For a while, the room was silent and each pony looked at one another with worry.

“W-why aren’t we being affected by the spell?” asked Scootaloo.

“My castle’s walls are resistant to massive magical effects like this. We should be able to think straight as long as we stay in here.”

“Oh, good,” sighed Rarity in relief.

Once again, there was silence before Rainbow Dash spoke up.

“So… what exactly is going on again? Scootaloo sort of explained it to me a bit, but…” For the next few minutes, Twilight, Rarity and Scootaloo together summarized the whole tale for her, making sure she understood the situation sufficiently.

“Yeesh, this is…” started Rainbow Dash, not sure what to make of it all, “quite a problem we got here. But, luckily for us, we got Twilight-freakin’-Sparkle here, a master of the magical arts to help us out, right?” Twilight sighed and took a moment before she began her explanation.

“For a while there, I had absolutely no idea how to solve this problem for sure. The only thing we had was a guess; a guess where the solution would be to continue feeding this thing until it released itself. I had no idea how devastatingly wide spread this thing’s final form would be. Sure, an orgasm is good every once in a while, but if it happens for long periods of time, ponies will suffer from extreme fatigue and dehydration, which of course are deadly!” Twilight paused a moment to let this sink in. All their faces were contorted with worry and fear.

“But… all our friends are out there! Like Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo exclaimed, with tears starting to form in her eyes.

“And Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike! Are we going to let them die too?” cried out Rainbow Dash.

“No. I have a plan,” started Twilight confidently. “You see, I wasn’t entirely correct with my theory before. I said that it was trying to escape Sweetie Belle… but after she finished with that stallion, it should have had enough power to leave her… yet, obviously, Sweetie is still at the mercy of this thing. That bubble… was comprised up of a HUGE amount of magical energy, though, as stated in the Fundamental Laws of Magic, Vol 1., in order to make any practical use of said energy, you need to focus it into a focal point with something like a wand, or in the case of a unicorn, their horn.” Twilight watched her friends as their faces displayed how much they understood all of this. The expressions started out as confused, yet attentive and eventually became one of understanding. Finally, Rarity added her input.

“So if we prevent this thing from being able to use Sweetie’s horn, it won’t want to use her anymore?” Twilight’s face brightened up.

“Exactly! Once we do that, the parasite should fully leave Sweetie’s body and as long as we can prevent it from attaching itself to any other unicorn. I should be able to destroy it with ease.”

“Okay, that’s cool and all but… exactly how are we going to do that? It’s not like we can just cut off her horn… right?” asked Scootaloo with nervousness in her voice.

“Well, we could… but I have a better idea,” started Twilight before walking over to a far corner of the throne room which contained a small desk that had a few books and an obscene amount of parchment, ink and quills on it. She used her magic to open one of the drawers and rustled through all the junk before pulling out a few different small objects which she then brought over to the rest of the ponies to observe.

There consisted of four black diamond-encrusted collars and a small golden ring with strange black markings around it. This sight caused Rainbow’s eyes to bulge in surprise and she snickered a bit before commenting on them.

“Twilight, are we about to get kinky here? What’s with the collars and the… cock ring?” Twilight blushed before quickly defending herself.

“No, no, no! That is not a… that!” she said before setting down the collars and leaving the ring still floating in her aurora. “This ring, when placed on a unicorn horn will completely prevent that unicorn from casting magic. It’s a horn-cuff!” She then set it down and then levitated one of the collars. “In order to do this, we’re going to have to protect ourselves from the effects of the parasite. If we wear these collars, we should be able to do what we need to do without worrying about me needing to keep my shield up. Problem is… these don’t have a very high magical resistance rating, so if we get too close we’re going to have issues.”

“Do you have any idea how close that would be?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’m not sure about the exact distance, but it won’t be close enough to be very convenient…”

“Great… well I guess it’s better than nothing.”

“And… that’s not the only problem we have. Even with the collars, the concentration of magical energy within the bubble is much higher than in the air around it… meaning that they’ll most likely be entirely useless once we reach it. It won’t be any better than not wearing one at all! At that point… there’s no telling what kind of effects all that orgasm-inducing magic will have on your body.” There was silence as the four ponies pondered this for a moment before Scootaloo spoke up.

“If there’s that much energy in the bubble… does that mean there’s a chance we could do serious damage… or worse… to ourselves trying to enter it?”

“Not guaranteed, but yes, there is a chance,” replied Twilight solemnly. Suddenly, Rarity stood up wearing a serious expression.

“I’ll do it. She’s my sister after all, and I have a duty to protect her however I…”

“No… I want to do it,” said Scootaloo with a trembling voice, interrupting the unicorn.

“Scootaloo, I appreciate your offer, but…”

“NO! Please… I want to do it. I want to be the one to save her… after all… she was the one that saved me… It’s only fitting that I return the favor…” This caused Rarity to pause for a moment as she realized the new gravity of the situation.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this Scootaloo? Remember, there’s no telling what will happen to you once you enter that bubble,” warned Twilight again. Scootaloo immediately forced a nod in response showing that there was little they could do to convince her otherwise.

“V-very well then…” said Rarity in defeat.

“So… now we have to figure out how we’re going to get Scootaloo there in the first place. She can’t fly yet so we may have to assist her a bit,” said Rainbow Dash with a bit of worry in her voice for her honorary sister.

“Hmm, that part doesn’t seem like it would be too difficult. I could fly her just above the bubble while I use my shield for extra protection, and then drop her into it where she’ll have to grab on to Sweetie Belle… Gee, I wish I could just go in there myself with the shield, but I doubt even my alicorn magic I would be able to keep it intact.”

“Don’t worry about that, Twilight. I’ve got this…” said Scootaloo, starting to gain a little more confidence.

“Alright then, we shouldn’t waste any more time. Let’s get go-“ started Twilight before Scootaloo interrupted her.

“Wait, if there’s really a chance I won’t make it, can I please have a few moments to write a letter to Sweetie Belle? I still have some things I wish to say to her.” Twilight blinked a few times before giving a soft smile.

