Applejack woke up as the carriage bounced slightly against a loose rock. Blearily, she looked around, and saw Rainbow Dash sleeping fitfully next to her, rubbing her arms and shivering, despite the fact that the temperature was quite pleasant. Applejack had been rather... distracted when first entering her hero's mode of transport, and so took the time now to observe it. The whole interior was made from a beautiful dark oak wood, and the seats were softer than Applejack's bed, and covered in some kind of rich red fabric. Applejack slowly sat up, stretching and yawning, before her breath caught in her throat as she saw her newest crush.

His eyes contemplated the view from the carriage window, his high brows furrowed in thought, blood red eyes drinking in the grey light that filtered through the curtained window. She flinched slightly as he noticed that she had awoken, he was just so intense, it was like she was staring into a hurricane, even though he had made no outward moves yet, his calm severity in the face of her crumbling world made her tremble. She lit up like a firework as he smiled at her, with one of the broadest, most genuine grins she'd ever seen.

This is really strange. I mean, he's a gorgeous stallion, but what do I really know about him? I've never felt this way even towards good stallions who I'd known for years! He did save mah life though. Could that have somethin t' do with it?

Applejack facepalmed herself after realizing that she hadn't thanked him for saving her yet, and quickly said, "Thank you-"

"Shhhhhhh..." Applejack blushed and assumed he was going to say something incredibly romantic before he simply pointed at the sleeping Rainbow Dash, "Let your friend rest, she's had a very hard time of it," he smiled at Applejack apologetically.

"Oh, no, of course you're right, ah'm just bein plain rude aren't I?" she whispered to him, "Ah just had to say... thank ya. Thank ya fer savin our lives in the square... and fer... fer not laughin at me,"

"Laugh at you? Why on Equestria would I do that?" He looked at her, concerned.

"Well, most ponies up here in Canterlot they... they like t' make fun of a filly like me. But y'all weren't like that. Ya helped us, even though ya coulda been hurt, and even though it wasn't any of yer business. Thank ya fer that, thank ya kindly," she finished with a smile, but noticed that the ghost of a frown touched his eyes for a second, before they went back to a warm look of kindness.

"You never have to thank me for what should be basic pony decency. And as for you being the way you are, we're not so different,"

"Oh really, did ya' grow up on an apple farm?"

He laughed quietly, a deep chuckle pitched so low it felt like it shook Applejack's bones, "Not an apple farm, no. I lived up north when I was young. A very hard life up there, nearly starved to death several times, but I got by. I earned my way to the top, even though, secretly," he glanced left and right before leaning in close, making her heart hammer in her chest faster than a rampaging apple cart, "I sometimes miss it. Things were simple then, less difficult to deal with directly."

Applejack understood exactly what he meant, and her heart soared that he liked the quiet country, and wasn't a no-good stuck up rotten apple like most from Canterlot.

Woah now, where did that come from? Ah made plenty a friends here in Canterlot, ah certainly don't think they're all stuck up rotten apples! Something else was bothering her too. It wasn't that he was... lying, it was more murky than that. She didn't really like it though, made her feel slightly queasy, of course that could simply be the proximity to the hero in front of her.

Now, hold on there Sugarcube. We gotta make sure he's on the up and up, what if he's a changeling or somethin' like that?

"Who was yer family?" She asked, trying her best to sound innocent. Her heart skipped a beat as another frown touched Blood Diamond's suave demeanor, before he appeared to be lost in thought.

"My family was small, and I only knew them at the start of my childhood. I was abandoned in the north not long after."

"D'you remember their names?" Applejack asked quietly. She could hear the heartbreak and pain in the alicorn's voice, and had few doubts that that feeling was genuine. It broke her heart to hear another pony, especially one as (possibly) virtuous as this one.

"My father was Tanavast, and my mother, well... let's just say, I didn't see her very often growing up."

Applejack nearly wept at the emotion trembling behind every syllable in the pony's voice, and it wasn't helped by the fact she still didn't believe him completely. Half-truths, and nothing more had he told her.

Well, if I'd had a foalhood half as bad as how his sounds, I'd probably not want to go around tellin everypony I met about it either. He doesn't want to lie, he probably even wants to tell the whole truth, but I guess he just doesn't trust me enough, Applejack sat a little straighter in her chair, Rainbow Dash groaning next to her as she rolled away from the light thrown on to her by the window, Well, nothin ah can do but try my best to earn it.

"Let me tell ya' a little about mah life, since y'all was kind enough to open up about yours..."

Something had gone very, very wrong. Kaiscillius didn't know what had happened or why, but somehow he had missed something. Unbeknownst to both of his lovely guests, he had been constantly casting what basically boiled down to an "obey and love me" spell for the entire carriage ride, but it wasn't working nearly as effectively as it should have, even though he'd doubled the power he outputted since the trip began, and it was almost over. That, combined with their proximity to Ultimatum...

"So, Applejack, we've been talking for quite a while now," He said with a charming smile, and he could practically see her defenses melting a little, "I want to know... what do you think of me? As a pony, I mean." This was really the test of how far along g the spell had broken through. Could it be that Twilight Sparkle was simply so much weaker than this Earth Pony?

Apple fidgeted nervously with her shirt for a few seconds in silence, and said, "Honestly? Ah think yer a good pony. Yer hidin somethin, yeah, but I hope that you can lean to trust me. And, ah hope you can work with me to save Equestria."

Kaiscillius blinked a few times, "Save Equestria?"

Applejack nodded, "Of course, the way you came to our rescue in the square? You were born to be a hero, and right now, me and the other Elements of Harmony need all the help we can get to stop all these mad ponies, and figure out what's makin' em go crazy."

Well, the spell clearly hasn't worked nearly as well as it should have. Time to put on a show.

Kaiscillius gave a pained look, and ripped his eyes away from the gorgeous farm mare in front of him, "I... could never be a hero,"

Applejack frowned, "But, in the square-"

"A brief moment of sentiment, nothing more!" Kaiscillius closed his eyes, turning his head away and wiping a tear, "Please... speak no more to me of this."

Applejack nodded, "Alright. Ah understand."

Oh no, my dear, not yet, but when you do it will already be too late.

Kaiscillius glanced over to the athletic pegasus in the corner, who yawned and sat up straight, her eyes glazed for a moment before she panicked, probably not recognizing where she was. He noticed that when she saw Applejack she visibly calmed, though... was that shame in her eyes? In a moment it was gone, but Kaiscillius knew she must have blamed herself for not being strong enough to save her friend.

Don't worry, it won't be the last time you'll fail at that activity.

But then something happened that Kaiscillius did not expect, the cyan pegasus growled in open hostility, and barked, "Who the buck are you, and where are you taking us?"

Kaiscillius's jaw actually dropped at the outrageous... outrage in the pony's voice! She should have been docile, submissive, begging him to let her do anything she could to aid him! Not cursing at him and assuming he was the bad guy!

What the... how did... is this a very good sign, or a very bad one?

Nevertheless, he kept calm and smiled, "I am Prince Blood Diamond, I understand your mistrust and confusion, you likely don't remember much-"

"Oh, I remember everything, and what I don't remember is an explanation for what you were doing in that street we were attacked in!" Rainbow Dash finished by pointing an accusatory finger into Kaiscillius's face.

"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack gasped incredulously, slapping her friend's hand away, "yer bein down right rude to this poor stallion! He saved our lives!"

"It's alright, Applejack. I must admit, I don't understand your reasoning for being so angry at me of all ponies, but I can respect that you've had a very difficult time, most ponies in your situation would be blubbering husks, I admire you two for your fortitude, even if it comes at a personal cost," Kaiscillius proclaimed graciously, internally seething with confusion and rage. Clearly this haughty bitch had resisted his spell too somehow, and no one not even his own mother got away with speaking to him like that.

Kaiscillius magically funneled his hatred of the cyan pegasus into a small magical "box" inside of himself, which he would unleash at a later time. Preferably before she'd been fully broken, and could appreciate the magnitude and depth of the revenge he was now constructing for her. Was a branding too harsh? Mabye just a tattoo. A large one. With enchantments that made her deliriously horny when insulted. Stupid bucking...

After a deep breath, Kaiscillius drew back the curtain on his carriage window a tad, "Ah! Excellent! We're here! Welcome my friends to my humble abode," Kaiscillius unveiled the window completely and watched with satisfaction as both of the mares looked stunned at the beautiful home before them.

The entire building was made of black marble, with red and white veins running through it in intricate patterns. Grand columns and stairways soared into the air, connecting with many terraces and balconies, each decorated with exquisitely comfortable lounging couches and chairs. The gardens out front were immaculate, with hedge sculptures and flowers every color of the rainbow gleaming as if still wet with dew, despite the resplendent glow of the afternoon sun blazing down upon them. All the grass was a verdant green, greener than grass had any right to be, and it was feather soft to the touch, and the long-bowed weeping willows which covered the grounds swayed in their mournful way, giving a romantic air to the space, as the west wind gently fluttered their leaves across the heavens. And that's when they saw that, as they looked up, the garden had a roof. This house, and these gardens, sat inside a cave mouth carved from Canterlot Mountain itself. Stunning views of the rolling green plains around the city could be seen over the grassy lip of the cave, and it even offered an unparalleled view of the city itself. It was still glorious, despite it's current smoking, riot-filled state.

"Oh mah stars..." Applejack said breathlessly, taking in the beauty of it all, drawing a hand to her chest.

"Dude, you just got 20% cooler in my opinion," Rainbow Dash said absentmindedly.

And there's the tattoo. "20% Sluttier", full body.

Kaiscillius cleared his mind, shoving all malicious thoughts into the rage box, and said, "I hope everything will be to your liking. Please, feel free to make yourselves at home. I have everything you could possibly want or need. It's not often I receive visitors, so stay here as long as you'd like while you plan your next move, or simply to relax." He himself held open the door of the carriage as the ladies stepped out into the enormous stone cave.

"Uh... Applejack, could I, uh, talk... to you, for a second?" Rainbow Dash said as she stepped from the wagon, dazed and awed at the immensity of the overlook she stood in.

"Uh, sure... sugarcube..." Applejack's voice held a similar tone as she looked at the picturesque splendor laid about her. Rainbow Dash gently pulled her to behind the cart, out of range of a normal pony's hearing. So, naturally, she completely failed to hide her whispers from Kaiscillius.

"Okay, I don't like this guy."

"And why's that?"

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about him, but it's hard to pin down why. Also I've got this, sort of-"

"Headache?"

"Yeah, like a heartbeat in my brain. It's making it a little hard to think right now."

"Yeah, ah noticed that too. Don't know what it is though."

"I'm tellin' you it's the guy! He's bad news, somehow."

"He did save our lives."

*Incoherent Grumbling* "Fine. But we stick together at all times, okay? Not getting separated in some creepy mansion place."

"Well, ah'm with ya there. Even though I don't think he'd do anything t' hurt us, better safe than sorry."

And with that, the pegasus and earth pony walked back around the side of the carriage, both smiling innocently. They were terrible liars.

