Lockheart

Spike feverishly scratched the tip of a quill to scroll paper as he worked to decipher another section of Twilight’s notes. “Almost got it,” he mumbled to himself as his mind raced to figure out the last few letters he had to change around to be able to properly translate the texts. Swapping out all the ‘Es’ for ‘Gs’ he scanned across the messy page of texts and corrections. He still had to rewrite the solved message on a fresh sheet of paper and send it to Tamati, but by the sound of a pony’s approaching hoofsteps, he was already out of time. Hastily, he hid all his notes on his desk and hurried back to where he was supposed to be restrained, attempting to shackle his body back to where Twilight had left him. However, as the doorknob to his room jostled, he saw that he didn’t have time to do so.

“Spike,” Twilight said as she entered his room. “It’s ti-” She stopped mid sentence as she came in to see her prisoner of a dragon, laying in his pile of hay and jerking his thick dragonhood off, aimed straight at her. “What in Celestia’s name are you doing?!?”

“Masteurbating,” answered Spike. “Isn’t it obvious with my erect cock, claws gently, but firmly clenched around it, and the fact that I’m a mature dragon trapped in his room, with nothing better to do? Oh, and I’d move out of the splash zone, if I were you. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, then by all means stay there.”

“Spike!” snapped Twilight as she used her magic to remove his claws from his junk and lift him off the ground. “I can’t believe you are still acting this disrespectful. Don’t you realize that if you can’t behave they’ll separate us.”

“Aren’t you already planning on sending me back to Canterlot and Celestia?” asked Spike. “Locking me up in my room and keeping me isolated certainly hasn’t given me any chance to become reformed or act like a ‘good dragon’ or whatever however you wanna phrase it.”

“Well, maybe if you can try to behave just a little,” suggested Twilight. “Maybe Celestia will give you a second chance. After all, when your egg was found abandoned, it was her who protected you until the day you ended up in my care.”

“And yet, after all this time she never did elaborate more on that story,” pointed out Spike. “Was I really abandoned? Maybe my egg was stolen from the Dragonlands and that was just a convenient lie to make me feel indebted to you all and believe you all cared about me. In truth, I’m just an experiment to see if those big, strong, dumb lizards can be domesticated into creatures the ponies can take advantage of. That’s all I am, in the end, aren’t I?”

“O-Of course not,” Twilight tried to tell him, but as he looked into her eyes she could tell he wasn’t accepting such a simple dismissal of his accusation.

“And being groomed into a life of cleaning your home, writing letters for you, occasionally being a guinea pig when you practice magic, and cooking for you and your friends, among dozens of other chores doesn’t sound like being a servant?” he pointed out. “Sure, you sugar-coated the whole thing by giving me the title of ‘Number One Assistant,’ and gave me rewards and praise… like one would when attempting to domesticate a wild animal. And now, because I’m behaving defiantly, this is what my life has become. Is this what a parent does to their child when they reach a rebellious phase, lock them up and threaten to send them away forever? Hardly! Now, just try to look me in the eye and tell me this is all just a huge misunderstanding.”

“I-I don’t know,” admitted Twilight, looking down at her hooves. “Maybe… but I’m certain your time with me hasn’t been as bad as you might be recalling it to be. Look at all you’ve got because you are in my care.”

Spike looked around his mostly barren room and then down at Twilight. “Yeah, it was quite the fun adventure… till I matured beyond the point you could easily control me. Now I’ve got nothing and can’t even have the simple pleasure to jerk myself off in my own room or should I call this my cell?”

“Please, don’t let things turn out this way,” begged Twilight. “If you don’t, Celestia will have no choice but to wipe your memory. You’ll forget all about your time with me and our friends and everything. Then, you’ll be taken back to the Dragonlands, just another wild fire-breathing lizard like all the rest of them.”

“I might just be a ‘fire-breathing lizard,’” commented Spike as he made air quotes with his claws. “But I do know when you aren’t being completely honest with me. You can’t even bare to look at me, meaning you must be hiding something, so just tell me the whole truth for once in your life!”

“You wanna know what’s really going to happen to you?” she sniffled and wiped her eyes dry. “Fine! Celestia really did want to see if dragons can be brought into pony society by raising them from newborns. They might not have all the same rights as ponies, but it is a hell of a lot better than the alternative she’s been using for centuries.”

“What alternative?” asked Spike as he grew intrigued at this new revelation.

“Capturing dragons and wiping their memories, turning them into miners to forage for gems in the caverns beneath Canterlot. They toil tirelessly to dig out the gems that have made Canterlot the wealthiest city in all of Equestria and quite possibly the world. If you don’t show that you can be a good dragon, that will be your fate too. I don’t want that to happen to the dragon that I raised from a newborn, to have your body pushed to exhaustion day after day digging mindlessly, your body getting scratched, injured and scarred with only enough care given to you so that you can return to toiling away for centuries, till you’re too broken to dig anymore and then picked apart for parts for potion-brewing and Celestia knows what else?” Looking up at Spike, tears running down her eyes, he could tell this wasn’t just something she made up to scare him into straightening out. This was really going to be his fate.

“I want to save you from ending up like so many dragons before you,” she sniffled. “But, it’s probably foolish to have such wishful thinking. I failed to raise you properly so there is no going back. Sorry Spike, but it looks like you’re going to be toiling away as a mindless slave for the rest of your life now.”

“Wasn’t that all I was doing before anyway?” he retorted, remaining aloof to what awaited him even though it was more horrible than he anticipated would happen to him. “The only difference is that it won’t have any of the frills to make it seem like anything but that.”

“You must know I care greatly about you,” Twilight told him. “And don’t try and tell me that’s a lie.”

“I know that isn’t,” he admitted. “You’ve gone to plenty of lengths to care for me. You comforted me when I had nightmares and cared for me when I was sick. For the first few years of my life I didn’t even realize I wasn’t a pony until you told me and I thought you were my mother. All those were precious memories to both of us, but, apparently, that doesn’t nearly add up to how badly you want to kiss Celestia’s flank. If it did we wouldn’t be in this situation. So, let’s just get this over with. I’m sure you’ll find some other way to kiss her ass.”

“Fine!” snapped Twilight, growing frustrated that her efforts to convince Spike to return to being the dragon he once was failed. Glaring at him as her sorrow ran down her cheeks, she had only one recourse left to her. “If you wanna be like a real dragon, so be it!” Her horn glowed brightly as she built up her magic power. “Then I should show you just what kind of life you are in for! This is how they put their dragons into bed at night in the mines!” With a blast of magic, Twilight created metal cuffs at the end of chains, clasping onto Spike’s arms, legs, neck, and tail before yanking him to his knees then flat on the ground. “How do you feel now?”

“Mmph,” groaned Spike as he lifted his head up a bit. “I guess more dragony, but I can easily break out of these chains if this is the best you can do.”

“Oh, we’re not done,” she added. “I still haven’t tucked you in yet!” More chains appeared out of the ground on either side of Spike, and draped over his back and then clung to the ground on the other side of his body. A half dozen were more than enough to restrain Spike at his current strength, but there were even more than that pinning him to the floor that he couldn’t even lift himself up. “Out of snarky responses now?”

“I never knew you had this spell in your repertoire, Twilight,” commented Spike. “Were you keeping it from me in case you ever needed to restrain me like this or do you just have a bondage fetish that I’ve never known about?”

“Cute,” she retorted dryly before using a bit more magic to transport a huge boulder right over Spike, dropping the heavy thing right on his back.

“Gah!” cried Spike, some flames spewing out of his maw as the wind was knocked out of him. “Okay, I was definitely asking for that,” he admitted.

“Normally, they don’t give a plushie for the dragons to sleep with,” she commented. “But that’s my personal touch. Anything more to comment on or do you want more plushies?” Spike remained silent. “That’s better, dragon. Now, the guards will be here shortly to take you to Canterlot. I’ll be expected to prepare you for transport.” Her horn glowed once more and a large blast of magic washed over Spike. At first, it didn’t feel like it had done anything, but then Spike felt unusually cold to the point he started to shiver.

“Wh-what was that?” he asked as his teeth started to chatter and his body shook, attempting to warm up.

“I nullified your flames,” she explained. “Like all dragons in the mines, it would be far too dangerous to allow you to keep your flames so this spell is used to keep them out. You feel cold now, but your body will adjust to being fireless in time.”

“No flames,” thought Spike, not accounting that such a spell would be used. “I can’t transport my findings to Tamati now. The girls better start soon before things get any worse.”

“And no for those wings,” added Twilight, as she cast another spell upon the dragon’s wings that she was careful not to cover over with the chains. As the magic hit them, Spike lost any feeling in them. He couldn’t make them flap or anything.”

“M-My wings?!?” he cried, trying his best to move them, but they remained still.

“The dragons in the mine don’t need their wings any more than their flames,” explained Twilight. “All the ponies need from them is their brute strength to dig. Do you still believe that your life was not that different from the lives those dragons were forced to live? You were probably the most fortunate dragon in the world, living a life of luxury compared to those in the wild and especially those enslaved. If you had just stayed as my Number One Assistant you would have continued to live a peaceful life, one that paved the way for more of dragon kind to be given. Instead, you threw it all away. Now it’s too late for apologies or begging for forgiveness. Once I imprint you with the tracking spell, you will be all set to be shipped out. Then, your memory will be wiped and you’ll forget everything. About who you are, all our friends, and about me as well. Goodbye, Spike… No, goodbye, dragon.”

“Hurry up, hurry up,” thought Spike through gritted teeth as he watched Twilight preparing the last spell she needed to cast upon him.

The Crystal Express rolled down the train tracks. It was making its way from the Crystal Empire straight to Canterlot. Each cart was filled up with the entire population of children from the conquered city. Every last one of them had been rounded up in the post war aftermath and were charmed into a calming daze for the trip, though many were starting to return to their senses and realized they had somehow gone from hiding during a war with creatures unlike anything they or their parents had ever seen to riding a train clear across Equestria, barely able to move in the overcrowded train car.

“What’s going on?” a child would ask as soon as their grogginess faded and saw they were squished between a number of other kids.

“No idea,” someone else would answer. “But I think if we stay on this train a while longer we’ll be in Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?” they’d cry in shock. “Just what in the world is going on? Why are we on this train? What about our parents? What were those things that invaded our home?”

“Nothing good, no idea, you are too young to know, and no idea again,” his questions were answered in the order they were asked.

“That didn’t really tell me anything,” he sniffled, worried about what was going to happen to them and he was not alone with all the other kids who were crammed into that train car and all the others.

“That spell we had Sunburst put on all the kids as we were rounding them up is starting to wear off,” Nat informed Sting, Media, and Zircon as he peek out of the window from the train’s engine room. They were operating the locomotive to transport all the foals, phillies, and colts to the Equestrian capital. Besides just the four of them, Flurry Heart was also with them, cradled in a baby carrier on Nat’s front. It had the words “World’s Best Mommy” written on it. “A few of them are already fully conscious.”