“Of course. I’ll get you a quill and some parchment.” After Twilight had done so, Scootaloo set to work scribbling down her thoughts with her mouth as swiftly as she could whilst the others watched her from behind in silence. Finally after about ten minutes, the task was done and Scootaloo rolled up and tied the parchment with a string.

“Okay… thanks for that. I’m ready now,” said Scootaloo breaking the silence, voice still shaking with nervousness. Despite that, she was still able to force a small smile on her face.

Each pony picked up a collar from the floor and attached them to their necks. They gathered around the door to the throne room and after taking a deep breath, Twilight used her magic to unseal and open it. Cautiously, the four ponies, first Twilight, then Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and Rarity, made their way out into the hallway before heading down towards the main doors. Finally reaching the exit, Twilight once again gave a deep breath before opening them with her magic. Slowly, they each took turns stepping out onto the dirt path that lead up to the castle. Looking around, they watched as a few random civilian mares and stallions rolled around in the grass for a few moments before Twilight spoke up.

“Is… every pony feeling okay?” This caused a nod from the rest of the ponies and Twilight gave a sigh of relief. “Alright, I’ll be taking Scootaloo this time then…” she said before wrapping her hooves around Scootaloo’s middle, spreading her large alicorn wings and taking off into the sky. Rainbow Dash did the same with Rarity and they were on their way back to Sweetie Belle.

It was a short while into the flight before Scootaloo noticed something strange. The cacophony of pleasure and moans was noticeably getting less and less audible as they got closer and closer to their destination, which didn’t make much sense as they were supposed to be going somewhere with a higher density of ponies. It should’ve been deafening by now! Curiously, she looked down below her and spotted a gray earth stallion who was not showing any signs of an orgasm in the slightest. Instead, he merely stood there with a serious expression, staring and watching them fly.

Feeling a bit creeped out, Scootaloo looked around again to see if she could see any pony else. It wasn’t long before she spotted another. This time it was a pink unicorn mare with the same stare, directly at their group. Finally, Scootaloo decided to inform Twilight, who was mostly paying attention in the forward direction, thus most likely not noticing it.

“Hey Twilight, something’s wrong…”

“Hmm…?” murmured Twilight, briefly looking down at her passenger to see worry in Scootaloo’s big, purple eyes.

“Those ponies… they weren’t orgasming… just staring at us.” This caused Twilight to immediately stop in her tracks and enter a hover. Looking down, she gasped as she saw what Scootaloo meant. There were quite a few this time with ponies of all types, ages and sizes. She turned around hoping to inquire with Rainbow Dash and Rarity but… they weren’t anywhere in sight. This caused both filly and mare to gasp in surprise.

“Wh-where are they!?” exclaimed Scootaloo in panic.

“I- I…” started Twilight quickly flying around in the immediate area hoping it would help in finding them… unfortunately to no avail.

“Let’s keep heading towards Sweetie. Maybe… they just took a different route from us… for some reason?” suggested Scootaloo. Twilight merely nodded and continued their journey, but this time she flew much faster.

Finally, after about five minutes of flying, they flew past a few buildings and there she was, just as they had left her, floating in a bubble of rainbow colored magic. Looking a bit down, Twilight and Scootaloo could feel their jaws drop as they witnessed the dense forest of eyes staring directly at them. Twilight stopped in her tracks once again. Apart from the whisper of a small mid-day breeze and the hum of Sweetie’s magical capsule, it was dead silent.

“W-what do we do n-now?” stammered Scootaloo. Twilight sat in stunned silence for a moment before shaking herself awake.

“We continue on with the plan. You ready to do this Scootaloo?”

“I… I guess…”

At that, Twilight focused her magic into her horn and created a protective magical barrier around the two. Twilight leaned forward and flapped her wings and the two began to slowly and carefully traverse to Sweetie. They had only flown for a few feet before everything went wrong.

Without warning, a large orange Pegasus stallion flew at his top speed directly into the side of Twilight and Scootaloo. Fortunately for the filly, the brunt of the attack was on Twilight who let out a shrill of pain causing her to lose her concentration needed to keep the magical shield up and keep the orange filly within her hooves. Twilight was sent flying to the side while Scootaloo merely began to drop like a brick into a large set of soft bushes that were luckily right below her thus protecting her from most of the pain of the fall.

Only a little sore, Scootaloo pulled herself out of the bushes and checked over her body to make sure she actually was fine. To her relief, there were no signs of serious injury.

“Twilight?! Where are you?!” she called out just as the situation got even worse. Upon releasing those words, the giant ball of magical energy that was Sweetie Belle suddenly let out a large black shockwave that emanated throughout the crowd of staring ponies and beyond. Scootaloo turned around at a sudden sound and gasped as she saw yet another large blue stallion standing before her. His muzzle held an unfriendly grimace and his pupils filled his eyes turning them dark as coal, and that wasn’t the worst part. She couldn’t help but notice that this particular stallion had a raging erection poking out from under his stomach. Gasping at this, Scootaloo began to slowly walk back in fear, only to be followed by him.

It wasn’t long before Scootaloo began to panic and she spun around and entered a gallop. The stallion did the same. Unfortunately, as he was big and muscly, Scootaloo was no match and he used a free hoof to grab her shoulder to stop her before flipping her around and onto her back, pinning her down. Neither pony moved.

“No… don’t you dare…” begged Scootaloo in a shaky whisper. This seemed to trigger the stallion into initiating his intentions and Scootaloo was taken aback as he reached his neck down and smashed his muzzle into Scootaloo’s. Scootaloo could only whimper in fear as her assailant penetrated his tongue into Scootaloo’s mouth thus allowing him to savor her saliva. The taste caused the stallion to let out a deep moan into her throat which shimmered throughout her small body.

Scootaloo tried to use her hooves to push him off her before trying to add some force to it in attempts to punch him off, but it was no use; he was simply much too heavy for her weak limbs to have any effect. Realizing this, Scootaloo began to panic thus causing her to breathe harder between kisses and her entire body to shake uncontrollably.

Finally, after a couple minutes, the stallion had had enough and he pulled his head up and observed his prey, his expression unchanged from before. This allowed Scootaloo to quickly get a look at her surroundings a bit more and she gasped when she saw the seemingly endless pairs of dark, emotionless eyes staring directly at her.

