From all around her, ponies could be heard moaning in a chorus of pain and pleasure. Twilight tried to remember what happened, but her mind felt heavy and sluggish.

It took great effort to open her eyes. And if not for the growing discomfort and inability to move her legs and wings, she would have been content to stay sleeping, ignoring the constant, muffled whines of ponies nearby.

There would be no hope of ignoring anything soon. “Wake up, loser.”

The voice sounded far away, but unlike the other sounds around her, Twilight felt compelled to listen. The speaker sounded familiar—somepony she knew. Not a friend though.

"I said rise and shine, Masked Matter-Horn.”

Hearing her codename helped wake the heroine up, remembering... a crime in progress, her and her friends coming to the rescue before realizing they had all walked into a trap. Opening her eyes, a quick glance at her surroundings showed she was in a small, mostly empty room, with walls that didn’t reach the ceiling. Walls painted a stark white, the floor tiled with a drain directly under her. She was unable to see the source of the noises in the background. A narrow four-legged table stood at a corner with a large unmarked box. There wasn’t a single clue to tell Matter-Horn where she was held, aside from the sight of the mare in front of her, dressed in a bleached-bone white bodysuit. The costume left her silver-furred face and hind legs exposed, eyes hidden behind a purple visor which was polished enough so Matter-Horn could see her reflection staring back at her.

A rush of adrenaline surged into Matter-Horn’s brain, demanding she process all this new information. The discomfort in her body came from red nylon ropes fastened around each of her legs, suspending her off the ground. Struggling only made her sway helpless in the air. Matter-Horn arched her back and could feel her wings tied down, front legs bound above them while her hind legs were folded back, securing ankles to thighs while also keeping her tail raised and immobile.

Struggling proved movement was impossible. Matter-Horn reflected on how she had been tied up only a few times in the past when captured, but never with such meticulous attention to detail. But the real concern was her horn—her magic wasn’t working. Panic rose from the pit of her stomach, but the seasoned heroine kept her demeanor calm. Twilight was a mare of wit. She always had a plan for this sort of thing. And if she allowed fear to cloud her judgement now, she could be as good as dead. It was a small comfort that her mouth wasn’t gagged, and Masked Matter-Horn recognized the mare in front of her.

“Sterling Silver… “ Matter-Horn spat, captured by a ‘hero’ who used her powers to control what others felt, “whatever you’re planning-”

A rough slap across her face abbreviated what the Masked Matter-Horn was going to say. The impact popped Twilight’s inner ear as she dangled uncontrollably.

“I’m not Sterling anymore. Not after you Power Ponies ruined my public image. I go by Tarnished Silver now. You’re under my roof, and these are my rules,” Tarnished Silver spoke slowly as she guiding the dizzy heroine back to face her, “You speak when I say so. Speak without permission, and you’ll make it worse on yourself, and your friend.”

The threat caught Matter-Horn’s attention, the glare in her mask made Silver give a haughty laugh; as if Matter-Horn were in any position to disagree. The stinging in her cheek started to subside as Masked Matter-Horn composed herself. The moans of ponies she assumed were in distress, made her fear at least one of the members of her team had found themselves in a similar predicament.

“Wondering why your magic isn’t working? I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of Element D?” Tarnished Silver flicked her hoof across the power pony’s horn, earning a squeal from her captive as she tapped a rough stone ring at the base of the heroine’s horn, “The weightless solid? Liquid stone? The stuff that breaks the laws of nature? Yeah, that Element D; a piece of the statue that use to be Discord. Turns out it does lots of things, like fit around horns and shut off magic.”

As she spoke, Tarnished Silver kept her hoof near Twilight’s horn, tracing along the spiral grooves before she began to rub around the tip. Horn rubbing was considered intimate for a unicorn, but having Silver touch her felt only like molestation.

“You don’t need to think about how I got my hooves it. All you do need to know is you’re going to do a little something for me.” Tarnished Silver smiled at the comment, pausing to once again admire how good Matter-Horn looked with nearly two hundred feet of rope keeping her helpless. “Now since you remember my old name, I bet you remember what you did to me and my partner, right?”

Matter-Horn swallowed before answering, “We exposed you and Blood Diamond as being corrupt frauds. I never thought you’d lower yourself to becoming villains too.”

The disappointment in Matter-Horn’s voice didn’t phase Silver in the least. “That’s our image now, thanks to you. We were helping protect Maretropolis. We took out criminal groups and stopped crimes. So what if we were being paid to do it for mob bosses? You just had to go paint Diamond and I as these awful sellouts. You don’t get how important image is to us. The internet and the media had fun dragging our names through the mud.”

Tarnished Silver walked around Masked Matter-Horn, talking and ignoring how the mare kept struggling, as if several of her skilled knots could be undone so easily with squirming and grunting.

“If you think I’ll do anything for you, you couldn’t be more wrong!” Matter-Horn shouted.

No response came. Instead, hooves pressed down on Twilight’s bound hindquarters, feeling up and over her firm flank before she was grabbed and spun around, right into Silver’s incoming hoof. The slap earned a cry from the masked heroine as she was sent spinning the opposite direction.