“Sunburst did say that it was just a temporary spell and we had to cast it on each one of them separately,” replied Zircon. “With so many, it’s to be expected that some might start to awaken before we reached the drop off point.”

“And once we bring the train to a stop there,” reminded Sting. “We must quickly take our leave for the hive. Hopefully the Canterlot guards won’t gather too quickly to investigate this unscheduled train arrival.”

“You sure you don’t want to just take on the whole military force of Canterlot on your own?” asked Nat. “You are our fearless leader after all.”

“No thanks,” yawned Sting as he stretched and sat down. He stared up at the ceiling, his vision blurring a bit as he felt ready to doze off. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but after today I could use a week of rest in bed.”

“Best suggestion I’ve heard all day,” agreed Nat.

“Wah!” cried Flurry Heart as she suddenly awoke from her nap and started to bawl her eyes out.

“Oh, come on,” cried Nat as he covered his ears. Carefully, he took her out of her carrier to gently rock her. “There, there. Everything is okay. Come on, look at the silly face.” Nat started puffing up his cheeks and sticking his tongue out. “She? Shilly thace.” Giggling, Flurry Heart smiled, relieving her weary caretaker, at least till she grabbed his long, serpent-type tongue and pulled on it. “Ow, at’s my ung, ot a oy. Pease on’t- ow! A ittle elp ere?”

“You’ve got this,” teased Zircon. “You are the world’s greatest mommy after all.”

“Ha ha ery- ow! unny,” he scoffed. “Ut erously.”

“I got her,” Media said, carefully taking Flurry Heart into her arms and getting her to release Nat’s tongue. She barely had Flurry Heart in her arms for more than a few seconds before Flurry was squirming, wanting Nat to hold her again. “But Zircon is kinda right. You do seem to have a knack for taking care of babies.”

“I’m just doing what I remember my mom did for me,” he admitted. “Kinda a good thing we matured so quickly. I don’t think I’d be able to remember so much otherwise.”

“I know what you mean,” agreed Media. “My mother was always cooking while taking care of me. She was trying out a lot of recipes for different baby foods to see which ones I’d like the most.” She rubbed her chubby belly as she recalled all that. “Heh, I ate really well.”

“How about you, Sting?” wondered Nat as he was once more given Flurry Heart. Cradling her in his arms, he soothingly rocked her from side to side. “I bet she trained you to wield a sword before you learned to walk.”

“No,” he retorted, finding some strength to get up and show some of his fighting postures he knew through muscle memory. Despite being just as fatigued as them, the way he moved looked like he was still up for fighting another round or two of battle. “Learning to balance and walk is a fundamental foundation for a warrior. After that, she trained me in hand-to-hand combat and worked to hone my body’s muscles and focus my mind before she’d so much as let me touch a weapon. Those were the most intense three days of my life.”

“She started training you the day you were born?” Media asked in disbelief.

“Day after,” he answered. “She wanted to have at least one day to see what it was like to be a nurturing mother. I don’t really remember that day all too well, but I think I prefer my mother as normally she is.”

“How about your mother, Zircon?” asked Media. “She was the queen of the Changelings before our father took over.”

“She still is and that means I’m the princess of not just that Changelings, but the Draglings, including all of you. As for how she raised me, she said there were three things I needed to be a proper ruler.” She extended a finger for each one she listed. “Fear, blindly loyal minions, a taste for revenge that can never be quenched, and the will to carry through with everything you do, especially revenge.”

“That’s four things,” counted Nat.

“The last two are mainly for getting revenge in general,” she specified. “Other than that, she’s always treated me as her little princess, even when I may not have wanted to be. She didn’t want me to come to this battle today, but I didn’t want to be the only one left at home while everyone else was fighting.”

“And you performed an infiltration that your mother will undoubtedly be proud of,” commented Sting. “I bet all our mothers will be proud of us.”

“Which is why I wish we got to head home to celebrate and rest with all the others,” sighed Nat as he let Flurry Heart resume napping on his lap. Petting her head, he couldn’t help smiling. “All the others got to go home, but dad picked us to deliver all the Crystal Empire’s children to safety. Wasn’t the point of our invasion to obtain the Element of Discord and turn the whole place into a love smorgasbord for us to feed on?”

“It was and we did,” Media answered him. “Papa got what he was looking for and now we have an area of concentrated love so strong we’ll never go hungry again. That being said, papa was abundantly clear that he didn’t want the younger ponies to get involved with the magic cast on the Crystal Heart and he wanted to ensure they were not left where they might not have anyone to care for them while all the adults were under magical influence. How did he put it, again?”

“Children are born pure and innocent when they emerge in this world,” Nat spoke in the best impression of Tamati he could manage. He even attempted to puff up his chest and flex his arm to imitate his godly muscular build. “Despite how lewdly we might be to bring them into it.”

“Pfft! Hahahah!” laughed Zircon, tearing up at Nat’s imitation, as did Media. “That’s actually pretty good.”

“That is funny,” agreed Sting, chuckling a little, though that about as expressive as he could typically be. “I guess that makes you the funny one of the group.”

“Yeah, I guess it does,” blushed Nat. “Hey, wait! You mean I wasn’t before?” There was a pause as they all looked at Nat’s bewildered face before laughing anew.

“Hey, guys,” Media informed the others as she peeked out the window. “I hate to end things when we are just starting to have fun, but looks like we’re here.”

“We’ll have to be quick,” reminded Sting as he gripped the break of the train and carefully pulled it, helping to slow it to a screeching halt. As he did this, Media tossed water into the engine’s burning coals to cool them down and bring it to a stop. Nat returned Flurry Heart to her carrier and then aided Zircon in gathering all their things together before they would take off. They then took a last look at the kids in the train car behind them before looking ahead at the station’s platform. To their dismay, there were already a few guards there, awaiting as the train was coming in so unexpectedly.

“The second the train stops,” said Zircon. “We’ll take off as quickly as we can. It doesn’t look like there are any Pegasi among the guards so even if they do spot us, they won’t be able to pursue.”

“The train’s almost at a complete stop,” Sting informed them. “Time to get going.”

Opening a window, the four Draglings were quick to fly out of it, Sting taking the lead with Nat at the rear. A couple of the guards near the front of the train did notice them fly out, but remained focused on the train as it came to a stop and prioritized seeing what was on board.

As the doors opened and a flood of children poured out, they quickly became too distracted by all the refugees they were given to even pay the Draglings any more attention while they were peacefully making their escape. Some of the guards hurried to call for further assistance while the others did this best to calm the kids, nearly all of them back to their senses at this point.

It didn’t take long for the guards to learn about what became of the Crystal Empire and of the creatures behind the attack. It also didn’t take long for that news to travel all the way to the very top and be brought to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s attention.

“That such a thing could happen to a place like the Crystal Empire in but a day,” stated Luna. “How could it be possible?”

“I don’t know, but it just means that we must take equally bold action in response,” Celestia told her sister.

“Are you certain that it is a good idea to bring those two into the hive?” questioned Cid.

“You mean Shiny and Cadence?” replied Tamati as he addressed his loyal subordinate while sitting atop his throne. In his palm he held the Lockheart. Turning his attention away from the little Changeling, he gazed down at it like a child who had just received a new toy. Seeing the shiny, Element of Discord that had just been added to it, he could hardly wait to see what new power it granted him. But, for the time being, other matters took a higher priority. He looked back towards Cid, but suddenly found his train of thought lost. “Uh, what was the problem again?”

“Those two ponies you brought back with you!” cried Cid. “I don’t know if this was mentioned before, but a while back we had this whole take over Equestria plot. Chrysalis impersonated Cadence and attempted to use her marriage to Shining Armor as a means to invade Canterlot. Long story short, it didn’t end well for us and I doubt they will be on very friendly terms after all that, even if they are all now in your harem.”

“A valid concern,” admitted Tamati. “The Lockheart allows me to make any female I gaze at become infatuated with me. Early on, it seems to completely overwhelm their sense of self to the point they are just lusting after me. However, the really interesting thing about this is that the magic doesn’t wear off, but rather melds with the target, returning them to their senses, but still completely infatuated with me. It’s quite remarkable.”

“How long till that happens?” wondered Cid.

Scratching his chin to give his underling the best answer he could, Tamati responded with, “The time varies a bit, but probably after a few hours at least. Ponies as powerful as them should be quick to recover. By now, I’d say they have fully awakened and are preparing with the others.”

“Dare I inquire what exactly they are preparing for?” Cid asked, already getting a bunch of lewd images in his mind. Tamati smirked, looking quite amused at his facial expressions. “Actually, don’t tell me. Knowing you it’ll be something very kinky.”

“Are you disgusted, turned on, or jealous?” questioned Tamati, with a sly smirk.

“Yes,” Cid told him simply, causing the dragon to pound his palm on the arm of his throne and laugh heartily.

“Fair enough,” he admitted. “But this is to be more than to celebrate our victory and make me forget that horrible vision of my crotch made smooth.”

“What was that?” remarked Cid, hearing those words accidentally slip from his master’s lips.

“Nothing,” responded Tamati quickly as he averted his gaze. “But, as I was saying, this is important because I want to ensure my harem continues to get along. I’ve enjoyed their company all together and I’ve given them each personal time with me too. Now, I’m gonna try something a bit different to help them build a sisterhood amongst one another. As we speak, the members of my harem are preparing themselves for a larp.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard of that,” admitted Cid. “Is it what you did that one time with the ladder, the whipped cream, and the tuba?”

“No, and I’d prefer if we don’t bring up that little debacle ever again,” he retorted. “A larp as in live action role play. They’re all getting dressed to play and I can already imagine what they’re going to look like.”

“Chrysalis will be an icy hot beach babe,” he fantasized with a pervy grin on his face. In the image he created of her, she was dressed in an itsy bitsy teeny weeny, yellow polka dot bikini. Such little fabric was used it was more like she just had spaghetti strings on around her chest and waist. Her pussy was on full display, as was here rear with the bikini bottom stuck in the former’s lips and the latter's crack. Her breasts were almost as bare as the front of her melons were held in place by the skinny strands in a spiderweb design.

The most coverage Chrysalis had on her entire body was on the soles of her feet thanks to the matching sandals she had on. Her hair was bound in a ponytail and a pair of black sunglasses rested atop her head. Grasped in her fingers, she held the stick end of a long, red, cherry popsicle. Every so often she’d bring it to her maw, wrap her tongue around it to lick at it, and then take the entire thing into her mouth to slowly suck on it while sliding it back out.

“I’ll let you suck on my popsicle if you’ll let me have a taste of yours,” she spoke cooly and then ran her tongue hungrily across her lips.

“Heheh, my popsicle,” murred Tamati as he continued to imagine such a sexy Chrysalis.

