The Mistress of Midnight Castle
The Mistress of Midnight Castle
"Delivery for Miss Twilight Sparkle!"
At the sound of the doorbell, Twilight clopped her hooves together in joy. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!" she cried. "It's finally here!!" She galloped to the door and opened it - but the delivery pony had already left, and sitting on the doorstep to the Library was a small box stamped with the radiant sun symbol that indicated it had come all the way from Canterlot.
Twilight stifled a cry of delight and quickly floated it inside with her magic, undoing the string as she did so, and as soon as the box touched the floor it fell open, spilling out a small amount of wood-shavings - and with them a little purple velvet bag tied up with gold lace.
Twilight giggled and dusted the wood-shaving from the pouch with her nose and then took it up in her mouth, sneaking a quick sniff of its sweet scent which emanated even through the pouch's material. She quickly carried it over to the kitchen counter, using her magic to float her favourite teapot over to her and put the kettle on at the same time. Then Twilight's horn glowed even brighter and the lace on the little pouch undid itself and the pouch opened, disgorging more of the sweet scent. She levitated it over the teapot, tipping it so that the sweetly-scented dried leaves and petals flowed out.
Every month the pouch of sunrise poppy tea she ordered from that little tea-shop she'd found near the markets in Canterlot cost a substantial part of her allowance, but it was always absolutely worth it! The sunrise poppy made one of the most perfumed and subtly delectable teas in all of Equestria, but it was extremely expensive. The poppy wasn't rare exactly, but it grew on the precipitous cliffs of the mountainside above Canterlot Castle which were only accessible by air, and it required both Pegasus and unicorn ponies to harvest it - and it was a difficult and time-consuming job. The unicorn ponies would locate the best flowers just at the perfect stage of blossoming, while the Pegasus ponies would fly them to the inhospitable spots where they preferred to grow.
Soon a shrill whistle indicated that the water had boiled, and Twilight levitated the kettle over to her teapot, filling it with the piping hot water. The Library's musty air immediately came alive with delicate sweetness, and Twilight could barely wait for the tea to steep.
But soon it was ready. She poured a cup and sat down on the couch to drink it - and with the first sip she felt all her cares slip away. It was the magic of the sunrise poppy that it brought calm and gentle elation to those who drank the tea made of its leaves and flowers - and two cups was usually more than enough for Twilight to start relaxing and actually become quite giggly. Celestia had first prescribed it for her as a student at the Academy, when she'd was so worked up and stressed by her exams that she'd suffered from terrible insomnia - and the Princess with a wink had told Twilight that it would be a perfect cure for her student's famed grouchiness as well.
The warmth of the tea and its gentle flavour infused Twilight's body and she felt herself unwinding. The muscles in the back of her neck, which had seized up after several hours of being bent over her lectern unknotted of their own accord and she sighed.
"This is certainly good tea!" she giggled. It usually took three or more cups to make her feel as good as she did now! She quickly polished off the first cup and had just got up to pour a second when she suddenly felt dizzy.
"I think I got up too quickly... I'd better -"She yawned hugely, "-lie down before I fall over or...some... th..." But as she moved back towards the couch, she suddenly slumped to the ground, unconscious, the teacup dropping from where her magic had held it floating in the air and smashing on the floor.
Moments later, one of the Library windows opened up a crack, and a rough, grey-blue paw appeared - and then another beside it - and soon they were joined by a squat head with sharp ears and narrow almond-shaped eyes, the pupils of which flashed left and right as it surveyed the inside of the library.
"Good!" said the Diamond Dog. "No baby dragon!" He turned back to where his two compatriots were digging themselves out of the ground. "Quick! You two! Go in and get the pony!"
At the sharp cajoling of the boss Dog, the other two Diamond Dogs followed him in through the window and soon they were encircling the comatose Twilight. But as the boss Dog looked down at her and rubbed his paws together, he suddenly noticed the larger of his companions sniffing about the bookcase and knocking over the books with a hungry and inquisitive paw, and he turned and slapped him across his wide head.
"No!" he snarled. "Forget the books! Get the pony!" At the barked orders of their boss, the bigger and smaller Dog each grabbed Twilight at one end and carried her out through the window with much pulling and pushing and muttering. "Quick! Before the baby dragon comes home! Or worse, the whining white pony!" He cringed at the memory, and leapt out through the window just as his companions were drawing Twilight down under the earth and into the tunnels they had sprung from. And then with a shower of dirt they were gone.
* * *
When Twilight woke up she had a splitting headache and she could barely open her eyes, they felt so heavy - but she forced them open all the same when she realised she was lying on cold stone and was no longer in the Library. Bust just where in Equestria was she?
As she looked about at her surroundings, she had a sudden attack of vertigo and felt sick to her stomach - but she closed her eyes until the nausea passed, and when she opened her eyes her wavering double vision had resolved itself. The first thing she saw was a grey stone wall and along it torches burning in sconces producing a fitful, flickering orange light. But when she turned her head in the other direction, she saw something that made her clamber to her feet in a panic and stumble back against the wall behind her. A Diamond Dog! And there was another! They were holding spears and leered at her from under their armoured helmets, and between them were visible the bottom steps of a lofty staircase cut from the rock - and as Twilight painfully lifted her throbbing head to bring her gaze to its top, an arrogant and sneering voice she knew all too well resounded throughout the cavernous chamber.
