"Are you doing okay, Dash?" Trixie checked the leash and the enchantments.

Rainbow Dash stretched, arching her back and shaking her body. "Feels so good like this, being your pet… Shade is a whole new side of me I never knew I had, Trixie." Flexing her wings, she gave each a little flap and arched her back like a cat. "Does it make me more flexible or something?"

"Trixie's spells are only illusion, they only cover her pet, not modify her. The Mesmerizing and Commanding Trixie would suggest Rainbow Dash ask her friends; Twilight Sparkle or Princess Luna may be able to help her. Trixie certainly wouldn't object to having Shade around more often."

A shiver ran down Rainbow's spine, and ache of desire for something that she wasn't sure she had been aware she wanted before. "Rainbow Dash—I mean, Shade—would really like that, but let's stick to illusions for now. Besides, I am still a Wonderbolt." And with that Dash closed her eyes and focused on the feel of the head-collar—Shade leaped forward and was off, the leash pulling at Trixie's magic behind her.

Trixie let out a laugh as she ran after Rainbow, the experience almost like having a normal pet. "Hold on!" Trixie was laughing too hard for it to really sink in too much. "Slow down Shade!" Of course the mare known best for her speed wasn't going to slow down just for her Master, oh no. In no time at all they were both at the front door of the castle; and if it wasn't for long days pulling her wagon, Trixie would have been panting. "You are irrepressible, Shade."

Before Trixie could reach out a hoof, Dash did so and knocked on the door. Rainbow giggled as she saw it start to open, but kept any words to herself.

"Trixie, Shade… come in please." Twilight opened the doors wide for the two mares. "Before we continue, I must know who your pet is, Trixie." She closed the doors behind the two and almost changed her mind about the requirement when "Shade" began whining and dropped to their belly before her. "No. No this won't do and I will tell you why."

Dash looked up at her friend, it was so much easier to play a pet, to be a cute, strong, and completely uninhibited animal—rather than herself. "Okay." The word cut to the quick. "Trixie, drop the enchantments."

"Rainbow…" Twilight watched as the spells and enchantments were pulled away and there, crawling at her hooves, was the most self-confident and ego-maniacal pony she knew. "Okay, that was not who I expected."

"Twi I-" Rainbow Dash froze as Twilight's hoof raised up and began to rub behind one of her ears. It was cathartic, it melted every misgiving she had. A jerk came at her leash and without thinking, Rainbow got up and trotted back to Trixie's side and sat. It was strange for her, she was revealed, she wasn't being called a pet; but the treatment from both mares was as if she were, so Dash kept acting like Shade.

"Trixie… doesn't want to mess up the fun she has with her pet." Trixie rubbed Dash behind the ear, the whole pegasus practically falling against her. "Give Trixie a moment, her pet needs to keep her… anonymity." Trixie had practiced the spell more now, it was almost as simple as setting off fireworks. She sent the magic out and it wrapped Dash, it remade her into Shade properly. "That better, Shade?"

Twilight froze in astonishment, the dark, shadow monster leaned up to Trixie and nuzzled along Trixie's neck. "I… okay, we have a lot ahead of us today. I really would like to get-" She froze, almost having told them Maud's name. "My Mistress… I will have to ask her if she would be okay helping. She knows a lot more about this than I do." Twilight practically melted into a purr at the thought of her Mistress.

The front door of the castle made quite an obvious sound as it opened and closed. Twilight froze as a gray-furred mare walked in. "Hello Princess. Hello Trixie Lulamoon, Rainbow Dash." Maud's eyes didn't stray from their normal half-opened state. "Twilight, I found a nice rock."

Twilight couldn't stop herself, she climbed up from her chair and leaned in and kissed Maud. It wasn't a little kiss—neither mare could stand half measures—they pressed close and from the corner of her eye Twilight saw the two other mares staring a little. "A nice rock, Maud?" Twilight held out her hoof for the stone. "Oh, this is pumice. Did you go to the dragons?"

"Yes, they wanted to buy some heavier rocks, and gave me this one." Maud gestured at the rock. "They wanted some granite and shale mostly. Did you know there are different kinds of shale?" The words had a way with each and every pony Maud met, and that was just how she liked it. "Twilight Sparkle, you will be my servant today."

