My Life on a Cassette Tape

We finally entered the home, somehow avoiding all eyes as the sun began to peak above the horizon. The interior was a mess, with a fallen cupboard, shattered glass, small spatterings of blood, and copious amounts of ponies slowly emerging from their own - or other's - sexual fluids. Before I could get a word in edgewise, Raven turned to me, her face brightening as she shot forward on unsteady legs, wrapping her arms about me.

"Crescendo!" She said into my shoulder, holding me tight. I returned the hug with no hesitation, feeling relieved at our reunion. No matter what, it certainly seemed I had at least her no matter who else may hate my guts.

"Raven, it's good to see you again." I said in a near whisper, as if we hadn't seen each other in days, rather than hours. The world was confusing, disorientating, and overall a mass of complications; and having Raven, a solid point of consistency, was more than necessary for me and my continued sanity. We stayed like that for a few moments, even as Twilight moved past to attend to her friends.

"He got away." Raven said, pulling back. "Gunther got away... I don't even know how. He had just got hit over the head with a shovel and looked down for the count and the next moment he's gone and the case that I was basically on top of left with him. No pony saw anything." I looked out the shattered window she pointed to while talking. Based on the glass being scattered on the floor inside, I had to guess he simply used it as a convenient escape rather than forcing his way that direction.

"That is a problem." I admitted. "We don't even have a firm grasp on what exactly his artifact does."

"I do have something of a few clues though." Raven admitted, gaining an inquisitive look from everypony in the room. "We had a bit of a brawl in the moments leading up to him escaping. During the fight I never once got incapacitated in pleasure until he grabbed his cloak. His cloak must be the artifact, and its power... well, it seems that it makes ponies feel pleasure. Overwhelming pleasure." Everypony seemed to agree with that assessment. "That's just a rough draft of an understanding though! I mean, if it's an area of effect, then why was only Berry affected earlier and the rest of us were fine? If it can only target those ponies he actively thinks about, then how did he take the entire crowd in the market? Another piece of info that we do have, though, comes courtesy of Silver. We know that he can only use it so many times, and Gunther has also told us that his ability to use it does recharge at a fairly quick rate, though that might depend on circumstances."

"Very astute, Raven." Twilight commented. "Though I think I can add to it. I believe, for one, that it is not his cloak itself, but possibly the broach. He always adjusted it when I saw Berry getting affected. Beyond that, you have posed some very good questions we can only hope to have answered in the near future."

"We?" I asked, blinking a few times as I caught and processed the word, almost feeling she had misspoken. "Is that a 'we' that includes or excludes me?" Twilight sighed in response.

"It includes you and whoever else wants to help bring this griffon to justice." Twilight replied, looking at the other ponies. "I don't know about everypony here, but I can say that, though I hate that you have this power to enslave, I have to admit you are among the least likely to grossly abuse it. Unlike Gunther, you have moral qualms which prevent you from doing such things as he does. True, Berry and Spry have told me about some of your... escapades, but they are all quite tame in comparison to what he has shown himself capable of."

To my surprise, the ponies around me nodded. It was true, I hadn't been cruel, but just because I hadn't didn't mean I couldn't be. Then again, knowing me, the likelihood of me being cruel to any of them was frankly minimal. The fact they thought the same was reassuring to say the least.

"It's good to hear that you believe me to be better than this guy." I said after a moment. "I've... honestly been concerned after all this time I might've turned into something like him."

"I'm kinda confused over here." Berry in my body said, standing up from the pool of spunk. "Berry isn't talking like she should... and you two are acting like..."

"Pineapple surprise." I said with a coy smirk, activating the trigger. Berry drew back for a moment as all the information I had blocked came back to her, and all the others except Raven, having not been affected in the first place.

"Now it makes sense." Berry admitted. "So... uh... care to switch back, kid?" I nodded, walking over to the kitchen, grabbing the two potions from their place in the cupboard - having created them with two doses, allowing us to just drink the opposite potions as before. Taking a draft from the one potion while Berry took several loud gulps from hers, I could feel my body and see hers transforming. I lost a few inches, while she gained them back. I lost the weight of breasts, while she gained them and her hips back, the feeling of being less heavy overall reminding me exactly how light I really was in comparison. Berry's super model form came with its own set of drawbacks, namely being heavy and requiring training - or cheating via artifact - to know how to balance properly.