"So... you've awoken at long last!" laughed the silver-maned unicorn pony lounging on the throne at the top of the staircase. On either side of her an armoured Diamond Dog guard stood to attention, a vicious-looking spear clutched in his paw.
"Trixie!?" cried Twilight. "What...!? " With her mouth still dry from the drugging she found it difficult to get the words out. "What's the meaning of this!? Why have you brought me here?"
"Welcome to my lair, Twilight Sparkle!" laughed Trixie. "The Great and Powerful Trixie must apologise for the roughness of her guards - but she was sure you wouldn't accept a more formal invitation!"
Twilight made no reply, but steadying her wobbling legs, she lowered her head and pointed her horn up at the silver-maned unicorn. "Let me go, Trixie," she cried, as loudly as her drug-dry throat would let her. "And nopony - or Dog -gets hurt!"
Trixie laughed uproariously and the Diamond Dog guards stationed everywhere throughout the throne room joined in with their own harsh barking laughter. "Oh, my darling Twilight," She got up from her throne and starting to step gracefully down the staircase. "Trixie has not brought you here to harm you. Besides, using your magic at this particular juncture would be exceedingly foolish."
"What...what do you mean?" The look of arrogant confidence on Trixie's grinning face made Twilight's heart skip a beat.
Trixie laughed again. She had reached the bottom of the steps now. "You shall understand everything soon enough, my darling Twilight Sparkle! But please, look around you! Don't you recognise this place?" She reared up and threw her forelegs out expansively. "Of course you do! Welcome to Midnight Castle!"
"Midnight... Castle!?" Twilight took another step backwards. Surely Trixie was joking! "But... it's forbidden for anypony to even come within sight of Midnight Castle - by royal edict of Princess Celestia herself!"
"Oh?" Trixie chuckled. She was standing right before Twilight now and was considering her with an amused look. "And can you tell Trixie why it's forbidden by your beloved Princess, Twilight Sparkle? Perhaps you've read about it in one of those books you so adore?"
Twilight replied, her voice tinged with fear and anger. "You know as well as I do, Trixie. Midnight Castle was the lair of the evil being known as Tirek - and the last known resting place of the Rainbow of Darkness!"
"Very good, Twilight Sparkle," smirked Trixie. "It seems that you remember your lessons from Canterlot Academy as well as Trixie does..."
"But Trixie," Twilight's eyes flashed left and right, rapidly scanning for an exit - but even though there were a number of darkened archways leading out of the great throne room, they were all guarded by Diamond Dogs. "The Rainbow of Darkness is dangerous! It has the power to..."
Trixie's eyes flashed, and her smile fell suddenly away. "Do not lecture me on what is dangerous and what is not, Twilight Sparkle!" she cried, turning around and waving an expansive hoof about the throne room hoof and all the assembled Dogs. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is different from all other ponies, and the rules of your beloved Princess do not apply to her. It is the Great and Powerful Trixie who is now the Mistress of Midnight Castle - and soon she will hold the power of the Rainbow of Darkness as well!"
Twilight saw the look of megalomania in the silver-maned unicorn's eyes as she surveyed her domain and her heart sank. This was no longer the Trixie who had travelled Equestria as an arrogant stage-magician, but somepony else - somepony frightening.
When Trixie turned back to Twilight, she was again wearing a supercilious grin - and she lifted a forehoof to the lavender-coated unicorn's face, drawing it lovingly across her cheek and down along her neck - and Twilight, her mouth open in surprise at Trixie's touch, suddenly realised she was wearing some kind of collar around her neck.
"What... what is this?" whispered Twilight, bringing her own forehoof up to her neck. Trixie intercepted it with her own, and drew it to her mouth and kissed it - but at the touch of her lips, Twilight jerked the hoof away, her face a confusion of fear and embarrassment.
"Oh, the choker is just a little present from the Great and Powerful Trixie!" said Trixie. "And she must say that you look most fetching in it - the dark gem in its centre is the perfect counterpoint to your gorgeous violet eyes. But perhaps more importantly, it is also insurance, my dearest Twilight - for that gem has trapped within it a sliver of the Rainbow of Darkness!"
At Trixie's words, Twilight's hoof jerked away from the cold gemstone she could feel set in the choker's centre. "A... a sliver of the Rainbow of Darkness? But..."
Trixie raised an eyebrow. "And do you know what happens if magic is used in the proximity of even a very small fragment of the Rainbow of Darkness, Twilight Sparkle?" she asked with a gleam in her purple eyes.
Twilight swallowed. "It... it grows stronger."
Trixie chuckled. "Oh, Twilight Sparkle! You really are a clever pony - not in the same league as the Great and Powerful Trixie, but clever nonetheless! So she need not tell you what can occur to one who is exposed to the Rainbow of Darkness?" She grinned. "All sort of grotesque transformations! Why, who knows?" She indicated the Dog guards nearest to them with a sweep of a foreleg. "You might even end up turning into a Diamond Dog - and what a terrible fate that would be for such a beautiful pony!"
She laughed again, and the Dogs joined in, although some of the smarter Dogs put back their ears and started to whine, hurt by their mistress's insult.
