Author's Note

Not the chapter I originally intended to write, but the one I apparently wanted to as it took on a life of its own and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end! To make clear, this takes place forty minutes *before* the arrival of Sunset Shimmer at the end of the previous chapter, so this and several subsequent chapters will be flashing back to fill in the blanks of what happened before then.

Chapter contains plenty of MMMMMM gay thestral action with all it implies as we return to the quarters of Prince Blueblood and learn the fate of Colonel Stargazer, plus some minor thestral mare FF. Also has the usual curse corruptive effects, some brief suggestion of a hentai-inspired fetish other than the usual ones (you'll find out exactly what in the next chapter), and a single understated appearance of futa at the end.

Thanks go to AJ_Aficionado and Silentwoodfire for a prompt preread, and a special thanks goes to AJA for allowing me to use his thestral lore, of which I borrow another piece of at the end here! Those of you who have read Into the Storm: The Flight of Firefly have already met her--or at least, an ancestor of her. And after this? Fans of Temptations and Transformations will be happy to know that I'll be shifting over there now to add at least two chapters to the list.

31: Jailbreak

Of all the places Colonel Stargazer thought he might find sheer sexual bliss and erotic ecstasy, performing the swirl with a newly effeminate and incredibly desirable Prince Blueblood had not been high on his list.

But he found himself impossibly doing so for the viewing pleasure of his own troops, hungrily sucking off the Prince’s organ as Blueblood did the same to him in return, all the while with both magical and real thestral stallion phalluses thrusting into them, taking them from behind.

As a career military bat who had initially been part of the Lightborne Legion, he had risen to command of Canterlot’s newly reestablished Night Guard garrison within a year of Princess Luna’s return. He had been hoof-picked for the post by her for his well-deserved reputation of efficiency and discipline that was to the Lunar Regent’s liking, as she valued both in her servants as well as a strong measure of loyalty.

And yet now, trapped by the curse he had been ordered to contain, none of it mattered to him. In the space of but a few short minutes, he had been stripped of his armor, his inhibitions, his dignity, and finally his very stallion virginity. He was left little more than an observer to his own fate, with his quickly surging and soon-unbearable arousal at first betraying and then ultimately overwhelming him, helped along in no small measure by the monstrously strong mating auras and sheer volume of mating musk his already-infected subordinates were giving off.

In the end, they had set upon him like he was fresh meat on a Callisto’s Call hunt. Within moments of his capture, he had been dragged bodily back into the room and promptly felt up by the four altered Guardsbats from wing to withers, by hoof and by horn, quickly sending him and his exquisitely-throbbing organ into sensual overload.

Unable to stop what was happening to him, he only barely resisted their initial molestations, the bats of his command mercilessly mocking him for his evident and quickly growing enjoyment as they did so. Though he’d never been with stallions before—some brief experimentation with another colt as a very young teen notwithstanding—he found himself turned on beyond all reason and measure by the four before him.

By how easily they overpowered and then overcame him, turning him into their personal plaything!

It wasn’t just their more powerful and predatory forms that enabled them to do so, incredibly desirable though he found them. It was that somehow, their altered states meant they could tell instinctively what he liked and how best to turn him on! They quickly availed themselves of that new ability, launching a sensual assault on all his mind and body’s myriad weak points; attacking and arousing every one of his physical and emotional erogenous zones in turn.

Privates Penumbra and Spring Air began his conquest by focusing on his newly sensitized wings and flight muscles, sensing they should concentrate their oral efforts on the thinnest inner parts of the former’s membranes—an action that had always made him go weak in the knees when his wife did it—while their wing fingers were used to stimulate the latter, massaging and kneading.

Within seconds of them getting their appendages on them, his membrane surfaces were so taut and sensually sensitive they visibly vibrated with every lick and each tingling twitch of his muscles, which began all but spasming from the stimulation given them, sending fresh shocks of sheer pleasure through him while forcing a series of gasps and hisses to escape from between his clenched teeth.

Barely able to keep himself from coming from the wing stimulation alone, it was only then the two freshly horned bat-ponies joined in, putting their new thestralcorn magic to work in earnest as they suspended him in midair, prying his legs apart to give a series of magical gropes and strokes of his still-swelling apples and organ. They bathed them in their unbelievably powerful mating auras, casting various enhancement and sensitivity spells they’d somehow acquired on the most intimate of his anatomy, leaving them feeling larger, fuller and more deliciously swollen than he could ever remember.

Their surfaces were left so engorged and receptive by the stimulation that they keenly felt every brush of a nose, every tingling touch of an aura, and every fraction of a degree difference in the air temperature around it—a fact his captors quickly took advantage of as a combination of hot breaths, sloshing wet licks, and cool, wing-generated breezes on his sweating, swelling organ exterior caused a fresh throb and spurt of seed from its half-flared head with each pulse of his pounding heart.

His increasingly impassioned cries reflected an increasingly desperate desire for release and rapture which seemed intent on betraying him at every turn, leaving him more and more amenable to what was happening to him. And yet, despite his growing urge to give in and surrender completely to his corrupted captors, he did not. In the still-sane parts of his mind, he sensed that to climax would be to pass the point of no return, so he held it off with all his faltering will, only for his underlings to raise the stakes yet again!

To his mingled ecstasy and agony, direct oral stimulation of his masculine assets had then begun with lengthened tongues wrapping around his orbs and organ, one even probing beneath and into the opening beneath his tail! When he cried out at the contact, they knew to focus their efforts there and did so, stimulating, loosening and lubing the opening with muzzle and magic, leaving the swollen sphincter ready and eager for entry as he involuntarily flagged his tail and winked it at them like a mare in heat.