Trixie stared in surprise as the Princess of Friendship quickly bowed to the earth pony. "Trixie isn't sure what is happening here. Prin-" she froze at the look Maud gave her. "Maid Twilight," Trixie was very surprised to get a nod from both Twilight and Maud, "was just explaining that Trixie has a lot to learn about hypnosis and mind-control. She really wants to learn!"

"Tea." Maud looked at Twilight until she bobbed her head and quietly trotted off. "I can teach you, you have already played with it?" The tone was clear to Trixie and Dash, dismissive.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie has already hypnotized her pet, using techniques she learned from changelings. She knows perfectly well how to…" Trixie's eyes strayed to Dash and saw somepony she really didn't want to hurt. Trixie hates swallowing her pride. "Please teach Trixie how to do this properly."

Twilight returned to see her Mistress half-smiling at Trixie. Setting the tea-set down on the table, she began pouring two cups out and then a bowl—which she set on the floor. Backing away and to the side of where her Mistress had sat, Twilight sat down and watched on with bright eyes.

Maud lifted up her own cup and gave the tea a sip. "I can teach you, but first I need to hypnotize you." She looked through her relaxed eyes at Trixie, at one of the mares that had saved Equestria when even the princesses were captured.

"H… Hypnotize Trixie?" Despite how odd it seemed, it did ring true to one part of Trixie. She is going to make Trixie realize how it feels to go under, clever. "Trixie… Trixie will do this, for her Shade." She reached a hoof down and blinked at her pet.

Shade paused from lapping up the tea to press her head up into the touch of her Master's hoof. She had been quietly ignored by all the ponies present except Twilight, and all she had done was set her a dish of water on the floor like a common pet. I totally owe Twi big for playing along with this… I really owe the egg-head now. I bet she will just say something cliché like "Just don't tell anypony about Maud," or something like that. Ugh, and that is terrible, this was the juiciest gossip I have had all year!

Maud nodded and lifted her tea again. "I will do it just how I would my pet, all you need to do is listen to how relaxing and soft my voice is, how even it is in your ears." Maud looked down at Twilight at her side. "You can feel my words flowing into your head, skipping your mind and slipping deep into your thoughts. Just relax, have some more tea."

Looking up at her Master, Shade tilted her head a little and watched as Trixie reached out with her hoof and took another sip from her tea. She started to turn her head to look at Maud but a purple hoof stopped her. That is Twilight, she is a friend of mine, and Master's. Shade licked the hoof and smiled.

The teacup was heavy, and while Trixie gazed down into it she yawned. Somepony was talking, it was Maud she was sure. With some effort she could hear the words again, but she could do nothing to stop them soaking into her head, making her own thoughts slow to a crawl and then, finally, stop.

"Trixie will be hypnotized because she let herself be hypnotized. As soon as she doesn't want to be hypnotized, and help her pet, she can just say 'Cards Tumble' and she will no longer be hypnotized at all." Maud had adopted the mare's own references for herself. "Trixie is completely under my power, except for these words. Being under my power helps Trixie help her pet."

This is all for Trixie's pet, Trixie will not fail her. A happy smile spread over Trixie's snout. "Trixie will help her pet, Trixie will stay hypnotized." But it wasn't that simple, Trixie was fighting a war inside herself to break free.

"Trixie, spill your tea." Maud said the words, using full commands on the mare rather than the suggestions she usually used. She watched as Trixie tipped the last of her cup onto the table. "Now lap it up."

It wasn't what Trixie had expected, she railed against the command, but there was only one way to not do what Maud had told her. Leaning forward she started to lap at the tea, the bitter taste of humble pie ruining the delicious tea's own flavor.

"Now tell Twilight she is your owner now. Trixie, you are her pet." Maud watched as Trixie's whole body shook and Maud knew she had hit just the point she wanted.

Trixie must do this for… for Shade... It was full-scale war in Trixie's head, but she had spent so long cultivating her ego that, with tears streaming down her eyes, she lowered her head. "Cards Tumble. Trixie can't do this."

Twilight took her hoof from Shade's snout and pointed to Trixie. "Go." The whispered word spurred the unicorn's pet into action.

Sobbing and whimpering, Trixie leaned into the suddenly soft body that pulled against her. The black smoke and dark form was obviously Shade. "Trixie couldn't do it, she can't help her pet."

"You feel how hard that was to say, Trixie Lulamoon?" Maud had her pumice stone in her hoof, feeling all the soft little holes in it.

