Leviathan rising

Chapters

A Tale of Two Earth Ponies
Bonus: How Pinkie Pie got captured
The Princess and the Flower
Evening revelations
Target: The Elements of Harmony
Bonus: How Rainbow Dash got captured

A Tale of Two Earth Ponies

Location: Unknown

In chamber within a cave was a large circle shaped stone hole. Inside this hole was a pool of endless darkness with wisps of dark blue energy flowing around. The hole covered most of the chamber, while on the walls there are lit torches lined up, providing some light. Before the black pool was a very unusual statue: it had the form of a malnourished humanoid, with claws on both the fingers and toes and with a lizard-like head and two pairs of horns on its head: one pair on top of its head and pointing up, and a second pair on the sides of its noggin and these ones undulated once and then coiled once towards the sides. The dragonoid statue was sitting in front of the black pool, its legs crossed and its hands placed on its legs – the right over the left – with an open palm upwards like it wanted to hold something.

And kneeling before the statue was the Mistress, who had her hands clasped together and her head bowed down as she prayed softly:

“Oh Great Slumbering One, prophetic one, he who shall bring great changes to our unworthy realm, as your humble servant, and herald of your return, I beseech you oh great one, watch over my daughters of Shadow in their quest. Please insure nothing goes wrong and they will succeed in their mission. Please watch over them so they do not come to harm…and please make the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony to not force my daughters to harm them. Please insure that my daughters return to my loving embrace so that when the time comes they may bare witness to your glorious return and live in the glorious Eden you will gift to us.”

With that the Mistress stood up and with one last look at the statue and pool of blackness she turned around and left the chamber. As she began making her way back to her own bed chamber she was lost in her thoughts:

“I hope you are being successful in your mission my children. And I hope the Bearers will come to enjoy your presence sooner, rather than later.”

Location: Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville

While Twilight and Rainbow are about to be kidnapped

Among the many apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres – which honestly seem to form a forest of their own – a lone, orange colored earth pony mare was busy gathering fallen, broken and old branches and placing them into a cart. The mare was quite tall, a head taller than most ponies in fact, with a well built, muscular body and golden blond mane and tail, both tied by two red ribbons. She was wearing a pair of knee length brown boots with a pair of red apples sewn on each, a pair of jean shorts that hugged her firm bottom, a red and white checkerd button-down shirt, with the bottom being tied right under her D cup breasts, a pair of dark brown gloves and a brown Stetson hat on top of her head. Her eyes were forest green and she also had white freckles decorating her cheeks.

This mare was off course the town famous Applejack, the Element of Honesty.

She, just like the rest of her friends arrived this very morning and after the meeting in Twilight’s castle she went straight back to her family farm to get some of her chores done, plus the ones that her siblings couldn’t cover for her when she was away. And right now she was doing just that and was doing very good progress as well…however while she was physically doing her work, her mind however was elsewhere entirely. Something which from time to time may have slowed her movements down a bit and this didn’t go unnoticed by those who were of the observant type.

“Hey Applejack!”-see what I mean?

Applejack recognized the voice easily as it belonged to her younger sister, Applebloom. Applebloom was several years younger than AJ and had bright yellow fur and crimson red mane and tail, as well as a pair of orange eyes. She wore a simple light green short-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of overalls. She wasn’t wearing any shoes at the moment, but she did wear a slightly oversized pink bow tied behind her head, which was also her most distinguishing clothing feature. Sighing at being interrupted, Applejack turned to address her sister:

“Applebloom Ah told ya not tuh bother me today. You know Ah have tuh catch up with mah chores.”

“Yeah Ah know sis, but uh…”-Applebloom fidgeted in place, trying to find the right words without offending her sibling-“…Ya kinda seem like ya had yer head in the clouds lately. Ah was just wonderin’ if there was somethin’ on yer mind.”

Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise upon hearing this. But that look quickly dissolved and became a gentle smile as she lightly patted the little filly’s head and said:

“It’s alright little sister. Ah can assure you that everythin’ is completely fine. It’s just that this last friendship mission me and the girls went out to was a bit on the crazy side and Ah guess mah mind just kept going back there sometimes. But Ah’m okay Applebloom, so you’ve got nothin’ to worry about.”

Having said her peace, Applejack turned back to continue her job, only for Applebloom to speak up again.

“Huh, I thought you were thinkin’ about Pinkie Pie again.”

And with that Applejack’s face went so red, it would be considered an apple.

“APPLEBLOOM!”-Applejack shouted, then took a deep breath to calm herself down and spoke again-“Ya know Ah have more importan’ things to think about than Pinkie Pie.”

After a raised eyebrow and a deadpanned look from Applebloom-“Really? Then what were ya thinkin’ about just now?”

“Uh, uhm, w-well uh…”-Applejack kept stuttering for a few more seconds until she gave an answer-“A-about the last friendship mission! Yeah, that’s what Ah was thinkin’ about. Ah certainly wasn’t thinkin’ about Pinkie and her cheerful personality, and her bouncin’ breasts and…her firm…behind and…”-upon turning to look at her sister Applejack only saw a smug grin which made her blush, but still have a deadpanned look-“Ah walked right into that one, didn’ Ah?”

“Eeeyup.”-Applebloom said, still looking smug-“Yer just too easy Applejack.”

Now getting annoyed, Applejack began speaking again-“Alright, well if ya think yer so smug, then you can take over this here chore Ah’m doing right now. And then you can go and do the rest of mah chores as well as yours.”

That garnered a shocked look from Applebloom and her whole body went as pale as sheet of paper.-“Uhhh…OH gosh darn it, look at the time! Ah have to go and uhhh, clean up the barn. So Ah guess I’ll see ya later sis! See ya!”

And with that the littlest Apple ran off so as to not suffer her sister’s unholy wrath. Applejack for her part was now the one with the smug look on her face as she watched her sister run away, while chuckling at her success.

“Hehehe, that’ll teach her not to tease me next time.”-Applejack thought outloud as she went back to her work.

However what she couldn’t deny, was that her little sister was right in that she was thinking about her fellow Earth Pony, but these thoughts were far more than just…friendly. While she did fall in love with the rest of her friends, just like how they did with each other, Applejack felt a particular attraction towards the pink party planner, which she found a bit unusual, since she figured that she would be more attracted towards either Rainbow Dash or Rarity.

‘Heh, well either way, Ah don’t regret havin’ these feelins one bit. ‘Cause distant cousin or not, Ah will always love Pinkie Pie, no matter what.’-Applejack silently thought, as she had a smile on her face as she remembered a particular meeting with Pinkie just before they left for their mission.

One day before departure to the friendship mission

Applejack was busy picking apples at the east field as she was mentally prepping herself for the quest ahead. She had already packed for the trip and was now trying to complete as many of her chores as she could, so she wouldn’t have so much to do when she gets back home.

She figured that this mission would probably have some kind of violent or crazy twist somewhere along the line, so she was preparing herself for what’s to come, since she figured either she and/or Rainbow Dash would have to be the muscle of the group once again.

However as she was sinking deeper into thought, she was suddenly jolted back into reality when something suddenly covered her eyes. Applejack was ready to fight back this mysterious assailant, but stopped upon hearing a familiar and VERY cheerful voice.

“Guess who Applejack?”-when she heard the voice Applejack relaxed and smiled as she answered the sudden question.

“Hmm, now that there’s a tough one. Now let me think Ah think it miiight beee…”-and as she trailed off, Applejack suddenly reached behind herself and pulled the familiar earth pony mare to her front, accompanied by a quick and surprised yelp. After that, Applejack held Pinkie Pie low, just a few meters off the ground, and suddenly kissed the pink pony on her lips before she could say anything else. After a few more seconds of kissing, Applejack pulled away and spoke softly-“The sweetest and pinkest sugar cube Ah ever tasted.”-and then Applejack kissed Pinkie once again.

Pinkie moaned in delight as she kissed back, but after their lips parted Applejack made sure she was standing straight. Appearance wise the pink party pony sported a pale yellow, short-sleeved t-shirt, which did a good job at hugging her D cup breasts. From the waist down was a knee-length skirt, with pink and white stripes and pink frills that covered her quite sizable ass. Finally her legs were covered by a pair of knee-length white socks with pink stripes, and on her feet were a pair of white tennis shoes meant for hooves, which bore miniature versions of her cutie mark. Her belly was also slightly chubby, although with how hyperactively she moves all the time, it can hardly be noticed. After Pinkie recovered from her blissful state she puffed her cheeks as she pouted.

“No fair Applejack! You always guess right whenever we play this game. You could at least get some guesses wrong on purpose to make it more exciting.”

Applejack could only chuckle at Pinkie’s childish behavior, although this was one of her many qualities that the farm pony loved.

‘She’s always so cute when she’s poutin’.’-Applejack thought, as she then answered Pinkie’s question-“Sorry Pinkie, but ya know Ah can’t lie. Even if it's just for fun. Ya remember what Ah told ya about what happened when Ah lied the last time?"

Pinkie looked to the side, not wanting to look her tall girlfriend in the eye, since it would be an admition from her part that AJ's right.

"Yeah, I remember."-Pinkie pouted, but then she got a mischevious grin as she added-"I also remember when we played spin the bottle at Twilight's birthday how you admitted your undying love for Rarity, and even swept her off her feet, like how you just did with me."

Now Applejack's face turned beat red upon hearing that-"Ah-Ah was drunk back then...a-a-and ya promised never tah talk about it."

"I promised not to tell otherponies about it."-Pinkie countered-"I never said I wasn't going to talk about it with yooouuu~."

Applejack could only chuckle and shake her head upon hearing this, as the blush faded away and she smiled softly at her pink girlfriend.

"You sly little imp you. Ah'd punish ya right now, but Ah won't."

"And why not?"-Pinkie asked innocently, hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on the heels of her shoes and looking adorably up at the amazon pony.

"Well..."-Applejack began-"We have to go on another friendship mission tomorrow, so Ah have tah make mahself enough time to get some chores done. Plus..."-Applejack continued, as she cupped her left hand on Pinkie's face-"...Ah just can't bring mahself tah punish somepony so cute and adorable."

Pinkie giggled in delight as she nuzzled into AJ's hand.

"You know, I've just noticed something..."-Pinkie started, with the farm mare looking intently-"Whenever it's just the two of us, you always seem to sometimes talk all cutesy-like and treat me differently than when the others are around."

At this Applejack's hand went away from Pinkie's face, and she now sported a look of sadness as she asked while averting her gaze from the pink pony-"Well...is it a bad thing? 'Cause if-if it is, than Ah-Ah'll stop..."

Pinkie now looked distress as she quickly but gently grabbed AJ's arms and made the amazon pony look back into her direction.

"No! Oh nonononono, I didn't mean it like that Applejack! I didn't mean it like that AT. ALL. It was just something I thought I should point out and-"

"Well, Ah just can't help myself."-Applejack interrupted-"You're just so gosh darn cute and adorable and cute, that Ah just can't help but act the way Ah do. But if me actin' and talkin' all....cutesy-like is botherin' ya, or makin' ya feel uncomfortable, than...Ah...Ah understand, and Ah'll stop right now..."

Pinkie knew that, unlike previous times she'd have to choose her words carefully so as to not say anything that would make the situation worse. If there was one thing she hated more than a failed cupcake recipe, it was seeing those close to her being sad. That is when she truly gets her act together and does everything she could do to make things right.

That was when she figured out how to remedy the situation: she gently got a hold of Applejack's cheeks, turned her head so as to face her and then gently took hold of the amazon mare's lips using her own.

The surprise kiss only lasted for a few seconds, which was just enough for the party pony to gain the farm pony's full attention and that was when she started talking:

"Listen Applejack, I never meant to say something that would make you feel sad. I'm actually glad that you're acting differently towards me when we're alone. It makes me feel like I'm special in your eyes, and I don't want you to change that or stop being who you are...because...if you do than...I'll the one who'll be sad..."-at this point Pinkie's head and ears drooped down, her face showing sadness.

Applejack was silent for moment, before smiling softly and cupped Pinkie's cheek with her left hand and said:

"Hey none of that now. Ya know Ah don't like seein' ya all sad. Ah like seein' ya pouty, but not sad. So Ah guess this means, Ah'll have to keep treatin' ya like you're special."

Pinkie smiled softly upon hearing this, nuzzling into AJ's hand and saying-"Thanks Applejack. You're the best."

"Well, what can Ah say?"-Applejack said, placing her right hand on Pinkie's waist-"Ah'm willin' to do anything to keep ya from bein' sad. Even if Ah have tah act cutesy."

Pinkie continued smiling as she slowly put her hands on Applejack's shoulders and then said-"'Anything'? So if I were to, say get captured and kidnapped and turned into a damsel in distress by bad ponies, would you rescue me like a super hero pony to make me smile?"

Applejack chuckled in amuzament, thinking that this was another one of Pinkie's jokes, but she decided to play along, not noticing how Pinkie was subtly pushing her to a cluster of bushes.

"First off, Ah'd save ya anyway. Second of all if that were to somehow happen...You can bet yer bubbly butt Ah'd swoop in and rescue ya Pinkie. Ah'll always be the hero you and the girls can count on."

"Glad to hear that AJ."-Pinkie said cheerfully as she suddenly gave Applejack a strong shove, making her fall into the bushes, with the pink mare on top of her. Pinkie though simply kept smiling and said-"Because that means that, as the damsel in distress it is my solemn duty to give a proper reward for my strong, brave and sexy hero."

Applejack blushed at the last part, especially since Pinkie was now looking at her with bedroom eyes.

"Uhh...Pinkie? A-Ah get what yer sayin', but...Ah s-still have work tah do here, so, maybe..."

"But Applejaaaack!"-Pinkie interrupted her-"I have to practice my reward-giving right now. What if some mean pony kidnaps me during this very friendship quest?! Then I will be tied up and gagged and will be dangling over a lava pit with the rope holding me up ready to snap at any moment! And then suddenly YOU show up, looking brave and sexy as you rescue the helpless damsel in distress, holding her - who is me - in your big, strong arms. And just then I would have to give you a reward fit for a hero, no, a super hero! But then I won't because you wouldn't let me practice on tiiiime!"

For a moment Applejack was confused as to why Pinkie found it necessary to whine, but then she spoke with a flat voice-"Ya've been readin' Rarity's stories too much again, have ya?"

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"-Pinkie shouted, and then started going on a mile-a-minute rant about her reasons for this 'practice session', but, even without her Element of Harmony, Applejack already knew what this was all about.

"Ah ain't gettin' outta this, aren't Ah?"-Applejack innocently inquired, halting Pinkie's rant.

"Nnnope."-Pinkie cheerfully answered, unknowingly imitating AJ's brother, Big Macintosh.

The amazon earth pony chuckled at this and figured she might as well paly along with Pinkie's little game.-'Plus, Ah've already done the majority of the chores Ah wanted to get done, so AH might as well take a brake.'-Applejack thought, then gave her party-planning girlfriend the same bedroom eyed look and said-"Well then, as the hero who will save your life in the future, how exactly do ya plan on rewardin' me, Ms. Damsel-in Distress?"

"Ohoho, I'm glad you asked Ms. Applejack. I think I should start by doing, this..."-Pinkie said before deeply kissing Applejack, her tongue now slipping into the other mare's mouth, as the two Earth Ponies made out in the bushes for the next hour or two.

Present

It took her a second, but Applejack was able to wake up from her daydreaming and resume her work, her face blushing.

'Good thing nopony found us like that that day. Otherwise that woulda been embarrassing.'-Applejack thought, her blush slowly subsiding-'Also, Ah guess Ah didn't need to be a hero in that friendship mission after all. Neither Pinkie nor any pony else from our team got kidnapped by some 'mean pony', as Pinkie puts it. Shouldn't be surprisin', that kinda stuff rarely happens in Equestria, and it sure as sugar never did and never will happen to us.'

While Applejack was confident that she was right about her and her friends never getting kidnapped, she was about to be proven wrong in a few minutes.

Up a hill outside Sweet Apple Acres, while Applejack was reminiscing

Just outside of Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville, stood a carriage drawn by a Terror Bird, and accompanied by two ponies, clad completely in black, one sitting on the carriage's driver seat, while the other stood next to the mode of transport, holding a spyglass over one of her eyes. What was she looking at through the instrument? Well, that would be a particular Earth Pony mare.

"Well, there she is. Right where we predicted she'd be."-Midnight Star said, lowering her spyglass, addressing the red eyed pony on the carriage.

"Great, so is she like we thought she'd be?"-the afore mentioned pony asked, her tone a strange mix of excited and dull.

"Lady Applejack is like a warrior goddess of strength. A notion I'm sure will be further confirmed once we approach her."-Midnight Star said, not turning to look at her friend just yet.

"Sheesh, why do you have to talk like everything's just poetry to you Star?"-the red-eyed, grey furred pony asked, with a small measure of amuzament in her voice.

Midnight Star looked towards her comrade with a flat look in her eyes and said-"It's just something I do. I believe Whimsy Wisp calls it a 'gimmick'. And anyway, I never make fun of your qualities Shadow Wing, so don't make fun of mine."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I guess being as bland as a rock and trying to get a laugh out of anything is my 'gimmick'."-Shadow Wing said, her eyes now distant, causing Midnight Star to sigh, before speaking again.

"Forgive me, sister. I didn't mean to offend you, I just-"

"No it's alright."-Shadow Wing suddenly interrupted-"I understand. I guess I should just be careful with what I say."

"It's not your fault Shadow Wing. Your condition simply demands you to be such."-Midnight Star said-"That's why I wanted you to come with my group. I figured being around Lady Pinkie Pie once we capture her, would help you reach your goal in your current life."

Although it wasn't obvious due to her mask, Shadow Wing was able to produce a small, but warm smile upon hearing her 'sister's' words. Then she looked to her comrade before saying-"Speaking of which, how do you think Whimsy Wisp is faring with Lady Pinkie Pie?"

Chuckled lightly upon hearing this Midnight answered-"Was that meant to be a serious question? I already know how those two are fairing, but let us check none the less."

And with that Midnight went up to the side of the carriage and opened the door, the sound of a high-pitched voice immediately flooding the air.

"So, we are both in agreement that triple vanilla coated chocolate cake with strawberry frosting and rainbow sprinkling is the ultimate best cake to have for an ultimate party."-said none other than Pinkie Pie herself, although her current predicament is a little...strange. For one she was completely tied up as she was sitting on the comfortable seats, ropes circling her ankles and legs, two sets of ropes going above and bellow her boobs and trapping her arms to her body. Her wrists weren't tied with ropes though, but were instead bound by a pair of silver shackles, each studded with a large blue sapphire and held in place by a short chain between them. And finally there was a white cloth covering Pinkie's eyes, though that didn't stop her from striking a conversation with the last ninja pony of this team.

