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."
As always, Nightmare Moon slowly awoke from her slumber with the depressing knowledge that she had no responsibilities, nothing to attend to, nothing to see. For the first few minutes of awareness, she would consider whether or not to stand up at all today or merely sloth in her loneliness.
But we're not alone.
Moon bolted upright from her royal bed, her blue mane a floating frazzled mess and her reddened eyes wide open, and used her magic to light several hanging torches around the room. Where is our slave?! Or was he... just a dream we had?
"SLAVE!" She shouted, and crawled out of bed onto her four hooves, hurriedly putting her metal shoes and iconic helmet on. "ATTEND TO US! AT ONCE!" The Nightmare's fuzzy black ears twitched from side to side, scanning the silence for any sounds beyond her own. Nothing. She frowned and trotted outside into a long corridor. Unfortunately, her tunnel vision prevented her from seeing something blocking the way of her hooves and the princess stumbled and fell onto her stomach in a very un-princessy manner. The Nightmare hissed in frustration and was about to kick whatever got in her way, only to realise it was alive and breathing. "S-slave?" She stammered.
The otherworldly creature mumbled something in his sleep and rolled onto his other side, clutching a rumpled suit, which he used as his pillow. Yesterday must have truly worn him out. Perhaps we can use the oppurtunity to get something out of him when he's too tired to lie... Using her magic, Nightmare Moon levitated her slave off of the dirty floor outside and towards her bed in her quarters. As the field of energy dispersed and dropped him onto the covers, the slave finally woke up and looked around with a crazed, fearful expression, eventually focusing on the Nightmare. Remembering his quandary, the biped sunk back onto the pillows, sighing. "Your Majesty..."
"Slave. Thou art very weak. Explain."
The biped gulped. "I'm... I'm just a bit hungry, your Majesty." He bowed his head until his chin touched his chest, unwilling to meet his mistress's gaze. "And I don't really know what's going on..."
Hungry? Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. Hungry? ... Sustenance! Food! Water! You idiot, Moon! The creature is not immortal, and thou have foregone all maintenance!
"Well, why didn't thou just say so? Thou will accompany us for... for..." Breakfast. "... breakfast. And a morning bath. There, we can discuss your new servitude in greater detail."
Anon began to climb out of bed, but Nightmare Moon's magic took ahold of him again, and he floated behind the princess as she walked out of the room with a slightly giddy smile on his face at the prospect of food and some relaxation at last. His new mistress was reasonable after all!
Nightmare Moon took him to a dark, vast cavern, which she then magically filled with hot water. A mere shadow of the natural royal springs back in the Castle of the Two Sisters, but in this case, perfectly adequate. She set him down on the edge of the pool and carefully removed the helmet to release her magically waving blue mane, peeking at the slave's reaction.
As she'd hoped, the little creature was awed by her beauty.
Unlike the ponies. They were all so frightened of the night.
She knew she was deceiving herself - the slave barely even knew who she was, let alone to truly fear her. But it was a nice dream. She'd earned that dream after the many years of isolation that... she couldn't even bring herself to think of her foul sister's name... had imposed on her.
"Slave. Remove our shoes."
Anon pattered over to Nightmare Moon and took ahold of the ornaments attached to the heavy metal shoe, pulling it off of her large, coalblack limb. He shivered slightly as his sore fingers brushed against the fine fur, and looked up towards the powerful being who now controlled his destiny. Nightmare Moon's glowing, slitted irises peered straight back at him with some amusement. Who is she really? Anon thought. Why is it just the two of us here?
As he pulled off the last shoe, the Nightmare's neck snaked behind him and she hissed in his ear: "Hold still, Slave. Hands behind you." Instinctively, Anon obeyed and let her latch onto the back of his ragged jacket with her teeth, pulling it off of him. A magical field enveloped each of the six buttons on his shirt, simultaneously opening them.
Like his head, Anon's body was mostly coatless, save for the relatively thin layer of hairs on his chest and arms. "Thou art an odd and inefficiently developeth creature, Slave."
"I'm sorry, your Majesty." Anon mumbled, shivering a little without his shirt. It wasn't really cold, but he felt weak and vulnerable regardless.
"Not your fault."
