My Life on a Cassette Tape

Skirting the edge of town, we made our way towards Berry's home. The evening air was chill, and our distinct lack of layers for the sake of moving quietly was really getting to me - not to mention Applebloom's more diminutive stature was far less insulating than my usual body, or at least so I told myself. Finally reaching the house that looked so run down from outside, we split in two groups to inspected the perimeter.

Moving slowly through the sparse undergrowth and hilly lay of the land, I moved in a wide circle around the house, checking for any signs of ponies. There were plenty of signs, but all of them seemed to just be the normal movements of ponies of the area, nothing stood out that tipped me off that it was the group we were searching for. I suddenly heard a bird whistle, and I looked over to the source, seeing Berry stooping over something. Moving up beside her I looked at what she was pointing at.

"Whole bunch of tracks leading off from the house." She noted, and indeed there were, all etched into a patch of soft clay and mud. "Griffon paws in the mix as well. I never was one for tracking, but simply looking at all these footprints, I'd say they're gone, and they called for a lot more ponies to carry off the victims." I nodded, agreeing with her assessment. In the midst of the tracks I could also see the imprints of combat boots, with much deeper treads than any of the other shoes. I felt like a regular detective on TV.

"Now we need to confer with Rarity if we need to even enter the house, it might just be better to head off towards the hill and rendezvous with Twilight's team." I noted, looking towards the house, scanning over the illusion for any sign of what was inside.

"Yeah, we did just find evidence of them leaving, might be best to head on out." Berry nodded. "We can check on my house later." We began to move again, picking our way while looking for any more signs that might give us a hint as to what was happening. Rejoining with Rarity and Rainbow, we told them what we had found.

"I'm not so sure we need to check the house. We have signs they all left. It might just be better to head on over to the hill and meet up with Twilight so that we have better chances on that front." I said.

"I would generally agree." Rarity began, looking us over. "But I do think that Rainbow should quickly check up on the old place. At least go over and stealthily peak in through the windows - just to make sure no pony got left behind." It seemed reasonable. After all, we weren't expert trackers, we just had gotten lucky finding some of the most obvious tracks that could be left in a small pile of muck. They very well could've left somepony, if not one of the prisoners, who was one of their ponies who might be able to give us some intelligence on the base's structure.

"I'll be back in a jiffy." Rainbow said, giving a short salute before darting off, flying so close to the ground I was surprised it worked at all. Disappearing beyond the wall of the illusion, she began her search, leaving us waiting impatiently as we kept watch for anypony who might be a problem. A few moments later, Rainbow zoomed out of the illusion and skidded to a halt in front of us on her hands and one knee, the other foot planted on the ground as her wings splayed out dramatically behind her. Show off.

"We got a pony in there." Rainbow said, not really even sounding winded. "I tried to look at their face, but they moved out of the living area and into the kitchen, and by the time I got to that window, they had gone someplace else."

"Well, what did they look like with mane and skin color? What were they wearing?" I asked, impatient for details.

"Honestly, they looked like a surgeon ready to do an operation." Rainbow shrugged. "I didn't have an angle to see their colors, their mane must be rather short or well managed, 'cuz not a strand was coming out of the hair net, which itself was that weird light blue doctors use."

"It's only a few shades off from your color." I noted.

"Yeah, almost, that's what makes it really weird. You'd think they'd go for something a little more distinct from pony colors." Rainbow complained.

"Doctors are wearing that color to be distinct from inside pony colors, which are all reds, browns, and other such more visceral colors." Rarity said pointedly, suppressing a shudder in disgust. Rainbow paused at that for a few seconds, and then shook off the thought.

"Anyway," Rainbow pressed, moving us back to the subject at hand, "we got a pony inside, and he is more than likely with them. Ponyville General isn't near enough for him to be all dressed up with that out here anyway." We all nodded.

"Alright," Rarity began before I could, "Rainbow, get your phone out, make sure it's on silent, and go back, text us where you see him and make sure he doesn't see you. There's a chance he's an artifact user, and I'm going to treat that possibility as a one hundred percent chance. Once you see him, text us, we'll move in and I'll cast the spell and freeze him. I've been able to manage about a half minute so far, so that's your time limit to disrobe him. Remember to remove everything, and then tie him up with Berry's rope." We all nodded, and Rainbow once again bolted towards the house. I shook my head at how Berry's kinky supplies were about to be used to help us to stop a group of hostile perverts. A few short seconds later, Rarity got a text.

second floor
lookin to Pville
b room?

"That's one of the guestrooms." Berry noted, looking over the texts. "One of the smaller ones, fortunately on the opposite side of the house from us. Let's move."

"Right, we'll take the front door." Rarity nodded, quickly typing out a reply to Rainbow.

Good job, dear.

