Bond(age) (Re)formation

Chapters

A Rando Saves(?) Equestria
The Rando Gets His Prize(?)
You Call This Rape(?)
W(h)etting Appetites [Intermission]

A Rando Saves(?) Equestria

Canterlot was under siege, again. Scores of changelings swarmed the bright, summer skies and avenues, a black haze of cruel animosity. For hours now, he had fled their assaults, barely making his way to freedom through sheer luck and fierce application of his training. He doesn’t know why he kept the black bag of tools with him, but leaving it behind had seemed like a bad idea each time he felt the impulse, so it floated beside him, wrapped in his pale magical aura. Battered and bruised ponies littered the cityscape he ran through. This district had been thoroughly savaged and now, only minimal air patrols swept through to pick up or attack stragglers. Block by block, street by street, he stole through the secret byways and obscure alleys only a lifelong native could navigate reliably, for some were enchanted and others were built for confusion. Those few that had made their way to these relatively safe places to wait out the battle, urged him to stay or turn back. He ignored them.

He emerged into a seemingly purposeless alcove among the castle walls, the bricks shimmering in the darkness behind him as he stepped through it. A squad of black, chitinous bodies flashed past, causing him to stiffen, then breathe a sigh of relief when none seemed to notice him. From here, he could see the base of Canterlot Castle. Broken masonry and fallen soldiers lay like tasteless lawn ornaments around the rear gardens.

He cast a minor scrying spell that sent a eye forth to see for him. He closed his eyes to better comprehend the third visual input and observed. The patrols were regular and well-timed, but a tiny hole existed within their patterns that he might exploit. Additionally, the castle’s small rear gate stood open, one of the massive wooden doors broken part way off its hinges.

The minutes passed in tense silence as he watched and waited for his opportunity. His dark fur seemed to serve him well in cloaking his presence, as none of the invaders had spotted him.

Now!

He broke the spell and dashed forth from the shadows, like a shadow unto himself, weaving through the gardens with expert, tactical precision. His heart hammered in his chest and the air seemed alive and reluctant to dwell in his lungs as he made his break for the rear castle gate. He reached it, out of breath and jittery with anxious energy. One, maybe two changelings, he could handle by himself, but he saw none that were with less than five more of their own. Being spotted would mean almost certain capture.

After catching his breath, he swept inside. The castle interior still rang with the clash of steel and shouted orders. Good, there would be plenty of distractions. He cast a spell to muffle his hoofsteps and moved along the decadent halls and rooms, circumventing minor, futile battles and avoiding the most highly populated areas. Finally, he came to a set of narrow, spiral stairs that lead into the castle’s sub-levels. A clever enchantment masked the true purpose of this passage, requiring the possession of alicorn blood to activate the subtle twist of spacetime that would cause these stairs to lead somewhere else. Unlike the numerous agents of SMILE, the six agents of RICTUS dealt with threats far grander than bugbears or hydras, thus they needed a competitive edge that could only be entrusted to a very limited number of individuals.

The transfused blood boiled in his veins as he mentally reached out to the semi-conscious magics woven into the architecture. The staircase unwound before his eyes as the enchantments recognized a small part of Princess Celestia’s body within him.

His hoof was on the first step when he saw the green flash and was thrown sideways. The bag tumbled down the stairs as his magical grasp on it was lost. He slammed to painful halt against the nearby wall, his world turned sideways as he watched six changelings charge down the hall toward him, hissing with fangs bared. If he had time for preparation, these six would be nothing to him, but as things were, it would be a losing fight, even if only to get away and hide once again.

He charged an energy bolt and hurled it just to the side of the nearest assailant. The feint worked, sending the rear-most changeling soaring to impact a distant wall. Still, five more advanced on him, at speed. A blur of silver and red streaked through the air from behind and struck the two leading changelings. An oversized, ceremonial trident deeply embedded itself into a door, trapping them by the throat between its tines. They struggled and flailed to no avail as an amber stallion with a sapphire mane stepped into view. He was wearing a common soldier’s armor, but the pony underneath was far from common.

“Thank you, Agent Telus,” he said, standing to join his young companion.

“I’ll take care of these runts, you get to Celestia and build the wards,” Telus said, charging forward and swinging an elaborate arc through the air that delivered an instantly debilitating kick to a changeling's side. The remaining two halted and seemed to be reconsidering their approach. “Don’t trust the other agents, if you see them. I have reason to believe we’ve either been betrayed or infiltrated.”

“I won’t let us down,” he said, trotting back to the stairs and re-activating the enchantments as Telus engaged the enemy. The bag of tools swung into view as the stairs unwound once again and he breathed a sigh of relief, though he didn’t know why.

Telus let out a warrior cry as he finished off the last combatant. “Good luck, Agent Rune!”

Rune galloped to the end of the labyrinth, his way made trivial by the enhanced memory endowed to him by the alicorn blood. His was the easiest method of traversing the trap-ridden maze. The other five agents would be guided by self-restructuring puzzles and riddles only they could solve. Even if one of them was a traitor, it would take them hours to get through, at best. This gave him critical time for preparation.

At the end of a dark corridor as wide as a small field, the dimly glowing stone door loomed high into the dark, it’s bluish outline carved an imposing shape meant to instill awe and intimidate trespassers. He trotted up to it and placed a hoof on one of six bespoke indentations. Glowing lines of power spread outward from this and he sensed a one-way psychic channel open to the tenant within. He could feel her searching his thoughts and memories of the recent past, feeling somewhat abashed at the activities she now knew him to have been engaged in as the invasion commenced.

Enter, Agent Rune.

The command came from within his own head and he felt a magical compulsion lift from him that would have subtly turned away any intent to attempt entry. The door lifted up, silently receding into the wall above it. He set aside his tool bag as he stepped through and approached the exceptionally tall, ivory mare that sat amidst a field of brilliant magelights. Her chromatic mane swirled around her as magical energies dissipated from whatever spell she had been casting to let him in.

“Your Highness,” Rune said and bowed low as the door slid shut behind him. “I’m afraid I’ve come bearing terrible news. Agent Telus reports that at least one of our number has defected. I suspect a sleeper agent somehow made it through the filters.”

“I'm afraid that may be the case,” Celestia murmured. “It would take multiple betrayals for the changelings be capable of launching a second attack, of this scale, on Canterlot. We may have been infiltrated on many levels.”

“I agree, your Highness. I’ll begin work on the wards presently. I assume you need me to leave a method of communicating outside?”

“Yes, I’m attempting to contact the Elements. They seem to be out of reach or indisposed.”

With a nod, Rune set to work constructing the runic barriers, carving them into the air at all points in the room. The necessary complexity for the defenses was great and runic magic requires the user to memorize the placement, order, function, and transliteration of each rune, or they simply don’t function, their energies requiring a conscious mind to give them power of substance. The work was daunting, as the room was a cyclopean, empty cuboid, but with time, the defenses were set.

With the grand majority of the runes in place and memorized, Agent Rune addressed Princess Celestia, “Your Highness, I think it may be time to discuss emergency strategies. You haven’t received a response from the Elements, correct?”

“Unfortunately so,” Celestia sighed, dropping the scrying spell.

“Without a more potent energy source, I won’t be able to keep these runes powered for long. If it comes down to it, your immortal life essence will be the only method of keeping them active, should we need to remain within this bunker for an extended period. Your Highness...I…”

“Yes, Agent Rune?”

Rune nodded and swallowed. “I’m afraid we may need to resort to...less savory tactics should things devolve further.”

“I’ve already accepted this. RICTUS was formed for that explicit purpose, after all. There will always be a price to pay for victory, when the Elements cannot deliver it to us.”

“Then, I have a suggestion.”

“Speak plainly, I’m listening.”

Rune explained, watching the princess’s face and dreading the grimace or frown or, worse yet, the glare that she might develop as he laid out the cruel ploy. Celestia remained stoic, making no sound or gesture, simply staring and listening. When he was done, she was silent for a time. Only once, she opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and glanced sidelong, at the bare stone floor. She then turned away and resumed her attempts at contacting the Elements.

He understood this reaction and set to work on laying the infrastructure, tool bag close at hoof. Something changed in the room then, bringing with it a pleasant discomfort.

Only once, in the following day, did Celestia make a sound. It was a simple and surprised ‘Oh’, followed by a glance at Rune. Thereafter, he was uncertain how she had spent her time, but she seemed to come down from an edge.

When they came, the ground shook and the air seethed with buzzing. Agent Rune was familiar with this psychological tactic. When one knows they cannot penetrate the defenses physically, they must penetrate into the defender’s mind and sow seeds of despair that blossom into surrender. Only a fool would believe it could work on Princess Celestia. Rune, himself, was quite ready to lay down his life and sanity for her, come what may. This fear mongering would prove fruitless.

Celestia rose to a sit and faced the door, her golden shoes clattering marvelously upon the floor. It gave him spirit and he climbed to his hooves with gusto. Her horn lit up with golden radiance and he readily accepted the wordless offer for a psychic connection between them. Not long after, a voice seeped into their minds, through the great stone door.

“Princess...it’s Telus. They’ve won. I’m sorry, I couldn’t do more.” Even Agent Telus’ psionic voice sounded weary, a bone-chilling detail that gave Rune a jolt of apprehension and savage anger. Voices projected directly from the mind reflect emotion and pain only under extreme conditions and to hear Telus speak into his mind with such clear suffering...

“It’s alright, Telus. You’ve done more than enough. You and all your brothers in arms. Give me their demands and I’ll take things from here. Worry not, my little pony.”

There was a long moment of silence before Telus’ voice returned.

“Queen Chrysalis is here. She’s ordering you to present yourself and bow to her in supplication. She says the entire kingdom will see you surrender, or die.”

Celestia’s response was immediate and stern.

“Parlay.”

“Princess?”

“Parlay, Agent Telus. You may tell the queen of the changelings that I, Princess Celestia, wish to parlay with her.”

“As you wish, your Highness.” Another long pause, then Telus’ voice returned, “Sparing the insults, she seems eager to oblige, if only to degrade your image to the people of Equestria.”

“Thank you, Agent Telus. Do be sure to let her know that this will become very difficult and costly for her, should they harm a single further hair on your head. Or anypony else’s, for that matter.”

“I will, your Highness. Agent Telus out.”

With that, the psychic conversation ended and the connections were cut.

Without looking, Celestia spoke to Rune, “I trust you had ample time to execute.” It was not a question, but a statement, made with tempered respect. Rune grinned and subtly shivered with delight. Celestia’s horn glowed again and the door rose with a whispering, uncanny smoothness. The din of clamoring changelings rose and a mild wind, from the blurred motion of insectoid wings, gusted a fine dust against the semi-visible runic forcefield that glinted with an almost metallic sheen. Rune looked boldly out into the throngs of the enemy, scanning each member.

“I found it,” Celestia murmured to him. “Forty-seventh from the left, with the horn broken to a fine point.”

Incredible, Rune thought to himself. He had only enough time to register a portion of their details before the princess had done this part for him. Was she...excited? The changeling in question exhibited an extremely subtle, but distinct bob and sway to his motion that was slightly ahead of those around him, as if he dictated their motion. He recalled the necessary runes and made mental preparations for adjustment.

“Ah so the coward shows herself, at last,” a voice blared from the shadows above. Queen Chrysalis, ruler and first matriarch of the changeling hive, descended to a chorus of enthused hissing. Several gallops from the entryway, she settled beside an unconscious Telus, placing a hoof on his back with a fanged grin. “Was it comfy in there with your little gigolo? I hope you had as much fun as you could before your inevitable defeat.” Her voice was a sultry pair of nearly identical tones that resonated with a sinister harmony. As she spoke, she spread her holed, translucent wings with regal poise. Her legs bore a similar, perforated structure that reached to her knees. Unlike her subjects, her black body plating looked supple and smooth, the seams few and far between. Acid green light danced and shimmered on the bioluminescent plates of her back and barrel. Strange, frayed ribbons of a slate cerulean material swam about her head and neck in the artificial breeze and her tail, likewise, flowed about her rear hooves in serpentine patterns. She’s...eerily cute, Rune thought, studying what looked to be a tiny, dark, crown-like crest just behind her long, jagged horn.

“This is not, as you say, a gigolo,” Celestia replied, levelly. “This is my champion. He is the wit against which I wish to parlay with you.”