And yet, despite his obvious receptivity, they did not rut him there right away, telling him he had to ask them for it first—the Colonel had to all but swallow his tongue to keep from doing so on the spot! And when they wondered aloud who should take him first, he couldn’t keep an image of Concord’s large and mottled shaft from his thoughts, which the two thestralcorns instantly picked up on and shared with the others.

In the end, he held out for a full three minutes, but subjected to an erotic assault unlike any he’d ever known, he had finally—and inevitably—surrendered. In the end, to his great shame but even greater excitement, he all but begged them for release to their great glee, offering his tail up for tucking by Concord’s exotic and exquisite Nightborne organ. To his immense excitement and frustration, he was then promised it—if he pleasured the Prince first, who, he was told, had earned some ‘special attention’ from his subjects, and whom they’d been neglecting while attending him.

The Prince himself had been waiting somewhat forlornly off to the side as his four thestral masters turned their efforts on their Colonel, obeying their orders to not move or use magic, which they enforced with a sealing spell on his horn and a series of bonds around his hooves.

The Prince’s feminine features and needy expression along with his visibly pulsing ten-inch stallionhood—considerably smaller than the other thestrals in the room, but still very prominent and tempting to him—leaving his previously dry muzzle watering, he’d gone to work on him in an act he’d only ever performed once before when he’d experimented with another colt as a young teen.

To his mingled horror and happiness, it all came flooding back to him as he quickly rediscovered the salty taste and slightly musky smell of it, giving every inch of the Prince’s phallus his attention, worshipping it with his hooves and muzzle as his underlings watched and cheered.

He couldn’t get enough of it, or the Prince’s adolescent effeminity; both the sight and scent of him incredibly alluring to the average thestral stallion. He found himself taking more and more of it into his muzzle, becoming drunk on its shape, scent, and taste. His own organ throbbed beneath his belly to be groped and fondled by the remaining foursome, who magically suspended him again to get a good view and easier access.

Their efforts sent fresh thrills of illicit pleasure through him, but that was just the frosting on an impossibly delicious vanilla cake as he brought the Prince to climax; his merely-average aura still strong enough to hold the Colonel’s head down fast on his spurting organ, forcing him to drink it all down.

In truth, he needed little encouragement as the others, who had been hovering nearby, stroking themselves and each other to the sight, climaxed in turn. They all erupted with obscene amounts of spunk that covered their Prince and Commander completely, leaving the latter only wanting more as the corrupted magic it contained infused him inside and out, leaving his skin tingling and senses awash in it.

Wanting even more of it!

He collapsed to the ground, compelled to rub as much of it as he could of it into him, feeling its heat and magic absorb directly into him as he began to transform, his ears and tapered organ adding another inch or two to their length and girth. He couldn’t help it—not when his arousal and desires were utterly overpowering, and not when what was happening to him was something right out of one of his deepest and most suppressed fantasies.

Not a year earlier, he’d stumbled upon a Neighponese colt-cuddler bat-pony comic in the bedroom of his teenaged son, not realizing what it was until he flipped through it; the very first page he opened to showing a scene of several stallions coming all over a smaller and weaker bat as he could only beg helplessly for it, servicing each in turn, and then all at once.

He’d turned around and punished his son for it later, not so much for that as the fact that he couldn’t get it out of his head. He’d found himself with intense fantasies of being sexually dominated by other stallions—a rather confusing and even traumatic fetish for a commander who was supposed to be dominant over others by definition!

Fantasies he was now forcibly indulging as the two thestralcorn stallions somehow read his mind and told the others what he liked and wanted, allowing them to recreate the climactic scene of the comic where the main character he was taken from both ends by two stallions while his forehooves were made to stroke the large shafts of the other two. In the end, though his own organ was never touched, the scene alone and knowledge of what he was doing brought him to orgasm alone with the others, who both came hard within him while the other two showered him with additional seed.

But far worse than that, to what few fading shreds remained of his former self, was that instead of being turned into a sleeker, stronger and more predatory bat-pony like his subordinates had, his transformation took the Prince’s route. He became slightly smaller and considerably less masculine, leaving him more enticingly effeminate to his kind; both irresistible to them yet easy prey to their much larger and lithe hunter forms.

Desires they did not hesitate to indulge in as they then very happily took turns breaking him in his muzzle and tail, going in reverse order of rank. Sometimes singly and sometimes in pairs, he was forced to submit to each former underling, starting with the two privates and then working upwards to the Corporal and Sergeant. Before long, he did not feel complete without a stallionhood filling his still-taut tailhole, reveling in his own subjugation along with Prince Blueblood, who said nothing but gladly accepted every instruction and outright order given him no matter how sensual or obscene he would have found it before.

After ten minutes of turning their Colonel into a mere toy and enjoying every orifice and sensual surface he had, the quartet of former Guardsbats seemed at least momentarily sated.

“By Luna’s Moon, this is the life!” Corporal Concord said as he smoked the Prince’s personal hookah, which filled the room with some smoke that clearly contained something illicit as a pink hue crept along the edges of their vision. But their altered forms allowed them to resist the worst of its effects, leaving them buzzed and mellow but still eager for more.

“And to think all this time we hated hanging outside the Prince’s room, when the most fun was found inside!” he noted with a toothy grin as he continued to hold Blueblood’s head down on his organ, where he bobbed up and down on it happily, now able to take half its enhanced length down his throat.

