Drinks Are On Us

"... something's wrong... something's happened..."

Applejack paced back and forth in front of Sugarcube Corner, biting her thumb, her shirt tight against her bust. Each one was well over the size of her own head. She still hadn't had the chance to pump yet, had in-fact skipped out on emptying herself that evening to meet with Berry. But that had been a couple of hours ago.

"She's late... she's way late. Ah ain't likin' th' feel of this." she was grousing out-loud to herself, glancing back and forth between a street clock on the corner, and the disappearing sun. "What should ah do... should ah go t' Twi, go t' Berry's house t' see if she went home, or do ah go inside an' make a scene..." she looked up into the sky, searching. "Y'know, now would be a real good time t' show me a sign o' some sort..."

"Aaaappllllllejaaaaack!!" came a cry from up the street.

"Thank you." she quietly whispered to the air, before turning to intercept the calling pony.

It was Lemon Hearts, fresh out of breath, with a broken half of a glass jug in her hand. "Ayjay!... Berry!... Well!... Gone!"

"Woah woah, slow down sugarcube." She grasped the unicorn by the shoulders, steadying her. "Pull yourself together filly. Tell me what happened. Where's Berry?"

"Ah... ah... I don't know. She's vanished too, Applejack. First it was Sweetie, and now her. And all after she had me distract everyone too..."

"Distract?"

"Yeah... Applejack, there's a cellar underneath Taps. We saw it being dug out when they first tore the old shop down. But we couldn't find any stairs leading down into it. Then... Berry had an idea, that the fake well in the floor, might be the entrance instead."

"Ah remember Berry tellin' me 'bout it when she first saw it... it's in th' floor? In th' middle of everything?"

"That's right. So... she had me run a distraction. Played a rotten trick too." She held up the half of jug that she was still gripping by the handle. "There's no peppermint oil anywhere in this."

"O-okay, so, you distracted everypony, while she checked th' well out. Then what?"

"When I got back, she was gone. I couldn't see any sign of her, and before I could go looking for her, Miss Vanilla told everyone to go home. We've closed early tonight." She looked down the street, and then back to AJ. "Berry said she was going to be meeting with you. I-I thought you'd know what to do."

The farm mare stood up straight, adjusting her stetson. "... okay. Lemon, sugarcube. Go get Twilight. Tell her everything you told me, and then you tell her that ah've gone in after'em, cause that's exactly what ah'm gonna do."

Lemon fidgeted with the glass handle in her hands. "A-are you sure you don't need any other help? I-I mean, I could-"

"Ah'll be fine, hon. Th' only thing ah think ah'll need are th' keys. Other than that, you stick tight to Twi, y'hear? Back her up when she comes chargin' in, cause ah've got a feelin' ah might need it."

She looked as if she wanted to argue the point further, but at length bowed her head, and nodded. Surrendering her keys to the store, she then took off down the street, shouting a 'Be careful!' behind her.

Applejack nodded, and then set off jogging in the opposite direction. The fire of determination and anger was only tempered a little by the heavy bouncing of her bust with each step, the thought in her head being Ah really shoulda pumped first.

She knew where it was, and she knew how it looked outside. Getting inside through the staff entrance was easy. However, she had truthfully, never stepped inside of Taps before now.

Applejack found herself goggling like a yokel at the decor, the polished tile and plush furnishings. And yet, just as Lemon had said, there was the mock-up of the well, in the center of the floor. It stood out like an orange in a bushel of green apples.

This is where Berry was last. she thought to herself, squinting through the dim club lighting at the facade. Getting down onto one knee, she felt along the stones, tapping at each one. It would take her a couple of minutes before she found the same loose one that her friend had.

She jumped when it wiggled under her finger. Gingerly touching it, finding that it was lose, she finally came to the correct conclusion, and pushed it in with a 'click'. Under the well's covered platform, machinery began to hum, as it descended. She stared at it, before briefly going 'Oh', then leaping onto the pole and sliding down to catch up.

It was dark down there. But even without light, she could hear heavy breathing going on. Still descending, she then called out. "Hey! Is anypony down here?"

"... Ayjay?" came Berry's voice. It sounded strained, and a fair distance away. "AyJay, is that you?"

"Yes Berry, it's me!" she replied. "Where are you, I can't see!"

"Yer gonna haveta speak up AyJay, they've got these turned all the way up. I can barely hear you."

