Though Hell Should Bar the Way

The group stopped in a clearing near a small stream about an hour later. Dash was slightly less dazed now, but there were still too many things to think about that she didn’t want to. She pulled out the blanket and laid it on the ground.

Applejack helped Twilight to sit down on the blanket, keeping her as far from Dash as she could be. Then Applejack headed towards the stream.

When Applejack came back, she knelt beside Dash and began washing her bloody ear. “Well, that didn’t go just how we planned, but we’re all safe and that what really matters… though, I don’t got a way to give this stitches, so it looks like you might have a big ol’ scar on your ear, Dash.”

“Just make sure it’s a cool-looking scar,” Dash said with a half-hearted smile.

“Will do.” Applejack smiled back. As she started to bandage, she addressed both of the other ponies again, “Now, I been thinkin’ on it, and I’m tellin’ both of you that there wasn’t a thing wrong with what Dash did. She was doin’ what she had to, and it saved me and my family. If you got a problem with that, Twilight Sparkle, you take it up with me. Not Dash.”

Twilight raised her eyebrows. “So your family is more important than someone else’s family or master?”

“Bein’ what he threatened to do to us, and what he’s probably been doin’ to plenty other mares, they’re gonna be better off without him.” Applejack finished with Dash’s ear and sat down next to her.

“I don’t understand why you seem to think that your judgement of how the world should work ought to trump most of Equestria’s,” Twilight huffed. “Ponies are happy like this, but you two do whatever you want to because you think it’s wrong.”

“There’s things that are wrong, no matter how happy they might make some ponies. Makin’ ponies into slaves is just wrong.” The strained patience was evident in Applejack’s voice. Dash was pretty sure that all three of them were at the end of their ropes on this subject.

“No one made you into a slave, you just are a slave -- you’re a mare!” was Twilight’s exasperated reply. “The caribou just tried to let everyone see that. Most of us can see it. You’re the one going around killing and kidnapping ponies to try to make people forget the basic facts.”

“Twilight Sparkle, have you ever, for a second, worried that you’re wrong?” Applejack snapped. “That maybe this ain’t what the mares in black collars want, that maybe we’re mares who ain’t slaves, and you shouldn’t be tryin’ to change that?”

“Well, I-- no. No, I can’t be. I can’t.”

“That’s the difference,” Applejack interrupted and went on. “Me and Dash know what we’re doin’ might not always be right, but we try to do the best with what we got. Us takin’ you ain’t right, and I know it, but you’re one pony and there’s a whole mess of black collar mares and good stallions sufferin’ because you think it’s right to chain us up without even thinkin’ what we might want.

“If we get through this, and get the world fixed, and you still wanna sleep on the floor and have Spike screw ya’ three times a day, that’s your business. A bit creepy, but none of my nevermind. But you don’t get to tell every damn mare in Equestria that’s what we oughta be doin’!”

Twilight glared. “I don’t have to tell every mare in Equestria, just stubborn ones like you who can’t tell right from wrong!”

Applejack rose to her hooves quickly, and stomped to Twilight, leaning down over her. “If I didn’t know right from wrong, Twilight Sparkle, I’d take you over my knee and whoop your ass! Then I’d train you an’ make you my slave, and order ya’ to fix this god damn mess! That’s how it works, right? I’m bigger than you, I’m stronger than you, and it sure as hell seems like I’m smarter than you these days, so I can do whatever the hell I want with you? You think you’re a dumb cunt who needs a master, and if I didn’t know right from wrong I could show ya’ you don’t need no dick to be someone’s master.”

Dash just stared at Applejack’s commanding presence, as her own conversation with Twilight came to mind. She felt her face getting warm, and turned away to stare at the ground as she got up.

As Dash walked away from the blanket, she heard Applejack deflate a little, and go on, “I know right from wrong, and you’d better believe it… Just stay here, okay? Ya’ ain’t gonna make it back through the fire swamp by yourself.”

Ignoring Applejack’s hoofsteps behind her, Dash made her way to the creek and sat down on the bank, watching the water run over smooth rocks and pebbles. When Applejack sat down next to her, Dash turned her head to the other side, examining her plucked wing for any sign of new feathers

"You okay?" Applejack asked gently, but Dash didn’t turn to look at her.