"Trixie didn't want to, she wants to help Shade so much, to be a good Master for her pet. Trixie… Trixie has a lot of ego." She spilled tears into Dash's neck, sobbing a little.

"Imagine how much harder it is for a mare who is being submissive, whose ego is pinned down." Maud's words suddenly had three sets of ears paying very close attention. "Trixie, when Dash is like this, she is almost completely bound to your word and will."

Twilight leaned in and rest her head against Maud's side. "I have used my words twelve times." She looked over at Trixie and Dash. No, she is Shade like this; just like I was Pet. "You have to give her more than one word. There will be times she needs to break out completely, but others she just might like things a little different."

"And then there is you, Trixie." Maud gestured at the unicorn. "Will you always want to do what Shade wants to do?"

The question astonished Trixie, Shade, and Rainbow Dash.

"But… but Trixie is in charge." Trixie blinked a few times at the words. "Trixie should…" She looked at Shade and then gave a laugh. "Trixie has the most amazing pet, the most willful pet. The Commanding and Confident Trixie will need safe words as well."

"Shade, Rainbow Dash," Maud spoke both names and had the Shadowbolt and Wonderbolt's attention, "you are going to need to honor those words every bit as diligently as your Master does. Hypnotism is not enough for this, it needs to be trust."

I need to talk, Shade. Dash felt a relaxing of her other self's grip. "Trixie, I trust you in this… you saved Equestria. You're a hero and… I like being your pet." Rainbow Dash wrapped a shadowy wing around Trixie.

"Trixie trusts you too, Rainbow Dash." Trixie found it odd to mean it; heckling aside, they hadn't been the best of friends. "It feels special, it makes Trixie feel very Great and extremely Powerful. Can she trust Shade as well?"

Go on, we both want to. Shade took control again, the pegasus' whole body seeming to relax and squirm before Trixie got a big lick from her nose all the way up into her mane.

"Shade!" Trixie giggled like a filly as she was pushed back and had the Shadowbolt standing over her, licking and nuzzling at her like a big dog. It should have felt domineering but to Trixie it felt just like what it was. "Good girl, Shade." Trixie heaped up praise. "Heel now."

Wagging her whole back end, Shade took up her position at Trixie's side, well, what would be her side when she got up from being licked. Looking at her Master, Shade leaned up and licked Trixie's cheek again.

"Good girl." Trixie couldn't bring herself to be angry at her Shadowbolt pet. "So tell Trixie everything, leave nothing out. Just like a show, the Great and Powerful Trixie will do things perfect and-" She cut off as Shade was poking her side insistently with their snout. "Stop that." The command came with a sigh. "Trixie knows some of her shows don't go perfect, but with her pet they always have."

"Those times when your 'performance' is not going well, that is when your safe words need to be used." Maud looked at both ponies, giving each a penetrating stare that had been rumored to be able to break rocks.

"Trixie thinks that Shade will be able to talk, when she needs to say her safe words." Trixie booped her pet on the nose, her ego re-inflating her confidence.

Shade was having none of it, she gave a little growl and shook her head. We need to do something. We need to be able to tell Master when we aren't having fun.

Twilight lifted a hoof like she was back in school, and waited for Maud to smile and nod to her. "Does Trixie use- Do you use restraints? Apart from the cage." She had no clue what the name for the device was, but she was thinking of asking her Mistress about it… later.

"Trixie doesn't plan to use such things. Does Shade want to be… bound up?" Trixie looked to her pet and got a shrug back from her. "Having a pet is Trixie's enjoyment from this, having Shade is… Trixie wants to quote a pegasus she knows, 'Best thing ever.' "

"Then Shade's safe word could be a gesture. So long as she is never bound, she can signal to you with a gesture. If that gesture is built into her hypnosis, it wouldn't matter, just trying to do it would lead to her immediate relief." Twilight grinned widely, unable to be unhappy with how cute the two mares were together.

"So the Studious and Inquisitive Trixie can learn from you?" Trixie's eyes begged the earth pony, on the verge of tears. When Maud nodded, Trixie whooped and set off fireworks… inside the castle.

Author's Note

"Ah know that Rainbow Dash was acting all kinds of weird after she heard about Trixie's show, and then she weren't there at all." Applejack gave a shrug. "As for the rain, it did the job, for all her faults Dash always handles the weather."

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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