Author's Note

Dedicated to Teela - most selfish and insolent bitch from Kevin Smith's "Masters of the Universe: Revelations".

Who are My Allies?

Preparations for Royal Gala took more than a week, even with all of Castle Blood Moon servants working day and night. Their tasks included: hanging up Royal Family banners in the courtyard and the main hall, preparing various exquisite dishes, planning the most precise schedule of every activity, so the arrival of every guest would go smoothly.

Twilight herself volunteered to help, at first just with the scheduling. But then went further, using her telekinesis to carry banners as well as large frescoes and murals that were to decorate the main hall. It really sped up the work, even more so as the alicorn could quickly teleport and fly to any place her help was needed.

When Sparkla found out that her pony would spend days in hard labor, she was quite shocked. Those mundane tasks were undeserving of “magical steed” refined skills, she told Twilight. But then Twilight reminded her guardian, that her skills actually weren’t that refined. And without permission to attend the school or go on any mission, preparations to Royal Gala were the greatest opportunity to practice in arts of telekinesis, teleportation, and other stuff.

Finally, Sparkla had to give up, grudgingly accepting that her beloved ward wouldn’t spend much time with her until Royal Gala itself. For Twilight it was a bit of a bonus perk, as she started to grow really tired of her caretaker’s unending attention. Even as Sparkla stopped being so blatant in her “exploration of sexuality” attempts, she still tried to push her pony into some weird activity from time to time, now using guilt as an additional means of pressure.

However, the main reason for Twilight to volunteer wasn’t an attempt to escape Sparkla’s shenanigans or even practice her magic. What Twilight really wanted was to talk with Bow more.

As it turned out, the butler knew quite a lot about the war on Patriarchy and was well educated in history, geography, and many other subjects. And, unlike Sparkla or Queen Angelica, he wasn’t so reserved in sharing his knowledge. Finally Twilight had a living source of information about the world around her and she hoped to use that opportunity. For starters, she wanted to ask about many blanks and contradictions that were in the books from the School of Magic Studies and Castle Blood Moon’s library.

Sadly, at first, they both were too busy to talk. While hanging new bat vanes on the castle’s rooftops, Twilight was starting to worry if she would even have time to talk and learn at all. However, to pony’s surprise, she found another source of knowledge. Banners, murals, and frescoes, that she helped to hang in the main hall and adjacent corridors, depicted scenes of early battles with Patriarchy and festivities in the villages that commemorated Castle Blood Moon victories. And as Bow came to inspect the decorations, she immediately asked about those.

“Well, our castle was always on the front line in the war,” explained the butler. “Queen Angelica obviously wants to remind our guests about that,” he made a wily smile, “And she wouldn’t miss the opportunity to boast of her heritage a bit.”

Quite a few of that “heritage” was a bit disturbing for Twilight’s taste. Though she guessed that gore and orgies hardly could be avoided if your subject is a vampire clan history.

But she totally forgot about bloody images when she was handed the most amazing of all the decorations to bring to the Main Hall. This decoration was a large globe, almost 3 meters in diameter, that showed the planet Edenia in all its glory. It had marked every land and nation on the planet with calligraphic titles and color to distinguish territories of influence.

Patriarchy, obviously, was marked by white color. A small white blob in the northern hemisphere easily missed almost the motley of countries on the largest continent.

“But its sphere of influence is actually bigger,” warned Bow, who stopped to inspect the globe, after Twilight put it on the special stand in the center of the hall. “See?” he raised his hand to gesture at the area, as the northern hemisphere was barely visible for the butler from below. “Several kingdoms around it that have a lighter tint. Their governments oppose progress and support the Patriarchal way of life. They claim it’s for ‘preserving culture and traditions’ but really they just enjoy the privileges that Patriarch grants them. They are nothing more than Patriarch’s puppets.”

“Seriously?” exclaimed Twilight, who was hovering in the air to see better. “All these lands?”

She saw a light tint spread over the territory at least ten times bigger than the White Zone itself. It covered all of the kingdoms in the midlatitudes of the continent from the west coast to the Wind Mountains ridge in the east. The only exception was a green patch, that bit into the whiteness from the southeast.

“Wild Woods,” Twilight read the caption. “Wait! That’s us! That’s how the forest around is called.” she remembered that name quite well from her talks with Sparkla and They-Gay.

