Every Night is a Night of Nightmares

Every Night is a Night of Nightmares

by the parasprite

Chapter 4: Let's try this again

The morning after her dinner with Nightmare Moon was a spectacularly miserable one for Twilight.

She woke up on her back in the middle of her room, shivering and aching all over. There was a pounding pain behind her eyes that she likened to having a stake hammered in through the socket. It was so intense that, despite the darkness about the room, Twilight squeezed her eyes shut again immediately after opening them.

Something nearby smelled awful. It reminded her of the time when, as a filly, she had had the flu and vomited into her trash can, and then hidden the evidence of her illness for over a day because she was afraid of having to stay home from school if anypony found out. Though the bitter-sweet odor of vomit was coming from somewhere very close, Twilight didn't have the willpower to turn and see just how close she was to it.

The question of how she'd ended up in a puddle of vomit with no memory of the night before flittered through her mind briefly, as she was scrubbing some of the dried vomit off her chest, but it was promptly forgotten in the unfocused haze that occupied her mind.

Twilight lay there with her eyes closed until the combined smell and nausea became entirely unbearable. Only then did she try opening her eyes and sitting up again. Doing this made her feel so sick she almost lay back down—but fortunately, she discovered that what she'd been lying in was actually a puddle of partially coagulated vomit before she could lie back down in it again.

With a revolted exclamation, Twilight lurched away from the stain and felt around in the dark for something she could use to clean herself. Finding nothing, she stumbled into the bathroom and switched on the light. Now able to see her reflection in the mirror, she was disgusted to find that there was also vomit on her chin, chest, belly, and one of her forelegs.

"Ugh," she mumbled, and turned away.

She took one of the towels from the towel rack, pushed up the toilet seat, and collapsed onto it so she could relieve herself while she cleaned the filth off. The room was spinning so badly that she had to lean back and put half the towel over her face to keep the cruel light away, lest she throw up again.

This, however, only lasted a short while, because she ended up leaning forward again not long after, and the towel fell away onto her left back hoof. With her mouth slack and her eyes glazed, Twilight stared dumbly at the towel for a while. Then, with an equally mindless gaze, she turned her head a little and focused on the rim of the toilet bowl between her legs, as though it were something novel and scientifically fascinating. Finally, she looked to her other side, at the fishnet stocking that was still halfway on her right hind leg. It also had some vomit on it.

Twilight blinked a few times, then picked up the towel so she could continue to clean herself off. She stopped this again when she realized that there was a shower not far away, and the shower had warm water. She dropped the towel carelessly and made her way over to the shower without even taking off the errant fishnet stocking.

Standing limply under the showerhead like a zombie, she turned the tap with her hooves, and was promptly doused in freezing water. Instantly, Twilight screeched in protest and tried to backpedal away from the unpleasant sensation, which led to her slipping and falling painfully on her rear. After the water turned warm, she made a halfhearted attempt to scrub the caked vomit off herself. It took over half an hour for her to actually do this, and by then, she'd started to wake up a little.

Most of the previous night proved to be a fuzzy mess of vague ideas and images when Twilight finally got around to thinking about what had happened. She remembered eating and drinking with Nightmare Moon, and she was at least coherent enough to make an educated guess that since half her memories of the event involved her drinking wine, she'd probably gotten herself drunk and was now severely hung-over.

Other memories were somewhat less clear. She had a disturbing feeling that she might have done something very bizarre that involved her mouth and hooves, but there was too much of it lost in the haze to actually figure out what had happened for sure. So long as she hadn't been raped—and there were no signs that she had, as far as she could tell—she didn't feel it was worth pursuing at the moment, not with her negligable level of energy.

Everything would be fine once her headache went away, Twilight decided—it was always fine once those little aches and pains were cured. Life would go on, and everything would work out the way it always had. But it did nag at her for quite some time anyway.

While she was wrapping a towel around her mane, Twilight saw that there was no longer any vomit on her when she saw her reflection; she just looked pale, tired, and ill, which she supposed was marginally better than how she'd looked before. She shambled back into the bedroom, avoiding the place where she'd initially vomited, and crawled into the bed.

She didn't know how long she slept for, but it was definitely a long time. Several times, Twilight woke up, only to find that her head was still pounding and she still felt awful. Typically, she would go back to sleep soon after waking up, although a few times she woke up and spent a while staring idly at the ceiling while she tried to doze off again.

It was during one of these moments that Twilight's door banged open, and a masked mare came in. This mare stomped around the room a bit to get her attention, and as she did, Twilight recognized her as Lulamoon, one of Nightmare Moon's cronies who'd taken her up from the dungeon the other day.

"Rise and shine, filly," Lulamoon croaked out loud, startling Twilight.

"You can talk!" exclaimed Twilight.

Lulamoon's expression turned quite sour, and she glared at Twilight. "Of course I can talk! Did you believe The Great and Powerful Trixie was incapable of communication, you foolish little dreg of a unicorn?"

Something was very wrong with her voice. It sounded scratchy and filtered, for one thing; and for another, Twilight noticed it was not coming from her mouth. Instead, Lulamoon wore a chain around her neck with a glowing golden glass ball about the size of an acorn attached to it, and it was from here that her voice seemed to be issuing.

"What kind of magic is that? I've never heard of anything like it—is it arcane? Does it have your real voice in it or does it generate a new one for you?"

"Shut up," Lulamoon snapped. "Trixie was rewarded with this trinket for performing a great service to Her Majesty. She is Her Majesty's most trusted lieutenant in all but the words themselves, after all, so She healed Trixie's wounds. Arcane magic, hah! The All-Powerful Nightmare Moon can do things that Celestia could never dream of!"

Twilight nodded hastily, unsure how else to respond.