“S-some pony… help me…” she muttered out as tears began to leak down her cheeks. As if on cue, the stallion stepped back a little and used a free hoof to help aim his massive appendage at Scootaloo’s tight filly hood.

“No… don’t! Please… no… please DON’T!” muttered Scootaloo before finally finding a voice that was much louder than a whisper, thus causing a vibrant shriek to radiate and echo throughout the crowd to seemingly no effect. The stallion clearly had no intention of stopping as he finally made genital to genital contact with her filly hood. Slowly and surly, the assailant carefully applied pressure against her entrance whilst watching Scootaloo’s expression intently. Scootaloo could only stare in teary-eyed fear as she watched the long, hard appendage, forcefully enter her body. It took a bit of effort, but before he knew it, the stallion had managed to fit the entire tip insider her.

“No… why… we were going to save her… why did this… why…” was all that Scootaloo could mutter as more and more tears rolled down her cheeks and into the grass below.

The stallion had managed to make it in yet another inch into her vagina, thus causing a distinct pain to emanate from the area and causing Scootaloo to yelp a little bit before a new sound entered her ears. The penetrating stopped as the stallion noticed this as well. He looked up from his victim and perked his ears. It was the sound… of a pony galloping. It was coming from somewhere behind the crowd of ponies. It got closer and closer until, the pony in question made their appearance known by using their wings to assist in hopping right over the crowd of mind-controlled ponies. The pony was very swift in their movements and before the stallion knew it his muzzle was filled with the hard, unforgiving force of hooves.

He shrieked out loud in pain and was forced out of Scootaloo and onto his back.

“GET THE BUCK AWAY FROM HER, YOU CREEP!” screamed Rainbow Dash with immeasurable anger burning in her eyes and steam emanating from her nostrils. The stallion, whose nose was now bleeding and erection disappearing, got up and galloped away and through the crowd. “YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN!”

“R-Rainbow Dash?” stammered Scootaloo as she forced herself to sit up before wiping away her tears.

“Scootaloo, thank Celestia you’re okay,” said Rainbow Dash quickly and she went over and helped her up onto her hooves.

“You… you saved me from… from…” started Scootaloo as she was pulled into a Rainbow’s warm, loving wing.

“It’s okay Scootaloo. As long as you’re with me, I won’t let anything like that ever happen to you again…” said Rainbow, pulling her sister in tighter. Suddenly, both ponies’ ears perked up as yet another galloping sound was noticed which was then followed by the appearance of a familiar, white unicorn.

“It’s about time you showed up! Scootaloo, here was about to get raped by some creepy brain-washed stallion!”

“Well, I can’t gallop nearly as fast as you can and… WHAAAT?!”

“It’s okay Rarity… I’m okay now. We really should all hurry and try to regroup with Twilight while we still can. Who knows what other tricks this… thing has up its sleeve!”

“But are you really okay, Scootaloo? It’s okay if you’re not…” reassured Rainbow Dash, but Scootaloo merely bore her stubborn side and shook her head.

“It was scary yes, but I have more important things on my mind right now, like saving Sweetie Belle.” Rainbow Dash still didn’t appear convinced, but decided now wasn’t the time to be discussing this.

“Okay… if you’re sure. If we all make it out of this alive, I’ll always be open to talk.”

“Alright then… let’s get going shall we? I don’t know how much longer these ponies will hold back…” said Rarity before the three ponies, Scootaloo on Rainbow’s back and Rarity in Rainbow’s hooves took off high up into the air.

“Are you sure you can carry both of us, Rainbow?” asked Scootaloo.

“Ah, it’s fine, kiddo. I’m… I’m a strong pony… Besides, you don’t weight very much anyway…” muttered Rainbow Dash who seemed to have a hint of struggle in her voice. As Rainbow flew over the crowd of ponies, Rarity and Scootaloo searched around for any sign of their alicorn friend. It wasn’t long before they heard and saw the flashes of purple magic coming from the middle of a large crowd of ponies. Quickly, Rainbow Dash flew to this area and hovered near her above the crowd.

“Twilight! You’re okay!” cried Scootaloo in relief.

“Scootaloo, Rainbow, Rarity!” yelled out Twilight as she looked up and noticed her friends before she ceased fending off the crowd that had been closing in on her and flapped her wings to join them.

“What happened to you guys? Scootaloo and I were just flying along and when we turned around, you were gone!” said Twilight.

“We were on your tail when suddenly I got rammed in the side hard by some mare Pegasus,” explained Rainbow Dash, “I managed to recover quickly, but I had to save Rarity from falling. By the time I did that, you two were gone and we were attacked by… these guys.” Rainbow pointed her right hoof at the staring crowd below. “While we were fighting, we suddenly heard Scootaloo cry out from somewhere. I made my way over to where her voice came from and when I found her… some garbage stallion was trying to have his way with her! Why in Equestria was she left alone Twilight?!” Twilight’s expression turned to one of worry before she quickly defended herself.

“It wasn’t my fault. I was also rammed by a Pegasus, a stallion, and Scootaloo and I got separated. The force of it knocked the air out of me and I had to struggle to keep these ponies away while I recovered.” Rainbow gave a sigh, before furrowing her brow in anger.

“We need to stop this… now.”

“On account with what’s happened, maybe I should be the one to put on the horn cuff?” suggested Rarity.

“NO. I said I was going to do it, and so I am going to do it, period,” retorted Scootaloo.

“But…”

“No, buts!” Rarity sighed and thought to herself for a second.

“Well, if you’re sure.”

The four ponies landed on a random civilian’s roof and prepared to enact their plan.

“Well, this is it,” said Twilight as they all watched Sweetie Belle’s magical prison hover in the distance and cast its rainbow glow over the now darkening surroundings as Celestia began to lower the sun into the first signs of a sunset.

Scootaloo turned around, and faced the other ponies with a soft smile and sad eyes that glimmered like jewels.

“Rainbow Dash… thank you so much for taking me under your wing when I had no pony else, and thank you for helping me see how stupid I was…” said Scootaloo to her mentor. Rainbow Dash stared directly back into her eyes in her reply, but still managed to keep her cool, care-free personality in her expression.