Trixie turned on them and snapped "Oh quiet, you curs!" Then she clopped her hooves together and the three Dogs who had kidnapped Twilight appeared from one of the darkened archways.
"Yes, Mistress?" asked the boss Dog, bowing low with his long, simian forearms.
Trixie turned and smiled at Twilight, whose face had drained of all its colour at the revelations she had just heard. "Have Trixie's guest prepared and taken to my chamber - the Great and Powerful Trixie shall deal with her later."
The boss Dog snapped his claws together and the other two grabbed the squirming and struggling Twilight, lifted her onto their backs and carried her from the hall.
As she was taken away she heard Trixie's voice as she spoke to the boss Dog who had remained behind. "Have you found the rest of the Rainbow of Darkness yet?" she demanded.
"No Mistress," he answered.
"You worthless mutts!" Trixie shouted. "Redouble your efforts! There must be a larger piece somewhere beneath the castle. And once she has it, all of Equestria shall kneel before the hooves of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"
She laughed, and her laughter reverberated down the corridor Twilight was being carried down and she screamed back "Trixie! No! You don't know what the Rainbow of Darkness is capable of!"
* * *
As Twilight was carried along the corridor by the two Diamond Dogs, at first she fought back but in her drug-weakened state the blows of her hooves and the squirming of her legs did nothing but make the Dogs carrying her snigger in their coarse voices and so she gave up and let herself go slack, allowing herself to be carried without any further struggle.
Soon after, however, she'd decided to risk trying a little magic, just to check if Trixie had been telling the truth - but as soon as she began to feel the magical energy welling up within her heart and begin to travel up to her horn, there was a sharp and distinctly unpleasant sensation of prickling and burning around her neck and under the choker, centred upon the gemstone, so she immediately stopped.
So Trixie wasn't bluffing!
Twilight fought back the panic she suddenly felt at her predicament, and lay back to conserve her energy and calm down - there wasn't much more she could do now, but sooner or later there was sure to be an opportunity for escape. After all, she and her friends had outsmarted the Diamond Dogs before - she could surely do it again!
The Dogs carried her down a seemingly never-ending series of tunnels roughly dug out of the earth, and the farther they travelled the hotter it got. At last they came to the end of the tunnel where hot steam was billowing out of an arched doorway and they halted. The Dogs dumped Twilight on the ground and motioned for her to go inside.
"What... what is this place?" she asked fearfully. They weren't going to throw her into molten lava were they?
"This is the mistress's bathroom," explained the larger Dog. "The mistress said 'The Great and Powerful Trixie is no mangy Dog! The Great and Powerful Trixie needs a bathroom to keep herself fresh and beautiful!'"
The smaller Dog continued the story. "So we dug until we found hot water, and made bathroom!"
Twilight sighed. It seemed that Trixie had the Dogs totally under her hoof!
"Go, pony!" said the larger of the two, becoming steadily exasperated at her hesitation. "Wash yourself! The Mistress wills it!"
"Yes, the Mistress wills it!" repeated the smaller Dog.
Twilight got up off the ground. Her coat was covered in dirt and... surely they couldn't be fleas that were crawling on her? She shivered and then shook herself to dislodge the dirt and whatever else there was in her coat and scowled at the Dogs. "Why are you Diamond Dogs working for Trixie?" she demanded.
"The Mistress is all powerful!" said the smaller Dog.
"The Mistress promises us gold and jewels!" said the larger one.
Ha! Empty promises no doubt! "But has she given you any jewels yet?" asked Twilight, a surreptitious smile on her face.
The two Dogs looked at each other. "Well, not yet..." they admitted.
"Then why do you believe her?" Twilight pressed. This might just be the wedge she could drive between Trixie and her new allies!
"The Mistress is very, very persuasive," explained the larger Dog with a shrug.
"The Boss has seen the jewels," said the smaller Dog. "He said the Mistress showed him rubies and emeralds and sapphires and diamonds and rubies!"
"You already said 'rubies', you fool!" said the larger Dog, cuffing the smaller one.
Twilight nodded seriously - but inside she was leaping up and down in triumph. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to outsmart the Dogs after all. No doubt Trixie was using some kind of illusion to trick them. Well, she'd put an end to that as soon as she could!
"Hurry pony!" said the larger Dog. "Wash! The Mistress does not like delays!"
Twilight sighed and looked towards the doorway - well, the steam certainly was refreshing! And her coat felt filthy and crawled after being carried by the Dogs for so long through the dirt-filled tunnels. "Very well," she sniffed. She might as well have a bath while she worked out the best way to make use of her newly acquired knowledge!
Walking into the billowing clouds of moist steam, Twilight immediately found herself in a small natural cavern of what appeared to be limestone with a single oval-shaped pool in its centre ringed by a circlet of large, river-polished rocks. The water in it bubbled up continuously from an underground volcanic spring, and thick steam rose from the pool's surface, tinged by the soft blue-green light of the glow-worms hanging from the ceiling. Small patches of crystal poked from the walls and made a labyrinth of the reflections of the gently lapping water that flowed across the walls.
Twilight stood in awe at the eerie beauty of Trixie's bath for several moments, but then she trotted up to the pool and dipped a forehoof in to test the waters. It was hot, but not too hot, and she straight away slipped down into the water and relaxed. Twilight smiled - one thing you could say for Trixie - the mare knew how to live in style even in the bowels of the dreaded Midnight Castle!