“Correct,” confirmed Bow. “All the Wild Woods is Queen Angelica’s domain.”

“No wonder that Patriarchy puts so much pressure on us! They already control everyone around here. We are like a sore in their eye,” Twilight threw a glance at other lands that weren’t marred by white tint. They all were either far south or north. “I take it other kingdoms don’t have nearly as much trouble?”

“Also correct,” nodded Bow. “Even those who border the “puppet kingdoms” don’t experience as many attacks and pressure as villages in Wild Woods. And the rest just prefers to ignore Patriarchy completely, as they don’t see an immediate threat from it. The only exception being the Kingdom of Polaris,” Bow waved his hand vertically. “It’s far north, even beyond the northern shore.”

“You mean this kingdom is in the sea?!”

“Not exactly. Most of its territory is on the ice fields. Though in later years those fields are melting at an alarming rate due to Patriarchy influence on ecology.”

“Patriarchy can do even that?” Twilight’s eyes were wide with amazement as she was floating towards the north pole. “Who could have thought that such a tiny splotch on the map, that barely covers…”

Purple alicorn fell silent as she was throwing glances over the hemisphere. Her lips just moved, muttering some calculations in her mind. A few seconds later she lowered herself, now floating near-equatorial line. Then she started to move sideways, finally making a full circle around the planet.

“Eh, Twilight?” asked Bow while looking at his wristwatch.

“Bow,” replied Twilight ignoring an urgent note in his voice. “How much of the planet is actually explored?” she asked while looking right at Patriarchy’s white zone again.

“About one-third,” Bow scratched his head.”I think. Kingdoms that border unexplored territories don’t really try to mark those borders. Besides, we also have many smaller lands that are governed by chieftains or warlords – they don’t like to share any strategic information about their domains. There are also a few huge lawless… I mean ‘autonomous zones’ at the west coast.”

“Autonomous zones?” repeated Twilight while still making estimations with her eye and mind. “How are they marked? All I see is sort of ‘here are monsters’ drawings. Just like on the other side of the globe.”

“It looks like most of the explored area is still around The White Zone. Even if you add Polaris and…” Twilight stretched her neck to read the title over a bright oval that encompassed the island chain near the equator. “...Atlantia, it would be a quarter of the planet's surface at best!”

Alicorn fell silent, processing her discovery. Bow turned around, waved his hands several times, pointing the servants where they should move another table. Then he turned back to her.

“I don’t understand why that bothers you so much. Most of the planet is covered by hazards of all kinds. Toxic wastelands, forests, and oceans filled with dangerous creatures. Kingdoms are established in the safest territories, yet even here it’s not wise to wander far into the wildness. You don’t even want to know what monsters can be found in the uncharted lands.”

“Monsters,” repeated Twilight, seemingly to herself. “Do you remember the dark thrall creature from the last skirmish?”

“Oh. This again?” Bow put a palm to his face. “I thought we were done with it.”

“But what if the Patriarchy got this monster right from some uncharted land?”

“I really doubt it. For one, that would require them to arrange a large and well-armored expedition. I doubt that would go unnoticed.”

“And if they did that through one of their puppet kingdoms as a proxy? Are you sure that you can track Patriarchy’s every move?”

“Maybe not every move. But arranging a party to scout Outer Territories certainly would require a lot of preparations. As I said, that wouldn’t go unnoticed,” assured her Bow. “Even if they somehow managed to do that, there is problem number two – there is no one in there but monsters.”

“Monsters,” repeated Twilight that uncomfortable word. “But isn’t Patriarchy call us ‘monsters’ too?”

“Yes, it does. But only because we look different. Atlantians have fish tales instead of legs, many of our kingdom citizens are vampires – Patriarchy can’t accept that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Twilight interrupted the butler as she didn’t want to hear the same “that evil Patriarchy is intolerant” spiel for umpteen time.

“Look,” said Bow, almost apologetically. “What I was trying to say, unlike Patriarchy we accept everyone regardless of appearance. In Free Kingdoms it’s more important who you are as a person. It doesn’t matter how you look, what matters is that we share same emotions, same empathy, same social values.”