"AH SAID AH CAIN'T SEE A BLASTED THING!"

"There's a light switch behind the lift. Don't gawk too much, okay?"

She didn't know what her friend was referring to, but eventually the lift neared the bottom, and she found the switch, flicking it on. A quick survey of the newly-lit surroundings then told her exactly what she was referring to.

"Oh mah Celestia!"

Sweetie Sunrise was in still the same position and size that she had been found in earlier. But AJ got a double-whammy, as she spied Berry also bound tight in black braces, suspended in much the same pose as the pegasus had been. She too, had been blindfolded, and earphoned.

And, dangling below her body, gargantuan lavender breasts hung, having swollen to tremendous sizes equal to Sweetie's own. They too had pumping cups hooked to the nipples, draining gallon after gallon of merlot from within. And from the lack of shrinkage, AJ assumed that those immense mounds must have been producing at the same rate they were being drained.

"Remember back a month or so ago, we talked about crazy ponies kidnapping us and using us as personal drink factories?" she asked, short of breath, but apparently well enough to joke a little. "Turns out, that's exactly Tap's modus operandi. How bad is it? They've got me hooked up to their supertanker over there, it's keeping the pressure steady, but damn," she bit her lip. "I've never felt so full before. Care to get me down?"

"... O-Oh, right! Heavens t' Betsy, hold on!" The farmmare leapt from the platform, and dashed towards one of the many scaffolding-staircases they had against the wall. Pulling it out, she near-carried the metal assembly over beside Berry, shimmying up the steps as fast as possible. "Ah'm comin' sugarcube, hang on. Oh Celestia, your mare is going to have mah flank fer this!"

"Your flank? Whaddya think she's gonna do to me?" The overburdened wine mare laughed as she was reached. "Get this blindfold off, I wanna see what state I'm in. And then try to get the earphones. They're chanting our trigger words on loop, but it gets old, fast."

Applejack acquiesced, hands fumbling a little before the cloth fell away. Berry blinked, squinted, and then looked down to see a landscape hanging from her chest. "Ooooooh myyyyy Celestee-ah. Is all that me? No wonder they're so sore. Sun and moon both. Y' think they'd have remembered to add a vibe to all this equipment, I could use it right now."

"Sooo not goin' there, sugarcube." was the reply. "How do ah get these new-fangled things off? Looks like they're locked on."

"Then pull the cord if you can-... uhoh." Berry tilted her head, nodding off to the side. "AJ, company."

A door embedded in a corner of the room near the lift had opened up. The three goons from before poured out of it, arranging themselves in a triangle formation. And then, sauntering out behind them, with full pale-blue cleavage and beauty mark on display, came Vanilla Vodka, once more in full evening wear.

"Miss Applejack!" she called out, faux surprise dripping from her voice. "How delightful to see you drop by!"

"Vanilla Vodka." AJ spat, standing up straight and glaring down at her from atop the scaffold. "Kidnapping ponies an' forcing them t' lactate against their will? Just exactly what kind of scam are you trying to pull!?"

"My 'scam', as you've so brashly called it." the pale unicorn cooed. "Is simply business, pure and simple. Oh, I may have had to lace my spell with a little extra employee loyalty insurance, and I may have had to usurp a mare's budding drinks franchise here and there, and I may have had to make a few mares, annoying or not, go away. Changed into something more beneficial, giving me yet another steady influx of bits... but, as they say. 'Success is not Easy'."

"Y'all ain't got a single bone o' shame in that body o' yours, do yah?"

"If I did, Miss Applejack, I would have had it removed long ago." Cold blue eyes met fierce emerald ones. "Your opinions of how I run my business do not concern me. The only thing I desire, is profit. And you, Miss Applejack... things would have been so much easier, if we had been able to come to an agreement the civilized way... But, you refused my offer, and so, I am afraid that I am going to have to fall back on more uncouth methods."

"Y'all're actually gonna try an' catch me?"

"Indeed, Miss Applejack. You are a Natural Talent, and as such, are an asset that I cannot let escape. You are mine, Applejack, and I will not be denied. Seize her!"

The goons launched into action, surrounding the scaffolding AJ was balancing on. The mare, no stranger to heights, simply leapt off the top step and over the trio, landing behind them with a slam that shook the foundation. Not waiting for them to regain their balance, she struck a leg out in a sweep, sending Goon #2 flying head over hooves.