Twilight must have fallen asleep, probably due to exhaustion and the lingering effect of the drug, for she was awoken by the harshly barked order of the larger Dog. "Get out, pony! Enough bath! Get dry!"
A fluffy towel was thrown to her, and grabbing it in her mouth she stepped regretfully out of the pool and dried herself - which was difficult, since she couldn't use her telekinetic powers like she was used to. Once done, she abandoned the sopping towel on one of the steaming rocks and stepped towards the archway - and something else was thrown at her, and she caught it this time in her fore-hooves. It was a robe.
"Get dressed! The Mistress waits for you!" said the smaller Dog.
"In this?" Twilight turned the almost-transparent robe silver-blue robe over in her hooves. It wasn't the sort of thing she usually wore! It was... well, sumptuous and elegant and... a little too frilly for her tastes. And it was made out of silk or some other gorgeous material and made her coat tingle when she touched it.
Twilight stared at the robe. What in Equestria could Trixie be thinking? Twilight was her prisoner - but weren't there supposed to be dank dungeons and clanking chains involved, rather than hot baths and beautiful robes? It made no sense whatsoever!
But then Twilight saw the impatience of the two Dogs - obviously they were afraid of The Mistress's temper - and she sighed and put the robe on, following the larger Dog as he led her back the way they had come, with the smaller guarding the rear.
With every step Twilight took, the whispery robe fluttered about her, rubbing all the way along her coat from her withers to her rump, and since she didn't usually wear clothes it felt maddeningly ticklish, especially when the material brushed up against her sensitive cutie-mark. She blushed, and closing her eyes she tried to concentrate on blocking out the tingling feelings that the rubbing was generating in her. But it wasn't so bad, she decided finally. The robe was absolutely gorgeous after all, and after a while she got used to how it felt against her coat.
For a long while they walked back the way they had come, but then they took a different path and started an upward journey, and soon their path changed from a tunnel that had been dug from the earth to a stone-walled corridor like those she had seen when they had first left the throne room. Here they were joined by several more armoured Dog-guards, who fell in behind as an escort as the passage led inexorably upwards. And now they were no longer travelling along the rough-hewn passages beneath the Castle, but along the stone-clad corridors of the castle proper. Twilight looked at the old rusted remnants of chains and weapon-racks on the walls, and she shivered as she remembered what she had read in those old books at the Academy.
Legend had it that Midnight Castle had been the lair of an evil being called Tirek. Tirek - Twilight shook her head. Why did villains always have such harsh-sounding names, she wondered. Were they born with them, and then decided to enter upon a career of evil based on how scary their names sounded? What if you were born as Summer Blossom and went into the business of evil later in life - were you obligated to take on a new name? Twilight decided that that was probably what happened - after all, nopony could take The Dark Lord Summer Blossom seriously, could they?
Well, this Tirek had been the Master of Midnight Castle - and of the Rainbow of Darkness - but after his defeat by the legendary pony heroes of Dream Valley, the Rainbow had been lost. Trixie had obviously read the same book of legends that Twilight had. But trying to find it was insanity! Trixie would have to be stopped before she found it. There was no way she could control such an evil elemental power, and the repercussions to her and to everypony else involved would likely be deadly.
But what if she could control it? Twilight wondered. Was Equestria prepared for the Devious and Diabolical Trixie? She shivered at the thought.
For the last five minutes they had climbed up winding stairs, passing by a series of windows that looked out over the crater-lake that the Castle was situated in, ringed by vicious rocks and the ceaseless surge of white-topped waves that crashed against them, whipped up by the perpetual storm that hung overhead. They were clearly high up in the towers of the castle itself now.
And at last they reached their ultimate destination in one of the upper towers of the castle. The bigger Dog knocked on a huge door emblazoned with the magic wand and trailing fairy-dust of Trixie's cutie mark and said hesitantly "Mistress?"
"At last! Bring her in!" came Trixie's voice from the other side of the door - and the Dog turned the doorknob and pushed open the door as his smaller companion ushered Twilight inside.
A sumptuously decorated room was revealed to Twilight's eyes. Thick tapestries hung on the stone walls while furs carpeted the stone-flagged floors. Various antique cabinets and wardrobes lined the walls, and each was fronted by a huge mirror that made multiple copies of the room, until it looked as if you were standing in the epicentre of a score of different dimensions. But the room itself was dominated by a huge four-poster bed covered with a luxurious crimson coverlet on which the Great and Powerful Trixie herself was lying, gazing into a hand mirror held between her forehooves and eating chocolates from a large, open box beside her.
"Good evening, Twilight Sparkle!" she said as she took another chocolate in her mouth, her eyes never leaving the mirror before her, while in every other reflected surface a dozen Trixie-doppelgangers mimicked her motions. "Won't you join me?"
Twilight blushed and stepped into the room - and as soon as she did the Dogs closed the door behind her. She looked about the room - and everywhere she looked, other Twilights looked back at her with a mixture of bemusement and confusion on their faces. These Twilights, dressed in gorgeous silver blue robes that seemed to accentuate every curve of her body, were completely alien to her, but they moved with her motions, and as her eyes grew large in amazement, theirs did too.