"Well, now that your secret council is concluded, feel free to join me for dinner in the lounge, which Silver here can show you to," Kaiscillius gestured towards a golem who stood near the intricate front door of his house, but to the mares he would appear as an elderly butler, "or wander around the grounds here as much as you like. Just... ah, you know what? If I told you where not to go, you'd immediately seek that place out, so, don't go near the garden or the lounge. Have fun!" Kaiscillius turned from them and walked into the cool stone hallways of his home.

As he passed his golem, it asked, "Status update, sir?" He'd programmed them so that they would ask him if he wanted one when certain conditions were met. Having just arrived at the manor was one of them.

"No, thank you, I just received one," The automaton bowed its head in acknowledgement, and walked towards the two mares as they aimlessly wandered about. Kaiscillius himself continued into the massive four floor structure.

Though the upper section of Kaiscillius's lair was indeed spacious, it paled in comparison to the truly labyrinthine depths that extended underneath the house. It boasted hundreds of tunnels and rooms that were all enchanted to act as an unsolvable maze. Except to Kaiscillius and his followers, who could all walk through to exactly the room they needed to go to by opening any door they wished.

The blue one proves more troublesome by the second, and it is clear my plan isn't working... why? Why? WHY? Kaiscillius paced and snorted angrily, hands clenching and unclenching behind his back, What could I have missed? I'm a thousand times more prepared now than I was when I battled Twilight Sparkle, why isn't it-

Kaiscillius froze in the middle of the hallway that led to his study, a hand half raised to his mouth, Is that it? Could it be so simple? I'd need to examine them much more closely to be certain, and if I sought them out now after dismissing them it would seem strange. Grragh, I have to wait till dinner, Kaiscillius marched to the lounge. It was a comfortable space filled with bookshelves, fine couches, and a roaring hearth. Kaiscillius sat himself in a plush chair, taking a meditative pose, and revised his plan.

An hour later, the mare's stomachs finally forced them to accept Kaiscillius's offer of dinner. And he'd already thought of a way to separate them.

"Ah, welcome my friends, please, take a seat!" He greeted them as they entered the large sitting space. Both wore looks of slight confusion on their faces, as if they were searching for something and couldn't remember where they'd left it.

Finally, it begins to work properly, Kaiscillius thought equal parts relieved and annoyed.

The two mares took seats next to each other, with Applejack sitting up straight and giving him a shy smile, and Rainbow Dash crashing onto a long couch and shooting him suspicious glances. The golem whom Kaiscillius had assigned to follow them walked in shortly after.

Status update, sir? It communicated to him telepathically.

Kaiscillius frowned. Had he lost track of time? They weren't supposed to ask so soon after being told not to. He'd have to examine this one later to make sure that its constant proximity to Ultimatum had not somehow screwed with its delicate magical balancing mechanisms.

No, not now, he replied, before turning to his guests, "So! What would you like to eat?"

They glanced at each other, "What you got?" Dash answered with insultingly thinly veiled mistrust.

Kaiscillius's eye may have twitched as he smiled and said, "Oh, anything your heart desires! As I said, I don't really get much company and most of my time is spent in the city, so we are well stocked in any dish you could care to name!" He did his best to sound eager to please.

"Hmm," Applejack said, stroking her chin, "Ah'll take two apple pies, please."

Rainbow Dash smacked herself in the face, "Seriously, AJ? The guy offers you anything you could want, and you choose the thing you have, like, a bazillion times a day?"

Applejack merely shrugged, "What can ah say? Ah like apple pie. Just water to drink, if that's fine."

Kaiscillius smiled, being sure to add a little extra oomph to the broadcasting love spell as he did so (which he had maintained since they had entered the room), "And you Miss Dash?"

Rainbow Dash eyed him up yet again, and said slowly, "Yeah... I'll take two dozen zap apple fritters please. And a cask of Apple Family Cider."

Applejack gawked at her friend, "Rainbow Dash! Ya can't honestly expect him t' have all that! The fritters alone would cost more than-"

Kaiscillius held up a hand, and then sent the golem out of the room with the instruction, Make sure you keep Miss Dash's glass as full as can be at all times.

With a nod, it departed, and returned not ten minutes later with a steaming tray of pies and fritters, a large oak barrel clutched under one of its arms.

Both girls' jaws dropped as they saw the outrageously expensive rainbow colored items being carried towards them. Kaiscillius smiled, Suck on that Rainbow Dash, and said, "I hope you both enjoy your meals to the fullest, and if you need anything more just let me know. I'll have the usual if you please, Silver."

The golem set down its load in front of the appropriate pony, bowed to Kaiscillius, and left the room at a brisk pace.

"More?" Applejack said incredulously, "Even mah own family wouldn'ta been able to afford this! And ya say you have more?!"

Kaiscillius shrugged, "I'm moderately wealthy, and I hate to disappoint guests, so I try to have as much of everything in stock as I can."

Rainbow Dash immediately dug into the zap apple fritters with gusto, despite her previous misgivings. A good thing too, because Kaiscillius actually had booby trapped them, enchanting them so that they made whomever consumed them unbearably thirsty. Now, normally the strength of enhancement he had placed upon them would have sent any pony into immediate dehydration, but, as he had predicted, whatever was allowing the girls to resist both him and Ultimatum weakened the effect of this spell also. So Rainbow Dash was afflicted with a parched throat, instead of immediate terminal water loss.

As the meal went on, conversation was as light as snow in the desert. Kaiscillius tried to branch out as much as possible, but Applejack seemed keenly aware of his well shrouded lies. He had hoped that the slivers of truth in them would be enough to fool her, but on that front he was failing. However, he was succeeding very well on getting Rainbow Dash to down as much liquid as she could fit into her. Mug after mug of cider went down the hatch like water into a sponge, and so it wasn't long before the fateful question was asked.

"Hey, um... do you have a bathroom?" She had crossed her legs tightly, and it was clear she was incredibly uncomfortable.

I have you now, Kaiscillius laughed lightly, "Of course we do! Come, Silver! Silver!"

The golem appeared in the doorway as Dash stood, bouncing slightly from foot to foot, "Yes Master?"

"Lead this poor mare to the bathroom would you?" While she's in there teleport Grey and his gang here, initiate "Rough Rider" protocol, all safeties disabled, break her hard and break her fast.

"Of course Master, this way, please, miss."

Rainbow Dash impatiently hopped along behind the elderly butler, muttering under her breath, as the door to the study was shut.

Kaiscillius smiled at Applejack, on whom the departure of Rainbow Dash seemed to have an immediate effect. She blushed heavily at him, her orange cheeks reddening adorably as she averted her eyes from his, inadvertently casting coy glances his way.

And then there was one, Kaiscillius thought with a mental maniacal laugh.

"Ah, well, I hope you don't mind me being honest with you but... I'm really glad she's gone."

Applejack snorted as she laughed, her nose scrunching up as she replied, "Yep, she can sure be a handful once she decide's somethin's not how she likes it."

Okay... if my theory is correct the spell should be having much more of an effect now. Well, both of them. Kaiscillius smiled at her again, eliciting another immediate blush, and sat in silence for a few minutes as she stared at him.

"What's on your mind Applejack? If it's okay for me to call you that," Time to probe the waters.

She smiled awkwardly, "Erm... well, of course it is! Ya know, fer somepony who... saved mah life and... all that... ahem. I was, uh, jest thinkin that, uh, I was... so glad! Fer the food ya know! Mmmm, sure was hungry! Heh heh... yep..."

Oh boy was that spell working now! To bad I didn't get to actually verify the cause of the resistance, obviously it has something to do with the Elements' connection. I wonder if... no, that would probably amplify the effects if anything. Oh well, time to move.

"Applejack, would you mind if I sat next to you?"

Applejack blinked, feeling another early blush onset coming, "Uhh... sure! G-go right ahead."

Something weird was happening. Since Rainbow had left, it felt like things had become much more... focused. She was incredibly aware of the temperature of her body, how her clothes felt as they ground against her heaving chest. She felt like she was hyperventilating, but her breathing was normal. Her heart thundered in her ears along with a second drumbeat. One that felt so familiar, one that she'd grown used to hearing, but it was so much stronger now, she didn't know how she'd missed it before.

Her dark prince slowly stood from his chair, "It's getting rather hot in here wouldn't you say?" He stretched, showing off an incredible amount of rippling muscle through even through the clothing he wore. It had never occurred to Applejack before, but this alicorn must be absolutely ripped under all those layers. He was right, it was incredibly warm in the room, but Applejack thought that may have just been her. She was suddenly aware of the roaring fire to her right as Blood Diamond towered over her. She hadn't even noticed him move.

Sweet Celestia he's big! Big as... well, Celestia even!

Applejack had a minor panic attack as Blood Diamond removed his outer shirt, exposing his lithe arms and chest. She was enraptured with the subtle patterns of his skin. Different grey hues intertwined and twirled, like he was simply wisps of smoke trapped in an unbearably attractive form.

This ain't right... I gotta get outta here! Gotta... find... Rainbow Dash!

Applejack managed to sit up in her chair, even rising slightly before she felt a cool hand on her cheek. Her body shuddered and thumped heavily back down onto the chair, her eyes crossing slightly.

"Applejack, are you alright," The voice was soft, melodious, beautiful. She yearned to hear more.

No! Ah can't do this! Ah'm supposed ta... supposed ta...

The hand stroked its way down her cheek, causing her body to further sink into the couch upon which she rested, before it gripped her chin, and tilted it upwards. Applejack did not lock eyes with Blood Diamond. She locked eyes with Kaiscillius.

She gasped as she saw beauty and complexity that her mind struggled to comprehend. It was like looking into a maze of mirrors, but the longer you looked, the more mirrors there were, the more the light split and fractured. The crystalline gaze captivated her, as it had many before her.

This... will... NOT... be... the end of... me! With a surge of effort from an unknown place within her, Applejack shattered the link between her and Kaiscillius, shoving him away and lurching towards the door. She moved far more slowly than she should have. It was like walking in a dream, every step she took felt like she was swimming through syrup with a ball and chain attached to every limb. She stumbled and fell with embarrassing regularity, and felt as if she had gone blind. It was as if those eyes had been seared onto her retinas, and all she could see was their limitless possibility. She wanted so badly to turn and give in to the impulse, and she could feel whatever strength that had aided her was failing.

"Ha! It seems that an Element is a lot less easy to take while conscious. An important note for the rest of you. It also acts as a conduit! Of course, you should be able to cast spells anyway, but whatever Celestia wants to teach nowadays is her deal."

Applejack didn't hear the words so much as the voice. Her knees collapsed as it flowed into her like honey, and it felt like gravity itself pulled against her as she crawled forward on her hands and knees towards the... door? Was that where she was going? She stopped dead as the room spun around her, tables and chairs lurching and blending together, her mind raging with confusion. She'd been going... somewhere... Rainbow Dash! She had to... turn her in? No, that wasn't right. Where had she been going?

Forwards. Forwards... is... better... than... back... For some reason, she knew that was true.

She shuffled about as fast as a snail in the direction she thought was forwards. Was her skin glowing orange? That probably wasn't good. The glow was fading. She could see other glows. Red, yellow, blue, green, white, black, and... something else. Something darker than black, more sinister, more... intoxicating. Why was she going towards it?

Her head bumped into something. The door? No, it was soft, it felt like... cloth?

Oh no...

