The Breeding Grounds

“It’s just not possible.” Twilight fidgeted uncomfortably while perched atop her bed.

“I still don’t understand,” The pink mare rolled over from the floor to look up at the frustrated unicorn who had taken to hovering books from across the room to scatter about her bed, “but she is an alicorn.”

“Even alicorns are bound by the rules of magic. Things don’t just magically happen. Well they do, but not in this way. Magic has its limits just like everything else does.” Twilight desperately flipped through the pages of the books trying to find the answer to how the princess could have dissipated her spell without even trying. “There wasn’t even any yellow flash.” She mumbled to herself with vacant eyes.

“Maybe you’re just not as good as you thought you were.” Pinkie shrugged as the unicorn cast an angry glare at her before returning to the book in front of her. “Did Princess Celestia seem different to you?” the earth pony asked suddenly.

“A little bit. She wasn’t a changeling though, I know that much for sure.”

“How do you know that?” the pink mare gazed sleepily back up at her friend. They had walked non-stop all the way from Canterlot after the encounter with Princess Celestia and the fatigue was just now catching up with her.

“Because I scanned her with one of the first spells she taught me when I was just a filly.” Twilight stared emptily at the open book in front of her as she remembered all the wonderful spells her mentor had taught her when she was young.

“Maybe she knows a way around it, or maybe she has some anti-magic shield.” The party pony softly kicked the foot of the bed as she spoke.

“There was no magic in that room besides mine. Trust me, when you’re a unicorn and have been around magic all your life, you can sense it in the air.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Pinkie sighed lazily as she continued to tap the bed with her hoof. “What are we going to do about our friends? Should we tell them about the princess?”

“Of course, they went through the same thing we did. They deserve to know everything that we do.” The unicorn groaned and shoved the book that was in front of her off the bed before burying her face in her hooves.

“Deserve to know what? What’s going on?”

Twilight and Pinkie both flipped around to see the two figures standing uneasily at the door. “Rarity? Rainbow Dash? What are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“What do you mean sleeping?” the white unicorn frowned as she studied her friends’ faces. Dash remained silent and took an uneasy step to the side to keep her balance. Her eyes were dull and unblinking as if she were in some kind of trance. The three mares watched the pegasus waver back and forth on her hooves for a few moments before looking to each other. “She’s been like this ever since I found her.” Rarity sighed.

“You found her? Where? Didn’t they bring her home like the rest of us?” Pinkie bobbed her head with the unsteady motions of the rainbow pegasus.

The white mare sighed as she shook her head. “She was just lying in the street completely covered in mud when I found her. It was appalling the state she was in. It doesn’t look like she’s doing much better now either. I took her home with me and cleaned her up but she still seems distant. That’s why I came here.”

Twilight and Pinkie both frowned at each other. “Do you know what’s going on, Rarity?” Pinkie shot a concerned look at the fashionista pony.

“Do I know what’s going on with what? The whole stallion thing? Because I admit that’s pretty creepy, freezing them and all.” The unicorn flipped her purple mane over her shoulder as a chill ran down her spine.

“It’s more than that,” Twilight sighed getting up to step off the bed. “How long have you been awake?”

“Probably half a day. Why?”

“Have you noticed the scars?” the purple unicorn pointed to the puffy red streaks that ran up the length of the white mare’s sides. The bloodcurdling shriek that erupted in the room caused even the distant rainbow pegasus to jump as the fashionista pony discovered the cuts.

“When did this happen?!” Her body trembled as she ran her hoof over the tender flesh that had been folded together unevenly.

“They did that to us after our time with the stallions. How could you not have noticed until now?” Pinkie tilted her head curiously.

The unicorn was speechless as she pouted over the blemishes that had been made to her body. For a second she and the absent-minded pegasus next to her looked the same. Their eyes were both clouded over as if either one didn’t have the potential to form a coherent thought.

“Rarity, they did something to us. Drugged us or worse, I don’t even know what they could be doing back at that strange place.” Twilight took a step towards the unicorn. “But I know it needs to end. Something is definitely wrong and I believe Princess Celestia may be behind it all. I’m just not sure why.” Her words trailed off.

