My Life on a Cassette Tape

I plopped down in the couch, looking the others over. We had taken the time to fix the house back up, Twilight taking some special measures to reinforce the house with some defensive and concealing glyphs. Berry's house now looked like it had been abandoned for years, and would hopefully dissuade any incursions. The counter charms had been cast, and all ponies were now free of the still unconscious Starlight's influence. Now came the hard task: figuring out how to handle her state.

"We need to take her to the guards and make an official report of this incident." Twilight said solemnly. "They'd likely transfer her to a mental hospital. There they have a chance of curing her of what Gunther has done to her."

"We have no way of knowing how they got her to this state." I interjected. "It's far more likely that they used one of their artifacts, in which case she is unlikely to recover from it by putting her into a hospital."

"Then what do you suggest? Brainwash over her brainwashing? Make her your slave so that you can make sure she doesn't rampage across the world by pinning her down and shoving your penis down her throat!?" Twilight snapped in anger. I shook my head, unsure what to say.

"Would that be the worst option, dear?" Rarity asked, the genuine tone catching me off guard. "Not the... penis sucking, but brainwashing over what damage there already is. At this point..." She paused, looking to the still form of Starlight as it lay on a nearby couch. "At this point, she is not herself... and though it pains me to say so, I believe that Crescendo here is correct. She is quite likely under their power by means of one of those artifacts." Twilight looked to her friend, the disbelief in her eyes far stronger than that of any of the rest of us. "Twilight, dear, think. Starlight is acting like this! Do you think that she'd do this of her own volition? She is obviously under some influence that we are otherwise unable to counteract."

"We haven't tried anything yet!" Twilight protested. "We may very well find the right counter spell if we spent a second searching for it!"

"Twi..." Applejack started, seeming hesitant. "Twi, we need to face the facts. Have you ever heard of anypony with these sorts of powers? Have you seen it in any of your books? 'Cuz to be honest, though I've read only a few books here an' there, the most I've read that sounds like this is in some of the Daring Do books, but never once did she beat 'em off with a counter spell. It was always breaking the artifact, or socking the meanie that done used it."

"We can ask Yearling, maybe she has an idea of what to do! We can't just-"

"Twilight," Fluttershy broke in, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, "we know you're scared. All of us are, but we have to do what's necessary. You know we can't handle her in her current state. And we know she would never forgive herself should she recover and find out she did something terrible, even if it was because she was under a spell."

"Twilight," I began, piecing my thoughts together as I went, "I don't want her to be my slave... I... I can't really say I ever did want anypony here to be my slave except Raven when she offered herself up. But..." I paused, thinking over the next words carefully, "but, at this moment we are facing the chance of one of your friends being under the control of someone who would take no greater pleasure than in using her to get at us. What do you think she's going to do when she wakes up? Bake us some cookies and ask forgiveness?"

"Cookies?" Pinkie asked, popping in from the other room where she was... doing Pinkie things.

"None here Pinkie..." Twilight sighed despondently. Pinkie huffed and then zipped back into the other room to do her thing. Twilight studied the floor for a moment or two before finally looking up towards me, a hard look in her eyes. "If you do this... I want it to be temporary, and I don't want you doing anything sexy with her. Can you do that?" I nodded. I could probably say that I'd make her my slave until I chose to release her with some ritual, much like I had tried to put a time limit on the things that I had asked of the recorder before it fizzled on me.

The thought of that hitting the forefront of my mind, I brought out the artifact and looked it over. I hadn't used it since last evening, and it honestly didn't look too worse for wear. Popping open the tape deck, I looked over the cassette like I had when I first found it. Taking the cassette out of the player for the first time, I looked it over while the ponies around me began to discuss how exactly I should word it, Twilight bringing out a sticky note pad from the kitchen to jot down some ideas.

Turning it over I looked at its A side for the first time. It was slightly worn, just like the rest of it, but on its surface was written a title and subtitle.

'The Straight Record'
'Set thy way straight with but a word,
Cause calamity to others with the next'

I looked at it perplexedly. Checking the labels across it, I noticed it didn't say 'A Side'; it instead simply said 'Set in Stone'. Flipping it back over I saw that this side also didn't say something like 'B Side'. It did have a small 'Pony Audio' label, and looking closely, I noticed something. A scratch scored the surface of the tape from one side to the other, but where it crossed the label, it disappeared. With care I pulled the label away and revealed the original label, the scratch moving across its surface. 'Written in Sand'.

Flipping the tape back over, I stared at it for a moment, but I knew what I had to do. Putting it back into the player, now facing the opposite side it had before, I adjusted the volume and set the ear piece in its place, pressing play.

Pulling his piece of charcoal away, the author looked with glee upon the parchment scroll where his line now shone dimly in the candle light. He looked at it with pride, the symbols rough next to the fine script above it. Each of them, a declaration that would stand for all eternity - as his line now would - proclaiming with certainty things that were and would be. The two edges of the scroll were decorated with runes of magic, spelled out in beautiful gold thread, such that none would ever mistake this scroll.

He gave a chuckle, looking at his work, a simple line written in his unskilled hand. 'All obey Železna Raka, all Železna Raka says is truth'. It was simplicity incarnate. Well pleased with his work, he rolled the scroll up and knew what he would do next as he stowed the scroll safely in its box, looping its simple leather strap around his shoulder.

Leaving his old hut, he looked at the city before him. Disorganized rows of mud huts with thatch roofs surrounded the Great Ziggurat, backed by the rising sun - the very symbol of the priests and the King. Adjusting his shawl, he took to the streets, fingering the piece of charcoal he still held absentmindedly. The world lay at his feet, he had but to claim it. He then saw her, Čistota, the one whom he would make his. Seizing her by the wrist, he pulled her to the shadow of a hut and grasped at her face.

"Bear my seed!" He said in a deep growl, and her eyes widened. She slowly bowed her head in his grasp and removed her girdle, turned about, and raised her tail. With a smile of pure delight, he lifted himself, setting his forelegs on her withers as his penis extended, meeting her intimate areas. Thrusting with lustful abandon, he felt a pleasure he had never known before. At that moment, even as he plumbed the depths of his conquest, a mare turned the corner, and halted in her steps, staring unbelieving at the sight before her.

"You," Železna Raka smiled, extending his hand forth to the mare, "Shall be my concubine." She looked at him in astonishment, but then slowly nodded, lowering herself until she could prostrate her upper torso on the ground before her Lord and his Lady, ready to attend to their needs. With a cackle he pulled the mane of his Lady as he drove his member deep inside of her, seeding their future within her.

I paused the player, blinking as I processed what I had just heard, staring at the floor.

"Crescendo?" Rarity knelt in front of me, placing a hand on my knee. "Are you alright?" I blinked a few more times, processing everything before I nodded, looking up to the other ponies about me.

"If you don't mind, Crescendo, we have your script ready." Twilight said with little hint of emotion beyond simple annoyance. I grabbed the paper from her magic field, looking over the lines. Popping open the recorder again, I set it down on the side that now said 'Written in Sand'. Taking a deep breath in, I pressed the record button - happy to find that it didn't burst into flames immediately - and began to speak my lines carefully. There'd be time to think on what I had heard later, now I had business to attend to.