“When I said ‘monsters’, I meant real monsters – savage, feral creatures that don’t share anything with us on an emotional level. They don’t build societies or civilizations, they can’t be reasoned with. They just see you as food. That is the very reason why those lands remain unexplored – you simply can’t find allies there. You can’t become friends with someone whose entire thinking is different from yours.”

“Ah, I see,” answered Twilight, though she felt something was off in this line of reasoning.

“Eh, Twilight,” Bow interrupted her pondering. “Let’s hurry with the globe. It should have a precisely 27 degrees incline. We also have to rearrange the tables around the pedestal.”

“Yes, yes,” affirmed the alicorn and a purple aura of her magic enwrapped the globe of Edenia.

Twilight raised it, feeling its heaviness even through a telekinetic bond. Servants would have spent a lot of effort and time carrying it without her help. Lucky for them the pony was able to teleport the globe from the hold to the Great Hall almost in an instant. And now it took her less than five seconds to correct its angle on the pedestal.

Twilight’s involvement really paid off as servants (or “human personnel”, as Sparkla suggested to call them to show respect) didn’t overwork to the point of dropping of exhaustion, like in the case of the previous Royal Gala years ago. This time everything was ready even the day before the date of the celebration – thus everyone could have a night of rest. And even the next day most servants had free time. Except for cooks, who were very busy since morning – certain dishes were quite perishable and had to be prepared right before the gala itself.

As vampire tradition for parties dictated Royal Gala was to start only with nightfall. Guests, however, started to arrive as early as noon. The first one was Princess Iceberg from the kingdom of Polaris. Her royal sled was pulled by five ice-magicians, including herself. Even in hot weather as was on the Royal Gala day, the road behind the sled remained covered in ice for at least an hour.

The next transport was a carriage intricately decorated with what looked like green and golden vines, pulled by two horses. Because of the remaining ice crust, the carriage slipped and nearly flew from the road into the castle’s moat. However, at the last moment, an incredibly strong gust of wind pushed it back on track.

“Oh, my!” exclaimed Bow, who joined Twilight at the top of the castle’s watchtower for a moment. “I guess, our lesbian princesses decided to arrive too.”

“Who?”

“Princess Hurcana and princess Tieuppa. That’s Tieuppa’s personal carriage. And have you seen how it had course-corrected by wind magic? That’s can only be someone’s from Wind Mountains kingdom work.”

“Ah, and so you deduced that only a princess could ride with another princess,” guessed Twilight. “But could that be just some hired mage? Like a guard or mercenary.”

“Oh, I really doubt that. You see, Tieuppa’s kingdom is not on best terms with Wind Mountain people. Up until recently, they had a long and quite a bloody feud going.”

“What has changed?”

“Well, they married.”

“The princesses?”

“Yes. Some people say that they did it to end the feud,” Bow made a small pause but Twilight didn’t say anything. “Others say that they were genuinely in love with each other. But either way that action was against the traditions of both kingdoms.”

“Uhum,” Twilight nodded while still looking through the window.

Below them, servants tried to calm down two carriage horses, who were still agitated after a near-death experience. Twilight knew that those beasts didn’t have her intelligence or even her sapience, but still was worrying for them more than for the princesses and carriage coachperson.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine,” Bow followed the pony’s glance. “As I’ve said, those two princesses were brave enough to go against their entire courts. Their people’s prejudice. Such a small incident wouldn’t be a big deal after all the assassination attempts they have survived.”

“I’m worried about the horses.”

“Oh,” replied Bow. “I guess that's your personal bias. You need to train…”

“Hey!” Twilight’s exclamation interrupted the butler’s would-be-tirade about bias training. “What are they doing?!”

Bow already saw how a door on the carriage side opened and princess Tieuppa jumped out on the ground. Dark-skinned, like all South Jungle people, she was wearing a tabard dress, decorated with golden rings and numerous thin ropes running through them. The braces on her hands looked like they were wrapped in ropes completely, which looked kinda heavy.

Meanwhile, servants were still failing to calm down the horses, who were neighing anxiously and so loud that even Bow and Twilight heard them from up above. Tieuppa raised her hand effortlessly despite the amount of rope on her braces. And the next moment ropes themselves come to life and flew forward, snaking around two horses’ limbs and muzzles, forming the nooses.