The queen laughed, “That’s all? Him, in a battle of wits against the greatest ruler and strategist the world has ever seen? Please, Princess, your desperation is showing.” Celestia’s response came in the form of an unphased, inquisitive stare. Chrysalis rolled her luminous, blue-green eyes and sighed, “Very well, let’s get this tiresome game over with, so we can get to the good parts.” She strode forward, confidently. “So, assuming you have leverage with which to enforce the terms—and you don’t—what are they?”

“On the contrary, I need not enforce a thing that is not already in action,” Celestia said, casually brushing back a strand of mane. “Due to your sound defeat by them before, I’m certain you’ve made sure to capture or otherwise neutralize the six ponies known as the Elements of Harmony. But what you could never have guessed, is that the artefacts that empower them, have a will of their own. Their magic, without a host’s will, is slow and subtle, but inevitable. So long as they exist, circumstances will rise to depose you.”

“Then I’ll destroy them,” Chrysalis roared, though not with fury, but with triumph. The voices of the changeling rose in tandem.

When they were done, Celestia responded, “To unmake an Element, would mean to unmake yourself. The energies required are staggering, even to those of our power. To truly destroy one would mean the release of a destructive force large enough to incinerate the mountain we stand within, and the countryside surrounding it for leagues beyond the horizon. Is that the legacy you want? No legacy at all, but the smouldering remains of what you could have ruled and nopony to even remember your ‘victory’?” Celestia oozed this last word with uncharacteristic smugness that made the corner of Rune’s mouth twitch upward.

“You forget, little princess, I have more than one hoof to play,” Chrysalis hissed and swung her head around to the masses behind her. “Open the Eye!”

At her command, an octet of changelings galloped from seemingly random points within the crowd. They formed an enclosed loop and their horns glowed the acid green that was the signature aura of their species. Above, the air shimmered to life and a fog developed, growing thicker by the second, until it was opaque. In another moment, the fog cleared in the center and a bird’s-eye view of Canterlot stadium was revealed. It seemed that at every square hoof of space, a pony had been crammed in to fill it and another placed on top of them. Rune wasn’t sure, but he thought he could hear continuous moans of stallions and mares in pain as foals cried out for their parents. He felt, more than saw, the heat of Celestia’s rage growing beside him. When he looked, his eyes stung with the warmth of the air baking off her, though the cracks in her calm facade were surely calculated, they were only the barest hint of the malice roiling underneath.

Celestia stood slowly, gracefully. “Leave my subjects out of this,” she said, her tone deadly smooth.

“And deprive them of this, my greatest, most well-deserved victory? I think not,” Chrysalis cackled, inadvertently turning up the heat that Rune was already sweating to endure.

He maintained his position but whispered, that only Celestia could hear, “Your Highness, please.” To Rune’s great relief, Celestia regained most of her internal composure, cooling off noticeably in a fraction of a second. It was now only sweltering.

“What do you want with my subjects?”

“Only to let them witness the helplessness and cruel disregard you truly have for their lives. Bring in the captives!” Chrysalis sneered at them as she waited for the changelings to follow through. And Waited. The shortness of her temper was made clear when the first ten seconds produced no returning haul of captured ponies. She spun on a hoof and pointed to the nearest buzzing changeling. “You! Why isn’t there a prisoner at my feet already?”

“I-I-I’ll check, my queen!” The changeling made to soar through the crowd, but was intercepted by a returning pair. They dropped to the stony floor before Chrysalis and visibly groveled as they spoke in hushed, scratchy tones. After only a few seconds, the queen spun back around and bucked them, sending each flying in a separate arc.

“Useless worms! Those two are on clamp duty! Send them to the clamps!” Several dozen changelings visibly grimaced at this news, but obeyed. “And find my prisoners!”

As Celestia tittered, Rune was relieved of even more heat. “You see, Chrysalis? Already, the Elements are at work, undermining every move you make. What do you think the chances were of those prisoners escaping right from under your muzzle?”

Chrysalis huffed and turned to the octet. “Bring the Eye here, we still have an example to make,” she said cantering over to the nearly still body of Agent Telus. “Oh, Celestia-a-a, look at what I have here,” she sang, “A juicy little morsel, ripe with screams of delicious agony.” The fog-encircled image of the stadium shrunk and tilted, repositioning itself vertically just behind Chrysalis and Telus. The queen turned to it and spoke in a grand, accusatory tone, “People of Canterlot! I present to you, your weak, cowardly figurehead, Princess Celestia! Watch her sit idly within the comfort of her protections as one of her beloved subjects suffers!” At this, Telus was wrapped in an acid green aura and began levitating off the ground. He was turned upright and groaned as a surge of energy pulsed over his body, waking him from an exhausted torpor.

“On my signal, lower the wards for the door,” Celestia said through clenched teeth.

“But your Highness, that jeopard—”

“Code Mass-Black. That’s a Royal Order.”

Rune sighed and gazed longingly at the back of the princess’s head, “You know, as well as I, that only Agent Incanta can initiate Mass-Black. I’m sorry. Agent Telus was made fully aware of the implications of this highest honor. He passed the tests and paid the prices. He is as happy to give his life for RICTUS as I am.”

They both flinched as the first of Telus’ screams tore through the air.

“Please,” Celestia whimpered, turning to him. The tears that formed in her eyes evaporating faster than they could swell, “He’s in love, for goodness sake. I could never look her in the eyes again if…I have to tell her...”

This time, only Celestia flinched at Telus’ screams. Rune watched, knowing she was as bound to his plan as he was to his duty. He had to think quickly. What made this worth the risk? As much as Rune hated it, Telus was expendable here. So was any agent, so long as the plan remained in motion. Celestia herself said there was always a price to be paid when the Elements weren’t involved in victory.

There was the image of the princess to consider. But that could be ironed out in a century or two, no big deal. Other mars on her record have been scrubbed clean before…

Wait, what about the Elements? Is it true that they could influence events, even within containment and without an active host? If it was a bluff, it had been a damned good one, already backed by the unlikely escape of several prisoners. He had to admit, even his own arrival felt miraculous, though not technically impossible. Rune looked to his bag of tools and the remembered the strange, illogical impulse that kept him from leaving it behind. So many pieces seemed to be falling in place. Telus howled again and that was enough.

That’s fucking enough.

“You Highness, I can reverse the thaumic flow for only a fraction of a second. I have no doubt you can exploit this time frame to its fullest, but our strategy will be laid bare until the concealment runes are empowered again. They’re among the last in the chain and there’s a limit to how quickly I can safely move energy through that section the system.”

“Leave that to me, Agent Rune. I respect your discipline and faith in the face of these events. You’ll be well rewarded for this.”

“The success of this plan is far more reward than I deserve.” Celestia’s mouth curled upward almost imperceptibly, but dropped as soon as Telus’ strained voice cried out again.

“I’ll keep the complexity to a very short-range translocation and a minor concealment spell. The agent will still be in present danger, but he won’t be leverage. Is this still acceptable?” The princess has regularly given deference to agents of RICTUS, but it has never failed to feel strange and dispensable, at least to Agent Rune.

“On your mark.”

“Ready. And.” Celestia tapped the metal of a rear shoe with each beat, dropping the third beat rather than speaking the word. Rune engaged another of the blessings of alicorn blood transfusion, using hyper-reactive muscles to create a twitch faster than even some extraordinary eyes could follow. The control runes at his hooves momentarily redirected the flow of energies that powered every active rune, enabling Celestia to make her move. The result, was a window of opportunity so narrow, threading the hole of a needle on the moon was only slightly more difficult.

Rune sensed a flash of light through his eyelids and, when he opened them again, Telus was gone from the queen’s magical grip. The runic barrier was set back in place, as if it had never blinked from existence. All around him, the previously cloaked runes and constructs were made plainly visible, but fading back under concealment as Rune scrambled with the controls. One look and Chrysalis would know too much. The changeling army reeled in blind pain and terror as the queen cried out in fury, holding a hoof over her eyes.

“Argh! You cheat! I thought you wanted to parlay!” the queen shrieked.

“I still do, but you started torturing one of my subjects before I could even present the terms,” Celestia said. The last of the constructs’ outlines had only just faded when Chrysalis brought down her hoof and peered at them with eyes full of black veins that crawled in spider web patterns along her pale green sclera. Rune breathed a sigh of relief.

Chrysalis glared “Hurry up, then! I don’t have all day.”

“Indeed you don’t. As we speak, my allies and their armies are being summoned, as well as forces from all corners of Equestria. I can’t stop you from harming my ponies here in Canterlot, but your chances of victory are slim, if you chose to fight them all. My champion has made it possible for us to both wait safely here while they arrive and the Elements further degrade your schemes.”

Chrysalis stamped a holed hoof, “Get on with it, princess!”

“Very well, then. My terms: first, should we succeed, you will not return from where you came, but remain within the mountain of Canterlot, where I can keep an eye on you. For centuries, I would have liked our two races to bond, or at least amicably co-habit. This would be fair and beneficial to all parties.”

“You presume to feed us the scraps of friendship, and call that fair? I will feed my kind nothing less than love and worship, not the dregs of your paltry amiability.” The changelings hissed in wild approval and the breeze grew visibly stronger, for a moment.

“I think you’ll find that my ponies are capable of more than minor affection for your kind. I have faith they can find it in their hearts to love even one such as you, given time and effort. Friendship is only the beginning of love.”

“Tch! Enough of this talk, what if I win?”

Celestia returned to a sit and sighed, “The Elements will stop at nothing to create peace. If I surrender and call off my allies, and you refrain from abusing my subjects under your rule, their power will become inert. I understand it will be a longer, harder road to friendship between our races this way, but I know my ponies are strong enough to endure it. You and yours will come to understand that our way is best, with time.”

The buzzing and hissing died down as Celestia finished her speech. A relative quiet persisted for several moments before it was broken by a slow, throaty build to a cackle. Chrysalis strode forward as she laughed, halting just before the barrier.

“Have it your way, princess. I’ll crush you before the eyes of all your precious subjects, then I’ll find a way to dispose of the Elements and have our way with you and your ponies until countless generations have known nothing but love and respect for me and my changelings! So, give us your challenge and be done with yourselves.”

“The task is simple, Chrysalis,” Celestia said, trotting gracefully, almost seductively back to Rune’s side and laying on her belly, chin held high, “Kiss me.”

Chrysalis’ facade broke. She took a step back from the barrier and brought a hoof to her chest in shock, lowering it with a stomp as she noticed her own reaction.

“Y-You’re stalling! Tell me the real challenge!”

Celestia smiled sweetly, “I have, your Majesty. The challenge is to make your way, here,” she tapped the ground before her with a dainty clink, “and kiss me, here,” she tapped her lips, once.

“I refuse to play this childish game.”

“And I refuse to change the challenge,” Celestia replied, the coyness in her tone replaced with an icy bite, “But I can change my terms to something a little less...merciful. As I said, this is a test of wits. Yours against his,” she said, gesturing to Rune.

After a long moment, Chrysalis hissed and ground out her response, “Fine. It’ll be the first of many kisses between us, only your lips will touch nothing more than my hooves, when I‘m Queen of Equestria.” Celestia ignored the taunt.

“Do keep in mind that should anyone but yourself cross the barrier, you forfeit the challenge.” She turned to Rune, “Agent, please lower the barrier for our guest.”

Rune complied, adjusting a series of control runes and creating a triangular opening for the queen. Without moving her head, her eyes flicked to the floor just inside the barrier. Her horn lit up and three lines of green energy, like claws, swept the small space. They gouged the floor and tore apart the previously invisible sigil. Chrysalis smiled and brought forth a hoof, but stopped just before setting it down. She pointed her horn to the ceiling and let loose a blast of energy that cratered the stone, destroying yet another concealed sigil.

Chrysalis stepped into the room, “Basic binding circles? My, my, how easy are you going to make this for me?” No sooner did she speak, than a blast of blue light seared through the air from her left, striking the orb-shaped shield that flashed into existence around her. The light poured onto the shield for several seconds and Rune smirked when he saw cracks appear in it, just before the trap died to a trickle of energy. Chrysalis had bared her fangs in effort and her hooves left shallow grooves in the floor as she’d ground across it.