“Princess Celestia? Are you sure?” Rarity stared into the clouded eyes of the pegasus next to her before looking back to her friends. “I don’t think she would do this. There’s no reason for her to.”

“I know,” sighed the purple unicorn, “but she’s the one in charge and she knows about everything that’s going on.”

Rainbow Dash coughed suddenly, startling everypony in the room. They all watched on as she proceeded to hack and choke until a stream of slime ran off the tip of her dangling tongue.

“Get her to the sink!” Twilight cried rushing over to guide her friend back down the stairs and to the kitchen. Rarity and Pinkie quickly followed the growing trail of black droplets to the concerned unicorn and retching pegasus hung over the sink. A puddle of ooze had collected beneath the counter and was slowly stretching outwards as they entered.

“That is the vilest thing I have ever witnessed.” Rarity huffed stepping back from the growing goo at her hooves.

“You probably did the same thing.” The pink mare next to her raised an eyebrow.

“I think I would remember if I did something so utterly revolting.” The unicorn scrunched her nose as she was forced to take another step back from the still expanding puddle.

Twilight looked over her shoulder at her two friends who stood just outside of the kitchen staring at them. She rubbed her hoof up and down the rainbow pegasus’s back as she tried to comfort her. The warmth of the slime running beneath her hooves sent shivers up and down her spine but she wasn’t about to leave her friend over such a trivial feeling. “Rainbow Dash? Are you feeling better?” she asked as soon as she was sure the pegasus was done heaving into the sink. Dash looked up, her eyes no longer the glassy orbs they had been before and Twilight was sure her friend could actually see and understand her now. “Come on, we need to talk.” The unicorn gently pulled her friend away from the sink and dropped down on all fours to guide her out. The ooze let out a bubbly squelch as her hooves sank slowly into it and long black tendrils of slime clung to her with every step. It was hard to believe that so much disgusting ooze could come out of one pony. Rarity leapt back in disgust as the two mares flung some of the slime across the room with every step while Pinkie did her best to avoid the spray of droplets without trying to seem as dramatic.

“Where are we going?” Dash asked as soon as they stepped out of the puddle and into the living room.

“We need to find Applejack and Fluttershy.” The purple unicorn headed straight for the door as she spoke.

“Wait,” Pinkie quickly caught up to her friend. “Won’t they be all loopy just like Dash was?”

“What’s going on?” the rainbow pegasus asked before anypony else could say another word.

“Now that I have the magical signature I should be able to pull it out of their bodies without too much trouble, and I’ll explain on the way Dash.” Twilight tried to answer both of their questions before continuing through the door.

The pink mare pranced after with an excess of questions still buzzing around in her head followed by the uneasy fashionista pony and the still-not-all-there pegasus. “So you know what the stuff is now?” Pinkie asked excitedly.

“Not exactly, I just know the properties that it takes to use magic on it. You can’t exactly do anything with something you don’t know or understand. That’s why powerful unicorns are always studying.” the purple mare’s pace never slowed as she explained.

“Is that why you couldn’t do anything against Celestia, because you don’t understand her?” the earth pony’s hair bounced up and down as she matched the speed of her friend despite her hooves still throbbing from the walk back from Canterlot.

“That’s a different case,” the unicorn’s breaths had already become ragged from walking. “I was trying to use magic against her, not directly use magic on her. It’s kind of like I can use a spell to throw a chair at her but I can’t use a spell to pick her up. Although I should know her well enough to pick her up at this point…”

“So basically she’s saying she can pick up the slime now.” Rarity interjected. “So we can get the rancid stuff out of the rest of our friends.”

“And then what?” Everypony stopped to look back at the pegasus before exchanging silent glances and continuing on towards the Apple farm.