“Yeah, same with the C.O., here!” Spring Air agreed as he shared Colonel Stargazer with Private Penumbra and Sergeant Riesling, the latter of whom held up their former leader in his aura so they could all take him at once, two in his tail and one in his muzzle. “I think I might actually like being called to his office for disciplinary action now! Especially if we get to deal the discipline!” He smacked Stargazer’s flank for emphasis before kneading it happily, positioning himself to enter his superior from behind yet again. This time, he gave way easily before him, a fresh shiver passing through him as his orifice parted eagerly to admit the tapered tip.

“You said it! But as fun as he is, we can’t stay with him here forever! So why stop with him? I think we should take the entire city!” Private Penumbra proclaimed, uncapping a fresh wine bottle by ripping its sealed neck off with his hoof and finding it, like the rest of the Prince’s stock, had been turned back into its original fruit juice. But as it was made from high-quality grapes that had come from the finest Thestralsloavkian vineyards, it was still delicious to his enhanced sense of taste, so he guzzled half the bottle at once. “If nothing else, we need to find fresh meat and some real wine!”

“Yeah? And you want some cheese to go with it?” Riesling teased in his newly deeper voice as he was passed the bottle. He took the next draw from it before wiping his lengthened muzzle with his hoof, idly stroking his member along with his friend’s as they watched the scene unfold before them. “Make mine brie!”

“Hey, I’m a simple bat with simple tastes… so just give me some Green Bray, Wiscoltson cheddar!” he rejoined with a laugh. “So seriously, bats… what are we gonna do now that we’ve had our fun with Princess Bluebelle and Commander Coltbait here?” He grinned at the new names he’d come up with for them, earning a series of laughs and high-wings from his comrades.

“I say take them with us!” Concord suggested eagerly as he accepted the bottle next and took a long swig. “These two are absolute keepers! I can’t get enough of them! And if they’re so alluring to us, you can bet they’ll be to everybat else, too! We can use them to attract more males to join our converted club! So what do you say to that, Princess? Want your tail tucked and tasted by every stallion in the city?” he asked the defrocked Prince directly.

Blueblood’s only answer was a nickering moan and a sudden gush of fresh seed from his shaft as he lay on his back on top of Spring Air, who was apples-deep in him from below. He showered his own face and chest as he only too-eagerly envisioned it, wondering what Rarity would think to see him now.

He had one final, fleeting thought that his current predicament was all her fault again only to realize, with finality, that he no longer minded. That he was actually happy for it!

“Y-Yes… as l-long as they’re all… bats…” he just managed to say as his organ only slightly softened before surging back to full attention again, leaving him wondering if he’d ever be sated or if his only remaining purpose in life was to be a plaything for predatory bat-ponies.

His words elicited a series of laughs. “Oh, don’t worry your pretty little flank, Princey! We’ll change everypony into thestrals just for you!” Spring Air told him from below as he continued to thrust into him with hissing grunts. “In fact, you’ll help us do it! You know, Even Nightmare Moon couldn’t conquer Celestia or Canterlot! But we will!” he proclaimed proudly to cheers. “Unless, of course, our illustrious commander objects?” he added with a lopsided grin.

“It’d be a little hard for him right now…” Concord noted as he held Stargazer’s head down on his bucking shaft, which the latter was suckling eagerly, having taken it nearly to its medial ring. To the frustration of both, he hadn’t yet obtained the Prince’s ability to deep-throat all of it, but they sensed he would with just a few more efforts. “Just a sec… Ah!” the Corporal gave a feral growl as his horn and swollen orbs all but exploded again, showering them with violet glitter whose small sparks caused intense tingling of their skin while delivering yet another load deep into his Colonel’s smooth and silken throat.

“Whew!” he said as he withdrew, noting idly that unlike what he’d heard about unicorns, his new aura didn’t shut off at the moment of climax, enabling him to use the most powerful of his magic on his partners, molding them as he saw fit!

Case in point, the Colonel’s short military crewcut had just sprung into a long and flowing feminine mane that only accented his adolescent effeminate appearance further in a feat that few unicorns could produce—manes were notoriously difficult to magically affect, but he had done it in the throes of his own orgasm!

“So whaddya say, Colonel? How about helping us bust out of here so we can take over the castle, and then the entire city? Bet Luna would be proud! Maybe we could even restore her to her former glory! It’s said Nightmare Moon’s court rivaled the court of Coltugula, you know!”

“Anything. Just… more… bats…” he just managed as he licked his muzzle clean, savoring the taste of his subordinate. “More… stallions…” he further begged as he turned to Blueblood and began making out with him as he lay on his back beside him, the pair cleaning each other’s face.

“That’s our Colonel! He’s always good for an inspirational speech!” Riesling announced happily as he fluffed the now teenage-looking officer’s new, far more effeminate mane. “You do good work, Concord! Slight problem, though—they’ve locked us down. The entire wing is sealed. Guess the Colonel’s last message got through.”

He shrugged as he experimentally tugged at the front door with his aura only to find it sealed magically shut; he could just sense the presence of guards holding position well away from them, at the doors to the wing itself. “They’ve got tons of protective enchantments and wards up, and you know how they work—they block unicorn spellcasting!”

“Unicorn, yes—not thestralcorn!” Concord motioned up to his new and surprisingly large horn, which he’d already come to enjoy and use so well. “I know they’re supposed to block teleportation, so let’s see if I can do this…” He then closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, disappearing and reappearing in a flash. “Well, look at that! I can wink despite the protective wards!”