"Yep, yep, yep. I agree, and I can't wait to taste it once you go around to make it Lady Pinkie Pie. Yum, yum, yum."-the afore mentioned ninja pony said, her voice as high pitched and excited as Pinkie's. Curiously there are a few things that can be readily noticed about this particular Sister of Shadow. For one she is very short-an exact head shorter than Pinkie-making her the shortest of her Sisters. Another thing to be noted are the fiery orange braided pigtails dropping out of her hood, as well as her bright pink eyes that radiated a level of happiness rivaled only by Pinkie's own aura.

Ahem

Midnight Star's throat clearing drew both excited ponies' attention to her as she spoke-"I apologies for interrupting your conversation, but..."

"Oooohhh, is it time big sis?"-the excited ninja pony asked, now bouncing on her seat.

"Yes Whimsy, it is time..."-Midnight Star answered cryptically, but Whimsy Wisp knew exactly what that meant.

"YES! YES! YES! FINALLY!"-Whimsy exclaimed, jumping right out of the carriage, with Shadow Wing doing her best to quiet her down.

"YAY, IT'S TIME!"-Pinkie exclaimed too, but then her happiness gave way to confusion as she looked to where Midnight Star would be standing since she's still blindfolded-"Uh, time for what?"

Midnight Star shook her head in amusement and took a seat in front of Pinkie and said-"Before I answer that question, please allow me to remove your blindfold Lady Pinkie Pie."

And the mysterious Earth Pony did so, letting Pinkie get a full view of her captor, although instead of looking angry or scared, she was still smiling as per usual.

"Oh so this is how you guys look like. You look like a ninja pony, like from those comic books my friend, Spike, reads. Although, now that I think about it, you look waaaay better in that outfit."-Pinkie pointed out, as Midnight Star chuckled at the party-pony's words.

"Thank you Lady Pinkie Pie. I will take your words as high praise."-Midnight Star said.

"By the way, how come you haven't gagged me?"-Pinkie asked, her face the picture of innocent curiosity, and upon Midnight Star's confused-'Huh?'-the pink Earth Pony elaborated-"Well, when you kidnap somepony, you're supposed to gag them to make sure they don't call for help and make them a full-on damsel in distress. Eeeeverypony knows that, especially my friend Rarity, since she always emphasizes that part in her stories. So why did you just blindfold me and not gag me."

"'Cause she likes to make things more dramatic."-Shadow Wing suddenly said, while firmly holding a wiggling Whimsy Wisp tightly to her chest and keeping her hand over the smaller pony's masked mouth.

Shaking her head at being interrupted, Midnight Star said-"Actually the REAL reason why I decided against gagging you, is because I wished to test out the new silencing runes that Shadow Wing over there, carved into our carriage. And it appears that, unless I open at least one door, you can scream as loudly as you wish Lady Pinkie Pie, and the carriage itself would still be as quiet as a mouse."

"...And because you like to make things dramatic, riiiiight?"-Pinkie asked with an innocent smile, while Midnight Star suddenly lowered her head. The Sister of Shadows was also immensely grateful for her mask, since it now serves to hide her blush."

"I...uh...y-yes..."-then Midnight shook her head and looked Pinkie dead in the eye, her tone now serious-"Back to your previous question, Lady Pinkie Pie. Allow me to ask you this first: do you remember what we told you, after we captured you?"

"Sure."-Pinkie casually said-"You girls want me and my friends' help with something big, but you were ordered by your boss lady to kidnap us and you want us to come willingly 'cause you like us so much."

Midnight Star was slightly surprised by this, since she didn't think Pinkie's wit would be this sharp.

"Y-yes, exactly...and you're still not upset at all about us kidnapping you or even tying you up like this?"

"Hmmmm, nope."-Pinkie said, looking like she was considering her answer for a moment there-"This is kinda like a game and Pinkie Pie loves games. I think Rarity called this kind of game 'role-play-ing', whatever that means, teheheh. Although, you guys can stop calling me 'Lady' all the time though."

"That I'm afraid I cannot do, Lady Pinkie Pie. It would be a stain to our honor if we refered to you as if you were our equal."-Midnight Star said, before casting a dejected look to the floor of the carriage-"And I'm afraid that, while you may have liked this 'experience' so far Lady Pinkie Pie...what we are about to do next may change your mind, as well as your opinion of us..."

"Hmm?"-Pinkie simply looked confusedly at Midnight Star, even cutely tilting her head.

Sweet Apple Acres

Some time later

"There! That should do it."-Applejack said with satisfaction, dumping the last of the fallen branches onto the now-full cart.

Whipping the layer of sweat off her brow, Applejack couldn't help but be proud of what she had accomplished, even with the slight hiccup with Applebloom from earlier.

"Well, can't stop now, not when Ah'm so close to the finish line."-Applejack then proceeded to wheel the cart back to the family barn to finish this part of her work schedule.

However, the orange amazon mare noticed a fancy looking cart coming up the path leading up to her home. She figured it must be some super rich noble pony here to either buy a shipload of apples from her, or simply make fun of the 'commoner ponies'.

'Well either way, Ah better go and see who that is.'-Applejack thought as she made her way to the mysterious carriage.

Getting closer to it, she noticed a few things that starting raising some alarm bells in her head. One was the very tall and very intimidating looking Terror Bird that was pulling the vehicle. She was no stranger to these kinds of mounts, but given that grounded avians' carnivorous nature she never quite felt very comfortable around them. The next thing to put her on edge were the two dark clad ninja-like ponies standing next to the cart. The first one looked towards Applejack in a calculated way, as if she was sizing her up, while the second one seemed like a shorter version of Pinkie Pie, given her excited attitude and the fact that she was bouncing up and down.

'Somethin' ain't right here...'-Applejack thought, though she decided to greet these ponies and and be civil with them, since they may not be the threat her gut is telling her they are.

"Howdy strangers. I'm Applejack and welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, home of the best homegrown apples in all of Equestria."-Applejack greeted them casually with a smile, the same way she greeted almost every other stranger that came by her home before. However she still remained cautious and kept a safe distance away from the two strangers-"How what can I do for ya?"

"Oooohhh, ever her sales pitch is awesome, yep, yep, yep."-the short pony whispered to her friend, but Applejack was still able to hear it.

"Lady Applejack, first allow us to introduce ourselves."-the taller pony said-"My name is Midnight Star, and this is my comrade, Whimsy Wisp. We are part of a...well I suppose you could call it a sisterhood, known as the Sisters of Shadow."

Applejack did her best to hold back a chuckle.-"Well that explains the outfits Ah guess. Still, and no offence, but you sisterhood's got a pretty creepy name to it."

"No offence taken, Lady Applejack."-Midnight Star said-"Now, back to your previous question, I'm afraid you may not like what you are about to hear next *inhales deeply before exhaling*: Lady Applejack...we are here to kidnap you."

There was a moment of silence, until Applejack broke it with a nervous chuckle and said-"Ooookaaay...uhm, if this is supposed to be some kind of prank, then it ain't funny. Ah mean, who put ya up to this? Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie? Wait, Ah know, it's Strawberry Sunrise, isn't it?"

Whimsy giggled upon hearing Applejack's reaction, whilst Midnight Star spoke:

"I'm afraid this is no prank Lady Applejack. This is very real and happening right now."

"Oh come one now."-Applejack said suddenly-"Ya expect me tah believe that ya'll are here to kidnap me? Just like that?"

"Well...yeah!"-Whimsy said-"I mean, why is it so hard to believe?"

"Because ya'll just up and showed yerselves, and just told me you were gonna do it."-Applejack answered-"Ah'm no expert, but shouldn't a kidnappin' suppose tah happen without the victim knowin' about it?"

"Indeed."-Midnight Star answered-"However, we would prefer that you come with us willingly Lady Applejack. While you will be secured, as in a usual kidnapping scenario, we would prefer that you surrender to us by your own volition."

Applejack was silent for a moment, until she sighed and shook her head-"Look, Ah don't know what this, but ya'll are just wastin' mah time here. Ah've got about a dozen things tah do before the day ends, so Ah'm gonna have tah ask ya tah leave mah farm right now."

Midnight sighed upon hearing this and spoke in a grave tone-"I was hopping we could do this swiftly, but it looks like I was wrong. Shadow Wing!"

Applejack stopped when she heard the ninja pony speak and looked to the back of the carriage, where she saw movement. Stepping out from behind the carriage was a third ninja pony, but there was another pony with her, and it was this pony what made Applejack freeze up.

"PINKIE PIE!"-Applejack screamed.

"Mmmppff, Hhhmmppff Mmmppljmmck."-Pinkie Pie mumbled, as she now had the previously-used blindfold tied over her mouth and nose. The pink party pony was still tied up and was now held by Shadow Wing by her shoulders, and even though was now the ninja pony's hostage, she still simply smiled underneath her gag.

Despite her girlfriend's happy attitude, Applejack still directed a fiery gaze towards Midnight Star, who said-"Please do not perform any reckless actions Lady Applejack, we truly do not wish to harm Lady Pinkie Pie."

"Oh yeah?"-Applejack asked, her voice seethed in rage-"Then how come yer holdin' her hostage in front of me. And while yer at it, how 'bout ya tell me why Ah shouldn't just buck yer skulls off right now."

"Because, while I did say that we would harm Lady Pinkie Pie, should you not cooperate with us,"-Midnight Star began-"We would still prefer that you come with us willingly. Harming either of you, or any of the other Elements of Harmony for that matter, would go against every vow my sisters and I have pledged to, and would only stain our honor."

The fact that this pony mentioned her friends, immediately set off some major alarm bells in the cow-pony's head, however, she decided to shelf that question for later, and decided to instead ask-"Why are ya tellin' me all of this anyway?"

"Because,"-Midnight Star answered without hesitation-"While you may view us as villains, I know that there is no way for me to lie to you. I know you can sense that I am telling the truth, and that is something that frightens you, Lady Applejack."

Applejack's eyes widened upon hearing those words, since they were true. From the moment she began talking, Applejack could sense no lie coming out of Midnight's covered mouth, which was why she was hopping that this was all some sort of elaborate joke, perpetrated by one of her friends. However, at this point she was starting to loose sight of that hope. Applejack was still silent, even as she looked towards Pinkie, who was now humming a little song underneath her gag, while still smiling. If what Midnight Star told her really was the truth, then that means that this whole 'hostage situation' was nothing more than a charade. However, these are ponies Applejack has never seen or dealt with before, and for all she knew, they could still go through with their threat. So, with a sigh of defeat, the orange mare said:

"Alright. If ya promise not tah hurt Pinkie, then...Ah'll go with ya..."

Upon hearing this, Whimsy Wisp started jumping up and down in joy, Shadow Wing sighed loudly in relief and Midnight Star nodded her head in relief.-"Very well then. Thank you, for cooperating with us, Lady Applejack." *turns to Whimsy Wisp and nods*

Upon receiving the silent message, Whimsy excitedly opened the carriage door and produced an entire bundle of ropes and ran excitedly to Applejack, who had an angry and displeased look on her face.

"Okay, okay, now just put those big hands of yours behind your back, and I'll do the rest Lady Applejack, okey dokey?."-Whimsy excitedly instructed, to which Applejack sighed in frustration and did as she was told.

As Whimsy was tending to her task, Shadow Wing gently guided a skipping Pinkie Pie back into the carriage, however she decided to address her fellow sister first with a concerning question:

"Do you think it's wise to let Whimsy secure Lady Applejack. You how she gets when-"

"I am well aware of the risks, Shadow Wing."-Midnight Star immediately answered-"I simply thought it fair for her to take care of the Element of Harmony she looks up to the most, same as it was with you. And on the off chance that she does get...carried away, then I will personally interfere."

Shadow Wing simply nodded her head wordlessly and trusted her sister's judgement, seeing as she is the brains of this team. She then continued to guide her bouncy captive to the carriage. Once there Shadow Wing made sure to carefully guide Pinkie inside, and help her sit down. She also made sure to keep herself calm, even while she was holding onto Pinkie's soft sides and especially when one of her hands brushed up against one of Pinkie's breasts by accident.

"Ymmpphff hmmphhvppff smmmpphhfftt hmmmpphhnds."

Shadow Wing looked up confusedly at Pinkie's gagged and smiling face after hearing her mumbling.

"Ymmpphff hmmphhvppff smmmpphhfftt hmmmpphhnds."-Pinkie repeated.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Shadow Wing made sure to check that Midnight Star was still focusing on her excited comrade and afterwards, she looked at Pinkie, placing a finger over her covered mouth as sign for the pink mare to be quiet. Then the ninja pony pulled down Pinkie's gag, letting it hang around her neck, after which the party pony leaned forward and whispered into Shadow Wings' ear.

"I said, you have soft hands."

Shadow's red eyes widened upon hearing this, looking in shock and surprise at the smiling pink pony before her. Then she wordlessly pulled Pinkie's gag back into place and re-secured it. Then she sat back down in front of her captive and looked away, praying to every god out there that her mask was hiding her intense blush. Although Pinkie's giggling wasn't helping at all.

Back with Whimsy and Applejack.

With Applejack's arms and torso now secured - the ropework making her boobs pop out a bit - Whimsy was now busy securing the amazon mare's legs above her knees. However, as she did so, the ninja pony couldn't stop herself from admiring a certain part of AJ's body that was right in front of her face.

"Did anypony ever tell you, you have a nice, firm tushy Lady Applejack?"-Whimsy Wisp asked in innocent way, but with a hint of perversion lacing her tone. This only made Applejack tense up and blush intensely, then direct a heated, indignant glare at the pony behind her.

"H-HEY! S-stop starrin' at mah butt, ya creep! What are ya, a pervert or somethin'?"

"Meh, I've been called that before, yep, yep, yep."-Whimsy answered whimsically (eh? eeeehhhh?)

Once Whimsy was done tying up AJ's legs, she stood up and produced a white cloth from behind her, making sure the orange mare didn't see it.

"Alright Lady Applejack, I'm just about done giftwrapping ya. Do you have any last words before we go?"-Whimsy asked innocently, and Applejack answered without turning around to look at her.

"Yeah, Ah do actually. If ya'll think yer gonna get away with whatever yer plannin' with us, then you've got another thing c-MMMPPHHFF!"

Applejack couldn't finish her defiant speech because Whimsy chose to wrap the white cloth she had with her around Applejack's nose and mouth. The tall Earth Pony had to lean back slightly though, since Whimsy was so short, as the ninja pony tied the gag off tightly.

"Another, what? I'm sorry but could you repeat that last part please, Lady Applejack?"-Whimsy asked in her sweet and innocent voice again once she was done gagging her captive.

This time Applejack did turn around to look at her captor with a fiery glare-"Mmmppphhhfff mmmmpppfff mmpphhff! Mmmmpphhff!"-Applejack said, her mumbles deeper due to a combination of her gag and the usual tone of her voice.

Whimsy though wasn't intimidated at all by the amazon mare's glare or muffled yelling. In fact she simply stood, smiled and seemed to be getting more excited the more she heard AJ's muffled voice.

"I'm sorry Lady Applejack, but could you please say that again? I'm not sure I fully understood that bit."-Whimsy said, only angering Applejack further.

The orange mare was about to yell at her again, until-

"Whimsy!"-Midnight Star's voice drew both of mares' attention-"We have to go, or we'll fall behind schedule."

"Awww, but I wanted to play with Lady Applejack some more, and-"-Whimsy said, but then stopped when, not only Midnight, but Shadow too glared intensely at her, making her groan in annoyance and defeat.-"Ugh, fine. party poopers."-then she looked at a still glaring Applejack and said-"Don't worry Lady Applejack, we'll have plenty of more time to play. Now let's get going then."

Although she didn't want to go, especially after this pervert pony eyed her up, made fun of her and even slapped her but just now to get her walking, Applejack figured she didn't really have much of a choice, especially lest these ponies decide to hurt Pinkie or the rest of her friends.

As Applejack marched past Midnight Star and was helped into the carriage by Shadow Wing, Whimsy was stopped by the leader of their little team.

"You will be driving Whimsy."-Midnight Star said, making her sister's eyes widen in shock.

"What!? But why?! I thought that was supposed to be Shadow Wing's job."-Whimsy wondered, her sister's gaze not faulting in the slightest.

"It is."-Midnight Star elaborated-"However, I cannot trust you to be in the same enclosed space with Lady Applejack right now."

"But big sis, you promised-"

"I promised that you could secure Lady Applejack, nothing more."-Midnight Star cut her saddened comrade off-"I don't want to have to spend the rest of the journey holding you down Whimsy, simply because you cannot control yourself. Once we reach the rendezvous point, we will discuss this matter in further detail. Until then, grab the reigns and let us proceed onwards."

Whimsy wanted to protest further since she was looking forward to spending more time with the Element of Honesty, but she knew that once big sis Star had the final say in the matter, neither she nor anyone else from their sisterhood could say anything to the contrary.

"Uuuggghhh, fine."-Whimsy said in frustration, before directing a glare at her team leader and spoke lowly to her after getting into Midnight's personal space-"But just for this, I want to snuggle with Lady Applejack once we get to the city."

"...very well. Now let's go."-Midnight Star said, as she wordlessly got in the carriage, closing the door, leaving Whimsy to get up on the driver seat and start driving.

The atmosphere inside the carriage was tense, obviously, with the two Sisters of Shadow sitting on one side, and the two kidnapped Elements of Harmony on the other. The two ninja ponies remained silent and stoic while the Element bearers had differing reactions: Applejack glared continuously at her captors, while Pinkie simply sat smiling, without a care in the world.

"I realize the unpleasantness of the situation,"-Midnight Star said, more addressing Applejack then Pinkie Pie-"But I can assure you, once we arrive at our home, our Mistress will tell you everything you will need to know."

Applejack merely grunted, not liking the fact that they're being kept in the dark. Midnight Star then summoned a cyan colored flame in her left palm and spoke into it:

"This is Team Beta reporting. Honesty and Laughter have been secured and are being transported."-Midnight Star remained silent as whoever she was speaking to from the other end of the communication magic spoke. After a moment of silence, Midnight Star spoke into the flame once more-"Understood, we will arrive momentarily. Midnight Star out."

The masked pony the dispelled the flame and spoke to the two Earth Ponies, who were looking at her with curiosity-"Good news: my sisters were able to succesfully kidnap the rest of your friends, and they did so without harming them. So you two may now rest easy, knowing that your friends will be safe with us."

While she was relieved to hear that her friends were okay, Applejack still felt disgruntled about the fact that her friends willingly let themselves be kidnapped, especially Rainbow Dash. However, she herself felt a great deal of shame for not being able to keep to her promise of being the hero her friends could rely on. Knowing this, she forced her eyes shut and looked away in shame.

'Some hero Ah turned out to be.'-Applejack thought bitterly-'Couldn' even help mahself, let alone save the pony gal I love.'

However, Applejack's bitter thoughts were interrupted by Pinkie nudging her left side. Looking to her fellow kidnapee, Applejack saw Pinkie's eyes go from happy to worried, looking like a child who senses that something is wrong with their parent.