"This'll make things easier for sure. Now I won't have to keep reminding myself who I'm actually talking to." Raven sighed in relief. I chuckled a tad, knowing that she had likely gone through an ordeal of her own trying to act as if I was Berry from her limited knowledge of the mare.

"So..." Berry began, looking at me from the floor expectantly.

"Why do I suddenly feel like I'm... I dunno, free?" Periwinkle asked the question on hers and most everyponies' mind, looking me dead in the eye.

"That's... a combination of my and Silver's fault." I admitted. "You see... well, he accidentally made you all his slaves. He told the recorder, without knowing it, that all the slaves I had gained from the artifact were his."

"So that's why Raven was able to start hitting him!" Berry exclaimed. "I was so weakened from the... well, from the jizzing my heart out that I couldn't join in, which at the start is a good thing. I wanted to grab your hair and yank you down over my knee to give you a few spankings for hitting master's friend. But somewhere along the line I felt... well, I felt like giving him just as much of a whooping as you were giving him, if not more."

"That's likely when Silver decided to go up in a blaze of glory... or maybe he was forced to." I noted.

"Wait what?" Rainbow butted in. "He went up in a 'blaze of glory'? What do you mean?"

"Well, at the end of our fighting he kinda... went up in white arcane flames. He had some sort of talisman that started it shortly after I took this from him." I said, lifting the notepad and pen. "It's likely what was his artifact."

"Silver's dead?" Twilight asked astonishedly. It dawned on me that I was the only pony that had seen that part of the exchange.

"I suppose so." I replied, not so sure myself, but figuring that to be the truth. "His body kinda went up like a candle. By the end of it, he was nothing but ashes. And then the recorder seemed to have some sort of problem, and gave out, releasing a few of the effects that it had recorded, though mostly it just seems to be the stuff I had said during that little session."

"I suppose it does make sense that he is dead." Rainbow added. "I mean... we are free and all. Either he's dead or we've got our freedom back for no good reason." I nodded.

"That's kinda what I was thinking too." I said.

"Well this stinks." Berry huffed, standing up. I looked at her in confusion.

"What stinks?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Kid, you're gonna have to make me your slave again." Berry told me bluntly. I blinked a few times in all the more confusion. "Yes," She sighed in exasperation, "I want you to make me your slave." She repeated as if she was talking to a foal.

"Pretty much the same over here, actually." Periwinkle said, raising a hand from her seated position on the fallen cupboard. I stammered for a few seconds, sputtering out nonsense.

"B-but WHY?!" I finished, staring at the two of them in bewilderment.

"Well, 'cuz you're a good fuck." She said, like she had those days ago in the hotel room. "Plus, now that I'm free... I kinda can think straight and... well, let's be honest. You being my master is probably the best possible thing. Fuck, all I gotta do is just that - fuck - and boom, I don't have to worry about employment. Especially since little miss trust fund is over here of her own volition, so I know she ain't goin' no place no how."

"For my part," Periwinkle began, bringing my attention over to her, "I... well, I mean..." She paused, scratching at the back of her head.

"She's as horny for your corn dog as I am, but has the good sense to know not to let it show." Berry provided in her usual crass manner, getting a deep blush from Spry.

"B-Berry!" She raised her voice indignantly. The wine colored mare just laughed.

"What? Say I'm wrong! Say it!" Berry goaded. "Tell him you don't like his dick all up inside of you! Tell the pony of whom you said 'I would let him fuck me until I dropped in public' that you would rather pass on the D! Tell him, but you won't!" All throughout her speech, Periwinkle just blushed deeper and deeper, a confirmation for the lewd mare's accusations.

"Th-that's not the whole reason..." Peri began again.

"Yeah, but it's one big reason with a pair of smaller reasons dangling from it." Berry jeered. Peri covered her face while her friend laughed away at her expense.

"Look... yes, I like your D..." Periwinkle started reluctantly, lowering her hands. "But the thing is... I have been with bigger - both longer and thicker." Periwinkle admitted, giving my ego a needed check.