"I dunno. Sure."

"You ain't lettin' Twilight get to you, are ya'?"

Dash looked back at the water, where she could barely see Applejack’s face out of the corner of her eye. "Nah. I mean, I'm not sorry there's one less rapey stallion in the world. And I had to keep you safe, it's not like I go around murdering ponies..." Dash squinted at a gray rock the size of her fist. "I think."

"Of course you don't." Applejack leaned back on her elbows. "You're not a bad pony, Dash. We're just livin' in a time when good means somethin' rougher than a lot of ponies are used to."

"Maybe..." Dash closed her eyes. "AJ, what if I didn't kill him to protect you? What if that wasn’t the reason, I mean."

"Well then I'm mighty happy it worked out that way. What do ya' mean? Why did ya' kill him?"

Dash shrugged, still facing the water with her eyes closed. "I don't know. I mean, I was trying to think of a way to get you out, but then I got... weird. I was so angry I wasn't even angry anymore, and I just... did stuff. I had to hit something, and I didn't even think about stopping. I don't even remember getting hurt."

"Sugarcube, we were really in a corner there. First time I saw you yesterday, I remember thinkin' the look in your eyes was like a hurt critter. I dunno if you ever tried to take care of one, but sometimes they just come after ya', just because they don't wanna be hurt no more and they panic." Applejack gently patted Dash between her wings. "That's all that happened."

Dash almost couldn’t stand AJ’s calm, strong voice, or the show of affection. It made things seem too simple, too normal. "No, I wasn't panicking. It was-- ugh! I can't even explain it. It... wasn't me." Dash finally looked up, and looked back at Applejack.

"It didn't feel like me." Dash sighed. "AJ, I'm messed up. I'm messed up really, really bad. I always thought that if I could just get out, I'd be me again. And sometimes I think I am, but sometimes... I want it to all go away, and never have happened, so I don't have to try to figure out who I am."

"You're gettin' a little confusin' there," Applejack said gently. Her eyes were glued to Dash, searching for a clue.

Dash bit her lip. "When all this started, I knew who I was. I was brave, a great flyer, a top athlete, a pony who helped to save her friends and Equestria... I was an awesome pony, right?"

"Ya’ sure are." Applejack nodded.

"AJ..." Dash warned, cringing a little. She shook her head. "When the caribou came in, you know I fought them as hard as I could, and I failed. I couldn't save my friends, and I couldn't save Equestria. Twilight betrayed me, and they put me in a black collar... and they plucked my wings."

Thinking about that day brought a grim, rueful smile to her face. "It took four stallions to get me tied down, and I bit one so hard it drew blood. I promised myself I'd never give in. I'd fight every step of the way. I'd let the caribou and the stallions know that there was one mare they weren't going to break."

"I'm proud--" Applejack started, but Dash held up a hand.

"Don't be. I never took a red collar, but they still broke me."

She closed her eyes and took a breath. "They sent me to this stallion... I knew him from flight camp, and he was always a bully, but he mostly left me alone because I was way cooler than he was. But when he was brainwashed, and all the mares got knocked out of the way, he decided to put together a bunch of athletes to compete in this… sex contest league. You can guess what that was like… think, fuck-bucking but like the Equestria Games. But I could’ve handled that. I mean, I could’ve been like you, and seen it for what it was, but...” Dash frowned and opened her eyes, staring straight at the rocks.

She could barely see the rocks. Instead she was seeing it all play out again, feeling it play out. Too real, too close, but she was already there and couldn’t stop herself.

"He's still a bully. Worse. He wants me to hurt. I don't know if he has fun kicking me when I can’t fight back, or if that sort of thing is just what gets him off, but he wants to see me hurt and humiliated. He wanted to make sure I knew that he could do anything he wanted to me. I'm not a wuss, AJ! I can get beat up, I was never gonna go red just because of a riding crop, like I saw some mares do.

“But... when I say he wanted to hurt me, I mean... he had me tied up, with my legs apart, and he... put out a cigar in my... it fucking hurt AJ, I can't even say how much. And I remember the smell of the smoke and the burning skin, and the sizzling sound... but only because I'll never, ever, forget how much that hurt."