"Wmmmpppfffhhht's wrmmmmpppffng Mmmmpppfffpljkkk?"-Pinkie asked, but due to her gag, her question ended up as a mess of muffled mewls.

Applejack knew that she was worried about her. Despite her ditzy, carefree and free-spirited nature Pinkie Pie could still feel worried about those closest to her, especially in a situation like this. AJ knew that her pink girlfriend was also worried about their friends and what is going to happen to them. The orange farm pony wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around Pinkie, and whisper to her that everything is going to be fine.

Unfortunately their current situation prevented her from doing so, therefore she resorted to do the one thing she knew would comfort her girlfriend. Applejack slowly closed her eyes and leaned forward, gently pressing her lips into Pinkie's. The pink mare was surprised at first, but then quickly melted into the kiss. Even though their gags were preventing them from fully enjoying this moment, they still felt reassured by this gesture that they will be alright.

While Midnight Star gazed out the covered window, thinking about the next step in their plan, Shadow Wing looked on at the two ponies gag-kissing and only one thought crossed her mind at that moment:

'Lucky...'

To be continued...

Bonus: How Pinkie Pie got captured

Another day, another cupcake to be baked and enjoyed. That was the motto Pinkie Pie lived by, and even today she held true to it. With half the day gone and done, the pink party pony was ready for her break and she was planning on spending time with a special strong and tall mare. However-

"Oh, Pinkie dear! Could you please take out the trash before you leave? The smell is getting stronger."-an overweight blue mare, Mrs. Cake, who was also Pinkie employer asked the pink mare, to which she happily responded with:

"Sure thing Mrs. Cake! I won't allow the nasty smell of garbage prevent ponies from enjoying the sweetness of Sugercube Corner!"

With that being said, Pinkie promptly grabbed the large trash bag and went out the back of the shop to throw it away. After depositing the foul-smelling load into the trashcan, Pinkie was ready to depart to her destination, until-

"Psst..."

Pinkie's ears picked up on that sound, and as she turned around, she noticed a black-gloved hand popping up from behind a corner, ushering the party-pony over. After the hand pulled back, Pinkie stood in place momentarily, thinking about her next move.

"Hmmm, well Mama Pie always said to never follow a stranger away from your safety zone..."-Pinkie said outloud to herself...until she suddenly beamed and said-"But making friends out of strangers is what Pinkie does best! So that's what I gonna do!"

With that said, Pinkie happily bounced behind the corner the hand came from, but instead of finding that stranger the hand belonged to, she instead found...nothing but thin air.

"Huh?"-Pinkie wondered as she started looking around-"Hello?! Anypony here who wants to be my new friend?! Helloooo!"

After another minute, Pinkie saw that there was nopony in sight, which she found to be odd since she knew for sure she saw somepony's hand a minute ago.

"Hmm, maybe it was a ghost pony?"-Pinkie wondered outloud, not noticing that the air behind her started shimmering-"Or maybe somepony's pranking me? Or maybe it's Rainbow Dash, trying to pull a kiss and run on me!...but she's visiting Twilight right now, so definitely not. Than maybe-HMPF?!"

Suddenly a large brown bag was thrown over Pinkie's head, until her entire body was encased in the brown fabric cocoon. The culprit of the heinous act was a tall ninja-pony with red eyes, who suddenly appeared behind Pinkie after her concealment rune wore off.

"Please hold still Lady Pinkie Pie."-the ninja-pony said in a hushed tone as Pinkie kept struggling inside the bag, however her cries for help were, thankfully, muffled by the bag.

Once she got to her hooves, the ninja pony tied a rope around the mouth of the bag, securing it tightly and preventing Pinkie's legs from thrashing around at least. Then she grabbed hold of Pinkie's legs and gently laid the bagged pony girl over her right shoulder, her hand accidentally gropping Pinkie's butt, to make sure she wouldn't fall.

"Forgive me, Lady Pinkie Pie, but I have to do this. I'll explain everything once we get back to the others."-the ninja pony said, though she doubted Pinkie would hear her, over all her struggling and muffled yelling.

The ninja pony then turned around and stomped her left hoof to the ground once. Then a rune that was carved into the ground suddenly lit up and a portal opened up. Making sure one last time that no one is present, the ninja pony went through the portal, the bagged party pony in her grasp, and then the portal vanished out of exitance.

And the rest is history.

The Princess and the Flower

Location: Somewhere in the Everfree Forest at night
1 day before the kidnapping of the Mane Six

With the primordial landscape that is drowning in Wild Magic, known as the Everfree Forest, being constantly patrolled by voracious predators of differing sizes and succumbing to harsh and unpredictable weather changes, many of the forest's smallest creatures had to evolve a certain edge of their own to survive. Such as the Cockatrice, born of a chicken and raised by a snake, this little fella evolved a way to focus Wild Magic into its eyes to combat even the biggest of foes.

However, this ability only works if its looking at its target.

So it's no wonder that this particular Cockatrice fell victim to a flying shard of crystalized blood, that pierced its throat and killed it instantly.

Once the deed was done, Shadow Wing lowered her left hand, diminishing the ethereal red glow around her hand. She then looked annoyed at her taller, comrade and said annoyedly-"Alright, got it."-her fellow sister nodded wordlessly and went over to the dead serpent-fowl, while Shadow Wing kept talking-"I still don't get why did you make me do that. I thought you loved animals, like Lady Fluttershy. I mean, your name is Beast Tamer, after all."

"Don' get me wrong gal, I still do."-Beast Tamer said, her accent indicating her Manehatten heritage-"This is just somethin' Toxic Touch asked abou'. And since I can't kill creatures for shit, I needed someone else to do the dirty deed."

"Which is where I come in, I get it."-Shadow Wing finished, while Beast Tamer got busy plucking out the eyeballs of the Cockatrice and placing them in a glass jar that had a rune etched into it. Shadow then turned to address her other named comrade-"So I guess I'll you Toxic Touch, why in Tartarus do you want a dead Cockatrice?"

The pony in question was clad in black like the rest of her sisters, with the exception of her pale green and slightly matted fur, however it was her eyes that were the most curious feature she had: her right one was golden yellow , while her left one didn't have a pupil, and her entire iris looked like a vortex of rainbow colors. When she spoke her voice as monotone as Shadow Wings':

"It's because of two things: one I wanted the eyes of a Petrification creature for a good while now. I really wanted the eye of a Stone Eye Cyclops, but since those are some tuff bastards, I settled for some Cockatrice eyes for the time being."-Toxic Touch paused as she took the jarred eyeballs and the serpent-fowl's body from Beast Tamer, and spoke once more-"The second reason is for its venom. Like its eyes, the venom of a Cockatrice can slowly turn anything organic into stone, but I'm hoping to synthesize it, so it could only paralyze the intended target."

"Yeah, still prefer you talking with shorter sentences and simpler words."-Beast Tamer said.

"Alright, if that's all, let's get back to the others, our two leaders are talking, and we're missing out."-Shadow Wing urged, as the three of them wordlessly went back the way they came.

A short, five minute walk later and the three Sisters of Shadow wound up in a campsite, several tents already erected and three distinctly decorated carriages surrounding the site, like a perimeter. In the center was a fire, a stick near it with a marshmallow at its tip. Surrounding the flame were the rest of the Sisters of Shadow, each of them listening to their two leaders, Midnight Blue and Midnight Star.

"Hey there gal pals!"-Whimsy Wisp announced as she roasted her marshmallow-"Looks like you girls bagged a big one. Are we gonna have roasted Cockatrice for dinner?"

"We already had dinner, you spastic clutz."-said one of the sisters, this one a very tall and very muscular Earth Pony - her physique very similar to Applejack's - who spoke with a very heavy British accent. Her visible coat was scarlet red and her eyes as green as emeralds-"You're the only one who wants to keep eating."

"Hey, I'm a pegasus, Red Fist."-Whimsy said, not noticing that her marshmallow was slowly turning black-"I can't help that my metabolism is way higher than other ponies'."

Red Fist simply shook her head at this, as Midnight blue addressed the arriving ponies-"You do realize that our plan involves NOT harming the Element Bearers in any way, do you Toxic Touch?"

"Yeah, I know."-the rainbow-eyed pony said as she and the other two sat down among the rest of their sisters-"But this is more of an insurance for the wilder ones, like Lady Rainbow Dash or Lady Applejack...actually maybe I should make a stronger dose for Princess Twilight, just in case."

Midnight Blue sighed in exasperation at this, knowing that once Toxic Touch starts cooking, there is no stopping her-"Could you AT LEAST hold off on using those poison darts of yours until I give you permission?"

"Yeah, yeah sure, whatever, now shush. Brain's working now..."-Toxic Touch said as she started jutting down notes in a black leather-bound book.

Afterwards Beast Tamer looked around and then asked Midnight Blue-"Hey, where's-"

"She's sleeping in one of the carriage's right now. She decided to skip the meeting."-Midnight Star answered, her voiced laced with annoyance and anger.

"Seriously?"-Shadow Wing asked with incredulity-"Those carriage's are for the Element Bearers, not that slouch. And doesn't she know that this meeting is important?"

"Yes Shadow Wing, you are correct,"-Midnight Blue said-"But we decided not to have another fight between us tonight, se we voted to leave her be for now."

"I still don't understand why the crap are we lettin' that wanker come with us."-Red Fist spoke up-"You lot know how she gets, so why-"

"Because our Mistress ordered ALL of us to get this done."-Midnight Blue quickly said-"Don't get me wrong Red Fist, I don't like having her with us, anymore than you do. But our Mistress's word is our law, and we will NOT undermine or question her orders."

Red Fist could only lower her head in defeat upon hearing this and grumbled-"I still don' like this..."

A moment of silence later, Midnight Blue spoke up once more-"Now then, let us review the plan one more time:

There are nine of us, so we will split up into three teams of three ponies each. Each team will have one of each pony race within it, in order to cover all of the bases."

"The objective of this plan,"-Midnight Star continued-"is to convince the Element Bearers to surrender themselves willingly. DO NOT use force on them, unless it is absolutely necessary."

Every sister nodded their heads, understanding the principle of this mission, and Midnight Blue continued-"Now then, let us first establish the teams.

"The names for each teams are: Alpha, Beta and Gamma."-Midnight Star continued-"Simple and to the point."

"Team Alpha will consist of me, Beast Tamer and Toxic Touch. We will be going after Princess Twilight and Lady Rainbow Dash."-Midnight Blue continued.

"Team Beta will be myself, Shadow Wing and Whimsy Wisp and our targets will be Lady Applejack and Lady Pinkie Pie."-Midnight Star followed up.

"And lastly, team Gamma will be comprised of Red Fist, Mist Walker and Darkness. You three will be going after Lady Rarity and Lady Fluttershy."-Midnight Blue concluded, which only seemed to annoy Red Fist.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me here."-the afore mentioned Earth Pony declared-"I mean, I'm fine with Mist. Hell, she and I've been together even before joining up with you lot. But Darkness? Why the bloody hell are the two of us going to be stuck with that wanker?"

"Because as I said, we need one member of each race in each team."-Midnight Blue stated-"You're an Earth Pony Red, Mist is a unicorn, and Darkness is the only pegasus left of our coven."

"Yeah, okay, but does it have to be her?"-Red continued complaining-"Why can't it be Whimsy or Toxic?"

"Because I called dibs on Lady Applejack!"-Whimsy exclaimed excitedly, roasting another marshmallow.

"And Toxic is with me, since I have volunteered to keep an eye on her."-Midnight Blue said.

"AND because you might need my contingency plan, in case plan A flops, like a beached-up Piranhadon."-Toxic stated, with a bit of smugness in her voice.

Red was about to protest some more, until a small hand touched her shoulder, making her look towards her fellow sister.

"Red please, don't argue with our sisters."-Mist said in a soft voice. Her eyes were light gray in color and her horn and fur were ashen grey in color as well, even the few bits of her mane sticking out from under her hood was dark grey in color-"I know how much you hate Darkness. Believe me, I don't like her either, but if this is what we must do then we have to do it."

"Yeah, I get it Mist, but that sodded idiot can't do anything, other than annoy the piss out of everyone she interacts with."-Red stated.

"I know, I know. But even so, you're strong enough to subdue her if worse comes to worse."-Mist reassured.

"Mist Walker is correct."-Midnight Star reasoned-"While our Mistress told us to work together, should one of us do something that falls outside of our own code of conduct, we are given permission to use force if necessary. And with Darkness, that will most likely be the case."

Red Fist stood there for a moment, contemplating this decision, however she soon realized that there isn't much to think about. Their Mistress told them to work together, their two leaders thought out the plan, so now all she and everyone else can do is follow the path laid out before them.

"Ugh, fine. But I still wish to point out that I do not like this."-Red finally relented and sat back down, with Mist Walker putting an encouraging hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Alright, now are there any questions regarding the plan?"-Midnight Blue asked, and surprisingly, it was Shadow Wings who raised her hand-"Yes, what is it Shadow?"

"Midnight Blue, I simply wish to make an observation regarding Lady Pinkie Pie."-Shadow remained silent and after taking the silence as her que, she continued-"Not to speak ill of her, but given Lady Pinkie Pie's unpredictable nature, I think it's safe to say that she might not come with us, willing or not. So I propose that I alone capture Lady Pinkie Pie."

This got a few surprised looks from her friends, and Midnight Blue Spoke up after a moment of silence-"Please elaborate, sister."

"I'm not going to do something like hit her with knock-out gas or hit her in the back of the head or something like that."-Shadow explained-"I'll simply ambush her during her break at her workplace, grab her and then go through a portal back to our carriage."

"And how do you plan to capture her?"-Midnight Star asked curiously.

"I'm still not sure about that."-Shadow Wing admitted-"But I'll think of something."

"Very well. Thank you for telling us about this, sister."-Midnight Blue said, before addressing the rest of her sisters-"Any more questions? *only Whimsy Wisp raises her hand excitedly* Anymore questions that do not come from Whimsy Wisp?"-after another moment of silence, with Whimsy still shaking her hand Midnight Blue said-"Very well then. Tomorrow we will gather our supplies and tools and Shadow Wings will hide our campsite with her special runes. We will then split up and observe our targets, and find out exactly when to strike. We only have one chance with this sisters, so I urge you not to miss it. Good luck, and may the One who Slumbers guide us to glory."

"May the One who Slumbers guide us to glory."-all of the sisters chanted.

After that the Sisters of Shadow departed to sleep for tomorrow, with Whimsy grumbling under her breath about being ignored.

This only left the two Midnights who, from which Midnight Star spoke up first:

"Do you really think this will work sister?"

"I'm not sure."-Midnight Blue admitted-"Too many things can go wrong. The core of our plan hinges on the Element Bearers cooperating with us."

"Forgive me sister, but there is something I still do not understand."-Star said, drawing her twin's attention-"On the chance that the Bearers will agree and come with us, then why is there the need to actually kidnap them?"

"You already know, sister."-Blue said-"If they were to simply come with us, everypony from Ponyville to Canterlot wouldn't think much of it."

"And a kidnapping of six of the most famous and powerful mares in the world, would stir up a great reaction...especially from the princesses."-Star concluded.

"I know what you are getting at sister, and I do not like this either."-Blue said, her eyes on the camp fire, distant and lost-"When I dreamt of the many ways of meeting the Element Bearers, this was not one of those ways."

"Me too sister."-Star added-"I would've wanted to become friends with the Bearers, or maybe even more...but this...the fires of the Abyss take, but the Mistress' plan isn't anything good. This will only paint as just another group of thugs for the Bearers to defeat...and fighting them is something I wouldn't want to do."

"We have already come to an agreement on what to do, should that particular scenario occur, sister."-Blue said with sorrow-"I can only hope that nothing will go wrong, neither tomorrow or in the days to follow."

"Me too, sister."-Star added-"Our Mistress' goal is important to us...but what would be the point, if the our own dreams don't come true..."

Location: Carousel Boutique
While Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are about to be kidnapped

Walking down one of the many streets of Ponyville is a vanilla colored pegasus girl with ocean-blue eyes and flowing, beautiful pink mane that covered part of her soft and kind face. Her long tail was of the same color. She was wearing a simple white sundress that reached halfway past her ankles, with a pink floral pattern at the bottom. She was also wearing white sandal-shoes meant for hooves. The dress itself might've been simple, but it was doing a good job keeping the girl's big E-cup breasts hidden away from prying eyes.

By all accounts this girl, Fluttershy, was a literal natural-beauty. Unlike other mare, she didn't need make up to add to her beauty, since her beauty came naturally, in spades. Because of this many stallions and mares alike would often stare longingly at her, sometimes their hunger a bit too evident. This was something Fluttershy never really wanted, since she was always very shy, and while she did come a long way since her adventures began with her friends, she still prefers to not be the center of attention if she could help it.

That is why, the shy little pegasus kept holding a firm grip over the front part of her dress as she kept walking and everyone that passed her by kept starring at her. Fluttershy was just about to break into a sprint to get to where she wants to go as quickly as possible...but she didn't need to, since she literally bumped into the front door of where she wanted to be.

'Oh, thank Celestia.'-Fluttershy thought with relief as she started knocking rapidly at the door of Carousel Boutique.

"Coming~"-a majestic voice sang as the door opened to reveal yet another beauty of Ponyville.

Standing in the open doorway is a unicorn mare, just a couple of inches taller then Fluttershy (mostly due to the deep blue high-heeled shoes meant for hooves), with alabaster fur and violet colored mane and tail designed and kept like curls of silk. The mare wore a white short-sleeved shirt, with its collar wide enough to expose her right shoulder, as well as one of the straps of her dark purple braw, which did its job of holding up the mare's DD breasts. From the waist down she wore a black knee-length skirt, with a small trio of diamonds at the bottom, accompanied by some purple wisp motifs. She also wore a string of white pearls around her slender neck and a dark purple bracelet with a sapphire on her right wrist.

"Welcome to Carousel-Oh my stars, Fluttershy!"-the unicorn mare said in shock, looking at the pegasus-"What happened to you darling?! Your forehead is injured."

Just now noticing this, Fluttershy felt her forehead and felt a slight stinging sensation at the center.

"Oh, don't worry about it Rarity."-Fluttershy said softly-"I must've scrapped it by accident when I bumped into your door...I-I'm sorry about doing that by the way, please don't be mad."

"Why in the world would I be mad at you for, Fluttershy?"-Rarity asked, her sapphire eyes concerned-"A door can be replaced if it's broken, but fixing anything of YOU that's broken would be difficult."

Before Fluttershy could say anything else, Rarity grabbed the shy mare's left wrist - causing her to blush intensely - and pulled her inside her shop/house and slammed the door shut.

"O-oh R-Rarity, what are you-EEP!"

"Come, come darling, we must fix this insult to your natural beauty at once!"-Rarity interrupted her friend, as she guided her into her kitchen and set her down by her table. Taking a seat herself in front of the angel-like pegasus, Rarity spoke once more-"Now hold very still darling. I wouldn't want to aggravate your injury any further."