“D-don’t mention it. Listen, Scootaloo, I want you to promise me you’ll give it all you’ve got out there. You’re a really tough filly, Scoots. I’m sure you can do it.” At that, Scootaloo leapt forward into her mentor and tightly clamped her hooves around her, pulling her into a loving embrace. Rainbow Dash gladly returned the favor. Once the hug had ended, Scootaloo turned to Rarity.

“Rarity, thanks for taking care of Sweetie Belle and putting up with her these past few days…” she said to Rarity, giving a little chuckle. Rarity smiled back and nodded before she was taken by surprise as Scootaloo pulled her into an embrace as well. Finally, Scootaloo turned to the Princess Twilight Sparkle herself.

“Twilight… thank you so much for all your hard work. We couldn’t have gotten as far as we did without you.”

“You’re quite welcome, Scootaloo. I’m glad I was able to be helpful… even though I kind messed up back there…”

“Don’t worry about it, Twi. I was just acting stupid. You did what you had to do to help us… and I am so grateful,” she said before giving her a tight hug of her own. Twilight embraced the filly back with sadness and nervousness in her heart. She could feel that the poor filly’s entire body was shaking with either fear, anticipation, or both. Finally the hug ended and Scootaloo once again faced their goal.

“Okay… no more mushy stuff. It’s TIME TO SHOW THIS PARASITE WHO’S BOSS!” she screamed at the top of her lungs causing her voice to echo throughout the numerous buildings of Ponyville.

Once the echo disappeared, it seemed that the parasite was now making its move. Yet another magical black shockwave was blasted through the air encapsulating all the poor, mind-controlled ponies in its unforgiving grasp. At once, they all started to simultaneously march towards them; the stallions’ and colts’ erections were all visible and the mares’ and fillies’ legs were dripping with sex juice. It was clear that these “zombies” as they were, wanted only one thing.

“Okay… things just got worse, you better act now!” yelled Rainbow, preparing herself for battle.

“Let’s do this, Scoots. Got the horn-cuff?” asked Twilight thus earning a nod from the filly and a flash of the golden ring hidden in her wing as though to prove it. Finally, the princess wrapped her hooves around Scootaloo, pushed off the ground with her strong legs and took flight. For the first few moments, their flight path was entirely clear of obstacles, but that didn’t last long as numerous Pegasi, colts, fillies, stallions and mares all started to take the skies. Scootaloo, taking a look back also noticed that the ground-bound ponies had already climbed to the roof where Rainbow and Rarity were and they were bucking their way through the crowd. This was going to be a little bit more difficult than it could have been.

With the ferocity of an alicorn, Twilight used a smaller fraction of her magic to maintain the shield while using the rest to blast back the numerous incoming Pegasi with a stunning spell. She swerved back and forth and up and down to avoid any of the ponies that she missed all the while accelerating forwards.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the finally made it to their goal: directly above where Sweetie Belle hovered.

“Okay Scootaloo, I’m gonna drop you on 3…” started Twilight, still blasting away any Pegasus that dared to come near. It was clear with all the sweat droplets on her face that she was struggling at flying, blasting and shielding all the same time. If they were going to do it, they had to do it now!

“One…” started Twilight, now letting the filly dangle from her hooves while adjusting her aim.

“Two…” Scootaloo braced herself for the butterfly sensation that often accompanied the sensation of falling. She had experienced this many, many times during her adventures with the crusaders, often falling after trying to obtain her cutie mark through some means that involved being high up from the ground. Oh, how she wished she could go back to the good old days especially during that moment.

“Three!!!” screamed Twilight just as the parasite let out yet another black shockwave, which ended up breaking Twilight’s shield from the sheer magical force and the alicorn, who was now experiencing the full brunt of the magic, fell to the ground as massive orgasm wrecked through her body. Luckily, she had released Scootaloo just in time. For a moment, time seem to slow down for her as she watched the surface of the sphere approach her inch by inch. Despite the new shockwave, she was able to maintain composure as she fell… that is until she broke through the surface, entering the field of magic as though it was made of air. She fell a little more and finally she was close enough to Sweetie to touch her… unfortunately her first two frantic attempts missed and she ended up hanging on by just her dangling, soft, marshmallow tail.

Scootaloo’s mind and body was now a mess. Her vision blurred, her legs shivered and shook, and her filly hood practically exploded with love juices as the most powerful orgasm she had ever felt in her life encapsulated her entire body from head to hoof. She screamed at the top of her lungs and struggled to hang on and pull herself up to her the unicorn’s horn.

“YOU WILL NOT WIN… PARASITE!” screamed Scootaloo, somehow finding more strength to pull her body even higher up her friend.

Suddenly, the ball of magic started to emanate perpetual blasts of magic which caused a brief spike in the orgasmic sensation and a small burst of vaginal fluid each time; this only made it more difficult for Scootaloo. It was clear the parasite was starting to panic and was trying everything in its power to stop her. But it was too late. Scootaloo had finally climbed Sweetie Belle enough to reach her horn. She grabbed the horn-cuff from her wing with her hoof, and used the last few ounces of her strength to put it in place. As the magic was already wrecking her body for quite a bit before this, Scootaloo was now experiencing tunnel vision which was quickly turning into no vision. Before her world was completely surrounded in darkness, she managed to place her lips on Sweetie’s soft, puffy cheek in an act of possibly final affection.

“Goo- good bye, Sweetie Belle…” she whispered before her vision completely blacked out and then there was nothing.

***

Scootaloo opened her eyes. Like before, there was nothing, but this time the nothing appeared to be a bright white instead of the black that encapsulated her just before. After a few moments of trying to wrap her head around the situation, she decided to try sitting up. Her head and muscles ached a little, but as she got back up onto her hooves, it strangely seemed to become a non-issue for her as though she simply didn’t or couldn’t care. She looked around her surroundings and saw nothing but blankness and emptiness.

“Am I… dead?” she whispered to herself before starting to slowly walk in an arbitrary direction. As she walked, her hooves made no sound and it almost felt as though she were walking on nothing; a hard nothing that was able to support her weight, but still nothing. After walking for a few minutes, she decided to try calling out.