“Uh, your popsicle is dripping,” commented Cid, seeing Tamati’s cock become fully erect while he let his mind wander and it was even starting to leak pre that dripped onto the ground below.

“Um,” blushed Tamati, a bit embarrassed to be so hard when he was merely fantasizing about his harem instead of being with them. “Well, it’s my throne room so I’m allowed to be horny in it if I want to be.”

“I won’t argue with you there,” replied Cid.

“Meanwhile, Cadence will come in as a seemingly prim and proper teacher,” Tamati murmured to himself as he continued to psyche himself for what was to come. “She’ll act like a no nonsense teacher, but that only belies one who lusts for bad boys.”

Cadence appeared in Tamati’s mind now, dressed in a violet suit and pants, buttoned up. Emblazoned on the chest pocket of her jacket was the Crystal Heart. Under that, she had on a white collared shirt with golden cuff buckles in the shape of hearts. She had on reddish brown shoes on her feet and golden rimmed spectacles rested upon the bridge of her nose. Her hair of pink, purple, and yellow hues was wrapped up on a bun, save for a stream of hair that ran down her head on both sides just in front of her ears.

Clasped in her one hand was a ruler. As she looked down at the misbehaving student, in Tamati’s fantasy, himself, she slapped the other end of the ruler on her palm in a slow, repetitive manner. She stared at him with cold eyes and an unreadable expression.

“So, you like being naughty,” she finally spoke. Her lips then curled up on one side into a smirk. “Very well, then. Let me show you what we do to bad boys in detention.”

Slapping the ruler down onto her table, she brought her hand up to the bun of hair on her head. Plucking the load bearing hairpin, she pulled it out and the whole do came undone. Her long hair unfurled all the way down to her waist in a ruffled, messy manner, a stark contrast to how prim and proper she appeared before.

Next, Cadence removed her glasses from her face and sat them down on the table. Following that, she unbuttoned her suit’s jacket, letting it slide down her shoulders and arms and fall to the ground behind her. Unbuttoning her collared shirt next, she more energetically tossed that away, letting it land atop the classroom’s world globe. Without those layers on her, Cadence only had on a black, frilly bra on her top half. She didn’t touch that and instead undid her violet pants, unbuttoning and unzippering them so they could easily slide down her slender legs and show the matching panties she had on.

Kicking off her shoes, she then stepped fully out of her pants and approached her student in detention, sitting seductively upon his deck with her breasts placed inches from his snout. “Time for my naughty student to get caught up on his lessons,” she cooed to him, gently caressing his face to further entice him. She then guided his claws to her breasts, encouraging him to fully expose her apples. “Do a good job and afterwards we can work on getting you some extra credit.” With a finger, she tugged on the elastic of her panties, hinting at what exactly that entailed.

“Uh, what are you doing?” questioned Cid, staring at Tamati as he reached out to grope the air.

“Um, catching up on my class assignments,” he admitted. “Uh, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. And by that, I mean, leave… now.”

“If you insist,” Cid replied as he turned to leave. He stifled a snicker, but a bit of it slipped out. Fortunately, Tamati had already begun to submerge himself into his next big fantasy.

“My dear Shiny is next,” thought Tamati as he struggled to keep from brandishing his dick, the thick member already throbbing with delight as much as the rest of the dragon was. “She will take on a more caring role, a nurse with such an adorable arousing bedside manner.”

The image of Cadence in a classroom was pushed aside as a hospital room took its place. Tamati was in a bed, his stiffy still there as massive as ever. Even under the cover of a blanket it stood at a slight arch, pitching a tent. Tamati paid it little mind as he saw his beloved former stallion coming forward for his checkup. “And how is my patient doing today?” she asked with a cheerful smile that was like a ray of sunshine.

“Doing well, now that you are here,” he blushed at how adorably cute she sounded as well as how she appeared in her outfit.

Cupping her breasts were a pair medical masks made into a makeshift bra, however, despite managing to hold back her girls, the strings didn’t look like they were going to hold out forever. Around Shiny’s neck was a stethoscope and crowning her head was a medical hat with the red cross symbol marked on it. Her delicate pair of sideways lips were covered and sealed by a single Hello Kitty bandaid.

“It’s time to take your temperature,” she said to him, her sweetness so intense Tamati could feel cavities coming to his teeth.

Tamati just beamed back at her, feeling better just being in her presence yet wished he could just remain ill to have her by his bedside forever. “Ok, I’m ready,” he told her. “Just remember, I’m a dragon so don’t be surprised that it’s so high.”

“I won’t forget,” she assured him with a smile that would have made real sunshine seem dim in comparison. She climbed atop his bed and carefully pulled his blanket down to his knees to expose his all to obvious erection.

“Uh, don’t you need a thermometer?” asked Tamati, his dick throbbing even more as her fingers gently held it in front of her.

“Oh, such a silly,” she giggled, petting his cockhead. “I’ve got it right here.” Reaching down, she peeled off the bandaid, allowing her to slowly slide his dick into her. Almost immediately she started to moan as it filling and stretched her insides a bit. “Oh~ so hot. You must really be running a fever!”

“But I feel fine,” he admitted. “Better than ever, in fact.”

“That’s a relief to hear,” she smiled before adding. “But, perhaps, I should study you more closely to make certain you are.”

“Please do,” he drooled with lust. “Please do.”

“Pfft!” came a faint snickering that slipped out of the otherwise silent room and freed Tamati from his latest fantasy. Remaining still, but ever so slightly adjusting his gaze, he saw a small group of Changelings staring up at him with their muzzles plugged to keep them quiet. However, Wedge had slipped up and Biggs was trying to hush him quiet.

“Shh!” whispered Biggs. “He’ll hear you.”

“I can’t help it,” Wedge whispered back. “This is hilarious.”

“I know,” Cid told him. “That’s why I went and got you all, but he’s gonna kill us if he knows we’re here.”

“Being dead is one thing none of you will have to worry about me doing to you,” snarled their embarrassed king. “Now you all best get out of my sight before I decide to delicately tear you apart piece by piece with a giant pair of tweezers!”

In a panic, at the thought of meeting such a gruesome fate, the Changelings quickly fled to escape Tamati’s wrath. Once they were all gone, the dark dragon snorted some soot out of his nostrils as he attempted to relax once more and let his mind fantasize freely again. “Hmm… who else now,” he pondered. “Uh, and Elyta… heh, knowing her she’s come in as a berserker warrior. Hardly different from how she normally is, but that can be damn sexy too.”

Slipping into his latest fantasy, Tamati envisioned the born warrior Changeling standing in the midst of a battlefield with the same relaxed demeanor one would have when going out on a simple picnic. The key difference was that rather than a basket full of snacks and food held in one hand and a blanket wrapped around the other, she was clasping a broadsword almost as long as she was tall in both. Even with all her strength, she had to let it drag behind her, only able to truly wield it for brief moments when she gathered every ounce of strength she could muster. However, when she did raise her sword to strike, it’s sheer weight was enough to mercilessly cleave through any opponents in its path like a hot knife into butter.

Elytra wore the pelt of a gray wolf on her back, It’s hide tanned and bound to her arms and legs with leather straps. Atop her head she wore the skull of the beast as a helmet while it’s teeth dangled from a string around her neck. The only thing covering her chest was some tape that was wrapped out her body to keep her breasts bound back and out of her way. Her waist was covered in a loincloth made of extra material from the wolf hide she had on.

The only other thing covering her body was the blood of her enemies adding a second color to her normally Changeling Black hue. None of it was her own nor did she spill any during the battle as any foes foolish enough to even attempt to get close to her were quickly fell by the sheer speed at which she revealed she could go from dragging her blade to instantly perform a three hundred sixty degree spin with it. When she did, all her muscles bulged huge revealing her full might while her eyes were so focused and cold even in the face of her enemy’s cries of anguish.

As the last of her foes were cut down, she released the handle of her sword and slipped off her helmet, letting it fall carelessly to the ground. She then approached Tamati, who after imagining all this couldn’t help feeling as much frightened as he was turned on by her now. Standing before her king, she looked at him just as fiercely as she had to all her enemies.

“Um, uh, very nicely done,” he managed to say to her, not sure how else to congratulate someone for single-handedly slaughtering an army. “How may I reward you for your valiant efforts?”

“I suppose you could let me sleep with you tonight,” she said as she turned her head away from him and blushed. “Baka.”

“Come to think of it,” admitted Tamati as he ended that fantasy of his. “That’s probably not all that much different than how she would normally be.” He chuckled a bit and rubbed his head. “Perhaps I should hold off on any more fantasizing, at least till they actually get here.” Tamati’s ears perked up as the sound of footsteps approaching caught his attention. Immediately, his heart leapt with excitement. “And it seems my wait is finally over.”

Watching the entrance to his throne room, the dark dragon witness as a figure in a black robe appeared. Smirking, he already felt intrigued at what was to come. However, that smile was quick to fade as they spoke. “I am the one who guides the pieces of your fate,” spoke a voice that was clearly male. “Cast your die and try to survive my warriors, traps, and beasts born from the lowest pits of Tartarus. Can our brave heroes conquer the maze and fulfill their destiny or will the world fated to be forever enveloped in darkness and despair. This can only be answered once we start playing.” Grabbing his cloak, he pulled it off to reveal that it was Sunburst, dressed in his wizard’s cloak and a matching wizard’s hat that was almost twice the size of his head. The pointed tip drooped a bit due to a trio of bells weighing it down. There were more bells around the hats rim that constantly and annoying jingled at the slightest movement Sunburst made. Covering up his orange beard he had a much larger gray one that covered over most of his face and almost touched the floor. Aside from all this, he was still not wearing anything underneath his cloak. In his hand, he held a staff looked like a magical artifact with an eye-like gemstone on the top, clenched in a hand, but Tamati could tell it was merely a prop made to appear like an old, magical artifact. “This is Ogres and Oubliettes: Quest for the Dragon Balls.”

“Sunburst,” groaned Tamati, looking at his dick, turning soft and spongy with disappointment. “You’re killing my boner.”

“Oh, s-sorry your majesty,” he apologized in his normal voice.

“And why are you still mostly naked?” he asked, not wishing to fantasize him in the buff let alone see him like this in reality either.

“Starlight hasn’t returned my clothes to me since we arrived,” he explained, a bit embarrassed. He was still under Zircon’s magical bewitchment from the Crystal Empire.

“We’ll try and find you some pants later,” sighed Tamati. “Now, get out of here. I’m about to have some role play fun with my harem and you are ruining the mood.”

“No, I’m setting the mood,” he explained. “When I heard you were planning to do this, well, I couldn’t pass up a chance to be part of a larp. I know I’m not in your harem, but I have led dozens of campaigns in my time, so I can confidently assure you I’ve got the experience.”

Tamati was silent as he considered either going full rage mode at this annoying twist to his expectations or to just go along with it. “Are the girls all ready?” he finally spoke.