Applejack was asleep in her bed just as they had all predicted. Granny Smith and Big Mac both looked down at the earth pony with concern after leading the four friends to her room. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be alright as soon as I get this stuff out of her.” Twilight assured everypony, as well as herself, before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. The unicorn’s eyebrows crinkled together, sweat dripping down her forehead, as a vibrant glow emanated from her horn and filled the body of the motionless earth pony on the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Dash asked after a waiting for something to happen.

“The stuff is all spread out and stuck to her organs.” Twilight mumbled as if she were holding her breath. The steady pulse of her magic revealed the network of slime that had affixed itself to every part of her friend’s body as well as the trace amounts that still remained in the rainbow pegasus behind her. This would not be easy. Her teeth clamped together as she focused in on each heavy droplet individually while still keeping her grasp on the sludge as a whole. With extremely slow and precise movements, she began to pull each strand of slime away from the inside of her friend’s body and collect it into a single ball before raising it up through her throat. The earth pony’s body levitated slowly into the air and lurched forward as Twilight pulled the black goo out of her. The sound of gagging filled the room as the fashionista pony rushed away and disappeared down the stairs. Gradually, a thick rod of slime snaked out of their friend’s throat and collected into a solid black orb the size of a beach ball.

Sweat still poured from the unicorn’s brow as the ball hovered in place just above the tan earth pony. “Oh!” Granny Smith suddenly burst out, realizing that there was nowhere in the room to put the floating globe of goo. “Outside! No, in the sink! The sink would be better! Don’t want that stuff creeping around where we work all day.” The elderly pony moved as fast as she could out of the room while the other mares guided Twilight down the stairs and to the kitchen sink. The drain bubbled and gurgled with the amount of revolting sludge forced down into it, threatening to overflow at any moment as they all watched on before heading back to check on the earth pony. Applejack was just beginning to sit up when they entered, a concerned Big Mac already telling her to take it easy as they approached the bed.

“What happened?” the earth pony rubbed her head as she looked to each of her friends.

“You were drugged. Twilight fixed you.” Pinkie blurted out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Well we don’t exactly know if it’s a drug,” corrected Twilight, “but we do know we’re all better off without it.”

“Is it over?” the white mare at the doorway peered in cautiously.

“Yes, it’s all gone.” Dash sighed not even looking at the unicorn.

“Good, I don’t ever want to see anything so frightfully repulsive again in my life.” She walked into the room noticing the earth pony finally conscious on the bed. “Are you feeling better without that slime inside of you, Applejack?”

“Slime? What slime?” Applejack asked nervously.

“That’s what was inside of you. It was inside of all of us, but don’t worry, I got it all out.” Twilight watched as her friend ran a hoof over her stomach uneasily before looking back up at her.

“It’s all out? You got it all?”

“All of it’s gone, but we still need to do the same thing for Fluttershy - if she’s even back yet.” Twilight didn’t waste any time in heading for the door.

“Wait what’s going on?” Applejack remained confused on the bed as the rest of her friends followed the unicorn out.

“We’ll explain later.” Pinkie called back as she left the room.

“Wait for me!” Applejack shouted before leaping off the bed and nearly collapsing. Her legs quaked beneath her and threatened to buckle at any moment as she chased after her friends. It wasn’t until they had almost reached Fluttershy’s house that she caught up to them. “Tell me what’s going on.” She demanded between gulps of air. Nopony answered as Twilight walked straight into the pegasus’s house to find the yellow mare passed out on her bed.

“No surprises there,” mumbled Rarity strolling up to the yellow mass.

Applejack suddenly gasped as she noticed the twisted red scars that ran up the sides of each of her friends before finding the ones that adorned her own flesh. “What is this? What did they do to me?” she gawked at the limited response of the other mares as Twilight’s horn began to emit a violet light.

“We don’t know,” Dash turned to see the look of frustration on the earth pony’s face. “They did something to us but nopony is sure what.”

“How do you not know what they did to us?” Applejack asked wrinkling her brow. The rest of the ponies in the room still ignored her as they watched the purple unicorn’s face twitch violently with her endeavor.