“All right!” Riesling promptly duplicated the gesture, instantly appearing beside him and then sharing a deep kiss with his fellow male, the pair rubbing their horns together gently; the friction alone enough for some pink and purple sparks of mating magic to come off them. Some more experimentation established their teleportation range, which they found wasn’t particularly great—that even with the hybrid magic of their powerful thestralcorn auras, they could only punch through the suppression field at a distance of less than thirty paces. “Damn, not as much as I thought…” Concord was disappointed, his rigid organ going slightly flaccid, drooping another inch towards the ground.

“Hey, perk-up that Princely-poker—it’ll be enough!” Riesling quickly restored his comrades erection with an erotic caress of his overcharged aura, exchanging another deep and passionate kiss with him. “So, lover-bat… how about this? We get close enough that we can teleport behind them with Penumbra and Spring Air, zap them with sleep spells, take their crystal keys, and then take out each sentry station in turn! We leave our friends behind to be tucked by them and add them to our ranks with each go until we’ve got enough batpower and thestralcorn magic to storm the Command Center itself!”

“It won’t work…” the Colonel said weakly around a mouthful of Spring Air’s stallionhood, which he was working on along with Blueblood. “Center is heavily shielded… uses a variant of Shining Armor’s shield spell… no way through… only the Command Center can lower it…” he said in dismay between slurps and licks of the sixteen-inch stallionhood, which he cradled in his hooves like a fine kielbasa.

“No way through, huh?” Riesling said before trotting back up to Blueblood, who had his nose buried in Spring Way’s applesack, inhaling the overpowering musk and worshipping the melon-sized orbs with his muzzle and tongue.

“Sorry to interrupt, Bluebelle, but I know you—you got mares and some pretty shady characters smuggled in here all the time, so I’m guessing you not only have a means to monitor the castle’s crystal communications, but you bribed somepony to make sure you had a way to bypass Captain Armor’s new security measures! We’re trapped in here, so if you want more bats to pound your Princely plot, then we’ll need those means to break free! So care to share…?” He trailed a tendril of aura like a talon down Blueblood’s chin and long, alluring neck.

With some effort, the initially disappointed Prince focused on the question. “B-behind bedroom portrait of Blueblood XIV… hidden compartment… requires retrieval spell…” he was just able to recall before he returned his attention to Spring Air’s magnificent malehood.

“That’s okay, filly, don’t strain yourself. Save that silken tongue of yours for more important matters! The answers are in your head, so let’s see what natural thestral scrying powers crossed with magic can do…” He ignited his horn and closed his eyes, casting a sleep spell on Blueblood — who unceremoniously fell forward slightly and landed on his chin, fast asleep — so he could sift through the Prince’s memories.

Ten seconds later, Riesling opened his slitted eyes and smiled. “Well?” Penumbra asked eagerly.

“Well, bats—turns out we didn’t give the Prince enough credit for being clever! Turns out he didn’t bribe anybat or anypony; he just got hold of the designs and then used them to invent his own ways around all the new security! And this was the key!” He cast a retrieval spell; one of several distinct incantations he’d pulled from the Prince’s mind. A multicolored crystal then appeared, held in his magical grasp. “Using this, we can take over the crystal comms and turn them into spell carriers! In fact, we can cast anything we want using them!”

“Oh, really?” Concord suddenly wore a lopsided grin. “I can think of a few things…” The former Corporal offered up an alternate and suitably arousing plan. By the time he was finished, all of them wore toothy, predatory grins; their enhanced organs throbbing anew in intense anticipation.

“Not bad…” Spring Air said. “I like it!”

“I love it! Especially if we add this one little touch…” Riesling suggested an additional piece of spellcasting of both practical and sensual use, causing the others to blink, and then laugh.

“Okay… and where in all the mango grove did you come up with that?” Penumbra asked with a lopsided grin.

“From a Neighponese comic I once read named Mating Monastery,” Riesling answered with a smirk. “Can’t tell you how many times I clopped to the idea of it as a colt! So you think I’m going to miss this chance to make it real? I know I’m still a novice at spellcasting, but I’m pretty sure I can pull it off.” His horn sparked a couple times as he experimented with it.

“Of course it would be Neighponese…” Spring Air rolled his eyes, but grinned. “I’m in!”

“Outstanding, Private! But if we’re gonna do this, we’ll need all four of us to be thestralcorns first! So step up, Spring Air and Penumbra!” Riesling lowered his head to present his long spiraled horn, igniting his mating aura anew. “You two know what to do!”

“You mean… you want us to go down on your horn?” Spring Air said in mock horror, his hoof going to his head like the thought alone made him reel.

Penumbra pretended to recoil as well. “But Sergeant, we can’t do that! That’s, like… gay!”

They all fell silent and stared at each other. And then they burst out laughing as the two non-horned bats stepped up, one each going to Concord and Riesling.

Mere minutes later, not two but four horns erupted in fresh orgasmic rapture, with the owners of the newest pair mentally fed a series of spells those of the original ones had already mastered.

The scene in the underground Canterlot Castle Command Center was calm but tense.

They had received the Colonel’s brief distress call and shout saying the curse they were supposed to be guarding against was already loose inside the castle, but then he had been cut off and all had fallen silent.

Crystal recorder playback of the area outside the Prince’s quarters had shown the Colonel’s arrival and that he had opened the door, gaped, and then tried to flee as he called into his crystal, only for it to be shattered by a unicorn aura and the Colonel himself to be magically plugged from the air dragged back inside; the door slammed shut behind him afterward.