The other two rounded about, and closed on her. Goon #1 sent a punch flying, but she dodged and weaved under it, before slamming a knee in his gut. #3 attempted a tackle, but she was ready, spinning and kicking out, a mighty applebucking leg connecting and sending the stallion flying. Even then, #2 came around again, charging towards her, to which she responded with an uppercut to his chin.

Berry could barely believe her eyes. Applejack was successfully holding them off, repeatedly. Though they kept tossing themselves at her again and again, she ducked, weaved, kicked, and danced her way through their charges.

It was during one such charge from #1 when the orange mare vaulted over him, and landed on his back. "Let's see how you city slickers handle a real rodeo!" she shouted, giving him a solid kick in the flank. He yelped, and then took off, galloping across the floor as she drove him by his collar, free hand waving her hat in the air. "YEEEEEEE-HAAAAA!!"

The last two stallions were caught off guard as their ringleader was driven right into them. Vanilla winced as the sound of crashing bowling pins echoed through the cellar. "What are you buffoons doing!? How can a country hick be giving you so much-"

She had to stop, as AJ had suddenly come flying out of the dust in her direction. Glancing about quick, her horn lit up, and a locker of equipment became enveloped in blue, torn from its fastenings and brought over just in time to block a kick aimed at her face.

As the goons staggered back to their feet, the two mares sparred, the unicorn hovering the locker in weighty sweeps and strikes. While the stouter pony could easily dodge these, she was having a hard time landing a hit of any kind against the slender socialite. Both of them wore equally determined expressions upon their muzzles.

At last, the farmpony landed a sweep that tore the battered locker from Vanilla's telekinetic grip. Before she could move, a goon leapt on her back, followed by a second, followed by a third, trying to weigh her down. All three were more than surprised when she stood up under them, and then tossed them off, scattering them all around her.

Applejack focused on the pale mare one more time. The latter's expression was livid... but then, her lips turned into a wicked grin.

Too late, AJ felt the tingling of magic gripping the underside of her bust. A bust that up to then, despite their watermelon size, had stayed put and out of the way during the entire fight, only staining her shirt through some of the more intensive spins.

The last thing she saw was her own cleavage rushing up to smack her in the face, Vanilla having tossed them up and against her with her magic. Not for the first time, the thought came across her mind. Ah really, really should have pumped first.

"... that's it, good and tight... no, leave the blindfold off, I want her to see what we're going to turn her into-... oh! She awakes~"

Applejack groaned, her face stinging, with a corresponding soreness in the top of her breasts. It took her a few seconds of haziness before she felt a jostling at her legs. She attempted to turn over to look, but found that she couldn't. With that realization, she woke up in a hurry.

One of the goons was putting the finishing touches to the bindings on her legs. She too, had become bound and suspended from the ceiling, the third in a row next to Berry and Sweetie. Her shirt and vest had been stripped away, and as she looked down, she saw that a pair of pumping cups had already been secured over her nipples. Looking this way and that, struggling, she could feel a weight on her head. Earphones, though for the moment, they remained quiet.

"Ah-ah-ah, it's no use, Miss Applejack." Vanilla chided from below. "Those straps would have bound even mighty Cerberus. Not exactly cheap, but a worthwhile investment for the returns I'm going to make from you."

"Ngh... m-make from me?" AJ replied, still trying to flex her legs. "A-Ah still don't know what yer game is..."

"It's their real gig." Berry spoke again, looking over at her as best as she could from beside her. "The bars and boobs and stuff are all well and good, but they're not the real moneymakers, are they, Miss Bumpertits? It's mares like me and AJ, and poor fillies like Sweetie, who drive your profits. Why spend millions on building a soda factory, when you can seduce and induce and then bottle their produce, with zero investment and a one hundred percent profit margin? Who cares if fillies with names like Strawberry Fields go missing, as long as Strawberry Daiquiri is sold in every Taps location and liquor store in Equestria?"

The blue unicorn narrowed her eyes at the wine mare, who glared back, even in her precarious position. "I would like to know how you came across that name." she hissed, before giving a shrug. "But no matter. You are correct of course. When calculated in the eyes of business, one must always struggle to find the most optimal solution, given the resources available. Sometimes, these resources give of themselves willingly, only wanting to enjoy what they're able to do." She gestured at Sweetie, who remained in blissful ignorance, lost in the sensation of overproduction.