Her head shook with effort as her face pulled itself upward, and she squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could, avoiding looking at... something. Something to do with lights. Bright lights. So beautiful...

Gentle hands gripped her flushed, soft cheeks, stroking her face and chin.

"Oh, my dear," A warm voice, hot breath blew down her neck. Applejack shuddered as her eyes threatened to flutter open.

Ah have to keep them closed... she thought, feeling somewhat detached from events, as if she were controlling events in third person. But the voice, that sweet, soft, beautiful voice. It wanted her to open her eyes. She should... follow its directions.

That... ain't... me... Applejack gasped as she felt something wonderful press against her cheek. She didn't know what it was but she wanted it bad. Her head turned, eyes still closed, as she sought out that feeling again, and it pressed against her lips. A kiss. Soft at first, and her mind quailed before it's might. Then the kissed deepened, she was pushed backwards (or had she sat down herself?).

"Keep your eyes closed for me if you would. I can see the struggle within you. I can hear it, taste it! You are delicious, and I want you to last just a little longer. Conscious, but powerless. Until, of your own choosing, you will joyously succumb to me."

The words weren't important, she would simply obey without having to understand the meaning. The voice soothed her, relaxed her, her eyes stopped struggling to open themselves. And the last remnants of Applejack fumed that she was following his commands, even if disobeying them meant her... death?

No, he doesn't want ta kill me. He wants to... to... Applejack's poisoned mind seized the idea with white knuckled fervor, she shivered and bucked unconsciously as visceral images of her bent over a table, chair, or laying on the floor and being dominated by the alicorn raged through her psyche. She whimpered as her pants began to soak themselves, as her mind tried to think of anything other than making love to her new mas... ter...

NO! He ain't no master of mine! As long as I don't open my eyes, if I can just keep 'em closed, ah'll be alright... ah'll be alrighAAAAHHH!!!

Applejack spasmed as Blood Diamond placed a hand on her back, and slowly drew it in a tingling line down her spine, as the other undid the first button of her plaid top.

"Applejack has permission to speak," A new command rolled over her, she obeyed like the good little slave she was.

"NO AH AIN'T! Y-y-you'll n-never get (gasp) away with this!" The hand on her back pressed more firmly, pushing out her ample chest as the second of four buttons was undone, revealing her frilled white bra underneath. She bit her lip hard and nearly creamed herself as the alicorn's knuckles lightly brushed over her exposed skin.

"Why am I so darn sensitive!"

...

"Wait, did ah say that outlou-ooooaaAHH!" Blood Diamond chuckled as he kissed the side of one of Applejack's breasts, leaving her panting and quivering beneath him.

"Yes, my dear, you say everything that comes to your mind until I tell you to stop, and you take all my commands as if they were holy writ. Such is the nature of the spell. It's also why you are so sensitive say... here," Applejack moaned and kicked in ecstasy as her ("Not mah master, not mah master," she heaved under her breath) prodded a nipple through her shirt and bra.

"BUCK, that feels good! No, No it don't! GRAHH! What're you doin' to me?!" Applejack squealed and sobbed in frustration as her third shirt button popped open, and more of her boobs were exposed to be touched. She was so close!

"Just... one more... bucking touch! NO! Ah, don't... ah- ah don't want... that," She was out of breath, and felt tired, so tired. Her body simmered on the edge of climax and it and her mind alike screamed for her to give in.

"I am transforming you, Applejack. I am transforming you into a servant."

"Why're you... talkin so... funny?" She asked, things were going dark, she felt like she was about to explode, but she couldn't move, could barely think.

"Because, if I were to give a direct order, a certain enchanted pony would have to obey it. For instance, cum as you please Applejack."

A howl tore loose from Applejack's throat as she slammed her hips upward, driving the rest of her body into the ground, as her legs clenched and bucked, her soaked snatch spewing marecum almost through her clothing, which was now stained beyond repair. For ten seconds she shook, clenched, and violently humped the air, hissing through her teeth as her eyes screwed painfully tight, before collapsing to the ground.

Perhaps thirty seconds passed, as Applejack caught her breath, before Blood Diamond said, "Does Applejack's resistance remain?"

"Yesh shhhirrr..." Applejack slurred and rocked back and forth slightly on the ground as the voice once again seized her mind in its velvety jaws, her body reveled in bowing to it's every whim.

"Bring her to the forefront please. And continue to make her speak."

"Ahhhhhhh..." mindless uncompromising assent slithered it's way from Applejack's lolling mouth, before a more collected voice took hold.

"Ohhhhhh mah stars... what in Equestria was that..."

"Sit up, Applejack, and don't move," Applejack groaned as she slowly sat up, her eyes still shut tight.

"Even... even if ya can do that... ah still won't give in! Buck that felt amazing..." A confused frown crossed her face for a moment, "Wait... OH GOSH DARN IT!"

Kaiscillius chuckled at his frustrated captive. He was having a lot of fun. He felt he deserved it, weeks of planning had gone into this moment, so he felt that he was justified in enjoying himself a little. He had basically decided to do the opposite of what he had done to Twilight, which was keep the aggressive part of the mind at the forefront and beat it into submission. He felt comfortable with this because, well, Applejack wasn't nearly as dangerous as Twilight was. While her Element gave her some rudimentary magical protection, it would not be nearly enough to protect her from the twenty different spells and enchantments he had cast that were pelting her with the constant desire to submit.

She looked beautiful. Truly, a credit to Earth Ponies. A large bust with a firm, workpony figure, wide hips, and tight fitting jeans. One thing Kaiscillius had come to appreciate in this modern era was the sparsity of clothing. Once, he had spent ten whole minutes undressing a mare he had seduced at a foreign court, and keeping her on her toes during the whole affair had been one of the most difficult tasks he'd ever accomplished.

Leaning over, Kaiscillius stroked Applejack's face and mane a few more times, enjoying both the disgust and longing that alternated back and forth across her face.

"Yes, touch me more please... sir! No! Stop... that... ya gosh darn coward!" She still didn't call him master, but he only had one of his charms working on that department, and Ultimatum's overall effect made him able to command her to say it anyway, but he enjoyed the struggle. It was one of the few things he regretted about what he'd done to persuade Twilight, he should have let her assertiveness out to play from time to time.

Very gently Kaiscillius unbuttoned the last of Applejack's red plaid shirt, and said, "Take that off, please, and entertain me while you do it."

Applejack glared at him through closed eyelids, "Ah'll do no such thing, if you want mah body, you'll have ta get it yerself!" She slowly stood up, drawing her hands up her calves and stomach, cupping her breasts and leaning over to give him an excellent view of her soft orange cleavage. It was almost comical when combined with her straining to scowl as her head was tilted to the side in the "do me eyes" position.

Slowly she slipped the garment off her shoulders, standing sideways and pushing her chest out a little to give him a view of her full figure. A brief dreamy smile crossed her face as she no doubt imagined him being pleased, before the scowl returned.

"Okay, well... ya still can't, er..." She sounded hesitant, and Kaiscillius chuckled, standing and slipping his arms around her.

She swallowed hard as his lips brushed against her neck, and he felt her whole body tremble. He glanced at her pants, but found that he would get no more indication from them, they were darkened from her inner thigh all the way down to her ankles.

"Now you see, don't you? You see that there is somepony in this room whom I can command to do anything and they will obey. But don't worry, they'll crave it soon enough," Applejack squealed in delight as he drew his tongue along her neck, ending with a single passionate kiss. She nearly buckled in his arms as her body went wild.

"Buck yes, please masssss- sir, I'll do whatever you want, I want mo- whoa, whoa, whoa now, let's n-not get c-crazy, a-ah think you should really st-t-top and consider just what it is yer doin!" Her teeth chattered with effort as she struggled to keep hold of her mind. Kaiscillius snapped his fingers, and his clothing evaporated into mist. As in, all of it.

"Oh, I have."

Applejack heaved in a breath as she felt something enormous tap against her leg, and stifled a moan as she felt it ooze something smooth and ice cold onto her body. It felt at least as thick as her fist, and anypony who had crossed her could tell you, Applejack had some pretty thick fists.

"What... in Celestia's name... is that thing?" She asked, she should really open her eyes to find out. Opening her eyes was great, she loved how the wind-

"Stop that, ah'm not openin mah eyes and that's that! You will if he commands you to. Shut up, no I- hhhhhnnng!"
Applejack strangled another moan of pleasure as a hand tapped just below her belly button, and slowly snaked its way around her stomach, causing every inch of skin to tingle with delight. She heard something move, and was unable to help herself as she whispered,

"Ohhhhh, yes masss- sir, please fill me up with that fffff- nope, a-a-ah don't want it, ah don't want it!" She moaned and grunted as the (she hesitated to even call the monstrosity a penis) slapped against her stomach, apparently Blood Diamond had moved around to the front. Heat radiated through the rod and pulsed through her body, which did not help her current identity crisis at all. The thing reach from the top of her jeans, nearly all the way to her breasts, which would make it, what? A foot long? Two?

"Applejack?" Oh, the voice called to her!

She clenched her teeth and answered, "Yes mmfff-sir?"

"You want this," Suddenly Applejack nearly threw herself onto the ground as her bodily orientation was set to "worship freakishly large member" mode and all the force behind what had been trying to persuade her had finally been given a purpose. She thought it had been a struggle to maintain sanity before, now she realized she had been punching a brick wall, now she was trying to punch her way though a brick wall factory, that had decided to steamroll her.

Her knees thudded against the floor as she wrapped both arms around the massive prick and shoved it against her face, squishing it into her boobs. She pressed herself as close to it as she could, and felt the throbbing rubbery texture, breathing in deeply through her mouth and nose. She gagged the first time on its incredibly powerful scent that she couldn't quite pin down. Regardless, she could feel her knees getting wet as the molten heat in her body poured out of her.

Gentle at first, she kissed around the pole of flesh in front of her, trying to get a real feel for it since she still couldn't see. But with every peck of her lips and twitch of the massive cock smothered against her body, she inhaled more of the oppressive musk, and her body, or whatever force now controlled her, took over far faster. She couldn't resist in the slightest as she gripped both sides of it and lovingly licked the member from bottom to as high as she could reach while doubled over on her knees. She moaned and rocked her body against it as she kissed and suckled all around the shaft, rubbing her saliva and his massive amounts of precum up and down it with her arms and hands. She jumped as a shock ran down her body as the massive balls of the thing slapped against her embarrassingly sensitive breasts.

She spoke everything that went through her mind, but it came out as nothing more than slutty slurps and groans as she continued to service Blood Diamond. Her face scrunched up as she tasted the pre she was slathering all over the prick she was fellating, not because it tasted bad, but because of how good it was. It was like the most perfectly baked apple pie in the world, and her body instantly switched from working the shaft, to trying to fit the tip into her mouth.

She had to stand up to reach it, and she nearly came as her mouth plopped down onto the tip, her golden hair falling around her, as the wonderful taste gushed into her mouth, filling it up so quickly that it started forcing it's way down her throat. She gagged, and pulled away long enough only to swallow what she had, and then threw her head back down onto the cock, bucking her hips involuntarily as the buzz of pleasure began to overwhelm her mind-

"Stop."

She pulled away and swallowed what she had left in her mouth desperately, wanton lust no doubt written all over her ruined clothes. Once again, she was so close that if a light breeze touched her the wrong way it would send her over the edge.