“Hello? Is any pony here?!” she called out before perking her ears and holding her breath in an effort to pick up even the quietest of responses. A few seconds later, she got her answer.

“S-Scootaloo?” came a small voice suddenly from right behind the Pegasus thus startling her and causing her to spin 180 degrees reflexively. She gasped and her eyes shimmered with excitement as she took in the sight of the pony she had meant to be saving not too long ago. Sweetie Belle had somehow magically appeared right behind her and she wore an expression of sadness, confusion and worry.

“Sweetie Belle? W-where did you come from. I was completely alone just a second ago…” Sweetie Belle merely stared back at her, clearly puzzled, before responding.

“I don’t know,” was all she could reply as she received a massive hug from the other filly. This action seemed to help ease her nerves and she squeezed back. Finally satisfied with the embrace, the two fillies stepped back and sat down on their haunches. A few moments of silence passed before Scootaloo spoke up.

“What… is this place?”

“If I knew the answer to that, I’d tell you. The last thing I remember doing is having sex with Button Mash. After that, it’s just a lot of blankness.”

Scootaloo then spent the next few minutes explaining in detail all the events that had happened since the moment Sweetie described. After, Sweetie merely looked down at the ground, or rather where the ground would be if it were visible.

“Also… Sweetie Belle… I’m sorry I was such a dolt. It’s just that you mean so much to me and when I realized what had happened between you and Twilight, my heart just felt like I was cheated on,” she explained before her cheeks tinged a little bit red as she continued on with the next part. “So I guess what I’m saying is… I love you, Sweetie Belle. You’ve been there for me for so long and… yeah.” Once again, there was silence for a few moments. Finally, Sweetie Belle looked back up and locked eyes with Scootaloo.

“I… I don’t know how I feel right now… For the longest time… I only ever viewed you as a best friend until this whole crazy thing happened. I am just so confused.” Scootaloo frowned at this response and gave a small sigh before Sweetie Belle, who was now averting her glance to the side, started up again. “I do know one thing though… you really do mean a lot to me as well Scootaloo. I just don’t know if it’s THAT kind of love. You understand, right?”

“Y-yeah, I guess I do,” replied Scootaloo putting a hoof behind her head, “Maybe, just maybe if we eventually make it out of here, we could… you know, give being in a relationship a try? Maybe doing things like hanging out just the two of us and going on dates and stuff… I’m sure doing so would help you realize your feelings?” Sweetie Belle pondered this for a second.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt…” Upon saying this, Sweetie Belle flashed a small smile at Scootaloo. Scootaloo smiled back and there was silence again. After thinking for a few moments, Scootaloo decided that now would be a good time to reveal something new to the unicorn. Something that she had kept inside from most other ponies for a very long time.

“Hey, Sweetie… I don’t know why, but I feel like I should tell you about something. Something important.”

“Yeah?”

“It’s about my dad…” said Scootaloo before averting her gaze down at her hooves. Suddenly, her whole body started to shiver and shake and she felt her voice getting stuck in her throat as she prepared what she wanted, no, what she had to say. Dead or not, her consciousness was still alive at least and she had to get this off her chest. Sweetie Belle merely sat in silence, frowning as she noticed the now evident distress in her potential filly friend.

“If it’s that difficult for you, you don’t have to tell me…”

“No…” retorted Scootaloo with a whisper, “It’s about time I get it off my chest. This has haunted me for so long… I think maybe, if I tell you, it won’t hurt me so much anymore.” Sweetie Belle scooted herself forwards a bit and held Scootaloo’s hoof with her own.

“You see… I know what happened to my dad after he left us, meaning he isn’t technically missing in the way you’d normally think…” Sweetie Belle turned her head in confusion a bit, but ultimately stayed silent.

“It happened about a week after he left… I was feeling really depressed and well; I decided it would do me some good if I went on a walk. I went to that hill my family would always go to when I was a really young filly. I trotted along and climbed it despite it being somewhat difficult due to all the snow that was on the ground, and when I reached the top… well,” at this point Scootaloo could no longer hold back the tears that had been flooding her eyes and the they fell down to the ground near her hooves without making the slightest hint of a sound. Scootaloo spent the next few moments huffing and sniffling as she tried to form the next sentence in her mind. “Um… so you know how there’s a big tree at the top of that hill?”

“Yeah?”

“I found him…” whispered Scootaloo, her voice shaking uncontrollably. At that Sweetie Belle couldn’t take it anymore and she lunged forward and hugged her crying friend as tightly as her hooves would allow.

“You don’t have to continue, Scootaloo…” she whispered back.

“No… that’s not all.”

“Eh?”

“After I saw that… I went home and went straight to my room. I sat in my bed for several hours, doing nothing but staring at my wall. And then it hit me like a train; I bawled my eyes out as the pain and realization of what I saw finally hit me. I wasn’t thinking straight then, Sweetie Belle, and what did I try to do next?” Sweetie Belle silenced her own friend with her own voice, now filled with her own sobs.

“No, Scootaloo. That’s enough…”

“I tried to bucking hang myself as well, oh Celestia was I stupid!”

“You’re not stupid, Scootaloo! You’ve just been through a lot.”

“And… do you want to know why I’m still here today? It was you Sweetie Belle. While I was struggling at tying the rope, I heard a knock from the front door followed by your voice, calling out to me…”

Sweetie Belle gasped as the memory came rushing back to her. She had only wanted to hang out with her best friend and after the front door was opened, she was met with the sight of Scootaloo in a clearly dreadful state, eyes red and puffy and cheeks stained with tears, swiftly throwing herself into her hooves. At the time, she decided it was best not to inquire her and so being the good friend that she was she comforted her for a while and even volunteered to stay the night. Scootaloo did not tell her anything about her dad at the time though.

“If you hadn’t had come… only Celestia knows what would’ve happened. A-anyway, the day after that I told my mom about it and she called emergency services and a little while later we had a small, private funeral for him. It wasn’t very fancy or complex or anything and only a few acquaintances of my mom came.” After Scootaloo finished, the two fillies sat in a silent embrace for what seemed like an eternity. In their blank, featureless world, there was no telling how much time had passed exactly.

“Scootaloo, I’m so sorry you had to go through with all this… I wish there was something more I could do...”