"Yes..." Lulamoon looked around, rubbed the part of the sack that was covering her jaw, and then added, "Not that insignificant cockroaches like yourself should be concerned with how the gods move. You have things to do."

She jabbed her hoof at Twilight.

"Get up now, or Trixie will drag you out of bed herself. You have places to be, Spa—" She faltered for a moment, and Twilight had a feeling she was struggling to recall Twilight's name without having to admit she didn't know something. "...Sparkler. You have places to be, and—"

"Sparkle, actually... Twilight Sparkle...?" Twilight ended in a tone that was almost a question, not wanting to make Lulamoon feel like she'd been insulted by someone claiming to be smarter than her. It would probably have led to bad things.

Trixie waved a hoof uncaringly. "Whatever. Don't interrupt Trixie! Get out of bed."

With a sigh, Twilight pushed the covers aside and got out of her bed. It was cold again, so she started shivering as she stood in front of the sneering—she couldn't see the expression, but she could certainly feel it—Trixie Lulamoon.

“Her Majesty commands that you present yourself before her in exactly half an hour,” said Lulamoon. “She also commands you to actually wash yourself, because you were filthy last time you met with her. If you aren’t clean, she’s going to have your coat shaved off, so I would recommend doing a good job.”

Twilight spent the next twenty minutes or so scrubbing every inch of her body raw in the bath, despite having already taken a shower the first time she woke up. By the time she was finished, she felt like she’d been put through a wringer, and had to rub lotion on herself to ensure that her skin didn’t dry out under her coat.

When she came out, she found Lulamoon still sitting by the door.

"Put the towels away," Lulamoon said to Twilight in a bored tone.

The magicless mulberry unicorn sat down on her rear and clumsily unwrapped the towel that was around her mane with her hooves. She cringed, wishing she’d spent more time letting it dry, as some droplets of water fell onto the floor. Then she removed the other towels and carried them into the bathroom.

"Very good!" Lulamoon applauded her condescendingly when she returned. "Now touch your nose."

Twilight suddenly wished it had been Blinkie who had been sent to deal with her. Even with the enhanced strength earth pony magic would have given her, Twilight decided it was a near certainty that she would be able to overtake the filly on her own; perhaps tie her up with her bedsheets while she made her escape—but Trixie was an adult, had magic and a nasty sense of humor, and was clearly unbalanced.

"Tonight," Lulamoon told her, "Her Majesty wishes for you to join her in her personal chambers. Why she would want to be around somepony as insipid and boring as you, I don't quite understand, but it isn't Trixie's place to question why."

The casual cruelty with which Lulamoon spoke, as well as the grin she wore on her face, made Twilight cringe a bit, but she said nothing since she didn’t want to annoy the other mare. Lulamoon tossed something at Twilight, who automatically reached up and caught it in her hooves. Opening it, she found a brand-new, and much cleaner, version of the outfit she'd worn to dinner with Nightmare Moon the other night.

"Put that on."

Twilight hastily slipped the socks and stockings on. Unlike the other outfit, which had had fishnets, this one was all solid cloth. There was a pattern of silvery-white starbursts against the black, giving the impression that she was wearing pieces of the night sky on her legs. A similar pattern was splashed across the leather saddle.

There was, in this package, also what appeared to be a leather corset; something which Twilight had only rarely seen. She held it up and sniffed it, taking in the faint smell of what was essentially dead skin. It made her wrinkle her nose in disgust as she put it back down.

But, not wanting to set Lulamoon off, she put it on anyway and attempted to lace it up. Doing so without magic was practically impossible, though, and Twilight soon became frustrated by the uselessness of her large, clumsy hooves. Eventually, after so much struggling, Lulamoon took pity on her and used her own magic to lace up the corset. She tightened it to an almost painful degree, her eyes sparkling maliciously as Twilight coughed and struggled to adapt to the change.

One more item had been included in this particular set of clothing as well. It was a choker made of some sort of back material, with a large diamond set in the center. Twilight stared at it, shocked, for a moment, before putting it on—she could hardly believe that she would be trusted with something so valuable.

"Get moving, you wretched creature. We have things to do."

Lulamoon kicked Twilight sharply in the side. Twilight stumbled into the doorframe and fell, but was immediately dragged back to her hooves by Lulamoon before she could even catch her breath.

The room Lulamoon brought Twilight to seemed to be very high up in the castle, perhaps in a tower or something of that nature, given the number of stairs they had to climb to get to it. Even before she saw the door, Twilight could hear music coming from it: eerie, melancholy strains from an instrument she knew enough to recognize as a violin.

She actually felt a sense of vertigo when Lulamoon opened the door and pushed her in. The floor was all but invisible, and it seemed like she was walking--stumbling, rather--through empty space itself. At the same time, it was like entering a planetarium in that the floor, walls, and ceiling were all detailed, glowing three-dimensional models of the heavens, surrounded by empty blackness. They all seemed to be made of glass; glass that was frosted with condensation, as it was hardly more than bitter cold in the room.

Nightmare Moon herself herself sat in the only indication of a floor in the entire room: a painted, archaic map of the solar system, with a semicircular shaft of light like the crescent moon at its center. She was wearing her cloak and regalia again, looking in the low light like some kind of bizarre fanged druid. Orbiting her head was a half-consumed glass of wine. Even as Twilight was brought in, Nightmare seemed enraptured with the music than interested in her guest. That music, as it turned out, was coming from a violin that Nightmare held aloft in a gout of blue magic.

Twilight didn't have that much time to stand and gawk at the sight, because Lulamoon shoved past her after only a moment and announced, "Your Majesty, Trixie brings Twilight Sparkle, as ordered."