“Uh huh,” he nodded. “And eager to be introduced. I know you had certain expectations for this LARP, but there’s nothing you need to worry about. I’ve got it covered.”

“...Send them in,” instructed Tamati.

“If this doesn’t work out, I can always rage out later,” thought Tamati.

Trapped by both his big mouth and the chains and boulder that Twilight used to pin him to the ground, Spike was helpless to do anything as Twilight charged up her magic once more to implant the tracking spell onto him. Her magic crackled with a mixture of both her sorrow and anger at the dragon before her for pushing the situation to this point. Clenching her teeth and shutting her eyes to let the tears leak out, she looked just about ready to cast the spell.

“Hurry up,” sweated Spike as he could only see a life of servitude in his future if that spell hit him. “If you girls are gonna do something, it has to be now.”

There was a lifesaving knock at Spike’s door. It was quiet, but with how tense the room was at that moment it startled Twilight, causing her to misfire her spell. The trajectory of the spell was off making it miss hitting Spike and instead blasted away a chunk of the ground. Seeing the damage that spell caused, Spike swallowed hard. “And that was the tracking spell?”

“I’ve gotta use a lot of power to get it deep in that overgrown body of yours,” explained Twilight. “I’m sure that magic blast would do no more than sting your hide anyway, dragon.”

Swatting away the magical smoke from her horn, Twilight made her way to the door of Spike’s room. The pony on the other side knocked again, but Twilight waited till her horn was completely cooled down before opening the door just enough to stick her head out of it.

“Hello?” she said looking out of the room before seeing it was Sweetie Belle. “Oh, hello, Sweetie Belle. Uh, what are you doing here?”

“I was just wondering if you had any time on your hands to give me another magic lesson,” she inquired.

“A magic lesson, right now?” she replied, trying to look back at Spike, but couldn’t see him while she kept her head sticking through that narrow opening in the door and she couldn’t budge and risk Sweetie Belle finding out what she was doing to him. If word got out then there was a very real chance that it’d lead right to Celestia’s dragon mining conspiracy. Twilight sweated, imagining what a disaster it would be if she was the one who leaked such a deep, dark secret to all of Equestria. “I’m kinda a little busy at the moment.”

“Oh, shoot,” she sighed, acting innocent and oblivious to what Twilight was hiding in the room behind her. Knowing that her beloved Spike was being treated like some mindless and dangerous beast was upsetting her fiercely. Her fist was clenched in anger and it was all she could stand having a friendly conversation with this mare that was about to send him away forever. As she looked at Twilight she couldn’t help thinking of simply attacking her to protect her beloved and then romantically fly off into the sunset with him and they’d live happily ever after. That was what she wished she could do, but Spike gave her and the others very specific instructions to avoid doing anything that would reveal them as his accomplices. Sweetie Belle kept her promise, loving Spike’s hot and sexy bod more than she hated Twilight’s guts.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to come back later,” she continued. She started to turn away, to Twilight’s delight, but then turned back to her. “Oh, out of curiosity, what are you doing in there? Isn’t that Spike’s room?”

“Spike’s room?” Twilight replied nervously. This was not where she wanted the conversation to turn to. She quickly considered the pros and cons of lying versus telling the truth and what follow up questions Sweetie might follow up with to either response. Twilight also considered the possibility of Spike suddenly calling out for help being the nail in both her and Celestia’s coffins. “Y-Yes, this is Spike’s room,” she finally answered her.

“Well, how is Spike?” she wondered. “I’ve heard he was missing for a while. Is he back?”

“He… is,” answered Twilight, keeping her answers short and doing her best to sound like she wasn’t Twilighting.

“Well, what was that explosion I just heard?” she asked, attempting to look inside, but Twilight refused to let her in.

“Just a small mishap,” she lied. “He was helping me practice some more advanced spells and, well, that last one still needs some work.”

“Then I guess that wasn’t meant to be a spell to blow stuff up,” she assumed.

“Well, we’ve got a bit of cleaning up to do, so why don’t you run along for now,” Twilight told her.

“I guess I could come back tomorrow,” she started to say, failing to get Twilight to leave the room in a discreet manner. Turning her head, she was prepared to simply blast Twilight with a spell that was meant to blow stuff up. Her horn glowed pale green as she built up some magic. Compared to the Alicorn she was far weaker in ability, but while her guard was down she felt confident she could take her down with one strike, consequences be damned. Taking a calming breath, Sweetie Belle was ready to turn and send a blast of magic right into Twilight’s lying face.

Before that could happen, Spike let out a few noisy coughs, to get both of their attention. Twilight’s worry increased at this worst case scenario occurring. Seeing that panic on her face, Sweetie Belle saw the opening her beloved dragon had provided her. “Are you sure Spike’s okay?” she questioned Twilight, pretending to make an effort to peek inside the room.

Clenching the side of the door tightly with her fingers, Twilight continued to play defense and keep her from getting through. “Oh, Spike is fine,” she assured her. “You know how dragons are exhaling fire and smoke. I’m more surprised he doesn’t have coughing fits all the time.”

“I don’t recall him ever having them,” she commented. “Maybe we should check to make sure he’s feeling okay.”

“No!” cried Twilight perspiring as she attempted to find some way to convince Sweetie Belle not to come in. “Which is why there’s no need to worry,” Twilight tried to explain and hope that Spike didn’t make any more noise. Perking her ears up, she could hear Spike subtly clearing his throat. Sweetie didn’t hear this sound, but the Princess of Friendship was certain another series of loud coughs were on their way. With no other choice, Twilight had to tempt the young adult Unicorn away quickly.

“Actually, why don’t we head over to my library,” Twilight suggested. “I think I have just the magical compendium that would be just the thing you’d need to help you practice your magic and even teach you a few new spells.”

“Uh, well,” Sweetie acted, pretending to be choosing between checking on Spike and going to get the book. “That sounds like just the thing I could use. Thanks, Twilight.”

“Any time,” the Alicorn smiled as she slipped out of the room and closed the door. “I’ll help you find the book and then, if you wouldn’t mind, could you please be on your way. I’m still quite a bit busy around here.”

“Sure thing, Twilight,” smiled Sweetie Belle giving her best deceptive look of joy she could manage.

“Hahah!” the two both though as they made their way down the hall to Twilight’s library. “She took the bait, hook, line, and sinker.”

“That was too close,” sighed Spike with relief. “But we’re not out of danger yet.” Spike turned his neck as best as he could manage to the hidden tunnel and called to it. “Pinkie, Applebloom, Scootaloo, are you three ready? This is our chance.”

“We’re all set,” Applebloom said as they quickly entered Spike’s room. “Sorry it took so long. This potion was a might tougher to brew than we thought and then we ran into a problem concerning the serving size.”

“I’m sure you all did the best you could, but let’s save the debriefing for later and just get me out of here,” he told her. “Twilight’s arranged her library so that she can find books a full five seconds faster and, for the first time in my life, I’m starting to see what a difference that can make.”

“Then drink up!” Pinkie told Spike, pulling the cork off a potion bottle and putting it to his lips so that he could chug it all down. As the weird mix of ingredients hit Spike’s tongue, it tasted as terrible as any other potion he ever had the displeasure to ingest. However, for the sake of his escape, he chugged the whole contents of the bottle down as quickly as he could and waited.

“How long is this gonna take?” he asked as he turned to his door. “Twilight won’t need much time to find the book and I doubt Sweetie will be able to keep her distracted much longer either.”

“Zecora said it should start acting almost immediately,” answered Scootaloo before she noticed a change in Spike. It was faint at first, but she was able to tell that he was reducing in size. “There you go, Spike. You’re shrinking.”

“Not want I wanted to do, after finally getting so big,” he admitted. “But it’ll just be temporary for my escape from here.”

More and more Spike’s size dwindled away, quickly reverting him more towards his original size before Tamati had taken him under his wing. Spike still retained a lot of the gut he had put on, along with his muscle mass, but most had become temporarily lost with the effects of the potion. However, it was also making it possible for Spike to slipped out of the chains and also fit into the hidden tunnel so that he could covertly escape right under Twilight’s nose.

Once Spike’s size reduced by half, he was able to slip his limbs out of the chains binding his arms and legs so that he could quietly remove the boulder off his back. By the time he had shrunk a bit more, he had gotten the rest of the way out of his bindings and placed an ear on his door to listen for any sign of Twilight’s return.

“It’s still quiet,” he told his rescuers. “But I doubt it will stay that way for long.”

“Then we should make like a tree and leaf,” suggested Applebloom. “Aren’t you small enough yet?”

“Let me check,” he replied as he hurried to the hole and tried to fit himself in. “Mmph! Just a little bit more or rather less of me and then I should be good. You three go on in for now and I’ll be right behind you. “I’ve gotta grab a few things to take with me.”

“Okay, but be quick,” Scootaloo told him. “We don’t want our large, sexy dragon to get into any trouble.”

“Even though he’s more like a medium, sexy dragon now on his way to a small,” joked Pinkie.

“So long as I’m sexy,” chuckled Spike giving the three of them the biggest hug his shrinking body could offer them. “Note to self, I owe Sweetie one hug.”

As Pinkie and two thirds of the CMC escaped through the tunnel, Spike gathered up his notes on the Elements of Discord and Twilight’s book he had been decrypting. Exhaling a big breath, Spike tried to breathe fire and found he was still unable to. He attempted to open his wings up afterwards and saw they were also still disabled. With both of those still rendered useless to him, Spike stuffed his research materials into his backpack before giving the door one final check.

“Twilight sure made things a lot harder for me,” he admitted as he listened at the door once more and could hear the sound of several footsteps approaching. Several sounded metallic as they walked across the crystal floors. “Sounds like the guards are here to take me away. Hopefully too little too late.”

Returning to his hidden escape route, Spike attempted to fit his body through it once more. It was still a tight fight, but one he could manage, taking his backpack of research materials along with him. Before making his prison break, Spike looked back at his room, realizing this was the final time he would ever set foot into it. Spike felt a tear come to his eye and run down his cheek. Stealing his resolve, he wiped it away and then proceeded to slip into the tunnel. He made certain it was covered up before squirming his way through the passage not certain how long it would take Twilight to uncover it, but he hoped just long enough that he’d be long gone before then.

“I wonder what’s taking Spike so long,” worried Applebloom as they waited halfway through the tunnel for their draconic master to reach them. “He should be small enough to easily fit in here by now.”

“Maybe the potion didn’t work as well as we had hoped,” considered Scootaloo. “Or it wore off too soon and he’s stuck now.”

“I’m sure he would have called to us if he was having trouble fitting,” Applebloom responded.

“He wouldn’t be able to if he was caught,” Pinkie Pie whimpered at the thought. “If Twilight returned before he could leave then that would be the end for him.”

“Maybe we should go back to see if he needs help,” Scootaloo suggested, wanting so badly to go back for their purple-scaled dragon. The others were equally anxious to do so as well.