“Easy?” Rune said. “That was about as easy as it gets. But please, keep gloating,” he said as he closed the barrier behind her. “Now, it’s only fair to tell you that as soon as you crossed that barrier, the runes in this room began sapping your energy. Fortunately for you, they’re relatively slow, so they can remain undetected, and only work when you move or cast spells. Think wisely before you act.”

The runes were actually drawing power from Celestia to keep the others active, but the bluff should have served to destabilize the enemy.

“How clever, little pony. Ultimately foolish, however. You should have let me take my time and be worn down by the vampiric runes. You sabotaged your own bluff by making it.” She turned to the changelings and the image of Canterlot stadium. “These are the hooves your princess places your lives in! Watch them fail and desp—” Chrysalis’ next words were pressed from her lungs as another blast of energy, from a rune placed at Celestia's hooves, threw her into the barrier. She was pinned against its translucent surface for an uncomfortably long moment, stretching nearly half a minute. The trap had not been designed to cause damage and, in fact, had been placed as a contingency. Rune turned to Celestia in horror. How had she activated it? With every rune in the room drawing power from her, she shouldn’t have been capable. Even with the two decoy traps destroyed in the beginning, the vampiric runes would have fed the energy surplus into the remaining obstacles to make them more potent.

When Chrysalis regained her hooves, Rune could feel the raw power emanating from her body. Green bolts of energy crackled between the holes in her hooves and wings. The balled tips of her ‘crown’ shone an incandescent green. Without a word, Chrysalis turned and began to move toward the princess, every step leaving the stone beneath her hooves glowing. Runes dissolved in her path and barriers shattered like ice.

“Princess, she’s going to break too many at once,” Rune hissed, adjusting the control runes as quickly as he could. “At this rate, the system will overload. I need to feed some of the energy back to into us.”

“No, Agent, only me.”

“Princess, that could kill you, in your present state! I’ll take my share, I can handle it.” Celestia’s eyes never left the approaching queen’s.

“I can’t stop you, but remember that the priority of RICTUS agents, is the people of Equestria. My life comes second.”

“I will, your Highness,” Rune said. He set his jaw and got to work stabilizing the most critical runic systems, struggling to balance the energies between their bodies and the magic. He coughed dryly as the queen advanced even further. The room began to feel hot, far hotter than Celestia’s tangible fury. He wheezed a cloud of steam. His chest burned and he felt his horn resonating painfully with the cascade of energies. The smell of Celestia’s singed plumage filled the smoky air. Eyes burning and swelling with tears, he watched Chrysalis demolish hours of work in seconds as she came within a gallop of the princess and stopped. The queen grinned, her mouth alight with blue-green bioluminescence. The side of his body facing Chrysalis experienced dozens of tiny, irritating jolts within the muscles. Rune’s world faded in and out of a grey haze, but he had to stay conscious; the timing was everything.

“Are you ready to taste defeat on my lips, Celestia? I can see how you burn for it.”

“Fair is fair. Claim your prize, my Queen,” Celestia said, the words flowing like dry sand as she held her chin higher than ever. Chrysalis took a step further, then another. Her gait was agonizingly slow in the most literal sense Rune could imagine. He felt his own enhanced body flagging and wondered how much Celestia must be suffering. Far more than him, no doubt. Hang on, just a little longer, he thought, she's almost...almost…

"I'm sorry...your Highness," Rune rasped before his legs gave out and he lost contact with the control runes. He slipped sideways as his vision darkened, slowly rotating to the perpendicular. Celestia and Chrysalis were still within his sight.

Their lips touched, but Celestia's hoof had strayed to the side, hovering just over one of the outer control runes. It was precisely where Rune wished his own hoof had been. He grinned as he finally understood.

When he initially set up the system, the princess had persistently inquired over several aspects of the controls, touching each rune in turn. Rune had no idea how this allowed her to usurp his control, but he'd ask as soon as the time was right. For now, he marvelled at her tactical prowess and foresight. Tapping the rune on the floor as she taunted the enemy earlier, feigning helplessness when Telus was in danger, and now…

Four streams of light speared from the far corners of the chamber, converging on the glowing loop of energy that was now visible around Chrysalis' neck. The queen tried pulling her head from the ring, but the trap had fully closed on her. She shrieked and roared, struggling to free herself, but each effort only causing the restraints to grow more luminous as they bound her within only a few square hooves of space. She stopped in mid-thrash, frozen like a statue. Strange, Rune thought distantly, that isn't how that one works.

Then the laughter came. Not from the queen in the center of the chamber, but from the one approaching the other side of the barrier..

"Well done, little one! Well done!" The real Chrysalis cackled. "You have served your hive better than any single drone ever has. You will be honored for all time, my child."

The Chrysalis within the trap started moving again, coming to a sit. In a flash of green fire, she reverted to her natural form, though she looked nothing like any changeling Rune had ever seen. She was taller and slimmer than most, approaching proportions similar to her queen, though noticeably smaller. Their eyes were the same, however. In this new form, the crest remained on her head, pulsing with a green light. “It was a pleasure to serve, my Queen,” she said, bowing low. Her voice was similar, but less intimidating.

“Let me explain to your subjects just how badly you’ve failed them, princess.” Chrysalis trotted to stand directly in front of what they’ve been referring to as the ‘Eye’. “The changeling on the other side of this barrier is carrying a royal core within her. It sustains and empowers her and would have made her a true queen, had she been fully compatible. As it is, the core is now an unstable bomb of incredible power. Within the hour, it will explode, taking your precious princess with it. Even one such as she could not withstand the blast,” Chrysalis shot Celestia a wicked glare, “even in her less corporeal forms. Furthermore, I’m already aware of the power of the Elements of Harmony and of a way to neutralize their effects. My changelings are enacting this process already. Without the runecrafter alive to drop this barrier, the mountain we’re under will crumble, taking your city with it. My changelings and I will be leagues away to watch the spectacle, far out of reach of your allies. You, my little ponies,” Chrysalis spread her wings before the Eye, “will come with us and you will spread the news of this defeat to every land you encounter. Your arrivals will herald the blackening of the skies as my armies sweep forth to claim Equestria as my new domain!”

The changelings’ voices soared in approval as the queen concluded her diatribe. Rune had partly recovered, thanks to the alicorn blood, but knew not to show the signs. He remained perfectly still, taking slow, shallow breaths. As Chrysalis spoke, Celestia had been whispering to the trapped changeling, whose expression changed but once, and only for a moment.

“What’s to keep me from dropping the barrier, right now, like so?” Celestia turned her hoof and the metallic sheen between them vanished. The changelings all flinched back down the grand corridor, some even darting far out of view.

“Settle down, you cowards! This changes nothing!”

“This changes quite a bit, mother,” said the trapped changeling. Rune had to bite his tongue until he tasted blood to keep from grinning. “You know I can set off the royal core any time I wish. That was your idea for a failsafe.”

“And what relevance does that have, my child?”

“All the relevance in the world. It’s my ticket to your throne.”

“What did you say?”

“To paraphrase, I said the hive is mine, now.”

Chrysalis broke into hysterical laughter, clutching her sides and wiping tears from her eyes after several seconds. “You wouldn’t dare, daughter. Besides, you’re trapped! You have no leverage against me! Your only option is to take us all here with you!”

Celestia spoke up, “She wants to live, Chrysalis. There’s more to life than duty and sacrifice and mindless self indulgence.” Rune resisted the urge to shiver as he heard this. How can she speak directly to someone else, and yet, run you through with her words? “To her, the hive is more than a burden. Its her family.”

“You think I don’t love each and every one of my children?” Chrysalis snarled, “I’ve given them everything! I’ve ripped life from the very ground, from my very body, to keep them alive and well! I’ve scraped and clawed every ounce of happiness I could give them from this cruel world! I am theirs as much as they are mine!”

“And yet you toss our lives aside like these ponies throw scraps from a plate. We mean only as much to you as the goods our blood and sweat can buy. I know you would never keep my memory alive; you’d twist the story through the ages until you were the sole provider of this victory. Just like Torn the Reaver, Pincer of the Songs, or Commander Serum.”

“These names mean nothing, they’re mere decorations for a lie, and cheap ones at that,” Chrysalis spat.

“Follow me when I escape here, and I swear to you, I shall prove how our ‘Queen’ has been deceiving us all along! I will guide us to a new age of care and equality among my many hives. Remember the words we live by, even if our mother doesn’t—lie to our enemies, even to ourselves, but never to each other!”

A stirring in the gathered changelings rippled like raindrops striking the surface of a lake.

“Shut your mandibles, daughter! You will carry out your objective, as planned, or I will find another to take your place. One truly worthy of being remembered. And you,” Chrysalis said, addressing Celestia, “I hope you’re happy to let your subjects see what a cheat their princess is—your parlay was between me and the corpse over there. Clearly, it was your feeble wit I had truly been up against, not his. What do you have to say for yourself before I leave you to your doom?”

Celestia whispered something to the pseudo-queen, who responded with a subtle nod.

The princess sighed, “Only this.” With blinding speed, she slammed a hoof in the center of the control runes, activating a special set of spells that hurled themselves through the entryway in Chrysalis’ direction. They angled themselves away at the last instant, with a turn of Celestia’s hoof, and struck a seemingly arbitrary location on the ground. With a dazzling array of mind-numbing effects to behold, the pseudo-queen stood where the spells landed and a very startled-looking Agent Telus had taken her place in the trap. The octet of changelings abandoned the Eye spell and sat, slack-jawed as they witnessed the events. To Telus, Celestia whispered, “If you’re going to cheat, be sure you’re better at it than your opponent.”

As Rune began to rise, a host of changelings swarmed the open doorway. Another flick of Celestia’s hoof and the barrier reformed in time for several black bodies to bounce harmlessly off the overpowered interdiction spells.

Telus glared up at the princess, “You...bitch.” Rune wondered if he had somehow been wrong, and the young agent had indeed been a traitor, but his insecurities were assuaged when the true Queen Chrysalis revealed herself in a flash of green flames.

Celestia stood on shaking legs and staggered around the sullen monarch. To the pseudo-queen she said, “I’m sure the traitor your mother employed can lead you out of here, to the Element of Magic. Twilight will know how to help you. At the very least, she’ll buy you a great amount of time.” The pseudo-queen nodded and finished wrapping another changeling in their sticky, green cement. It struggled within the cocoon, throwing its head about with such force that the purple, metallic helmet it wore was jostled from its head, clanging to the stone floor. The pseudo-queen grasped it in her magic and reshaped the metal, with little apparent effort. When she was done, it had been formed into a headdress of angular blades that glowed with heat. When it dimmed, she wove it into her strange, ribbony mane that didn’t burn on contact.

“Make no mistake, we’re not allies, Princess Celestia. I’ll turn in your warrior to the castle medics and find the escaped prisoners, but I will not live in this mountain, under your watch, I will not go quietly to my death, and I will feed and grow my hive any way I see fit. If you disagree with my methods, we’ll settle it on the battlefield.”

“May it never come to that. My offer for the alternative is always open.”

“Save your charity for a hive that needs it. Preferably one full of venomous bees. May we never meet again.”

“Farewell, Queen…?”

“Severance. Lady Severance. The time of despots has passed for my species.” With that, Lady Severance whipped away from the scene and began marching down the corridor, cocoon in tow. The changelings parted to let her pass and even the few that lingered at the barrier eventually turned her way.

“Daughter! Oh, daughter!” Chrysalis sang. Severance came to a halt, but did not turn around. “I’d just like you to know how very proud I am. When I escape, and I will, your slow death with be one of unspeakable agony. But it will be dignified, I promise.”

Not another word was exchanged between them as the changelings and their new matriarch marched into the darkness, their bioluminescent bodies fading like baleful stars at dawn in an unfamiliar sky.

Author's Note

Please forgive any glaring flaws in grammar and spelling; I am my own prereader.

R - Rune
I - Incanta
C - Crepitia
T - Telus
U - Umbran
S - Sermi

Psst, can you guess who Agent Telus is?

The Rando Gets His Prize(?)

Rune lowered the great stone slab of a door. Celestia had revealed that the trick was in pushing several small parts on the surface of the structure in the opposite direction one wished the object to move. It was an ancient contrivance of a lock, but one that had been largely forgotten, and so gained a sort of obscure efficacy. It boomed as it fell into place and Rune was astonished to discover just how much precision of control it required for Celestia to have moved it with such grace.