"Thank you, Lulamoon. Leave her here and go about your duties," said Nightmare softly, continuing to play as she spoke without pausing or faltering in the slightest.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Lulamoon vanished into the darkness. Twilight heard the door open and shut, and she was left alone with Nightmare Moon, who still didn't even spare her a glance or a word for what felt like hours. Time ticked by, and Twilight felt herself growing more and more anxious in Nightmare's presence.

“Good evening, Twilight,” Nightmare finally said.

“Good evening, Y-Your Majesty...” whispered Twilight.

"Sit down," the alicorn invited her, gesturing vaguely at the room with one of her enormous black wings, and then waving that same wing at a more specific place not far from where she herself sat. "Make yourself comfortable. Around that area, I think, would be best."

"Yes... Your Majesty." Twilight sat down where Nightmare had indicated, though she took care to sit as far away from Nightmare as she could manage without actually looking like she was trying not to sit near her. For good measure, she added, "Thank you for the invitation to s-spend time with you, Your Majesty."

"You're quite welcome."

Nightmare was silent for a while more, focusing on the violin. Then she said, "There was an assassination attempt today. A very foolish pony attempted to destroy me by detonating a homemade bomb."

"Oh, that's awful. I'm glad nopony was hurt," said Twilight, whose eyes had grown a bit wider after hearing this.

There was a snort. "Two heroic stallions sacrificed their lives to keep their goddess from harm. Hardly 'nopony'."

"Oh... oh, I'm so sorry."

"You didn't know them; you weren't there; why are you sorry?" Nightmare said. "Don't tell me things that aren't true, Twilight. It aggravates me. I'm in no mood to deal with the nobles and their petty absurdities, which is why I've elected to deal with you instead. You are, at least, significantlysimpler."

The sneering way in which she spat out the wordsimpler left no doubt as to whether it was meant as a compliment or an insult. Twilight realized she was expected to say something after being stared at intensely for a while, so she mumbled, "Thank you, Your Majesty", even though she knew it wasn't something she ought to be thanking Nightmare for.

"Our last encounter," declared the alicorn, "was a bit of a disgrace on your part. Let's talk about that: do you feel you've done something disgraceful to me, Twilight Sparkle?"

Twilight remained silent. She didn't think there was an actual right way to answer this that would spare her the growing wrath of the alicorn, so she chose to interpret Nightmare's words as a statement, and not a question. Arguing with her would do nothing.

Finally, she found a valid middle ground and mumbled, "I don't really remember what happened the other night."

"You drank quite a bit of my wine and acted both foolish and blasphemous," said Nightmare. She swirled her glass of wine around thoughtfully. "You said words about me—to me—that nopony with a sense of decency or respect would ever dare to speak."

"Oh..." Twilight's cheeks flushed. "I... didn't... I didn't realize that..."

Nightmare turned up her glass and finished what was in it. "What do you have to say for yourself, Twilight?"

"That—that I'm very, very sorry, Your Majesty," said Twilight, so fast she almost mixed the words up. Her brain seemed to be playing a bit loose with language all of a sudden, probably because of her nerves. "And that I'll never do anything of the sort again as long as I live."

"Good," the alicorn hummed over the violin.

There was a long stretch of time during which there was only the sound of Nightmare's violin in the room. Besides this, there was an occasional murmur of appreciation from the alicorn herself, but for the most part, there was nothing. Twilight allowed herself to get lost in the music, to a degree. She was powerless to escape, she rationalized, so why not enjoy the sonata while she could?

Twilight's musical education had only covered the basics, as music was not a science and therefore wasn't a very important topic, but she was reasonably certain the piece Nightmare was playing was based on a tritone formation. Having been more interested in the history of music than the actual music itself, Twilight happened to know that the tritone was often associated with Discord, and other figures of corruption and evil.

"I have realized, upon reflection, that I may have been a bit harsh on you for your transgressions our first night together," Nightmare spoke up suddenly. "Clearly, I came in with my expectations far too high, believing that you were educated in the ways of the nobility and that you were a pony of class. You aren’t, are you, Twilight?”

Twilight shook her head. “N-no... Your Majesty... I, I wouldn't consider myself a... 'pony of class'.”

“Ah... you’re common street trash, then?”

“N-no...”

“Then what are you?” asked Nightmare. She seemed legitimately curious as to the answer.

Fidgeting, Twilight replied, "Just a pony... Your Majesty..."

"Just another pony."

"Yes... Your Majesty. I... I'm not a very interesting pony. I'm nothing special."

There was something so dark growing in Nightmare's eyes; something that, by the time Twilight was told to stop for the last time, was practically bleeding through her eyeballs. And the more primitive parts of Twilight's brain were deathly afraid of it—she wanted to be anywhere else but in the room with that slimy reptilian thing's gaze.

"Is that so."

It took some time for Twilight to realize that this was actually meant as a question to be answered, and it was only because of the way Nightmare was looking at her that she did, in fact, realize this at all. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Ah. I see. Are you saying I'm wrong to spend my time talking to you? Do you not appreciate the attention I've been heaping upon you, little not-very-interesting nopony?" Nightmare inquired.

"It's not that!" Twilight blurted out, blushing a little bit. "It's very flattering that you think I'm worth talking to, it really is... I'm just a... another unicorn, though. Nothing very special."

"Nothing special?"

Twilight nodded again. "Yes, Your Majesty. I'm very sorry, but that's just the way I feel about myself."

"You certainly didn't feel that way the other night," said Nightmare. She swirled her glass of wine around thoughtfully. "At any rate, I was under the impression that you were better educated in the way of manners and customs than you seem to be. It doesn’t matter now, as you belong entirely to me and I can do whatever I want with you, but I do apologize for being so presumptuous."

“Thank... you... Your Majesty...” Twilight wondered how one pony could sound so self-important and yet so sincere at the same time.

"Let's try this again, shall we?"