"Wait... really? I thought you said that they were all small!" Berry protested.

"Comparatively to the first one I had!" Peri shot back.

"How hung was Parcel Post?!" Berry asked in exasperation.

"He was... well... you'd think he was a bison, and even then... well... I was with a few."

"All smaller than him!?" Berry grabbed Periwinkle by the shoulders and shook her violently. "And he didn't break you?!"

"N-no... He didn't hilt."

"As nice as all this is, I think we got some more pressing concerns than whether or not he is large or not." Twilight interrupted, a heavy blush on her face. "In case you haven't the memory of it, We have a friend here who is currently enslaved to the one member of this two pony show who is still alive, and another friend who is suffering under a Fiducia Compelus charm!" We all looked to the still unconscious Starlight and then to Applejack who sat on her knees unmoving, a blank expression on her face.

"Two actually." Berry chimed in. "Maybe three, jury's still out on you, Twilight. But I know that she only has this face of me out and about because she wants it and she was told to by her master; and the same may be somewhat true for you, Twilight. Based on what I know of her, we are all just puppets waiting to have strings slapped on us with that charm of hers." We all paused, realizing what sort of situation we really were facing.

"The worst part is that I'm not sure if either of the artifacts I have will work against what Gunther's has done." I admitted solemnly. "I'm not even sure if the recorder will want to work right now. It was smoking earlier, and I'm not sure if that was permanent damage, or if it was just a hiccup."

"This really is bad..." Rarity remarked, putting a hand on Applejack's face, a frown on her's.

"I can cast the counter-charm," Twilight remarked, "Get us all free and clear, though it gives a doozy of a headache as a result." Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Pinkie all nodded in response. "I'll cast it on myself first, just in case, so that if worst comes to worst, I'll be able to remain awake and free from the spell so that I can cast it on whoever she hits next."

"But what are we gonna do after all that?" Rainbow asked, the question hanging in the air. What were we going to do? I sighed, rubbing my temples.

"Well... I hate to break it to you all, but..." I steadied myself for a moment, raising my head to look at the ponies. "We've basically got ourselves a war."

"What are you talking about?" Rarity asked, her expression full of apprehension at the sudden news.

"Before the fire took him out completely, Silver gave a few parting words." I began, sitting down on the floor where I had landed face first a few hours ago. "He told me that there was an... Emperor. Apparently taking the artifact is considered theft of his property, and he'll be coming to claim it, either that or send somepony else to get it." The ponies around me were shocked, that was, except for Rainbow Dash.

"An Emperor!?" She squealed happily. "You mean to tell me, we got a shadowy cabal of ponies basically lining up in front of us to get their butts kicked with a big bad evil guy at the end just asking for it?!"

"Rainbow! This is serious!" Twilight snapped. "These are ponies, griffons, and who knows what else all likely holding some artifact of great power! Who knows if we might already be under their influence right now?"

"I do." I said simply, getting them to all look at me. "It seems that, at least as far as Silver's power was concerned, I'm immune, though he also is immune to direct alterations to him from my artifact. Now, that logic is a tad shaky, seeing as Gunther was more than willing to use his on somepony he thought was me, but maybe his was different."

"You essentially just disproved your own claim there, buddy." Berry pointed out.

"Yeah, but I can at least say that some artifacts can't touch me, and therefore, I can say that no effects are visible to me from the ones that are visible to me." I retorted.

"Either way, we can say that you are a preliminary barometer on the whole situation. If you notice something, we know that something is up, and so we can move on it from there. If you can't notice it, then we all are pretty much cooked either way." Twilight said matter-of-factly. The other ponies surprisingly seemed to accept this.

"So yeah, I suppose we will have to deal with more of these artifacts." I reiterated. "Artifacts we don't even know the full extent or power of, though I have a feeling most, if not all of then, will have something to do with pleasure or mind control... general reality altering stuff I guess."

"So we just have to be prepared for all the smut regulars!" Pinkie shouted. "Shouldn't be too hard! Ooh, everypony, if a stallion has a glow in his pants, watch out... but not at his dick! Don't look at glowy dicks!" She said, as if she was making perfect sense. Well, one thing was for sure.

"We're basically doomed."