“I haven’t been awake much longer than you,” the rainbow pegasus mewed, taking her eyes off of the blinding lavender light for a moment to look at the earth pony again, “but apparently Pinkie and Twilight figured out something going on with Princess Celestia.”

The farm pony kept her mouth shut this time as she mused over what the two could have discovered. She knew asking them right now would be pointless considering everypony seemed to be fixed on what Twilight was doing to the innocent little pegasus still asleep on her bed. Suddenly the air in the room rushed into everypony’s lungs as they all gasped simultaneously at the levitating yellow mare and the long strand of sludge that strung from the back of her throat. The unicorn was still lost in concentration as the purple magic surrounding the vile liquid condensed it into a neat little sphere before floating it quickly to the bathroom. The flush of a toilet echoed through the small home as Twilight finally let out a sigh of relief and relaxed for the first time since they had seen Princess Celestia. The yellow pegasus coughed lightly, pulling her hoof up to cover her mouth as she regained consciousness.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

It was a dark night. The skies were overcast and cold heavy rain battered the roof as the six mares sat in a circle in the center of Twilight’s living room and discussed the next step.

“We don’t have much of a choice, we have to confront her.” Twilight said without hesitation.

“She’s an alicorn. I understand we’re the elements of harmony and all, but this is the princess of the sun. There’s no hope of defeating her.” The farm pony sighed.

“We don’t necessarily have to defeat her, just subdue her.” Rarity brought up while looking around expectantly.

“She’s still the princess of the sun,” Dash cautioned. “I think we should at least figure out what’s wrong with her first. Who knows? Maybe she’s just sleep deprived.”

“I don’t think so,” mumbled the yellow pegasus in the corner. “I think I was talking to her before I went in for my appointment.”

“You think you were talking to her?” asked Twilight curiously.

“Well it feels like a dream now, but after I woke up I had a flashback of everything that happened.”

The purple unicorn let out an exhausted sigh. “The same thing happened to all of us,” she said dryly. “What did she say?”

“I can’t remember the exact words but she was talking about ruling all of Equestria or something.”

“I thought she already ruled Equestria?” Dash interjected.

“She wanted everypony to know that she raised the sun every day. She said there were some ponies out there that didn’t even know she controlled the sun.” Fluttershy muttered as if the conversation struck up some dark vision of the future that she’d rather forget.

“Does anypony else still remember the stallion they were with?” Rarity suddenly brought up after a few moments of silence.

“Oooh I do!” the pink mare’s fluffy mane bounced up and down as she talked. “Twilight and I were talking about it on the way to Canterlot.”

“Do you… I don’t know, miss him?” the white unicorn frowned as she chose her words.

“He was a pretty cool guy.” Dash stared down at the ground while she remembered the experience.

“Yeah he was…” Rarity let out a sigh as her words trailed off. “It almost makes the whole thing worth it.” She mumbled just barely loud enough for everypony to hear.

“Well I love my stallion!” Pinkie blurted out as if it were a big accomplishment.

“You do not!” the purple unicorn snapped at the ecstatic party mare.

“Why can’t she love him?” Fluttershy asked sheepishly.

“Because you only spent a little bit of time with him and it wasn’t about getting to know him.” Twilight stated strongly.

“Well I don’t know about you but I got to know my stallion pretty well.” Rarity grinned devilishly as she looked at the smiles from the other mares.

“You got to know him physically but you probably don’t even know his name.” the purple unicorn still acted defiantly.

“Why are you so keen on putting down our love? I think you’re just in denial because you have the same feelings and are just as confused as we are for once!” the white unicorn reached out to prod the unicorn with her hoof as she spoke.

“I am not!” Twilight barked slapping the fashionista’s hoof away. The air in the room weighed down on the unicorn as she looked uneasily around at her friends who all smirked at the outburst. “Well maybe I did have some feelings for the stallion,” her voice was unsure, “but I’m still not convinced it’s love! Still… I wish we could help him somehow.”

“A breakout!” Pinkie sprang up in the air yelling excitedly.

“That seems dangerous.” The yellow pegasus in the corner pointed out timidly.