She then gently cupped Fluttershy's cheeks - slightly squishing them - and gently pressed the tip of her now-glowing horn onto the pegasus' injury. The unicorn's horn glowed a bit brighter until the light-blue light dimmed entirely and Fluttershy's injury all, but disappeared.

Rarity then leaned away from Fluttershy, but slightly wobbled, forcing the pegasus girl to hold her steady and look at her with concern.

"Rarity, oh are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I am quite fine dear."-Rarity said, slowly standing up from her seat with Fluttershy's help-"I've learned this little trick from Twilight, but she was right in saying it's an advanced kind of spell. Even for such small injury, it still took a bit out of me."

As Fluttershy maintained her hold on her girlfriend's arms, making absolutely sure she wouldn't fall, she looked down on the ground in shame-"I am so sorry Rarity. If I hadn't scrapped my forehead than you wouldn't have to-"

"Hush now Fluttershy, there will be none of that here and now."-Rarity gently chided, as she released herself from her friends protective grasp and placed her right index finger over the shy girl's lips-"I'm not exactly on Death's bed or anything. That spell simply took the wind out of me, that's all. But such things are nothing a nice, hot cup of tea cannot fix. And as it just so happens, I already have it ready for our little get-together."

With that, Rarity went to collect the hot beverage and went to set her finest cups for herself and her guest. She also kept insisting for Fluttershy to sit where she is and allow her to set everything up, as host should.

Once everything was set, Rarity gently poured tea, first for Fluttershy, then for herself. The shy pegasus gently took hold of the cup before her and blowing on it, she took a sip, taking her time to enjoy the sweet taste of forest berries and honey.

"Mmm, it's delicious, just like always Rarity."-Fluttershy complimented as she took another sip, making sure to not drink too much, so as to burn her own tongue.

"Why thank you my dear."-Rarity said, as she took a sip of her own-"I always make sure to prepare your favorite kind of tea whenever you decide to come over."

"O-oh, y-you don't have to do that..."-Fluttershy said, looking at her lap as her face heated up.

"But off course I want to darling."-Rarity said with vehemence-"That's what friends do for one another. But more importantly, that's what a couple does for one another, and I will always do my best to have the best prepared for my favorite girlfriend."

Fluttershy looked further down on ground, feeling embarrassed by all the nice things Rarity is doing for her and saying to her.

"Now then, was there a particular reason you chose to come by today? Especially since Sweetie Bell isn't even here today."-Rarity asked, and waited patiently for the shy girl before her to speak up.

A moment of silence passed as bow Fluttershy's entire face glowed red and her hands were shaking. She quickly put her cup of tea on the table before it could spill and then slowly reached in between her soft boobs and pulled out a small black box. The vanilla pegasus glanced up from the box she was holding and saw Rarity's eyes shift from surprised to coy, only making her blush even more.

"I-I-I d-didn't h-have anywhere else to p-put it. This d-dress doesn't have any pockets..."-Fluttershy explained as best as she could.

"I know dear, I know."-Rarity reassured her with light tap on Fluttershy's soft thighs-"But you must understand that had somepony else have seen it, they could've gotten the wrong idea, understand my dear?"

"I-I know...th-that's why I hid it away when the clerk pony w-wasn't looking."-Fluttershy further explained, to which Rarity smiled softly.

'She's as innocent as ever.'-Rarity thought, before speaking up-"Anyway, what is in that little box Fluttershy?"

"W-well..."-Fluttershy began by inhaling and then speaking-"Remember that golden sapphire ring we saw at the jewelers a month ago? *Rarity nods* Well, I remembered how much you loved seeing it, and I remember you saying that you wanted it so badly, but you couldn't afford it then, and after that you kind of...forgot about it. So, I worked hard since then, and I've managed to put together enough bits to buy it just before we left on our last friendship mission. So, what I'm saying is..."-Fluttershy went silent as she slowly opened the tiny box to reveal a ring made of solid gold, with beautiful swirling patterns engraved on it, being topped by a beautiful sapphire gemstone in its center-"...I want to give this to you...a-as thank you...f-for everything..."

As Fluttershy tried to say what she wanted to say, she looked up and saw Rarity covering her mouth with her left and was on the verge of shedding tears. Fluttershy thought she might've done something or said something wrong, but when Rarity lowered her hand, she was smiling softly at her angelic girlfriend and spoke in a shaky tone:

"O-oh Fluttershy darling I...you really shouldn't have spent all of your hard-earned money on such a costly trinket. And really, you shouldn't have spent so much of your money on a gift for me."

"B-but I wanted to!"-Fluttershy hastily-and boldly-said-"L-like I said, I-I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me up until now...even though you really shouldn't have..."

Upon hearing this, Rarity now looked confused-"Whatever do you mean by that darling?"

"W-well..."-Fluttershy began-"Y-you were always so kind to me, a-and you became even kinder to me when we became a c-couple. You always make my favorite tea, take me to so many wonderful dates, give me nice presents and you're always so gentle with me when we...*Fluttershy blushes intensely*...the point is that...somepony like you, sh-shouldn't even be with somepony like me..."

Now Rarity became even more confused and her eyes were even beginning to narrow upon hearing this-"Fluttershy, you had better start explaining yourself right now, before I jump to a conclusion I really do not wish to think about."

Fluttershy's head was lowered at this point, but she answered none-the less-"W-well i-it's just that...you and I are so different. I'm just plain, and bland, and awkward, and silent, and boring and I used to spend more time with animals than ponies...and I still kinda do. Not to mention I'm always so nervous around other ponies, sometimes even my own friends. While you are bold, and brave, and incredibly beautiful. You always speak your mind, you always know how to act around other ponies, common and rich alike and you're always brave enough to stand up for other ponies. Not to mention that you're always so beautiful and majestic...I always saw you as a beautiful princess who will always be out of my reach...I-I'm sorry for s-saying all of this, but i-it's how I've always felt about you...you're the princess and I'm just the peasant girl chasing after her and never reaching her..."

By this point Fluttershy was beginning to shed some tears, after pouring out what was in her own heart. Rarity's own gaze softened considerably, upon hearing Fluttershy's words. The white unicorn then cupped Fluttershy's cheeks again and lifted up her head so she'd look her in the eye:

"Tell me Fluttershy, where in the wide world of Equestria is all of this coming from darling? You know full well that I never thought of you the way those stuck-up nobles from Canterlot do. And no matter what happens I will never think of you as bland or boring. You are important to me Fluttershy. You are my favorite-"

"But I won't be forever!"-Fluttershy objected, pulling herself away from Rarity's grasp-"You keep saying that I'm your favorite, but I shouldn't be, because we won't be together forever. You're already a rising star in the Canterlot fashion business, and soon you'll be moving there too. I've loved you since the day I moved to Ponyville, and I once thought that we would spend the rest of our lives together, but we can't Rarity. We just can't..."-Fluttershy paused for a moment, doing her best to hold back her hiccup sobs and tears-"...when I moved here, Rainbow Dash was still supportive of me, but you...you were the first grounded pony to welcome me here. While Rainbow was busy working towards her dream, you were always there looking out for me, teaching me, standing up for me. I knew I fell in love with you right then and I always dreamt we'd be together forever. But now that we're all grown up and done saving the world, we have to focus on our own dreams...and I know there will never be a place for me in yours..."

Rarity was shocked when she heard all of this. All this time Fluttershy was worried that she was going to abandon her for the sake of her fashion carrier, and that's why she bought the ring, to give it as a sort of early goodbye present. But Rarity kept denying this notion inside her head, because this simply wasn't her nature. True she will get carried away by her work-who wouldn't-but she would never choose her work over her friends, especially her girlfriends. And that go's triple for Fluttershy. So with that in mind Rarity once again cupped Fluttershy's cheeks, this time slightly harder, so she couldn't get away and began:

"Now you listen to me carefully Fluttershy Flutter, because I will only say this once: I. WILL. NEVER. ABANDON. YOU. You are the most important pony in my whole life right now. I had always thought I'd end up with a handsome stallion as my soulmate, but when I discovered my true feelings towards you, it was like I finally became whole. So, I decided to be with you and the girls, and I have never looked back ever since. While I still love the rest of our friends and I still intend to go on dates with them and such, you on the other hand are the most important to me. Just like how Twilight is more attracted to Rainbow Dash and Applejack to Pinkie Pie, I feel the most comfortable around you, my dear.

You say that I am a princess you could never reach, well I have always thought of you as an elusive flower, whose natural beauty nopony could possibly match, and that includes me. No matter how many makeups and accessories I put on, or how many elaborate dresses I wear, your natural beauty would always outshine mine. That's why I wanted to become friends with you, because I always thought that the most beautiful girls in Equestria should stick together."

Now it was Fluttershy's turn to be shocked. She had always thought Rarity was out of her league - even now - but now she finds out that Rarity thought the same of her? This definitely threw her mind for a loop, but before she could voice her confusion, Rarity continued:

"And further more, if you are worried that if I move to Canterlot we will never see each other again, then don't be. I have already scouted a lovely little house for just the two of us in Canterlot. It's relatively cheap, it has a beautiful view of the valley, and it has a cute little garden just behind it. And I have spoken with Twilight, and she told me that she knows somepony, who can fashion me a special magical apparatus that can open up portals between here and Canterlot. And she told me that even non-unicorn beings can use it too, so that means that if you ever want to visit your animal friends, then you can do it in a jiffy."

Once more Fluttershy was shocked into silence by her ever-ambitious girlfriend. It would seem that Rarity has thought of everything while Fluttershy wasn't around, and if what she said about them living together is true, then...

"U-uhm, Rarity....? Wh-when you said you found a h-house for just the t-two of u-us, does that mean th-that..."-Fluttershy stuttered, but wasn't able to finish her question due to all the shock, adrenaline and the swirl of emotion going on inside of her. But then it all stopped when Rarity gently grasped her hands and spoke with a soft smile:

"No, not now...but if you want to...then I wouldn't mind at all..."

Fluttershy gasped in shock at hearing this, until tears started welling up in her eyes once more, but this time they were tears of joy, rather then sadness. She then smiled as she threw her arms around her surprised girlfriend. Rarity for her part was only surprised momentarily, but she quickly overcame it and hugged Fluttershy back.

"Uhm, Rarity?"-Fluttershy asked, Rarity separating from the hug, as the pegasus wiped away some of her tears-"C-could I still give you th-this ring...?"

Rarity smiled softly at the innocent question and simply nodded. With that Fluttershy took the ring from the box and inserted it on Rarity's left ring-finger. Once that was done, Rarity looked lovingly at her new accessory and said:

"You know darling, this almost certainly feels like a marriage proposal."-Rarity then directed her loving gaze onto the shy mare before her and intertwined both of her hands with Fluttershy's-"And if it truly were...I wouldn't object to it in the slightest."

Fluttershy smiled happily upon hearing this, since those were the very words she wanted to hear come out of both Rarity and the rest of her friends, but Rarity most of all. The two were now closing their eyes and slowly leaning towards each other, intending to-

"Oh, isn't that just sweet. Makes me wanna vomit all over the place. Bleargh!"

The loving couple was shocked at hearing a sardonic voice so close to them and when they looked to the entrance of the kitchen they saw a shocking site: three ponies clad completely in black, ninja-like outfits. The one in the middle was as tall as Applejack and looked physically as strong as her, her eyes emerald and with red fur. The one on the right was shorter, with grey fur and eyes and her entire demeanor was like Fluttershy's. The last one on the left had jet-black fur and dark purple eyes and the very aura around her radiated a stench certain dregs from the underbellies of society would emit.

"Wh-who are? H-how did you get in here? For that matter, what in Equestria are you doing in my house?!"-Rarity demanded, getting up from her seat and instinctively setting herself between the three strangers and her beloved.

"Please calm yourself Lady Rarity, we're not here to hurt you, or Lady Fluttershy."-the one in the middle said with a surprising softness to her voice, her accent indicating her Trottingham heritage.

"You just barge into my home without my permission, you hide your faces behind masks and you look suspicious overall."-Rarity said, feeling Fluttershy standing up behind her as well-"It is only natural for me to assume that you are burglars or something of the sort, when I first see you."

"I know, and I understand your reasoning Lady Rarity."-the tall one spoke once again-"But understand we do not wish to harm you, not unless you give us a reason to, and I strongly implore you not to. Please, allow us to introduce ourselves so as to show you at least a little bit of civility."-Rarity's glare seemed to have lessened slightly, though she still kept her guard up, while the tall pony continued-"My name is Red Fist, intimidating, yes I know, but I'm not, believe me. *gestures to the pony on the right* This is Mist Walker, she doesn't talk much, but she is as nice and gentle as Lady Fluttershy. *gestures to the pony on the left* And this is-"

"Oh for fuck's sake, why the hell are acting all buddy-buddy for?"-the pony on the left said with a voice laced with impatience, anger and arrogance-"Let's just beat them up, bag them and go. I don't wanna be around this shit-hole of a town any longer."

Rarity and Fluttershy were shocked at hearing this, the vanilla pegasus even squeeking in fright, but before the white unicorn could speak, it was the grey unicorn who addressed the rude pony.

"Uhm, Darkness? I'm sorry, but we're supposed to kidnap them, without hurting them. Those were our orders. The Midnight Twins-"

"Nopony asked for you useless opinion, idiot."-the rude pony, now named Darkness, shot back, making Mist Walker recoil in fright-"And I don't give a rat's ass what those two shitheads said. Let's just take these bitches and go already, before I-"

"Number one, nobody talks like that to Mist Walker and the Element Bearers, especially when I'm close by."-Red Fist said dangerously, making sure to emphasize her superior size and strength before Darkness-"Number two, I believe the Midnight Twins have the best interests of everypony in mind, including that of the Element Bearers, so you don't get to undermine their orders. And number three, the last time I checked, nopony was ever interested in your bloody opinion Darkness. And personally, I think I'd much rather take the opinion of the cute mail pony we saw earlier, then yours any day."

There was a moment of silence and just as Darkness was about to speak again, Red spoke up first-"So do everypony a favor and shut up if you don't want to say anything helpful."

Another moment of silence, before Darkness chuckled darkly and said sardonically-"Sure thing, boss."

Stepping away from the taller pony, Darkness stood back, while Red Fist looked back at the surprised Element duo. Rarity and Fluttershy were taken aback by how this 'Darkness' behaved, and were even more surprised that the other two masked ponies - whom they assumed were villains as well - actually stood up to defend them. However, Rarity's mind refocused on a bit of detail Mist Walker said:

"Excuse me, but your friend - Mist Walker, was it? - said that you three came here to kidnap us. Care to explain that?"-Rarity asked, now holding Fluttershy close to her.

Sighing upon hearing this Red was about to speak, when Mist Walker beat her to it-"I-I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to know about it like this. We..."

"Hey, it's alright Mist. They were going to find out eventually, might as well get it over with."-Red said, putting a reassuring hand on her sister's shoulder. She then turned back to address the Element Bearers-"To clarify, yes, we are here to kidnap you two - b-but it's not what you think!"-Red paused for a moment to see if Rarity might say something, and after taking her silence as her que, she explained further-"Our Mistress has a plan set in motion, which will change the face of Equestria for the better. However, in order for this plan to work, we need the help of the most powerful ponies of this land. And I think you know, whom I'm talking about..."

Red stopped, intending to let all this sink in, and Rarity spoke up once more-"Alright, so you need the help of me and my friends. I can perfectly well understand that, in fact I would gladly go with you to help you right away...but if that really is true, then why must you kidnap us? If it is your way of asking for help, then I must say it is by far the strangest way of asking for help I have ever heard of."

Even though the last part wasn't intended to be humorous, Red still chuckled slightly, before clearing her throat and speaking-"I'm afraid I can't say. In fact, I've already said too much. All you need to know is that what we're doing here is important for the future of this land. And before you ask, no, we are not intending to kill you in the name of some zealous doctrine or sacrifice you to some pagan god, or whatever. As Mist said earlier, our intensions are to kidnap you without harming you. In fact we would prefer that you come with us willingly. And even back at our home, our Mistress wouldn't even consider harming a hair from your bodies, Lady Rarity."

Red stopped to catch her breath, giving Rarity a moment to consider her words. The fashionista unicorn was at a loss right now. On the one hand she can understand coming to them for help, but on the other hand, asking for their help by kidnapping them? She knew that meant an instant 'no', but the gentleness and honesty radiating from Red Fist kept compelling her to agree to what she is asking of them.

"Uh-uhm, R-Rarity?..."-Fluttershy whispered into the unicorn's ear, who listened-"U-uhm, I'm not very sure, but...I think I believe what Ms. Red Fist is saying. Sh-she sounds very honest, and sounds like they really do want our help, even with the...you know...Ms. Mist Walker seems like a nice pony too. S-so, m-maybe we sh-should do as they say, a-at least for now..."

"Are you sure about this darling?"-Rarity whispered back-"I know you're a good judge of character, like Applejack is, but these are still kidnappers. Are you certain about this?"

"W-well...n-no...not really..."-Fluttershy admitted-"B-but, we should at least see what they want our help with, right?"

Rarity thought about it for a moment, and her generous side began kicking in as well. They should find out what these ponies are up to anyway, and if it's something bad, then they need to stop it.

"Very well, we will go with you."-Rarity told the Sisters of Shadow-"But, we will do so, only on the condition that you do not harm us. Understood?"

Hearing this, Red and Mist both smiled underneath their masks and the Earth Pony said-"O-off course Lady Rarity! We will make sure you are treated as respectable guests of honor."-she then pulls out of her pocket a small silver ring with a purple gem in its middle and said-"May I please put this on your horn, Lady Rarity? This is a Magic Suppression ring meant for unicorns, it's not what you think. This is merely part of the process..."

Rarity looked at the ring for a moment, before relenting with a sigh-"Fine, do it. But I'm warning you; just because you're touching my horn, doesn't mean you can start having any funny ideas."

"Y-yes, I understand Lady Rarity..."-Red said as she gently let the ring slide down Rarity's horn. Once that was done, she turns to address her comrades-"Come on, let's get the rest of our tools ready."

Red and Mist went out of the kitchen into the main hall, where they left a large sack that was filled with their 'tools'. However, Darkness stood in place and watched the two ninja ponies select the appropriate items and speaking excitedly, but quietly amongst themselves. As she observed them being focused on their own task, a sneer crossed her masked features, as she then directed her gaze at the two remaining Element Bearers.

With that same high level of smugness from before Darkness approached the two ponies, Rarity doing her best to reassure Fluttershy of their safety, while the pegasus girl kept saying that she was alright. Upon noticing the rude pony approach them, Fluttershy slightly back away, while Rarity leveled a challenging glare at her.

"Shouldn't you be with your friends?"-Rarity asked.

