Deep Down The Dungeon's Depths...

"Ngh..."

The first thing that came to her senses was a hefty bout of nausea, stomach churning as she fought to hold back her lunch. "Gh... owwwwie." Her forehooves moved up to her belly, eyes still closed to focus more on calming her stomach than on the world around her. Granted, there did seem to be a lot of blood rushing to her head. This is just making it worse. A-Am I hanging upside down?

Another gurgle of her stomach made her curl up, letting out a small belch which, thankfully, didn't carry anything else out. With her guts calmed, Tempest opened her eyes to try and see the world around her. The tower was back to its regular dark, a shuddering hiss of steam adding more familiarity to her senses. Darn it... but wait, why am I upside d— A tug at her tail seized her train of thought, and she quickly looked down. It took a while to see, but eventually the silhouette of her body faded into view, a coiled shadow holding her by the tail. "Oh, that's just wrong...!" She hissed, grimacing as she glared at it. "You don't hold somepony by the tail! It's rude."

The quiet chastising didn't inspire etiquette in the shadow, it keeping as tight a grip as ever on her tail. Good thing, too, as the next feeling Tempest experienced was pain; searing pain throughout her body and its exhausted muscles, forelegs trembling just to stay where they were against gravity. Her breathing quickened as her heart sped up, forelegs growing slack and falling down past her head, the rest of her body following suit. C-Can't feel my face, either. Tired... body feels like I j-just ran a marathon through pins and needles... made of glass. Tail's burning, too... feels like my butt's been covered in alcohol and lit on fire. She grit her teeth as a shock of pain raced up through her entire being and through her head. G-Guess that 'miracle' stuff didn't do too much for my body's condition... j-just made me forget the pain.

With her neck out of commission, her eyes swivelled to see where they could. The monster had gone dormant again, simply holding her in the air at quite a height. At least, it felt like quite a height, it was hard to see in the dark. Great. Tied up and hanging here like there's a noose on my tail, and the darn thing's fallen asleep again. Ngh... She cringed, sore muscles aching. N-No way to treat a mare... w-worse than Iron. At least... a-at least I'll b-be out soon.  Her eyes aimed forward at the door across from her side of the room. Even in the dark, she could clearly see heavy damage in the door, the tiniest of cracks visible near the base. A weak grin crossed her face, the light of hope leaking in through the crack. Just... a little more.

Her eyes turned back to the shadow around her tail, willing her body to move. Uncontrollable shakes raced through her as her exhausted core flexed, slowly bringing her forelegs up towards the shadow. They soon gave out, flopping her back to her 'hanged mare' status. Her lungs decided to join in on the party, spasming in a coughing fit. Her legs shook, her lungs burned, her chest felt tight; overall, she was in no condition to fight.

C-C'mon, Tempest! You've been through worse! You've fought uglier monsters, captured worse criminals, survived in worse conditions. Just, get, your, body, *working!*** She ground her teeth together and started curling again, hissing breaths racing in and out of her as her abs and stomach muscles screamed for relaxation; it was like a wildfire in her gut! Still, after what felt like an eternity of inching forward, her forehoof touched the tendril, wrapped around it and held on. She started pulling herself up, even her light body feeling like lead for her forelegs, bringing the shadow closer to her body. She added her hindlegs, and sweet relief went up her spine as her tail went slack; that thing was the worst part of the experience. Once she'd pulled her belly up to the tendril, she let out a quiet sigh, just letting her muscles lock up where they were. Not very comfortable, but at least it doesn't hurt as bad.

Well, until the tendril seemed to notice something had crawled onto it and started moving. Tempest blinked as it moved back, a little more force placed on her legs than gravity put on them. Then it moved forward, then back, then forward, moving faster and faster. She grunted with effort, struggling to hold onto the limb as she was flung about, spinning around it like a mare on a pole. She held down a blush at the thought of her twirling around the limb, focusing simply on holding on for dear life; getting flung off at that speed would do a whole lot more than just wind her! Hold on! Hold on, Tempest! J-Just wait for it to c-calm down!