A second glass of wine suddenly made its appearance in front of Twilight, held in Nightmare's midnight-blue grasp. The unicorn observed it with distrust for some time, until it moved forward and bumped against her lips. She turned her head away to avoid it, but it followed her movements. It was, Twilight noted, somewhat fascinating that Nightmare could manipulate so many objects at once without losing control of any of them.

"I don't think it's a good idea for me to drink," she said to Nightmare. "Last time, um, it made me do stupid things... a-as you're well aware, Your Majesty... I, uh, don't think it would be good if I repeated my mistakes of the pas—"

"Drink it," said Nightmare warningly, "or I'll force it down your throat and neither of us will be happy in the end."

Twilight experienced a rather unusually vivid flashback to something similar happening during the last time she'd met with Nightmare. In light of this evidence, she decided to take the path of least resistance and parted her lips.

“Tonight, we’re going to get to know each other,” Nightmare went on airily. "Tell me about yourself, Twilight."

"M-me?" Twilight babbled when the glass had moved back. "Why would I do that? Oh, I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. Ah, why, Your Majesty? I mean... uh..."

"Well, naturally... I want to learn more about who you are as a pony," the alicorn explained, and surprisingly she didn't mock or punish Twilight for misspeaking. "Tell me, Twilight. Tell me your hopes. Tell me your dreams. Tell me what you hold dear in life."

"But why would you want to know about me, Your Majesty?"

"Because I do," she said.

Twilight blinked several times, feeling more than a little confused, but eventually said, "Well... I, um, like to read."

"You like to read?"

Twilight nodded silently.

"What do you gain from reading, Twilight?"

She fidgeted some more. "I-I don't know. I just like it..."

"You like to read," said the alicorn again, sounding disappointed. "And what else do you like to do?"

Twilight avoided answering for as long as she could, then finally shrugged helplessly. "I-I like to learn... There's not really much else to say, Your Majesty. I-I appreciate your interest in me, but I'm really just not a very interesting pony..."

"Open wide, Twilight."

Twilight opened her mouth responsively, and soon she had a mouthful of yet more bitter wine. It burned so badly that she had to spit some of it back into the glass, but that was poured right back into her mouth as soon as she had swallowed what was still there. She found the wine glass waiting for her again—a sign, she decided, that Nightmare was probably not that angry at her. Not yet, anyway.

"Tell me, now, what do you like to read?" asked Nightmare, though her voice now carried a distinct note of disinterest. "What books do you fancy? Philosophy... mathematics... fiction, perhaps...?"

"Well, uh, yes, Your Majesty. I like... I like to read a lot of nonfiction—I like to read scientific books, mostly, but, uh, I've read the great works, too—you know. I... I try to educate myself as well as I can."

"Is that so. And tell me, Twilight," she commanded, "What did you intend to do with your life before Celestia took you under her wing?"

"Well, um... actually, I would like to be a librarian, Your Majesty..." Twilight said, brightening up a little at the thought. "It was one of my top career choices on career day. To be surrounded by such knowledge, and to pass it on to later generations... it's just so appealing to me."

"The accumulation of knowledge appeals to you?"

"I suppose you could say that, Your Majesty."

There was a pause while Nightmare appeared to consider this. Even the music took on a slightly pensive tone for a second, as though reflecting its creator's mood.

“Do you know why knowledge exists, Twilight?”

Twilight swallowed and tapped her hooves together, trying to come up with a truthful, appropriate response to the question. “Knowledge exists… to be learned by our generation and shared with the generations that come after us, so that what we discover is never—”

Nightmare interrupted her. “Sentimentalist propaganda aside, why does it exist?"

"I'm... not sure what you mean, Your Majesty."

"Knowledge exists to be used," said Nightmare. "To serve a purpose to which it is deemed relevant.”

“That’s not true! That's not true, Your Majesty,” Twilight protested. “Well, i-it is true, to a degree, but knowledge isn’tcompletely utilitarian by any means! There’s also joy to be found in the actual act of learning itsel—”

“And that is precisely why you’re useless, Twilight Sparkle. You find no joy in the application of knowledge; only the acquisition. Service brings you no pleasure. You would be content to sit and read in that little library in Ponyville, or in the great Canterlot Library, as true Equestrians fought and died for the betterment of Equestria; for your own sake and safety.”

It was almost a welcome distraction to Twilight when she noticed that the wine glass was nearby, and she picked it up on her own for the first time, balancing it between her two hooves. With Nightmare silent for the moment and Twilight afraid to say anything on her own for fear of angering the goddess, all there was to do was gulp down mouthfuls of the disgusting red wine and avoid looking at the other mare.

"Don't you have anything to say, Twilight?" asked Nightmare.

"I think you're wrong. I think you have a very negative way of looking at things," mumbled Twilight. "Learning shouldn't just happen when it benefits the state."

“Would you like to learn something now, little nopony? Would you like to know the way of the world? I’ll tell you now. The way of the world is power. Some have it, and some don’t; those who have it, by their very nature, rule the powerless. And because power is the way of the world, any means necessary to attain it are the appropriate means. The power of one can become the power of many, and that in turn becomes the power of a nation; of an empire.”

The dark mare circled around Twilight predatorily as she continued.

"I am in charge of Equestria and you aren't, and there's a reason for that. You're a parasite. A leech. Had I not given you a chance to do something remotely useful to others, you would have spent your entire life as a lazy, good-for-nothing pseudointellectual, poisoning the minds of true Equestrians with whatever revolutionary trash you come up with."

She reached out suddenly with her magic and seized Twilight by the front hooves, lifting the unicorn up slightly as her foreleg was turned.

"These hooves," she said, "have never worked a single day of labor. Have they, Twilight?"

"I've—n-no, but—"

"And yet you believe yourself a hard worker; that you contribute anything at all to others by reading books and passing meaningless tests, do you?"