"Sometimes, other resources are simply ponies who have gotten too nosy for their own good, having been repurposed to benefit the enterprise instead." she made a pointed glare again at Berry, before turning once again to the apple mare. "But sometimes, a resource appears that you must simply take no matter the cost, for their contribution is compounded beyond all reckoning. You, Miss Applejack, are that kind of resource. Not only are you a Natural Talent, not only is your production on a scale beyond the spell I am able to wield, but your produce is nothing less than Sweet Apple Acre's very own famous Apple Cider, is it not?"

Applejack did not deign to answer that, her face a mask of anger, even as her bust swelled a bit more from the utterance. "Y'all made a rum deal decidin' t' build in Ponyville. This ain't th' big city, where you can handwave a disappearance away. Ponies are gonna come lookin' fer us, y' know. Me, Berry, Sweetie, we've all got friends, an' they're not gonna stop, ah can guarantee you that!"

Vanilla waved a dismissive hand in the air, only half-listening. "Hidden Deal and I will handle it, if it comes to that. We've always managed in the past. I don't see any reason why we won't now. Is she secure?"

"Yes Miss Vanilla ma'am." the goon next to AJ saluted, bounding down from the scaffolding ladder and pulling it away, leaving the mare hanging by herself. As the goons all arranged themselves behind the electrical equipment beside their boss, both blondes shared another glare, the unicorn leaning back to do so, her bust lifted equal to her chin as she gave one last gloat.

"Miss Applejack... I hope you know, I'll be certain to take good care of your land. When ponies discover that Famous Sweet Apple Acre's Cider has joined up under the brand of Taps, that'll be a hefty shift in the landscape of the local economy. When the Acre's land value dips down to pocket change, I'll be certain to buy up the whole shebang. And then? Hmmm... I have been considering the supermarket business. The only issue is that all those trees will be in the way of all the parking space I'll need~"

"You MONSTER!" Applejack cried out, straining against her restraints, causing herself to rock slightly. "You really don't have a single ounce o' shame in yah!"

"As well that I don't. How else would I enjoy putting virtuous 'family' mares in their place? Gentlecolts... begin!"

The three nodded, and began flicking switches. The farmmare winced, as the pumping cups sealed themselves against her breasts. In her ears, the headphones let off a 'ting', and then were quiet, before a steady slew of words began to fade in, the sound of a crowd of thirsty ponies, all chanting a single word. "Cider cider cider Cider Cider CIDER CIDER CIDER-!!"

The warmth built. She screwed her eyes shut. And then, her freckled breasts began to swell, at a rapid pace. The darkened nipples began spilling into the cups, and cider quickly began flowing down the hoses, into their own tank. Vanilla stood by and watched smugly, as those orange orbs continued to expand, their shapes rounded and taut, surpassing the size of beach balls and into beanbag territory, swiftly approaching equal size to Berry and Sweetie's own immense tanks.

And then, suddenly, a gurgling sound emitted from the pump. One of the shaded stallions quickly ran over to check on it, before looking up. "She's... she's overwhelming the pump, Ma'am, it can't keep up on default."

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Increase the strength!"

He turned a dial on the machine, and the smooth hum resumed. Still, even with the increased power, Applejack's tits continued to grow larger, reaching equal footing with the two other connected mares... and then, proceeding to swell beyond that. The mare attached to them was breathing hard, her face flushed against the clamor in her ears, and the ever-mounting tightness within her increasing bosom. "Ahhh... oh goddess... oh goddess oh goddess oh goddess..."

The pump began to gurgle again. "Turn it up higher!" Vanilla called out, her eyes riveted on the other mare's still-swelling form. "That's impossible... she can't be making that much, that fast, surely...?"

Heedless of the unicorn's words, Applejack's breasts did continue to produce at an exorbitant rate, the spheres now beginning to stretch out sideways as much as downwards. At length, Berry's eyes widened, as her friend's bust began pressing into the side of her own engorged tits. The tenderness of her taxed bosom prompted a moan to emerge from her lips at the contact, the apple mare following up with one of her own.

More gurgling sounded through the cellar. "Damnit... she's still outpacing the pump!"

"Then open it up! Turn it all the way!"

"Miss Vanilla, maybe we ought to cut out the chant feed?"

She didn't respond. She was mesmerized by the impossible sight of those breasts still swelling ever-larger right in front of her. "A-amazing..."