“Congratulations, princess. Whatever will you do with me now?” Chrysalis grumbled. Rune grinned and hummed to himself as he set to work, erasing the unnecessary remnants of the previous system and carving new sigils.

“Myself? Nothing. I’m going to rest and dream. What my agent does with you, is his business,” Celestia said, cantering around to Chrysalis’ front. Her hoofbeats, though gentle and evident of a limp, beat a steady, echoing tattoo. “You know, I really have wanted us to be friends, for a long time. There’s potential in a partnership between our races.” Celestia reached under the cascade of Chrysalis’ ribbons and caressed the queen’s cheek, gently tilting her chin up to lock eyes with her. Rune saw only the faintest blur of motion that happened in the interim between Celestia’s friendly gesture and the sinking of Chrysalis’ fangs into her foreleg. Celestia screamed and nearly collapsed on her remaining three legs. Rune worked faster. Celestia moaned aloud, “This really hurts, agent! It would please me very much if you were finished soon!”

“Nearly there, your Highness, just a few more moments!” Rune blazed trails of light into the air around them at speeds few runecrafters had ever achieved with success, ending the final stroke with a satisfied flourish. “Done.”

As he finished, Chrysalis let go of the princess’s leg with a cackle, “Too late, fool! Observe!” The bite wound trailed a green, glowing, stiff fluid that receded further into the punctures, rather than leaking. As it vanished beneath Celestia’s alabaster skin, a layer remained behind, keeping the wound from leaking blood. They watched as a light traveled up Celestia’s leg and expanded into her barrel, then began to fade. “You’ve been envenomed with a preparatory substance us changelings inject into all of our broodmares. Until you’ve given birth to my next clutch of eggs, your womb will be useless for—”

“Yes, yes, she can’t get pregnant with a pony until she’s bred with a changeling, we know. Goodness, you love to talk, don’t you?”

“Excuse me?” Chrysalis hissed.

“You’re excused. The kingdom of Equestria thanks you for your cooperation,” Rune said, picking back up where he left off on his work. “Now, I’d like to welcome you to the first day of your...re-education. My name is—”

“I couldn’t care less whatever hideous pony name your mother cursed you with! How dare you speak down to me, I could strip the flesh from your brittle bones where you stand! In fact—” Chrysalis launched herself at him. The binding spells shimmered and shone, the beams of light vibrating like plucked strings. Rune was forced to channel a painful amount of Celestia’s magic just to halt the savage advance. He noted the aura of his magic that engulfed Chrysalis had taken on some of Celestia’s golden hues. He coughed, tasting blood as the queen roared, mere inches from laying her hooves on him. With an effort, he began more hasty work.

By the time Rune was finished, a trickle of blood ran from his muzzle, leaving a dotted semicircle of scarlet on the floor. He let go of Chrysalis and watched as she hurled herself at him again, only to fall a short distance from his hooves, heaving labored breaths.

“Agent! Are you alright?” Celestia cried as she noticed the signs of damage.

“I will be. Thank you for your concern, your Highness.”

“What...what is this magic?” Chrysalis breathed.

“‘This magic’ is closer to a science. It’s also a trade secret, something I’ll take to my grave. All you need to know, is that it’ll keep you from exiting this circle and dampen that quite intimidating strength of yours.” Rune sat beside his new control sigil and tapped a section that caused the binding spell to blink out of view. Chrysalis misread this and made an attempt to dive at the door, ending with an exhausted crash landing as her forelegs gave out. Rune took the opportunity to appreciate the shapely curvature of her raised hindquarters and the inviting quality of other anatomies. “Now, let’s talk, just you and me.” Celestia took this que to rise and limp away, shaking out the scorched feathers from her wings as she walked.

Chrysalis rolled to her side and glared back at Rune, “I have nothing to say to the likes of you, puppet.”

“That’s just fine. You’re going to listen to me, then.” Rune cleared his throat. “In the coming days, weeks, months, or however long you make this last, we’re going to get to know each other very well. Intimately.” Chrysalis silently bared her fangs, but said nothing. “There’s something to be said about the stamina and vitality of an alicorn, and you’re looking at the honored recipient of an alicorn’s blood. What this means for you, is that our activities will be both intense and very, very long-lasting.”

“Come near me with that twig of a water pump and it’ll be the only thing left of you. I’ll keep it to show everyone how cruelly fate had endowed you.”

“I like that passion.”

Chrysalis’ face split into a grin, “Princess! Is this how the sweet, motherly, holier-than-thou cunt of a ruler deals with her enemies? I’m surprised at you, but I can’t say I disapprove! I’ll be so happy to share this news with—” Chrysalis’ muzzle was surrounded in a pale aura and locked into a closed position.

“Nothing that occurs in this room will be known to a single individual beyond these walls. I’m certain you don’t believe me, but when I’m through with you, you’ll sing only the songs I permit. Now, I’ll give you one chance to apologize for that foul language.” Rune let go of the queen’s muzzle and covered his ears as a torrent of obscenities and threats followed. To say Chrysalis was inventive would be an understatement. Rune made sure to take mental notes of the nastiest remarks for Agent Sermi’s appraisal later. Assuming she wasn’t a traitor. He locked Chrysalis’ jaws shut again and said, “One chance, Chrysi, and you blew it. Let’s get you acquainted with the consequences of disobedience.”

Rune grasped Chrysalis’ rear hooves in his magic and levitated them into the air until she hung upside-down before him, then pulled her flailing forelegs toward the floor, careful not to cause any discomfort in his manipulations. Next, he conjured a crop and rotated the queen to face away from him, her wings buzzing furiously at the air. Without ceremony or pomp, he used the crop to lash her firm ass, each stroke reverberating throughout the lofty space with magnificent clarity. Her ebony flesh opened and immediately sealed itself as he laid into it, speckling the floor with dark green in all directions. He bit his lip, feeling more excited than he expected by this, the most common and diminutive of procedures to come. Though the queen made no noise at his ministrations, her wings had frozen after the first stroke. Now, he was simply having fun watching them twitch and shudder with successive strikes, like a strange game of Red Light, Green Light. By the time he tired of the spectacle, his balls and groin felt painfully tight, but the excessive degrees of self-control he possessed kept his scepter fully sheathed. He set the queen down, gently, banishing the crop and releasing his holds, making sure to stand a safe distance from the edge of the containment circle. Her head whipped around to face him, eyes smouldering with a hatred deeper and darker than Tartarus itself.

“Well? How was it?” he asked, genuinely curious about her response. Rune’s confidence in the efficacy of his work earned him a burst of stars, a ringing in his ears, and a delayed ache in his jaw. The concussion would clear not long after his vision straightened itself out, but the damage to his pride was eternal. He climbed to his hooves, finding that he had traveled the whole fifty yards to the chamber’s door. If the shooting pain in his back was any indication, it was only by the grace of the stone’s supernatural strength, that he’d traveled no further. He staggered back to the containment circle, where a smiling Chrysalis snored peacefully, just outside the bounds of the runes. A pool of bluish, glowing drool was already pooling by her cheek. He gripped her tail in his magic and dragged her back to the center, then began reviewing each arcane symbol. A few gaps in his memory made themselves apparent, which he patched with all haste. The magic hummed back to life and the light-ring formed nearby. The queen was levitated back into it and the spell closed on her again. Adjustments were made to the strength of the bindings and their activation thresholds. Rune ran through them in his head and sighed. These were costly changes that would slow his progress. The magic that would maintain his body and make sleep unnecessary was significantly weaker. If he sustained further injuries, they would take minutes to heal, instead of seconds. He would have to sleep for at least two hours a day. Two hours of progress lost, every day.

Perhaps this was a good thing, he thought, as he rubbed the slowly receding mass of swollen flesh on his face. Now, he’ll have longer to savor the experience. The queen was more than just an exotic beauty, she was a powerful, intelligent, caring mare, despite her spicy callousness. What more could a discerning stallion ask for? Sure, he’d have to break her, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be a little something genuine in their future relationship.

Rune shook his head to clear the thoughts, regretting it as a headache flared up from remains of the healed concussion. Celestia’s radiant teats, he could really creep himself out sometimes.

Ah, yes. Celestia. How was she doing? Her trail of blackened feathers pointed to a small field of dimly glowing lights moving in lazy patterns around a patch of darkness. He headed in that direction, cantering slowly so that the majority of the damage would heal before he reached her.

“Your Highness? I’ve just come to see how you fare.” Rune stopped and raised a brow at the sight that greeted him as he neared. A sizeable mass of pure white feathers appeared to him in the shadows. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, more details revealed themselves. The mass was actually a woven mesh of feathers that held an even larger quantity of the princess’s down inside itself. The whole thing had to be several yards across and at least two yards tall. It smelled wonderful, like childhood memories. Not his, but somepony else’s.

Celestia smiled down at him from the edge of the makeshift bed, “Just fine, Agent Rune. I sense a change in the system. What happened?”

“Just a...minor incident. Nothing too serious.”

“Join me, please. Ah—I won’t accept a refusal. I know our bodies are being rejuvenated by your spells, but the weariness in your eyes doesn’t come from the body.”

Rune grinned sheepishly, but acquiesced, making to climb up the side of the mesh. He let go when he felt her lifting him with magic, though her horn never glowed. She set him beside her, their forehooves inches apart. The feathers whispered as they shifted beneath him, like sweet nothings from a lover’s lips. “Thank you, but, I have to ask: how are you able to cast spells? My runes are supposed to convert all of your power to their purpose.”

Celestia tittered, “Oh, just a small trick I picked up from the research of an old friend. As far as I could tell, he was never aware of this particular implication, but he went quite far with what he did discover. There’s more than one way to use magic, but there are some very severe limitations involved. Lifting you and creating these lights is about the extent of it, I’m afraid.”

“Fascinating.” Rune murmured.

“Hit you pretty hard, didn’t she?”

Rune stiffened and felt himself blush as he turned away, “Indeed…”

She hummed a good-natured laugh, “Let me make it better.”

Before he could ask what she meant, Rune felt the princess’s lips press upon the cheek that had been struck. It was like being caressed in a lovely dream. Childish as it was, he did feel better. But the lips pressed again, lower, closer to his neck. Too close. His blush deepened as a third kiss landed squarely on his neck and one of Celestia’s wings settled across his back.

“Your Highness, please...I-I…” A fourth kiss. A fifth. “Princess!” Rune cried leaping to his hooves, the bed’s material hissing at the sudden motion. He stumbled to the side, losing his balance on the plush surface and rolling away. Celestia herself seemed to come out of a daze as she watched him regain his legs.

“Oh! My goodness, I apologize, Agent Rune! The venom, it’s far stronger than I gave it credit,” Celestia squeezed her eyes shut and turned away from Rune, “Please, forgive me.”

“No harm done, your Highness,” Rune breathed, clearing his throat, “I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to control yourself. I shouldn’t have bothered you. I’ll take my leave.”

“That’s for the best, agent. Thank you, for coming to see me.”

Rune landed back on the ground with a sharp clatter of hooves, then turned and bowed low. “Your Highness.” He strode through the dark, struggling to strike the correct balance of speed that would best mask his eagerness to get away.

Rune hummed to himself, the embarrassing moment with Celestia having faded into the back of his mind, for the time being. He busied himself with inspecting each ‘tool’ that he pulled from the black silk bag. A crop, etched with runes to inflict the recipient of its lashes with optimal levels of pain for enhancing pleasure. An anal plug, enchanted to possess adjustable, mobile textures. Various sticky tabs and pills that channel raw magic into the dealer’s choice of vibrations or biologically safe electric shocks. A ball gag and a blindfold, ordinary. Rune glanced inside the bag, resisting the urge to rub his hooves together in anticipation. He had enough to work with, for now.

He arranged the selected tools in a neat row and stepped over to the sleeping queen. For safety’s sake, he conjured some restraints, anchored them to the floor, and slipped Chrysalis in. Having pushed the limits of what the vampiric fields would allow her, Rune wasn’t worried that she’d wake, and so he wasn’t gentle about moving her. When she had been fully secured, he stepped back to admire her figure. Laid out in a spread eagle position, with her rear hooves bound beside her ribs and her forehooves locked above her head, he thought she looked very endearing, especially with the grin she still wore as she slept. Her glistening, hot pink tongue lolled out of her rosy mouth and he couldn’t help wondering how it’s incredible length would feel, wrapped around his throbbing shaft. Dimming the nearby magelights, he was disappointed to see that most of her bioluminescence had faded. All that remained, was a feeble glow about her middle that only became apparent as he extinguished the majority of the light.