Beasts were still agitated and didn’t even notice how ropes entangle them at first. But then the nooses tightened up at Tieuppa’s command. Neighing stopped in an instant and both horses fell to their knees as ropes squeezed their limbs and mouths. That was exactly the moment of Twilight’s exclamation.

“Oh, my…” started Bow his usual cheerful catchphrase, except his tone wasn’t cheer at all now but heavily concerned.

He didn’t finish though as a purple flash almost blinded him. And when the butler managed to focus his sight again, Twilight was already down below. Bow saw how Tieuppa made a step back from a little alicorn, though her ropes were still restraining two carriage horses. Then Twilight said something, not loudly enough for him to discern, probably demanding to free those beasts.

Bow couldn’t make out if Tieuppa answered something. Only that the princess did sway a bit in her stance in front of Twilight. He also noticed a carriage heeled a bit as something large and heavy appeared in its doorway. With another concerned “Oh, my!” he dashed down the ladder.

Butler’s concern was well-founded as Twilight indeed made a demand to stop animal abuse, and Tieuppa was the person who wasn’t used to demands. Especially from animals themselves.

“What is going on?” a lazy voice came out of the tilted carriage.

“Nothing, darling,” answered Tieuppa. “Just a small talking horse. With wings and a horn. Probably some magic experiment on the loose.”

“I am not an experiment!” Twilight raised her voice. In her whole life, she remembered, no one ever treated her in a such condescending manner. “I am a being from another dimension! I was summoned here to be They-Gay’s mighty steed…”

Tieuppa burst into laughter.

“M-ha-ha-ighty steed! Aren’t you a bit too small to carry someone like them in a battle?”

“I… I…” Twilight stumbled in her answer. She was indeed too small for They-Gay to ride on her, and that along with her memory loss was evidence that something went wrong during the summoning.

A tiny neighing of pain came from the tied-up horses – that was all they could do with their mouths roped. And that reminded Twilight of her business at hoof. Seeing the torment of two innocent creatures strengthened her resolve.

“I said, release these two horses now!” Alicorn shouted and even stomped with her hoof. Tieuppa was even taken back a bit.

“Why do you allow this little horse to shout at you?” a voice from the carriage came along with an exceptionally loud creak as Hurcana was squeezing herself through the door.

“Why indeed,” the dark-skinned princess' voice change sent a chill over Twilight’s back.

A pony froze for a moment and before she came to her senses the ropes were all over her.

“You!” that was the only thing Twilight managed before one of the ropes snaked around her muzzle and shut it the same way it did with two carriage beasts.

Nooses around other limbs have tightened too. Twilight felt how they cut into her legs, forcing the pony to kneel. No way! She resisted, also trying to manipulate the ropes magically. But for some reason, her telekinetic grip was constantly slipping. Still, she managed to keep standing on her hooves.

Then she threw a glance forward. Hurcana finally squeezed herself through the carriage door, with the sound of a plug popping out. She used her wind powers to move swiftly despite her weight and landed right beside her dark-skinned wife in one leap.

Tieuppa herself was standing with arms stretched forward. She even bent a little as if to put more force into her ropes that went from her wrists and shoulders to Twilight and two carriage horses like a dozen tentacles.

A pony looked into Tieuppa’s face and suddenly broke into a sweat. Princess’ face showed tension and effort to keep ropes tied but also something else – a sort of grin. A playful grin of someone who doesn’t apply as nearly as much effort as could. Eyes of human and pony princesses met and Tieuppa made a very small nod. “Yes, my little pony, you are correct.”

Next moment Twilight felt nooses cut into her legs with multiplied strength. She cried from the pain, except only a quiet whinny came from her tied muzzle. And then she was on the ground. Just like that, her legs folded by the strings of grinning puppeteer.

The pose alicorn was now was especially inconvenient as her hind legs were a bit spread and one of the ropes stuck right between them, rubbing her privates. What an embarrassment!

“Now, we teach her some manners,” Tieuppa turned her head a bit towards her extremely chubby companion. “Shall we?”

Hurcana giggled into her palm.

“Let’s start with a simple bow,” Tieuppa waved her right hand and the rope that tied Twilight’s muzzle went down, while another, that was between her hind legs went up.

And again it was rubbing her pussy, invoking a weird sensational mix of pleasure and embarrassment. Yet, as the rope went higher, it started to cut into her flesh, replacing pleasure with pain. Instinctively Twilight rose her rear.