He shivered at the memory, wondering what horrors his superior had beheld and had then befallen him; his nerves were not helped by the fact that it would take an enormously powerful unicorn aura to shatter a military-grade crystal, but the Prince had never shown such power before. They’d been able to glean nothing more about what was happening inside Blueblood’s quarters as magical probes into the area had been rebuffed by the Prince’s own protective wards; ones that couldn’t be deactivated by anypony except him.

Now the ranking officer, Major Borealis had, on his own authority activated the Curtain Call quarantine protocol as much as he could. But with both the Colonel and Prince unavailable and likely compromised, he didn’t have full control of the castle’s security apparatus until Princess Luna remotely authorized him.

It was to his great relief that she answered his hail immediately and did so, admonishing him to not accept commands or direction from the Colonel or anypony inside the area—“this curse is a corruptive product of The Nightmare herself! I know not how she got it to the Prince, but it enhances the base sensual desires of all it infects, turning them into sex-crazed servants of my former possessor who seek only to spread it further!

“So avoid contact with those consumed by it at all costs!” she warned him, leaving him wondering how such an unlikely curse even worked, and additionally instructing him to keep containment in place until she could arrive to deal with matters personally.

“But what about Prince Blueblood?” he felt compelled to ask, to which several of his comrades gave eyerolls out of view of Luna’s gaze.

Luna herself gave a derisive snort. “’Tis just as well, as I did not relish the idea of putting him in charge anyway! So leave that foal to his fate and in the meantime, I leave command of Canterlot security in your far more capable hooves.” Her horn flared and suddenly all the command functions were his as his command crystal glow turned from green to blue.

“Thank you, My Princess!” He bowed low, but relaxed only slightly as, on his new authority, his command crystal key was accepted and various magical containment fields slapped down over all entry and exit points to the Private Residence wing of the castle, backed by unicorn guards wielding stun spells and various anti-curse enchantments, as well as crossbow-armed thestral soldiers loaded with sleep darts and various nonlethal flavors of gem.

In theory, it was all overkill—the security fields themselves couldn’t be breached by any unicorn magic short of Alicorn-level power, and there was no way that four infected bat-ponies plus the Prince could overcome the entire garrison even if they did somehow escape and stick their noses out of the doorways to be promptly put down.

In point of fact, once the security shields and magic suppression fields were active, nothing could get through in either direction. The security system had been designed by Shining Armor himself after the Changeling invasion, designed to secure the castle in whole or in part by blocking any and all entry or egress to the locked-down area—“our previous system was basically relying on what might have been geese, fans, and wishful thinking!” an angry Shining Armor had personally noted after—and it had indeed been effective, having already caught several changeling agents and even some of the Prince’s attempts to smuggle mares or unsavory agents into his quarters since.

Though its primary purpose had been to keep infiltrating Changeling soldiers at bay, it was equally or more effective against other potential intruders as well, and also designed to defeat any attempts to saturate the area with any form of nefarious spellcasting—which the curse certainly was.

Thus, the Major and his anxious command staff knew they should be safe and all would be well; they just had to keep the Prince and the four infected bat-ponies imprisoned until the Princess herself or the Elements of Harmony could cleanse them of the curse.

“So why am I so nervous…?” Major Borealis wondered, not immediately realizing he had spoken his thought out loud, feeling an odd warmth growing beneath his collar.

“Sir?” a light-furred thestral Lightborne mare overheard him—the Princess called them ‘Highborne’ out of ancient habit, but the name had not yet caught on over the more modern name.

“Oh. Nothing, Lieutenant Milky Way,” he reassured his communications officer even as his unease and body warmth grew, though he couldn’t quite resist casting a roving eye her way, wondering if she’d be willing to date a Nightborne stallion despite rumors that she only had eyes for other Lighborne mares. “Any word from the sentries stationed outside the residence wing?” he asked to cover up where his thoughts had gone, wondering how he could even begin to think of such things at a time like this!

“No issues as of last check-in sir,” she replied after a brief pause that suggested to Borealis that she was slightly distracted, a faint but growing blush on her cheeks alongside the hoof held to the crystal communications gem in her ear. “They’re reporting in every ten minutes as directed. All were accounted for, and all reported no activity.”

“Very well. And patrols?” He turned to his right, only then realizing he was pacing back and forth in front of his commander’s station. He forced himself to stop only to feel the urge grow again, his anxiety increasing with each passing second.

“Patrols are set, sir,” Captain Andromeda added from beneath her helmet, which she always wore. As the no-nonsense head of castle security, the Nightborne mare became his acting XO; it was said she had a large appetite for Nightborne stallions and tended to avail herself quite readily of the ones who worked under her. “Nothing gets in or out of that wing without us knowing. And be assured, the security suppression fields mean nothing’s getting in or out,” she said even as she shifted slightly uncomfortably.

“Good,” he said as he looked at the crystal monitors, which showed views of the various doorways and corridors, including the ones in the quarantined area. They remained clear, as did the one with a direct view of the doorway to the Prince’s quarters. Not that he expected that to change; the doors were magically sealed and the denizens inside could not escape.

But then the double-doors opened inward. “What…?” he sat bolt upright at the impossible feat. “There’s activity!” he quickly said as an aside to Andromeda, who joined him at the crystal display, leaving him keenly aware of her scent and presence. As they watched, a single dark-furred figure emerged out the entrance, looking around.

The newcomer was a sleek, large, feral-looking and very well-endowed thestral stallion, one they couldn’t identify at first until they got a look at his purple grape cluster cutie mark—a byproduct of the wine-producing vineyards he had grown up in, Borealis knew from his personal file. His short-cut mane had somehow grown out and his ears were longer—in fact, everything about him seemed bigger and more predatory right down to the enormous erection that dangled freely beneath his belly, easily several times the thestral norm!