"Oh, Celestia, why? Ah- ah want it so bad, couldn't ya just let me... just let me finish..." Applejack panted, out of breath. She didn't try to take back her words, didn't try to explain them away as part of whatever was happening to her. She felt like she was going to loose her mind if she didn't cum, and that would be much worse than degrading herself for sweet release.

"What do you want, Applejack?"

"Oh, Celestia, sir, ah want you to make me cum, please! I beg ya! Ah'll do anything, ah'll dance for you, ah'll suck your dick, ah'll buck like a rodeo bull, just let me cum!" Was she crying? Or had some pre somehow gotten onto her cheeks? Her tongue lashed out, desperate to recapture the taste, but she couldn't reach far enough.

She heard a snap, and her body stood to attention, her senses straining for any hint of approval from her... her...

"Yer... ah'm not..."

"Alright Applejack, you no longer have to say everything you think. You will cum when I do, and I'll only cum when my cock is as far down your throat as possible. You will achieve this goal, and then you will inform me if your defiance remains."

She didn't say thank you, she didn't have time, but she would have screamed her gratitude for being allowed to suck him off from the roof of the royal palace if she could have. She launched herself at where she thought he was, running into his chest. She didn't apologize, she madly reached her hands out, finding his massive rod wasn't overtly difficult, and slammed her head down onto the tip. To her heartbreaking disappointment, it was dry as a bone, with none of the delicious precum remaining. It also felt different, as if covered by some sort of skin-tight seal.

She tried her best, but it really was like trying to fit a whole fist into her mouth, and it was slowly driving her crazy. She still felt it's pulsing warmth flood through her body, still had the electric tingle as her breasts rubbed gently against it, but her body had locked itself on the threshold of bliss, and she was withheld from it. A feeling started to grow inside of her. A dull throbbing, like arousal but less intense, began thudding like a heartbeat in her head and crotch.

Ah just want to swallow it, ah just want to swallow it, just swallow... swallow... Her thoughts broke down slowly until her task before her was all-consuming. No other distractions or emotions clouded her mind but pure, unadulterated lust. She heard a popping noise, and felt pressure relieve itself from her skull as her mouth opened wider, and the two foot rod slammed down her throat all at once.

At first all she felt was a sense of surprise, then, a few seconds later, feeling returned to her throat and she choked on the shaft, her muscles working it unconsciously in an attempt to force it out, but her body keeping her locked in place as she felt drool trickle from her lips. Her mind was dark as she stood there, no thought crossed it. She shook slightly, made another choking noise before it felt as if her body acted of it's own accord.

Slowly she pulled herself backwards, gurgling and coughing until she could breath again. She sucked in air like it was life itself as her tongue automatically licked and suckled the member in her mouth. It twitched and pulsed, as though trying to force more of the unbelievably delicious liquid into her, were it not for the seal, and she enjoyed it for a few moments, before impaling her self on the meat spear again, taking the entirety of the cock down her throat, feeling as though it had punched straight to her intestines.

She repeated this process many times, becoming more and more adept at handling the dick as it lodged its way deep into her core, using her hands to massage the outside of her throat and stimulate it even farther as it pulsed pleasingly inside her. With one final push, she filled herself entirely, until her nose pressed up against the bare skin of her dominator, and she felt something melting inside her.

"MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMHHHH!!!" Applejack screamed as gallons of white hot cum pulsed straight into her waiting stomach, her own sticky fluids gushing out from her ruined jeans, harder and faster than last time. Her mind fried with the intensity of her climax, and she screamed into the meat barrier in her throat for a solid minute as more cum filled out her stomach, some running out of her mouth and nose, bloating it so she looked like she'd gained a few pounds.

Blood Diamond gently lifted her off the cock, and cum exploded out of her mouth. She collapsed, coughing and hacking, onto the floor of the study as her body expelled most of the jizz from her system, a puddle of thick white goop forming around her head. After a minute or two she caught her breath and said in a slurred voice, "The reshishtanshe remainsh... sssshhhir..." Another cough and more thick liquid gushed from her mouth, Applejack shivered in ecstasy as the puddle of fluids she laid in stimulated her further, already building her up for her next trial.

Kaiscillius grinned down at his prize like a madpony, her body and spirit breaking and bloated before him. So he'd decided to keep his incredibly large penis, what did it hurt? In fact, he'd still downsized from what it had been as Knight Radiant, and Applejack had clearly enjoyed herself. And he wasn't nearly done yet, oh no, she had a lot more coming to her. Briefly, he wondered why he'd decided to do something different with this mare than he had done with others. As weak as she was right now, all he would have to do was enter her mind and breath on her and she would fall. But he had to admit he found this method much more fun. He always loved one-sided fights, especially when the other side still believed they could win. She was stronger than she looked, but that was only due to the Element of Honesty giving her that little extra magical resistance.

Which reminded him, he needed to check his theory on the girls later since he hadn't been able to do it at dinner. If he was right then it was a good thing he hadn't gone with one of his earliest plans of kidnapping all of the Elements at the same time and breaking them one by one. Not that he couldn't have done it, it just would have taken forever.

"Undress fully, please," he said as the husk in front of him regained some semblance of life.

"Yes... sir..." Applejack stood and unclasped her bra which was soaked and stained with spit and cum, before pulling down her pants and panties at the same time, along with her shoes, and throwing them to the side. She stood before him, her ample chest and the entire right side of her body drenched in milky white liquid. It oozed it's way down her, making her tremble at its contact, and he stopped it with magic right before it reached her engorged sex. He didn't want her getting any release she didn't earn, now did he? Her eyes were glazed over, as mares looked when they had given up their will to fight, but she had said that the resistance was still in there somewhere. And Kaiscillius was excited to see it react to the next phase of reconditioning.

"The resistance will take the fore. But first, a few things."

Applejack's eyes rolled forward in their sockets as she came to, immediately sensing that something felt wrong. She bit her lip at the state she was in. Her stomach felt warm and full, radiating a sense of calm, contentedness, and (of course) a burning desire for more sex. Her face felt sticky, and the scent of drying jizz wafted into her nose, making her shudder and smile in spite of herself. Her arms and legs ached slightly, as well as her throat. The dull pain in her crotch and head that had allowed her to swallow something that, by rights, shouldn't have existed had returned, and her butt felt... cold? Applejack gasped as she realized what the true problem was, her eyes were open.

She was about to close them again when she noticed what she was looking at, the black and red marble floor.

"Well, ah guess ah can't see his eyes if ah'm starin at the floor... oh, ah'm sayin everythin out loud again, aren't ah?"

"Indeed you are my dear," came the immediate response from behind her. Her head snapped up in recognition of the voice, but Applejack found she couldn't move. She was on all fours, and clearly had, at some point, removed the rest of her clothes as her breasts now hung freely from her chest. She shuddered as her painfully stiff nipples brushed against the cold stone, sending a shock and another unwanted smile of lust through her body. She blushed a tiny bit more than she already was (which was quite an impressive feat) as she realized her bare ass was sticking straight up into the air, completely exposed. That meant that her captor could see everything. She'd known this was the endgame, she'd just hoped it wouldn't come to this.

"Oh Celestia, and there's nothin ah can do about it! Heck he could even make me beg for it if he wanted to!" She exclaimed with frustration, hearing a deep chuckle from behind her.

"It seems you finally understand your position. You invoke Celestia's name quite a lot. Haven't you ponies developed any more interesting deities in the last thousand years? Surely there has to have been at least one crackpot who claimed something was divine other than alicorns."

"Ah wouldn't know sir, history was never mah strong suit. Say, would yah mind er... not doin what yer doin?" she felt so stupid for what she was about to say, "Now before ya laugh hear me out! Ya see ah've... ah've been savin mahself for that special somepony ya know? So, ah'd do anything you want. Willingly! As many blowjobs as you can handle, and ah'll never tell a soul! Just... just don't take that from me. Please," Not her strongest argument, and Applejack really didn't expect it to help anyway, but she had to try at least.

"Suckin yer cock weren't that bad anyhow... wait... BUCK! Ah mean uhh... ah didn't mean that... buck," Applejack was having a tough time thinking straight, it felt like her every word was being twisted and perverted to be used against her. For some reason, she felt that she wasn't just imagining that. Something was actively confusing her, befuddling her, and she knew how to make it stop. All she had to do was give in.

There was a long silence, before Applejack heard another chuckle. It was different from the last one, more gradual, until it built into a thunderous bellow of laughter. Applejack started to cry because she knew what would come next. But, to her surprise, this was the answer,

"Oh, my dear, you are far too close-minded! I grant your request! Your virginity shall remain yours, and you don't even have to give me another blowjob to keep it!"

Applejack was overjoyed, she didn't know Kaiscillius well enough yet to be worried, and said, "Really?! You'll let me go?!"

A shorter bark of laughter, "Now, that's not quite what I said, is it my dear?"

Applejack's face screwed up as she felt something strange happen to her backside. The temperature of it dropped, and she felt something slick run down her legs, setting her to shivering again, her mind clouding slightly at the sensation.

"Then... what do ya me-eep!" She squeaked to a halt as she felt the familiar massively engorged rod smack loudly onto her ass, covered in an incredibly slick substance that felt like it was almost entirely frictionless.

"Don't worry! I've been sure to take the necessary precautions! You may have trouble walking around after this, but you'll be on your back and knees most of the time after today anyway."

"Uhh... yer not sayin that... in mah..." Applejack stuttered, her brain very much struggling to wrap itself around the idea being presented to her.

"Would you rather i didn't?" She heard. She immediately wanted to tell him to do it, and to be extra rough, but she held herself in check. Barely.

"No... a-ah d-don't... want... want..." She couldn't seem to make herself say the words. Her breath came in shorter and shorter gasps, there was a powerful pounding in her head and snatch, both screamed at her to let him, to give in.

"Oh, and it's the only way you'll cum for the rest of the day. If you refuse, I'll still play with you, in other ways, but you'll never achieve satisfaction," The room went quiet. Five seconds passed. Ten seconds. A whole minute without an answer.

"Yeeeesssss... mmm-maa-maaasssster..." She groaned, her eyes crossed from effort of trying to both agree and refuse.

"Does the resistance remain?"

"A-ah... am... the res-resistance..." She droned, her voice sounding robotic, droning as though she could not even muster emotion.

"Then you will break," he said simply, and she heard a loud hissing noise, and felt a sudden intense pressure inside of herself. Strange black motes floated in front of her eyes, she wondered briefly what they were, before feeling returned.

Applejack immediately creamed herself as the dark magic released it's hold. It had already prepared the way for him, and she felt no pain. She felt the most pleasure she had ever felt in her life as Kaiscillius's solid two foot prick slid fully and smoothly into her backside. He felt it contract around him, feeling as tight as his hydra form had in Flying Colors' snatch.

I gotta stop doing this before I break something, He thought with a slight grimace before working his way slowly back out of her ass, driving into her hard once more, his fist sized balls slapping her thighs and snatch in tandem as she screamed in bliss. Kaiscillius wasted no time in getting to work, and grinned from ear to ear at her primal grunting as he pinned her under him.