“Good!” smiled Tieuppa.

At that moment Twilight realized that ropes weren’t even holding her hind legs at the ground, like moments ago. The princess used her ropes but she just manipulated the pony through the deepest and most primitive instincts! Angered by that revelation, Twilight immediately lowered her butt, trying to put it back on the ground. Yet, the motion made her rub the rope again and a pleasant sensation in her pussy brought a blush to her cheeks. She even moaned a little, but the sound wouldn’t pass her tightly shut mouth.

The pleasure was short-lived though. As Twilight’s buttocks almost reached the ground, rubbing changed into pain as the rope cut right into her pussy even stronger than before. Her tormented whinny died in her mouth just like the moan of pleasure. Yet, her wide-open eyes had pupils contract, betraying pony’s state.

“Defying your mistress, are we?” said Tieuppa with a tone of a displeased teacher.

“Maybe she enjoys it?” half-whispered Hurcana to Tieuppa’s ear. “I’ve heard many interesting things about the orgies in Blood Moon Castle. She could be the queen’s pet or something. What if this little horse was made to be masochistic?”

“Hm-m..” Tieuppa brought a finger to her mouth, thinking. Then waved her hand.

Two of the rope ends that were somehow free, rose up on both sides of Twilight, like charmed snakes. Though she didn’t notice them, busy with resisting the nooses that pulled her head down and her buttocks up. Then two free ropes went into a spin, to gain some momentum. And finally, both ends swung through the air, like two whips, and hit Twilight’s flanks right at the same moment and right in the center of her star cutie marks.

“MMMMMHHHHFFFF!” wheeze went even through tightly shut pony’s mouth and two princesses heard it just fine.

“Well, I think this shows clearly enough,” concluded Tieuppa.

“I’m still not convinced,” said Hurcana with pretended concern. “Maybe it was a scream of joy. Or maybe she just cried because of surprise. Sometimes I do that too when you shake or prick me without warning.”

“I’m pretty sure, that was pain,” answered Tieuppa, then turned her head to her partner and winked. “But if you want we can check that a few more times.”

Two ropes, that were still swaying in the air due to the princess’ power, stroke Twilight synchronously again. And again. And again. All times the mumble that was Twilight’s suppressed scream of pain was quite distinct.

To the alicorn’s surprise, after each whip, she felt a pleasant sensation. It went from her rear, from her crotch. She suddenly realized that the rope again rubs her pussy. Even more intensely than before, maybe even going inside.

“Are you satisfied, darling?” asked Tieuppa, looking at Hurcana with a playful smile, she never even looked at Twilight while her ropes were flogging little pony.

“Yes,” Hurcana winked. “For a time being.”

“And what about you?” finally Tieuppa deigned to look Twilight in the eye. “Are you going…”

Suddenly a neighing went from Twilight’s left. It was one of the carriage horses. Apparently, the princess of ropes carried away with Twilight’s punishment so much that it slacken her grip on two beasts she tied up first.

In a moment, anger twisted Tieuppa’s face. She clenched her right hand into a fist and ropes on the unfortunate creature tightened with such a strength Twilight thought she could hear the horse’s teeth crack. And after that ropes smacked the horse’s head right into the ground with a loud thud.

The whole action took less than a second, yet somehow it lifted a spell Twilight was under. Or was it a spell? Maybe she was, indeed, no more than an animal, just with a few magical tricks?

“No!” she screamed in her mind. She wasn’t an animal. She was a sapient being, able of rational thought, possessing a strong will. She would never succumb to some BDSM shtick. If only she could focus!

Twilight’s legs started to feel numb due to a lack of blood circulation. Her whole body felt like an air balloon. The world around started to sway. Focus!

She couldn’t remove the ropes with her magic. Burning them would burn herself as well. And they still resisted her telekinesis. Why? Twilight tried to feel the magic flowing through them. Getting rid of all other senses.

Tieuppa said something but her voice was far away now, words completely indistinguishable. Focus on magic flowing through the ropes! Not on sensation, pleasant and painful simultaneously, flowing through her crotch. M-mmm-hf… Focus! Magic flows through the ropes. Just through the ropes? Are Tieuppa’s powers limited to the object she is in touch with?