Her teeth grit together like a sword against a grindstone, legs screaming out in searing agony. She felt her belly and chest come away from the limb she clung so harshly to, and that was all the limb needed to slip out of her grip. The mare barely got enough time to scream before she hit the ground, the rest of the air smashed out of her lungs as her ears rung from the impact. Shuddering breaths raced in and out of her lungs as she fought to hold on, fearing something in her broke when her stunned body refused to move.

Fighting every instinct inside of her just begging to die, her hooves and legs twitched, struggling to get under her. Her eyes wide, pain just fuelling terror in her mind, scrambling to stand up, get off the ground, get away from the beast that was getting ready to slam her into the ground. Gotta move... g-gotta move! Move, body! MOVE! With a shattered breath and a squeak, she stood on shivering legs and started walking. Exhausted, but at least nothing was broken despite a dull pain in her chest. Her eyes scanned the walls, settling on the damaged door sealing her inside, and she finally came to a stop by it, falling onto her haunches.

The ringing in her ears subsided as another wave of nausea crashed into her, but she couldn't find the strength to stop the upwelling this time. All she was capable of was leaning forward and making sure none of the muck flying out of her stomach hit her hooves. A quiet grunt, and a splatter of vomit on the ground were all the sound that followed the monster's exhale of steam. Great... that's gonna throw my flying off. She rubbed her belly and grimaced, looking behind her at the door, then turning back to the monster. Just need one good hit. It's all I've got left... Taking a few breaths to subside her sickness, she spread her wings and let loose.

"Oy! Ugly! Come and get me!!"

With a flailing of tendrils signalling that she did definitely get its attention, the spotlights flashed on again. The flailing shadows carved through the light, shimmering with blades or moisture; it was difficult to tell with them flying so quick. Eventually though, two thick limbs showed themselves, before barrelling down towards Tempest from above. She leapt back, forcing them to change their direction, and with a flap of her wings and a painful shock running up her spine, the tendrils flew just under her. Time slowed as the air blew over her coat and the pain worsened, something cracking in her left wing joint. S-Shoot! My wing's broken!? Another twitch, and another snap. Her scream was lost in the thunder of the tendrils slamming into the doors.

Several more limbs followed the sound, thin tendrils whipping out with surprising speed and lashing around Tempest's legs. She gasped, snapping her eyes open and looking at her gripped legs, two more tendrils flying into the light and gripping her wings, keeping them still. Panting hard, she tried to ignore the pain and yank at the limbs. Everytime she pulled, the tendril would give just enough slack for her to burn energy, before moving back and pulling her leg back out. Pull a leg in, tendril slackened, pulled it back out. After only three tugs from her forelegs, her muscles burned from exhaustion and gave out, letting her hang there, completely slack.

Her eyes scanned the floor, the edge of her pool of sick just visible in the light. Sweat dripped from her nose as she turned her head towards the door, weary eyes searching for some crack of light. All she could do was blink as no light of freedom greeted her, before slowly turning back to face the monster. That's it... th-that's all I could do? Just... b-beat on the door and dent it a bunch... A shuddered breath raced into her torched lungs. I can't f-fight anymore... nopony's coming to help me... I'm g-gonna die...

Her body shuddered as a sniffle escaped her, the quietest of sobs coming from her mouth. Tears mingled with sweat as she closed her eyes, sobs mixed with coughs from her desert of a throat. Iron, h-help... I d-don't wanna die... Her ears fell to the sides of her head as she let her tears fall. Time passed slowly before her sobs were interrupted by a gasp, as the touch of something wet and cold resting against her belly shocked her out of her sadness. Snapping her eyes open, she could see a green, slimy limb rubbing against her stomach, before slowly snaking its way up towards her chest. "Wh-What..." Her eyes followed its tip as it reached up to her foreleg and coiled around it, running along her shoulder and across the back of her neck. The cold sent a shiver down her spine, though quickly replaced by dread as she felt it coil around her neck.

It tightened, ever so slightly. Her breaths came faster and faster as she felt the tendril creep along the bottom of her chin, pulsating with her heart beat, before finally coming up into view. It tilted to the side a little, inspecting the mare's expression. Her pupils were shrunk to pin pricks, her ragged, sharp breaths falling over the tendril, and it registered just the tiniest of squeaks every few exhales. The tip crept forward, Tempest following it as far as her eyes would allow, before she felt it press against her teeth.