Applejack was breathing heavily, her tongue lolling in a pant, her eyes still screwed shut. She didn't need to see in order to tell just how large she was becoming. "Oh Celestia... oh my guh... oh Celestia... t-too... t-too much..."

Below her, still hanging from her ribcage, the immense cider tanks that were her breasts had become bigger than the pony they were attached to, way bigger than rolled bales of hay. Bigger even than the fluid tank that they were being drained into. Despite a story's worth of height, they continued to inch, down, down, towards the floor.

Vanilla Vodka boggled, stepping back as those mountains of freckled flesh finally made contact with the ground, the apple mare herself giving a long groan from the sensation of her heated, gargantuan breasts against the cold cement floor. "A-Aaaahhhhh... oh g-goddess! T-too much! E-enough already, ah'm gonna... a-ah'm gonna-!"

The cups were flooded with liquid gold. And the pump, turned all the way up on high, gave yet another gurgle, this one longer and uglier-sounding than the last. The goon next to it peered down, his jaw going slack.

"What is it?" one of the other stallions asked. "Did she outpace it again!?"

"... not just that..." he looked up at the storage tank the pump was connected to. Streams of amber were leaking from its seams. "... the tank... is full."

A beat followed, as the unicorn whispered to herself. "... magnificent."

And then, Applejack screamed, as the cups exploded from her nipples, every pore upon those dark teats and areola opening up and erupting into great geysers of cider, fountaining like bottomless hydrants of gold, the streams traveling high into the air from the forces at work inside those titanic tits. Berry let out a gasp at her own mounds were splattered with it, the sheer overwhelming spray reaching far and wide across the cellar. At the rate they gushed, the freestanding occupants hardly had time to blink before they found themselves standing in a steadily rising pool of cider.

"W-we got this!" Goon #1 stammered, fiddling at the equipment before him. "A-all we gotta do is just turn the-"

The panel before him sparked, causing him to jump back, cider pooling around him. Looking about himself, he saw the reason why. Cider and electronics didn't mix.

All the pumps crackled and churned. One of the other cases of equipment sparked, and caught on fire. Suddenly, for all three bound mares, the cacophony of voices fizzed and wavered, before cutting off altogether. None of them now were being drained, but none of them were being triggered to produce continuously either.

"We can't stay here!" Goon #2 called out, as more equipment went up in sparks. "We're going to get electrocuted at this rate! Everyone out!"

All three stallions hoofed it over to the door they had initially poured out of, leaving their boss behind. Vanilla gazed about herself, and at Applejack and her impossibly bountiful breasts, as if in a dream, before taking a step, unsteady, disbelieving. Turning to join her cronies, she hiked her evening dress up, trying not to dirty it in the rising tide...

"... Hey, HEY. VODKA! Where do you think you're going, Vanilla VODKA?" Berry suddenly yelled out, watching the unicorn mare suddenly pause. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, VODKA! Things didn't work out, did they, VODKA? Gonna just turn tail and run, aren't you, VODKA? You and your martinis, your VODKA! VODKA VODKA VODKA!!"

The pale blue mare swayed upon the spot, as Applejack slowly came around again, trying to focus on her. Was she imagining things?... no, she wasn't. With every repetition of the word 'Vodka', Vanilla's already-tremendous bust... those mammaries already straining the fabric of her gown in the first place... began to swell larger, the creamy pale flesh and cleavage billowing up and over the gaping hem, beauty mark and all.

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Berry crowed. "You prefer ponies use your first name, cause your last name is your trigger! Yet you don't have any Taps-brand VODKA, do you, VODKA? Especially not any Vanilla Vodka! Let's see how you like having yourself being weighed down, VODKA VODKA VODKA!"

"Vodka!" the farmmare started to pitch in. "You're not going anywhere if we can help it, Vodka! Vodka VODKA VODKA!"

Rooted in place, the businessmare placed her hands over her ears, unable to block out the chanting as her breasts swelled larger, and larger... at length, she gave a cry, as her dress finally gave way, a *shhhrrriip* sounding out, her dark blue nipples revealed for the first time. And they sprayed, a colorless clear fluid that cut through the aroma of cider in the room, leaving the scent of vanilla in their wake.

"Oh hey," AJ took a moment to observe. "It is Vanilla. VODKA VODKA VODKA!"