He'd gone for the definition of doggy style, her on all fours, ass in the air, as he lay on her back and pounded her into sweet, merciful oblivion. Since he was so much larger than her, she was completely trapped underneath him, practically unable to move, save for rocking back and forth as he slowly began to thrust in and out of her painfully tight asshole.

She was wordless as Kaiscillius fucked her, head hung low, panting hard with each slap of his balls onto her legs and pussy. Slowly she brought a hand up to rest on his neck, her orange finger digging into his flesh and hair, and forcing his head closer to her neck. Kaiscillius, being the gentleman that he was, obliged her wishes, and began to bite and nibble her ear and throat. She groaned at the special treatment, craning her head back to allow him easier access to her whole body, and giving him a magnificent view of her tanned cleavage.

She grunted rhythmically in time with his slow thrusts, until she whispered, " Faster..."

"What was that, my dear," He growled to her, lightly biting her neck.

"Ah said faster! Please, master, give it to me hard! Ah want ya t'buck me like ah never have been before!" She squealed.

Finally, she is broken. And all it took was some patience.

Kaiscillius immediately sped up drastically, causing Applejack to scream and moan loudly beneath him. She threw her head backwards and howled as she came for the second time, rising in pitch as Kaiscillius continued his rear assault, never slowing for a second. Her body shook and lurched as she fucked him back, building a rhythm, and a third climax for her. Kaiscillius himself was feeling close, there's not much a tight mare's ass didn't do for him, and while he knew he could prolong the experience, he decided there was no need to wait.

Applejack grunted when Kaiscillius's full weight settled on her as he stopped propping himself up, and instead used his agile digits to massage her breasts. He skillfully took one in each hand, pinching and kneading the hyperactive flesh, and increasing his speed to a jackhammer pace. The room filled with the loud sounds of Applejack's shameless moans of pleasure, and the sound of wet slapping as Kaiscillius's hips connected over and over with Applejack's reddening cheeks. The force of the pounding at this speed made Applejack's head flop up and down as if she were a doll, her tongue dangling, and her breath short.

With a roar, Kaiscillius shot his seed into her stomach once more, but from the other end this time. The tight passage was quickly filled, and the thick fluid gushed out of Applejack's gaping ass, as Kaiscillius pulled himself out, and shot ropes of seed all across the mare's legs, butt, and back.

Applejack collapsed onto the floor, and shivered every time a new splash of cum landed on her, she came twice more before Kaiscillius was done, shakily murmuring her gratitude to her glorious master as every inch of her was defiled. She was so happy to be broken.

About one hour previous, hallway of Kaiscillius's estate -

Stupid Rainbow Dash! Stupid, stupid, stupid! She'd gotten distracted for one second, one! And now she was doing the potty dance behind an old guy (Celestia knows how far away from Applejack!), trapped in some creepy rich guy's house!

What did you say Rainbow Dash? You said, 'We shouldn't split up!' and what did you do? You split up. Great buckin' job there idiot, Rainbow Dash hated this manor. It's black and red hallways seemed to press down on her, as if trying to confine her. She hated tight spaces, and this place felt like it was trying to get tighter than it already was, she could almost feel the weight of the mountain on top of her. They'd taken she didn't know how many turns, and gone up and down just as many staircases! She'd never be able to find her way back! And the worst part was she had to pee worse than she ever had in her entire bucking life!!! It felt like if she didn't get release in the next five seconds, she was going to explode!

"HEY, OLD GUY, HOW FAR FROM THE BATHROOM?!!" She screamed at him, waving her fists in the air. He hadn't spoken to her since they'd left the lounge, he just kept walking at that same calm, unhurried pace no matter what she yelled at him, like he didn't even hear her!

Which is why Rainbow Dash was so surprised when he stopped dead in the middle of the hallway and turned around, "There it is madam, through that door, first corridor on the left," he sounded completely unflustered, as if he hadn't just spent the last twenty minutes getting screeched at by an irate pegasus.

After the initial shock, Rainbow Dash yelled, "Finally! I'm glad we got some-whoah..." She balked as she observed what lay in front of her. It was... a door. A massive wooden double door that was painted a purple shade of crimson, with two large silver knockers. It wasn't so much the door itself, it was what it felt like. The door radiated a sense of hatred and dread, it made Rainbow's blood run cold just looking at it, her hair and feathers standing on end.

"Uhhh..." she gulped, "you sure there's not, I don't know, a different bathroom I could use?"

The old stallion gave her the most deadpan look she could imagine, and replied, "No. I'm afraid not. Miss." He took a deep breath and added, "I will await you here so that I may return you without incident, my master would be most displeased if you became lost in this place. We still hear Billy screaming sometimes, most annoying indeed," and with those... charming words, he gestured toward the ultra-nope door and stood to the side with his back facing her. She couldn't have gotten a stronger "I hate you and never want to talk to you again vibe" if she tried.

"Okay, I guess. I mean, what could be so bad about a door? And it's certainly nothin I can't handle," she said confidently, only feeling marginally silly that she was basically talking to herself at this point.

With a gulp, Rainbow Dash slowly edged towards the foreboding door, hand tentatively outstretch, and a pained look on her face. She grasped one of the silver rings gingerly and pushed... and the door opened. Rainbow blinked in surprise, honestly having expected some monster to leap from the doorway to devour her. With a nervous chuckle, and one last glance at the uncaring butler, Rainbow Dash slipped inside.

The hallway she found herself in was immediately distinguishable from the one outside the door, this hallway was made from red marble, a similar color to clay, with black veins running through it, rather than its inverse in the main house. She followed this new corridor for about twenty feet before getting a glance at what it was leading to. The room in front of her was octangular in shape, with a middle floor and a small step that led to each of the eight corners of the room. The middle of the octagon was brightly lit, with eight red braziers burning at each intersection, along with eight white marble columns that supported the tiered ceiling. Each of the corners of the room were heavily shrouded in shadow, but these normally suspicious places were not what caught Rainbow's eye.

In the center of the octagon there was a pedestal. It was... strange to behold, blacker than black, it almost seemed to draw in the light around it. And that was as far into the center of the room as she could look. It was like her eyes slid around whatever lay in her last remaining blind spot, subconsciously not letting her look at it. This didn't feel odd to her, in fact she didn't even notice it happening, to her there was the pedestal and that was it.

Rainbow got very mixed emotions from the room, particularly from the blind spot. On the one hand just looking near it made her muscles tighten in fear, the same feeling she got just before she crashed. In fact, the first few seconds the blind spot had been in view, she could almost see herself crashing, the ground rushing towards her at terrifying speeds, her childhood bullies already jeering as they saw her plummeting from the sky again-

Rainbow Dash gasped and shook her head, bringing her back to the present. The other emotion she received was almost a sense of... familiarity? Like, she knew something about this room, what was in it. This was aided by a pounding (not quite) headache in the back of her mind. It'd been there for a long time, that feeling, she'd just gotten used to it. But here, near this... thing, it was incredibly strong. Rainbow raised a hand to the back of her skull and pressed down on it, almost physically feeling the drumbeat that thrummed through her mind. She felt dread here for certain... but also... the possibility of peace...

I'm... I'm just here to use the bathroom... for some reason that seemed much less important now, but she still really needed to take care of business, and so she slowly shuffled forward into the octagonal room, skirting the very edge to keep as far away from the middle as possible. It almost felt like it was... watching her. The way the gap in her vision bobbed up and down as it floated on the pedestal, like it was nodding, or... contemplating.

This place, is bucking weird.

Rainbow shivered as her hand which had been pressed against the wall found another hallway behind her, and though she very much wanted to get away, it took a lot of effort to pry her eyes away from the black stone. Once she managed it, however, she wasted no time in sprinting down the new hallway, almost sobbing with relief when she finally saw a toilet.

Despite her fears, nothing stalked down the hallway as she used the bathroom, none of the walls opened up to swallow her, and the ceiling didn't collapse on top of her. Not that she kept an extremely close eye out for any and all of these things, but... ya know. Just in general.

Rainbow and nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard stone shift behind her as she washed her hands. She whipped around to see that a small tray had popped out of the wall, and inside of it was what looked like breath mints or cough drops. Shiny red crystalline spheres that seemed innocent enough. Rainbow glanced left, then right, peering down the darkened corridor she had come from.

Weeeellll... one can't hurt, right? Something seemed fishy about this, but it was really hard to think right now. The beat inside her skull had gotten more forceful since... well she couldn't remember exactly. It still wasn't painful just... ever-present.

Rolling her eyes at her own suspicion, Rainbow picked up one of the red sweets and popped it in her mouth.

"MMmmmmmmm... that's so good!" Rainbow's eyes rolled back as pure ecstasy rolled over her tongue. The candy immediately melted in her mouth, and it tasted amazing! It was super sweet, almost sweeter than something Pinkie would make, but it wasn't sticky and didn't leave a bad aftertaste. It liquefied almost immediately and felt like she'd just drank a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer's day after working out for hours. Rainbow ignored the flushing of her arms and chest, and the intense heat she now felt warming her entire body, mostly because she was distracted by how awesome that thing was!

She almost sighed in disappointment as the taste left her tongue, and smiled devilishly as she looked at the five more that lay in the black stone tray.

Rainbow got on her knees on the floor of the bathroom and greedily brought another to her mouth. As she did, she noticed a faint blue glow around her skin, and hesitated as she placed the candy on her lips, before a red wall of force came barreling hard and fast down the corridor. It slammed into the blue barrier around her skin and washed it away, leaving her unguarded for the next wave. With almost a grim finality, this one washed over and she shoved the candy in her mouth with a slurp.

"Aaahhhhh... so... tasty..." She rolled the incredible liquid around her tongue and mouth, forgetting what she had seen immediately, eyelashes fluttering as sweat began to dot her brow, and her cheeks took a very rosy tint. Again, she failed to notice as her nipples stood out in sharp relief to her thin Wonderbolts shirt, and that her clothes were becoming clingy with sweat.

Panting with need as the substance seemed to evaporate completely from her mouth, her hands trembled as she grabbed the whole tray and lifted it to her face, intending to pour all of the sweets in at once. As she tilted the tray to swallow all of them, she heard a voice. Not a spoken voice, and her fevered mind remembered hearing it before, though she couldn't recall where.

Not all at once, you should savor it.

Rainbow trusted the voice (why did she trust the voice?) and put the tray down with shaking hands. Gleefully, she picked up another of the red candies and placed it gently on her tongue. This time her reaction was much more pronounced. Rainbow collapsed to the floor and shook with pleasure as her body electrified, and her pussy began gushing with moisture. She didn't know why she was only aware of it now, as it appeared she'd been wet for some time, her shorts practically dripping with musk. Her entire body felt feverish, and she struggled to not desperately finger herself then and there, instead settling for vigorously massaging her snatch from the outside of her sticky clothing with the flat of her palm.

This one seemed to take longer to disappear completely, and left her barely conscious when it left her senses. Mindlessly, she reached for another as she lay in a fetal position on the bathroom floor, breathing hard as she rubbed her sodden crotch with her other hand. Upon finding the platter, she delicately brought another ball of bliss to her lips and slipped it inside her mouth.