By the time Nightmare Moon got to work on his belt, Anon had finally gathered enough courage to say: "Your Majesty! I, uh... your slave would not... ehhhh... would not want you to... to deal with the hassle of removing my clothes... yeah." It was weird enough that he now had to undress in front of the megalomaniacal talking pony, but at the very least, he could do it on his own terms? Maybe?
No.
Nightmare Moon merely chuckled. "That would indeed be the proper etiquette. But as we are alone, and you are our servant, we will do as we wish." As soon as she finished speaking, Anon's belt finally unlatched itself and his trousers dropped to the ground. "No sheath?"
"I... beg your pardon?" Anon asked, confused. The Nightmare pointed at the obvious bulge in his underpants.
"For thy cock. Male stallions usually have theirs concealeth behind a sheath, as we recall."
About five expressions passed over Anon's face until he ended up just smiling nervously and ignoring the question. "W-would you like me to take off that metal... whatchamacallit... thing on your chest?"
The mare glanced briefly at her breast plate and nodded. The biped removed his shoes and, now wearing nothing but his underpants, walked over and put his strange, fleshy claws on her symbol of office. All the effort that went into making it presentable for our subject, and now we're removing it again. Moon thought with a smirk on her muzzle.
Bare now, the night princess dipped her hooves into the magically created hot water and hummed with pleasure as the warmth washed over her. Alone and unwanted, she had little motivation to maintain hygiene consistently, but now she derived great pleasure from it. Turning back, the pony saw her slave standing over the pool and filled with wariness. She rolled her eyes. "We can't very well have good conversation with our servant hovering over the water like a ghost, can we? Join us - that is an order."
Anon sat down on the rocky floor and lowered his grimy legs in. The pool was at a perfectly warm temperature. With no more hesitation, he jumped in, the soothing water instantly relaxing his muscles. For a moment, he dived under and popped out again, spitting a stream out like a fountain. Nightmare Moon smiled as she saw the biped begin to enjoy the perks of being hers.
She then used her magic to transform part of the water into a solid table, with their breakfast on top. Salivating, Anon rushed to the table, only holding back at the last second. "M-may I eat, your Majesty?" he remembered to ask.
Nightmare Moon simply nodded and watched with slight nervousness as the biped stuffed his face. Being immortal and with no inherent need for food, she could only hope the dishes she'd recreated with her magic were of royal quality.
A part of her frowned. Royal quality? You are a princess, not a chef! Who cares what the food is like so long as the slave remains alive to fulfil his work?
Yet another part sniped back. Tis true, but the dishes were still created by us, albeit with magic. We are Nightmare Moon - we are perfect! And so is our food!
"How does it taste?" she felt compelled to ask. The biped looked up, and suddenly corrected his body posture, having been so ravenous he'd nearly forgotten her presence.
After swallowing, he replied: "It's good, your Majesty... very good. I, uh... I don't suppose you have any meat?"
The Nightmare recoiled slightly. "Meat? No! No, of course not!" Fool! Cretin! The creature is an omnivore, just look at those sharp teeth! Oh, how our mind has dulled in this awful captivity! To hide her error, she snapped sternly: "There is no meat! Eat what you were given by your betters!"
"Yes, your Majesty." The biped mumbled timidly and resumed eating.
No! Now he's scared again! Moon had to physically restrain herself from facehoofing. We can do this. This is just a servant, and we are Nightmare Moon and we are talking to the servant. Be silent, rubbish thoughts!
"What is your name?"
"... Anon. It's short for Anonymous."
Nightmare Moon raised an eyebrow. "Tis a silly name."
He did not reply, which frustrated the night princess even more. Back in Equestria, making conversation was never an issue - not only were her bat ponies perfectly tuned to her every whim, but she was also kept busy, always so very busy. Managing the moon, battling Celestia, exploring the dreams of her ponies.
But here, she had nothing, absolutely nothing, but Anon. Did you send him up here, sister? Is this a challenge, or a mockery? Do you think we cannot get even this alien to love our night? The nerve!
"Who are you?" Anon's question broke the Nightmare's train of thought. "I mean, you told me, but... I didn't really understand. I don't know why I'm here." He said, his quiet voice tinged with shyness.
"'Here' is Equestria... not your Earth. And I am, or rather should be, its ruler." The Nightmare snarled a little, and Anon pulled back from the fury emanating from her slitted eyes. "My accursed sister has exiled us, perhaps you as well, to this place. But we will have our revenge. One... dark... night. If you're lucky, you'll live long enough to see it."