On instinct, she snapped her mouth shut, clenching her jaws and lips together as tightly as possible. The tendril tapped against her mouth once, twice, a few more times before understanding that its path was blocked. It tipped to the side again, another thin tendril moving up and rubbing under the ichorous tip, a thoughtful pose that would suit any pair of scholar's eyes. Or face for that matter. It stayed like that before coming to some form of epiphany, nodding and moving back down towards Tempest's neck. Its main body uncoiled from her neck, letting the tip slip in against her skin and start flicking against her coat.

The liquid off its body seeped into her skin, and the flicking started lighting up her ticklish areas. She let out a few quick gasps as the need to laugh grew inside her, the tip gracing the sides of her neck and just near her jaw. The need got worse and worse before she let go of her tensions, mind happy for release from its depression in a fit of quiet laughter. The thin tendril from before took its place against her neck, letting the green limb move back up to her face. It tilted here and there, examining her expression as her laughs grew, mouth opening to let the giggles out.

Seeing its chance, the limb threw itself forward. Tempest grunted as she felt something slide into her mouth, suddenly replacing her laughs with a mad, muffled screech. Wh-What in Tartarus!? It's in my mouth! *Oh holy Luna, it's in my mouth!!*** Her tongue struggled to get a trip against it, madly thrashing to push the invader out, but the ichor made it impossible to get even the slightest grip. The tendril simply rested in its new, slightly cooler home, rolling slightly to coat her cheeks, teeth and tongue in the...

Ngh... Tempest narrowed her eyes as her tongue slowed its assault, letting her register the taste. Why's... i-it tastes sweet... She let it drip onto her tongue, the sweet flavor melting in her mouth as she felt herself relax. Woah. That's actually kinda good... r-really really gross, but... The tendril moved a little bit further into her mouth, eliciting a groan of discomfort as it almost set off her gag reflex. "Mm-mm." She tried moving her head back, but the body of the tendril tightened around her neck, forcing her head to stay in place.

It inched in bit by bit, before the tip finally rested against the back of her tongue. She gagged, eyes clenching shut as her stomach flipped end over end. Her tongue went back to work, licking along the limb as she tried to get a grip on it and force it out; biting it off would just get her killed sooner, after all. This only made the tendril twitch a bit, and before she could register the twitch against her tongue, she felt something splatter against the back of her throat.

Her eyes snapped wide as the liquid seeped down into her throat, two more surges pulsing into her mouth. Horrified, she threw her head back, thankfully getting the tendril out, and finally letting her stomach take over, let loose her sick. The vile fluid spilled out of her mouth and hit the ground under her, the vomit turned green-blue by the liquid. Clearly, the beast didn't take too kindly to the gesture, the limb forcing itself back into her mouth. Not really able to do much else, her stomach going crazy, Tempest grunted as three more pulses of liquid raced into her throat, all of it spilling down into her stomach.

As the tendril unravelled itself and panic set in, Tempest's breathing sped up as the horror of what just happened hit her. Oh good Luna... d-did it just poison me? It poisoned me, didn't it?! "Y-You sick son of a..." She coughed before she could get any kind of insult out, but as soon as the sweet-tasting liquid hit her stomach, her limbs ignited. "Woah!" She tugged hard against the tendrils, and despite their resistance, her renewed strength made them bend easily. A powerful flap of her wings threw her out of the beast's grip, and she came down towards the ground, periodic flaps to slow her descent so she, hopefully, didn't break something else.

As soon as she hit the ground though, the burning came right back, time ticking until her strength surrendered to pain and exhaustion again. Not wasting any time, she roared at the beast, receiving the same bellow from the monster's steamy breath, and the battle started anew. She ran along the ground, letting her wings slowly fold up. Wind ripped past her as her legs slammed against the floor, carrying her easily. Sh-Shoot, this is fast! Tendrils came down to impede her path, but she easily dodged around them with incredible dodges and jumps. Her leg movements were gentle and powerful, careful not to throw her at the monster or at the wall. Skidding to a halt in front of the door, she leapt into the air as three more heavy limbs slammed into the metal, but still, the doors remained resolute.