Darkness didn't answer at first, as her gaze fell on the golden sapphire ring on Rarity's hand. She smirked at this and spoke-"Nice ring ya got there."-upon hearing this Rarity became surprised, before she quickly put her right hand over her left, hiding the ring away from the sneering pony-"I'll bet it's worth a lot of bits, so hand it over."

"W-what is the meaning of this? No, I won't!"-Rarity said in shock, but her answer seemed to annoy Darkness for some reason.

"What the hell did you just say?"-Darkness said, getting uncomfortably close Rarity-"Did you just talk back to me, bitch? Nopony talks back to me, got it? Now give me that damn ring!"-Darkness now demanded as she harshly grabbed Rarity's left hand and tried to remove the ring, but Rarity off course fought back.

"Wh-what are you doing?! We had a deal you ruffian! We-"

"Do you really think I give a shit about what you and that meathead talked about?"-Darkness asked, interrupting Rarity-"I want your ring, which means you're gonna give it to me, no questions asked. Now give it to me!"

"Stop it! Let go of me!"-Rarity struggled and fought back, trying to cast magic, but then remembered the ring.

"Hey! Leave her alone you bully!"-Fluttershy cried out, grabbing Darkness' left arm to try and pry her away from Rarity.

"HANDS OFF!"-Darkness shouted, backhanding Fluttershy in the face, hard. After the pegasus hit the ground, Darkness took it a step further and pressed her left hoof down on the part of Fluttershy's face where she hit her-"Don't you DARE touch me again, you worthless, peasant bitch!"

"Fluttershy!"-Rarity cried out, still being held in Darkness' vice grip-"Why did you do that?! You didn't have to hurt her, you-"

"Shut up!"-Darkness ordered as she used her free hand to punch Rarity in the stomach-"I'll hurt you and your whore worse if you don't-"

But before Darkness could finish her sentence, someone grabbed her right shoulder and turned her around. That someone was Red Fist, who then proceeded to launch a hard punch into Darkness' face, forcing her back and away from the two injured girls.

"Lady Rarity! Lady Fluttershy! Are you two alright? Are you hurt very badly?"-Red franticly asked, with Mist arriving shortly after.

"N-no, we're fine...relatively speaking..."-Rarity whizzed as she nursed her injured stomach, while Fluttershy nursed her heavily bruised face.

"Mist! Healing spell! Now!"-Red ordered and Mist Walker wordlessly went to work, her horn glowing. Then Red Fist turned a raging glare upon the recovering Darkness-"What the HELL did you think you were doing?! We're here, to take them with us, not rob them and hurt them!"

"Ooohh you just punched me Big Red."-Darkness drawled as she got back on her two legs-"Pretty sure mommy dearest won't like tha-"

"Don't you dare change the subject!"-Red ordered-"You've already hurt Lady Rarity and Lady Fluttershy, do not give me more of a reason to hurt you by insulting our Mistress."

"Oh please, will you grow up already?"-Darkness drawled once again-"I didn't kill them. They're alive, so that's all that matters."

"You hurt them, you stupid wanker!"-Red shot back-"Don't you get? You hurt them, when you were ordered not to!"

"Like I said; they're alive. What's the harm in ruffing them up a little bit?"-Darkness said, uncaringly at first, but then with a bit of sadistic pleasure.-"Anyway, what you gonna do Big Red? You're gonna kill me, or something?"

As Darkness chuckled at her own mocking, Red turned to Mist-"Mist!"

"Got it!"-Mist simply said, standing up and using her magic to open a portal behind Darkness, who turned around with confusion.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What does it look like? We're sending you back to our carriage."-Red simply said, which only seemed to anger Darkness.

"What?! Ooooh no, you are not benching me, you giant halfwit! You're not the boss of-"

*PUNCH*

Red punched Darkness again, this time a little harder. Then the Earth Pony grabbed the psycho pegasus' outfit and lifted her to her eyelevel.

"You have no room for protests anymore. Just be glad I didn't use my full strength, otherwise you'd be picking up what's left of your jaw from the floor. You were given a simple order: follow my command and unsurprisingly you screwed that up too. So now you will go back to the carriage and wait for us, until we are finished tending to the two Ladies' injuries."

"Heh, and what makes you so sure I won't just up and take the carriage and leave you four useless shmucks behind, huh?"-Darkness asked smugly, to which Red simply answered.

"Because if you do, if the rest of my sisters don't find you first, then I will. And when I do, I'll turn your spine into a fucking boa scarf, and then your face into a bloody napkin."

Darkness remained silent for a moment, until she spoke again-"Why so defensive Big Red? You know those two and the rest of those whores will never be your friends, so why bother?"

Red remained silent for a moment, until she spoke again as she approached the portal-"Because I'm not a spoiled bitch, like you."-then Red Fist threw Darkness through the portal and the magic construct closed.

Once that was done, Red returned to the gathered ponies, with Mist looking at her with concern.

"Are you alright, Red?"

"Hmpf, no, no I'm not alright Mist."-Red said bitterly-"I let Darkness make a fool out of me...again. I turn my back on her and she goes and hurts the Element Bearers, right after I promised them that we wouldn't."

"Red..."

Mist wanted to comfort her friend, until in a surprising twist, Fluttershy got up from the ground and placed a reassuring hand on Red's back, surprising her.

"Don't worry about us Ms. Red. Rarity and I are okay now, thanks mostly to your friend here."-Fluttershy said, not ceasing in surprising the Earth Pony-"You couldn't have known that that pony would be so mean. You just trusted her, there's no shame in that."

"Trust?"-Red chuckled humorously and spoke-"Lady Fluttershy, none of my sisters trust that crazy wanker. In fact, I am quite certain that not even our Mistress trusts her. That's why she was put with me, so I could keep an eye on her, and I screwed that up!"

Fluttershy felt even more sorry for Red now, since the Earth Pony wouldn't stop blaming herself. She wanted to comfort her, but surprisingly, it was Rarity who beat her to it.

"You know, Fluttershy is right darling."-hearing the fashionista's voice surprised Red greatly now-"That ruffian simply deceived you. You couldn't have known that was the case. And even if you were suspicious, you couldn't have known for sure, until it was too late. Take from somepony who was deceived many times before darling, all you can do now is stand up and move forward."

This was an uncanny situation. Never did the Earth Pony ever think she'd be cheered up by one of the ponies she and her sisters look up to. This definitely made her heart jolt slightly. Then she recovered from her shock by chuckling in amusement.

"Heh. This is ridiculous."-Red said, putting her left hand on her forehead-"Here I am, trying to kidnap you two, and you just decide to reassure me, your kidnapper, when I'm feeling glum."

"Hmhmh, well I AM the element of kindness, and Rarity is the element of generosity, after all."-Fluttershy explained.

"Yes, but don't misunderstand dear."-Rarity said, seriously this time-"I still believe that you kidnapping us is wrong, and I still do not trust you. I do appreciate that you defended me and Fluttershy from the uncuth savage, but that doesn't mean I fully trust any of you."

Red nodded her head, understanding what the fashionista was saying, but she still appreciated their support none the less.

"U-uhm, excuse me everypony, but...should we get to tying them up or...?"-Mist wondered outloud, to which Rarity said.

"Yes, yes, I suppose you should, since you two are so stubborn about this."

"Alright then."-Red said, picking up some ropes that she dropped when she rushed back into the room-"I will take care of Lady Rarity and Mist, you will handle Lady Fluttershy."

And so, the two remaining Sisters of Shadow kept themselves busy tying up a calm Fluttershy and a reluctant Rarity. For five minutes everyone was silent, until Red spoke to Rarity, as she tied a line of rope under the fashionista's breasts.

"Lady Rarity, I still wish to thank you for what you and Lady Fluttershy said to me earlier. Believe me, you have no idea what this means to somepony like me."

"Hmm, yes I suppose so. Although, you could stand to watch where your hands are as you speak."-Rarity pointed out, as one of Red's hands brushed up against one of her breasts. After a quick 'sorry' from the ninja pony, Rarity asked-"Seeing as we're talking anyway, would you mind telling why do you keep calling us 'Lady', every time you speak our names? Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy being reffered to as a lady, but why do it anyway?"

"O-oh! Th-that's because we respect you, Lady Rarity."-Mist said, as she gently applied the Pegasus Clamps onto Fluttershy's wings.

"Yes."-Red continued-"We hold you and the rest of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony in the highest of regards. So it is only natural that we address you with respect as well."

"Is that why you told us about kidnapping us first?"-Fluttershy asked curiously and innocently, to which Mist nodded.

"Indeed. You may be our targets, but that is no reason for us to act like savages...like Darkness."-Red elaborated, almost spitting when she said Darkness' name.

AT this point, the two sisters were done tying up the two lovers. Rarity and Fluttershy were now completely secured and couldn't really move much, except for their legs from the knee down.

"Alright, now all that's left is to gag you two."-Red said, as she and Mist pulled out a white cloth each and were about to do just that, until-

"Please wait."-Fluttershy spoke up-"Uhm, if it's okay with you two, could you please not g-gag us yet? There's something I want to tell Rarity first...if that's okay with you..."

Red and Mist simply looked at each other in confusion and then the Earth Pony said-"Aaalllright Lady Fluttershy...I mean, it's not like you will never see each other again, but if you really wish so, then please, go ahead and speak."

"Yeah. Please take your time Lady Fluttershy."-Mist added, to which Flutterhsy blushed and then turned to face her lover.

"Uh-uhm, R-Rarity? Uhm, u-unless s-something bad happens - Celestia forbid - th-then I...I just want to tell you...that I-"

Fluttershy couldn't finish as Rarity collided her lips with the vanilla pony's. She was surprised by this action at first, but then Fluttershy melted into the kiss, reciprocating the action. After separating from the kiss, Rarity spoke up:

"I know dear, I know. And I swear, once we get out of this mess, the two of us will have our wedding and be the first of our herd to wed."-Fluttershy smiled happily upon hearing this and so did Rarity, but a moment later, the unicorn turned to face their captors with a determined look and said-"Alright, I believe we both now said what we needed to say. So go ahead and gag us then."

Nodding in reply, the two ninja ponies went behind the two mares and tied the two cloths over their mouths. After mumbling a few times to test the effectiveness of their restraints, Fluttershy and Rarity were thankful their captors allowed them to talk one last time.

"Alright, It's time to go. Mist?"-Red said, as she placed her hands on Rarity's shoulders, while Mist did the same in Fluttershy's case.

"On it."-Mist said as she once again opened a portal and the two captors gently guided their captives through it.

After passing through the magical threshold, the two pairs ended up somewhere outside of Ponyville, standing before a distinctly decorated carriage that's being pulled by a Terror Bird. Next to the carriage stood a grumpy Darkness, who looked like she was in a tussle recently, with her right arm bearing a slash mark that was bleeding. Once she saw the pairs, she smugly smirked underneath her mask and addressed them:

"Well, look who decided to finally show up. Hey there Curls. How's your tummy doing?"-Darkness asked mockingly, addressing Rarity.

"Hmpf!"-Rarity huffed underneath her gag as she turned her head up and away from Darkness, who got angry because of that.

However, the pegasus kept her mouth shut and instead addressed Mist as she passed her by-"Hey, worthless! My arms wounded. Heal it."

As Mist helped Fluttershy into the carriage, she turned to glare at Darkness-"Are you kidding? After what you just did and after you, obviously, tried to run away? Heal it yourself. You've got healing lotions, like the rest of us."

Once again Darkness became enraged that someone was 'talking back' to her and refusing to do her biding. She went to take a swing at Mist, until Red cleared her throat behind her. When the psycho pegasus looked towards the Earth Pony, Red loudly cracked her knuckles, telling Darkness what is about to happen.

Growling in dissatisfaction, Darkness went to get inside the carriage, until Red grabbed her left shoulder and harshly pulled her back, as she gently helped Lady Rarity into the carriage.

"Oh, so the scum get special treatment, but I don't? Hello! I'm the injured one here! I'm the one that's supposed to be pampered, not those two scum of the world!"-Darkness complained, as Red simply turned to her and said.

"What was it you told me earlier? Oh yeah: grow up already. And in case it's not obvious enough, you'll be sitting in the back of the carriage for the rest of the trip."

"What?!"-Darkness asked, shocked-"You can't-"

"Darkness, thanks to you, this day became too long and too exhausting for me, so do yourself a favor: don't piss me off and just do it."-Red ordered, this time with a dangerous edge in her voice.

Darkness growled at this, like and animal, and as she walked over to her designated seat, she said-"You'll regret this. Nopony humiliates me and gets away with it. NOPONY!"

Red simply shook her head at this, since for Darkness, not giving her candy when she demands it is considered 'humiliation'. Once that was done, Red Fist went to sit at the drivers seat, when Mist spoke up.

"Are you sure you want to drive Red?"

"Look, no offence mist, but I'm better at this, and I don't trust Darkness to not intentionally crash this thing. You just sit with our Ladies and report back to the boss ladies, alright?"

Though hesitant at first, Mist Walker relented and took a seat inside the carriage. Once the vehicle began to move along, she dared a glance at the two other ponies with her. Fluttershy was as nervous as ever, while Rarity made sure to keep an eye on Mist, in case of any 'funny ideas'.

"Please try to relax you two."-Mist said-"Trust me, you and the rest of the Element Bearers will be much more comfortable once we arrive at our destination."

"Hmpf! Mmmppff'll bmmpplmmffv mmppt whmmmpphhnnn mmppff sssmmmppff mmmpppffftt."-Rarity said, her voice muffled by her gag.

Not fully understanding what her fellow unicorn was talking about, Mist produced a small blue flame in her left palm and spoke into it:

"M-Mist Walker s-speaking. I-I mean, th-this is T-Team Gamma. W-we have K-Kindess a-and Generosity a-and we're going to wh-where we need to go...o-over..."-the timid unicorn stuttered as she ended the transmission, then looked up to the two lovers-"S-so, the others say that y-your friends are with them so...you'll see them soon, I-I promise..."

Given their earlier discussion, Rarity didn't doubt the ninja pony's words this time, but right now she was focusing her gaze on a nervous looking Fluttershy. The poor thing looked more nervous than usual, but not because they were being kidnapped - not completely - but because she is tied up. Fluttershy always had a distinct fear towards bondage, since it was always portrayed in a negative light, which is why Rarity never brought it up (even though she'd sometimes fantasize about Fluttershy perfectly fitting the role of a tied up damsel in distress).

So naturally she knew that now, more than ever she'd have to comfort Fluttershy. And that's what she did, by moving closer to her lover and pressing her body up to hers. Realizing what the gesture means, Fluttershy simply placed her head onto Rarity's left shoulder, feeling safe being so close to the pony she loved.

As this was happening, Rarity made a vow in her mind-'Don't worry Fluttershy. I swear, with Celestia as my witness, I will protect you and keep you safe from whatever dangers come our way. After all...a princess will always protect her flower.'

End of prologue

Author's Note

Alright, so as you all may have just read, this, along with the previous chapters were meant to be a sort of prologue for the story.

Next time, the main six will be together again, and some happenings in Ponyville will also be revealed.

In any case, I hope that those of you who read this story at least enjoy it to some extent, because I know that this isn't to everyone's taste. Please comment as well, although please be respectful when you do so. I also hope this chapter wasn't too cheesy or corny. I was trying to wright this one to be as romantic as I could manage...sorry.

Anyway, that's all for now, and hopefully I'll be able to make the next update soon. See you guys later and remember: be safe.

Evening revelations

Previously on 'Leviathan Rising': A mysterious mare, known only as 'The Mistress' dispatches her most loyal warriors to bring her the Six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Splitting up in three teams of three, the Sisters of Shadow successfully kidnapped the Mane Six and are now on their way back to their base of operations. The question now is, how will Equestria's heroines get out of this?

Location: Deep within the Everfree Forest

Three hours after kidnapping the Mane Six

By now night has fallen upon the land of Equestria, and the Sisters of Shadow were ever so glad that Luna wasn't watching over the land through the Moon. Otherwise she would've seen the three suspicious looking, finely decorated carriages converging in a single-file line on the one path that cuts through the most feared forest in all of Equestria.

No words have been spoken among the ninja ponies - not even a greeting - so as to not arouse any suspicion or alarm from their respective captives. After a while, they finally made it to a clearing, where they stopped. This was their que to wake up their passengers.

By now all of the Bearers have fallen asleep: Twilight's head was leaning on the carriage's covered window, Rainbow Dash's head was leaning all the way back, Applejack's head was lobbing down with her hat partially obscuring her eyes, Pinkie Pie's head somehow ended up on Applejack's lap, and Fluttershy's head was lying on Rarity's left shoulder, with the fashionista's head leaning on top of Fluttershy's.

The Sisters of Shadow woke up each pony, giving them a few seconds to wake up properly and remember where they are. Once that was done and some glares were thrown to their captors for good measure, the Mane Six were forced to stand up and walk out of the vehicles.

They were helped, off course, and once they saw each other, relief washed over them that they were all alright. They tried to talk to each other, but since they were all still gagged, all that came out were muffled sounds. Twilight wanted to try and talk to them via telepathy, but her being shoved by one of the Sisters wasn't helping her in her concentration.

Soon all the captive ponies were made to sit down on a long log that was in the middle of the clearing, although Rarity gave some muffled protests regarding this, but eventually she relented.

Once all six mares were seated, the 'Midnight Twins' - Midnight Blue and Midnight Star - stepped in front of them, and Blue was the one to speak first:

"Good evening, Bearers of the Elements of Harmony. It is my greatest pleasure and honor to welcome you all to our humble and temporary abode. Now, before I proceed with what I must say, I assume you all must have questions that you wish to ask, yes?"

And with that all six pony girls started asking their respective questions/inquiries/complaints, but since they were all still gagged, all they accomplished was to produce muffled noises together. At this, Midnight Star raised her hand and the Mane Six fell silent at this gesture.

"We will ungag you six in a moment, however we humbly ask you to not voice any profanities you may have for us, as that would simply be a waste of time. Also, we ask that you only ask one at a time."

The girls were silent for a moment, before they all faintly heard Twilight's voice within their minds.

"Listen everypony, I know this will be difficult, considering our current predicament, but right now we have no choice, but to listen to them and do as they say. At least for now. Okay?"

The rest of her friends looked at Twilight with uncertainty, but knew that right now she was right. So after a moment, they nodded their heads at Twilight in agreement, who in turn looked at Midnight Blue and -

"Urrghhh this is so stupid!"-Darkness said in her snarky tone, which caused the Mane Six to look curiously in her direction, while Rarity glared at said pony, and Fluttershy whimpered upon hearing her voice-"Why in the Abyss are you all acting all buddy-buddy with them? We've kidnapped them! Hello! We're not SUPPOSED to be friendly with them!"

While the rest of the Sisters directed a venomous glare at the snarky pony - with Red Fist even clenching her fists and holding herself back from beating Darkness senseless - the Midnight Twins simply looked in her direction with unamused looks, before Blue spoke:

"Oh? And what, praytell, do you mean by that, Darkness?"