Tears started to form in Twilight's eyes. "I-I'm not useless... I'm not..."

"You are," said the great alicorn cruelly. "You cheated yourself out of your only skill—that of using magic—by conspiring against me. I would have been happy to take you on as a student, but you wanted your place as Celestia's whore more than you wanted a place as a productive member of society."

"I'm n-not a whore..." Twilight shook her head.

She looked around, desperate for something to counter Nightmare's argument with, and her eyes eventually fell upon the violin that, despite all of the alicorn's animation and involvement in the discussion, had continued to play the entire time.

"Is music also worthless if it doesn't benefit the state, Your Majesty?" she asked, half-expecting to be struck for questioning what Nightmare was doing with her time.

"Of course not," Nightmare said without hesitation. "Music is an entirely different concept from that of learning. But, like all things, it's only worth hearing if it touches something inside the listener."

A pause.

"Does my music touch you, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded apprehensively. “Uhuh. Yes, Your Majesty. Very, um, beautiful.”

She couldn't deny that it did elicit some feeling from within her; a feeling of nostalgia, perhaps, a pining for a world that had long since rusted away, perhaps before she'd ever been born. At at any rate, it was very emotional music, if also dark and infused by a hint of perversity.

“I wrote it... many years ago. Before I was banished," said Nightmare.

This genuinely surprised Twilight. Nightmare was one of the last ponies she expected to have anything like musical talent. Still, it fit, when she thought about it.

"It's very nice, Your Majesty," she managed.

Nightmare nodded faintly in agreement. "There was a dance that went with it, as well. It was often performed in my court many years ago. I don't think anypony would remember it now, though."

More silence, except for the violin. The notes kept descending, one by one, then sliding back up with an eerie buzzing sound.

"Do you dance, Twilight?" asked Nightmare, and Twilight had the distinct impression that this question was more significant than the words that had come before it.

"I... I don't really know how to dance, Your Majesty. I'm very sorry."

The neutral expression on Nightmare's face slowly split apart into a toothy smile that was one part endearing and one part malicious, as though the alicorn were unsure of what she actually felt at the moment.

"That's too bad," the alicorn said after a while. "I must admit, I would enjoy watching you dance to this. You would look quite pretty doing so."

When Twilight raised her glass to her lips, she found it empty. Fortunately, a tendril of midnight-blue magic took her glass from her and refilled it, and Twilight—as absurd as it was—nodded a thank-you to it. Even more absurdly, it nodded back, before disappearing again and leaving her to drink.

"Why don't I teach you to dance," said Nightmare. "Surely, that would be attractive to anypony, wouldn't it? The chance to dance before a goddess."

Twilight blushed, suddenly envisioning herself being taught ballet by a tutu-clad Nightmare Moon. She wanted to say that she'd pass on the offer—but she didn't. There was a much larger part of her that was afraid of what might happen if she didn't accept, and there was also another small but still significant part that genuinely wanted to know whether the offer had been serious or if it was just a trap to make Twilight humiliate herself.

"Twilight, answer me."

"H-hold on," Twilight muttered, holding one hoof up to her head.

There was a slight flush in her face, ears, and horn now. She certainly felt better than she had when she came in, and Nightmare Moon seemed a bit less intimidating after several glasses of wine. Twilight knew she was a little drunk by then—in fact, she drank deeply from the wine glass again after realizing this—and so she couldn't actually find anything wrong with accepting Nightmare's offer; at least, nothing that couldn't be corrected when she was sober again.

"Twilight."

"Alright," blurted Twilight, hiccuping slightly. "I-I mean, yes, Your Majesty."

Smiling toothily, Nightmare said, "You see? That wasn't so difficult, was it?"

Twilight shook her head, a slow, stupid smile growing on her own face as well. "No, Your Majesty."

"Good. You see? We can get along if you just accept the things I give you, Twilight; there's no need to act like a spoiled brat all the time." Nightmare gestured whimsically at her. "Get up, little nopony."

Twilight slurped down the rest of her wine and then stood up on all four hooves. Her body was shivering, and mist left her mouth and nostrils every time she breathed out, but the alcohol made her feel warm and happy inside. Nightmare looked her over with a dual air of both amusement and a bit of disdain.

"All the way up," she said to Twilight. "Get up on your hind hooves. All the way up, girl."

After trying several times to rear up and stay there, Twilight discovered that she had certainly did not possess the same level of skill as the skill of dancer ponies who walked upright. She looked to Nightmare, who gazed back with a distinct sneer on her face. A gout of blue magic grabbed the unicorn by the forehooves and mane, and pulled her upright so that she was balanced precariously on her hind hooves only. She teetered a bit when the magic let go of her hooves.

Standing like that was a rather inappropriate thing for a pony to do—not only did it bring to mind images of mindless bipedal animals, but it was also just obscene in general. It was, as she understood it, the kind of thing one did in private to show off to a mate before engaging in sexual activities. Moreover, Nightmare seemed to be sizing her up in a way that Twilight didn't like, her eyes roving over the unicorn's body with a gaze that pierced decency itself.

"Take a step to your left," ordered Nightmare.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Twilight moved to the left, swaying dangerously as she did. But she managed to stay upright in the end, and for that she felt a small sense of accomplishment.

"Step back."

Again, Twilight did as she was told.

"Step forward."

She stepped forward and overbalanced, falling onto her face with a sharpthud. As she struggled to get back up on her own, Twilight heard Nightmare laugh softly.

"Get up, Twilight. Are you too clumsy to stay on two hooves for a short time?"

"No, Your Majesty," mumbled Twilight.