Her jaw clamped shut and silenced a scream of pleasure as Rainbow arched her back, her eyes snapping open wide as she thrashed on the stone floor. This time she instantly came, her mind shutting down as she spasmed and flailed, base instinct keeping her from opening her mouth, lest some of the fluid spill out, and she lose the incredible sensation.

She continued to be locked in this state of bliss-induced seizure until the liquid melted away entirely, whereupon she collapsed again with a heaving breath. Her clothes were dark with sweat, and she had no restraint as she tore off her shorts and panties, and jammed two fingers into her soaking cunt and hammered away as fast as she was able, moaning aloud, and laughing giddily as she did it. Her other hand flopped over to where the tray was, and her laughing stopped dead when she couldn't find it.

Rainbow rolled over, fevered, panicked eyes searching for her source of fulfillment, and unable to find it. Where had the candy gone?

You know where you need to go to get more. Where you can always get more. Where you can have it forever. The voice rolled over her mind like a ton of bricks, speaking in time with the drumming beat in her head.

"Forever?" She asked in a daze, smiling widely as she violently fingered herself and pictured the scene. Just her, laying in a pile of those orbs, and cumming from dusk till dawn. It would be a dream come true for her. And the voice was right. She did know, somehow, where in this labyrinth to go to get what she wanted. What she needed.

Rainbow scrambled to her feet, and tried to jog down the hallway, her efforts somewhat hampered by the fact that she was still masturbating furiously with both hands now. She passed back by the pedestal. It was no longer menacing. It felt sort of like an... overseer. It was telling her where to go, what to do. And she was fine with that, 120%.

As she exited the octagon room she neither noticed nor cared that the stallion who had led her there had not waited for her, and had apparently disappeared. Her breath came in shorter and shorter gasps, and she angrily tore off her shirt (one of her favorites) as it felt like the thing was strangling her. Her bra quickly followed it. On and on like this she went, until she had dispensed with every article of clothing she had been wearing. It took her a long time to reach the room she knew she had to go to, though it was mostly her fault. Every few minutes while running she would collapse to the floor and cum her brains out, before getting back up feeling no more satisfied than when she'd gone down. Her wings were completely useless in speeding her along, as they stood at full attention the entire time, and were very sore when she finally reached the room the voice spoke of.

It was through a door that was not in any way special, it looked just like the hundreds of doors she had passed in the hallway in her mad drug-induced scramble. This just felt right for some reason.

Wasting no time, Rainbow shouldered the door open, and frantically searched the room for any sign of that which she desperately craved. The room was a rather large one, rectangular in shape, with the same color scheme as the octagon room. This one however, held six ponies. Stallions to be precise. All of them were tall and buff, and all of them were buck naked, save one who wore a cowboy hat like Applejack's. Cocks stood proudly at attention with surprising variety. The was a chode present, a pencil, two fairly average, and two impressive specimens, with the largest going to a red-skinned fellow with a full-body tattoo of a busty naked mare. Rainbow had never been much of a stallion girl, sure she'd had a few rolls in the hay, but she generally preferred members of her own sex.

Which showed how truly far gone she was as she promptly charged up to the largest one, pressed her dripping, naked body against him, firmly gripped his cock in one hand, and breathed lustily, "Rut me now stud, or I'll get one of your friends to do it for you," she stared straight into his eyes without shame, her mind too far gone for that. This wasn't her though, something was telling her to say those words. Like she was a puppet and they had their hand shoved up her ass.

Celestia buck me, I want somepony to do that, she thought with a lecherous smile. She'd come here for a different reason, but this was what mattered now. The voice told her so... her Master told her so. He spoke through the drums in her head, through the pounding of euphoria in her veins. She was sooo horny, this was the only way to stop it. Her own ministrations did nothing. She loved cock, so the voice proclaimed, and so it was.

Rainbow Dash smiled gratefully as one of the men brought out a silver spoon laden with red powder. She didn't have to be told to know what it was.

Kaiscillius arrived a little after, followed closely behind by his newly tamed orange servant, who was still naked and covered in dried hydra semen. He was unfazed by the heavy stench of sweat and sex that saturated the room, and barely smiled as he saw that Rainbow Dash had succumbed as easily as her orange friend. She was currently taking it up the ass from Grey Shade, and two members of his gang occupied her mouth and pussy as she jerked off two others. One masturbated dejectedly outside the frenzied melee of sex, eyes riveted to the scene. From the look of the small mare's body, they'd already gone several rounds, with cum coating her almost from head to toe. Beside them lay several small violet bags, which Kaiscillius did crack a smile at. But he'd come here to do more than just watch some sex happen.

"Applejack, stand over there next to your friend please," he said as he peered into both of them. It took him a while to find what he was looking for, especially with all of Rainbow Dash's bouncing, but with enough persistence he was able to stare straight down to rock bottom, and it was as he'd thought. Around each of Rainbow Dash and Applejack's core were two protective shields, one blue, one orange, bearing their cutie mark symbols. These didn't bother him at present as, even though the shields were there, they were at their weakest. He really wasn't sure how they remained in tact at such low power, he'd probably have to manually detach them from their Elements to turn it off.

He noted with amusement that another shield blinked on and off as Ultimatum's power rolled over them, grinding down the shields provided by their Elements.

"Boys, I think she's had enough," this statement was met with several groans of complaint (most coming from the mare who'd grown quite attached to having large objects inside her) but the henchmen pulled out and stood to the side regardless, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash doing the same.

"Sir, would you like a status update?" Kaiscillius heard from behind him.

"In a minute..." he replied absentmindedly, observing his latest catches. There was no doubt of their beauty. While it was slightly marred now, it still shone through. Applejack's full frame and heavy breasts and Rainbow's taut build and perky chest made a very nice complement with the each other. Kaiscillius noticed that, despite the last hour of orgy, Rainbow was still dripping wet, and eyeing Applejack's body hungrily.

Kaiscillius laughed, and decided to reward his two newest acquisitions, before remembering Rainbow Dash's previous temperament "Applejack, pleasure Rainbow Dash as best you know how. Rainbow Dash, you can't cum," Perhaps a meager punishment for all the lip given, but it was always an effective one. There was no hesitation from either party, though Applejack had almost certainly not expected such a command. She was instantly upon her friend, grinding her hands and fingers against the other's crotch and kissing sloppily, both enamored in a way they had never quite been before.

"Sir, would you like a status update?"

Kaiscillius paused. The air seemed to grow still around him, and slowly he turned from the lovemaking mares to look at the nonexistent face of one of his golems.

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Kaiscillius was puzzled, he'd sensed nothing major himself (though he had been rather distracted) and nothing should have come up for the next hour or so.

"You asked us to notify you if plan instability reached 15%," the golem droned.

"Yes?" Kaiscillius said, and ominous feeling of dread settling in his stomach like a stone.

"Plan instability at 85%, classification: Catastrophic Mission Failure."

"WHAT?" Kaiscillius bellowed, "HOW?"

Two days earlier, at the end of Luna's Gala-

The hour had grown quite late indeed, so late that it had become incredibly early. Luna watched from her dais as most of the ponies she had invited left through the large double doors leading into the throne room. Among them was Prince Blood Diamond. She had finally gotten to speak with him near the end of the event, and he seemed quite charming, if a bit distant. He was certainly quite the physical specimen, and carried himself well for an alicorn of no aspect.

As she took count of the remaining ponies in the room she was surprised to find Blueblood still among them. He was not often among the last to leave, usually going out when the majority of the crowd did. She wondered what could have kept him so long.

As she watched him from her throne, they made brief eye contact, and his face once again revealed that look of grave severity that she found quite incongruous with his usual nature. Something must be wrong.

I need to get off this throne. It's so uncomfortable up here. And it can't help what people already say about me that I sit on the royal throne during meetings and social events, Luna quickly hopped up from the chair, feeling as if she stayed on it a second longer it might bite her. She quickly made her way through the throne room, as there were much fewer ponies and servants to dodge and weave through than there had been about an hour ago. Blueblood must have noticed her approach, he said a few words to the elderly earth pony he was speaking to and then gestured towards the corner of the room.

"Good evening Blueblood," she said nonchalantly when she arrived, "you're not usually one to stay this late."

The white stallion smiled, "Ah, yes, well I simply had to correct a few fashion issues I saw amongst the nobles, I mean, some of them were even wearing beige, honestly what are we, commoners? And if I had the right..." Blueblood continued his mindless chatter, but Luna had long since stopped listening. Shame. She'd been sure he had something important to say going by the emphatic look he'd given her earlier. But all he he was doing was explaining, quite loudly, the incredibly trivial faults of the outfits of every pony still in the room.

One by one they caught word of what he was saying, and then would storm off in a huff of outrage and indignation, until at last there was only him, her, eight guards, and two rather bored (and incredibly tired) looking servants.

"Dismiss the rest," he said out of nowhere, in a much more serious voice.

"What?" Luna said, confused. He'd just been talking about how somepony's earrings were a slightly different shade than they should be, and he'd completely lost her with the train of thought swap.

"I've cleared out all the remaining nobles, you order the rest to leave," he looked her dead in the eye with an intensity she would never had believed existed, "We can trust nothing and nopony. The information I have acquired tonight must absolutely be between the two of us, and nopony else, understood?"

Luna nodded in relief, finally Blueblood's searching had turned up something!

"Everypony! You are all dismissed! Blueblood and I have a family matter to discuss!" She heard Blueblood mumble,

"Far more apt than you could ever know."

"What do you mean?" she whispered to him as the last of the ponies in the room left either through servant's doors or into the main hallway.

"I'll tell you if it ever becomes important," He said, glaring at the last guard to leave the room. Finally all doors were closed, all corners were empty, and the hall was silent.

"This night," Blueblood began, a slight tremor of fear in his voice, "I have discovered a great many things. I have discovered who is working against you, I have discovered how he is doing it," he paused for a moment, "and I think I know how to cure your sister."

Luna blanched, she'd told no one about Celestia's condition out of fear for what it might prompt the populace to do. Of course, now they thought she was Luna's prisoner, so, maybe a bad judgement call on that one.

Luna said after a few seconds, "Well then, tell me! Tell me how to get Tia back! I don't want to rule, I hate it-" she cut herself off before she said more. Truly she did hate it, she felt that ruling again... she was too close to the nightmare. Fear haunted every step she took, fear that she would begin to enjoy the power too much, and fall once more into darkness.

Blueblood held up a hand, "The way to get your sister, my aunt, back, and the way that Kaiscillius has been whipping the population into a frenzy are connected. I'm going to attempt to show you what I mean. Hopefully he does not detect this, or any plan we make from here on out will be doomed."

Blueblood took a deep breath, and his horn glowed with a soft blue light.

A thunderous roar surrounded Luna, and she dropped to the ground and covered her ears as they whined in pain. All around her was a light blue magical bubble, similar to the bubble of silence. But outside the shell was... it was chaos!

Massive waves of red energy pounded into the shield, slamming hard against it before the wave scraped past, throwing hundreds of sparks into the air, and moving on seemingly unphased.

BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM, BOOM BOOM

The magical bombardment reminded her very much of a heartbeat, if the heart was about the size of the moon. Strangely, though, the sound wasn't abrasive. It was as if she'd heard it before. She'd heard it many times in fact, she'd heard it so much she'd gotten used to it. But it was usually so quiet, so subtle, not this pounding maelstrom of power that raged against the exterior of the shield.