Dash could feel her heart pounding, and without thinking she drew her knees tight to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. It didn’t matter that she was free, and that there was no one for miles who would think of doing that to her; she could feel it coming, any time.

"Oh my…” Applejack whispered, leaning in to wrap an arm around her in a half of a hug. “Oh Dash… I didn’t even know a master could do somethin’ like that!”

“Who’s gonna stop it?” Dash snapped to no one in particular. “No one saw him do it, and it’s not like there’s someplace I can send a complaint.”

Applejack went on, softly, almost afraid to ask it, “He didn't... mess ya' up for good there, did he?"

"Just a scar. But if he'd gone an inch to the left he could've. He let me know that. He lit the cigar again and told me he would if I didn't grovel, and call myself all sorts of things, and do stuff to him and his friends. And... I did it. Not all the time, I still fought back whenever I could, but if he wanted to make me do something, he just lit a cigar and raised his stupid eyebrows, and I... was his bitch."

"Rainbow Dash, don't you dare beat yourself up over that.” Applejack just tightened the hug. “We all did that when we needed, every black collar out there, and most of us had a lot less reason for it than you did."

"It doesn't matter. It's not what I would have done. Not if I was the awesome pony I was before. I failed my friends, I failed Equestria, and I failed me. I can't even fly anymore. I'm scared of things, of fire, of--" Dash shoved her knees away from herself and shrugged off Applejack’s hug. "AJ, I'm not the pony I was. I'm just an angry, scared pony, and that's who killed that guard. I wanted to be Rainbow Dash again, but I'm just... not."

They sat in silence for a moment, and Dash didn’t care if that never ended. Maybe if she sat long enough without another pony saying anything or touching her, everything would just disappear.

But Applejack went and said softly, "It's only been a little more than a day, Dash. Yesterday mornin', you woke up with that monster thinkin' he owned you, and you had to play along. You thought you'd be back there now. It's gonna take a while to know you never gotta go back again."

Dash huffed and rolled her eyes.

"Of course, you always have been bad at waitin'.” Applejack smiled a little. “I gotta tell you, I know what you were too, and I see more of that in you than you can let yourself think.”

“I don’t think I could have killed a pony before. Not like that.” Dash shook her head as she looked down at the stream again.

“I know it. And I ain’t sayin’ you’re the same pony. Just that the pony you are still has the old you as part,” Applejack explained. Then she sighed, and laid a hand on the ground near Dash.

They were quiet again. Dash knew the hand was an open invitation, AJ wasn’t going to touch her after she’d been shrugged off, but wanted her to know that another pony was there for her. Dash looked at the hand, considering.

Applejack looked at the sky and bit her lip. “Dash, if I got my wish, and Equestria was right tomorrow… you think that ponies could just go back to normal? That I could go to the library and see Spike, knowin’ that he’d raped me right there in the middle of the room? You think he could look me in the eye after that?”

She looked over to Dash, seeming to know the answer. Dash shook her head no, but she picked up the offered hand and held it.

“We’re all cracked, sugarcube.” Applejack sighed. “Every damn pony in Equestria-- we can fix the magic, we can send the caribou packin’, but unless Twilight has some pretty big trick up her sleeves, we can’t undo what’s been done to us. But if we’re safe… if we can get outta this pit, we can start to settle in with who we are now.”

“You’re not that different,” Dash said softly. “That’s what’s amazing about you.”

Applejack glanced at Dash, then looked down. "Maybe I ain't that different, but that's only 'cause I couldn't let myself be. I had to be able to look Apple Bloom in the eye, no matter what. I had to be able to walk into that house that my great-grandfolks built. I had to do whatever I needed to keep my family safe, but if I ever gave in too much I couldn't have lived with it. I've had to be Applejack every step of the way, but when I was on my hands and knees lickin' some stallion's cum off the dirt... it mighta hurt less if I coulda given up more."

For a minute Dash considered which was worse, to be stripped of her pride and forced to her knees, or to have to hold onto pride in the same position, straining against every new humiliation. Eventually she gave a snort. It was a sick fucking game, either way.

"If you were anybody else, we never would've gotten away," Dash pointed out, giving Applejack’s hand a squeeze.