Meanwhile, Trixie had turned from considering herself in the mirror and was looking Twilight up and down appraisingly. "Twilight Sparkle, it must be admitted that with a bath and some proper attire, you are a most attractive mare." But then she sniffed. "If only it weren't for that most unfetching mane-cut! Why you wear your mane that way, the Great and Powerful Trixie has absolutely no idea."
Twilight had been blushing under her gaze, but Trixie's disparagement of her mane made her react in annoyance. "What's wrong with my mane?" she demanded.
"The fringe is far too straight," sniffed Trixie. "It's like that of a school-filly whose mother still cuts her mane for her. You should wear it the way the Great and Powerful Trixie does... with a graceful and feminine wave." She tossed her own and grinned. "Don't you see? Such a style is really most fetching - especially on unicorns of great beauty such as ourselves!"
Twilight found herself annoyed and flattered at the same time, and she shook her head. Trixie was making absolutely no sense! "Trixie, you've got to give up this search for the Rainbow of Darkness. There's no way you'll be able to control it..."
Trixie sighed and then she pouted. "Twilight Sparkle, why must you ruin this moment? You seem totally unable to read the mood of a situation. Although your naivety is charming," Trixie and all her sister reflections shook their heads, and then the real Trixie hopped off the bed and came close to Twilight, a gentle smile playing along her lips. "Trixie just knew this robe would suit you, Twilight Sparkle. Not only is the Great and Powerful Trixie a unicorn of almost limitless power, but also one of the most exquisite taste!"
Twilight felt Trixie's gaze as well as the hot breath from her nostrils on her coat as she looked her up and down and she blushed. "I... I've been meaning to ask you about the robe - why do you want me to wear it?"
"Ssshh," said Trixie, touching a hoof to Twilight's mouth. "It's just a present. The companion of the Great and Powerful Trixie must never want for everything."
"Companion? Now, wait just a..."
But Trixie fixed her with a sharp gaze. "Are you already questioning your mistress?" she demanded. The gentleness Twilight had seen earlier had dissolved away in a split second, and her purple eyes flashed dangerously.
But Twilight was angry herself. "You drug me, kidnap me, threaten me and imprison me, and now you want me to be your companion? What in Equestria do you mean by that?" shouted Twilight. "Trixie, you're absolutely INSANE!"
Trixie's face turned black with barely-suppressed rage. "Silence, Twilight!" she cried. "You seem to forget you are wearing a fragment of the Rainbow of Darkness about your neck. Shall I remind you?" At once Trixie's horn began to glow with blue light. "Can you feel it, Twilight? The itching? The burning and prickling?" she demanded, her purple eyes wide and a sardonic smile on her lips.
Twilight could. She yelped in pain and fear, pawing at her neck with her forehooves as she tried desperately to pry the choker off - but it was no use, and she collapsed onto the floor, panting, as Trixie's horn ceased to glow and the sensations faded away.
The itching and burning had been much stronger this time, and it left Twilight lying on her stomach, exhausted. When she finally managed to weakly raise her head, she saw Trixie gazing down at her, a deep and terrible pity in her purple eyes.
"My sweet darling Twilight Sparkle," Trixie whispered as she reached down with both forehooves and gently cradled Twilight's head. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not want to harm you," Her eyes began to glisten. "She just... she just does not want to lose you ever again. Her heart could not take it. So she must take precautions."
As Twilight looked up at Trixie, a sick sense of powerlessness spread through her. "You... you want me to be your... slave?" she whispered.
Trixie shook her head. "Companion, Twilight Sparkle. Trixie wishes you to be her companion." She turned and looked in a mirror, and the silver-maned unicorn inside it turned to look back at her with lonely eyes. "It is lonely at the summit of all equine creation - and you are the only pony Trixie has ever met who has shown herself worthy of being granted the great honour of being her companion..." Her purple eyes were glistening as she turned back to Twilight. "I... the Great and Powerful Trixie was not lying when she said that you had impressed her with the magical prowess you displayed when you defeated the Ursa in Ponyville."
"Uh, Trixie, I...." Twilight knew now that something very strange was going on inside Trixie - the silver-maned unicorn wasn't making any sense, and as her prisoner, Twilight was in an untenable situation. Without her magic, the only option she had was to play along with Trixie's delusions and bide her time. So she looked up at her with softened eyes and said simply "Thank you, Trixie."
Trixie's face changed immediately, a bright smile breaking out across her face. "Oh, Trixie knew you would come around to her way of thinking, Twilight Sparkle!" She darted forward and kissed Twilight on the cheek, and the lavender-coated pony looked at her in shock, bringing a forehoof to the spot where her lips had touched her. "You are, after all, a highly intelligent pony, second only to the Great and Powerful Trixie herself, of course. Now come," Trixie hopped up onto the bed, and putting the little mirror in between her forehooves she began to gaze into it again. "The Great and Powerful Trixie tires of picking up her own chocolates and she requests that you do it for her, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight scowled, but when Trixie patted the bed next to her with a hoof, she made herself smile sweetly and climbed up next to her. When Trixie gestured towards the box of chocolates absently with a sideways nod of her head, Twilight furrowed her brow and asked "But how can I, Trixie? I can't use my magic with this choker and..."
"Why, it is simplicity itself, Twilight Sparkle!" chuckled Trixie. "Just pick them up with your mouth and feed them to Trixie!"