She made a heroic and eventually successful effort to return to the standing position she'd been forced into earlier. It wasn't quite as hard as she'd expected it would be to walk on her hind hooves; at least, once she got the hang of it. But that wasn't saying much, as she'd expected it to be very difficult indeed. After only a few steps, Twilight was teetering from side to side, ready to topple over onto the floor again.

"Stop."

Twilight stopped moving. Here, Nightmare simply watched her in silence again.

"Dance now," said Nightmare. "Dance for me."

"I don't know any dance movements, Your Majesty."

Nightmare laughed. It was a slightly softer laugh than her usual one. "Dance anyway, little nopony."

And Twilight tried to dance. She tried to sway her hips and move her feet the way some of the ponies at school would do for the colts when none of the staff were looking—because surely, this would also please Nightmare, her drunken mind reasoned. But she had neither the training nor the skill required to dance well, and furthermore she wasn't very sober; so it didn't take long—only a few jerky motions poorly mimicking what she remembered seeing—for her to tumble over, reeling, onto the floor.

"Ow," she said as she lay facedown on the floor, and after this she giggled in drunken embarrassment. "I think... I think I might need shome help, Your Majesty. I can't stand very good... very well... right now..."

"In the grand courts of ancient times," said Nightmare, "dancers who couldn't perform as instructed were executed before the nobles to compensate for their inability to entertain. The next dancer would then perform with the added risk of slipping in the blood that coated the floor."

Twilight swallowed hard, hoping that this was not Nightmare's intention. But there was already a line of magic winding around her thigh, up her stomach, and eventually around her neck, as if to strangle her.

"Don't kill me, Your Majesty," she begged of Nightmare. "I-it's just a dance..."

The magic tendril caressed Twilight's cheek gently.

"Twilight..."

"Y-yes, Your Majesty?"

"I was only teasing," said Nightmare.

Twilight's face flushed. "Oh."

"You ought to learn to trust others, especially when they've already proven themselves to be more true to their word than you are to your own."

A long pause followed, during which Twilight watched and felt the magical feeler crawl across her body until she relaxed a bit, deciding that if Nightmare were going to strangle her to death, it would already have happened.

"What do you say, Twilight?"

"I'm sorry for not trusting you, Your Majesty," Twilight replied in a low voice.

"Very good," Nightmare said.

Her magic wrapped around Twilight's throat a second time and caressed it, prompting Twilight to turn her head upward to get more of the pleasant sensation, and then downward again when she realized what she was doing. But it moved yet further up after this; it touched her ear, tickling it gently and causing it to flick a couple of times on its own.

Then Twilight felt the strangest sensation she'd ever felt in her entire life: that of a cold, slimysomething slowly pushing its way into her ear, and then into her brain. She started hyperventilating, terrified; batting at the thing with her hoof while also trying not to look at it. No matter how much she squirmed, though, it continued to violate her without stopping, until it had infused her brain with its essence.

It wasn't just digging around aimlessly in her head, either: it was injecting things into Twilight's thoughts. Memories, ideas, sights, sounds, and feelings were flooding into her intoxicated mind at such a rapid pace that she couldn't quite keep up with sorting them out. The room spun around her, and the dizziness that came with the sudden overload of information grew exponentially with each passing moment.

As abruptly as it had entered her, and before she could even fully process what was happening, the magic tendril withdrew again, leaving a void of confusion behind it. Twilight staggered to her hooves, still batting her hoof reflexively near her ear, but in her disoriented state she couldn't even sit up without a wave of nausea passing over her. She lay on her back with her mane spilling out around her like a violet-striped halo, fighting the sudden churning in her stomach.

"W-what... what just happened...?" she eventually whimpered, once the nausea had ebbed away enough for her to speak without worrying that she might vomit all over herself.

"I told you," said Nightmare calmly, "that I would teach you to dance."

"What?"

"Get up, Twilight. Get up and dance, as I have taught you."

Twilight gagged again as a fresh wave of nausea washed over her. She barely managed to stammer out, "I f-feel, I feel sick... M-may I please, p-please go back to m-my room, Your Maj—"

"That is not the correct way to respond to such a command," Nightmare told her in a bizarrely even tone, as though she were a schoolteacher with endless patience. "When I tell you to get up, you get up. Do you understand me?"

Twilight nodded mutely, rubbing her tear-smeared cheek against the floor, but she still made no move to get back to her hooves.

"Get upnow," said Nightmare, "or a brief bout of queasiness will be the very least of your worries, girl."

Though a splitting headache was creeping up on her already disoriented mind, Twilight finally obeyed the order, rising sluggishly to her hooves and swaying as she stood before Nightmare's imposing form. It took her an eternity to even come to the realization that, aside from the predictable effects of her nausea and the wine she'd consumed hampering her ability to balance, she no longer had to devote every process in her brain to staying upright.

Standing on her hind hooves suddenly felt just shy of natural; like she'd done it so many times that it was no different from walking like a pony anymore. Intrigued enough by the abrupt change to lose sight of her situation for a second, she tried stepping forward and back, and then spun around on one hoof like a ballet dancer, more out of curiosity than anything. It wasn't just standing that was easy now, Twilight discovered, but even walking and balancing on the tips of her hooves seemed ingrained now.

A horrid screeching noise brought her flighty attention back to the real world. Nightmare had deliberately drawn the violin's bow across the strings in such a way that it produced the awful sound, while at the same time boring into Twilight's head with her cold eyes.

"Will you stand there like an imbecile for the remainder of tonight," Nightmare inquired softly, tilting her head just a bit, "or will you dance, as I have repeatedly commanded of you?"

"I don't know how to dance," pleaded Twilight. "I really don't know how to... to..."

But shedid.

The knowledge was pouring into the forefront of her brain as if from a secret aqueduct she'd never known existed. All the movements, all the positions, the training, even the muscle memory, seemed to materialize inside Twilight's mind; a complete understanding of something she had no real memory of ever learning.