"It wouldn't have mattered who I was, if I couldn't have counted on you. I sure couldn't have taken on Spike with Twilight runnin' for the guards. And ya' kinda saved my tail today." Applejack smiled at Dash. Dash could have sworn there was a hint of vulnerability in Applejack’s face she hadn’t seen in a long time as Applejack said earnestly, “I needed you, Dash.”

Dash smiled, and it felt… right. Without thinking about it she pulled AJ into a hug. "Whoever I am, the one thing I know is that I'm always gonna be there for you."

"I’ve always known that. It keeps me strong,” Applejack said, returning the hug.

***

While Rainbow Dash and Applejack were off talking, Twilight sat on the blanket and fumed. She couldn’t believe the change in her friends!

Applejack had always been stubborn, of course. It had been so frustrating this past year, trying to explain how much she would like it if she finally gave in and accepted her place, but Twilight knew that Applejack would eventually see reason and come to her senses. This life offered her everything she’d had before and more--hard work like fuck-bucking and learning about rape-vines to challenge her, the chance to see her sister bought by a master who would keep her totally safe and cared for, and knowing that she could serve other ponies and be appreciated without having to act prissy or fancy, with the extra benefit of not having to worry about details that her master would take care of. Instead of appreciating all that, Applejack dug into her extremist views, left the home she loved, put her family in danger, and actually encouraged Rainbow Dash to act just as irresponsibly.

And Rainbow Dash, killing a pony just so she and Applejack could get what they wanted! What she thought she wanted right now, at least. After all, her master had already given her the chance of a lifetime-- she got to perform and compete in front of thousands of ponies, she could easily have become famous if she could have just shown a little discipline and dedication in training on the sexually related parts. And even if her cunt just didn’t have the endurance she needed yet, she was still really popular with the fans! Instead she had to be constantly punished just to get her to bounce on a practice dildo, then she threw her future away for Applejack’s insane rhetoric.

Of course, Twilight had known all of this since they kidnapped her. Being black collars was one thing, Twilight knew that some mares took time to adjust, but that act of defiance was the first red flag for Twilight that something was very wrong with her friends. Even so, she had hoped that with some time to talk to Applejack and Rainbow one on one, in a neutral setting, they might come to their senses. That way, when the guards eventually found them, Twilight would be able to argue on their behalf and save them from the kind of punishment that they probably deserved for this stunt.

Then they murdered a guard! Even over her shock and disgust at her friends, Twilight felt horrible for the poor stallion. He probably had a slave at home, a worshipful red collar who would miss his guidance and control. Tears came to Twilight’s eyes, wondering if he had foals he was guiding to their proper places in the world; now he would never buy his son his first slave, or see his daughter sold to a good master of her own.

It was wrong and horrible to take the life of a good, loyal stallion. But her so-called friends seemed to think it was somehow defensible. Twilight just slumped her shoulders, her ears drooping.

What Twilight wanted, more than anything, was to have her friends back together again, all of them. King Dainn had promised her that if they were all properly tamed, he’d allow them regular visits. He’d even suggested that they might be allowed to put on a show together for his birthday, an orgy on stage to entertain stallions and show the strength of Equestria, that six mares who were so different would happily join together in their role as worthless sluts for the glory of the king. It would almost be like being Elements of Harmony again.

But that wasn’t going to happen. Somehow, their friendship had been lost, and there was nothing Twilight could do about it. Talking to either of them was like talking to a stubborn foal, they just kept coming back to the idea that they were equal to stallions, and that there was something wrong with mares being slaves. There was no way to reason with a pony who thought something like that, and was willing to break the law to act on it.

Twilight felt her shoulders tense, followed by her plucked wings straining at her sheaths, and her breath coming in short deliberate bursts as she realized that she was going to have to leave without convincing them. That meant that she had to decide what to do with them when she got back. Their lives were in her hands, not to mention AJ’s family’s lives… this wasn’t supposed to happen. It wasn’t fair, she didn’t want this… she took a breath and let it out slowly, mentally flopping back and forth about whether to hide them or direct the guards to their destination.

She wasn’t supposed to decide this… they’d said she wouldn’t have to. If she had to make a choice, she could hurt ponies, she could make a decision that would just make things worse. Of course, that was the solution; this was something for a male to decide, just like they told her.