Suddenly Twilight noticed that the world around her wasn’t just swaying. It was flowing away. She was losing her grasp on the remaining senses. Like heavy pillow was pressing on her, making it harder to breathe. Breathe! Asphyxia! Tieuppa made her noose tighter around the pony’s neck, depriving her of oxygen. There was no more time.

Exhaling, Twilight pulled her magic to the tip of her horn. And made a shot. A very narrow beam, still powerful enough to burn through the ropes went from the horn to the ground in front of her. And then shifted sideways, cutting everything in its path. Including Tieuppa’s ropes.

Nooses that gripped around Twilight limbs loosened. But didn’t fall off completely. Still, at least she could breathe now and the world stopped flowing away.

“How did you?…” exclaimed Tieuppa in frustration – after all she didn’t know what a unicorn is.

Twilight started to rise. Her forelegs trembled as she pushed herself up, but then hot pain spread over many of her body parts. She hissed in agony, yet again her two tormentors would only hear an air pulled by her nostrils. Their faces still had baffled expressions on them and pony realized her new pain wasn’t their spell but just her blood circulation restored. But their stupor wouldn’t last forever.

She lowered her horn, eyes still fixed on two mage-princesses. If Tieuppa throws her ropes, she would shoot them down – Twilight thought. And suddenly Hurcana cried something and jumped forward with speed even more impressive than before. Her hulk completely blocked Tieuppa and immediately Twilight felt short of breath.

“She sucks the air from around me!” realized Twilight watching Hurcana’s stretched hands.

There was no time to come up with a new trick or spell. She just had to run, to fly away. But she was still tied up. Only one option left. Twilight raised her head and focused on one of the towers. And with tremendous effort made a teleport.

“Where did she go?” asked Hurcana, blinking after the purple flash.

“I don’t know, you obstructed the whole view, standing like that,” replied Tieuppa accusingly.

“But… But… she was going to attack you!” Hurcana twisted her head around while talking in the hope to find the little horse again. “Have you seen her horn pointing right at you?”

“Well…” started Tieuppa but suddenly a yelp from above interrupted her.

Both princesses immediately turned around, to face the source of the noise. They raised their eyes and hands to face their probable opponent but only to be blinded by another purple flash. For the yelping sound indeed came from Twilight.

The alicorn miscalculated her initial teleportation and instead of the cozy room found herself on the steep slope of the tower roof. As she suspected, the ropes binding her teleported with her, and even as she was out of her opponents’ reach, she had very little time to free herself before slipping from the roof on the ground two dozen meters below.

Twilight started to pull the ropes using telekinesis. Luckily, without Tieuppa’s magic flowing through them, she didn’t have a problem with grabbing them. But they also turned out to be very durable and in addition interwoven into many knots all over her body.

Pony pushed away her pain of blood circulation and sense of suffocation. She felt she already slipping from the roof. She twisted her body to the right, her horn practically stuck to her side. Then pulled the strings binding her right wing and shot them with a tiny purple blast. Then twisted into the opposite direction to free the left wing.

“A-a-a!” yelped Twilight, feeling her hind legs going over the edge.

She shot the ropes over her left wing already being in the air. With her body twisted like a horseshoe, Tieuppa and Hurcana were right in front of her eyes, raising hands to attack.

“Teleport! Teleport!” pony screamed in her mind and did exactly that.

She failed again to set the destination right and didn’t even change her velocity relative to the ground. But at least she was now behind princesses’ backs. Twilight spread her wings hoping them not to be as numb as her legs. And they were not. Almost.

Her flaps were a bit stiff but she managed to slow down enough before landing. Of course, Tieuppa and Hurcana heard both flaps and an impact. But when they turned around Twilight was already in position – legs, even still tied, half-bent, wings spread and ready to fly her away, horn pointing at her opponents.

“Now…” started Twilight and inhaled deeply, she still was a bit short of breath.

“What is going on here?!” an angry voice, clearly belonging to a teenage girl, came from the direction of the castle's inner gate. Since that gate was precisely to the right of Twilight, she couldn’t see the talker without taking her eyes from her opponents.

“Oh…” sighed Tieuppa, who actually took the liberty to throw her glance towards the voice source and bent her head to Hurcana’s. “Is that who I think it is?”

“Yeah, probably her.” answered the fat princess. “Do you think we can spank her too?”

