My Life on a Cassette Tape

I stood there, the ashes blowing away as I watched, leaving only the pen he had held. With a sigh, I grabbed it, threading it through the spiral binding of the notepad. Looking over, Twilight lay still asleep. I couldn't leave her, and the artifact wouldn't let me wake her up again - that, after all, would be a contradiction. I couldn't exactly leave her. Suddenly I heard what I could only describe as a hissing whine. Looking over to its source, I saw the recorder, a sliver of smoke rising up from it. In a rush, I charged over, pressing down the record button to release it. In the brief moment I touched the recorder, releasing the button, I felt an extreme heat.

Flinching away, sticking my finger in my mouth, I looked at the recorder, the trail of smoke fading away. Touching it again after a moment, I found it surprisingly cool. I picked it up, and noticed the world shifting, but not shifting as it had when the whole of existence accepted a change. I watched as my wings and horn dissipated, along with the knowledge of spells I had but a moment ago, and a few inches of height I hadn't noticed prior. I saw Twilight begin to stir. The recorder had... released some of its effects? Walking over, I offered her a hand. Looking up, she froze momentarily before taking the hand and rising up.

"Berry, why are we naked in a field? What happened?" Twilight asked, looking me over.

"I'm actually Cress, Berry and I stayed switched, though I... altered your recollection so that even if you did get caught, which you did, you wouldn't be forced to tell." Twilight nodded slowly.

"Smart plan..." She said in a low tone. A moment of silence passed between us.

"As far as how we ended up like this... well, it's a long story." I said, looking her over for any damage, pausing. "What state are you in?" I asked, beating about the real question.

"State?" Twilight asked with a cocked eyebrow. I nodded slowly in response. She stared at me for a while. "If you're asking, no, I'm no longer your slave. I'm free again." She said simply.

"Oh good!" I sighed in relief.

"Good?" She questioned. "You were the one who made us slaves! Why is it 'good' that I suddenly am not your little slave to do as you want with?"

"I.. actually didn't make you my slaves... not intentionally. I never wanted to make you my slave... it's just... not me." I admitted.

"Then how did we become slaves, if not because of what you did?!" Twilight raged, her wings flaring out.

"You did it." I replied simply, sure she wasn't actually going to hurt me. "This is my artifact, like I've said before." I held up the recorder, she stared at it intently. "I don't know all the mechanics of it, it seems more than a little fickle, but also immensely powerful, which is why I was advising so much caution when using it. You... uh... well, while I was trying to explain myself after the party you were coming down on me hard... phrasing... well, you were hitting hard, and I accidentally squeezed the thing like a stress ball and you decided to pick that time to shout something like 'make us your slaves' - I don't entirely recall." Twilight's eyes opened wide.

"You mean-?"

"Your words kinda became a self-fulfilling prophecy. You made what amounted to a factual assertion with enough volume the mic picked you up. I tried to mitigate that danger by transforming the mic to only catch what those ponies say who are talking directly into it. Then Silver got real close and said that all my slaves that I gained with the artifact would be his."

"Ok, so you didn't want us as slaves, but you wanted Berry, Periwinkle, and Raven; that's still bad - criminal in fact." Twilight noted. "You didn't use us while we were slaves, so I guess rape isn't going to be a charge, but I know from asking them that you have used Berry, Periwinkle, and Raven. They could charge you for rape at this point."

"And I'd deserve it, but again, I didn't actually want them as slaves either... I've only recently come to an acceptance of it - a shaky acceptance, but an acceptance." I admitted.

"What? Did they also make themselves your slave?" Twilight scoffed.

"Well... before the whole slave thing happened; Berry, Periwinkle, and I were all kinda... fucking. And then we bumped the recorder and Berry, the dirty talker she is, called herself my slave-cunt, or something to that effect. Now, honesty where honesty is due, it was only because I said it first, but again, that was because she was egging me on.

"And then, as I tried to fix it. That's when I learned the recorder doesn't like me contradicting it." I sighed, thinking back to it, a few short days ago. "While trying to mitigate the damage, Berry accidentially took the opportunity to... well, enslave Spry for me. She didn't know at the time, but it happened." Twilight blinked at me a few times, almost expectantly. After a moment of silence made it obvious that was it, she went on.

"Alright... what about Raven? What's your excuse there." She pressed.

"Oh, Raven? Completely consensual." I replied. "She showed up at my hotel room one night without any prior warning and begged to become my slave. She even went as far as to decline having the recorder affect her. She wanted it to be plain, old vanilla perverted."

"Wait... she's free of the artifact's influence?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"Eeyup. She even knows that I'm like this." I said, motioning to Berry's body. "She's the only one besides me. Essentially, the only artifact that she's been affected by directly are Silver and Gunther's. Speaking of, can you teleport us out of here and back to the house?" Twilight looked at me with astonishment clear in her eyes. "Twilight?"

"What? Oh, teleport... right." She charged up her horn, and the world became purple, and in a flash, we were back in the.... outskirts of Ponyville. The opposite side of the outskirts of Ponyville from Berry's house. "S-sorry..." Twilight panted, putting her hands on her knees as she bent over, exhausted. "This is as close as I could get... we were... pretty far out." I nodded slowly.

"We can walk I suppose, though maybe keeping our distance to the town is for the best... we are both still naked." Twilight nodded, before pointing to her castle.

"We could stop in there first. Pick up some clothes. Or, we could walk a wide circle around Ponyville." She said. "Seeing as our friends are in danger, I think we best hurry, but both options do have their benefits."

"Wide circle. You set the pace since you are the most used up with that spell." I said. Twilight nodded, and we set off at a brisk pace, power walking our way around the town, slowly increasing in speed as Twilight found more energy in her at the prospects of her friends being in danger. All the while as we marched, my mind could only conjure a singular memory. '...unless I say so or they too are my slaves.'. Perhaps this 'Emperor' was the reason I would have, and might need, slaves. But... even after all I had been through... I still was unsure if I'd ever even let myself take a slave intentionally. Time would have to tell, I supposed.