He brought a few orbs back into existence and began a more thorough, clinical examination of the queen’s anatomy.

“No apparent nipples, or other such obviously sensitive surface nodules. No readily accessible seams in body plating, changeling vagina and anus analogues notwithstanding. Vaginal interior is bright green, similar to bioluminescent plating. No apparent purpose or difference between the channels and ‘missing’ sections in legs. No defined, internal structures currently visible through semi-translucent barrel plates. Iridescent eyelid coloration, confirmed artificial, but permanent. Ears, gods-damned adorable. ‘Mane’ ribbons incredibly soft and smooth, though stiffening slightly near the ends. Crest seems to serve no purpose besides visual distinction.”

Rune sat back on his haunches and took stock. His tools were varied, but the avenues of attack seemed limited. He felt a pleasant tingle of anticipation as he realized this would be the first unrestricted, in-depth foray into changeling sexuality. He had a flawless, nearly limitless memory with which to absorb and catalogue the information, too. And a queen subject, no less. He wondered what the encyclopaedic Princess Twilight would do for that sort of information. Many had it on good authority that she’s a closet pervert, though no evidence had been brought to bear. Yet. It’s usually true of those bookish types, anyway. Many of the wildest members of Canterlot’s most exclusive BDSM club were holders of multiple academic degrees or, at least, frequented the non-fiction sections of libraries far more often than the average pony. He knew this, having been hired to vet most of them himself, between missions.

The queen stirred and Rune’s heart began to race. She moaned and pulled at the restraints, her grin fading as her brow crinkled with effort. Her limbs jolted once, twice, thrice, and her eyes shot open.

“Wha…?”

“Rise and shine, Chrysi.” Rune said, not unkindly, “Well, shine, anyway.”

Chrysalis gave one more concerned effort to break the restraints but fell back against the floor, out of breath. “At least restrain me with some dignity, you disgusting worm.”

Rune laughed, “But I have! I could have tied you down with your lovely ass in the air and your head to the ground like some common breeding sow, but I’m giving you the luxury of looking your captor in the eyes.” Rune levitated the crop over, giving the queen’s butt cheeks a casual stroke, which caused her to grunt through her teeth. “Be grateful.”

“I’ll be grateful when I’m drinking your blood from your own skull.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but changelings don’t drink blood.”

“I’ll make one satisfying exception.”

Rune rolled his eyes, “We both know that’d make you violently and enduringly ill, so who really gets the last laugh in that scenario?” He struck her ass again and she visibly seethed. “While we’re on the topic of changeling physiology, how are those sexual hormones kicking in? I’m surprised at how quickly you took the bait to bite the princess. Sealed your own fate there, you know?”

“Slime…you’re all filthy, perverted slime.”

“Pardon me, but it was your plan to trap us in here with a sexually overdriven alicorn. You figured she’d eventually force me to give you my seed so you could start producing the eggs she’d beg to receive. You’d then use them to barter for your freedom. How’s my aim?”

Chrysalis grinned, “Better than most, I’ll admit.” Rune struck her ass, erasing the mirthful expression.

“Damn right.” He levitated a half dozen tabs to them and began placing them on her body. One at the base of each wing and two on her stomach, a hoof apart. She flinched when he placed a tab against her anus.

“G-Get away from there!”

Rune glanced up and shrugged, “Okay.” He hovered a tab over her exposed clitorous, but changed his mind, placing the remaining two on each ass cheek. “What is that hole for, anyway? I know that nest substance you make comes from somewhere around your wings, but there’s no known instance of changelings producing waste, given your nonmaterial diet. Research suggests it’s converted directly into biomass and your dead cells are recycled into that nest material. Beautiful system, really. I’m a mite envious of your kind for that. Pony physiology can be tedious, at times.”

“You really think that?”

“More or less.”

“You know,” Chrysalis began in a sultry tone, “there are ways to become a changeling. I can show you, teach you everything you want to know about our bodies. Besides, you’ve never lived until you tasted the pure, innocent love of a child’s first crush.”

“Tempting, but I get to simulate the best parts of that experience in here, with my spells,” Rune channeled a pulse of energy into the tabs and Chrysalis yelped as they gave her a sharp jolt, “so I’m happy, just the way I am.”

“Curse you!” She shrieked, struggling against the restraints. He watched, amused, as she played out the tantrum. This was likely the first time anyone had so thoroughly dominated the queen of the changelings. It’ll be the easiest thing in the world to push her buttons. Perhaps the two hours won’t be such a loss, after all. When she finally settled down, having spent a new reserve of creative threats and obscenities, she relaxed, coated in a thin sheen of sweat and breathing hard. After a moment, she began to laugh, “Oh, the delightful things I’m going to do to that Lady Severance.” Chrysalis pronounced the name in a harshly mocking tone.

“If it weren’t for her, we would almost certainly have fallen for one of the decoys you hid in the crowd.” Rune laughed and sighed, “She’s a firecracker, you’re daughter.”

Chrysalis’ eyes snapped to Rune’s, “Touch her like this and the worst death you can currently imagine will be something you’ll beg for.”

“I have quite the imagination, Chrysi. You’d have your work cut out for you.”

“Mmm, cutting out. That’s a start.”

Rune’s years of experience as a dark agent of the throne had pitted him against some of the most sinister, depraved criminals Equestria has never heard about, and for good reason. The art of intimidation has been a well-refined cornerstone of these psychotic individuals’ operations, usually backed by numerous gruesome examples. But the way the simple suggestion oozed from the mouth of the changeling queen…

Rune swallowed. “Let’s change gears here and get to playing a little nicer with each other, hm?” He hovered the anal plug closer and brought it to Chrysalis’ mouth, giving her an expectant stare.

“You’re kidding.” She deadpanned.

“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to stop by the store and pick up lubrication before you attacked my home. Now, you can either suck on it like a good girl so it doesn’t hurt going in, or I can gag you until you drool all over it, anyway. I’d rather not be excessively cruel.” Chrysalis glared up at him for a long moment, but began inching her mouth open. Rune was about to thank her for cooperating when her tongue shot out, wrapping around the tool three times, then receded just as quickly, leaving the thing coated in a dripping, bluish saliva. He blinked, and promptly brought it to her ass. He pressed the bullet-shaped tip to the smaller, puckered hole, somewhat disappointed that her slit seemed to remain dry. As he pressed harder, the ring of her ‘anus’ expanded to accommodate its relatively modest girth. The queen grunted almost inaudibly as it entered her and Rune began to push its length inside. She took all eight inches of polymorphous material, her hole clamping shut around the narrow bit before the flared base. Rune gave it a few gentle tugs, to be sure it was anchored well, eliciting another wavering grunt from the queen. Without warning, he made the tabs give her a short zap that would contract her muscles around the plug. She cried out fully, ending the vocalization with a high, operatic note as her hips gave a stuttering buck. Chrysalis lay there, eyes squeezed shut, her chest rising and falling rapidly. “Feels great, doesn’t it? Sometimes, the horniest mares cum, just from that. Of course, I usually have to punish them for cumming without permission, but that’s half the fun for everyone.”

“You couldn’t give me an orgasm in a thousand years of hard—aahhhhnng!”

Rune watched in glee as the queen shuddered from the stream of shocks, her slit finally beginning to wink. He spied a moist glistening somewhere within her folds and dropped the charge. She slumped, as much as the restraints would allow, her head lolling about as she gasped for breath.

“Chrysi, if I had a thousand years to spend with you like this, you’d beg for another hundred thousand by the end.”

“You…o-o-oh-h,” she groaned, seemingly unable to form more than a fleeting thought. Rune approached her and studied her twitching slit. He sat and ran a hoof over her inner thigh, inching closer to her genitals. Gods, she smelled great, like nothing he’d ever smelled before. He felt his balls tightened again and a hot pressure formed in his groin as he reached the queen’s labia. He massaged the outer edge of her lips, gradually making his way to the shiny, swollen button. Just before contact, he pulled back. Rune stood and began to canter away, into the darkness. “Come...back here and finish me off, you...thin-blooded impotent.”

Only the darkness was witness to Rune’s colossal grin.

Queen Chrysalis, for she still considered herself the ruler of her people, glared down her bound body to the male that strutted away from her, willing him to burst into flame. The muscles of her body seized in tiny, scattered groups near the magic tabs. The occasional contraction buzzed the interior of her discharge canal, where he’d placed the foreign object. It still sent small bursts of stinging pleasure racing up her spine and warmed her inverted ovipositor. She could feel herself generating natural lubrication, in response. With an effort of extraordinary will and control, she forced the muscles of her genitals to contract in ripples that would keep her wetness from showing.

She had to admit, his technique was intriguing. So far, not the most intense, but unique and...frustratingly effective. The worst she had ever experienced, was at the hooves of a certain princess when she had come up with the brilliant idea to approach the beginning of an invasion campaign from the dreamworld. Before the first operation could even begin, a training exercise was intercepted by the recently embittered Princess Luna, who had been accreting an inner darkness, at the time. All of that pent-up anger and hatred for Celestia had been unloaded onto Chrysalis’ dream-self in a humiliating nightmare that lasted a subjective moon. She had awoken from an hour-long sleep feeling both exhausted and in such dire need of sexual release, she took a captured slave and nearly killed him in her bed chambers.

Even in that nightmare, she had never been touched there, however. Now, with the hard rod of a sex toy embedded deep into that forbidden place, she couldn’t help but squirm at the shameful delight. It pressed upon her inner walls from inside and created a more intense feeling of penetration, even though it was far smaller than an average male. She found she wasn’t surprised that pony females might cum from such stimulation.

Her belly gurgled and turned, the first signs that her reproductive processes would begin soon. The hormones released after envenoming Celestia would increase her sex drive and sensitivity as her body prepared eggs for fertilisation. Should they remain unseeded, they’ll degrade and be expelled from her discharge canal as material for the construction of a royal core. Without proper processing from special drones, they’ll become wildly unstable and deadly hazards. She must prevent this unless absolutely necessary, as her captors would likely engineer a form of leverage from it.

As much as the thought of losing viable eggs made her chest ache, she would have to convince the male to fertilise her.

At the same time, she had to assert more control over herself. The newness of these sensations had thrown her off balance and given her captor a taste of exactly what he wanted. No more. From here on, this handsome, prime, naive specimen was her plaything.

Rune finished carving a null-field sigil several yards across. In here, the active magics suffusing the rest of the chamber would be dampened, keeping his body from being rejuvenated. He stepped into it and began a rigorous series of exercises that brought a fine froth of sweat to his dark coat.

He thought of the mare he had been with before all of this began. She was a beautiful and sweet, demure thing that frequented the same adult club. They had met there and spent many an intimate hour together. Rune had gotten to know her well, though he shared few factual details with her. He learned she was an avid follower of the current host of Kindness, was a fan of many of the same films and media franchises as himself, and had once had a child, though she wouldn’t speak of it beyond a passing remark. Once, through many a stuttered and abashed phrase, she asked him on a date after a session together in one of the private rooms. Agent Umbran, his partner on a mission at the time, had expressed an intense disappointment with Rune, the day he shared the story of how he had turned her down.

‘Look here, asshole,’ Umbran began, gesturing to him with a mug of ale, ‘not many of us get a happy ending—fact. Statistically, we’re all but guaranteed to come to gruesome, painful ends, but you can’t keep throwing away these little glimmers of happiness. Not good for the spirit. Even if you die today, at least you would have given that poor, lonely girl a real treat of a memory she could carry around for the rest of her life.’ Here, Umbran lowered his voice, ‘Even you-know-who is married, and that bitch is nuts! She’s an explosives specialist for Celestia’s sake!’

Rune huffed a laugh and sat down in the center of the circle, catching his breath. He rubbed his head where a faint scar raised the flesh near his mane. His reply to Umbran’s reprimand had been something about being too bloodstained and callous for someone as pure as that mare, to which his partner seemed to take an almighty offense, dragging Rune out the back of the bar. Umbran beat him senseless, then left him there, bleeding and barely conscious, vowing to find that mare and screw her brains out after giving her the date Rune had refused.