She’d go straight to the guards, so that Macintosh wouldn’t have time to run or to hide Apple Bloom. Maybe he could be reeducated, and she could be placed in a more supportive environment until she was old enough to be auctioned off. Then, after a few days of apologizing and being punished by Master, Twilight would write a letter to the king, telling him everything she knew about where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were headed. She knew that if the guards asked, she’d have to admit that-- that if they caught Applejack and Rainbow Dash, there was no hope for reeducation. They should be made into purple collars, as humanely as possible. As much as it would hurt to see them so broken that they wouldn’t even remember who they were, it was for their own good, and for the good of Equestria.

With some difficulty, Twilight scooted her way over to one of the backpacks, and used her tied hands to feel around inside until she found one of the knives. After another short struggle, she managed to use the knife to cut the leather strap from around her wrists. She cringed as she moved her arms… it wasn’t the worst pain she’d ever felt, but over a day of being bound did leave her with some nasty cramps in her shoulders and wrists.

Luckily, she didn’t need her arms to walk. She got to her hooves and stripped off the embarrassing shirt that she had no right to be wearing. Considering for a moment, she kept the pants on. It might deny stallions the parts of herself that were rightfully for their use, but it also kept her legs from getting all scratched up. She could remove them immediately if she came across a stallion.

Twilight looked around, trying to decide the best direction. She knew they came from the southwest after Dash killed the soldier, but she also knew that they’d been avoiding some kind of path that should be to the east, where they were more likely to be spotted. Being spotted was exactly what Twilight wanted, so she set out to the east. She could allow herself to veer south a little, that way she’d either hit the path or the edges of the fire swamp. She hoped she could avoid trying to cross that herself, and could just signal to a search pegasus.

She started into the woods with a long, backwards glance at the spot where she had left her friends behind.

***

As soon as they got back to the blanket, Applejack noticed the missing captive.

“Damn her,” Applejack sighed.

“She’s gone?” Dash asked, looking around the clearing as if Twilight might be hiding nearby.

“Looks like.” Applejack crouched on the blanket and picked up the cut leather strap. “She got her arms free, and that’s her shirt there.”

“Real smart. I hope she walks into a thorn bush, tits first,” Dash said, giving the shirt a kick. “Where does she even think she’s going? She isn’t gonna make it through the fire swamp.”

“And if she does, we’re both in a load of trouble.” Applejack gave a grimace, then stood up quickly. After looking around for a moment, she started walking south, towards the fire swamp. “Come on, we gotta find her!”

The two walked for a while in silent concentration looking for any sign of Twilight. They were tracing their steps back to the fire swamp, so there were signs of travel, but no signs that she had come back this way. Applejack knew Twilight could have run in any direction, but since Twilight didn’t know the forest she hoped that she was smart enough to go in a direction she knew was safe.

There was only an hour or two before it got dark, Applejack hoped they’d find her before then. Otherwise they’d have to go back to the camp and try to get some sleep before waking early to continue looking. Even looking was a long shot, there was a lot of forest out here, and unless they’d guessed right or something slowed Twilight down, she’d be trying to cross the fire swamp in not too long. From there it was only a matter of time before some guards found her, and… Applejack knew she’d have to head back to Ponyville first thing tomorrow to have a chance at saving her family.

“So, what’re we gonna do with her?” Dash said, breaking the silence.

“I dunno.” Applejack said softly. “I… think I messed up, takin’ her. I reached too far, hopin’ we could make her right, and now she’s ready to rat us out if anyone’ll listen for a second. I just… hoped, ya’ know?”

“I think I remember hope. It was one of those cool things, like flying.” Dash gave Applejack a rueful smile. “I can’t say I blame you.”

Applejack shook her head and sighed. “I ain’t good at this, Dash. I dunno what else to do. I know, I can hurry and get my folks safe, but what about my cousins? What about other foals? If we bring too many folks out here, the caribou would just come find us and take us all back. And I dunno if I could sleep at night, knowin’ that even if Apple Bloom and Mac are safe, there’s still ponies out there I care about who are sufferin’ and I ain’t doin’ a damn thing to help them.”

Dash looked away through some trees, but her next steps took her closer to Applejack until their arms were brushing. Then Dash’s hand latched onto Applejack’s as if Dash wanted to deny it was happening.