"I... I'll dance, Your Majesty," she said. A moment later, as she was backing up, she added, "...sorry for the misunderstanding."

The music started again, and with it, Twilight began to move; to sway expertly as the sound of the violin bit into her aching head like a whirling sawblade. It started with moving her hips, not her hooves, and in fact at first it was much less hoofwork than it was bodywork—but this soon bloomed into a more complex series of actions that seemed something like a sexualized ballet routine.

The dance itself was as sensual as it was beautiful, uncovering an eroticized element to the music that Twilight had not noticed before. It was dark, it was sexual, it was inviting, and at the same time it was also tempestuous and animalistic, filling her with a vast, incomprehensible desire that she absolutely had to express some way or other. While as intriciate as any classical performance, each movement also served to show Twilight herself off—it was going by so fast, and it was suddenly so ingrained within Twilight's mind, that she couldn't stop herself from performing even when it was clear that she was transgressing far beyond her personal boundries of what was modest.

And yet, though she was hardly aware of what she was doing, it was at the same time not the work of an outsider at all. Twilight knew she was no puppet—everything she did was coming from inside her, albeit from a place she didn't know existed. The steps were ones that had been practiced into strings, into chains, to the point where each and every step she took seemed like a continuation of what came before it; a smooth, flawless performance that could only have been delivered by a seasoned professional. But it was not predetermined, either; there was room for Twilight to put together just how she'd carry out particular parts of the dance, how she'd combine them to please Nightmare Moon; as though she'd been learning the theory since she was a small filly.

Nightmare watched her, seemingly enraptured by and approving of her performance as Twilight swayed and spun in time to the music. Soon, Twilight had moved closer to her—but her steps were always moderated by a silent command within the routine which was emphasized to a particular degree: that she was not to get within three steps of Nightmare. Absurd, but Twilight didn't dare question the feeling for fear that she would provoke a response that she'd regret.

It finally sank in, after what seemed like far too great a time wondering what the cause of her sudden knowledge of dancing was, that Nightmare had literally injected the routine into her brain. That she had not realized this before was somewhat embarrassing to Twilight, given the obviousness of it.

The idea that Nightmare had the power to alter her thoughts was both terrifying and intimately fascinating to Twilight's scientific mind. She'd never heard of such a spell—although, admittedly, she knew Princess Celestia had banned large subfields of mind magics centuries earlier, so it was quite possible that it had simply been removed from public circulation and was only remembered by a creature as old and knowledgeable as Nightmare Moon.

She spun deftly on one hoof, mane and tail swirling around her like violet-striped streamers. A hesistant smile crept onto her face as she realized that she was, to a degree, enjoying what she was doing—ignoring, or reveling in, that each step was drawing her further into the insanity of Nightmare's music. Although it was lewd and demeaning to be reduced to an object of entertainment, she couldn't deny that the intense dance was also... fun, in a way that she had never associated with books and would certainly never have pursued on her own.

Twilight's body was already exhausted, as the most exercise she'd gotten regularly in the past was walking between classes, but she pushed herself to continue. Even before it ended, she could feel the music building up to its climax, growing stronger and more frantic. And all the while, Nightmare was paying little attention to it, choosing to watch Twilight with a piercing gaze.

The music collapsed suddenly, dropping from its maddening intensity to a single wavering note. With it, Twilight threw herself down before Nightmare in a bow so low her nose brushed the cold floor, and there she remained. Nightmare herself continued to play, resurrecting the music as a series of repetitive, slow, hollow notes. The alicorn kept bending or doing something similar to the strings to give the sounds a screechy, ghostly quality, as though she were recalling surveying the dead ruins of something she'd destroyed.

Then this, too, dropped off, and there was silence. Twilight, still caught up in the mania despite being prostrate on the floor now, did not dare look up.

"A moving and passionate performance," said Nightmare at last.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Twilight mumbled. She reached around to push her mane, which was now sticky with sweat, out of her eyes, but still didn't raise her head.

"Did you enjoy performing for me, little nopony?"

"Y-yes, Your Majesty," she replied. "I enjoyed it very much."

It was actually not entirely a lie. Twilight had quite enjoyed dancing; it exhilarated her in a way that reading books just never had. Perhaps it was the adrenaline, or the thrill of being able to do something that other ponies considered beautiful, but at any rate, it had been... fun.

One of those midnight-blue tendrils slid over into her ear again, and Twilight cringed as it entered her brain and began draining away the knowledge that had been given to her. Part of her was rather sad to have it taken away again, in addition to her general discomfort with having her mind invaded for a second time. Maybe when things went back to normal, she thought as the tendril withdrew from her thoughts again, she would find somepony to give her real dancing lessons.

"Get up and come over here, Twilight." Nightmare gestured at herself with her hoof.

Twilight stood up, still feeling a bit dizzy, and hesitantly approached the alicorn.

"It was a custom in these ancient societies for the lord of the house to give the best dancer a kiss; a reward, of sorts, for pleasing the audience. And as I am God, you should appreciate my gifts, no matter what they are. Come closer."

She continued to beckon Twilight forward until the unicorn was right in front of her. Then, she leaned down and kissed Twilight on the lips.

It was different than what Twilight had imagined it would be, when she did imagine kissing colts; different from what she'd seen happen secretly in the schoolyard. There was little tenderness or hesitance— Nightmare was forceful and agressive, mashing their lips together hungrily. Her lips were warm and wet and soft in a way that made Twilight's stomach churn, so smug and invasive even on their own. And when Nightmare started to grope her flank lewdly, Twilight was unable to stand the violation of her personal space any longer, and jerked away.

The next few seconds were a blur of noise, motion, pain, and an inarticulate scream from the unicorn. She suddenly found herself on her back a good distance from where she had just been standing, holding both hooves to her face and tasting blood in her mouth. The fact that she'd just been struck, whether with magic or with hooves, or both, took some time to sink in.