Rune stopped seeing her at the club soon after, received a wedding invitation two years later, was there for his fellow agent when the divorce papers were filed a year after that, and, at the end of the following year, welcomed her back to the club with the best session they’d ever spent together.

That was the previous morning and she hadn’t changed a bit. They had their fun, bid each other fond farewells, and went about their lives. Simple, sweet, safe. He knew he’d likely never see her again, after this, which was a shame. She had become his longest-running project. Like some of his other partners, she spoke to him of her problems and insecurities. During their sessions, he’d guide her to a solution through teasing and punishment, then reward her with a hard, passionate fuck when she displayed signs of progress. He was good at it, as evidenced by his many happily returning ‘clients’.

Perhaps he could open a therapy business someday.

Rune stepped out of the circle, feeling almost instantly re-energized by his spells. He rubbed the pale froths of sweat until they were no longer visible, but didn’t bother with any cleansing magic. He had work to do and his body was just another tool at his disposal.

“You’ve been quiet, Chrysi,” Rune said, as he approached the queen,” Plotting and scheming up a storm, I imagine?”

“Wondering how long you’ll stall. Here I am, so gorgeous and vulnerable and you still can’t bring yourself to get hard for me. Did my little love tap scare you that much?”

“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. Obviously, you hit like a filly.”

“Funny, a filly is exactly what you sounded like for the first twenty hooves of air time.” Rune’s memory of that moment was hazy, at best, so he ignored the comment and stepped closer. He conjured a choker restraint and anchored it with a few inches of leeway for Chrysalis to move about, then climbed on top of her, gently resting his haunches on her hips. He watched her nostrils flare involuntarily as sweat and pheromones wafted off his body.

“When was the last time someone really, and I mean really, made love to you, Chrysi? A century? Two? Four? Or have you always had to use a disguise and a fake personality to get a mate?” Rune ran a hoof along her sides and belly as he spoke.

Chrysalis’ eyes wandered askance, “A queen doesn’t bother with all that nonsense.”

“Never, huh?” Rune clicked his tongue and continued to pet the queen’s sides, appreciating the smoothness of her flesh, “Poor Queen Chrysalis. Never had a real lover in her life.” She made a sharp sound in her throat and bared her fangs. Rune laughed aloud, “If it makes you feel any better, I like you just the way you are, honest.”

Rune’s hoof traced a slow line from her chest to her hips and Chrysalis’ mouth opened to emit a faint sigh, “F-Fool. You’ll never get anywhere with such obvious techniques.”

“Then let’s get a little more serious, shall we?” Rune removed the tab on her stomach that lay nearest his balls and levitated it behind him, pressing it to her clitorous. He felt a miniscule flinch as it made contact. He channeled a brief packet of magic into the other five tabs, giving her a tiny series of shocks. She convulsed beneath him with a somewhat sensual moan that quickly became a growl. It was the most arousing sound Rune had heard in a long while. He didn’t suppress the swelling of his cock, this time. He leaned over her, “I think I heard a bit of honesty in there.”

Chrysalis’ eyes locked onto his and her head shot forward, maws spread inequinely wide as she attempted a bite, but the choker restraint stopped her just short of Rune’s muzzle. The angry hiss that came from her throat was converted into a ragged moan as he made the tab on her clit seize with an intense vibration. Her legs strained and fought against the restraints as she drew in a breath and visibly combatted the urge to make any further noise. She writhed beneath him, eyes closed and jaws clenched. Rune unconsciously bit his lip as he studied the queen’s reaction with intense focus, searching for signs of an approaching orgasm. He dropped the magic when a high note squeezed past Chrysalis’ teeth. She instantly relaxed, her previously arched back falling flat against the warmed stone. Her chest rose and fell at a higher rate than normal, but her breaths were controlled and steady. Her nostrils flared again as something new stimulated her senses. Chrysalis cracked her eyelids, but when she saw what had gotten her attention, they flew open. Rune watched in amusement as her pupils contracted at the sight of his semi-erect member. Her gaze darted between his cock and eyes as her wings twitched and flexed.

Chrysalis’ gaze narrowed, “Is that all you have for me?” she huffed.

Rune appreciated how she wasn’t clear about making a jab at his endowment or the torture. “It’s all you get, for now,” he said, letting his cock and balls slide across her belly as he climbed off, “That is, unless you’d like to ask me very nicely for more. And I do mean with a cherry on top.”

“Choke to death on it.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” Rune’s horn lit up as he grasped the butt plug in his magic and pulled it from Chrysalis’ hole in one swift motion. She cried out in shock, then began writhing and twitching as Rune alternated between buzzing the tab on her clit and shocking her with the others. Her moans came in short fits as she seemed to try holding the sounds back between stimulants. When he felt like she had enough, he dropped the charges, let her catch her breath for a minute, then began to give her clit a mild, constant vibration. The pleasure was so subtle, she didn’t seem to realize she was groaning and bucking her hips until a few minutes in, when she abruptly cut herself off. By then, a small dark stain had formed under her ass. Rune realized he had expected her juices to be as bright green as her genitals or a clear blue, like her saliva. Instead it was just as colorless as an ordinary mare’s arousal. He controlled his urge to sample her flavors by reminding himself that he had time on his side.

Still, maybe a little taste wouldn’t hurt.

Rune began to ramp up the intensity of the tab’s vibration until Chrysalis’ suppressed moans rose in pitch. Just when they were about to reach a crescendo, he placed his head beside her leaking slit, gave her a jolt of electricity and peeled back the tab. She convulsed, then lay still. He gave her swollen clit a quick peck and backed away with a satisfied lick of his lips. Chrysalis, sensing his touch, gave one last series of high-pitched notes, almost as if readying for a sneeze. Her hips bucked with each exhalation, rising by tiny degrees. After a moment of silence and stillness, she slumped with a frustrated growl. Rune internally sighed with relief and peeled away the remaining five tabs. When he was sure she had backed away from the precipice of climax, he wet the plug against her nether lips and eased the toy back into her ass. Chrysalis grunted and shivered as the last two inches slipped inside. Next, Rune conjured a set of acid green panties to cover her privates, adding magical properties to keep them in place and resistant to any efforts the wearer might make to stimulate herself through them. He banished the rest of the restraints and watched as she sat up, pressing a hoof to her crotch and glaring around at him as she discovered the clothing’s properties.

“You’re sick.”

“Of course I am. I wouldn’t have this job, if I wasn’t. That’s the difference between our worlds, Chrysalis. Celestia takes broken, disfigured things and makes them into works of art or tools of peace and prosperity for her subjects. All you do, is make broken and disfigured things.”

Chrysalis scoffed, “She and I aren’t as different as you think. I, at least, have the nerve to stand up to fate.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Chrysalis turned her back and settled down, as if to sleep, “Ask your fellow agents.” she mumbled. “Or let me go and I might let you in on a little secret about your perfect, fearless leader.”

“You know, I could flay you for weeks until I got answers.”

“Mmm, but you won’t,” Chrysalis hummed, throatily, giving her rear end a subtle wave, “you want to spread these holes of mine wide open with your hard stallion meat too badly,” she shot him a hard look with one eye, “and you want me to want it, too. So...very...bad.”

Author's Note

Sorry, not sorry for the fantasy biology lesson in the middle of your free porn, but I had an idea and I thought it was cool. Sue me.

Please don't sue me, though, I'm poor.

You Call This Rape(?)

“You–hah–call this rape? I’ve had starving–ah–slaves fuck me hard–mmh–harder than this!”

Rune tried not to take the bait, but his pride forced him to try thrusting deeper into Chrysalis. They glared at each other as he hilted his stallionhood into her body from a full draw, then backed out for another full-length slam. Their sweaty sex made lewd, sloppy noises that echoed throughout the chamber and enhanced Rune’s fiery arousal. He felt his medial ring push apart her weird flesh with brutal speed, the exquisite sensations working him up to a demonic orgasm. He grappled with the decision to give her ebony exterior a pearly coat or to paint her glowing insides with his virulent seed, but he knew he had to make a choice soon.

“Yeah? Do you cum like a virgin for them and wrap your legs around their waist too?” Rune huffed.

Chrysalis broke eye contact for a moment and he felt her legs lift from his lower back as he impaled her again. Shortly, her wicked stare returned in full force, but she said nothing, merely baring her fangs. Ego satisfied, Rune returned to his slightly less forceful technique, sacrificing impact for speed. At some point, Chrysalis’ eyes closed and her head tilted back as her lips parted to let out gentle, strained moans. The sight made Rune’s gut tighten and he prepared himself for a climax of epic proportions. He decided he didn’t care where he shot his seed and would feel it out when the moment came.

“Please, let me feel your love inside.”

Rune was shocked at the queen’s sudden change in attitude, but happy to oblige. He made his last few thrusts and hilted himself, letting the thought of a cum-flooded womb push him over the edge and…

...awoke to the smell of his own spunk splattering across the floor beside him. He jolted halfway up and pounded the bare floor as a hollow, pleasureless orgasm ripped through his body, painfully expelling the contents of his balls into a series of scattered threads that glimmered with the light of Celestia’s distant, colorful starfield. As the orgasm relaxed its hold on his throat, he struggled to suppress a guttural, animalistic whinny, though some shreds of it escaped. The sounds didn’t echo, but he didn’t doubt that it carried far enough for the mares to hear in the open chamber.

“Fuck,” Rune breathed, struggling to sit up on weak limbs.

A sinister hum of laughter drifted through the darkness to reach him, stabbing his chest with a shard of panic. Was Chrysalis somehow responsible for that dream? If she broke the containment circle, there’s no doubt he’d already be dead. If she also knows how to seize control of runes, she could have given herself enough freedom to cast a dreamweaver spell. Dammit! How had he not considered that already? Rune’s jaw tightened as he chastised himself for the oversight, feeling out of his element. Strategy and logistics were always best left to Incanta and Umbran, while he listened for flaws his keen memory would allow him to see before others.

Now that he was thinking of it, he had intended to ask Celestia how it was possible for her to control his runes. He dreaded approaching her, though. He knew she’d be burning with chemically-induced arousal and his very presence would be a dent in her crucial restraint. Still, he needed to know. The knowledge could prove vital to the security of the mission.

With a pang of self-abasement, Rune remembered the spell to establish psionic communication. He wasn’t familiar with it, but felt confident it could be puzzled out with peripheral knowledge. Rune looked to the field of stars as he caught his breath. The nocturnal discharge had truly been brutal and stress lights still danced across his vision, mingling with the distant trails of magelight. When his mind felt clear, he began the spell as he understood it, first peeling back the natural defenses all consciousness possesses. This would have been dangerous anywhere else in the world, but in this chamber, only he should be capable of entering a foreign mind. Into an otherworldly maelstrom of aetheric information fields, he pushed his perceptions outward, feeling for the resistance of the other two beings. Curiously, Rune detected only one other mind besides his own. Probing further, he sought to understand the mind’s identity or location and, in so doing, perhaps discover which of the other two was managing to cloak themselves.

Rune’s consciousness had just enveloped the unyielding defenses when a stabbing pain shot through him. Though the physical irritation was not localized to any part of his body, he felt a sense of being attacked from behind. He squirmed and thrashed in both planes of existence until a voice spoke to him.

It’s only me, Rune. Let me help.

Celestia’s words came into him as if echoing from the boundaries of the cosmos itself. He was disarmed by the sheer vastness of the impression and left to float aimlessly in the roiling aether as he struggled to hold himself together. Reality slammed back into focus with its hard edges and mercifully limited scope and Rune found himself lying on the floor, alone.

Please, never do that again.

Her voice rippled through him, though it felt far more mundane, this time. Still, Rune detected an odd doubling and came to understand that the second voice was his own, to himself.

Thank you, your Highness. I won’t.

What is so important, agent?

Earlier, you took control of my runes. I need to know how you did that. I’m afraid Chrysalis may have the same capability and used it to allow herself some degree of freedom, enough to enter my dreams, just now.

Celestia delivered her response without a moment of pause, That shouldn’t be possible, but check your runes thoroughly and report to me for field training. I’ll think on this issue in the meantime.

Copy that.

One more thing, Agent Rune.

Yes, your Highness?

You may as well speak to me in person. I understand your intentions, but distancing yourself physically puts no less strain on me.

Rune hesitated, but responded, Understood.