"Uhm, isn't it obvious, oh fearless leader?"-Darkness asked rhetorically-"WE are the bad guys. WE are up to no good. That means that WE don't do 'friends' or even-"

"Alright, let me stop you right there Darkness."-Beast Tamer interjected-"The fact that we're being civil towards our captives doesn't mean anything, except for that fact that we don't want to behave like...depraved wretches."

"Oh yeah? Well guess what genius?"-Darkness spoke again-"We are still the bad guys, whether you want to admit it or not. So we might as well be 'depraved wretches' while we're at it."

"Yeah, you would know all about that..."-Shadow Wing muttered, as she was busy scratching runes on the ground around the captive Mane Six since the whole conversation began. However, Darkness heard what the red-eyed ninja pony said and directed a spiteful glare towards her.

"What did you just say, freak?"

"You've got ears that work, Darkness. So, you tell me."-Shadow Wing retorted, not even bothering to look up from her work.

"Oh, you are so dead for that comment you fang-faced little-"

"Darkness! That's enough!"-Midnight Star shouted, before speaking normally-"If our way of conduct does not please you, then go and wait inside one of the carriages."

"What the Hell?! Now YOU'RE benching me?!"-Darkness shouted-"YOU don't get to tell ME what to do! NONE of you do! Just who the Hell do you think you are?!"

The answer she received was a strangling pressure surrounding her body, as Midnight Blue's horn glowed with magic energy, forcing the spiteful pony on her knees as the caster spoke:

"WE happen to be the leaders of this mission. Our duty is to issue plans and yours is to execute them and follow our orders to the letter. The Mistress appointed the two of us for this and your constant pissing and moaning is none of our concern. So do all of us a favor, and go into one of the carriages and shut the hell up. Oh, and one more thing,"-Midnight Blue said, upon which she used her magic to lift Darkness up to her eyelevel, before speaking again-"If you ever speak to my sister that way ever again, I will pull all of your bones out through your mouth until your nothing but a twitching puddle of meat, got it?"

Darkness quickly nodded her head, if only just to get the unicorn to stop using her magic on her. Satisfied with this response, Midnight Blue let go of her, to which Darkness glared at her and then walked away. Once the spiteful pony was gone and as soon as the carriage door slammed shut, Midnight Blue fell to her knees and started coughing relentlessly, even.

"Sister!"-Midnight Star shouted in concern as she was the first to run to her ailing sister's side, with the others following suite. Once the unicorn stopped coughing, she noticed blood on her hand and felt that her mask had now become wet as well, which meant that it was also covered in blood-"You shouldn't have pushed yourself like that. Especially not for my sake."

"Hey, I made you a promise, didn't I?"-Midnight Blue asked, though her voice was slightly hoarsed-"I said I wasn't going to let anyone push us around. And that goes double for Darkness."

Midnight Blue then proceeded to cough again and this time the blood that came out could be better seen.

"By the Abyss, once again you're such a mess."-Toxic Touch said, as she pulled out a syringe and a vial full of glowing purple liquid from one of her many belt pouches. She then filled the syringe with the liquid before proceeding to injecting it into Midnight Blue's left arm, to which the pony groaned in discomfort.-"As a leader, you need to take better care of yourself."

"R-right, thanks Toxic Touch."-Midnight Blue spoke her gratitude.

Mist Walker then approached Midnight Blue and said-"Here, let me take your mask and clean it up. It's so messy and covered in blood now."

Midnight Blue chuckled at this, before taking her mask off and handing it over to her sister.

"Here, and sorry for always inconveniencing you Mist. All of you."-the unicorn said, addressing all of her sisters at the end.

"Hey, no need for any apologies, leader gal."-Beast Tamer said.

"Yes, we know of your condition."-Shadow Wing added-"But if you need someone to lean on for support, then just say so."

"Yeah big sis!"-Whimsy Wisp added enthusiastically-"We're your sisters after all. We're all here for each other, including you."

"Yeah, and if you need help with anything or just someone to keep you on your feet, then just say so."-Red Fist added.

Midnight Blue was surprised by all of these supportive words by her sisters, but then smiled, feeling lucky to have such supportive ponies around her.

Mist Walker was meanwhile using her magic to separate the blood from her sister's mask, only for Toxic Touch to interject:

"I call dibs on the blood."

At this all Sisters of Shadow looked towards their teammate with wide eyes, while Midnight Blue had an unamused look on her face while simply saying-"Please don't. I don't want to know what you'd do with my blood."

Before Toxic Touch could say anything, Mist Walker tossed the blood glob aside and handed the mask back to its rightful owner, while Toxic Touch was busy scraping up the dirt the blood soaked into to try and get it back. Weirdo.

Midnight Blue then proceeded to put her mask back on and while she did that she addressed her sisters-"We've kept them waiting long enough. Go and untie them."

The ninja ponies, sans Toxic Touch, all nodded and went over to the Mane Six.

This entire time the Element Bearers were sitting patiently and watching the exchange going on between the Sisters of Shadow with varying levels of curiosity. Rainbow Dash and Applejack didn't like the Sisters of Shadow right from the jump, and believed them to be villains, but when this 'Darkness' pony started talking and acting like some spoiled rich pony, their hatred was then directed to that particular pony and grew tenfold. But when the other Sisters started glaring and practically ganging up on her, the two tomboys were left surprised by such actions. And when Midnight Blue started coughing violently and hacking up blood, the two strong ponies started feeling a slight tinge of pity and listened intently at how supportive the Sisters were for one another. Rarity for her part felt nothing but distain towards Darkness, especially after how she hit Fluttershy. Which is why the fashionista smirked behind her gag when that ruffian was put in her place. Fluttershy too was relieved that Darkness was taught a lesson. However, the now-engaged ponies couldn't help but look sadly towards Midnight Blue as she was clearly sick. Even Pinkie Pie, who simply looked curiously at the whole exchange only to look sadly at the sick ninja pony. Twilight herself was surprised by how divided yet also unified this group of ponies are. There's clearly some bad blood between them and Darkness, yet for the most part, their relationship with each other is the same as Mane Six's when they first became friends.

The six friends were then brought out of their thoughts when the Sisters of Shadow approached them and began untying them. They were actually surprised by this and did nothing while this was happening, even though Rainbow Dash and Applejack really wanted to spring into action. Especially since Whimsy Wisp was the one untying the amazon pony, who looked very uncomfortable. After five minutes of silence the Mane Six were now massaging their wrists, arms and legs - considering the fact that they've been tied up for most of the day - and only their gags were left. The Sisters of Shadow simply backed away from the Mane Six and the pony girls thought that they should take their gags off themselves, but before they could do that, Shadow Wing slammed both of her hand on the ground and the runes surrounding the six girls started glowing a deep purple. Then a transparent dome of purple magic energy formed around the area the six ponies were at.

Quickly yanking their gags off, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the first to get up and run to the barrier and started punching and kicking it, but none of what they were doing did anything. The others, after undoing their gags, also got up from their log and looked at the barrier with worry, although Twilight had more of a look of curiosity then anything.

"These...these are magic runes..."-the Princess of Friendship said as she looked at said runes on the ground-"But how can this be? I read that the use of magic runes was lost after the prehistoric ages when unicorns learned how to harness magic by themselves."

"Lost? Not at all, Your Majesty."-Midnight Blue said as she approached the group-"Forgotten by fools who write such nonsense, but we can assure you, magic runes still exist and can be used by those with the potential to read them. Shadow Wing over here, is one such individual."

In response, Shadow Wing placed her fists on her hips and puffed out her chest in pride as she said-"Well, not my fault I'm a master and the rest of you idiots just suck at it."

At this, the Sisters of Shadow looked unamused, with Red Fist being the one to speak-"You do realize that wasn't funny at all, right?"

AT this, the red-eyed ninja pony's head drooped as she grumbled-"I thought it was pretty funny."

*SMASH*

Rainbow Dash punched the barrier again and said-"Who in the hoof cares about any of that?! Why is there a magic bubble trapping us in the first place?!"

"P-please c-calm down Lady Rainbow Dash."-Mist Walker gently said

"Indeed. Getting angry and agitated will not do you or anypony any good."-Midnight Star added-"This force field is simply a precaution measure. It is both meant to keep you six in place...as well as keep you safe."

"Uh...wh-what do you mean k-keep us s-safe?"-Fluttershy nervously asked, not liking the sound of this.

"Well, right now we may be beside a road meant for travelling caravans and carriages,"-Beast Tamer started-"However, we are still next to the Everfree Forest. And around here, the beasts tend to be bigger and more ferocious then the ones near Ponyville."

"Oh, for pony's sake. Look, Ah doubt that there's anything out there that we couldn't-"

*ROAR*

Applejack's words stopped coming out of her mouth upon hearing a distant, but very menacing roar coming from deep within the forest. It was so loud in fact, that birds even flew out of the trees upon hearing it, while Fluttershy held onto Rarity for protection and Pinkie Pie jumped into Applejack's strong arms.

"See what I mean?"-Beast Tamer said, with a very small amount of smugness.

"W-well, Ah've been wrong before."-Applejack said, as she held Pinkie close.

"I'm afraid she's right, girls."-Twilight interjected-"This part of the Everfree Forest is documented to be filled with dangerous creatures. Rogue dragons most of all. If this really is where we will be staying for the night, then we need to conceal ourselves with-"

"No need to worry, Your Highness."-Shadow Wing interjected-"I've already placed some invisibility runes around our campsite. That means that nothing, not even a dragon, will be able to sense where we are."

That last bit actually impressed the Mane Six, and also brought a bit of relief.

Rainbow Dash didn't like any of this though. Being kidnapped made these ponies the bad guys, but them putting up a 'stealth force field' around the campsite, as well as a regular forcefield just to protect them, would make them look like the good guys, which she didn't like at all. But then, something came to mind, which she immediately voiced as she knocked on the magic bubble.

"Hey! This whole thing is nice and all, but what happens when your little 'stealth field' doesn't work? I doubt this bubble would be strong enough to resist a dragon."

Rainbow's words did ring true, however:

"Not to worry, Lady Rainbow Dash."-Midnight Blue spoke up next-"This force field is strong enough to withstand a combined magic blast from all four Alicorn Princesses."

"Yup."-Shadow Wing said monotonously-"I tested it myself on Whimsy Wisp once."

"Oh yeah! I remember that."-Whimsy said joyfully...only to then swiftly kick Shadow Wing in the behind-"AND I STILL HATE YOU FOR IT!"

While the Mane Six, sans Rainbow, were impressed by the durability of such a spell, Applejack was busy picturing Whimsy Wisp get flattened into a literal pancake by a dragon, whilst in a magic bubble. While the scene in itself was quite funny, a small part of the farm pony couldn't help but feel sorry the little mare, but she immediately tuned such thoughts out.

Now knowing full well that none of them are going anywhere, especially with their innate magic being suppressed by the sealing artifacts, the Mane Six sat back down, however Twilight remained standing in place and once she locked eyes with Midnight Blue, she decided to ask a nagging question:

"Alright, well you've officially kidnapped us and you've taken us away from Ponyville. So, can you tell us why you are doing all of this now?"

At this, every sister of shadow fell deathly silent. Even Whimsy Wisp, the Sisters' very own Pinkie Pie, fell eerily silent for some reason. This slightly unnerved the Mane Six and Twilight in particular was worried that she might've said something she probably shouldn't have. After a moment, it was Midnight Star who spoke up first, although she addressed her twin in whisper:

"Perhaps we could tell them enough to not worry them?"

"I was just thinking that."-Midnight Blue responded-"However, half answers will only encourage them to demand more."

"Yes, I know that, but still..."

"Uhm, excuse me?"-Twilight interjected-"Listen, if this is something you're not supposed to talk about, then it's fine. I'd just like to know if me and my friends are really helping you with something good, or if we're just being dooped into doing something bad."

"What? No, of course not, Your Majesty."-Midnight Blue immediately responded-"Nopony among us is dooping you or your friends."

"Yeah. We've already made it clear that you six are our idols."-Shadow Wing added-"So why the heck would we even WANT to trick you in any way?"

"Weeeeeeeellll...."-Pinkie Pie said-"Unless you guys are a group of super obsessive stalkers, who like to kidnap their favorite ponies and keep them for themselves in their houses' basements and do naughty things to them, like - Mmmppffhh mmmhhhpppfff mmmmpppfffmmmfff..."

Pinkie's words quickly became muffled noises, upon Rainbow Dash covering her mouth with her hand and hugging her in place.

"Okay, okay Pinkie, you've made your point, now shut up."-Rainbow instructed her pink girlfriend, who soon stopped...and then proceeded to nuzzle into Rainbow's hand and moan sensually, to which the cyan speedster blushed and let go-"Jeez Pinkie. Not in front of these creeps."

"Awww..."-Pinkie bemoaned in disappointment.

"Look, the point is,"-Applejack said, deciding to get the discussion back on track-"If ya'll wanna keep yer reason' a secret, fine. But at least tell us what our role in all of this is, or if it's good or bad."

Hearing this, the sisters looked at each other for a moment and -

"Well that depends. Does changing the world for the better count as a good thing?"-Toxic Touch suddenly said as she approached the group, her gloved hands and lower pants now covered in dirt.

"Toxic!"-Red Fist hissed through her teeth while glaring at her potion-making sister, who was quick to respond.

"What? It's not like I told them EVERYTHING."

The Mane Six were surprised by the ninja pony's words. They, Twilight in particular, suspected that the powers of the Elements of Harmony would be needed for something big, but this was a bit of a shock. But the shock soon morphed into suspicion for most of the Mane Six, considering the way that sentence was worded.

"Changing the world could be either or, since the world can be changed in a good way...or a very negative way."-Twilight said, narrowing her eyes and hoping for something more then just one vague answer after another.

However, Toxic Touch then pointed towards the princess and said-"And that right there is why I like you and your pretty little brain, Your Highness. Always so analytical. That's so hot."

"Wh-what?!"-Twilight exclaimed with a strong blush on her entire face upon hearing Toxic Touch's words, while her friends simply looked oddly between her and the ninja pony...except for Pinkie, who was giggling.

Seeing that now they don't have too much of a choice, Midnight Blue spoke up next, being sure to measure her next words carefully.

"We wish to change the world for the better, so that it wouldn't reject those who have nothing."-the Mane Six's eyes widened at that statement and Midnight Blue continued-"I hope you will forgive me for speaking out of line, but the six of you have no clue as to what the world truly is like. Neither you, nor princesses."

"Indeed."-Midnight Star spoke up next-"You must think that this is a peaceful world that you live in, where nothing bad could ever happen to anypony, but you are wrong."

"Uh, what?"-Rainbow Dash asked suddenly-"Dude, if you guys know who we are, then you should know how much bad guy ass we've been kicking."

"As unorthodox as Rainbow has put it, she is right though."-Rarity added-"We already know that there is evil in this world. Why, we defeated a number of all powerful villains over the years. Villains that, if left unchecked would've caused trouble for everypony across these lands."

"Mhm."-Fluttershy meekly added.

"That's right."-Twilight also added-"And it's exactly because of such individuals that we use the power of the Elements of Harmony to spread the magic of friendship across Equestria and make it a better place."

There was a bit a bit of silence for a moment, before Midnight Blue started slowly laughing, but it wasn't out of amusement or because she was impressed by what the girls said. This was more of a laughter out of bitterness, like what was just said had no meaning to her or her sisters.

A moment later, before the Mane Six could voice their confusions, Midnight Blue shook her head and said-"And this only further reinforces what I have already said. That none of you know anything about how this damned world works."

The unicorn's tone was no longer as monotonous as before and she no longer spoke with respect towards them, as evidenced by how she narrowed her eyes at them, along with the other Sisters of Shadow.

"While we're not going to argue about what you six have done in defeating the likes of Nightmare Moon, Discord and Tirek,"-Shadow Wing continued in the same manner as Midnight Blue-"Those are not what we were talking about."

"Threats like those are always easy to fix, since the solution is, like you've said use the Elements of Harmony and the magic of friendship."-Toxic Touch said-"That's how super villains are taken care of...but what about other ponies? Those that are far crueler then even the changeling queen herself?"

Now the Mane Six were more confused then ever. Why were they talking about other ponies like they've done something wrong?"

"Uh, what are you talking about?"-Rainbow Dash asked skeptically-"And why the hey would you say that ponies are worst then super villains?"

"Yes. Ponies are always kind to one another and they always help each other."-Fluttershy added with some courage-"Not like the villains that we fought. They're all just big meanies."

"Uh, duhhhh."-Pinkie Pie added with a smile-"I mean, if ponies weren't nice, then we wouldn't have - PARTIES!"-the pink pony emphasized by jumping up and spreading confetti everywhere.

However, this only seemed to make the Sisters of Shadow angrier as their eyes further narrowed and some have even clenched their fists.

"Just because the ponies of Ponyville are nice towards you, doesn't mean that the rest of pony society is the same."-Midnight Blue said, gaining the six girls' attention and unconciously activating a bit of her magic. She found this out when she started coughing violently again, making her twin put a supporting hand on her back.

"That's right."-Red Fist spoke up next-"The society that we currently live in is vile and cruel. Anypony within Ponyville, including you lot, would be chewed up and spat out by it."

"You see, each of us sisters are in fact nothing but outcasts who have been rejected by pony society."-Midnight Star continued-"We have all been cast into the wayside, because ponies have decided that we do not belong among them."

"Wh-but that ain't true..."-Applejack said, although she's shocked to hear such a thing-"Ah mean, sure there are some bad apples, like the Flim Flam brothers, but-"

"Ponies are mean and cruel."-Whimsy Wisp spoke up next, her voice sounding frighteningly lifeless-"They take from you everything and trample all over you. They don't care, they just want to see you suffer."

"Their stupidity and closemindedness is what makes them act like animals."-Toxic Touch added.

"And no matter what you do and how much kindness you'd give them, they'll still find a fucking excuse to push you down and hurt you."-Beast Tamer added, becoming more and more angry, along with the others.

By this point the Mane Six were starting to become scared by this shift in the Sisters' demeanor and were worried that they may have inadvertently crossed a line they shouldn't have.

*cough**cough*

Midnight Blue's coughing snapped the ninja ponies back to reality, as the pony was now sitting on a nearby rock. With her sisters now calmed down, she decided to get back to the point of this discussion.

"The point is, we need your help and the power of the Elements of Harmony to turn this wretched pony society into a better society. One in which ponies like us would no longer be cast aside and would be accepted by all."

"Nopony can deny the success the Elements have brought upon this land through the six of you."-Midnight Star continued-"However, using this power on just a handful of super villains just isn't enough. The power of Harmony must be used on all of Equestria, so as to cure it from this corrupted society."

Once everything was said, the whole campsite became dead silent. The Sisters of Shadow remained silent, because they had nothing more to say and wanted to calm themselves down after almost succumbing to their own hatred. The Mane Six however, were a different story.