“That’s Corporal Concord!” Andromeda likewise recognized in amazement as she involuntarily licked her muzzle, her wings twitching lightly as she drank in his sleek form. “But how’d he get out of there? And how by Luna’s moon did he get a horn?”

“Horn?” Borealis tore his eyes away from the impressive endowment to lock on the stallion’s forehead and realize that he had indeed acquired one—an impressively long one, just like his stallionhood; a spiral horn whose size rivaled those of the thestralcorn Highborne Priestesses who were so rarely seen. “What the—?”

The question died in his throat as abruptly, Concord turned to the crystal recorder at the end of the hallway and smiled, flaring his very broad wings in an old intimidation display. It was one that couldn’t help make Borealis go weak in the knees to see what the curse had created; the massive and somehow unconquerable thestral Adonis before him.

He felt a sudden cold feeling and puckering sensation beneath his tail as he somehow sensed the stallion’s intent towards him—towards them all! To his horror, he felt his own far more meager organ poke free of its sheath at the thought while beside him, Andromeda licked her lips a second time and involuntarily flagged her tail for just a moment before catching herself, wondering why her thoughts suddenly felt so clouded, exchanging a slightly furtive glance with Milky Way as a sudden desire to do something very illicit with her—not just a mare, but a Lightborne!—flashed through her head.

But she was not so far gone that she forgot her duty or the potential danger, trying to mentally force both her growing excitement and the unwelcome fantasies feeding it away. “All security teams, stand by! There may be an escape attempt shortly!” she warned as she remained riveted on the vision of pure passion and power before her. “Reinforce all security screens and cast fresh suppression spells! They are not breaking quarantine!” she further ordered and got a quick series of acknowledgments back, though some sounded slightly distracted.

Despite that, they couldn’t tear their eyes away while he slowly walked down the corridor towards the crystal recorder, a smug look on his face as his equally enhanced thestralcorn comrades appeared at the doorway behind him, waiting expectantly. In their midst were two much smaller figures who couldn’t be seen well over the others; the pair saw just enough of one to identify a feminized and thestralized Blueblood!

“They can’t get out. So what are they…?” a disquieted Borealis wondered as Concord reached the crystal recorder. He looked up into it, smiled, winked, brandished an odd crystal and then ignited his new horn.

“Hello, Major Borealis,” Concord greeted him directly in an unusually deep voice that boomed out over the crystal speakers as he somehow took control of the communication channels. “I know you’re listening, and I know you think we’re trapped. Or maybe you just hope we are.

“But the truth is, we haven’t left before this because we were content where we were. And don’t get me wrong—we’ve certainly enjoyed our time with Princess Bluebelle and Colonel Coltbait there, but we all agree it’s time for some fresh meat—and maybe even some fresh wine and cheese, since the Prince’s stock seems to have unfermented itself!” he noted with a glance back at the others, earning some eager nods.

Abruptly, his eyes narrowed. “As I understand from the Colonel that you were the one who denied my request for Nightmare Night leave, you are that meat,” he announced with a predatory grin and as he stretched out to show off his enormous and drooling organ, causing the Major’s legs to suddenly go weak and his head to feel faint. He couldn’t help it as he had a sudden, and very vivid image of that massive malehood being slowly inserted into him from behind, claiming and changing him as he stood magically pinned by the larger and more powerful male. He puckered hard as he swore he could already feel the tapered tip of the corrupted instrument entering him for a moment, finding himself both fearing and fantasizing about it as a wet spot formed over the tip of his own rapidly lengthening intimate appendage.

“It’s already begun, thanks to the good Princess Bluebelle here. Turns he’s a lot smarter than we thought—he had the means to not just bypass, but outright hijack all your communication and monitoring systems! Some subtle spells are already digging out your deepest fantasies and slowly but surely turning you all on. Given enough time, they alone would suffice to convert you!” he warned them all with a grin that showed off all his sharpened teeth, causing the Major’s eyes to go wide as he found his shaft quickly hardening, already pressing increasingly uncomfortably against his belly armor as a flush appeared on the face of nearby mares and thestral wings likewise began going erect all around him.

“We’d happily let them take their course, but we don’t want to wait! And besides, what’s the point if we can’t watch or take part? ” he mused aloud to a series of lustful growls and hisses from his corrupted comrades. “So be assured that whether mares or stallions, you’re all going to join us in the next few minutes! Sergeant Riesling’s also got a very special spell prepared to help speed things along and make sure your anti-curse armor enchantments won’t protect you. The only question is, will it be needed, or will this suffice?” he wondered aloud as he cast his own new spell, causing every communication crystal in the entire castle, including the fixed ones in the Command Center, to suddenly light up bright pink with an impossibly strong and all but irresistible mating aura transmitted directly from his horn.

Borealis and the others reeled, assailed by rapidly surging urges to rut anything that moved. The Major and other officers desperately slapped at their controls, trying to kill the communications crystals. But to their horror, they quickly found that they couldn’t shut the feed off; each second spent in the mating aura weakening their will to resist further as wings became so erect and sexually sensitive they couldn’t fly; a glance around the room told Borealis that several pairs of mares—and one set of stallions!—were already starting to make out!

Though the Major wasn’t sure Concord could see what was happening there, he smiled in great satisfaction as if he could. “By all means, bats, fight it if you can! In fact, I hope you do, Major—because I want you to last long enough for me to get there and convert you myself! So do try to keep your tight little tail untucked until I arrive!” he told him as he cut the connection, letting his mating magic do the work for him as castle sensors registered a fresh spell being transmitted through the communication crystals, washing over them.