Chrysalis remained in the same position as before when Rune approached her, accompanied by a modest magelight just over his shoulder. He knew her eyes followed him as he circled her containment area, inspecting the runes and checking them against his memory. After reviewing their effects and finding nothing amiss, he moved on to the control runes. Here, something did stand out. A module designed to dictate the captive’s physical sensitivity had been adjusted. The change was so minor, it would have been imperceptible to the subject and gone unnoticed by anyone other than a pony with a photographic memory. Someone had tampered with his system and tried setting it back. Rune decided not to say anything. Once he learned how his runes could be controlled by others, he would almost certainly be able to construct a defensive response. For now, a little deception was in order.

“Tell me how you did that and maybe this next part can be fun for both of us,” Rune said.

Chrysalis’ tail flicked with annoyance and she spoke from the corner of her mouth, “You’ll have to be a little more specific, dear.”

“Don’t bother playing these games with me, Chrysalis.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We both know you’ll do what you came to do, anyway.”

Rune hummed with impatience, but said, “You’re right, to an extent. Actually, I was hoping we could play a game.” Rune waited for a reaction, but Chrysalis remained silent, eyes closed. “I’m not being coy when I say I like you,” he said, coming around to the edge of the circle, where the queen lay, “You’re fascinating. I wonder what makes someone like you tick, what keeps you going, all that jazz. What worldly subjects pique your curiosity, your Majesty?”

Chrysalis’s eyes cracked open at Rune’s words. There had been no ironic or taunting inflection in his formal address. He spoke as if the words were natural and routine. Was he trying to charm her with a pretense of respect? If so, it only served as an annoyance. And yet, somehow, it almost felt good to hear it after recent events. It came infuriatingly close to lifting her spirits.

“What am I curious about?” she said, finally lifting her head from the ground, “I’m curious to see the color of your insides and the pitch of your screams when you see them outside of you.” To Chrysalis’ chagrin, her captor laughed aloud at this, though not with malice or sarcasm.

“That passion is what I enjoy about you. It doesn’t come from a lack of understanding what’s productive and acceptable, like most of the criminals we take down, it comes from a place of love. I’m certain of it.”

Chrysalis was taken aback. She knew she masked her surprise well, but the way his perceptions had cut to her heart so quickly was disturbing. Only two others outside her hive had ever given her that level of moral credibility and neither had done it easily.

“Tch—You’ve been brainwashed by those soft-hearted princesses. Just like my wayward daughter.”

Rune chuckled, “Well, it’s logically impossible to refute that, I suppose. But if I had a choice, I’d say there were worse options for indoctrination.”

Chrysalis shot him a glare, but he wasn’t giving her the meaningful look she expected. Instead, his eyes had clearly traveled to her clothed hindquarters, where they dwelt with a lusty gleam. Her wings twitched involuntarily and she became acutely aware of the object lodged inside of her. A fresh coating of love juices made her feel slippery and warm inside.

“What are you staring at, beast?” she snapped.

Rune smiled and gave Chrysalis a smouldering look, “You appear to be in need of some relief. Maybe you’d like to play that game now, Chrysi?”

That stupid pet name again, she seethed. “Like I said, do whatever you want,” Chrysalis grumbled, turning away from her captor.

“Those weren’t your exact words before, but if you insist.” Rune levitated over the toolbag and extracted the crop, a magic tab, a length of soft rope, and the blindfold. He hungrily watched her thighs rub together as he tied the cloth over her eyes. He placed the same enchantments on this as he had on the green panties, then took her forehooves in a magic hold, bringing them to her flanks. She hissed as he lifted her rear into the air and set her on her hind hooves. The position forced her to lay on her chest with her face pressed to the floor. He wound the rope in an intricate binding that kept her forelegs pressed to her sides, then wrapped once around the base of her tail, making the ribbons arch up and fall across her back. The green garments were banished and a tab was placed on Chrysalis’ throbbing clit. She let out a tiny, sharp breath as he pressed it into place with a little extra motion and pressure than necessary. Rune felt his nostrils flare as her exquisite smell permeated the area. He came back around to her front after working and, in a reasonable tone, began, “This game is simple. I’ll ask you a question about yourself and, if you give a satisfactory answer, you get a little of this…” the air filled with the sound of suppressed moans and vibrating tab material, “...understand? Good. I don’t think I need to tell you what happens if I don’t like the answer, or if I think you’re lying. But-just-for-fun.” Chrysalis visibly flinched, her ass rising an inch and her wings buzzing for a split second. When nothing happened, she let out a frustrated sigh at the trick. “Good girl. I’m glad you’ve been paying attention. I was going to save this as a surprise, but I think you deserve to know what happens when you please me enough.” Rune activated the mobile textures of the anal plug and gave the magic tab enough charge to vibrate with its greatest intensity. Music filled the air. He sat back and listened, watching as Chrysalis’ face contorted in vain efforts to stifle a flood of natural reactions. He let his cock rise, looming over her head, and waited for the signs of her approaching climax.

Her cries carried on for a few minutes, broken by softer sets of exhalations that preceded even more pleasure sounds. By the time Rune realized anything was amiss, a dribble of pre-cum had left a clear, gleaming streamer between his tip and the queen’s muzzle. He cut off all the magic at once and spun to his hooves, his member swinging about painfully. He circled around to the gasping queen’s backside and studied her sloppy wet sex. She was still clenching in the throes of climax. Chrysalis’ laugh began as a throaty, exhausted chuckle, but soon evolved into a hearty chortle. Rune circled back around to her front, sat by her head and eventually joined her in the mirth. The afterglow kept Chrysalis giggling, even after Rune’s laughter died down.

He patted her shoulder and said, “Well, you got me Chrysi, fair and square. All I need now is a good and proper ‘thank you, sir’.” Chrysalis went silent. They remained quiet for a long moment before Rune spoke up again, “Okay, call that your first chance. I’ll give you just one more and you don’t even have to be nice about it. Just say, ‘thank you, sir’.” The silence persisted until Rune sighed with exaggerated disappointment, “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised and I certainly don’t blame you, but after our first exchange, I thought you’d know better.” He stood and cantered over to the control sigil. “I’m just going to set you up with a few modifications to your containment field and we’ll get started on your punishment.”

Rune tapped and slid his hoof across the sigil, humming thoughtfully as he worked. When he came to a set of conditions that satisfied him, he began work on a new ring of runes that enveloped the current circle in its entirety.

“What about your game? Don’t you want to try your pathetically transparent attempt at bonding with me?”

“No, there are more important matters at hoof.” Rune said, whipping off the blindfold. He folded it and placed it back into the bag, followed by the rope. Chrysalis got to her hooves and stretched like a cat, making sure Rune witnessed her nonchalance. He stood by, outside the containment circle, and met her gaze as she did this, following the movement of her head with his eyes. He looked into the bag and levitated two objects out of it, keeping one hidden behind his back and tossing the other into the center of the ring. On contact, it expanded into a large, trapezoidal prism with a wide, cushioned top and two sloping, metal sides. Six buckled leather restraints, two hooves apart from their neighbors, were securely fixed to these angled sides and lay open. Before Chrysalis could make any remarks or resist, Rune levitated her bodily onto the cushioned surface and pinned each leg in place as he worked the restraints around them. Her abnormally taller, longer body made her a little more difficult to restrain as intended, but when Rune was finished, he stepped back and inspected his work. “How’s that? Anything hurt? Straps too tight?”

“What do you care?” Chrysalis spat.

Rune raised a brow at this, “Suit yourself.”

“Wait, the front left one here is rather tight.”

Rune stepped around to inspect the strap and pretended to be surprised, “Hmm, I think you’re right. That looks uncomfortable.” He unbuckled the strap and adjusted it to a notch he knew was too loose. “Better?” Chrysalis didn’t respond, simply glaring out into the featureless black. “Right, then, say ‘ah’.” Her expression darkened, but she made no move to obey. Rune gave her clit a jolt with the tab still adhered to it and followed this up by briefly powering both of the remaining sex toys to their maximum speeds. Chrysalis’ resulting gasp of pain and pleasure forced her jaws apart long enough for Rune to slip in the ring gag. Chrysalis shook her head furiously, but between the speed at which her captor worked and the intense distraction in her nethers, the branching leather straps were in place around her head before she could begin to thwart the process. The ring gag spread her jaws open to their fullest and her head was forced down onto the rest of the sex bench’s unoccupied cushion. Chrysalis’ head hung just over the edge of the bench. Rune held her there with his magic as he stepped around to her front. She watched as his cock, once again, slid from its sheath, still a little moist from his previous arousal and smelling strongly of male musk. She drew in a breath as its full length and girth was finally revealed. She had seen and taken larger, but those had been few and far between, and no male had ever been inside her mouth. She refused to react and give him the satisfaction. Rune hopped up and placed his forehooves on either side of her neck. “Since you skipped way ahead and got a free treat before you were supposed to, I think it’s only fair that I get one, too. Still, there’s no reason you can’t also enjoy yourself a little, so I’m going to be generous and let you cum again while you take the first half of your punishment.” Chrysalis’ angry, slurred retort was blasted from her mind by a burst of stimulation as the toys were reactivated. It was immediately noticeable that the sensations were far more intense than natural, and she felt herself approaching climax before the cock had even passed her lips.

Rune sighed as he thrust forward and felt the hot, moist cavern of Queen Chrysalis’ mouth warm his swollen member. He pushed further until he felt the flared head spreading apart her velvety throat. He felt her cough around his meat in between moans and enjoyed the feeling of her bioluminescent saliva coating his shaft. The first of her orgasms brought a spine-tingling vibration up from her chest that tickled Rune’s cock in all the right ways. The pleasure summoned an unresisted impulse to thrust even harder. As he did so, he was engulfed completely. Rune looked down to see his considerable package vanished into the queen’s face. He almost came right then, but kept himself under control by a hair’s breadth. He drew himself out, slowly, then eased back in, eliciting a couple gags between moans this time. Gradually, he built up a modest speed, until he was thrusting once every couple seconds, never staying fully inside for more than three or four seconds at a time. He enjoyed the sloppy feel and sounds of the oral, Chrysalis’ enraged, guttural gagging between moans of magically enhanced pleasure sending shivers up his spine. He let the ecstasy of the extraordinary situation and Chrysalis’ soft, sedentary tongue do most of the work of bringing him to his own climax. Rune’s genitals begged him to ram her throat for all its worth, but he knew it would be more effective to ease her into such rough acts of foreplay. There was time, after all. For now, he closed his eyes and groaned as he slid his rod in and out of the queen, enjoying every moist sound and the feel of her drool as it eventually dribbled down across his balls. He even enjoyed the occasional brush with her fangs.

After a time, a tightness in Rune’s gut signalled the impending orgasm and he was tempted to expend it inside, but he already had other plans. As Chrysalis was wracked with a surge of climax, the pleasure multiplied by a lack of air, her captor was pushed over the edge. Rune withdrew, deactivated the toys, and growled as he held his cock, unloading rope after rope of thick, pearly seed. It hurt, just as much as before, but it was a glorious pain, this time. The cum dripped down her face, mane and horn, falling in audible plips as Rune shuddered with carnal delight, shaking out the last sticky strands of his love. He hopped down and sighed with satisfaction as Chrysalis heaved exhausted breaths past the ring. Rune retrieved the ball gag from his bag and unbuckled the straps of the ring gag, pulling it from the queen’s mouth with tender care. He replaced this with the ball gag, silencing her broken threats and insults to him between attempts to catch her breath.

“You did great, Chrysi. Your master is very pleased with how well you handled yourself. You’re still due for some more discipline, but I’ll let you rest and think for a while. I’ll be back to clean you up and get you started on your next punishment, your Majesty.”

With that, Rune began to walk away. He found the crop, lying forgotten on the floor from earlier, picked it up in his magic, and gave the queen a single lash. She screamed around the ball gag with obvious fury as he tossed the crop into his bag. Chrysalis continued to hurl garbled barbs his way and, as Rune stepped beyond the new ring of sound-dampening spells, he was sure she would continue for some time.

Rune sighed with anticipation as he approached the dancing magelights. He dreaded the awkward encounter with the princess, knowing she would burn with a mating desire every second they spent together. He wondered how severely Agent Umbran would attempt to beat him for having apprehensive thoughts about being lusted after by the princess. It was widely known that most ponies, with a taste for the fairer sex, have earnestly fantasized over having sexual or romantic relations with the cosmically beautiful princesses. Still, Rune’s first exposures to Celestia were in a context entirely devoid of, and even against, such basal inclinations. He loved her, more than he could ever express, but in ways he couldn’t fully grasp.