"Just how much of a beating can this damn door take!?" Tempest ducked another tendril, wing blades screaming through the air and slicing off a bit of her mane, before dropping to the floor and starting up her sprint again. Tendril after tendril rained down from around her, crashing into the ground or shredding the air next to her, every powerful step throwing her just out of reach of her enemy. Leaping up in front of the door, Tempest ducked into a summersault as two more heavy tendrils raced in, missing her head and crashing into the door. Still no budge.

The burning in her legs got worse as she ran and ran, jumped and dodges, every tendril getting a little bit closer to her. Another race by the door, more heavy tendrils crashing into the metal and leaving their mark. Tempest looked behind her, eyes scanning for any incoming whips.

She tripped.

Her face hit the ground as she flew into the wall, bouncing off and crashing onto her stomach. The burning returned full force, and her strength spilled out of her, something warm creeping down her leg in a rush. The pain of the impact seized her breathing, short, ragged breaths just barely keeping her lungs from crying out in their own need for air. Her eyes turned to see three heavy tendrils raising up and coiling together into a hammer of an arm, and as it raced down, she closed her eyes and curled up, and she screamed.

"Stop!"

A wind blew down over Tempest as the tendrils stopped short of flattening her, the mare too frightened to open her eyes. Her ears did take in the voice, though. Th-There's no way... I'm g-going crazy. Hallucinating. Th-There's no way I heard her...!

The spotlights lowered and basked the tower in light as a new wind, calming and cool, flew around the tower to lower the temperature. The beast groaned in discomfort, a thinner stream of steam coming out of its great maw as it kept itself warm.

"Don't worry, you'll be back to your regular temperature in no time."

Tempest slowly opened an eye, still shaking as she saw the huge limb move away and coil around the great monster. She felt her heart racing for the first time then, as she let out a small sigh, and her eyes began their hunt. They didn't search for long before perceiving something many ponies prayed to see.

"P-... Princess...?"

The alicorn smiled down at her lightly, looking rather embarrassed and sheepish. She rubbed the back of her neck, perched on one of the heavier tendrils as the other received a gentle petting. "The one and only... heh..."

Tempest just stared on at the alicorn, completely dumbstruck by the sight. "P-Princess Twilight... wh-what're you doing in here?" She fought to get onto her hooves, but her body just wouldn't move anymore.

Twilight Sparkle raised her eyebrow, looking down on the naked soldier. "I could ask you the same thing," She said incredulously, tilting her head a bit. "What're you doing in this room?"

"I, I-I uh... w-well, um... l-let's just say I got curious. Can we not talk about this?" Tempest coughed, curling up a bit more as her leg splashed through a puddle behind her, setting a sickened grimace on her face. "I-I need a doctor..."

"W-Wait, you're hurt?!" A blinding flash appeared in front of Tempest, and she came face to face with the lavender princess as her horn lit up. "Hang on, I can help!" Her eyes closed as Tempest was wrapped in a purple aura, and she felt an energy move through her being, every part of her body graced with the penetrating mana. Eventually, she felt something move back into place in her chest, a rib being reset, and her wing popped back into place with a quick crack and snap. The aura condensed to her wing joint, helping it mend the broken bone. "There we go. You'll have to see a proper doctor after this."

"Th-Thank you, Your Highness... d-did you just s-scan me, though?"

"Yeah. Looked through your body for anything that was wrong."

"Did... d-did you find a-anything like... poison?"

"Poison? Oh no! D-Do you know when you were poisoned!?" Twilight could barely register how bad a question that was through her panic, starting up the scan spell again.

"J-Just... th-that monster... thing, f-forced some liquid into my stomach. I think it's toxic."

With the words, the scan spell stopped as Twilight went back to healing Tempest's wing. All the princess did was raise an eyebrow and let out a confused "Huh?"

"Th-That thing forced me to drink something..."

"It did?" Twilight narrowed her eyes slightly before quickly nodding. "Ohhh! You mean that liquid from the green tendrils, right?"