With a pained scream, Blueblood's horn pulsed again, and the sound of the thundering beat diminished. He collapsed onto the ground, wheezing, his eyes unfocused.

"Oh, Celestia, ow my ears!" Luna rushed over to him and helped him stand. She was able to get him up, but he clutched at his side and hunched as if he had been stabbed.

Her eyes locked in terror to the outside of the shield she asked, "What is that?"

Breathing hard and sweating lightly, Blueblood replied, "That... is what my brother has wrought. The Dust... is just a, a distraction! This! This is his true plan."

"Dust? What dust, the Castle's as clean as it's ever been," Blueblood looked at her with such disdain she blushed and looked at the ground.

"Dust is the drug he's been addicting your citizens with for weeks!" He breathed in and out slowly, "Though I suppose... it is not your fault you do not know, it is that things fault," he gestured to the maelstrom of red energy around them.

"What does it do? How has it not been detected?" Luna was worried for the safety of her people if this thing had been washing over them for... how long even had this magic been active for?

"Wait, did you say your brother? You have a brother neither I nor Celestia knows about?"

Blueblood glanced at her, eyes full of pain and sadness, "It's... complicated. As for what this thing does, well let's see."

Luna jumped in surprise as Blueblood's eyes inverted in color, the whites turned black and the blues turned orange. It was rather frightening to see. He stayed like that for a little while, dead silent, staring into the red storm, unblinking.

As Blueblood began to answer, Luna began to feel something strange. Not something new, but... something old being removed. She felt... stronger, more confident, more capable.

I... I'm an idiot! What have I been doing these last few weeks?! My citizens are rioting in the streets, and I did nothing? Not even ask for aid from my niece or the Elements? What is wrong with me?!

Blueblood cleared his throat, "Yes... yes, that's what he's done. This... wave, this force, it acts as a... as an amplifier. It enflames feelings of anger, fear, anxiety, cruelty, each of these waves promotes them, makes them more pronounced. Celestia, and the power of them! It's a testament to the citizens of Canterlot that they didn't all murder each other in a few days! I've no idea where he managed to find a broadcaster of such magnitude! If a pony were to stand next to the source of this thing, they'd go insane in seconds! Driven mad by their own demons come back to haunt them."

Their own demons... come back to haunt them.

"It's like the Tantabus," Luna said in understanding, "except it works when you're awake too. Constantly reminding you of your failures and... and your fears," Luna recalled the thousands of times each day for the past weeks, anytime she would go to make a decision she would be seized with dread that she was slipping more and more into the nightmare with each passing day.

"This is... this is evil!" She said, horrified at what it must be doing to all the ponies in her city. All of their guilt and fear and anguish... amplified, made manifest before their eyes. She knew what that was like, more than she cared to. And she would rather die han let it happen to anypony else.

"Oh, that's not all it does either. Ha! Clever bastard. Pardon my Prench, he also implanted in it a, um, a sort of magical obedience collar. It's not quite mind control, but it's highly suggestive that you obey his wishes and commands. That would explain how he's been such an effective coercer..." Blueblood trailed off, looking back at the energy pulses again.

"What manner of mage is so powerful as to accomplish all of this? How have my sister and I not heard of him? And you say he is your brother?!"

Blueblood smiled wanly, "Yes, he's my brother. Unfortunate for him, then, that I'm his brother."

Luna looked at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I only mean that it seems he's forgotten that I too know the old ways, from before Celestia's Reinstitution!" Blueblood smiled proudly, before his smile dropped at Luna's blank face.

"The Reinstitution? Largest magical overhaul in Equestria's history? Thousands of tomes burned or rewrit- oh that's right, you weren't there for that."

She grimaced sadly, she didn't like to think about her imprisonment much, "No I was not. However, that doesn't sound like something my sister would do at all! She was, and is, a proponent of all knowledge, a scholar if there ever was one!"

Blueblood scoffed, "I assure you, she was not a fan of knowledge as dangerous as this. In the early days it was called thaumaturgy, but then that label was shifted to mean something else. Remember anything under the name thaumatics?" He asked the question as though it were supposed to be rhetorical, but Luna genuinely did not know what he was talking about.

"How about you give me a refresher? I... don't remember much from before my imprisonment either. And certainly nothing involving my schooldays," She smiled, embarrassed, at his shocked face.

"Oh. Well that's a pity, you were one of the best there was at it. Well, other you. Evil you. Okay, refresher, right. Centuries of magical theory and exploration, condensed into a few sentences, right. Okay, before thaumatics, magic was considered much like it is today, unicorns possess it and cast spells. However there were a few far-sighted individuals who took it upon themselves to study how magic worked, why it worked. These few, after many decades of study, discovered that there are six elements that make up magic. Well, technically there are eight, but that's advanced thaumatics. These six elements combine together, much like atoms in chemistry, to form magical bonds that affect the physical world. Unicorns who specialized in thaumatics could break and create the bonds between these elements, essentially making them able to manipulate all matter in the universe, if they were powerful enough. The problem came when we looked past the physical, and into the conceptual. There were... other groups of ponies, who took thaumatic study past what they could accomplish in the physical world, and found that they could influence things beyond our perception. Appearances, fears, thoughts themselves, these ponies dove into self discovery using thaumatics as a medium. They discovered that they could... change things within themselves, implant abilities, new powers. And eventually, through astoundingly unethical means, discoveries were made about what was required to create sentient life itself. Nightmare Moon was really the first truly powerful pony to expand on this concept, creating horrid monstrosities of immense power from her magical tampering. My brother was one of those experiments," he paused for a moment, as if considering whether or not to say something, before shaking his head and continuing, "After Nightmare Moon's defeat there were a few other prominent sorcerers who sought to use thaumatics as a way to gain control of Equestria, and as time went on they became harder and harder to defeat. You see, while thaumatics does depend on a certain level of magical power, one's proficiency in it is almost entirely dependent on their strength of will. When you use thaumatics you literally bend the universe to serve you, and those who were strong of heart and mind were nearly unstoppable. Of course, Celestia herself was also very gifted, but she could not be everywhere at once. Once, she nearly failed to protect the city from something... truly terrible, created by the dark wizard known only as "The Grey". After she barely managed to fend it off... well she decided that thaumatics was too dangerous to survive, and began a crusade. Destroying and rewriting history so that it never even existed," Blueblood finished his story with a sad look in his eyes, as if he were remembering something he had lost.

"So... you're saying that your brother, Kaiscillius, is using this ancient forbidden magic to slowly turn every citizen in the city into rioting revolutionaries?" She didn't add the, and it's all my fault because Nightmare Moon made him in the first place, but she felt that it was implied.

He turned to her, "Yes. As you said, this field acts much like your Tantabus, except much much stronger. No doubt even the peasants of the Crystal Empire have been waking up grumpy for the last few days, but it is strongest here in the city, driving these (mostly) good ponies to rash action. Most everywhere else it merely paralyses with indecision so they do not help you. And Kaiscillius has been working very hard to direct all of that anger towards you, and not elsewhere. The attacks, the town criers, the robberies, everything left the the hint of Nightmare Moon about it so that their rage is pointed at you,"

"Do you know why he wants the kingdom? Other than power of course," Blueblood seemed surprised when she asked him this.

He replied, "Ah, yes, I suppose I haven't told you, he doesn't want the kingdom."

"What?"

"Crazy, I know, he wants to reawaken Nightmare Moon, claiming that she should be the rightful ruler. No doubt this idea was imprinted on him by her before she put him to sleep, keeping him as a backup in case she was defeated," Luna thought the idea was insane, who could possibly think that Nightmare Moon was supposed to be in charge?

"How on Equestria could he think such a thing?" she asked.

"I told you already, in a way. Thaumatics can influence one's thoughts, and Nightmare Moon was the best there was at the time. He's been brainwashed from birth to believe it."

Blueblood grunted and the blue shell around them shrunk slightly as a particularly vicious pulse cracked the magical bubble slightly.

"We don't have much longer in here, this thing will destroy the shield eventually if I don't put my full power into it. We need to talk strategy," He looked her dead in the eyes, "Send messages to the Elements of Harmony and call them here. I'll place tracking spells on each of the letters so that if one of them is captured, we know where he's operating from. I can create a shield bubble around the city that will both cancel out the effects of this mega Tantabus, and dispel any Dust addictions within the city, but I will be out of action while I'm doing that and it will more than likely kill me, so that part comes last. When I dispel this bubble I can make us magical long distance communicators. Inform me immediately if something happens while I'm in Ponyville, and I can come back and help, speak to no one of anything I have told you, he has eyes and ears everywhere- GAHHH!"

The shield cracked again, larger this time, and shrunk so much that Luna had to lean over to avoid her ears poking out of the top of it, "I expect him to make his move soon," Blueblood's continued, wheezing with blood starting o flow from his nose, "and it is imperative he does not find out we know his plans until as late as possible, or he will simply change strategies and we will once more be in the dark, understand?"

Luna nodded, "Thank you Blueblood, for all you've done to help me. I never would have thought that... you of all ponies would be the one I said that to," she frowned at him, "And after this is all over we're going to have a serious discussion about who you really are, because you are not Celestia's nephew."

Blueblood looked like he was about to say something again, before simply smiling sadly and saying, "I mean.. I technically am. Anyway, are you ready?"

She nodded to him.

With a flash of his horn, Blueblood's shield evaporated and Luna squeezed her eyes shut as the mind-altering magic washed over her again.

Present day, immediately after the speech -

"Blueblood? Blueblood are you there?" Luna was being hurried into a carriage by two of her guards, the other two blocked the entrance to the side road she had parked in. She heard screams and the sounds of metal hitting flesh from that direction. Gurgles and clatters shortly followed before she was hurried inside of her dark mode of transport.

It set off immediately, silver studded wheels clattering hard against the cobblestone road, as it made a mad dash for the safety of the castle.

Luna winced as a high-pitched whine pierced her ear, "...ello? Hello? Luna, Luna, come in Luna, did you call?"

She smiled in relief at hearing the other pony's voice, glad that no trap had been set for him in Ponyville, "Yes, it's me. Kaiscillius has made his move. There was a riot in the square, just now. It's the first time... well it... it turned violent, and," she took a deep breath, quelling her inner screams of panic and worry, "Rainbow Dash and Applejack were caught in it, whether they have been captured or killed, I do not know."

The carriage thundered past the first gateway into the castle as it slammed shut behind them, the palace going into lock down. Her brave thestrals charged out into the middle of the day to man the portcullises and battlements as she passed the second gate, and was safely inside the castle walls.

We fight against our own ponies? They rebel against us? We have to surrender, have to show them we mean no harm-

She shut off her traitorous thoughts in an instant. It had gotten easier to control now that she knew what was influencing her. Even that she was being influenced.

"...lright I'm...y way, going to... with me..." The spell crackled and popped in her ear. Clearly it disagreed with the solid stone castle that now surrounded her, "Blueblood? Blueblood, you're breaking up!" She heard no more from him, desperately hoping he was alright.

She jumped in her carriage as a bright blue flash of light exploded next to her carriage, bringing with some very dignified "well I never"s and some much less dignified "do it again!"s.