"With my...?" This time Twilight did roll her eyes. Part of her wanted to laugh out loud at the ludicrous request, but then she decided to play along with this ridiculous game. Where was the harm in it? "Oh, whatever you wish, Great and Powerful Trixie!" she replied, with cloying obsequiousness.
Twilight bent down and picked up a piece of chocolate gingerly in her teeth and, rolling her eyes, she brought it across to where Trixie was still closely examining her face in the mirror and murmuring in appreciation.
"Hmmm... completely flawless - of course!" Trixie turned her head and brought her mouth up against Twilight's and took the chocolate from her, and as she did their lips met. Trixie looked into Twilight's eyes and the lavender-coated pony let go of the chocolate and turned away, blushing, as Trixie ate the chocolate.
"Delicious," she said as she chewed daintily. "Quite delicious. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle!"
Twilight shook her head in bemusement -Trixie's behaviour was really becoming too much! Maybe it would have been better to be chained up in one of Midnight Castle's dungeon instead - at least that way she would be spared Trixie's sideshow antics!
It took a long time for Trixie to become bored of looking at her reflection, and soon, with Twilight's help and many stolen kisses, she'd eaten the whole box of chocolates as well. With Twilight was starting to feel hungry herself, and as she passed the last piece to Trixie, her stomach grumbled.
Trixie had just begun chewing on the chocolate, and she looked at Twilight and raised her eyebrows. "Oh, are you hungry Twilight Sparkle?" she asked. "Very well - you have been a most pleasing companion!" She moved her face against Twilight's and kissed her - and as she did she passed the half-chewed chocolate between their joined mouths.
Twilight was too surprised by the feeling of Trixie's tongue slipping into her mouth to struggle, and she took the chocolate and ate it.
"Delicious, yes?" Trixie chuckled. "Well, of course - it WAS coated with the scrumptious saliva of the Delicious and Delectable Trixie after all!"
I wonder how much more of this torment I can stand, thought Twilight, swallowing the last of the chocolate. The windows that she'd seen earlier, looking out over the precipitous drop to the rocky crags beneath Midnight Castle, had started to look like a viable, if terminal, escape route.
But feeding Trixie chocolates was not the only job her "companion" was expected to perform for her. Twilight also had to brush her mane- but since she was unable to use her magic she had to hold the brush in her mouth rather than via telekinesis as she was used to, and Trixie demanded that every strand of hair be brushed at least one hundred times, so that it would have "a shine suitably stunning for the Great and Powerful Trixie".
After that Trixie asked her to hold her hoof-mirror for her so that she could admire the back of her mane, and it had taken Trixie forever to get bored of looking at it. And the backrubs! Oh, it seemed that Trixie had an endless appetite for backrubs. Yet of all the jobs she was called upon to do, Twilight found this one the least objectionable. As she ran her forehooves across the silver-maned unicorn's back, she soon learned how to elicited murmurs of appreciation, and often sighs, from her mistress - and as she rubbed, Twilight would watch Trixie's face in the mirror at the other side of the bed, noticing how her eyes would close and her head would slump to one side as if she was falling asleep, and how, whenever Twilight made her feel especially good, the tip of her tongue would slip out from between her lips. Twilight couldn't help but find the mare in such a position adorable. Without her arrogance and narcissism apparent, Trixie really was a most gorgeous mare!
Oh Trixie - if only you weren't such an insufferable braggart!
But by far the most taxing task Twilight received was giving Trixie a hooficure. To start with, the silver-maned unicorn sat on the edge of the bed while she had Twilight file her hooves for her. And once again, it was all the more difficult since, without recourse to telekinesis, she had to hold the file in her mouth.
"Mmm!" Trixie murmured as she watched Twilight on all-fours hard at work shaping her hoof. The silver-maned pony's gaze strayed up along the length of Twilight's body as she worked, from her pretty face, her violet eyes intensely focussed as she concentrated on her filing, to her wonderfully rounded rump, slowly revealed as the silver-blue robe slipped down and bunched up around her waist as she moved her head back and forth with the file in her mouth, her rump wiggling back and forth in unison as she did.
Once she was finished with the filing, Trixie lifted her hoof and turned it about, her eyes flicking about to examine the multiple copies of it at every angle in the mirrors that surrounded her bed.
"Not a bad effort at all, Twilight Sparkle," muttered Trixie. "It seems that you have untapped potential as a companion. It will be most pleasurable for Trixie to train you to fulfil her every need!"
Twilight sighed. She was exhausted - her neck and her knees and her mouth ached, and as she had tended to Trixie's every whim the silver-maned unicorn was becoming more and more her usual, supercilious self. Twilight started to get up off her knees when Trixie suddenly put a hoof on her shoulder and pushed her back down.
"Wait a moment, Twilight Sparkle," she said, a mocking smile on her lips. "You're not quite finished yet!"
"Oh, what now?" muttered Twilight in exasperation.
"First, Trixie requires a hot towel," demanded Trixie. " - and then she requests that you give her a hoof massage!"
"A hoof massage?" Twilight's curled her lips in disbelief.
'It is most taxing to run a diabolical operation such as this one," Trixie sighed. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is on her hooves all day, making sure that those worthless curs keep digging, and the cold stone floors of this castle are appalling on her soft and luxurious hoof-pads!"