"Y-Yeah. It t-tried to kill me, Princess..." The soldier whimpered a bit, scooting closer to her princess' forelegs. One reached out and rubbed her shoulder, Twilight smiling down on her.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you now." She leaned in and nuzzled Tempest's cheek. "Just stay calm and I'll get you out of here, alright?"

"O-Okay." Tempest whispered, panting as she felt the pain slowly leak out of her body. Her limbs could barely work, and they burned something fierce, but it wasn't the infernal pain she felt before. Just feels like I ran a hundred miles at full tilt. She let out a sigh of relief as her eyes wandered, seeing a tendril rising up behind Twilight. "Oh no... P-Princess, behind you!"

Before Twilight could react, the tendril had already coiled around her chest. As Tempest reached out to grab the limb and rip it from Twilight's body, however, her hoof was stopped.

By Twilight's. The princess giggled a bit as the tendril squeezed her gently, getting a caring petting in return. "Don't worry, Tempest, he just wanted to give me a hug."

"A... a-a what? Hug? F-From that thing?" Tempest's eyes went from Twilight's cheery smile to the beast, then back to Twilight. It was her turn to tilt her head, raise an eyebrow and let a "Huh?" fall out of her mouth.

Twilight smiled a little and looked away, blushing. "Yeah... sorry. This room is kind of off-limits for a few reasons..."

"Off-limits...?"

"Yeah. You see, um. This is actually where... I train."

"Train?"

"Yeah. Train, to practice an art and learn about it, reaching towards mastering said art. It's also a locomotive driven by a combination of steam and momentum spells - or pulled by stallions -, a toy of said locomotive, part of something they call the 'Fillydelphian Train Ride', and a certain punch used in martial arts."

Sturm just slowly blinked at Twilight. "What's the 'Fillydelphian Train Ride'?"

Twilight shrugged, looking just as confused as Sturm. "I really have no idea."

"A-And wait, you come here to train? Train what?"

"Combat, obviously." Two tendrils moved up beside Twilight, making little punching motions in the air before taking a number of different martial arts stances, all horribly exaggerated with three more tendrils coming into act as the other two legs and head.

"Fighting?"

"Against the same monster you were fighting, actually. Though he doesn't really like to be called that. His name is Sendus." A tendril from the prior martial arts exhibition came up and gave Twilight a gentle nuzzle. "He's really quite affectionate, and a very good partner to train against."

"Um... y-Your Highness... permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"This makes no bloody sense."

"I can tell why it wouldn't, yeah. Though I also see why things would make sense." Twilight looked back at Sendus' main body, the beast using two heavy tendrils to mimic a shrug. Its spare limbs lay coiled around its blazing hot flesh, sometimes coming off the body and rising into the air to cool off. A thin jet of steam sprayed out of its maw as the room cooled further thanks to that wind from before.

Tempest sighed a bit as the last of the pain left her, though she still couldn't really feel her legs. Another racking cough shook her form, and one thing of dire need came to mind. "Um, P-Princess Twilight Sparkle, c-could I possible request something...?"

"Go right ahead, and you can call me Twilight."

"T-Twilight... c-could you get me a drink of water, please?"

"Dehydrated, huh?"

"Kind of hard not to be... two barrels s-should do, if you'd be so kind."

Another flash of light, and the clunk of two loaded barrels of water filled the room. "Sendus, mind giving me a hoof?"

The beast grunted a little, and the rest of the tendrils from the exhibition curled around the barrels, lifting them up off the ground slightly.

"Are you able to make a f-funnel, Pri—, er, Twilight?" Tempest looked over at the life-saving barrels of water, smiling thinly. Her smile was interrupted by a burning somewhere near her hindlegs, distracting her for a moment. Sheesh... must r-really be dehydrated, everything's on fire.

"Of course!" Twilight grinned proudly as a second aura appeared over Tempest and curled into a funnel, a clear hole in the bottom showing blue-black stone through the distorted purple. After a moment, she looked down at Tempest, furrowing her brow a little. "Uh... if you don't mind me asking, why do you need a funnel?"

"Water... c-can you roll me onto my back, too?"