“That’s two Radiance owes us now…” Tarnished Silver chuckled as she used her tail to drag a green gas tank over to the waiting Power Pony. Silver didn’t wait for Matter-Horn to stop spinning before she spoke again, “Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you that we have your favorite team mate too? Diamond’s with Radiance right now, helping her adjust to her new image. But don’t you worry, I’m going to help you adjust to yours. By the time I’m done with you, you’re going to give me her secret identity.”

When the spinning slowed to a halt, Matter-Horn tried to suppress her nausea. Hearing that Rarity had been captured gave Twilight the determination to block out her body’s suffering.

“Oh, by the way, you have my permission to ask me how I know I can make you give your friend up.”

Matter-Horn wasn’t amused by the notion that she needed permission. Twilight knew there was no way any pony could ever make her give up Rarity’s secret identity. She knew there had to be more to Silver’s threat.

“What makes you think I would ever betray my team, or that any of this will improve the image you say we ruined?”

Tarnished Silver reached into the box on the table, taking out a simple oxygen mask.

“This isn’t about improving our image—Diamond and I accept that we’re bad ponies at heart. You Power Ponies got us to realize what we’re really capable of. Your thoughtlessness really brought out our potential,” Silver said. She sighed, pausing to reflect on her own words, and frowned at Matter-Horn.

“I’m going to ruin your image, just like you ruined mine. You’d be surprised what you’re capable of after having somepony change how others see you. Diamond and I weren’t suppose to be villains… yet you came, the high and mighty Masked Matter-Horn! Up on your high cloud looking down on ponies who did things differently. What I’m going to do to you is really all your fault.”

Tarnished Silver approached Matter-Horn with an eager smile on her face and the oxygen mask hanging in her mouth. The bound heroine couldn’t turn her head away; her mane was too tightly woven into the ropes that kept her suspended. Silver strapped the mask over Matter-Horn’s nose and mouth with ease.

“Know why I didn’t just unmask you? Because the pony you are under the mask isn’t important. I’m going to forever tarnish the image of the Masked Matter-Horn. I promise, no pony will see you as a hero when I’m done with you.” Silver’s smile turned malevolent.

Twilight felt the urge to panic getting harder to control as she watched Silver attach the hose of the oxygen mask to it’s implied connection: the green gas tank that Silver had brought with her. She pulled hard on her legs, desperate to free herself, to think of some back up plan to save her from whatever Silver was about to do. Her efforts only made the ropes feel tighter on her legs and torso.

“Wow, I just realized I’ve been doing the whole villain monologue bit. I guess I’m suppose to tell you what diabolical plan I have for you, then walk away so you can escape? Well you’re a smart, sexy mare, so I’ll stick around and enjoy the show you’re going to put on for me.” With that said, Tarnished Silver plugged the hose from the mask into the gas tank. A sharp hiss was heard, followed by air gently ventilating into the Matter-Horn’s snout and mouth. The gas was pungent, sour, and reminded her of sweat and something else she couldn’t quite name. At the same time, it was a smell with a vaguely salty taste to it: familiar, but nameless.

It wasn’t all that unpleasant either.

“You ever heard of The Evil Doctor Hand? Minty green unicorn, pretty big in the whole black market pony traffic business. Well she has a partner that goes by Mother May-I. She’s totally a hot piece of tail. She’s also a special chef; cooks up all kinds of nifty drugs. What you’re breathing in is one of her signature creations. I’ll let you take a few guesses as to what it smells like.”

Masked Matter-Horn kept trying to summon magic to her horn. Failing that, she still didn’t give up on attempting to pull her legs free from their bindings, even as the ropes held fast. The gas wasn’t stopping, and Twilight couldn’t hold her breath forever. It began to leave a strong taste in her mouth of something sour and gross. The gas felt warm, condensing on her snout and mouth. The warmth spread to her head as well, taking root in her nerves and flowing out over the rest of her body. Her spandex costume suddenly felt too tight. The room was getting hotter, and Matter-Horn became aware of how she was starting to sweat inside her costume. The braided ropes felt softer than she first realized, even as they wrapped around her wings, pressing firm on her feathers but not harsh enough to cause any pain; Silver clearly knew how to tie down wings to make it feel… good. Even having her mane woven into the ropes wasn’t very painful unless she struggled. Struggling only made the ropes constrict her chest, wings, and especially between her hindquarters. Twilight soon realized that even that felt a little good to her.

After a few minutes of squirming in her bindings, watched by the gleeful Tarnished Silver, Masked Matter-Horn understood what the gas was doing to her.

Her eyes went wide with fear.

“Oh? Do you get it now?” Tarnished Silver asked, petting Matter-Horn’s cheek. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I would ruin your image. You won’t be so high and mighty once you’re all wet and winking for me.”

The ever constant, far away sounds of moaning in the background now made more sense to the captive heroine. Those ponies weren’t in distress—they were in heat.

Author's Note

The character called "The Evil Doctor Hand" is a direct reference to Midnight Belle (and the Case of the Vanishing Foals!) by darf. "Mother May-I" is an implied reference to Bon Bon's role in that story, with permission given by darf.