“Oh, Sweetie Belle, you being there for me is more than enough.” Finally the two separated and they wiped away the remaining tears from their eyes.

“Boy that felt good…” commented Scootaloo now, wearing a newfound smile. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was stuffy, but it was clear a huge weight had been lifted off her chest. “So… how much longer do you think we’ll be here? I hope it won’t be forever; this place just seems super boring.”

“I hear ya,” replied Sweetie Belle. There was silence for a few more moments.

“Gahhhh, something happen already!” called out Scootaloo. Suddenly, as though the world they were in was listening, the invisible floor beneath her seemed to vanish and she felt herself accelerating downward. The butterflies in her stomach sent a wave of fear throughout her body and she instinctively flailed her hooves hoping to find some sort of anchor. But there was nothing there and she continued to fall and fall until the blackness that had consumed her before engulfed her vision and once again, there was nothing.

***

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes to find herself lying in a large hospital bed that resided in a dark room. Her entire body was aching and her eyes were sore and bloodshot. Turning her head, she could see that another pony was sleeping adjacent to her. It was too dark and her vision was too poor at the moment to make out exactly who it was, but she had a hunch inside at who it might be. Turning her head to the other side, she noticed a large button with an icon of a pony on it. Carefully, she lifted her sore hoof and pushed it.

A few seconds passed before the door to the room was slammed open revealing a frantic Rarity followed by a nurse. She smiled and a few happy tears appeared in her eyes once she realized that Sweetie’s eyes were open thus indicating her awakening and she wasted no time in trotting over to her bedside.

“Sweetie Belle, you’re finally awake! Oh, thank Celestia!”

“W-what happened? And why do I feel so… crappy?”

“You’ve been in a coma for two days, dear. It’s Friday, at about 10 p.m.”

“Is Scootaloo okay?” At Sweetie’s question, Rarity was caught off guard and failed to answer her. Instead, the nurse spoke for her.

“She doesn’t appear to have woken up yet,” she said before turning on the light. This allowed Sweetie to turn her head towards the adjacent bed and saw the Pegasus filly in question lying there fast asleep. Her stomach slowly rose and fell thus indicating that she was at least breathing. This made her let out a sigh of relief before turning her gaze back to her sister.

“We… we talked.”

“Huh?” was all Rarity could reply.

“We were in a big white space… and we talked.”

“Sweetie… I’m sorry, but you were probably just dreaming…” That was when two new faces entered the room: Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Twilight was the first to speak.

“It could’ve been… but the magical energy I’m sensing in here feels a bit… strange. Don’t you feel it, Rarity?” At this question, Rarity put a hoof to her chin.

“Hmm… now that you mention it, something does feel a bit… off?”

“What are you two talking about?” asked Rainbow Dash, clearly confused.

“Don’t worry about it, Rainbow. This is a unicorn slash alicorn kind of thing.” Sweetie Belle, still in the process of reawakening finally managed to process what was happening and reacted accordingly.

“Twilight! Rainbow Dash! Wait a minute… why aren’t you all having an orgasm!? What happened?!”

“You see, Sweetie, after you did your thing with Button Mash…”

“You don’t need to tell me, Scootaloo already filled me in on the details, all the up to the part where she put the horn-cuff on me.” Surprised, Rarity spoke up.

“H-how did you know that happened? Were you actually conscious the whole time?”

“No, I told you, Scootaloo told me. We were alone in this big, empty, white void and like I said, we talked.”

“Your internal Equestrian magic, something that we all possess, is probably connected together then,” explained Twilight simply, “Sharing the subconscious is quite a common occurrence for those who have somehow achieved this.”

“…what? How does that work?” was all Sweetie could reply. Twilight sighed.

“It’s just to make things more convenient for the storyline. Don’t worry about it.”

“…uh, okay, I guess.” Sweetie Belle still had no idea what that alicorn was thinking.

“Damn it, Twilight. You’re not Pinkie Pie, you can’t just break the fourth wall like that,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Enough already, let’s just continue on with the story,” moaned Rarity.

“Yes, lets. Anyway, like I was saying, after Scootaloo put the horn cuff on you, the magical energy immediately dispersed from your body, thus causing it to lose its focal point so it could no longer cause ponies to climax. This left it exposed without having any pony to hold hostage, so I was finally able to properly disperse it, thus putting an end to this little nuisance of ours,” explained Twilight.

“After it left your body, I realized that you had quite the fall beneath you. That’s where I flapped my wings as hard as I could and I caught you just in time,” bragged Rainbow Dash.

“When Rainbow set you two down on the ground, we realized that you were unconscious so, Rainbow, Rarity and I brought you here to the hospital,” added Twilight.

“- where you’ve been asleep for two whole days. I’m so relieved to see you awake right now,” said Rarity, now giving her sister a hug.

“You were also quite… messy and I had to head straight home to shower right after that. I swear I can still feel it all over my fur. Ughhh,” said Rainbow Dash, shivering a little in disgust.

“I offered to help clean you up, but Rarity wouldn’t let me,” said Twilight, smirking.

“It was for your own good, you know,” dead-panned Rarity. Twilight giggled in response to her retort.

“So… it’s finally over? I’m free?” whispered Sweetie Belle.

“You’re free,” confirmed Twilight. Sweetie merely sighed at this and shut her eyes before Twilight continued.

“However, I’m still trying to study those mushrooms we got from your room, and I’m still not sure how they work. They’re quite simply some of the most mysterious and fascinating things I’ve ever had a chance to experiment with!”

“Have you at least discovered anything worth telling us about them?” asked Rarity. Twilight frowned.

“No, not really. I can tell they’re quite peculiar and contain an impressive amount of magical energy, but other than that they just seem like regular mushrooms.”

“That’s because they ARE regular mushrooms, just with a bit of chaos magic added,” came a new voice seemingly out of nowhere before its owner magically appeared in the room. Discord was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat and was carrying a brown suitcase. All at once, Sweetie, Twilight, Rainbow and Rarity exclaimed.

“DISCORD?!”

“Yes, yes. It’s me. I’m sorry about all the troubles my little… experiment have caused you… but you have to admit they were at least little bit fun, right?”