“As much as I’d love to, the last thing Spike would want is for us to end up in danger too,” Pinkie Pie reminded them. “Remember, he doesn’t want us getting into trouble for helping him. He might not be able to forgive himself if something were to happen to any of us.” Looking at Pinkie and then lowering their heads, Applebloom and Scootaloo knew she was right. As much as they would have liked to go back for their master, they could only wait for him.

“Hello?” they suddenly heard their beloved’s voice a bit back in the tunnel. “Pinkie Pie? Applebloom? Scootaloo?” they heard him call to them. “Uh, can I get some help? Also, I need to ask you something.”

“Works for me,” stated Scootaloo before they all crawled with all haste back towards Spike. His backpack soon came into view and they crowded around it, certain Spike was close by, but what they found upon getting to it was a Spike that was even smaller than when he first arrived in Ponyville so many moons ago.

“Oh, uh, hey, Spike,” Applebloom greeted him with a nervous smile. “Um, looks like the potion really did the trick.

“Yeah, a bit too well,” he agreed, his size still diminishing. “For a while it was fine. I was able to move through the tunnel quickly, but then I kept on getting smaller till my backpack got too heavy for me and it seems the potion hasn’t stopped yet.”

“About that,” Applebloom attempted to explain the situation to him. “Remember how I was trying to talk to you about the serving size for the potion?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, having to look up higher the more his size left him. He was getting close to how big he was when he first hatched, though only in terms of overall mass. Spike hoped his size wouldn’t get reduced much more, but seeing the world around him only feeling larger made him doubt he was finished shrinking just yet.

“Well, the original formula was for shrinking a Pony,” Applebloom continued to explain. “So we tried to figure out how much we needed to shrink a Pony of your size to fit in the tunnel and then we tried to calibrate the recipe for a dragon. That was at least the idea, but we had no idea how much more we needed to add so we gave it our best guestimation. Heh, looks like we gave you a little too much.”

“A lot too much,” stated Spike. “So, on top of Twilight sealing my abilities, I’m gonna be tiny for who knows how long.”

“Twilight sealed away your abilities?” questioned Scootaloo as she took over carrying Spike’s backpack to lighten his load. “So you can’t breathe fire now?”

“Or send scrolls,” he added. “She cast a spell on my wings too so I can’t fly either.”

“I know how rough that can be,” Scootaloo sighed. “To be unable to do something you should be naturally able to.”

“Just who does Twilight think she is doing that to you?” snapped Applebloom angrily. “You and Twilight were supposed to be thick as thieves and she goes and does this to you just cause you are maturing into a mighty sexy dragon.”

“I’m afraid this is just the start of it all,” he admitted, averting his eyes. “I’ll spare you all the details, but right now I’ve gotta get out of town fast. I don’t have the luxury to wait for this magic to wear off on me. The second Twilight realizes I’m gone she’ll have the whole town sealed off just to find me.” Spike stopped to look back down the cave, unable to tell if it had been discovered yet, but felt fairly confident it hadn’t yet. “What are we gonna do about this tunnel? It’s going to lead right back to your party cave, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Pinkie Pie assured him. “I’ve taken some time to add in a few extra routes a bit further up. Some don’t lead anywhere and others lead to a few other hidden exits. We’ll collapse a few as we go to keep Twilight guessing which way you could have escaped by. That should throw suspicion off of us as well.”

“That’s pretty clever,” admitted Spike. “Now, I just gotta find a way to travel really far, really fast without being seen. If we can figure that out then I should be golden.”

“Well, when I’d get too tired from hauling apples, back on the farm, when I was younger,” commented Applebloom. “Big Mac or Applejack would carry me. Maybe all we gotta do is get somepony to carry you to where you need to go.”

“Without them knowing they are doing it?” questioned Spike. “And this place isn’t somewhere ponies tend to even travel to very often. I’m talking all the way to Griffinstone. That’s not exactly within walking distance and just how could I stay hidden with all my things too?”

“Why do you need all this stuff for anyway?” wondered Scootaloo, taking a peek in, but didn’t really try and figure out what all of his decoding notes even meant before closing it back up. “What is it?”

“Some research for a friend,” Spike answered. “One that I’d like you all to meet some day, but for right now, it’ll have to wait. I wish I could just get to them, but that would be even more impossible now. The least I figure I could do is give them a hand with their work and meet up with them later once I’m able to. It’s a pity I can’t just use my flame breath to send all this stuff to them.”

“It sure is,” agreed Scootaloo. “But that actually gives me an idea of just how we can get you to Griffinstone without anyone even realizing they are taking you.”

“Oh, what is it?” wondered Applebloom.

“I’ll tell you once we get back together with Sweetie Belle,” she said. “So let’s hurry up.”

“Actually,” Spike called to them once more. “I might need a bit more help with travel.”

“Uh, where to?” asked Pinkie, turning to see Spike’s size was now comparable to a mouse’s.

“Traveling the rest of the way through this tunnel,” he answered. “It’ll take me hours moving at this size and even longer if I get even smaller.”

“Don’t worry,” giggled Pinkie, picking up the little lizard and slipping him between her big, soft breasts. “Just ride in here and we’ll get you to your destination in no time.”

“Actually, you can take your time,” he blushed, getting comfy between those two oversized balloons of hers. “I don’t get the chance to travel in such luxury very often.”

“Will do,” smiled Pinkie as she offered Spike a cookie, the single confection huge at his current size. “Cookie?”

“Yes, please,” he salivated with hunger. Grabbing it and biting into the sweet, he enjoyed himself as he was carried off. Gently bouncing between Pinkie’s breasts, Spike was starting to see some advantages to his diminutive stature.”

“Welcome one and all,” announced Sunburst as he spoke in a spooky voice. The lights in the room had been dimmed and the only illumination available was the flashlight shining upon the stallion’s hooded face. “Welcome to a world of magic and wonder, a world filled with brave warriors, wicked beasts, divine Gods and sinister demons.”

“And one dragon growing increasingly more impatient for this thing to get started,” interrupted Tamati as he sat on his throne and waited for things to get sexy.

“As the Dungeon Master it is an important part of my role to set the mood for all the players, so that they can become immersed in the game,” Sunburst explained.

“Well, hurry up or I might decide to immerse you in some gravy and eat you,” threatened the dark dragon, his red glowing eyes piercing through the darkness.

“Uh, it is a land of heroes, villains and all those in between,” continued Sunburst, as he suddenly realized just how long this intro he had memorized was. He could hear Tamati tapping a claw on his arm rest as his patience continued to wane and he had to get things moving fast. “A world of, uh lots of other stuff too. This is the world of Ryutopia! Now, may our players four step forward into this world and introduce yourselves.”

Sunburst went silent and shined the light over at the entrance to the room. Tamati turned to look over there, but there was nothing for him to see save for quiet emptiness. After a minute passed, Sunburst started to worry that something had gone wrong. Approaching the passage too and from the throne room, he whispered through it. “Hey, that’s your cue to start coming in.”

“Oh, uh, sorry,” apologized Cadence. “We’ll be right out.”

Tamati and Sunburst continued to wait, hearing as the four girls were heading on over, but didn’t get very far before some arguing began. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” hissed Chrysalis.

“Uh, to introduce myself like Sunburst said to,” answered Cadence in a hushed voice.

“Before me?” scoffed Chrysalis. “How absurd! I’m the leader of this team and as such I should be the one to go first.”

“Who said you were the leader?” questioned Cadence. “My character would make a much better lead than yours.”

“Yours is all flash and no substance,” mocked Chrysalis. “Mine is far deeper and a billion times sexier than yours in every way possible.”

“Come on now, you two,” Shiny told them, trying to mediate the bickering. “You are both plenty sexy and both your characters are great. I’m sure we can quickly and peacefully resolve this issue.”

“Keep out of this!” snapped the two ladies before they butted heads with one another.

“Old hag!” insulted Cadence. “It’s obvious that Tamati is far more attracted to me than you. He only made you a part of his harem as a jumping off point to get to me!”

“Don’t make me laugh,” Chrysalis retorted. “The only thing he saw in you was an enormous buffet of gemstones and love to feed himself and his army. You are no more than the door prize one receives just for showing up.”

“Wrinkled, old prune!”

“Fat cow!”

“This is becoming a disaster before we even started,” worried Shiny as she turned Elytra. “I don’t suppose you have any diplomatic experience mediating warring factions, do you?”

“No, but I think I have an idea for how to resolve this quickly anyway,” she answered and approached Cadence and Chrysalis throwing insult after insult at once another. They stopped when Elytra stood before them, neither happy to have their bickering disturbed again.

“What do you want?” they asked.

“I’ve come to help you settle this matter in the easiest way I know how,” she answered quite coldly as she wielding an oversized axe. “I’ll chop off both of your legs and the two of you can crawl your way to Tamati. Whoever gets there first can then introduce themselves first. How does that sound?”

From being angry at one another, Cadence and Chrysalis were now hugging one another out of fear for Elytra’s suggestion and were plenty sure she’d go through with it.. “Uh, age before beauty,” Cadence conceded to the bug queen who then made her way towards Tamati.

“Uh, that was a bit extreme,” commented Shiny as he went to comfort Cadence.

“In battle there is no time for bickering amongst ourselves,” she spoke. “Better to quickly settle things than to allow them to drag on and lead your entire militia to suffer.”

“Sure…” said Shiny a bit frightened after hearing all that. “And you are sure you want to roleplay as that during the game?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Sunburst said it would help balance out our team as a whole and I desire nothing greater than the success of my party.”

Shiny gave her a nod back then turned to Cadence who was still shaking a bit. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Just a bit shaken up by that,” she admitted. “You can go ahead of me. I just need a minute to get into character.”

“Alright,” Shiny agreed. “I better get ready then while Chrysalis takes her turn.”

Finally stepping into the throne room and into the spotlight, Chrysalis revealed herself. Tamati leaned in closer as he saw what she was wearing and grinned with returning lust. Around her waist, she had on a black miniskirt with white trim on it. Her feet were clothes in long, black stockings shimmering with glitter in a spider web pattern. The bra she had on matched her stockings with a glittery spider web on both cups. Her long green mane draped down behind her while a pointed black witch’s hat topped her head. In her one hand she clutched a wooden staff with bat wings carved into the top and a ruby inserted in between them. Lifting up her staff, Chrysalis pounded it on the ground a couple of times to announce her presence and then she began to speak.

“Gaze upon me, Chrissy of the Coven of Witches,” she spoke boldly. “Born and raised on Black Moon Isle, I was taught the cursed arts of black magic by my witch sisters, meant to fool and tempt lesser mortals to unwittingly carry out my bidding. My favorite hobby to do with such gullible creatures was always to enchant them with a love hex, enjoy a one night fling with them and watch them twist in the wind as I walked out of their lives and leave them a begging mess as they plead for my return.”