It had been so sudden that she didn't even know how many times she'd been hit; only that the entire left side of her face hurt like it'd been smashed with a hammer. Twilight didn't even know what to do, or how to deal with it—Never before had anypony actually hit her, unless accidentally running into her in the school hallway counted.

"I'm sorry!" she sobbed, holding her hoof up in a feeble attempt to protect herself as Nightmare approached her with a look of frightening calm. Something was loose inside her mouth; something small. When she spat out the blood, which ended up covering her mouth and chin because she hadn't turned her head first, a broken tooth came out with it.

"Am I not good enough for you?" The alicorn stood over Twilight, looking down upon her. "Is a kiss from a goddess beneath your golden hooves, little princess? Is it?"

Shaking her head wildly, Twilight replied with something that was mostly incoherent because of her hysteria. To her credit, she managed to tack "Your Majesty" onto the end of it. "No, no, I swear, no—I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. Please, please, please don't... h-hit me again..."

She then ducked her head, narrowly avoiding being hit in the face by Nightmare's violin. The instrument shattered into several pieces on the floor instead.

"We went over this the other night, but perhaps you were too busy guzzling my wine, pig that you are, to pay attention." Nightmare's voice was cool and inequine, sounding more like a pair of shears than a mare's voice. "I am a goddess, and I have deemed you, some filthy little mud pony with a horn, worthy of my attention. You are getting what most ponies would kill to obtain, and you're getting it free of charge. Are you really so arrogant as to think you have the right to refuse something I give you?"

Instead of saying she just didn't want it, and that it would be better to give it to somepony who did, Twilight wisely kept her thoughts to herself and shook her head. "No, Your Majesty."

"Then why did you?"

"I-I was, I was—I was d-discomfited by your aggression," said Twilight truthfully. "It wasn't something I was expecting. I was expecting gentleness. I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. Please..."

This appeared to placate Nightmare to a degree. She said, "I see. And if I kiss you again, what are you going to do, regardless of whether it fits your very specific criteria or not?"

"Accept it and b-be grateful for the gift you've generously given to me," the unicorn replied immediately.

"Very good," Nightmare said. "Twilight, you keep refusing the things I offer you—often things that will make you happier. Since you end up getting them anyway, what, in fact, is the point of resisting me?"

Down on the floor, Twilight shrugged. It was less a rebellious motion than a defeated, shameful one. "Iunno, Your Majesty..."

"Then what do you think you should do about it?"

"Stop fighting," mumbled Twilight.

"Why?"

"Because it just gets me in trouble, Your Majesty."

Nightmare nodded her head condescendingly. "Good job, Twilight! Perhaps all the time you spent reading things that have no relevance to the real world instead of learning how normal ponies interact with each other didn't completely destroy your common sense after all." And she gestured to herself again. "Come here. I'll give you one last chance, and if you don't appreciate it, I'll beat you bloody.Come!"

Twilight fearfully approached Nightmare, who soon grew impatient and dragged her the last couple of steps with a leash made of magic. This time, she forced Twilight to stand on her hind hooves again instead of leaning over herself, although she used magic to keep the unicorn from falling. Then her lips were on Twilight's again in an even more aggressive kiss than the first one, and her hooves were sliding up and down Twilight's sides.

Trembling, Twilight allowed Nightmare to kiss her and grope her, too afraid now to protest the violations. It really wasn't any much worse than the previous time; not until something started pushing its way into her mouth. At first, she wasn't sure what the distinctly forked thing was, but then she came to realize that it was the alicorn's tongue that was violating her.

It slid over her teeth, then wound around Twilight's own tongue and paralyzed it, and then it was exploring the inside of her mouth like a snake tasting the air in front of it for the scent of something delicious. Twilight gagged when it slipped into her throat, but she was still too frightened to do anything but cry.

She could even feel it going further and further down, until, in an utterly surreal moment, she was able to lift her hoof and feel the end of Nightmare's tongue when she touched the small bulge in her throat. And when Nightmare moved away, her impossibly long serpent's tongue was still inside Twilight's mouth. It slid out slowly, taking its time, until it finally went back where it came from, and Twilight was able to sink down and sob.

"Don't ever refuse me again," Nightmare whispered into her ear, speaking thes sound with a venomous sibilant hiss. "I've put up with your narcissism, but my patience has run out. The next time you behave like a bratty child in front of me, you'll get hurt very badly. Do I make myself clear?"

Twilight bobbed her head up and down, hiccuping slightly as she did. "Yes, Your Majesty, y-yes... very clear..."

"Excellent."

Twilight shuddered as Nightmare took a moment to run her hoof down Twilight's cheek—a gesture that was far more disturbing for its tenderness than its condescension—and then the alicorn pressed another, much softer, kiss to her lips, prompting her to flinch. It only lasted for a split second before Nightmare drew back again, and gave Twilight a shove away from herself.

 "I did rather enjoy our time together, your pathetic whinging aside. I think we shall meet again later this week."

There was an expectant pause, and then Twilight mumbled, "Yes, Your Majesty... I-I-I look forward t-to it..." even though she was sure the dread was plainly visible on her face.

"Go now." Nightmare's magic gave Twilight another prod in the direction of the room's exit. "There will be a golem waiting at the door to take you back to your room. I shall, as before, send one of my servants to retrieve you when I have an opportunity to spend time with you."

"Yes, Your Majesty..." Twilight bowed slightly as she backed up toward the door, not willing to risk turning her back on Nightmare. "Good—Good night, Your Majesty. I greatly enjoyed being in your p-presence tonight..."

She was pushing the door open when she heard Nightmare murmur, "Good night, Twilight."