Twilight nodded and moved around behind Tempest, gently placing her hooves on the soldier's shoulders and rolling her onto her back. "Thanks. F-Funnel in my mouth, please." The princess nodded and obliged, placing the thin end of the funnel in Tempest's mouth. She waited for a new request, but the most she got was a few mumbles through the funnel. Oh, right. Can't talk through a funnel. Thought I made it non-corporeal? Twilight rolled her eyes and pulled the funnel back out of Tempest's mouth. The mare smiled up at Twilight in thanks, clearing her throat.

"Ok. Once the funnel's in, just start pouring water in. When I w-want you to stop, I'll blink twice. Ok?"

"Right. Blink twice means stop the water." Twilight nodded her understanding, and with a half-nod from Tempest, the funnel was put back into place.

Holy cow, how much water can one mare drink!? Twilight checked her wrist for the time, though sadly, she found no watch. Ugh... She looked back down as Tempest blinked twice for the fifth time, and the water stopped flowing. The soldier, finally feeling her limbs going back to normal, stretched out and moved the funnel out of her mouth herself, before sitting up.

"Ohhh, that's good." The mare sighed with glee, stacked on top of the fact that she wasn't sitting in a yellow puddle. Somepony must've cleaned that up while I was drinking. A slight blush appeared on her cheeks as she wondered who could've cleaned up the stain, but thought it better to just forget it ever happened. At least I don't have to go to the bathroom anymore.

"Feeling better?" Twilight moved up beside Sturm and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"So much better. Thank you, Twilight." Tempest smiled at her savior, getting a gentle grin in return. "So, um... why exactly is all this here? If you wanted to train, why didn't you just work with the other recruits with Captain Iron Bastion?" Tempest felt a heat building inside her, but quickly shook her head to focus on the Princess.

"Couple reasons, actually. One, the only ones I could really train against were high-ranking Magic Corps soldiers, and they're always busy with research. Two, Captain Bastion actually banned me from training with the recruits. And three, I needed something I could train both my magic and my body against." She looked back to Sendus, the beast gently exhaling in its supposed slumber. "I had to come up with a way to train against any conditions I could think of. I do a lot of reading into military tactics now, but you can't always learn the most you possibly can from just reading." She smirked at the quip against her prior beliefs. That much, I learned from pretty much every crazy pony in Ponyville. Good times.

"Banned? Why were you banned?" Tempest raised her eyebrow as Twilight quickly averted her eyes, blushing slightly.

"Umm... l-let's just say things got rather... awkward between me and a recruit after training." She coughed into a lavender hoof, clearing her throat. "Bastion banned me from ever training with them again." Hope he's recovered... don't really know my own strength sometimes.

"...I'm getting the message I shouldn't ask." With a nod from the princess, Tempest dropped the subject, not really wanting to end up like whatever poor recruit was stuck under Twilight's wrath. "Alright. Anyway, um..." Her mind stalled with another pulse of heat, eye twitching a little before she shook her head. "D-Did you make this tower yourself?"

"Yep! Dug it out, put up all the brick, and did the nice finish myself. Something of a problem came up during it, but I fixed that." Twilight looked over at Sendus and smiled. "Turned it into something of a really good thing, actually."

"Huh... what was the problem?"

"No need to worry about that, I really don't wanna cause trouble for my brother. Anyway, suppose I should help you get out of here, shouldn't I?" Twilight turned back and smiled at the soldier, getting a very quick nod in return. Her expression turned serious after a moment, brow furrowing as her smile fell to a frown. "But you've gotta promise me something."

"A-Anything, Princess."

"You can't speak to anypony about the existence of this tower. This is my private area. I don't want anypony else knowing about it." Her brow fell further, narrowing her eyes at Tempest as she leaned in. The soldier kept the distance gap between their muzzles as even as possible, though the nice fuzz of her Princess' face and those shining eyes were so inviting... "Is that clear?"

"V-Very. Crystal. C-Clear as day, Your Highness." Tempest saluted and nodded, but the fallen brow remained where it was on Twilight's face. Her eyes scanned the soldier's expression, seeking out any kind of dissent that could be laced into her voice. "Um..."