“That was how I spent many a day in my youth,” Chrissy went on. “However, such grand times were not meant to last. During the New Moon while our powers are dulled, a fact that has always been a carefully concealed secret, our home was attacked by the Order of the Holy Light, determined to wipe out all they deem to be blasphemous in the land. In that single night, nearly all members of the coven were slain. I happened to be away at the time and returned to see the final breaths of my home and my people. Now I travel the world to find a means to revive the Coven of Witches and to get my vengeance on the Order of the Holy Light and whoever it was who revealed to them when we would be most vulnerable to attack.”

“And so Chrissy the Witch has taken part in this quest,” stated Sunburst.

“Rather interesting,” admitted Tamati as he rubbed at his crotch and admired her sexy outfit. “This might be an enjoyable game after all. So, who is next?”

“I am,” announced Shiny as she emerged into the room next. The first thing Tamati took notice of as the former stallion emerged was the bunny ears he had on the top of his head. Gazing at her more, he saw Shiny’s tail had been curled up to be more like a bunny’s tail. She was draped in very thin and light strips of colored fabric that did very little to cover up her body. As she moved forward gracefully, the fabric fluttered behind her. In her hands, she wielded a pair of fans that appeared mostly for show, but looking closer, they were bladed on their ends. On her wrists and ankles were bells that jingled with every step that she took, making her movements appear musically magical. Shiny then began to twirl around as she began to perform a dance of sorts. Smiling, Tamati watched his new harem member’s performance as she moved around with grace and found her alluring. Tamati even attempting to catch those brief moments the dancer’s bare body was fully exposed, rubbing at his crotch as he did so. As her dance came to an end, Shiny got onto her hands and knees, resting in a bowing position.

“Heheh very nicely done,” murred Tamati as he applauded her performance. “So, what’s your story?”

“Salutations,” Shiny spoke as she got to her feet again. “My name is Sparkle. I was part of a wandering troupe of entertainers traversing the land, giving such performances as that in every town we visited. It was a humble and simple life. We earned enough coin to get by, but, more often than not, we had to scrimp and struggle to make ends meet. Still, good times or bad, we always found a reason to smile and look forward to each day with hope and wonder, but I guess that’s to be expected from how close a family we were…”

Her voice sounded very perky and cheerful as she went over her origin, but as it went on, sorrow moved in and her eyes began to water. “We were…” Sparkle continued, her voice breaking a bit as her emotions flared up. “Until the day we arrived in the capital city of Silver Vale. We were greeted with a rather warm reception by the townsfolk. We had barely started to draw a crowd when some guards approached us with a special request, from the king himself to have us perform before him, promising a small fortune in return. Generous offer or not, we could hardly refuse an invitation from the king. That night we all put on the greatest performance of our lives as we did all we could to gain the king’s favor, a task proven very simply as he was overjoyed by us from the very start. That whole night was filled with lots of music, dancing and laughter that went on till the sun started to rise. By then, we had worked ourselves to exhaustion and started collapsing one after another, to enjoy a much earned rest. When next I awoke, the dream of the night we all had had transformed into a nightmare as my fellow performers, my family, were being slaughtered by members of the Order of the Holy Light. They shouted and spat at the dead and dying bodies of those dearest to me in the world, calling them ‘heretics’ and our performances ‘dark magic.’”

“I take it this Order of the Holy Light are gonna be the bad guys in this game,” commented Tamati, feeling more and more invested in it. Just looking at that expression of sadness upon Shiny’s or, as she was in her role, Sparkle’s, face, Tamati felt a strong urge to hold her close to protect her. The feeling only grew stronger as she continued her sad tale.

“In a panic,” she spoke on, tears running down her eyes, treating every word she spoke as if it were the truth instead of an origin story to give her character more depth and motivation. “I begged the king to stop them, to save my family. Sadly, I learned that he was nothing more than a puppet to the order and this whole thing had been a trap to ensnare us. I had no idea that we were even being pursued or if there was any proof that we had done anything wrong. I didn’t even know why I was the only one seeming to be spared, but was soon answered for me, by the king. He had taken a liking to me and my dancing, so he bartered for my life, aiming to make me another of his wives. Angry and disgusted at the offer to live as the wife of my family’s killer, I refused, spitting in his face. claiming death would be preferable to such a louse. Dissatisfied that I spurned his advances, he refused to allow me to die so easily and threw me into his dungeon to suffer rot away for the rest of my days, at least that was what he and I thought, but then a miracle happened.”

“Yes,” spoke Cadence as she moved in to begin her turn. Compared to Sparkle’s petit, soothing tones, her voice was a lot gruffer and far less restrained. “I mother fucking happened!”

“Marf?” sounded Tamati, not expecting something like that to come out of the mouth of his former Princess of Love. He was even more shocked to see just how she was dressed. She had on black leather gloves, black leather boots. She also had on a black leather bra and panties, but neither did anything to conceal her privates. The panties merely a half inch band that went around her waist and another that was even thinner and fit in the gap of her cheeks and the lips of her pussy. Her bra wasn’t any better, wrapping around her back and cradling her breasts on the underside. Other than that, they were fully exposed. Around her neck she had on a spiked choker and her hair was braided into a ponytail. Clutched in her hands was a rolled up whip.

“Like what you see?” she asked the black dragon as she approached him. The ravenously horny intent she was exuding was so intense it even made Tamati’s skin crawl beneath layer of scales. He gulped and started to wonder if this was really the same pony he had enchanted into his harem just a short while ago.

With a mix of fear and excitement, Tamati nodded his head. “Very much so,” he told her, his cock already throbbing with euphoria at what a kinky creature she was.

“Then you best get ready,” she told him before cracking her whip, making it snap. “I’m gonna make you suffer more wonderfully than anything you could possibly imagine, make you my bitch, and then the real fun can begin. How does that sound to you?”

“Like something I know I’ll regret, but I still really, really want to do,” he admitted, feeling his dick oozing pre while his heart pounded hard in his chest.

“Uh, Cadence,” Sunburst interrupted.

“There is no Cadence,” the black leather-clad Pony retorted harshly. “There is only I, Dominazer the Obliterator!”

“Uh, right,” he trembled and smiled nervously a mix of terror and arousal flowing through him just as it was in Tamati. “We’re in the middle of the Larp and you are supposed to be giving your introduction now.”

“Well, if you must know my story,” she replied as she approached Sunburst and shoved him to the ground and sat right on his face as naturally as if it were a stool. She then continued to talk as if she was having a typical conversation. “I was abandoned by my parents as a baby. Who they were and where they are now; don’t know, don’t care. I ended up being adopted by the head jailer of Silver Vale. He’s a nice guy who enjoys his work of jailing and torturing prisoners. He just couldn’t find the right woman to settle down and start a family with. I can’t imagine why, but in the end he chose to adopt. As a result, I ended up being raised in the castle dungeon. The soothing lullabies I listened to were the screams and cries of the inmates as they were tortured for one reason or another. When I was five, I started to take an interest in the family business and started to take part in punishing the prisoners. I learned all the best ways to make someone suffer while keeping them stabally alive. It was all really fascinating stuff to me and after a while all the inmates became like my toys. I even think they came to fear me more than any of the other jailers, just from hearing my pure, innocent laughter, as I made them suffer. A mere giggle out of me became completely unnerving to them. Some even trembled and cried out if I so much as turned my attention to them.”

“And Ponies consider me a monster?” questioned Chrysalis. “If only they knew what their Princess of Love was into behind closed doors.”

“As I grew older and my body developed,” Dominazer went on. “I realized how much I enjoyed having this absolute power over others. It became my fetish, turning me on as I made them beg for mercy. Once they were broken I then fucked them to my heart’s content before moving onto the next prisoner, eager to see if they could hold out longer than my last victim. Thanks to my efforts, I was soon made the new head jailer and ruled those catacombs with nothing more than my whip and an insatiable lust for sadism. That’s how it went for years… and then they day came that a new prisoner was brought in, a young woman around my age. It was darling Sparkle here, just after her family had been slain. The king, furious to be rejected by her, ordered me to take extra special good care of her. Naturally, that was what I intended to do, orders or not, after all, it was a fresh, new inmate for me to enjoy breaking in. That was what I thought at first, but upon seeing her, something in me resonated with her.”

Getting up, Dominazer proceeded over to Sparkle. With his face no longer covered, Sunburst was able to finally gasp for air, a look of heavenly bliss on his face after experiencing such a dark paradise. Tamati snorted out some smoke, feeling a bit envious of that stallion.

“Oh, uh,” blushed Sparkle as Dominazer got up close and locked lips with her fellow mare, kissing her deeply. Sparkle only blushed more as she did and became weak in the knees. When the kiss ended Sparkle dropped to the ground staring up at the dominatrix with a mix of emotions running through her. “Oh, my!”

“She had seen some real, terrible shit before being sent to me,” explained Dominazer. “I knew there was nothing I could do to her that could be more painful than what she had just gone through. Looking into her eyes, she had nothing more she could lose. She didn’t fear anything, not even death. She stirred a new desire in me that I never knew I had. In that instant, I chose to relinquish my role as head jailer without a second thought to help her to flee the dungeon. We made it out of the castle just in time to see the city was being engulfed in flames.”

“By yours truly,” stated Chrissy proudly, a smug grin on her face. “It just so happened that upon the night these two attempted to flee the city, the moon was full and my powers were at their peak. After much preparation I used my magic to set the city ablaze, watching in delight as I went to fulfill my glorious vengeance. The Order of the Holy Light attempted to stop me, but this time I had the advantage and the small fries of their order were merely bugs I stepped as they came at me with sword and spear. Thanks to my unintended diversion, those two were able to flee the castle while everyone else was busy with me. However, with the town ablaze, the only path out of the city not neck-high in flames was through me and the two had no choice but to go through me.”

“Today was certainly my lucky day,” smirked Dominazer as she licked her lips and eyed Chrissy. “First I found Shiny who I had become smitten with and now I had come across a real witch. I never had the chance to break one of them before and I was chomping at the bit to give it a try. With whip in hand I fought against her and her magic. She proved every bit as formidable as I expected her to be and then some as she was able to conjure up fire, ice, lightning, and more with but a wave of her staff. We fought one another with all our might, but we soon found ourselves evenly matched.”

“Maybe you thought it was, but I was still just having fun,” Chrissy added in.

“It was truly a sight unlike any I have ever seen as they clashed,” Shiny chimed in before the two of them started to bicker again due to Chrissy’s remark. “I was short of breath just watching them, but while they fought, a member of the order arrived to enter the fray.”

“That was me,” answered Elytra as she came into view. She was dressed in a white and red robe that was a couple sizes too small as her shins and feet were fully exposed. Also, her incredibly toned body made the robe too tight on her figure, allowing her chiseled muscles to be very visible against the fabric. The sleeves on it were in shreds against her beefy biceps. Strapped to her back was an axe as big as her body. “Elly the Cleric.”