Twilight looked at the hoof being waved in her face. Trixie was completely vain, but it was a most attractive hoof. The cannon leading down to it was long and slender, the fetlocks soft and feminine and the shape of the hoof's crown a perfect crescent.
As Twilight admired the hoof, she caught sight of something from the corner of her eye. The file! In her eagerness for a hoof-massage, Trixie had obviously forgotten about it. This was just the chance Twilight needed. So all those hours hadn't been in vain!
But how could she get it without Trixie noticing? And then Twilight realised that maybe, if she gave Trixie a good enough massage, she could hide the file somewhere while she was distracted.
"Very well, Oh Great and Powerful Trixie," said Twilight, lifting the elegant leg before her and running her forehooves along the cannon, down to the just-smoothed hoof. "One hoof massage, coming right up!"
"Oh, do be careful Twilight Sparkle!" gasped Trixie. "The gorgeous hooves of Trixie are exquisitely sensitive and require an extremely gentle touch when you rub them..."
"Oh, I will be most careful, Great and Powerful Trixie," Twilight smiled up at her sweetly.
"Hmmm... very good then," muttered Trixie, laying back and looking up at the ceiling. There was another mirror there, and this way she could look at herself and at Twilight's body as she tended to her. "You may begin, Twilight Sparkle. But before you start, you should know that the sole of the Great and Powerful Trixie's hoof is her favourite place to be stroked."
"Do you mean here?" asked Twilight, running her hooves over the sole with a soft and feathery touch.
"Ah!" Trixie yelped. "Yes, that is most... uh!.... most satisfactory, Twilight... Sparkle!"
Although she was really just playing along, Twilight was surprised to find how exciting it was to make Trixie gasp with just the touch of her hooves. She squeezed the toe of her hoof first, gently worked her way around the whole crown, and then went back to working the sole, especially the tiara and heel which felt extremely tense.
"Um... oh yes, just there," murmured Trixie as Twilight kneaded the tired muscles. They grew soft and yielded under her touch, and Trixie's head fell on its side. "Oh, that spot is so sensitive! Dear Twilight Sparkle, do take care!"
Twilight was so engrossed in the massage now that she'd forgotten her original plan - it was fun to elicit noises of pleasure from the silver-maned mare, and as she continued to massage Trixie's hoof she started to tease her, tantalising her by rubbing her most sensitive spots, but never staying there enough for her to feel the full extent of the potential pleasure.
But then Twilight grew bored of teasing her, and started to rub her sole in earnest, paying particular attention to the spot just near the tiara, where the greatest tension was, and soon Trixie was tossing her mane from side to side, gasping with pleasure.
"Oh, OH!" she cried. "Oh, Twilight Sparkle! There - right there! Please... please don't stop!"
As Twilight held her leg, she could feel her cannon getting tight, so she ran her own hoof along its underside. Twilight was starting to feel good herself - there was a delightful warmth and a tingle she knew well teasing her between the haunches, just as if an invisible pony was giving her a different kind of massage there. She hadn't noticed it, but she had parted her hind legs instinctively at the sensation, and the movement of her tail, which was twitching back and forth and brushing against her, made her scrunch up her nose in pleasure.
But then she suddenly remembered the file, and with her free forehoof she stepped on it and slid it back to her hind-hoof, and then kicked it back so that it ended up under the wardrobe, just out of sight. And not a moment too soon! Trixie suddenly pulled her hoof out of Twilight's grasp and sat up.
"What's the matter?" asked Twilight. Just when she'd started to get good at it!
Trixie looked at her with disdain. "Your touch is a completely lacking in the necessary finesse, Twilight Sparkle. That is enough pawing at Trixie's hooves for one day!"
Twilight muttered in annoyance. She hadn't been that bad, had she? Trixie had certainly seemed to have been enjoying herself! "But I've never given a hoof massage before and you seemed..."
"There are no excuses for incompetence," snapped Trixie. "The real problem is that your hooves felt far too rough against the soft and sensitive hooves of Trixie." And then a sardonic smile flashed onto her face. "But maybe your tongue won't!"
Twilight's jaw dropped. "My... tongue?"
Trixie nodded. "Yes, your tongue. As Trixie's companion, you are required to offer any part of your body to her service, Twilight Sparkle. And it has been Trixie's experience that your tongue is quite a deal more skilled than your hooves!"
Trixie was wagging her hoof back and forth in Twilight's face as she taunted her. Twilight was repulsed by even the idea of licking Trixie's hooves - it was such a submissive act! But for some reason the idea didn't just repulse her - it made her feel almost impossibly tingly and melty inside at the same time. Well, why not just do it? mused Twilight, and the thought of actually going ahead with it made her heart leap. But... wasn't she being forced to do all this? She had no choice, right? If she didn't, Trixie would just use her magic and make the choker torture her until she gave in and did it anyway. At least this way, she could avoid the pain and lull Trixie into a false sense of security. Yes, decided Twilight, it was better to do as the Great and Powerful Trixie demanded, and...
She took a deep breath and taking Trixie's hoof in her forehooves, she brought it close to her face.
Trixie was looking down at her now, her purple eyes widening, seemingly in surprise that Twilight was actually going to go ahead with her "request" - and then a gentle smile, half-mocking, half-affectionate, sprang onto her face.