"Alright." Twilight's expression softened as she leaned back, and opened her mouth to speak again. A quick sniff of the air stopped her mid-breath, looking around. Her mouth tilted up at the side in thought, rubbing her chin. That's funny. Thought I took care of that this morning... Shrugging it off, she turned back to Tempest and looked her over. ...Wait. Flicking tail? Foggy look in the eye? Uh oh.

"Um... i-is something wrong, Your Highness?" Tempest looked up at Twilight's concerned stare, starting to feel the churns of worry start up in her own stomach. It didn't do much beyond make her more nauseous, and that pulsing heat wasn't going down either.

"You mentioned that, um..." Twilight rubbed the back of her neck, blushing a bit. "Sendus made you drink something... green liquid, right?"

"Y-Yeah, and you told me that it wasn't poisonous..." Her eyes lit up in fear, wincing. "It's not, right?"

The voice crack went unheard in her panic.

"Oh no! No no no!" Twilight quickly shook her head. "I-It's very safe, trust me."

"B-But, it, S-Sendus made it... and it's used in combat, right? Is it some kind of... drug?"

"No, well, um... it's not a harmful drug, just... a, uh, chemical compound that... I put... together..." She cleared her throat with a cough, looking away. Tempest merely stared at her, confused, though slowly falling into a more questioning stare. Her eyes narrowed into a glare that bore into Twilight's head, the princess leaning back from it. Oh, that glare could break the most hardened of criminals, but it couldn't possibly break a Princess! Impossible!

"I swear! I didn't do nothing wrong, ma'am!"

Granted, said Princess was Twilight Sparkle.

"What w-was the compound, Twilight?" Tempest winced and took a sharp breath as another pulse of heat raced through her, slowly becoming aware of the source. It was definitely between her hind legs. Twilight's ears drooped as she tried to look away from the soldier, shivering juuust a little. "Twilight?"

"It was a chemical compound I put together to help with my training! I swear, it's not poisonous!" Twilight shook her head quickly, taking a deep breath as she went to the one source of comfort she could.

A massive spiel of technical information.

"The compound is a mixture of raw mana produced naturally from the environment around Sendus, several adrenaline triggers attached to protein chains that are quickly absorbed and processed by the digestive tract of anypony, especially those with large mana pools as the mana likes to travel where there's the least resistance like a gigantic vaccuum so if you've been using a lot of magic the mana'll go through your blood stream and into the magus coti in your head—" Twilight took a deep, squeaky breath just before she turned completely blue. "Anyway the compound basically restores your energy and causes a mass release of adrenaline and entrophin to help you ignore pain and soreness in the limbs also there might be a little bit of an extremely powerful aphrodesiac in there but that's of no consequence I swear please stop digging holes into my head with your eyes!" Twilight covered her face with her forehooves, just wanting to escape the glare of her would-be interrogator.

"...Wait, what was that last one?" Tempest tilted her head a bit, confused.

"Um... adrenaline trigger?"

"No, after that."

"Digging holes into my head?"

"Before that."

"Magus coti?"

"After."

"Um... entrophin...?" Twilight grinned sheepishly, squeeing a bit.

"It started with an A."

"Oh..." Twilight lowered her forehooves and rubbed a foreleg, looking down at the ground. "Um... aphrodesiac...?"

Tempest needed to only blink once before the cogs in her head suddenly revved up like an engine, and the realization hit her like a speeding train. "You mean Sendus fed me an aphrodesiac!?"

"That d-does seem to be the case if you ingested it..." Twilight gulped, fully aware of what was coming.

"Oh holy Celestia, then..." Tempest didn't dare look under her, but her wagging tail and rolling hips, her antsyness to get up and get something to answer for her heat finally had a root reason. She was horny, and it was getting worse. She groaned a bit as another churn came from her gut, forehoof rubbing her belly to try and quell the queasy gurgling.

Then it started questing lower, but a quick swat from her other hoof killed that approach. The pained twitch in her eye probably marked the near-killing of something else, waving her hoof in the air a bit. Ow.

"Anyway you should probably go shouldn't you?" Twilight's horn powered up, and before Tempest could get a word in, the two vanished in a blast of light. The last thing she thought before vanishing to wherever Twilight had planned was something very simple, but seemed to describe her situation pretty well.

Oh, rut me up a tree...