“Pfft! Hahahahahahah!!!” Tamati cracked up as he saw the musclebound healer of the group. Out of all four of them, she was clearly the strongest physically. That combined with the battle hardened look on her face, she seemed completely of her element in the role of a caring medic that was expected to be gentle, and comforting to her patients.

“I really didn’t expect anything like this from you, Elytra, uh, I mean Elly,” admitted Tamati. “Is there any reason you chose this to be your role?”

“With the roles of the others already chosen,” she answered. “We were sorely lacking a support character as the backbone of the team. So, I took up the mantle of the group’s healer. Also, I felt this would be a good opportunity for myself to gain valuable first hand experience of participating in battles from the back lines.”

“And is there any reason you have an axe instead of something like a staff or spell book?” Tamati asked curiously.

“This is but a medical tool I have at my disposal,” she explained. “If need be, I can sever limbs quickly, before an infection can spread to the rest of the body. Also, a delicate flower like I must be able to protect myself.”

“About as delicate as a cactus,” thought Tamati, causing him to chuckle again. “Uh, anyway, you went in to battle again Chrissy and Dominazer, even though you are a Cleric?”

“Yes, but despite devoting my soul to studying the arts of healing, I also dedicated my body to building both muscle and endurance,” she explained. “I spent years trying to evenly build both body and spirit. Unfortunately, I found that I had far more aptitude for lifting dumbells than studying magic. And so, a Cleric with low magical ability and incredible raw power was born.”

“That’s certainly something,” chuckled Tamati. “I can only hazard a guess as to what happened in the midst of that battle.”

“With Chrissy and Dominzer already tired from fighting off one another,” Elly explained. “I was able to overwhelm them both with my full power. Before they knew what hit them, they were both on the ground and at my mercy. I was on the verge of finishing them off when this one stood before me and begged me to spare their lives.”

Sparkle stood before Elly with her arms held out as a shield. “After so many terrible things have happened,” the dancer pleaded. “I didn’t want any more bloodshed. I got on my hands and knees and begged for her to stop. There was nothing more I could do than that.”

“I was at a loss in that moment,” admitted Elly. “I remembered this was supposed to be one of the heretics who had been jailed and yet the head jailer had chosen to free her. Then there was this witch, a heretic that must have come for revenge and had been attacking everyone and everything in sight, including the two of them. While I was focused on eliminating these two, she could have taken the opportunity to flee and save herself, but instead she got in my way to save both the one who saved her and one who had just been an enemy.”

Elly sat down and scratched her head in confusion. “I didn’t know what to make of this,” she continued. “This was not the act of an evil heretic, but of one with great compassion. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but to question everything the Order of the Holy Light had been doing. How much evil did we really extinguish and how much evil did we commit. I was at an impasse for what to do, but as reinforcements arrived, I had to make a decision. Grabbing both Chrissy and Dominazer, I fled the city alongside Sparkle.” She demonstrated this by lifting up both Chrissy and Dominazer like they were a pair of logs she had hoisted onto her shoulders. “This act of treason made me a fugitive as well and since then the four of us have become traveling companions.”

“Companions is a rather strong word,” scoffed Chrissy, still being held up by Elly. “After I recovered my strength I was all set to go on my way. I was even feeling generous enough not to kill any of them for getting in my way, but they followed me like a shadow.”

“Hardly,” argued Dominzer. “You were free to go, but then you started to brag on and on about how that attack was just a warmup and you were off to procure a treasure of great power to annihilate the order once and for all.”

“Yes,” agreed Chrissy. “That’s exactly what I intended.”

“More like you realized even at your full strength you were still not powerful enough,” she countered. “And while I doubt you were lying about this treasure, you clearly weren’t strong enough on your own to get it either, so you were attempting to lure us in to help you.”

“I did nothing of the sort,” she refuted. “I don’t need any help, though a few vassals to do any heavy lifting wouldn’t be unwelcome. That’s why I allowed you all, begging on your hands and knees, to accompany me.”

“What did you say you, little witch!” snapped Dominazer with venom on her tongue as she squirmed in Elly’s arm to get at Chrissy in the other.

“Please, you two, no fighting,” pleaded Sparkle.

“No,” Elly remarked, letting them both go and drop to the ground so that she could pat a heavy arm onto Sparkle’s shoulder. “Let them get their bitchiness out of their system and if they are weak and injured after the fact…” She lifted up her mighty axe over her head with one arm, a feat no other in the room, save for Tamati, could have done. “I will take care of them.”

“Uh, teammates?” sweated Dominazer as she fearfully shook Chrissy’s hand.

“Fine, but I’m the leader since I know where we’re going,” Chrissy added in.

“Whatever,” agreed Dominazer, not caring at the moment, so long as it got Elly to put away her axe.

“And what was this great treasure you might be asking?” narrated Sunburst as he turned on his flashlight once more. “It was the Legendary Treasure of infinite power and pleasure known throughout the land as the Dragonballs, the Jewels of Phallic Tower.”

“Heh, wonder where they pulled such an idea out of,” chuckled Tamati as he rubbed his cock and cradled his balls. “From their pussies. Heh, probably.”

“But, the journey would not be an easy one,” continued the Dungeon Master. “To reach such great power, there were many obstacles this ragtag group was going to have to overcome, from treacherous terrain to bands of thieves and other ne'er do wells, not to mention the Order of Holy Light determined to find and capture this small band of four. However, the danger to obtain this great power was even more dangerous than that.”

“Hmm?” pondered the giant dragon as he felt things crawling all over his body. Looking down, the rest of his harem had managed to sneak up on him and acting like horny, feral beasts, growling and hissing while also rubbing and licking all over the dragon’s body, mostly around his crotch. “Murr~ I was wondering when we’d get to this part.”

“Dark forces that coveted this unfathomable power were determined to thwart any who would dare make an attempt on their treasure,” Sunburst spoke in a foreboding tone. “These four strong warriors had no idea what they were setting in motion that would shake this very world to its core.”

“A war with the winner claiming my treasures,” chuckled Tamati with some delight in his voice. “That actually does sound entertaining.” Looking down at his harem still going to town on his dick and lapping up his pre as they pleasured his dragonhood into releasing more, his smirk widened. “Very entertaining indeed.”

“Come on!” panted Spike as the bite-sized dragon ran laps atop the table in Pinkie Pie’s party cave. Looking at it, brought back memories to all the sweet confections he enjoyed in there while he had been going through his growth spurt. Now that he was back, he was small enough to use the table as a track to get some much missed exercise that his confinement in his room prevented. “Come on, feel the burn!”

“I really don’t think sweating will help you work the shrinking potion out of your system any more than you can for those spells that Twilight put on you,” Applebloom told him. “All you can do is wait for the magic to wear off.”

“I guess not,” wheezed Spike as he took a seat on a donut. Digging his claws into a piece of the chocolate-covered confection, he pried a chunk off to munch it up. “At least I can finally get a proper workout now that I’m free and being small does have certain advantages like being able to ride comfortably between a nice pair of breasts and all confections are gigantic. Pulling out another piece to gobble up, he then gave his gut a pat. “Still, I need to get back to normal as soon as possible. Any idea how long that’ll be?”

“Sorry,” apologized Applebloom. “The regular potion said about an hour, but you drank a larger, more potent version. You are smaller than the normal potion should have made you and it’s already been an hour since you’ve been like this with no sign that the effects are undoing themselves. Still it has to wear off at some point.”

“Yeah, but in the meantime, Twilight will discover I’ve escaped and put the whole town on lockdown to find me. Then, it’ll just be a matter of time before I’m found. After that, I’m going to be spending the rest of my life mining gemstones in the caves beneath Canterlot and I’m sure you’ll all be punished for harboring me.”

“And that’s a risk we’re willing to take,” Applebloom promised him. “But that’s not gonna be necessary because we’re gonna figure a way to get you outta here safely.”

“I’ve got Sweetie Belle,” announced Scootaloo as she made her way down the slide to the secret party cave with her fellow Cutie Mark Crusader right behind her.

“I stalled Twilight as long as I could, but she’s met with some guards from Canterlot as I was leaving, not doubt to go and get you, Spike,” Sweetie Belle informed him as she approached her draconic master. Seeing him so precious and small, she couldn’t help but blush, finding this version of him attractive too. “Awe, he’s so cute and sexy. Like a pocket boyfriend or something.” Picking Spike up, she planted a big kiss onto his entire head.

“Heheh, careful now,” chuckled Spike, wiping away some of her lipstick off his face. “You might get me tempted to try taking all three of you together at this size. It would certainly be an interesting experience, to say the least, but, sadly, time is very limited for me as is.”

“Well, what do you plan to do to get out of here?” Sweetie Belle asked as she looked around the room. “And where’s Pinkie Pie?”

“Getting some stuff for my brilliant plan to sneak Spike out of here and get him to Griffonstone at the same time,” Scootaloo bragged.

“Which you still haven’t told us yet what it is,” pointed out Applebloom.

“Once Pinkie gets back-” she started to say before said pony came sliding down with cardboard box.

“I’m back!” called Pinkie as she placed the box on the table. “And I got what you asked for.”

“A box?” questioned Spike as he hopped from Sweetie Belle’s arms onto the table and then climbed up the box to look inside. “A box with nothing in it.”

“A box with nothing in it yet,” corrected Scootalo before she picked Spike up and placed him into the box, along with his still normal-sized backpack. “You need to get out of town and all the way to Griffonstone, right? So, why don’t we mail you there.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea,” complimented Applebloom. “Kinda like thinking outside the box while Spike is in it.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo nodded and went on explaining things. “And the way I figure it, by the time the shrinking potion wears off, he’ll probably be at Griffinstone. Nobody will be looking for you there so you can do whatever you have to do and then be free to go wherever you want in Equestria. Well, anywhere save for Ponyville and Canterlot. Oh, and probably the Crystal Empire too.”

“I highly doubt the last one would be a problem to visit,” thought Spike, recalling the battle report he had received from Tamati.

“It’ll be fine,” Spike told them. “I’ll be able to manage from Griffinstone. The potion should wear off on me after a little while longer and I’m sure Twilight’s spells on me will eventually wear off too. Once that happens, I'll be more than capable of taking care of myself and as soon as I’m able to, I’ll come back for all of you.”

“We know you will,” Pinkie replied and the others nodded in agreement. “Now let’s get this dragon packaged up. It’s a far way to Griffonstone and we don’t want him to be damaged goods.”

“So, where’s the packing peanuts and bubble wrap?” asked Scootaloo.

“The what?” asked Pinkie.

“That was some of the stuff I asked you to get along with the box and stamps,” she explained.

“Oh,” replied a nervous-looking Pinkie as she pulled out a book of stamps from her curly, pink hair. “I got the box and the stamps, but I guess I forgot all the rest.”

“Guess we better go and grab some quickly,” suggested Applebloom.