While the girls could just say that these ponies were lying and making stuff up just to trick them, like how Discord tried to do, but looking at the expressions and listening to their tones indicated that they might be telling the truth. In which case, could the Sisters truly be right about them being ignorant of how the world really works?

"Applejack...please tell me they were just lying about what they were saying about ponies...please..."-Fluttershy all but begged her friend tell her that their kidnappers were wrong.

"Ah'm...Ah'm truly sorry Fluttershy..."-Applejack said with dread-"...but...they're tellin' the truth..."

Shock was now present on Fluttershy's face, as she burried her face into her hands, tears threatening to leak out. Rarity saw this and moved to hold the pegasus close. Then, another pegasus slammed her fist into the barrier and spoke:

"This is bullshit! Are we really going to believe these creeps about what they said about ponies?! I mean, sure there are some jerks every now and again, but that doesn't mean the EVERYPONY is evil and cruel."

"Does it?"-Pinkie suddenly said-"Rainbow, I came from a family who farmed rocks for a living and a family who didn't even know how to smile before I got my Cutie Mark. My family ended up that way, because our home village kicked my parents out for...I don't remember for what anymore, but I know that it was a stupid reason."

This shocked and surprised the rest of the Mane Six, since they never heard their fellow herd member talk about this. They all just thought that Pinkie's family lived out in the sticks, simply because it's a geologically fertile land.

"Pinkie, what are you talking about?"-Rainbow asked skeptically again-"What the hey brought this up? You've never mentioned this before-"

"Because I don't like talking about it, okay?"-Pinkie suddenly said-"I just hate being reminded about how mean ponies can be when they want to be..."

By now the pink pony's eyes were becoming wet and her mane and tail were starting to deflate. Seeing this, Applejack decided to comfort her, by gently hugging her.

Twilight meanwhile, was silently contemplating the ninja ponies' words. It would be so easy to deny such accusations, but she slowly started to remember that there were indeed cruel and unkind ponies in the world. When she was still living in Canterlot, she remembered sometimes seeing noble ponies being arrogant and petty, especially towards ponies of the working classes. Or how ponies would often walk past families of beggars, who were desperately begging for some coin. Sometimes such ponies would be treated even worse by noble ponies, and would end up either beaten to death or taken to be servants for others.

At the time, Twilight herself didn't pay too much mind to such things, due to her studious nature and after moving to Ponyville, she all but forgot about this dark side of ponykind. And now that this reminder was flung directly into her face, she's starting to seriously question why she would be named a princess of friendship, if she can forget something this important.

Seeing that this whole thing has impacted her friends in one way or another, Rainbow sighed in frustration that her friends are actually taking such words to heart.

"Oh come on you guys. Why are you even believing in any of this nonsense?"-Rainbow Dash questioned-"I mean, yeah okay I can believe that a couple of them had a run in with some jerk or two, but there's no way that what they just said is true."

"But they are right about one thing Rainbow, that we really don't know how the world really works."-Twilight said-"I mean think about it, we never suspect anypony of being evil, because we are used to the friendly and welcoming atmosphere of Ponyville. But just because we have it well and easy, doesn't mean that the same applies to everypony else. I mean, some of the nobilities in Canterlot could be exceptionally petty and cruel when they really want to be. And the Sisters of Shadow are also right about another thing: we've only ever used the Elements of Harmony against super villains, but we've never once considered to use them to spread the magic of friendship to other ponies in Equestria."

Once Twilight was done Rainbow Dash hung her head in defeat, knowing that she has no counter arguments for what her girlfriend just said. Rainbow may be stubborn as hell, but not even she could deny something as serious as this.

Now there was nothing but silence within the magic dome and the campsite as both kidnappers and kidnapees fell into a very uncomfortable silence, with one side calming itself down, while the other was processing what they've just heard.

Some time later, everypony within the camp soon fell into the gentle embrace of sleep, as the wee hours of the night continued to tick by. All the internal stress everypony was experiencing pretty much exhausted them all, however not all were like that.

Out of all the ponies of the Mane Six, the one who was the most restless was surprisingly enough Fluttershy. This wasn't because she was forced to sleep outside, since she was perfectly fine with being around nature and all, no, this was because of the earlier discussion between her friends and the Sisters of Shadow. She was still a bit in disbelief over what was told, but more over, she was worried about her friends and how all of this was affecting them. They seemed to have been handling things well at first, with a few obvious exceptions, but after what the Sisters have said all of her friends' demeanors have changed as well, which worried the shy pegasus greatly.

She didn't want to see her friends worried or sad, and she was worried that perhaps being with the Sisters of Shadow will only further make her friends worried and depressed. That is not even to mention the plans that these girls may have for them. So with that in mind, Fluttershy decided to do perhaps the boldest thing in her entire life: escape.

Now she was obviously not planning on abandoning her friends, far from it. She was planning on sneak out of the camp and find a way to contact the princesses. This was obviously a bit of a longshot, especially since she was planning on using the dark cover of the Everfree Forest itself to get away undetected...all by herself...with none of her friends to keep her safe...Yeah, this plan might in fact be a little too bold, especially considering what Twilight just said about this part of the great forest. Although she was planning on sticking as close as she could to the edge of the forest and was also hoping that the darkness of both the night and the forest would hide her from any...unfriendly creatures...especially dragons.

So with that in mind, the angelic pegasus gently got up so as to not wake up any of her friends, or her captors, who have all fallen asleep just outside of their gilded cage. Once she got to the edge of the cage that was facing the forest, Fluttershy took a small rock and began working on scratching out one of the runes. She wasn't sure if this was even going to work, but to her absolute surprise, after just scratching out a part of one of the runes, she created an opening in the barrier, not a large one, but just small enough for her to fit through.

And fit through she did, after carefully crawling out, she then stood up and was about to go, but not before taking one last look at her sleeping girlfriends.

"Don't worry girls. I'll come back, with the princesses right behind me. Just stay strong and wait for me."-Fluttershy said, before she quietly flew into the forest.

No matter which part of it was, the Everfree Forest always looks dark and scary. And for Fluttershy this wasn't a good thing. Every little noise and movement made her jump in fright, and this was becoming so often now, that she was afraid that she'll get a heart attack.

But she couldn't allow herself to be distracted by anything, not even fear...if that was possible. Her friends were depending on her.

She wasn't even sure for how long she'd been walking for or where she even was. She'd hoped to see some lights by now from a traveling caravan or some cottage in the middle of nowhere, but with nothing by darkness and wildlife as far as the eye can see, Fluttershy was beginning to suspect that she probably overestimated the success of her plan.

"Ooohhh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all."-Fluttershy muttered to herself, to try and keep herself calm-"Oh, but I can't turn back now. If I do, then those ponies could hurt me for running away. But I hope they wont hurt my friends though-"

*SNAP*

The sound wood being crushed was heard, along with a low bellowing sound that sounded far too close for comfort for the angelic pegasus.

"Eep! What was that?"-Fluttershy asked, now looking around with fright-"M-maybe it was a-a s-squirrel? Yeah. A nice, friendly little - MMPPFF!"

Fluttershy couldn't finish her thought, since something suddenly grabbed her mouth from behind and pulled her into the shadows behind some bushes and trees.

The poor girl started to panic and tried to scream, but her attacker held her tightly enough, so she tried to wrench the hand away, but her attacker was also strong it seems. The stranger then placed their index finger in front of their snout, quietly telling Fluttershy to be quiet. Afraid of what might happen if she refused, Fluttershy quickly nodded. The figure then looked passed the bushes and the captive pegasus girl tried to do it as best as she could, but she soon came to regret that decision.

Passed the foliage was a type of chimeric beast Fluttershy had never seen before. Its torso was large and scaly, its back being covered by an equally large turtle shell that had three rows of spikes going down its length. It had six legs, each of them resembling the powerful legs of a bear, complete with claws. It had a long, prehensile tail that ended in a sharp spike and finally its head was that of a male lion with a pair of saber teeth coming out of its mouth.

The beast was sniffing the air and unfortunately its nose was now pointing towards the two hidden ponies. Fluttershy's eyes shrunk in silent panic and was about to wriggle again to try and escape, until her captor did something rather clever. They took a large rook and threw it far to the side. The crashing sound was enticing enough for the chimeric beast to turn to that direction and charge towards it, leaving a trail of trampled vegetation.

With the threat now gone, the mysterious pony finally let Fluttershy go, who immediately got up and took in some much needed air. Turns out her attacker was covering, not just her mouth, but her nose too, which both prevented her from producing any sounds, but also kept her from breathing.

"I'm sorry, but while I'm grateful for you saving me from that...thing,"-Fluttershy told the pony, who was also getting up-"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't hold me like that next time, please. N-no offence but, you were smothering me just now."

"Alright, I'll make sure to remember that next time, Lady Fluttershy."-Beast Tamer said, revieling herself to be the mysterious attacker/rescuer.

Fluttershy felt like her blood froze upon seeing Beast Tamer, even though she didn't know her name. She did recognize her though as being one of the Sisters of Shadow and was afraid of what will she do to her, now that she found her outside of her cage and away from the campsite. Thinking quickly, Fluttershy took to the air quickly, however-

"If you're thinking about running away again, Lady Fluttershy, then I'd advise against that."-Beast Tamer suddenly said, making the pegasus girl stop in her tracks and looking back to her captor-"Trust me, that Tarasque is nothing compared to what else is out there. And believe me, it's not safe even in the tree line, or past it."

The angelic pegasus hovered in the air as she listened. That monster from earlier looked menacing enough, but to be reminded that there are worst things in this forest was just as bad. Fluttershy wanted to help her friends escape badly, but her desire to help would be useless if some monster comes around and kills her. However, there's no way she wouldn't be punished for her attempted escape, but maybe she could try to convince them to not punish her so severely.

With that in mind, Fluttershy descended back to the ground, but kept her head lowered and her eyes fixated to the ground as she approached Beast Tamer and said-"I-I'm so sorry, I-"

"C'mon, let's get going."

Beast Tamer's sudden interruption surprised Fluttershy, and also worried her. As if sensing this, Beast Tamer stopped after a few paces, turned back and spoke-"Look, if you're worried about being in trouble, you're not. The rest of my sisters don't know what you did and if you come back quietly with me, I won't say a word about this."

Now this surprised Fluttershy more than before. She was absolutely certain that she will be punished for her escape attempt, especially after seeing how their attitudes shifted from respectful to hateful earlier. But hearing that, not only did she manage to succesfully sneak away from her kidnappers, minus one, but also that said kidnappers won't punish her for this was quite shocking.

Not wanting to wait here for too long, Beast Tamer decided to start walking, with Fluttershy quickly following behind. Even though she was grateful that Beast Tamer won't tell on her, she reflexively asked:

"S-so, y-you really won't tell the others that I escaped?"

"Of course not."-Beast Tamer casually said-"Given the circumstances, we kinda expected this to happen. I'm just surprised that it was you who did it Lady Fluttershy - n-no offence!"

"Oh, uh, none taken."-Fluttershy responded-"B-but a-aren't you supposed to p-punish me for this though? Especially after earlier..."

Beast Tamer stopped and looked back towards the pegasus girl with a raised eyebrow before speaking:

"Really? You're still worried about that? Although to be honest, I guess we're the ones at fault, since we let our emotions get the better of us then. Look Lady Fluttershy, we're not angry at you, or your friends. That was just a bit of an 'anger episode' I guess you could say. It happens every once in a while, but it's not yours or your friends' fault. And besides, even if I did report your escape to my sisters, they wouldn't punish you either. But I've decided that I won't tell them, out of respect for your bravery. So this'll be our little secret, okay?"

Beast Tamer winked at the end and continued walking along. While Fluttershy blushed as the winking, she did feel a great deal of relief wash over her, upon hearing Beast Tamer's words. In truth, Fluttershy didn't really see the Sisters of Shadow as being complete villains, just ponies who were desperate for some help from their, apparent, role-models. Flutterhsy once again blushed at that thought, but smiled softly none the less.

Fluttershy was about to follow after the tall Earth Pony, until she felt something sticky latch onto the small of her back. This surprised her, but she was then suddenly yanked upwards, forcing her to 'eep' loudly. Upon hearing this, Beast Tamer turned around, only to see no trace of Fluttershy at all.

"Lady Fluttershy? Lady Fluttershy! Huh?"-Beast Tamer called out, but then noticed a few leaves falling down from the treeline above her. Narrowing her eyes, she did something unexpected: she pulled down her mask, revealing a sharp fang poking out of the right side of her mouth and her face being covered in slightly matted brown fur. She then did something else surprising, by sniffing the air like a dog. She did this a few more times, until her eyes widened as she managed to pick up Fluttershy's sent.

She then wordlessly sprinted into the direction, keeping her nose on the trail. The ninja pony ran for what felt like five minutes, ducking and weaving through the dense forest, until eventually she made it to a small clearing, where she saw a very large spider with a yellow and black stripped body on an even larger spiderweb nestled between to trees.

But what got the ninja pony's attention the most was the angelic pegasus who is now cocooned in strong webbing and who now stuck on the web. Fluttershy's entire body, from hooves to neck was covered in webbing, with a few empty spots here and there, through which her hands could poke out. While her head wasn't entirely covered in webbing, some webbing did go over her mouth and nose, with there being a whole for her to breath through. Her eyes were also covered, but she didn't need vision to know how much trouble she was in. But this helped in not seeing Beast Tamer's face.

Said ninja pony was slowly approaching the scene, hoping to catch the arachnid by surprise. As she was reaching behind her for something, a voice was suddenly heard-"Don't take another step, intruder."

The voice was female and raspy, and froze both ponies present. While Fluttershy didn't know who spoke, Beast Tamer did, as she straightened her posture and addressed the owner of the voice:

"So, you're an Arachnomorph. A type of giant spider that can talk ponish and is also smart...kinda."

Fluttershy softly gasped upon hearing Beast Tamer's voice, and was glad as well as she turned to the direction she heard the voice come from. But she wasn't the only one. The owner of the voice, which was the giant spider, also turned to face the ninja pony.

"So, you know what I am, do you?"-the Arachnomorph said, though it sounded arrogant.

"Well, I have studied animals since I was a filly, so yeah, I do."-Beast Tamer said, not intimidated at all by the arachnid-"And I also happen to know how to squash you, so if you don't let Lady Fluttershy go, I'll prove it."

The Arachnomorph simply laughed condecendely upon hearing this and then spoke-"Oh? And why would you want to take this delicious food away from me? Are you its friend? Perhaps...its lover?"

"...Maybe I am. Would that be enough to convince you to let her go?"-Beast Tamer said, her hand discretely reaching behind her back.

Fluttershy gasped softly once again and blushed beneath her tight gag, while the giant spider laughed once again.

"No, it won't. You see, food is so hard to come by in these parts, especially with all the competition being around here. Plus I do happen to enjoy the taste of pony flesh, and this one looks so plump and delectable. I'd rather die then let such an exquisite catch slip away from me."

Beast Tamer smirked at this and said-"Hmpf. Glad to hear it. Guess that means, I can kill ya without any regrets."

"What?"-the Arachnomorph asked, and her response was Beast Tamer pulling out a tri-bladed boomerang with the symbol of her sorority in the middle and throwing it at the monster.

The giant spider tried to jump away, but it wasn't quick enough, as evidenced by the boomerang cleanly slicing through three of its left legs and the webbing. While the spider shrieked in pain, yellow blood gushing out of its open wounds, Fluttershy fell off her trapping, eliciting a muffled yell.

After pulling her mask back into place, Beast Tamer rushed forward and caught Fluttershy in her arms, the pegasus yelping in surprise. The Arachnomorph was about to attack the ninja...only for the bladed boomerang to slice through its body as it flew back from where it was thrown.

The boomerang embeded itself in a tree, the Arachnomorph fell limp onto the ground and Beast Tamer calmly went to retrieve her weapon, while carrying Fluttershy like a princess. While said pegasus wasn't sure she wanted to know what had happened, judging from all the sounds she heard, thought it might be best if she didn't know.

Once she got to the tree where her weapon was embeded, Beast Tamer gently lowered Fluttershy's hooves and after making sure she was stable, the ninja pony pulled her weapon out and gently cut a line up the middle of Fluttershy's body. Once she reached her head, Beast Tamer gently cut the pegasus girl's gag and blindfold.

As soon as she was free Fluttershy looked around and saw what had happened, gasping upon seeing the corpse of the giant spider that had captured her.

"I know how much you care about all things living, Lady Fluttershy."-Beast Tamer said, after putting away her weapon-"But in this case I had no choice but to do what needed to be done. In this place, it's always kill or be killed and I'd rather have died myself then allow somepony like yourself be killed. I know that you'll hate me for this, but I'm fine with it, as long as - OOF!"

The ninja pony was taken by surprise when Fluttershy suddenly collided with her and wrapped her soft and delicate arms around her neck. Beast Tamer could even hear the girl quietly sobbing into her shoulder and through her hiccups Fluttershy managed to speak:

"Thank you so much for saving me. G-granted I don't like what you did to that spider and I should hate you...b-but I-I can't help but be grateful for what you've done for me..."

It took her a moment, but Beast Tamer realized what Fluttershy was talking about, and after gently - and awkwardly - wrapping her own arms around the pegasus, she said-"Maybe that's because you're now engaged to Lady Rarity."-Fluttershy gasped in surprise upon hearing this and looked at her captor with wide and teary eyes, and Beast Tamer continued-"Red Fist and Mist Walker told us, congratulations by the way. This might be new to you Lady Fluttershy, but the reason you're glad right now, is because now you have a chance yo go through with your marriage. This might sound cruel to you, but there's nothing cruel about wanting to live to see the ones you love the most. Trust me...I know."

Fluttershy listened intently, and realized that she was right. The whole time she was gagged, blindfolded and cocooned and waiting for that monster spider to eat her, her mind kept bringing up images of her friends. The ones who eventually became her girlfriends and with whom she formed a herd with. And most of all, she kept thinking about the one mare she was engaged to, of how beautiful she was and how beautiful her smile was. And how that smile would be replaced by tears if Fluttershy were to die. The pegasus girl didn't want the fashionista to go through that sort of trauma, which explains why she was relieved to hear Beast Tamer's voice just before she was eaten, and why she was even more relieved when she fell into Beast Tamer's strong, protective arms and even seeing the Arachnomorph dead, instead of her.

Such thoughts were indeed foreign to her, but right now Fluttershy was just glad that she was alive, and went back to hugging her savior.

"Th-thank you *hic* thank you so much..."

"...No problem, Lady Fluttershy."-Beast Tamer said-"...We should get back to camp. You need to rest and I don't want the others to wake up to seeing the two of us missing."

Fluttershy's eyes widened at that and realized that if her friends also found out, then they would probably jump to some...steamy conclusions, which she doesn't want to think about.

Beast Tamer then suggested-"Here, let me help you."

"O-oh no thank you. I-I think I can - EEP!"-Fluttershy tried to argue, but she was suddenly scooped up in Beast Tamer's arms and carried back like a princess.