"SHUT UP!" Vanilla screamed furiously, trying to gather as much of them in her arms as she could. But the mares did not let up, and even though she was spraying, she was not emptying fast enough. She only managed a few more steps towards the door, before her knees buckled, and gave way under her, sending her and her tits splashing in cider, each one now a beanbag in of themselves. Her horn lit in a futile attempt to lift them with her magic, but the weight, the production, and the spraying were proving to be distracting, unwilling to let her concentrate.

With a final surge, the blonde-maned unicorn's mammaries fully slipped out of her grasp, their weight pinning her to the ground. Immobile, she screamed again in rage at the two chanting mares, who only responded with more of the same.

"VODKA VODKA VODKA VODKA-!"

Hidden Deal was pacing nervously across the floor in front of the faux well. Vanilla was taking too long. He had seen the henchstallions clamber up out of the office, in an apparent hurry to jump ship, and he had noted in his small book to dock their pay. He wasn't budging until his business partner showed her face.

So it came as an extreme surprise to him when floodlights bathed the entrance of Taps, and then further shock as a magenta glow enveloped the door, before being ripped off its hinges by a none-too-happy-looking alicorn.

"Where are they?" demanded Twilight Sparkle.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the weaselly stallion demanded. "This is private property!"

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, royalty representative of Ponyville. Mr. Deal, I have a search warrant for the premises of Taps for two missing mares, possibly three. In addition, I have against your company, employee charges of criminal obsufication, non-consensual mind-altering spell usage, and, pending on what we find, criminal abduction and exploitation."

"You have no ground." he replied to her, stern. "These charges are unfounded, especially since they can only be submitted by an employee! And no employee of Taps has-"

"You're wrong, Mr. Deal." came another voice, Lemon Hearts stepping out from behind Twilight. "I'm making the charges. You pushed us to sign on the line, then gave me and my friends spells that messed with our heads, and now Sweetie and Berry are missing! How could I not file them!?"

"Young lady, when we are done, you are fired." was the only response Deal gave her, before refocusing on Twilight. "I refute these charges. Especially the one on abductions. On what grounds do you make those ridiculous assumptions?"

"No less than 27 missing pony cases made in the past three years all claim a common link that the mares involved were all Taps employees." She narrowed her eyes at him. "An anonymous tipper led us to believe a cover-up of massive proportions has been undertaken to hide these facts."

"Canterlot is a big city. Ponies go missing all the time. You can't seriously claim that one factoid to be the uniting factor!"

"That's what we're here to find out." Blue-jacketed police stallions filtered through the door behind Twilight, arranging themselves to either side of her. "Stand aside, sir."

"I will not! I refuse!" he snarled, even in the face of all the law enforcement behind her. "I did not spend fifteen million bits just to have our franchise undone by one sentimental foal! I forbid you, Twilight Sparkle, and your company, from carrying out your search, and I will take your charges straight to court myself!"

"Mr. Deal, with all due respect, what can you hope to do here? This building is on Ponyville land, and as such, land of Equestria and of the Diarchs, whose power I have been invested with."

"I," he drew himself up. "lay claim that the grounds of this building are separate from Equestria, and that we are independent of the Equestrian government." He reached into his jacket and withdrew a scroll, unfurling it before the princess. "Based on the letter of the law, we have legally identified ourselves as 'Tapstrotia', and have signed off on our own constitution and governmental order. This has been in the works for a long time you see, but with these papers, I proclaim that you, and the Princesses, have no power, and no jurisdiction here. I ask you all to leave, at once!"

Lemon boggled at the stallion's audacity. However, to her further surprise, Twilight did not budge. "If that's the case, then I invoke the Ponyville Directorial Mandate of Retroactive Independence, clause B-19, to be used only when lives are in danger. Ponyville, and all farms and lands within its postal code are now considered to be independent of the Princessess's lands of Equestria, and can now operate on its own, read, MY authority, automatically installing me as chief of state. My first act as Princess of Ponyville is to declare war on you, Tapstrotia, and to search your grounds for any evidence of the before-stated charges, which I am now treating as war crimes committed against our nation."

Hidden Deal gaped. "Y-... Y-You can't do that!! That's- I've never even heard of the Directorial Mandate of Ponyville! Y-you made that up!"

"Yesterday morning." Twilight agreed, levitating her own scroll and unfurling it, its edge reaching the floor. "Signed off and approved by the Mayor and the Princesses themselves."