“I just wanna be safe with a pony who cares about me.”

“I understand.” Applejack said, giving the nervous hand in hers a squeeze. “You ain’t a bad pony for that.”

“Thanks.” Dash nodded, still looking away. “But we have to find Twilight, before the guards do. She knows too much already. She’s dangerous.”

“I know. I’m sorry I got us in this mess.” Applejack squinted through the trees, looking for anything purple to draw her eye.

“It’s okay… So, what did you hope was going to happen? How did you think we could fix her, just by talking?”

“Nah, I never figured that’d work. I figured…” Applejack sighed and looked down. “I’m a damned fool, Dash.”

Dash eyed her suspiciously. “What did you think, AJ? The magic of friendship or some shit?”

Applejack blushed and looked away quickly, under the cover of intently searching for signs of Twilight.

Dash rolled her eyes. “Seriously? AJ, have you read Twilight’s letters? You know what she thinks friendship means these day. She had Spike show you at the library.”

Applejack shook her head. “I wasn’t countin’ on Twilight. I was countin’ on us.”

“What do you mean, us?” Dash asked, tilting her head. “We only had the Elements of Harmony because of Twilight. The only thing close to magic either of us have ever done on our own is my sonic rainboom, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed my wings these days, but I couldn’t do one of those if I got shot out of a canon. We’re just ordinary ponies, where are we supposed to get magic to cure Twilight?”

Applejack thought for a moment about how to explain.

“There’s magic in Equestria. Not just the Elements of Harmony, or the spells unicorns do. I ain’t even talkin’ about earth pony magic or pegasus magic. All that’s like the parts of a tree anyone can see. Even the caribou can see that, and they keep on pickin’ the fruit and cuttin’ off branches, hopin’ no one will notice it. But the magic that comes from is what they can’t get at, way down at the roots. And sometimes, it just… pops out at us. It’s the magic that stopped the windigo that first hearth’s warmin’, not ‘cause someone knew a fancy spell or had some magic thingamabob. It just came right on out of the ponies…”

She glanced at Dash, whose flat expression indicated that she wasn’t buying it. “Like I said, I’m a fool.”

Dash was quiet for a moment. “Like I said, you haven’t really changed.

“So I always been a fool?” Applejack raised an eyebrow with a sad smile.

“You believed in things when there were things to believe in.” Dash offered a sad smile back. “You just… keep believing, even when there’s nothing left.”

“Yeah,” Applejack sighed.

“It’s cute… in a totally dumb way.” Dash smirked and squeezed Applejack’s hand.

“Thanks, Dash.” Applejack smiled and leaned over, giving Dash a light shove with her shoulder.

“So, here’s what we do,” Dash said, smiling. “If we find Twilight, we take her with us, and we build a cage where ever we end up. She can live in it. I might poke her with sticks sometimes.”

Applejack smirked. “Careful, she seems to like that.”

“Living in a cage and getting poked with sticks is probably Twilight’s dream these days,” Dash agreed. “So it’s a win for everyone!”

“You’re a real angel.” Applejack chuckled.

Dash went on, “If we don’t find Twilight, we’ll go right back to Ponyville for your family. It doesn’t matter if the town is there or not, they won’t be in any more trouble there than back in Ponyville if Twilight rats them out.”

“What about the guards all out lookin’?” Applejack said, motioning to the sky.

“That’s the most important part of my plan: Don’t get caught,” Dash said proudly.

“That’s the plan, huh?” Applejack snorted, grinning.

Dash grinned back and gave her a light shove. “Yeah, and see how I don’t need magic powers for any of it?”

“Oh, I’m takin’ notes.” Applejack wrapped an arm around Dash’s shoulders. “So how big is Twilight’s cage gonna be?

***

A little while later, Twilight was becoming concerned. She wasn’t sure if she should have come to the path yet, and she wasn’t sure exactly how long she had been walking. The great outdoors really wasn’t her specialty, and she really wished she’d had time to do some research on these woods and wilderness survival in general before she left. She had to guess that ponies usually didn’t get that chance when they were kidnapped, of course.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted some kind of movement on the forest floor. She stopped where she was and glanced over cautiously, hoping and praying that it wasn’t a snake.