“Wait… what?” said Sweetie Belle, now even more confused than before. Discord sighed before offering his explanation.

“Allow me to explain. Sometime before I was turned to stone by the Princesses, I was trying to come up with ways to create even more chaos. What I ended up coming up with was what I call, parasitic chaos with hilarious effects or PCHE. I applied the magic to some mushrooms and they started to spread across Equestria. Specifically what this magic does is it uses the mushrooms to spread out and find ponies to prey on. Once they find a target, they observe it for a little while to determine what the best type of chaos to inflict on that particular pony would be. It then attaches itself to its target and every time that chaos is inflicted, it gets stronger. My guess is that Sweetie Belle here was doing something naughty while this instance of PCHE was in its observation state before it took action.” Upon hearing that last sentence, the group of ponies, along with Discord turned to stare at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie blushed in reaction and pulled up the covers of the hospital bed to hide her face in shame. Twilight face hoofed before Discord continued.

“After observing them do their thing for a while, I realized that I may have given them too much power as they started to actually kill ponies in numerous, gruesome ways. I am a master chaos and confusion, not death and murder! So I did my best to round up all the affected mushrooms I could find, but I failed at destroying them all before I was defeated by the princesses and turned to stone. I could have helped you all out way before it got as bad as it did, but I was on vacation in another dimension this past week.”

“Well… that solves that mystery, I guess,” commented Rainbow Dash.

“I suppose you’ll need to destroy the mushrooms I have then?” asked Twilight, to which Discord answered with a nod.

“That is… unless you want more chaotic fun; I’ll just have to step in before it gets deadly this time.”

“That won’t be necessary, Discord.” Meanwhile, during this conversation, the nurse had been taking the time to take Sweetie Belle’s vitals. When she finished, she reported her results to the other ponies.

“Huh, it seems that Sweetie Belle is in remarkably good health despite all that’s happened. I suspect we’ll be able to release her from the hospital after a meal and a good night’s rest, just to be sure.” Sweetie Belle smiled tiredly, sighed and laid back down into her pillows.

“That reminds me… is there possibly anything you could do to help out our little friend Scootaloo here?” asked Rainbow, trotting over to her bedside. Discord looked at Scootaloo’s calm, peaceful face and thought for a moment, before a light bulb literally appeared above his head.

“I got it!” he exclaimed before he snapped his fingers causing Scootaloo to suddenly be dressed in a chicken costume. This did nothing to affect her condition overall however. Rainbow Dash face-hoofed.

“Nooo, I meant if there’s anything you could do to get her out of this coma. Your chaos magic caused this after all!” Discord frowned at this.

“I may be THE master of chaos, but even I am unable to meddle with something like this,” he said as he snapped his fingers once again to remove the chicken suit, “I’m afraid you’re all just going to have to wait and see if she wakes up.”

After a little bit more idle discussion, and a much needed meal for Sweetie, the nurse commanded that it was time for her to get some much needed rest and she ushered the adult ponies plus Discord out of the room.

“Tomorrow, huh? Tomorrow, I can at least get my life back in order finally… but what about Scootaloo?” Sweetie whispered to herself.

Once Sweetie was finally alone, she snuck out of her hospital bed, ignoring the soreness of her body, and tip hoofed to Scootaloo’s bed side. She was lying on her back with the covers pulled up to her chest. She looked so calm, peaceful… and even a bit cute to Sweetie. She smiled upon seeing this, but then a sudden worry caused her heart to drop to the pit of her stomach: will she ever wake up at all, and if their dream world was truly connected, did that mean she could meet and speak with her again after she fell asleep?

“Only one way to find out,” she whispered to herself. Without thinking, Sweetie Belle got a certain urge to give the sleeping Pegasus a quick peck on the forehead.

“Goodnight, Scoots.” At that, Sweetie finally turned herself around and got back into bed. She closed her eyes gently and let out a yawn. It wasn’t long before she fell into a normal, deep slumber.

***

“Ah, so is that what happened? It was all because of Discord and now I’m… in a coma?” asked Scootaloo rhetorically.

“Yep, and I guess our dreams are connected somehow, at least according to Twilight. Still a little fuzzy on the details though…”

“Eh, don’t worry about that. Worry about whether or not I’m ever going to wake up at all! I’ve heard about some ponies that were comatose for years!”

“You’re right Scoots,” Sweetie Belle sighed, “I mean… at least we can still talk like this, right?”

“Yeah… but if I’m not around, who’s going to make sure that my mom is okay? Does she even know where I am?”

“I asked the nurse about that and she said they were somehow unable to contact her. I hope she’s okay…”

“If anything, she’s probably too busy with her jobs to even notice everything that happened a few days ago,” said Scootaloo, looking down at her hooves. Sweetie Belle simply stared at Scoots with sad eyes, not sure how to respond. After a few moments of silence, Sweetie sighed, slid herself over to Scootaloo’s side, wrapped her hooves around her and pulled her cheek into her muzzle. Scootaloo immediately blushed as her breath was taken away in surprise.

“S-Sweetie Belle?!”

A moment later, Sweetie Belle pulled her face back a bit to allow Scootaloo to turn hers to look at her straight into her mature, emerald eyes.

“I think you need a little bit of… confidence. Yeah, something special to help keep you going. I did not stay by your side this much only to see you fail. We can make it out of this together, Scoots, no; we WILL make it out of this together completely alive and not comatose!” Scootaloo smiled a bit. The cheesiness in Sweetie’s little speech was blatant, but Scootaloo appreciated it none the less.

As their lips got a little bit closer each second, the heart rate of the little hearts beating in their chests increased and their lungs inhaled and exhaled even more to accommodate the sudden change of mood between them. Finally, after the suspense had built up sufficiently, they connected, at first with basic contact, but soon will full force as their lips spread to allow the other’s tongue entry to their saliva filled mouths. Scootaloo, now filled with ecstasy, whimpered and moaned into Sweetie’s throat, only to receive a similar answer from her partner. A few moments later, they finally came up for air and Sweetie Belle made sure to inform Scootaloo of something.