“Or maybe we can use some of the stuff around here,” suggested Sweetie Belle. “Something soft and cushiony to keep Spike safe while he travels.”

“Oh, I know!” exclaimed Pinkie as she grabbed a donut and put Spike in the whole.

“That’s a start,” said Sweetie Belle. “But it’s still too much empty space.” Looking around, she saw the cotton candy on a stick and grabbed some. “This will help.”

“And instead of packing peanuts, we can use jelly beans,” added Applebloom, pouring a jarful in.

“Can’t forget the sprinkles,” said Scootaloo, shaking a bunch of them out of their container to top the other three’s attempt at packaging their master dragon for special delivery.

“The sprinkles help how exactly?” wondered Sweetie Belle.

“Uh, cause sprinkles make everything better,” she answered.

“Works for me,” smiled Pinkie.

“Are you okay in their Spikey?” asked Applebloom.

“Fine, but kinda hard to breath under all this, uh, packaging material,” he answered. He wanted to say he wasn’t in that much of a rush that they could have gotten the proper materials, but he stayed his tongue on that, not wishing to upset their enthusiasm.

“Hang on,” Applebloom told him, grabbing a straw. “This should help.” Pushing it through the layers of coverage, it soon reached down to Spike who adjusted the bendy end to be lined up with his mouth. Inhaling through it, he was able to easily draw breath. “How’s that?”

“Much better,” he answered. “Just poke some air holes in the box and make sure they are small and hidden so nobody will notice them.”

“I’m on it,” answered Scootaloo as she found a skewer and carefully poked a hole in the four corners of the box. After that, they taped it up. “Is that enough air?”

“Maybe a few more,” answered Spike after a few minutes of trying it out. Scootaloo poked a few more tiny holes in the box then asked him again. “Yeah, that’s perfect,” he told her this time.

“I just need to put in an address now,” stated Pinkie as she hurried back up her slide and moments later returned with a book stained with frosting and cake batter. “Good thing Mr. and Mrs. Cake keep a record of all their special deliveries outside of town. There has to be one for Griffinstone in here.” Flipping the pages, she finally found one and wrote it on the box. “It doesn’t matter if it actually gets there, but this will at least let it be sent.”

“How many stamps do you think we’ll need to deliver a box of this size and weight?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Rarity usually usually has to use extra for added protection for her dresses.”

“We gotta use a ton for each crate of apples we send out,” commented Applebloom. “Of course this box isn’t nearly that large.”

“Let’s just go with four for now and we’ll add more if we need to,” suggested Scootaloo, peeling off four stamps and sticking them onto the box.

“Is everything all set?” asked Spike from inside his box. Being surrounded by so many confections was making him drool and tempting him to start eating, but he was able to stave off his desire to do so, at least for the moment.

“Looks like it,” answered Applebloom. “We’re gonna head over to the post office now. After that, your fate will be in the hooves of whatever Pony is going to take you to Griffinstone.”

“Good luck,” Sweetie Belle told him.

“Thanks,” smiled Spike. “I get the feeling I’m going to need it.”

All four girls quickly left the cave with the box containing Spike. They then made a straight run to the post office, being extra careful with their precious cargo. Along the way, they slowed down, acting as casual as a bunch of nervous Ponies with a big secret could look as they passed by Twilight and a few soldiers from Canterlot as they crossed paths. With how they walked a bit and turned their heads, it was obvious behavior in that they were in the midst of a search. As Twilight looked around, a worried and dread-filled look was on her face. She did see them, but not wanting her own secrets exposed, she did her best to avoid eye contact with them as well.

Arriving at the post office, they got in line and waited to drop off their package with the Pony in charge, Derpy Whooves. “Hello,” she greeted them when it was finally their turn. She had a smile on her face and an uneven gaze. “Mailing a box today?”

“Yup, that’s exactly what we’re doing!” answered Scootaloo with more energy in her tone than one would expect when doing such a mundane thing as this.

“Uh, okay,” Derpy replied picking up the box and looking it over to ensure it was completely sealed on all sides. The girls did their best to remain calm as she turned the box on it’s side and upside down in the process.

“Can you please be careful,” pleaded Applebloom. “There’s some very precious cargo inside.”

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized. “I’m just doing my job. Now, there isn’t anything dangerous or flammable in here, is there?”

“Nope,” answered Sweetie Belle, not lying while Spike’s flames were restrained by magic.

“Okay, I’ll send it out,” she said as she checked out the address. “And you’re in luck, the delivery griffin just arrived so she should be able to take it right now.”

“That’s great!” said Pinkie Pie happily. “Well, good luck on your journey.”

“Your wishing good luck to your package?” asked Derpy, a bit confused.

“She’s just a might nervous since it’s gotta go so far away,” Applebloom tried to play it off as nothing. Derpy just smiled and headed into the back room, letting the four of them let out a sigh of relief.

“I’ve got one more for you to take to Griffonstone,” Derpy said to the bluish gray griffin that was adjusting her delivery satchel before departing. Like all griffins, she had a bird-like front half and a feline back half. However, unlike most griffins that typically had an aloof or uncaring expression on their face, she seemed far more bubbly and energetic.

“Oh, that’s a big parcel!” she exclaimed with excitement as she was handed it. Taking a look at the address she gasped even more excited. “And it’s addressed to me! Oh, what are the odds, well, probably very good since most griffons don’t order a lot of things or have very many friends in or out of Griffinstone and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not like most griffons.”

“I don’t believe this,” worried Spike, not anticipating this happening, but not certain if it was a bad development for their plan or not.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” commented Derpy. “What did you get?”

“I actually don’t have a clue,” she admitted. “I didn’t order anything and I am not aware that anyone was sending me anything either. It must be a surprise. I can’t wait to open it.”

“Well, if it’s yours, you should be able to open it now,” said Derpy.

“This is way too soon to be unboxed,” sweated Spike, not sure if he should be prepared to make a run for it as soon as the box was opened or remain still and hope he wasn’t discovered. As he tried to at least get ready on the first option, he discovered he was too cramped under all that packaging to be able to move. “Uh oh.”

“I could,” admitted the griffin, placing a talon on the box. She was almost about to open it but stopped herself. “But I’ll be even more excited to see what it is by the time I get home. I think I’ll wait till then to open it.”

“Well, I hope it’s something really good,” said Derpy as she watched the griffin leave through the back door. She passed by Twilight and the soldiers still on their search, paying them no more mind than a passing glance. After that, she flew off for Griffinstone.

“And so our merry band of four retreated to a tavern to eat and rest before continuing their travels,” narrated Sunburst as he set the scene. “Chrissy, Sparkle, Dominazer, and Elly were all quite famished after their escape from the capital and didn’t waste any time ordering their fill of food and drink. Once it got to them, they chow down, the food the most delicious to them while their bellies were achingly empty.

“So, where are we to go next?” wondered Sparkle as she ate enough to sate her hunger. “We can’t just keep running from the Order of Holy Light forever.”

“We won’t have to,” Chrissy reminded her as she sipped some herbal tea. “Once I get my hands on those Dragonballs then I will possess unfathomable power, enough so that I will be able to reduce this whole world to ashes if I so choose.” The others stared at her, not very keen on her doing that. “That’s merely an example of what I’d be capable of. Anyway, I wouldn’t destroy the whole world, just the parts I despise, the Order of Holy Light, for example.”

“And what guarantee will we have that you won’t try to get rid of us once our usefulness has ended?” questioned Dominazer before bringing a pitcher of booze to her lips and chugged a generous amount of it down in a single breath. “Witches aren’t known for their honesty or for being trustworthy.”

“I’d say you don’t have any,” she admitted. “But you’ve already made yourself a fugitive so it isn’t like you’ve got anywhere else to go or anyone else you can trust at this point. Your best hope at survival is with the rest of us, so you might as well choose the option that ensures you’ll live as long as possible. That goes for the rest of you too.”

“And you,” added Elly, biting a chunk of meat from the massive turkey leg she had ordered and downed some water after it. “You are in the same situation as us. You’re probably even more wanted than we are at this point after that crazy stunt you pulled. The fact that a witch is even still alive after the cleansing doesn’t help either.”

“Their greatest mistake was missing me,” declared Chrissy. “And I vow to make them all suffer a billion times over for what they did to my sisters.”

“Uh, you all might want to keep it down, a bit,” warned Sparkle. “What if someone overhears us talking?”

“If they try anything,” Dominazer assured her. “It’ll be the last thing they ever do. Actually, they’ll do a lot of things after that, but none of it will likely be pleasant for them. I, on the other hand, will be having a blast.”

“Only if you get to them before I do,” remarked Chrissy. “I will probably turn them into something like a newt and keep them as pets to amuse me on our journey.”

“Those who oppose us should meet a quick and swift end,” commented Elly as she swung down her turkey let like an axe. “Fooling around too much is a luxury we cannot afford.”

“What fun is a journey if we aren’t able to do stuff just for shits and giggles?” countered Chrissy. “What is the point of being an all powerful witch if I can’t spread some chaos and discord wherever I go?”

“And how are you ladies doing this evening?” asked one of the tavern’s staff as he approached them.

“Fine,” answered Chrissy, trying to appear calm after her last outburst.

“The food was excellent,” added Dominazer quickly.

“Can I get you anything else to eat?” he offered.

“No, this meal has been filling enough,” answered Elly. “After a brief constitution and some rest we will be in optimal condition for our travels tomorrow.”

“Uh, very good,” he replied as he handed them a piece of paper. “You can pay that when you are ready.”

The four peeked over at the bill and their jaws dropped at the cost of their meals. “The food was good here, but these prices are ridiculous,” stated Dominazer. “The prisoners in our dungeons ate just as well and didn’t have to pay anything… monetarily at least.”

“It’s Chissy who chose to come here,” remarked Elly. “She should be the one to pay.”

“Like I could,” she retorted. “I don’t have a single silver piece to my name. I tend to blow any money I get as quickly as it came into my possession. Let’s just leave and take care of anyone who tries to stop us.”

“No, that’s okay,” Sparkle tried to say.

“We don’t need anymore undo attention,” argued Dominazer. “We should just pay and leave discreetly.”

“Then you can pay,” Chrissy told her.

“I don’t have any money on me,” she admitted. “I left with Sparkle in the spur of the moment and didn’t have any money on me.”

“You don’t have to worry,” Sparkle attempted to chime in again.

“What about you, muscles?” asked Chrissy, not noticing Sparkle speak.

“My guns are loaded,” she answered flexing her arms. “But my wallet is empty.”

“So, we’re all broke,” sighed Dominazer. “Then, we either have to work off what we owe in the kitchen or try to scrounge up money to pay.”

“I’m up for option B,” said Chrissy. But I only plan to pay enough for my own meal. You three best do the same.”

“Agreed,” nodded Dominazer and Elly.

“But that’s completely unnecessary…” Sparkle tried to say once more, only for her three companions to get up and get to work earning some coin for the bill.