He didn’t know what it was—he didn’t feel any immediate difference in himself other than his newly erect organ already pressing hard into his metal armor, which almost seemed to be slowly giving way before it—but he didn’t care as he felt the curse magic start to overcome him; directing him to surrender himself to the nearest stallion.

Sheer panic at being turned into a colt-cuddler overriding his surging passions for just a moment, the Major grabbed for the direct crystal line to Luna, one that used her own communication spell and not the standard castle ones, praying that made it immune to the magical hack. “Princess!” he shouted, not waiting for a response before continuing.

“The curse is loose! We can’t contain it! It’s about to consume us! Please help us!” he begged her in frantic tones before even that communication was cut and his command staff began slowly succumbing to the sensual spellcasting; the Nightborne Major feeling an impossibly great but not painful heat in his rapidly arousing loins as steam and smoke began to come off not just him, but the nether areas of every uniformed stallion and mare in the bunker!

Twenty minutes before the scheduled dawn—which Sunset belatedly realized would require Luna to bring about if Celestia was incapacitated or worse—Delta Requiem’s cape clasp beeped and blinked to announce an incoming message.

As the Royal Court Bard sang softly with the same tune Twilight and Sunset had heard before, the clasp glowed brighter. Within seconds it produced a live, full-scale projection of Luna that reminded a still-shaky Twilight of holographic projectors from a certain science-fiction franchise she knew, whose movies she had enjoyed even if its natural laws and physics made absolutely no sense.

“Lady Requiem! Report thy status!” Luna ordered without preamble as soon as her image resolved. Her imperious tone left Sci-Twi further reflecting that perhaps this version of Luna wasn’t that different from the Principal she knew for how commanding and assertive she could get, particularly when she was coaching or handling a crisis.

Though Sunset thought the request strange, Delta Requiem herself did not blink. “All is well, My Princess. We remain hidden and undetected, and with The Nightmare’s apparent defeat, I believe we are safe for now. We are standing by and ready to act—on both sides of the portal. As per your instructions, we are awaiting only your arrival before we put our plans into motion.”

“Good,” she replied, only to frown. “Though I’m afraid, Lady Requiem, that my arrival in Ponyville will be at least slightly delayed. For ‘twould seem there is a fresh crisis in Canterlot that demands my immediate attention,” she announced in some annoyance.

“A crisis, My Princess?” Delta asked, wondering what else could go wrong that night as Twilight and Sunset exchanged looks.

“Indeed. I have just received word that the curse has made it there as well, having somehow infected Prince Blueblood—and now, ‘twould seem, part of my own Lunar Guard. ‘Tis confined to the Prince’s wing of the castle for the time being, but it now threatens to overwhelm the Command Center I had been previously assured was secure. So ‘tis therefore my intention to ‘nip it in the bud’, as I have heard it termed, before it completely breaks containment!”

“That’s not good news, My Princess,” Delta said in prize understatement.

“I agree. But fear not—I will deal with it and deal with it quickly. In the meantime, your orders are unchanged: await quarantine of Ponyville before proceeding with your plans,” she quickly added before Sunset or Twilight could even think to ask. “For even if they fail, ‘twould be an excellent delay and distraction whilst I quash the curse in Canterlot.”

“As you wish, My Princess. But who will impose quarantine if not you? Are Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza still en route?” Delta Requiem asked.

“They are, but I have ordered them to Canterlot instead to quarantine the castle,” Luna answered. “They should arrive ahead of me and ensure the curse does not escape at least long enough for me to deal with it.”

Lady Requiem frowned. “Then who will impose quarantine here? If you wish me to do it, I fear my spellsinging will not be up to the task for very long against a mage of Princess Twilight’s knowledge and power.”

“I agree. But fear not, my loyal Bard. Await the arrival of my reinforcements and a new pony I will dispatch to you before acting. Two centuries of Nightborne and Highborne thestrals will arrive within ten minutes to keep the city sealed. My chosen representative will be with them.”

“Chosen representative?” Delta echoed as Twilight and Sunset exchanged a questioning look.

“Yes. One with sufficient power to impose quarantine and act in my stead,” Luna confirmed, speaking carefully.

“Sufficient power? But who…?” Lady Requiem began with a furrowed brow, only to trail off as her expression turned from confusion to a mixture of distrust and distaste. “My Princess, surely you do not mean—”

“I do, Lady Requiem!” The Lunar Princess cut her off hard. “I know your feelings towards her, and I know you do not trust her. But given her…” Luna gave a quick sigh, looking distinctly uncomfortable, “... proclivities towards me, I have confidence she will carry out my instructions faithfully and not betray them, for to do so would be to betray me. I, in turn, expect you to put your feelings aside and work with her obediently!”

“As you wish, My Princess,” a clearly unhappy Delta grated out the words.

Sunset and Twilight exchanged another confused look; even the former had no idea to whom Luna was referring. “Um… no offense, Princess, but how is this mystery mare and a couple hundred bat-ponies going to contain this plague? Won’t they be vulnerable to the curse as well?” Sunset had to point out.

Luna’s head turned towards her in the image. “I have cast multiple defensive wards and enchantments on them to guard against it. Though they will not last forever, they will suffice until I return, and in the meantime, my chosen representative will know how to use their innate magic to keep the curse contained to Ponyville,” she told them somewhat cryptically. “As for who she is and how she will do it… you will forgive me if I decline to answer as I do not fully trust you, Sunset Shimmer. No offense.”