“D-don’t take this as me accepting to be your filly friend… I’m only doing it because we’re in a d-dream and you need s-some motivation!” stuttered Sweetie Belle, blushing even more when she realized how obvious she was sounding.

“Yeah, sure,” teased Scootaloo, with a subtle smirk. Finally recovered, the two fillies once again reconnected their lips and the moaning and breathing only increased.

Suddenly, a strange emotion erupted in Sweetie Belle’s chest, it got stronger and stronger until it was no longer easy to ignore and pass off. This caused her to gently push Scootaloo’s mouth away, thus leaving a long strand of saliva to dangle between their mouths before finally splitting apart.

“Scoots… I feel… strange?”

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘strange’?”

“I-I don’t know. There’s just this strange feeling in my chest that I’ve never felt bef-“ started Sweetie Belle before they were interrupted by the floor disappearing beneath them once again causing them to fall and screaming into darkness once again.

***

Sweetie Belle woke up suddenly, gasping and covered in sweat. She took a few seconds to calm herself down before looking around the room. It was already morning, and looking at her bedside clock, she saw that it was around 7:30 in the morning. Everything seemed normal… except for her chest. The strange feelings that she experienced only a moment ago in her dream remained. Other than that though, it was clear that she felt well rested and her body no longer ached. Quickly, she got out of bed and started to trot around the room, hoping that doing so would help shake that feeling off. It wasn’t really painful, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant either, hence her insistence and desire to get rid of it.

Finally, after about ten minutes of moving around, Sweetie Belle noticed yet another peculiar aspect of this feeling. Whenever she was facing and looking at Scootaloo, who was still in a deep slumber, the feeling in her chest got more extreme and evident. This evidence made her realize something.

“Am I… could I be… love sick for Scootaloo? It… couldn’t be. This feels too abnormal to be something like that,” she thought to herself as she slowly approached her bedside yet again. Sweetie Belle stared at her face, and continued staring for a few minutes, not moving an inch and not having much thought either. Though, through that entire time, her heart continued to throb and pump her blood throughout her body with the confusing, unnatural sensation infesting it. Suddenly, without thinking, Sweetie Belle climbed up onto the bed and stood herself directly over Scootaloo. Cautiously she brought her face lower and lower. She was close enough to her now that Scootaloo’s scent entered her nostrils. It smelled like the usual sporty Scootaloo, but with a bit more mustiness and sweat. This did not hinder what she was, for unknown reasons, was attempting to do.

Finally, Sweetie’s anticipating lips, now in full reality, hit their target. Her first impression of the taste was that clearly, Scootaloo hadn’t brushed her teeth in a while and the flavor of her breath and lips were subliminal, yet she didn’t care. All that mattered at that moment was for her to put all of her heart and soul into Scootaloo and for what reason, she had no clue. Her mind simply had taken over.

That is, until the Pegasus under her suddenly let out a gasp and the feeling inside Sweetie vanished in a split second. It wasn’t long before Sweetie’s free will was returned to her and her eyes reopened to find two large purple discs staring right back at her. There was a silence and lack of movement for a moment. Finally, Scootaloo, with hoarseness in her, voice spoke up.

“S-Sweetie B-Belle?” Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but display a large smile on her face.

“Scootaloo!” she cried out, wrapping her hooves around her. Scootaloo smiled softly and looked around the hospital room a little. She noticed the adjacent bed that had been described to her that was supposedly for Sweetie.

“W-why are you in my bed with me?”

“Uh… reasons?” replied Sweetie with a sheepish smile. At that, she immediately jumped down from the bed and leaned up against the side of it instead.

“You kissed me didn’t you, even though I was comatose…”

“What? N-no, I would never…”

“Nah, your eyes say it all. But, don’t worry Sweetie. Even when I’m not conscious, you’re allowed to kiss… and touch me aaaaanyyyywhere you like.” Scootaloo giggled again at the reaction she was getting. Sweetie was a bright red tomato by now.

“Geez, Scoots, you’re not making my confusion any easier. Wait… you’re awake now. Thank Celestia, but this seems a little… anticlimactic? I thought we would be going at this for a while.” At that comment, a certain alicorn princess flew into the view of the only window in the room, smiling like an idiot.

“Hooray for plot convenience!” Subsequently, Rainbow Dash also flew into view, an annoyed grimace on her face. She rolled her eyes, put a hoof on Twilight’s back and pushed her down out of view. Neither Sweetie Belle nor Scootaloo talked for a moment before hearing the approach of hooves outside their door.

“Okay Sweetie, rise and shi- OH!” said the nurse before being surprised to see Scootaloo had finally awoken. She walked over to the bed side and immediately started taking her vitals. “When did you wake up?!”

“Like, five minutes ago. It was probably the best awakening I’ve ever had…” said Scootaloo. Suddenly, yet another set of galloping hooves were heard outside the door and it slammed open to reveal a frantic Sky Flyer.

“Scootaloo!!! You’re okay!!!” she cried as she went to Scootaloo’s bedside to hug her daughter tightly.

“Somehow…”

“I’m so sorry I took so long to get to you. I had to go down to Manehatten for business reasons and when I got back early this morning a coworker told me all about what happened.”

“It’s the strangest thing,” started the nurse, “her vitals are phenomenal considering all that she’s been through.”

“What happened to her, nurse?”

“When we received her from the princess, a friend of hers and Sweetie’s sister, she was completely unconscious. When we examined her, we discovered the reason for this to be a cause of magic. We had no idea when and if she would wake up… and what do you know she just happened to wake up just a few minutes ago.”

“I see… well thank you so much for taking care of my daughter. I suppose I’ll have to pay some hospital fees of some sort,” said Sky Flyer now looking nervous as she was completely unsure if she could even afford to pay them. The nurse merely smiled in return.

“You don’t need to worry about that at all, miss. The princess took care of all the hospital fees for these two.”

“Oh wow, I’ll have to thank her sometime.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other and smiled. Things seemed like they were finally going to go back to normal.

Author's Note

Whew, that was a long one. But I finally managed to wrap up a lot of things and this means... that there will be only 1 more chapter, an epilogue, before this year and a half long project is done! I may need to celebrate somehow.

If you've been reading this since the beginning, thank you so much for your dedication and your viewership!