We'll be coming in through the front door, do be ready.

use s hand Rares

Rarity sighed and put her phone away, moving a few paces behind us as we approached the house in a low crouch, not wanting to be seen as the sun finally dipped below the horizon, Luna's night beginning in earnest. Approaching the front of the house, we plastered ourselves to the wall as we slinked under a window, and finally reached the front door. I looked over to Rarity, who passed me her phone, which I showed to Berry at the same time.

on move

d stairs

live room

Now he was much closer. That presented a distinct problem, we might need space to get this done, and we needed him to not be on his guard while Rarity cast the spell so he couldn't go using his artifact - if he had one. I passed her phone back, and looked her in the eyes.

"How fast can you cast the spell?" I asked in barely a whisper.

"It takes about five seconds for me to put the runes in order in my head. Oh! If only Twilight was here, she'd have him hit with it in less than a second!" She whispered back. I sighed. Five seconds was a lot of time for a pony to do any number of things. Unless his potential artifact required a long windup to use, five seconds were extremely dangerous to us.

"What if I draw him out past the house and you cast it as I pretend to run away?" I asked. "Say I go in there, pretend to be looking for somepony of the house, and then run after a moment. If he chases, you can cast the spell as he moves towards me and away from you." Rarity considered the plan for a second. "I'd suggest hiding behind the corner of the house." I pointed. "He might notice you if you're right up against the door. Rarity nodded, seeming to like my plan as I gave her more precautions. Honestly, I was still just making it up on the fly, but in the least my thoughts were comprehensive and were accounting for a few likelihoods to avoid danger.

The two ponies, having squirreled themselves away, were now safe. I took a deep breath, ready to give my best performance. I stood up and tried the front door, and found it unlocked. Pulling it open, I walked inside, like I owned the place - which I did - and found Mr. Doctor Pony right away, simply standing there, looking at me, his cold, hard eyes locking me into place. I certainly didn't have to pretend to be fearful. Between my preexisting dislike of the full scrub look of surgeons, and this pony's sheer presence, I was honestly scared, and unafraid to admit it.

The few seconds from first entering that passed like molasses finally came to a close, a time seemed to flow once more as the pony silently began to move towards me, his eyes locked on me, his head transfixed like an owl's even as he moved around furniture, his body seeming to think for itself as his whole attention was devoted to my existence in his domain. NOPE!

I bolted out the door, putting on a stumble for good measure as I crossed the threshold. Sprinting a good way out of the house, I turned and saw him power walking towards me, fiddling with his latex glove as he approached, but behind him I saw the blue glow of Rarity's magic. Wanting to keep his attention, I turned about and squared my shoulders, and raised my fists like some old time boxer. Applebloom had gotten over her fear, she was now ready to buck the living daylights out of whoever had invaded her friends home - or at least that was the emotion I was hoping my performance was giving off.

The Doctor plodded forward, step by step, his steely eyes still set on me intently, though I could tell in the vague light of the area that he was smiling underneath his face mask. Suddenly, a bolt of blue magic struck him, and he froze in place, even in midstride. Bolting forward, I quickly seized his hairnet at pulled it off while a cyan blur of pegasus zipped around beside me, working his shoes and ankle socks off. Berry rushed over the few short steps from the house and tore his gloves away. Working quickly, I raised his arms and shimmied the shirt off of him while Rainbow pushed him up, his frozen form assuming the new elevation with ease, while she used one motion to pull of his pants and underwear, revealing his modestly sized, clean shaven penis.

All clothing removed, I grabbed the face mask and pulled it away as I stepped back. I found it odd he didn't have a talisman like Silver had had. Maybe he was the only one who had it? But not finding an artifact mad me a tad more comfortable, until I looked at his face. His lips were dried out, cracked messes of deteriorating flesh, curled back in a smile that even a mother would hate; and his teeth, his teeth were yellow and crooked, blackening at the gums. This pony seemed to be a rotting husk of a mummy, rather than something living and breathing.

"TIE HIM UP, PLEASE!" Rarity cried from behind him, tears streaming down her face as she strained to keep the spell up. His cold eyes, lacking all sheen, slid in their sockets, moving, as if his whole head would move to look at the pony who had just spoken, his demonic expression unchanging. Rainbow was the first to come out of the stupor, and grabbed the rope Berry had dropped, and hogtied the pony.

Rarity's spell dropped not a second to soon, as did the naked pony. It was done, he was done. I sighed, barely standing on my own. Looking at the fallen pony, I froze. He still stared at me, his expression malicious as always. Suddenly the yellowing of his teeth faded as they became straight. His lips also became full lips once more, no longer cracked and dying. Suddenly he stood up, the ropes that had been on him seemingly reduced to dust. Lunging forward, he grabbed me by the throat with one hand and mouth with the other, forcing me to the ground in a tackle. I pushed him off with Applebloom's surprising strength, and called out to the ponies around.

Except I couldn't. I jumped away from the doctor, a hand touching my face. Where youthful lips once stood was now a plain surface, devoid of any opening. My eyes opened wider in panic as he pressed his hands to his chest, and lifted them away a second later, revealing a pair of lips and a small bulge beneath.

"Y'all are gonna have to come quiet, or else you might need me to operate on ya." The mouth said in a southern twang, a voice I could tell was Applebloom's. What was this... this MONSTER?!