"Be a good girl, Twilight Sparkle," said Trixie. "And lick my hoof."
Twilight sniffed at the hoof discretely - she'd been worried that it would stink, but the smell was clean and fresh, just the scent of Trixie herself. Twilight was surprised that she could recognise the silver-maned mare's scent now, and the thought took her memory right back to the body slide, and the tingling between her haunches returned in a flush of pleasure. Then she brought her lips to the crown of Trixie's hoof, kissing it - and as soon as they touched skin, a burst of electricity flooded up her and she felt the heat and moistness between her haunches increase.
"Why does... why does she do this to me? I'm..." Twilight felt ashamed, but the shame brought with it an almost unbearable pleasure that shot up along her spine, and with each jolt she felt herself getting hotter and more swollen, the tension in her chest growing stronger as well. And then Twilight could bear it no longer.
She stuck out her tongue and licked.
"OH!" At the touch of Twilight's tongue, Trixie's eyes had flashed open and she'd gasped. But soon after, she closed them again, and her tongue flicked out, licking her lips - and as Twilight lifted her eyes to look up at the mirror on the ceiling, she saw herself with her lips against Trixie's hoof, and at the humiliating sight she felt herself gush all of a sudden, blisteringly hot and wet between her haunches.
Twilight was confronted with the strong musky scent of her own excitement, and she flushed red in even greater humiliation - but she continued to lick. And as she licked, her tongue drew a path around the crown of Trixie's hoof, across the sensitive sole and then down along the tiara to her most sensitive spot, and soon her scent was mixed with another's - and again Twilight's mind was taken back to the events of the Lotus Spa. The smell of Trixie's erotic scent was thick and strong - and it filled Twilight's senses, making her wetter still.
She went back to licking the crown of the hoof, only occasionally now flicking down to the soft and sensitive sole and making Trixie pant with pleasure, and when she grazed it with her teeth the silver-maned pony cried out in ecstasy - and she suddenly jerked her hoof away from Twilight's mouth.
But she had learned Trixie's little game. Every time Twilight had begun to make her feel too good, she would stop her. But why would she do that? Why was she afraid of letting Twilight make her feel too good? Twilight filed the piece of information away for later use. Maybe she wouldn't need to escape from Trixie after all, if she could learn how to... and Twilight smiled at the thought. Maybe it was she who was Devious and Diabolical!
"It seems that hoof licking was a bit too great a challenge too soon," sighed Trixie. "But no matter, Twilight Sparkle. Perhaps it would be better to start again back at the basics." The silver-maned unicorn slid up until her rump was away from the edge of the bed and she lay back and parted her hind legs so that the area between her thighs was exposed.
"The... the basics?" asked Twilight, her eyes glued to the perverse sight of Trixie splayed out before her. She... she couldn't mean?
Trixie smirked and beckoned her with a fore-hoof. "Come up here, Twilight Sparkle, and the Great and Powerful Trixie will show you exactly what she means...."
* * *
"It appears that it's going to be a cold night," Trixie remarked to Twilight as the lavender-coated unicorn laid out the bedclothes on the bed. "The Great and Powerful Trixie's exquisite body is most susceptible to chills and so you will share her bed tonight." She ran a hoof along Twilight's cheek and down her neck. "After all, you seem capable of generating so much heat in Trixie, my dear, sweet Twilight Sparkle."
"Thank you, mistress," said Twilight, dropping her gaze and hiding the thin, dagger-like smile that had sprung onto her face.
Trixie climbed into bed and slid under the bedclothes, and after blowing out the candles, Twilight climbed into bed as well beside her.
"Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle," murmured Trixie, stifling a yawn as she did so. "If Trixie requires any further services from you tonight, she will wake you. But until then, feel free to sleep."
"Thank you Trixie," whispered Twilight, closing her eyes.
After an hour of struggling against sleep - the exhaustion of the day's tribulations had taken much out of Twilight, and both her body and mind had been crying out for rest the whole time - Twilight noticed that Trixie's breathing had become slow and regular - she had fallen into a deep sleep. She opened her eyes and sat up slowly, careful not to wake her "mistress", and taking her pillow in her mouth she brought it over Trixie's face.
It would be so easy to make Trixie fall unconscious, mused Twilight. If she was careful, she wouldn't hurt her. And anyway - even if she did hurt Trixie, wasn't it her fault? Didn't she deserve it? Nopony would blame Twilight after the way she'd been treated - drugged kidnapped, collared, forced to wear sumptuous robes, give backrubs, foot massages... among other things.
Trixie muttered in her sleep, and Twilight moved away to give her space to toss and turn. The silver-maned pony had a deep frown on her face, and the forehead beneath her horn was furrowed as if she was in pain.
I wonder what she's dreaming about? thought Twilight. Oh, does it matter? She moved forward again, having steeled herself for what had to be done.
Twilight was about to place the pillow gently over Trixie's mouth when she noticed a tear appear at the corner of the silver-maned pony's eye.
"Mother..." Trixie whispered.
Twilight pulled away. She sighed and dropped the pillow, and then slipped back into the warmth of the bed, pulling the bedclothes up to her neck, and unable to fight off exhaustion any longer she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
TO BE CONTINUED