She remained stock still as something thin and green slithered across the forest floor towards her, her eyes going wide. Applejack hadn’t mentioned snakes. Of course, Twilight was aware that most forests had snakes in them, but Applejack knew how scared Twilight was of them. Surely she would have said something…

But as the thing came closer, Twilight could see that it wasn’t a snake. It lacked a head for one thing, the part moving in her direction ended in a tapered point. For another thing it wasn’t scary at all, it was more like… a vine.

Twilight smiled as the thin green vine curled around her hoof. It was just a rape vine. Twilight had seen smaller ones all the time, they were useful for entertaining and distracting mares. She’d even seen the big ones that Applejack raised on the Dirt Pony Farm, ones that could take a whole mare inside their pod. Of course, not knowing the size of the pod, she knew she should stay clear of this one. She shook her hoof, trying to dislodge it, but instead it climbed up farther, disappearing under her pants leg.

While she couldn’t see the vine, she could feel it. It traveled slowly up the inside of her leg, seeming to tease her. She could feel the pointy tip tickle behind her joints, and the tender area of her inner thigh as it writhed its way towards her sex, not asking her permission or making her decide. She relaxed, letting it do whatever it wanted.

Suddenly arousal hit Twilight like a wave. It was strange that she hadn’t felt it since she had watched Spike riding Applejack, that was the first thing the arrival of the caribou had shown her-- that she was a hopeless slut who could be turned on at the slightest provocation. These days she rarely went a day without serving Master at least once, unless she was being punished. She was his very favorite fucktoy, after all. Since only days after the caribou arrived, Twilight had been filled by cocks or toys every day, usually multiple times, and now…

She was getting wet at the thought of what the little vine was promising. This was just an exploratory tendril, and it was exploring its way towards her pussy. The worker vines and-- she shivered-- the thick feeding stalks would be along in a moment.

There was nothing she could do, really. The larger stalks would be thorned, but it had been two days since she’d been fucked, and the pain would be a good punishment for being a bad slut and a bad friend and a bad pony, in general.

And besides, she’d be getting fucked. She untied the rope that held up the oversized pants and they dropped around her ankles. Then she started rubbing between her legs, enticing the little vine upwards until it poked its way into her slit and flicked gently around the edges of her hole.

The attentions had a noticeable effect on her body; arousal took over and she slipped into what felt like a more natural state. Her actions had attracted the attention of the plant, and soon more tendrils had joined the first, and all of them started climbing her body, encasing her in a writhing mass that seemed to rub and squeeze everywhere. She barely noticed as they lifted her into the air and guided her body towards the core of the plant.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, a nagging voice was trying to tell her that she was in danger and she was running out of time to break free. She could barely grasp the idea through the sensations of the plant pleasuring her, lifting her towards its pod. But the annoyance at her thoughts made Twilight glance around anyway. As she looked down, she could see the gaping, slavering maul of the pod, full of even more writhing tentacles, some of them as thick as her arm. She almost couldn’t wait, the plant would be screwing her senseless for as long as it wanted her…

Until she died. She blinked, and her face fell. Her muscles tensed as the warm feeling of arousal washed away into cold terror. The plants never let mares go, they would feed off their juices as long as the mares were capable of producing them.

Back in Ponyville, there would be someone to wrench the plant open after the fun was over, but here, she was alone. Worse than alone, no one even knew where she was. If the plant swallowed her, she’d die in there, probably of starvation, and probably some time after she lost her mind from the ceaseless stimulation.

This wasn’t what she wanted. She thrashed against the vines, knowing that escape was impossible at this point; she’d watched the plants take in mares stronger than she was. The vines just tightened their grip, pulling her closer into the warm wetness as she felt one of the large, thorny stalks prodding at her sex, slowly pressing into her. She whimpered as the thorns scraped her sensitive flesh, even though she could feel the pleasure fighting with the pain.

The only ponies with a chance of finding her were her ex-friends, extremists who would probably rather see her destroyed or reduced to a purple collar. She cringed, realizing that that was exactly what she’d planned to do to them, but they were her only hope.

“APPLEJACK! RAINBOW DASH! HEEEEEEEELP! PLEASE HEL--!” her screams were cut off as a long thick stalk jabbed into her mouth and part way down her throat, and the light disappeared. The pod closed around her.