"Just give it up laddie." one of the bobbiestallions spoke. "She's th' bleedin' Princess. Yer naught gonna get a hoof up on 'er."

The spindly unicorn looked at the stallion, then at the scroll, and then at Twilight again... before suddenly leaping at her as if to tear the document from her hands. He didn't get very far though, as the purple pony proceeded to slam her knee directly into his groin.

He crumpled to the ground, motionless, as she tossed her mane. "Rarity taught me that one. Mr. Deal, you are under arrest for the obstruction of an investigation. Okay boys. Let's find our friends!"

The colts fanned out, proceeding to shake down the establishment. Lemon took her hand, and started tugging. "Miss Vanilla's office is this way, maybe we can find something there!"

Accompanied by a couple of deputies, they opened the door of the office to find, to their surprise, a stairwell in the middle of the floor. It was located inside the sliding rails of a desk right behind it, the trapdoor left hanging open.

"Well..." Lemon started. "That's anticlimactic."

"Either they were that sure of themselves..." Twilight mused. "... or else, something's gone wrong. C'mon, let's go."

The group of ponies descended down the stairs, the steps winding around in some spots. Eventually, they saw a light at the end of the tunnel... and with it, the sounds of chanting, yelling, and arguing. They quickened their pace, dashing out through the door at the end... their hooves suddenly splashing into a foot's depth of cider.

Twilight and Lemon stared, and stared hard, while the stallions who had accompanied them suddenly tried to avert their gazes. Three mares bound and suspended from the ceiling were having a shouting match with a fourth mare on the floor. The fact that all these mares possessed breasts bigger than a full-grown pony did not help matters in the least.

"VODKA VODKA VODKA-... Twilight!" Applejack exclaimed, her face lighting up in joy. "See, ah told y'all they'd find us!"

"You took your sweet time, Twi!" Berry added, before nodding her head at the other mare in the floor. "That's her, Princess. The mastermind behind Taps! I've even got photos to prove it!"

The pale blue unicorn was a sorry sight, her streaked blonde mane and tail in a frazzled state, her eyes wide and bloodshot. She was on her knees, being held in place by a pair of enormous globes, a beauty mark upon the right one. Pure vodka sprayed from her nipples, the tips out of the reach of her hands. She had obviously been trying to corral them for a while now. The remains of her dress and gloves were completely soaked through.

The alicorn stepped forward, hands on her hips. She took another look around the room and its contents, the burning equipment, the silenced pumps, and the storage tanks in the back. Finally she looked the mare in the eyes. "Vanilla Vodka?"

She simply stared in reply, face like a deer stuck in headlights. The spray from her nipples intensified for a second. At length, she gave a single, sullen nod.

"Vanilla Vodka, I am Twilight Sparkle. By the power invested in me by the Diarchs of Equestria, I hereby place you under arrest."

An hour later, the police were finding their hands full, cataloging evidence, confiscating records, and in one case, unclogging drains. Twilight had recruited a couple of the mares in blue in helping her fully empty the tied ponies, and then bringing them down. She was busy doing that with Sweetie Sunrise first, who had finally become conscious, and was mightily confused about what had been happening.

"Good greif." Twilight seemed to be saying to herself over and over again. "Of all the rescues... this one takes the cake. And when this is all done, I have a Mayor to give her town back to as well..."

Berry and Applejack overheard her, but wisely decided to keep their voices quiet. They had a bit of time left anyways. This was the reason why, as they waited their turn, the wine mare looked over to the side with a grin. "So... how was it?"

"... what? H-how was what?"

"Don't play coy with me Ayjay. In case you haven't noticed, you're taking up a fair bit of the room. I should know." She rocked herself slightly, causing her still-engorged bust to sway, still pressed firmly against the flesh of AJ's own. When it passed, she flashed her smile again. "It's gotta feel good, bein' almost as big as a house~"

"Oh Berry, please." The apple mare's cheeks flushed red, even as she looked down at the massive freckled tanks that were resting on the floor. Tanks that were attached to her chest. Her own cleavage yawned before her, deep enough to actually hide a pony inside...

"You're thinkin' about it even now, aren't you?"

"... m-maybe... oh hush don't give me that."

"Give you what? Hey mare, nothin' t' be ashamed of. Just like I said earlier. They shoulda stuck vibes in our pants before they strung us up."

"Oh my goddess Berry, please shut up."