it was full, he stuttered as quietly as possible. "U-um. Where do you want me to take this? I-I don't... don't know where... anything is."

For a moment, she simply soaked in how intimidated of her he was, and how much power she wielded over him. Even if he tried to escape the castle, he wouldn't begin to know where to run. "For now, outside of the court is enough." she decided. It wasn't like anyone was going to step through the large doors to see her, after all...

And so he worked like a little foal making sand castles, using his own palms to get the dust into the bucket and then moving to and fro the two large doors at the end of the court with his funny two-hooved walk. Nightmare Moon did not take her eyes off of Slave the entire time. Not that she would ever be interested in a pitiful subject doing menial work or anything, but... but... as the royal princess, it was important for her to make sure the work was done properly by this inexperienced servant! Yes...

In truth, every drop of sweat, crick of bone, little mutter when he thought she couldn't hear him... they were all new experiences for Nightmare Moon. At last she would not have to stress her mind to fantasise yet another fiction of her sister's painful demise, or direct the war between the rocks and the stones. She was very pleased.

Carrying sand from one side of the large hall to the other in a single bucket wasn't exactly the most tiring work, but it would take the better part of a day. And the megalomaniacal alien horse peering into his soul from her fancy throne did not make the human feel better. Crazy bi-no. No, maybe she's telepathic or something. Ixnay on the thoughts-ay. Just work. Juuust work for your very nice queen horse. Heh.

To be fair, bad attitude aside, she was rather stunning, with a majestic dark coat and awesome wings, a halo of a starfield surrounding her body and those glowing reptilian eyes constantly observing him. He shivered just thinking of them. This alien mare oozed power literally and figuratively like nothing he'd ever encountered in his life. He wondered why she was alone here... whereever here was.

Eventually, after God knows how much time had passed, Nightmare Moon summoned him back to her throne. "W-what can I do to, um, assist you? My la- err, your Majesty?" Please don't blow me up. He thought, still frightened of any accidental transgression he might cause.

The Nightmare's pupils narrowed. "Tis vital for thy continued presence in our fortress that thee learneth of our ways and daily rituals. Every morning, we wilt expect thee to be ready to accept orders at our door, and assist us however we wish. If we has't no wishes, Slave, thee wilt at each moment returneth to this hall and continueth to remove every speck of filth from our place of ruling. Thee wilt rest only at which hour we allow thee to."

Anon nodded slowly, the weight of his new life sinking in like a lead weight.

"Now, lie down."

He blinked, confused, but did not dare to question the order and simply lied down on his back against the stone floor. Nightmare Moon got on her four hooves and walked down the steps towards him. He held his breath as she removed the fancy metal horseshoe from her front left hoof and held it over his face. Anon watched as the hoof moved closer and closer to him until eventually connecting with cheek. Despite the toughness of her frog, the Nightmare's touch was gentle and deliberate, brushing over his uncoated skin. The only evidence of it having any kind of effect on her was a near-impercetible twitch of her right eye as she made contact with another being.

"Slave, do not assume thee art unvalued in mine castle. Thither is no shame in being less than me. So long as thee belong to the night, we wilt taketh care of thee."