“Your Highness?” Rune circled the feather-bed, but found no one. He gazed up, into the cloud of magelights swirling overhead and quickly noticed a pattern within their motions. He studied it until the light blazed a familiar trail on his retina. A short, inverted triangle pointed toward a straight, horizontal line. The proportions and color gave it the particularity of a RICTUS glyph that meant the observing agent should stand by. Rune sat and waited.

When his back began to ache, he leaned against the feather mesh and took in the calming scents that wafted out at his touch. He closed his eyes, reflecting on his plan for the changeling queen. What little experience he had with influencing the psychology of mares could hardly be applied to the situation at hoof. Still, that didn’t mean nothing could be gleaned from what he managed to accomplish with his other partners or, more specifically, that lovely, soft-spoken regular. Now that he thought about them in the same context, if there was a significant range of similarities between her and Chrysalis, perhaps some of the same training methods that worked on the former, could work on the latter. That mare had been a tough nut to crack on several deep-seated issues, but he had gotten through to her, eventually. At the cost of many bottles of lubrication and bearing witness to her look of heartbreak as he turned down her only romantic proposition.

Rune’s reverie was broken by the sound of beating wings. He stood upright as he watched the princess glide to a plush landing atop the bed. When she spoke, her words were as soft and cold as snow.

“How is she doing, agent?”

“Defiant. But we’ve only just begun. Her first real test will begin when you and I have finished here.” Celestia hummed her understanding and looked in the direction of the dim magelight Rune left hovering around Chrysalis.

“I can only hope her burden of restraint is at least half as dire as my own.”

“There are spells to alleviate the stress on you, your Highness. Unfortunately, the magic involved in changeling reproductive cycles is poorly understood. I couldn’t safely relieve you of all—”

“There are a great many methods and positions you could use to relieve me,” Rune stiffened and felt his face flush at those words, “but I’m interested in experiencing this to its fullest. Not only that, I’m unsure I could truly face what we’re doing without taking the unadulterated portion of suffering that I’m due. One way, or another.”

“But this was my plan, as an agent of RICTUS. By the accord of the throne and the agency, onus belongs to the acting party.”

Still staring at Chrysalis’ location, she replied, “I could have restrained or killed you the moment your intentions became clear, especially since I was just made aware of the possibility of traitors among us. For that, culpability falls on me, as well. Laws and pacts are insubstantial in the court of the heart and I hold that place in higher regard than any material house of arbitration.”

Rune let a small silence dwell between them before he spoke, “Why didn’t you, your Highness?”

Celestia gazed down at him without turning her head, “Because I needed to know how deep that dark streak runs in you. Because I wanted to know how deep is runs in me, as well.” Her eyes flicked back to Chrysalis. “There are few opportunities for someone in my position to test the limits of their capacity for sin. Not having these little excursions from sainthood is what leads to concentrated manifestations of hatred and rage, like that which took my sister from me, all those centuries ago.”

“Oh,” Rune breathed, aghast, “is that all?”

“Well, that, and some other recent developments, both personal and secular.” Celestia turned to meet Rune’s gaze, “Now then, about your runes. I’ve given it some thought and I’m most certain Chrysalis is currently incapable and ignorant of the only method of controlling others’ runes.”

Rune sighed with relief, but perked back up when he noticed something about Celestia’s explanation, “Did you say she’s currently incapable?”

“Yes. As you know, runic magic derives power from the conscious mind of the inscriber. To put it simply, a mutual bond between two individuals gives those the inscriber loves or cares for, the means to infuse their own will onto a rune. On a related note, the Element of Magic manifests to those who are most capable of facilitating those types of bonds. Friendship and love are, quite literally, magic.”

“I see. This means that if Chrysalis ever did take control of a rune, it would be because my work was already complete.” Rune smiled and looked down thoughtfully.

“No.” Celestia intoned. Rune glanced back up with trepidation. “Not with her. Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean?”

“Consider this: Chrysalis is willing to sacrifice her own children for the gain of the hive, and yet, seems to truly care for them in her own brutal way. Recall her last words to Lady Severance. Even if a bond formed between you, there’s no guarantee she would treat it the same as ponies treat bonds between each other. For her, it may be natural to manipulate and sacrifice you, as well.”

"A fair point, princess." Rune glared into the dark, "Though I’m no stranger to coarse forms of love."

Celestia smiled kindly, "I'm counting on just that, my little pony."

"But how can I safeguard my runes?" The princess's smile faded.

"Unfortunately," she sighed, "I'm not sure if a defensive measure is possible; the phenomenon takes place at the very root of runic magic. I'm sorry I don't have better news, but I'm certain you'll come up with something to counter this vulnerability."

“Knowing how it’s done would help, certainly.”

“Yes, of course, that also brings us to our next topic and the primer for your spell training. The mechanics, while physically esoteric and complex, can be explained simply. As you know, each rune is paired with a higher-dimensional energy construct that manifests on the interplay between conception and inscription. So long as you hold them in memory, these delicate constructs are intrinsically linked to your consciousness and protected from the chaos of the aether by an extension of the natural information membrane that enshrouds your own mind. They react to all consciousness that comes into contact, but favorably only to the signature of the mind that created them. Individuals, bonded through the magic of friendship to the runecrafter, carry a small portion of that signature and can use it to work the mechanics of the rune, through the membrane, as if it were a device inside a loosely inflated balloon. This requires physical contact with the inscription and comes with severe limits. Further still, the allied foreign operator can memorize the same properties used to empower the rune and leave behind their own membrane, allowing for easier manipulations. A side effect of this, is that the rune’s integrity is strengthened.”

Rune listened to the princess’ lecture incredulously. “That’s your idea of a ‘simple’ explanation, your Highness?” he said with a grin.

Celestia returned the expression, “Believe me, agent, that is among the simplest descriptions of the process.”

“Well, it is helpful. Come to think of it, that explains why the Masa twins’ runic enchantments were legendary and their blades never broke. Until they passed away, of course.” Rune thought for a moment, then said, “What does this have to do with the communication spell?” Being forced to look up to meet the princess’ gaze, he was beginning to feel like a schoolcolt again.

“The concept behind the spell’s workings are similar and the visualization exercise helps to execute it correctly. Earlier, you stripped away your natural defenses to try to access what I hope was my mind. That was the incorrect approach.” Now, Rune really did feel like he was back in school. “Much like the loose balloon analogy, the safest, effective method to establish mental communication, is to shape an outward extension of your membrane with a sustained, thaumic pressure, into the membrane of another. The recipient of your spell can sense what is, essentially, a benign attempt at a one-way intrusion and choose to accept or repel you. If the connection is accepted, the recipient’s membrane will fuse at the point of contact and information can be passed from the caster. With some caveats.”

“Those don’t sound like fun caveats.”

“They can be, but only if you trust the other party. With enough mental discipline and the right understanding, it doesn’t require a spell to reverse that flow. Information can be forced back on you, if the receiving party is so inclined. They can send malicious thoughts and ideas or even implant memetic concepts. Furthermore, without exceptionally resilient mental defenses, you shouldn’t try to reach out over large distances. Much like a balloon, if your membrane is stretched too far, it’s weaker at all points and liable to break or be invaded.”

“And two-way communication?”

“That’s a bit more complex. For now, just focus on establishing a connection without breaking down your defenses and I’ll take care of communicating back once you’ve gotten the hang of it.”

“Very well, princess. I’m ready to begin.”

W(h)etting Appetites [Intermission]

Chrysalis seethed atop the sex bench. She ground her fangs against the leather strap in her mouth, but after long, futile efforts, she conceded that the thing had probably been reinforced with an enchantment. Her throat ached and her chest still felt tight from air deprivation. Likewise, her nethers still leaked and burned from the overstimulation. Just the thought of it made her clench with reflexive arousal. Damn him, she thought. Her sopping wet hole still felt so ready for a cock and she squirmed, vainly hoping she could find something to rub her clit against to alleviate the harsh desire for another orgasm.

To distract herself, she pondered the strap that had been left just slightly too loose. Was it a trick? It had to be. Though she had hoped trick him into just such a mistake, Chrysalis had to reconsider. This stallion seemed too experienced with his equipment and methods to make such a basic blunder. He wanted her to get her hoof loose. But why? Through the haze of sexual heat, Chrysalis studied her left foreleg. There didn’t seem to be a way to loosen the other straps, not that it would accomplish much since she’d still be trapped within the containment circle. Perhaps this was a test, something to give him an excuse to whip her for disobedience. She wouldn’t be surprised at that, he seemed to have a real streak for sadism, as evidenced by the mess he left on her face. She grinded her fangs together, out of fury this time, but caught herself and took a deep breath. She released it in a growl as a droplet of cum made its way into her mouth. It made her even more furious that she couldn’t even be disgusted with the taste. His seed was sweet and mild, the cur!

Presently, the soft beat of hoofsteps began to grow in the distance. Chrysalis resisted the urge to turn her head and glare at Rune, opting to maintain what little poise she could by refusing to acknowledge his approach. Her dignity shriveled when a shuddering moan escaped her at the sensation of his tongue sliding across her eager slit. It moved up and down and around her clit, lapping up every drop of the arousal that had been leaking from her for the past hour without relief. But something was different, strange. This tongue was too attentive, too mindful to be a stallion’s. Chrysalis sniffed the air and there, just under her own pheromones, a downy, familiar, feminine scent lurked. Suddenly, the pretense dropped and she felt more than heard Princess Celestia’s quavering moan as her enemy rolled her tongue about Chrysalis’ folds.

“You changelings have such exotic flavors,” Celestia said in a smoky murmur before diving back into the pussy. Chrysalis’ eyes rolled into her head as she fought to repress the reactions that would betray just how much she was enjoying herself. By the powers, this princess was good. Every tease and stroke was made with the artful skill and cunning with which a grandmaster martial artist might feint and attack his opponent. Each time Chrysalis felt her loins warm with the approach of an orgasm, Celestia would reduce her efforts, only to give tiny, enticing jabs at her clit, making her throb inside with frustration and desire. While she had often desired exerting dominance over the princesses by forcing them to perform such acts on her, this inversion of the balance of power still contained potent granules of excitement, especially since Chrysalis was more than certain she would prevail, in time. This was just a small taste of her future victory, made sweeter with the knowledge that Celestia foolishly thought she was in control of their destinies. With these thoughts in mind, Chrysalis relaxed into the cunnilingus, moaning as freely as she could through the gag.

Finally, when there seemed to be no steeper drop to which Celestia could edge the changeling, her tongue began to dance a furious staccato on the queen’s hyper-sensitive button. Chrysalis’ heart hammered as she anticipated the crash of pleasure she would soon experience, arching her back and unconsciously pushing back against the princess. The intensity of the stimulation seemed to build and build and build, yet no matter how hard and fast she was licked, no climactic peak seemed within reach. She growled and whined and squirmed, as if an orgasm was something she could shake loose from some broken mechanism within herself. Celestia’s ministrations suddenly broke off, just as Chrysalis at last realized something was wrong.

A soft series of hoof falls sounded and Celestia’s voice came gently into her ear. “Do you understand now? My subject’s plans for you are cruel and cunning, but with a feminine touch, they could be so much more effective. In a few minutes, he’ll be free of the trance I placed on him, and he’s going to return to you. He’ll ram his cock into that delicious hole of yours for days. He won’t get tired and his capacity for finding this task amusing will seem limitless. You won’t be allowed to cum or sleep or have a second of peace. You’ll take his stallionhood with an ocean of pleasure, but not an ounce of relief. I, however, will pleasure myself to your screams and pleas and cum a hundred times before he even considers giving you the same satisfaction. I’d love it if you laid here and just thought about all that for a while.”

With that, Celestia planted a long, soft kiss on Chrysalis’ cum-drenched cheek. She cantered away without a word, her flanks swaying seductively in view of the light before melting into the black.

Chrysalis huffed and rolled her eyes. She could handle anything, she was a queen, a warrior, a creature of unparalleled might and fortitude.

Inside, she quivered, but for what, she wasn’t sure.

Author's Note

Mini-update, but better than nothing. Will try for a longer chapter next.