Tieuppa sighed. “I don’t think so. We are guests here. Let’s not get into trouble.”

“I asked, what is going on?!” the young angry female voice cried again.

Suddenly, Twilight realized – that was princess Sparkla. And she also realized that she never heard vampire princess to be angry, not THIS angry, and that’s why she hasn’t recognized her voice from the start. That was such a revelation that she immediately forgot being angry herself for Tieuppa and Hurcana thinking they will not get in trouble for tying up and spanking Twilight.

“Princess Sparkla, I presume?” asked Tieuppa.

“Yes. I am the princess of this castle. And I demand you to explain yourself,” answered Sparkla, not shouting but still really angry. “Also, lower your hands.”

“Demands, demands…” muttered Tieuppa under her breath, though not loud enough for Sparkla to hear that.

“Can we be sure that your creature won’t attack us?”

“This creature is They-Gay’s… assistant. And my ward. I also really doubt that she would attack any of you without provocation,” replied Sparkla. “So, I ask you again. What is going on here?”

“They tortured the carriage horses,” said Twilight, who finally managed to slip a rope from her muzzle. “And when I demanded them to stop, they decided to do the same to me. Just look!” Twilight shook her body, drawing attention to the remaining ropes, binding her legs and neck, then turned her head so her horn pointed to the two horses, who were bounded with similar ropes but a lot tighter.

“I would remind you,” said Tieuppa with quite arrogant, yet calm enough voice. “That these horses are ours.”

“And the castle is mine,” interrupted Sparkla. “On the land of Moon clan, you will treat every creature with dignity.”

“Listen,” started Tiuppa but Sparkla shoot past her with all vampire speed.

In a blink of an eye, the vampire princess was beside the horses. She was wearing her male outfit with her usual rapier-like sword, the sword that was already in her hand when she bent over two carriage horses.

And before Tieuppa, who made quite a grimace after being so rudely interrupted, came up with anything else to say, all the ropes that tied horses were cut. No one, even Twilight, saw the movements of Sparkla’s sword. Only a series of swishing sounds reached their ears.

Then Sparkla moved to Twilight and with another series of slashes that no one else could follow cut the ropes on her. Every single strike was incredibly precise – all nooses and knots were sliced and not a single cut remained on the skins of all three quadrupeds. Sparkla straightened, assuming a pose “at attention” for a moment, and turned around on her heels to face two foreign princesses. Her sword was raised in front of her face and she swung it to the side, purposefully a bit slower for them to see the motion.

Tieuppa and Hurcana gulped in unison. They still thought that they could take Sparkla down if push comes to shove but no longer harbored the illusions that it would be easy. And, at least Tieuppa, realized that Twilight’s magic was something that shouldn’t be underestimated too.

“We apologize for… misunderstanding,” Tieuppa said that with ceremonial voice and even made a short bow, then pushed Hurcana with her elbow into her belly with enough strength for the fat princess to feel.

“Oh, yes. We apologize,” Hurcana made a short bow too. “We didn’t know that in your castle live such cre-e-e… What is this exactly?”

“This,” Sparkla waved her hand towards Twilight, princess’ sword was already in its sheath. “is Twilight. She is an alicorn, that’s how you call a horse with wings and a horn, from another dimension. It’s quite a long story, how she came here, but suffice to say that she is under my protection now. Also, she is quite a powerful magic wielder and already joined our cause.”

“You mean that ‘Great Rebellion’ we heard about in the invitation?” Tieuppa, apparently, relaxed as her voice was now quite casual and shown genuine interest. “What is this all about?”

“It’s about finally bringing social justice to the lands where people were oppressed their entire history. And I hope that this gala will be a great opportunity for more allies to join us,” Sparkla made a step to the inner gate. “But maybe it’s better for us all to come inside first. Surely, you want to have some food and rest after a long journey,” when Sparkla said ‘food’, Hurcana licked her lips in anticipation. “And after that, we can calmly discuss everything.”

“We would be glad to,” replied Tieuppa with a smile, that Twilight felt was not quite sincere, and pushed Hurcana with her elbow again.

“Yes, yes. We appreciate your invitation,” replied the plump princess as everyone followed Sparkla to the inner castle courtyard. “And would be glad to discuss potential alliance over dinner.”

“Some allies,” said Twilight, but only in her mind so no one could hear.