“None taken.” Sunset sighed and rubbed a hoof behind her head, having lost count long ago of how many times she had been told that and responded in the same way. “I wouldn’t trust me either, given my history,” she agreed sadly, to which Twilight put a hoof on her shoulder.

“Instructions understood. We will await the arrival of your company and your chosen surrogate before acting. But please be careful in Canterlot, My Princess. We have already lost Celestia to this curse; we cannot afford to lose you as well!” Lady Requiem reminded her.

“Fear not, my loyal court bard. Be assured that, from my own long-ago descent into madness, I am only too familiar with such insanity as this curse offers and am more than capable of resisting it!”

“But how can you cure it?” Twilight asked, only to belatedly worry that she was speaking out of turn as Luna turned to gaze upon her through narrowed eyes—Principal Luna didn’t like backtalk or people talking over her, so why would the Pony Princess version be any different? “N-no offense, Princess, but if Lady Requiem herself can barely cure one pony, then how are you going to deal with a dozen or more?”

“’Tis not a matter of me curing it, Twilight Sparkle of the human realm, as from your own reports, that will likely require the Elements of Harmony themselves. For now, ‘tis simply a question of halting its spread and ensuring it does not claim any more victims in Canterlot whilst we strike at the contagion’s source. And that, I assure you, I can do.”

Without offering an explanation—in the end, Luna wasn’t sure she trusted Sunset Shimmer or her friend, even if she was a doppelganger of the pony Twilight Sparkle—she cut the connection and then activated another one in her place, sounding a hail in a distant location. But to her great annoyance, it was not immediately answered.

Even before her possession by the Nightmare or after her recent cleansing by the Elements of Harmony, patience had never been one of Princess Luna’s virtues. “Juniper Neptune XXX!” she called out imperiously, her voice echoing throughout a distant palace in Star City in Eastern Thestralslovakia; her spell enabling it to travel even through the airless void that occasionally existed at the Temple of Karabor’s heart.

“By my order, cease your studies of the Twisting Nether at once and answer the summons of the Lunar Crown! I have an immediate need for you and your power!” she called out in her Royal Canterlot voice, which was enough to shake the columns that held up the roof of the temple whose walls held but a single permanent resident.

Another ten seconds passed before her summons was answered, but not by a new projection. Instead, the stormy skies rolled up like a scroll revealing a starry sky marred by dense plumes of purple clouds, streaked with magenta trails of raw magical energies crisscrossing lazily through the void of outer space. Pink gashes of lightning sliced between the clouds with a thundering roar, lighting up the awaiting ponies below; the Lightborne watching in awe while the Nightborne were in some fear.

In contrast, Luna’s only reaction to the display of pure power was to roll her eyes, tapping a forehoof impatiently while the thestrals around her began murmuring in anxiety and excitement as they sensed a powerful mage approaching.

A twisting column of pink mist then plummeted from the sky like a mini-tornado. It touched down directly in front of Luna with a howling wind, writhing in place and washing the trio in a gale of bone-chilling cold. From the center of the funnel a large and slender albino thestral mare, her face and torso hidden by equally oversized membrane wings while being buffeted vigorously by the high wind, slowly descended as if suspended by an invisible rope.

An awkward silence, punctuated by low rumbles of thunder stretched on for a moment longer while the huge, ghostly pale figure hid beneath its wings when Luna finally cleared her throat loudly. “Are you quite through, Juniper Neptune?”

Her hooves touched down silently as the nether sky above them erupted in blinding flashes of light and booming peals of thunder that left their ears ringing. “I… am not... PREPARED!” The thestral mare called back, her voice strained as the raucous cosmic light show continued above their heads. She seemed to be struggling against something unseen from behind her pale and semi-translucent bat wings.

Luna’s impressively large ears splayed back against the side of her head in impatience and frustration. “Enough with such pointless theatrics! I am neither impressed nor in the mood, High Priestess! So appear before me this instant! For the fate of all Equestria hangs in the balance!” Her royal canterlot voice again boomed out.

“Oh, very well!” The pale stranger replied in disappointment before throwing open her wings with a loud and impressive fwoop! The ice-violet funnel then dissipated, and the sky became a placid sea of familiar stars once more.

“Princess Luna!” A robed thestral mare, endowed with a long, ivory magical horn bowed low, her pale, pink eyes swimming with emotion. “Avatar of the Moon and Keeper of the Night! I am Juniper Neptune the Thirtieth, at thy service! I admit I am taken aback by the urgency of your summons, but honored to be called upon! And how may I, the humble High Priestess of the Highborne, serve thee?” she asked formally but slightly breathlessly, her pale cheeks glowing with a rosy hue.

Luna looked her over and smirked, deciding the High Priestess indeed looked humble with half of the lapels on her long, crystal-studded robe left unattached, including the one that secured the sheath of her impressive stallionhood to her belly — the enormous male package wobbling half-erect beneath her, still trapped inside the sock of her priestly garment.

“What? Get back! She’s already cursed!” Luna’s Nightborne General recoiled, causing all the dark-furred ponies to fly backwards while the light-furred ones merely smirked at the reaction.

“Neigh, General—‘tis hard to believe, but ‘tis in fact her natural state! So, methinks you were not searching the Nether but breaking in a new acolyte, then?” Luna guessed, causing the Highborne thestralcorn’s flush to deepen. “Never mind. You will put yourself to rights and proceed with this company to Ponyville immediately, Juniper Neptune, High Priestess of the Highborne! For whilst I deal with a minor matter in Canterlot, ‘twill fall upon you to act in my stead and contain a curse in my absence...”