"Where are we Blueblood, where- where have you taken us you villain!" Rarity coughed, waving smoke from her face.

"Are we at the climax yet?" Pinkie asked, though no one paid her any mind.

Blueblood ran to the carriage and threw the doors open, grasping Luna's hand.

"Wait, wait!" she cried, "Where is Fluttershy, is she alright?" Luna asked him.

"I have absolutely no idea, but when I tied to teleport to her house it was surrounded by cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk, and there was no way I was messing it that."

Luna nodded, "Well, if Discord's looking after her then-"

"No time for talk!" There was another blinding flash, and in an instant all four ponies were in a dark room inside the castle. It looked like a bedroom, with lovely purple drapes on the windows and four elegant stone columns rising to meet the ceiling at each corner of the room, but all the furniture was missing. Where there should have been a nightstand, work desk, bed, there was nothing but a thick layer of dust. Thought the dust was strangely absent from some places. In fact, it looked like this room did have a bed, just not a... persistent one. The markings of a very large four-poster bed were scattered at various points throughout the room, though it was nowhere to be seen.

Luna glanced around and raised an eyebrow at Blueblood, "You must be powerful indeed to teleport an Alicorn by surprise."

He grimaced, "It was the most expedient way out of danger, now you two," he pointed at Rarity and Pinkie Pie, "stay here, do not leave this room through any means, and do not separate. No matter what any voices in your head, or otherwise, tell you to do."

"Aww," Pinkie pouted, "but they sound so convincing!"

"What on Equestria is happening?" Rarity huffed, "Princess Luna, could you please explain-"

"I'm sorry Rarity, there's no time. Please, do as Blueblood says and I promise we will explain everything later. For now... we must try and avert a disaster," She smiled apologetically and turned to leave, before noticing another of the room's oddities, there was no door.

"Blueblood, what even is this place?" Blueblood blushed and coughed loudly into a fist.

"It's a uhhhh, a secure... space! For times of emergency, yes. Come on, must be going now!"

With another flash of light Luna and Blueblood were teleported back to the throne room where they had had their discussion two days prior. Blueblood glanced around frantically, looking for something.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him.

Blueblood took a few deep breaths, steadying himself, before falling silent. The throne room felt eerily quiet to Luna's ears after the noise and bustle of the city. And of course, the subsequent rebellion.

"It's him I'm scared of," Luna turned back to Blueblood, who stared off into the distance, clenching and unclenching a fist, "Kaiscillius. I've ruined his plan to take all of the Elements separately, and when I cast the spell... it will disable the Dust's addictive properties, and block the signal from that thing that he has turning everyone into a rage-fueled lunatic. That's really every element of his plan that we know of completely blocked. But that still leaves him," Blueblood sighed, pacing back and forth as he shook his head.

"You seem very afraid of him," Luna said, to which Blueblood nodded, "Why?"

Blueblood laughed bitterly, "Why? He's nearly killed me once before, and that was when I could fight him! Casting this spell, I'll be locked in place. It'll take everything I have in me to maintain it, to fight against his hold over your people. And Kaiscillius... he likes to work from the shadows. He likes to orchestrate others to do his work for him... and this can often give the impression that he is weak," Blueblood chuckled again, and gazed off as if remembering a time long past, "He isn't. Kaiscillius is one of the most formidable fighters I've ever known. Physically and magically. He's devious, quick, and damned slippery if you don't corner him. And on top of that, he's got his sword," Blueblood threw his hands up in exasperation.

Luna was tired of feeling in the dark about things, nevertheless she asked, "And what's so special about this sword, then?"

Blueblood sat down, putting his hands in his head, "It rips out your magic, and uses it to feed him. And due to him being a master of thaumatics, it doesn't just steal magic, it steals everything. Your personality, dreams, hopes, fears, memories, it tears them all away, converts them into power, and uses it to fuel him. If he kills you with it... you become nothing. All that was you is annihilated,"

Luna shuddered at the thought of a weapon that powerful. Before she remembered something, and asked thoughtfully, "This weapon... what does it look like?"

Blueblood huffed, "It can take any form, but it's standard appearance is that of a massive black broadsword, with six hydra's heads adorning the hilt," he glanced up at Luna, "Why?"

Luna smiled knowingly down at him, and strode towards the door of the throne room, "Cast your spell Blueblood, I have something to fetch from the vault."

The present, streets of Canterlot -

Peach Cobbler was a cobbler. His calling in life, was to make shoes. He loved every second spent doing so, and took great joy and pride when a pony left his shop with a brand spanking new pair of sparkling clogs or shiny slippers. His greatest fear was that his shop would be in some way damaged, causing him to be unable to perform the one task he'd been born to do. And today, his worst fear had come true.

He'd been behind the counter at his shop in Canterlot, when he'd heard a great ruckus from outside, and before he knew it, his shop had been broken into by bandits and ruffians, who had stolen everything they could get their greedy little mitts on.

And you know whose fault it was? Princess motherbucking Luna, that's who! The streets of Canterlot had never been dirtier since she had killed Twilight Sparkle and imprisoned Celestia, at least that's what he'd heard anyway, and he was very much inclined to believe it. It was all her fault that his beautiful, perfect life had come crashing down around his ears this morning, and so he'd decided, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" He now marched with a good twenty of his loyal friends to join the siege of Canterlot Castle, filled to bursting with righteous anger.

There was, in the back of his head, a small voice that was trying to convince him of something. Something about how none of this was in any way rational. He didn't listen, he was too angry to care, especially now that his goal was in sight! The tall towers of the castle loomed before him, and at its gates thronged hundreds of raging ponies, all frothing at the mouth and battering at the metal bars to the palace. They'd been whipped into a frenzy something fierce, and it only made Peach's blood run hotter seeing all these like-minded fellows doing the same.

Streaks of color flashed every which way, as unicorns on both sides of the barrier slung spells back and forth at each other. The only difference being that the guards were aiming to stun or incapacitate, the peasants were aiming to kill.

Just as Peach was about to charge into the fray, a hush fell over the city as a blinding flash of light consumed all who inhabited it, stunning all who had gazed upon it, and leaving their ears ringing with a high-pitched whine. Peach, along with most of the others, were thrown backwards as a wave of energy passed through them, and he slammed to the ground thirty feet from the castle gate.

Something had changed, he could already tell. He felt... calmer, more at ease. He groaned and sat up, blinking away the harsh spots that flashed in his eyes as he looked around. All around him was a shimmering blue energy, it formed a dome around the city, not unlike the shield that guard captain had used to fend off changelings. It could be seen over every rooftop, and across every street, and looking at it gave a sense of peace and comfort.

Peach looked at himself and was surprised to find that he was clutching an awl in both hands, as if he had intended to use them as weapons.

What on Equestria just happened to me? He wondered, hearing confused groans and murmuring from ponies around him. He looked to his friends, they had similarly befuddled facial expressions as well, and after a few seconds their faces looked horrified. Had they really been about to storm the palace?

"Boys," Peach said slowly, and his friends turned to him, "how about... we go home, and never speak of these events, ever again."

After a moment nods and grunts of assent followed, and those nearby that had overheard Peach muttered similar suggestions either to themselves or to the ponies around them. Many began weeping as they recalled terrible deeds they had done while unreasonably angry and frightened.

A grey Earth Pony who looked vaguely familiar to Peach walked up to him and said, "Er, Mr. Peach? Sorry about breaking that window to your store... I'd be willing to pay for repairs of you don't mind."

Peach smiled and shook hands with the pony, "Not at all, sir! I just proposed to my friends here, and they seem to agree, that we forget any events that may have occurred just now."

The grey pony smiled, "Aye, sir, I do believe you have the right of it. Let's go see about that window."

And the two formerly bitter enemies walked off together, chatting amiably about their families and lives, as good ponies do. Around them, much of Canterlot did the same. Ponies awoke as if from a coma, in a daze, and smiling happily at their friends around them. Most had forgotten what they'd been doing, and some chose to forget. However, there were still some who remained loyal to Kaiscillius. These few, seeing that their support had evaporated with the spell, slunk away into the shadows, or pretended along with those around them that they, too, were "cured". Either because they had truly believed in deposing Luna, or had been taken in by Kaiscillius's power, these few decided to bide their time, and wait for their master, believing that this was all part of the plan.

The present, Celestia's rooms -

Where was she?

Twilight was... Twilight was dead.

She was... where was she again? In her room?

Twilight had died. How long ago?

I'm... I'm in my room. How long have I been here? Celestia gasped, How long has it been since I last thought?

Her mind was sluggish, thick as syrup, and clinging to the dark miasma that had entrapped it. She heard screaming, and clashing of steel, she smelled smoke upon the air.

What happened? she wondered, Why am I still here?

Celestia gasped as a single memory returned to her from the dark.

"They have all turned against me. They think I did it, that I'm behind some sort of grand scheme, but I'm not! For once in my cursed life I am not! I don't want this power, I don't want to rule! I have never wanted it since renouncing my former self..."

Celestia knew one thing, her sister needed her. The time for mourning was over, and she feared she had spent to long in it already.

Celestia opened her eyes.

The present, Kaiscillius's manor -

Kaiscillius's labored breathing was the only thing he could hear as blood pounded in his ears. A strange mix of rage and fear wreaked havoc on his system, and the irony of that sentiment was not lost on him.

"Remaining Elements of Harmony have been secured in an unknown location inside Castle Canterlot. Thrassimund has erected a shield wall that prevents Dust addiction cycle, and Ultimatum Control Matrix. He and Luna have holed up in the throne room, which is now guarded by her personal Honor Guard. All citizens inside the bubble have ceased violence against the crown, and some have been gathered via the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice to form a militia to search for, and destroy you. Celestia's status is unknown. Golems remain undetected. Dust Obedience Matrix remains unaffected."

Kaiscillius stopped pacing, "What was that last one?"

"Dust Obedience Matrix remains unaffected. All who have consumed Dust will obey your commands as if the addiction cycle were still in full effect."

Kaiscillius stared thoughtfully into space, neither elating nor despairing. He remained like this for some time, so long, in fact, that Grey Shade spoke up, "Um... sir? What are you going to do?"

"I'm thinking," Kaiscillius replied, and think he did. He pondered, considered, and predicted. He thought carefully over all the details he knew about his brother, what the enemy knew, what he knew. He calculated probability, made educated guesses with larger margin for error than any sane man would accept, reviewed thaumatic algorithms, and weighed the validity of a magic as old as time.

"I will..." he began slowly, "Do exactly as they expect me to," with a devilish smile he added, "With a few minor alterations, of course."

Author's Note

Once again, finished the chapter forever ago, and then was swamped and could not edit for weeks. It was incredibly frustrating. Also, I may have accidentally published this chapter a while ago before it was finished, and immediately taking it down, resulting in the fact that when I went to publish it again, it didn't show up anywhere, because it thought the whole thing was just an edit. I fixed it though, s'all cool now.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope it answered a few questions, and set up a few interesting things to look forward to. Let me know if you would like a more in-depth explanation of the magic system because I've actually put a lot of thought into it, I just didn't want to bore everyone with magesplainery.

Kaiscillius has at long last been caught, and his enemies now actively move against him, unhindered by his machinations. What plans has he concocted for the future? What will happen when these forces finally clash? Find out, next time.