“But it would be a good way for Twilight to get to understand her feelings.” Rarity grinned at the unicorn again.

Twilight glared back while the idea in the center of the room burrowed its way into everypony’s mind. “I guess it wouldn’t be too hard. Just sneak in, activate the consoles, and get out.”

“It’s decided then,” Rarity nodded to each pony around the room in turn.

The air was silent with the foreboding thoughts of the six mares casting long dark shadows behind each of them.

Cold heavy rain continued to batter the land of Equestria as they planned out their assault on the Celestia-forsaken warehouse. It wasn’t long until the sun threw its hazy beams like little spies through even the tiniest of the cracks in the blinds and they were all content with their plan. They had decided to go with simplicity, sneak past the guards in the middle of the night and get to one of the rooms before activating the console. After that it would just be a matter of running out before anypony could catch them. Simple.

Night came just as quickly as the day had and before anypony knew it the rain had stopped and the sky was clear with the glimmering stars of the princess of the night.

“I wonder if Princess Luna has anything to do with it.” Pinkie looked up at the glittering dark blanket above them.

“It wouldn’t surprise me.” Dash grumbled with her eyes fixed on the outline of the building in the distance.

“She’s probably the one behind it all. Nightmare Moon could have taken control again and is forcing Princess Celestia to do all of this.” Twilight mused. ‘There’s no way she could willingly do this to everypony, do this to me.’

The gleaming armor of the two guards shone like a beacon beneath the veil of night as they approached. Six shadows shifted inconspicuously across the ground past them before Twilight readied her spell and focused on the earth a few paces in front of the guards. The soil liquidated discreetly with nothing but a shallow ripple from the breeze to give the spell away. Picking up a small stone next to her with a faint glow of purple magic, the lavender unicorn skipped it across the invisible pond she had created. The guards looked to each other before taking the bait - a few steps forward and the two figures suddenly disappearing beneath the wavering ground.

“Now.” Twilight breathed waving her hoof forward. The heavy door creaked open on worn hinges as six shadows vanished into the light inside. The gray waiting room was blinding with the eerie glow from some unknown light source that raised the hair on the back of their necks. Everypony looked around the square room uncertainly as they carefully made their way to the other side. There was no denying the feeling that somepony was watching them. “Hurry up.” Twilight urged quietly beneath her breath as she pushed the first set of double doors open. A click resonated from two different places in the room as they quickly filed into the empty corridor. Goosebumps coated their hides and shivers ran through their spines as they looked for an unlocked room. Despite the six figures all shuffling at the same time, it was disconcertingly quiet. Everypony stopped and remained motionless as a click echoed from one of the doorways down the hallway. Agonizing seconds turned into minutes before Twilight led them to the door where it swung open effortlessly. She silently looked to each of her friends before stepping inside and surveying the familiar scene of the room from her memories.

“Okay Pinkie, do you remember how to work this thing?” Rarity stared at the lonely console at the corner of the room.

“I think so.” The pink mare crawled on her belly beneath the black window and popped up right in front of the gray box where she proceeded to click her front hooves against the screen. “Does everypony remember the specifications of their stallion?” she pointed to the screen where she had brought up the image of the dark gray stallion she had been with. A long brown flowing mane draped across his broad muscular shoulders and a faint scar ran up the length of his left back leg. The six mares gasped simultaneously as the bright blue eyes gazed out of the monitor and caught each one of them. “What is it?” Pinkie asked uncertainly as she caught the expression on every one of her friends’ faces.

“That looks just like…” Rarity began to stammer.

“He reminds me of the…” Fluttershy whispered quietly.

“It couldn’t be…” Rainbow Dash sighed.

“No…” Applejack groaned.

“What? What is it?” Pinkie repeated looking around at her friends quizzically.

The six friends glanced at each other uncertainly, not daring to speak. The yellow pegasus in the back of the group let out a loud sniff and more than a few tears welled up behind the distraught eyes of the mares.

“That’s the same stallion I was with” Twilight peered at the monitor with a hollow glassy stare.

The entire room exhaled with the collective sighs of recognition. Pinkie looked hesitantly to each of her friends before the same feelings of betrayal simmered up from the back of her spine and kicked her in the teeth. “But… I loved him.” Pinkie choked through a dry sob.

Twilight ground her teeth as she forced herself not to correct the pink mare this time. ‘I thought I loved him too.’

“Come on, let’s just get out of here.” Applejack’s head drooped as she made for the door.

“Wait, we can’t just leave him here.” Fluttershy said tenderly.

“That’s right. It’s not his fault he was forced to be with each of us. It’s only one stallion to save now so at least it’ll be easier, right?” Dash looked to each of her friends as she spoke.

“Let’s just make it fast. This isn’t exactly the safest place to stand around and talk about all this.” Twilight urged with an empty breath.

Pinkie took a deep breath before pressing the enter key and watching the room explode apart into the familiar cycle of machinery racing through the cylindrical chamber. There wasn’t the slightest flinch from the mares as the mechanical arm screeched down below them before coming back up with one of the polished white pods. Even Fluttershy stood morbidly stoic as she waited for her fears to be confirmed. The pod opened almost immediately after hitting the floor with the shrieking hiss of gas escaping. The six friends curiously scanned through the white mist to settle their racing hearts and minds that it could somehow be a fluke.

“Damn…” Twilight choked. The dismayed heads of every pony in the room dropped as the stallion stumbled out of the pod with a wrenching gasp and collapsed onto the floor.

“Let’s get him out of here.” The rainbow pegasus snapped forward to catch the stallion on his second attempt of wobbling to his hooves. Twilight’s muscles twitched violently as she did everything in her power to hold herself back from shoving the pegasus out of the way and taking her spot under the stallion. Dash stopped to look around at the five mares who wore identical expressions of contempt and loathing on their faces.

“Well?” the rainbow pegasus asked as she looked to the door. The room exhaled again before the six mares and stallion departed back out of the nightmarish warehouse and back into the cover of night. None of them even noticed that the guards were missing from the front door.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

“Let them go, they got their prize.” The dark mare grinned as she stared through the monitor at the seven figures fading away.

“They can’t do this to me! I will not be played like this!” the gray unicorn trembled with the hatred building up inside of her.

“You are a good mare. Strong, respectable; you’ve looked over and guarded my plans more than anypony else ever would.” The princess smiled. “That’s why I have a reward for you.”

The curator looked uncertainly at the alicorn bathed in the eerie glow of the screen. There was something about that shadowed smile that didn’t look natural.

“Come.” The princess motioned to the two doors behind them. “Pick your prize.”

The gray unicorn carefully studied the two identical white doors for several minutes before looking back at the dark princess. Over all her years of looking over the warehouse, after scouring over every inch of it, she had never been through these two doors. Even as the one in complete control of the entire operation she had never had the clearance to quench her curiosity of the forbidden rooms. She knew there was no point in asking what was behind them. Without a word, the curator hesitantly strode over to the door on the left and looked back at the smirking alicorn still blanketed by the shadows. The room was silent except for the slow deep breath of the unicorn as she pushed the door open to reveal the single cylindrical hull against the opposite wall. “What is this?” she asked dryly.

“This is your reward.” The clop of the princess’s hooves resonated through the room as she prodded the unicorn into the strange pod and shut it. The sound of machinery priming rang in the curator’s ears as she looked out of the single rectangular window already fogging up with her nervous breaths. A split second later a searing pain shot through her chest and she felt her veins pulsating with what felt like lava. Her entire body began to throb as glowing red plates of molten metal were pressed against her and melted onto her flesh. The alicorn grinned at the flailing head and agonizing cries of the unicorn in the pod before the machinery finally stopped and opened abruptly to drop the scarred mare back into the world. Trails of steam coiled up from the motionless figure on the ground as the smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air. The sound of skin still bubbling from the heat sizzled against the metal plates infused on the unicorn’s body. “Believe me, this was the pleasanter option. Enjoy your reward, Commander.”