To say that the angelic pegasus was nervous was an understatement, as she felt like her entire face was on fire as she was now carried like a princess by this big, strong and heroic ninja pony...who also kidnapped her...and her friends...and is also surprisingly attractive...did Fluttershy always have an attraction to mysterious, masked kidnappers?

Shaking her head to get rid of such thoughts, Fluttershy decided to ask her savior something, if only just to distract herself from her own questionable thoughts:

"I-I'm sorry, b-but I n-never c-caught - I mean, got y-your name..."

Chuckling at her nervousness - only to hide her own inner gushing of how cute the girl in her arms was - the ninjas pony answered coolly-"Name's Beast Tamer. Right now, that's all you need to know, Lady Fluttershy."

"Beast Tamer..."-Fluttershy parroted that name to commit it to memory, before speaking again-"...B-by the way, earlier, with the Arachnomorph, i-it asked if you l-loved me a-and you said...m-maybe...d-does that mean that...y-you r-really l-l-love m-me?..."

By this point Fluttershy was a stuttering mess and with her hidden but blushing face Beast Tamer had no idea how to respond to that. Luckily though, the light of the camp fire was just ahead and beyond the bushes, so the ninja pony silently went through.

Once they reached the campsite, Beast Tamer gently set Fluttershy down and quietly said-"Alright, now go back inside the force field and afterwards I'll close it back up. And remember, I won't tell anypony if you won't."

Beast Tamer once again winked at the end, which only served to make Fluttershy blush, but she was able to speak up nonetheless-"R-right, okay...g-goodnight, M-Ms. Beast Tamer..."

The ninja pony was surprised for a moment by how Fluttershy addressed her, but then smiled softly behind her mask. She also made sure to keep her thoughts clean as she watched Fluttershy crawl back through the hole in the force field...with her luscious behind on display...

'NO! No, bad Beast Tamer! Don't think like that! She already engaged to one pony and will be to four others eventually!'-Beast Tamer admonished herself, but managed to wake herself up from her inner musings once Fluttershy entered. She then managed to repair the symbol that was scratched out - luckily it wasn't completely erased, which meant an easy fix - and after exchanging one last glance with the angelic pony, she went back to the sport she was sleeping in.

Once there, Beast Tamer was about to fall asleep once more...only for an annoying voice to wake her up:

"My, how sweet. A pony villain rescuing a delicate little damsel in distress who had the gaul to sneak out into the big scary Everfree Forest."-Darkness snidely said, leaning out of one of the windows of the carriage she was sleeping in-"And what was that you just said? 'I won't tell anypony if you won't'? And now you're keeping secrets from the rest of us? My, my, I wonder how the others will think, once they heard of this little escaped of yours. And I wonder how severely that little yellow whore will be punished if somepony were to tell-"

"Hey Darkness,"-Beast Tamer interrupted and before the spiteful pony could erupt into another one of her hissy fits, she continued-"I just saw a Tarasque while I was there, and it was pretty close to the campsite. I honestly wouldn't mind using some fresh meat to make it go away...especially if said meat happens to be a whiny little bitch like you."

Darkness wanted to counter what she just heard, but knew that if she did, Beast Tamer would most likely go through with her threat, and as shocking and degrading as it sounds, Darkness wouldn't be able to stop her fellow ninja pony from going doing it. After all, nopony would want to mess with a pony, who could german suplex a full-grown Cragadile without breaking a sweat.

So with a huff and a growl, Darkness went back inside, while Beast Tamer smirked in victory and went back to sleep.

Author's Note

A/N: Alright so, first off all, I would personally like to thank all those who spared some of their time to at least give this story a try. I know this isn't exactly something ubber-fantastic to read, but to be honest, I'm just writing this out of fun.

I'd also like to thank kingGrog for taking the time to write at least one comment for this story. And it's a supportive one too, so that really makes me happy. Also, I find it interesting how the like/dislike ratio on this story is so well balanced. 2 likes and 2 dislikes, not gonna lie, it's a pretty funny coincidence.

Anyway, I'm busy with other things as well, both in terms of writing and real world issues, so don't expect the updates to be frequent, especially since I like writing long chapters.

As a final note, to those who are at least a little bit curious, the Tarasque is a mythical chimeric creature from french folklore, from the region of Provence. And as for the giant spider, I kinda took the name 'Arachnomorph' from the 'Witcher' games, just to make it more interesting.

At any rate, I hope those of you who are reading this story, continue to like it, and I'll see you in the next upload.

Sziasztok!

Target: The Elements of Harmony

Author's Note

Alright, so where do I even begin? I guess I should start with the fact that, while I am no stranger to writing MLP fics, this will be the first time I write a story that has some form of bondage in it. I know this seems like a strange departure from what I used to write, but I've simply had this 'story' in my head for a long while now and I simply had to write it down.

Word of advice, there will only be very light forms of bondage (vanilla if you will), none of the heavy stuff, so if this isn’t what you’re expecting here than don’t go any further. Actually, if bondage as a whole isn't part of your field of interest, than don't go any further. I'm not entirely sure if I will write any 'sex scenes', but if I do, than I will do my damnest to make sure it's as good as possible. I'm a virgin, so please try to understand. And while we are on the subject, any women out there who are reading this story, please, PLEASE, don't pull out any flamethrowers in the comments, because this is the first time I'm including bust sizes.

Alright, so what else?

This story will also take place before the creation of the friendship school and after the events of the movie, and will feature pairings that aren’t so popular (I THINK). Lastly this will feature anthro characters. And since this is the first time I'm including ANY sexual themes in a story, I will be stumbling over a few things as I write, since I'm doing my best not to write something stupid or offensive, so please don't be TOO hard on me.

But anyway enough of my nervous ramblings, let’s begin the story and I hope you will all enjoy this adventure.

Target: The Elements of Harmony

Equestria. A land that has always been viewed as a symbol of unity, since it was a home for three species of pony: earth pony, unicorn and Pegasus, as well as providing refuge for a variety of different sentient creatures that want to live in peaceful harmony. These include zebras, griffons, occasionally dragons, donkeys, minotaurs, hippogriffs and so many more. This land was ruled over by two alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna. Given their heritage they are capable of living for far longer than other creatures, their age as well as their power being rivaled only by the dragons. And while they posses nearly god-level powers, most of their success is owed to the Elements of Harmony; six powerful gems gifted to them by the ancient and enigmatic Tree of Harmony. The princess’ time of using the elements has long since passed though, and the elements themselves are now being wielded by six ponies: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. They were chosen by the Tree itself since they each represent a physical embodiment of each individual element. Together these six girls were able to carve a path of peace, harmony and friendship for Equestria, while overcoming obstacles and hardships of their own. In fact they even learned a few interesting things about themselves along the way as well.

But despite all of this Equestria still has many secrets hidden beneath it many layers. And sometimes, from the shadows would rise those who would seek to claim these secrets, no matter the cost.

Location: Unknown

“Mistress are you certain this is what must be done?”-a voice that belonged to a young mare spoke up in a dimly lit room.

This mare was clad head to toe in black clothing: black form-fitting pants held up by a black belt with many black pouches, black long sleeved shirt, black cloths wrapped around her hooves to soften the clopping sounds of her feet, black gloves, a black cloth that acts as a mask and covers the bottom half of her face and lastly a black hood to cover the rest of her head. The only physical features she had that weren’t black were her sky-blue eyes, deep purple horn that was somewhat visible through her hood and a silver buckle on her belt that was a type of symbol: a circle with the left side looking like a crescent moon and the right side having a dragon’s head.

The ninja-like mare wasn’t alone, as there were eight more mares with her, all of them dressed exactly like her, and all of them kneeling with one knee and having their heads bowed.

They were all gathered in what looked like a throne room that was inside a cave. The floor was made of silverish white marble and there was a row of pillars going down the middle of the room (the pillars themselves seemed to have been made of onyx). Before each pillar stood what appeared to be sets of bipedal armors which looked humanoid, but had large metallic pincers instead of hands, and a long metallic tail with a metallic spike at the end, looking almost like a scorpion tail and finally the helmet looked more like a metallic skull of a canine of sorts. The only sources of light were torches lined up on the walls and pillars, as well as cyan colored crystals held close to the ceiling by bands made of gold. The crystals themselves were glowing, contributing a bit to lighting the room.

The only other being in the room aside from the ninja mares was another mare sitting on a throne, which looked like it was made of black obsidian, with very intricate decorations carved into it: serpent heads carved as handles, lion feet carved as…well, feet for the throne, dragon wings into the sides of the backrest etc. The wall behind the throne had some kind of mural carved into it: a very large, dragon-like creature standing before the moon, with four large wings spread out and its opened maw directed upwards. In the mural there were also smaller figures on either side of the roaring monster, each either wielding swords, axes, flails and maces or throwing spears and shooting arrows and magic bolts at the beast.

Anyway, the mare sitting upon the throne was much more mature looking and taller, with a body physiology similar to the princess sisters (with the exception of the wings). Although most of her features can’t really be seen since she is clad head to toe in dark clothing. On her hooves she wears shoes encrusted with silver (similar to princess Luna), and her long legs are covered by a flowing dark purple dress, and her arms were covered by long dark blue gloves, the knuckle parts covered with metal parts. Around her waist was a dark red sash tied in a bow on her right and with a very intimidating looking dagger on her left. Her dress had a single strap that looped around her slender neck, exposing her lavish shoulders which were covered in shiny silver fur, and her large E cup breasts were barely covered by her dress leaving nothing to the imagination. While her dress didn’t cover her shoulders, she did however have a flowing jet black cape that partially covered her shoulders and had a hood which covered her head, although her long silver horn did protrude from her hood. Even her face was hidden by a dark purple veil that wasn’t even see-through and had a golden trim just below her dark blue eyes.

The elegant mare sitting on the throne had an air of calm and superiority to her as she addressed the ninja pony that asked her earlier:

“Yes Midnight Blue, you have heard correctly.”-even her voice carried an air of maturity and pride which seemed to demand respect from everyone around her.

Her words sparked hushed murmurs among the gathered ninja ponies. They all seemed to be either nervous or uneasy regarding their leader’s decision. The ‘Mistress’, as she was refered as, spoke up once more, garnering the attention of her gathered warriors.

“If there are doubts among all of you, than speak your minds right now.”-she spoke in a raised voice, not in an angry or aggravated tone, but simply with a raised tone to get the attention of the ponies before her.

There was a moment of silence as every gathered ninja pony refused to speak or even look their Mistress in the eye. Then one of them spoke up, although it wasn’t Midnight Blue this time, since this one had dark blue eyes and didn’t have a horn.

“We do not mean to show disrespect to you Mistress, nor do we doubt your judgment. But I believe I speak for all of my sisters when I say that our only concerns are the ponies we are to capture.”

The Mistress saw all of the ninja ponies slightly nod their heads, as they were afraid of her. A reaction she was all too familiar with. So to lessen the tension in the room, the Mistress sighed and spoke once more, but in a much softer and motherly tone:

“I believe I understand what you mean Midnight Star. I know you all have a great deal of respect for the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and I know I am asking too much of you right now. However right now the success of this plan hinges on you capturing the Bearers.”

This seemed to have eased the tension itself but the bowing ponies were still feeling uneasy about this plan.

“But Mistress why must we kidnap the Bearers?”-the pony from earlier, Midnight Star, spoke once more-“They don’t know about the artifact we seek. They probably don’t even know it even exists, let alone its very purpose.”

“Star is right Mistress.”-the pony who spoke before, Midnight Blue, added her own two cents-“The princesses of the Sun and Moon are the true targets, why can’t we capture them instead?”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!”-the Mistress, not only rose from her throne, but also raised her voice to much greater volumes than before, with a tone that carried much rage behind it. Her glaring eyes (which seemed to have changed from dark blue to blood red for a brief moment before changing back to dark blue) softened when she saw how absolutely frightened her warriors looked. She then sat back on her throne, took a deep breath and spoke once again using her calm, motherly voice again-“I am so sorry my children, please forgive me for my outburst. And to answer your question Midnight Blue in a more civilized manner, the reason I will not have any of you even try to capture the princesses right now is because they are far too powerful. Their ability to move the sun and the moon is nothing but a parlor trick compared to the rest of their abilities. You all are already aware of the level of power I possess, so think of what the princesses themselves could do to you with such power.”

Now they understood. Their Mistress was simply worried about them getting hurt or worse and Midnight Blue now fully understood. After all she had forgotten for a moment that this was the princesses they were dealing with, and now she understood why they must kidnap the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony first.

“So what you are saying Mistress, is that we will be using the Bearers as hostages to force the princesses into complying with us?”-Midnight Star asked, obviously starting to catch on to the plan herself.

“Yes my dear.”-the Mistress replied-“It is the only way to ensure that the plan works.”

This new bit of information seemed to have eased the ninja ponies’ worries, but not entirely.

Seeing this the Mistress Spoke once more-“I know this still doesn’t completely ease your worries my children. And I know that I won’t ease you even more by saying that this is for the greater good. Which is why I urge you to convince them to come with you willingly.”-at this the ponies looked up to their Mistress with wide eyes filled with hope, as the taller pony continued-“Try and talk them into coming with you willingly. Convince them in whatever manner you can to come peacefully so as to not resort to violence.”-while the ponies in black knew that they would have to use violence as a last resort, the fact that they can be allowed to bring the Bearers in peacefully brought a lot of relief to them, something which the Mistress was quick to notice-“I am certain this will ease you worries my children, and if no harm comes to them, than it should make my coming meeting with the princesses that much easier.”

This brought even more relief for the ponies. They may be worried for the Bearers, but they are also worried about their Mistress when she will encounter the princesses.

“One last question though Mistress.”-Midnight Blue spoke up again-“When and if we manage to convince them to come with us willingly, do we still have to secure them?”

“Of course Midnight Blue.”-the Mistress responded almost immediately-“You are still kidnapping them after all, and this way you will be certain they will not do anything foolish and try to escape.”

“Understood Mistress.”-Midnight Blue responded, understanding the implications of what her Mistress just said. Even if they do manage to convince the Bearers to go with them willingly, they might still try to escape, especially the more daring of the bunch.

“Alright. Now that all of this is out of the way, go and prepare yourselves my children, gather the necessary items for this journey and plan your moves in whatever manner you see fit.”-the Mistress said with finality in her voice-“And remember…”

“May the One who Slumbers guide us to glory.”-they all said at once before the ponies dressed in black rose from their kneeling positions and made their way out of the throne room.

Once they did the Mistress looked at the closing door with worry in her soft eyes and said-“And may you come back to my embrace.”

And with that the journey of a thousand miles began.

--:--

Location: Castle of Friendship, Ponyville

“Whoa man, I for one am glad all of that shit’s done with.”-said a cyan colored Pegasus mare with rainbow colored mane and tail. Her clothing was relatively simple: a dark blue sports bra to cover her modest C cup breasts, a pair of dark blue sports shorts with a small rainbow colored lightning bolt on the bottom of her left pant leg and white tape wrapped on her hands.

“Number one language Rainbow Dash, number two I am rather glad all of that craziness is done with too, and number three language.”-said a lavender colored unicorn mare with dark blue colored mane and tail with two lines (pink and reddish pink) going through both her mane and tail. Her clothing was different from the Pegasus Rainbow Dash: a pair of Mary Jane shoes meant for hooves along with a pair of knee-length white socks covering her feet, a medium length purple skirt and a white T shirt underneath a reddish pink sweater vest that had a small six pointed purple star surrounded by smaller white stars on the left side.

“Uh Twilight, you said 'language' like twice.”-said the athletic pony, as the lavender unicorn was busy putting away scrolls and documents using her magic.

“Yeah I know. So as to remind you to mind your language. My castle, my rules Rainbow.”-Twilight said as she just made a bunch of scrolls puff away with her magic, while she smirked at her friend over her shoulder.

“Pfft whatever Miss Egghead.”-Rainbow remarked back, earning a little glare from Twilight.

The two ponies were of course two of the six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, with Twilight Sparkle representing the element of Magic of Friendship and Rainbow Dash representing the element of Loyalty. These two along with the rest of their friends have just finished a friendship council meeting after returning from another friendship quest. The Friendship Map from Twilight’s castle, in a very rare instance, sent all six of them this time to a remote village north of the capital of Canterlot. The six friends didn’t know why they were all needed for this quest since, as mentioned before, the map very rarely sent all six of them at once to one place and problem.

However upon arriving to said village the six friends had a pretty rough idea on why they were all needed. The state of the village looked like some kind of live recreation of the Dark Ages of ponykind, when earth ponies, pegusi and unicorns were at each other’s throats (sometimes even literally), since the village's population was split in three, literally right down the middle. I mean there were literally three lines forming a large Y drawn in the center of town. The reason for this divide was because of various problems: the weathers the pegusi made always got messed up and they blamed the unicorns for that, the unicorns of this village liked to use their magic mostly to build various things (houses, fountains, statues etc.) but their works always ended up being destroyed and they blamed the earth ponies for this, and the earth ponies’ works on the farms were always ruined and they always found the names of various pegusi who lived in the village to be scribed where the disaster happened along with the phrase ‘was here!’ which made them automatically blame the pegusi.

In short, it was a disaster zone and the six friends had a hard time figuring out what was really happening, since they had to split up and investigate each ‘faction’. They investigated for an entire day and came up with nothing, mostly because the village folk were too stubborn to admit that they’re blaming the wrong people and it also didn’t help that there was this earth pony boy named Clever Pebble, who kept preaching on and on about how unicorns and pegusi are at fault for all the troubles. He even tried to turn the six friends against each other at one point.

But of course that idea of his went to shit, since the mane six’s bond was far stronger than the earth pony realized, and not long after they figured out part of the troubles. First off Applejack and Pinkie Pie found out that the one that was destroying the work of the unicorns was a Bandersnatch, which was a creature that looked like a combination between a bear and a cat, with a large roundish body covered in grey fur with dark brown spots, a long tail, short almost stubby feet with claws, and a flat face with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Meanwhile Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found the culprit behind the weather mess-ups. Turns out it was a Jubjub bird, a very large predatory bird with a pair of long legs tipped in hook-like talons, a body covered in black and white feathers with red stripes going up its long neck, and a long beak filled with razor sharp teeth.

With a great measure of difficulty the six friends were able to defeat the two beasts: after subduing the Bandersnatch Fluttershy was able to convince it to leave with her kind words. The Jubjub bird wasn’t as cooperative though and the whole thing resulted in a fight with Rainbow Dash having to use her martial art skill in the air and Twilight firing magic bolts whenever she could get a clear shot. In the end the giant raptor was no match for the combined power of might and magic (really cheesy, I know).

After that was over and done with, the girls gathered the townsfolk together – again with some measure of difficulty – and after telling them about the two beasts, the Bearers told the townsfolk what was the true cause of this social divide.

Turns out the true culprit was none other than Clever Pebble, and the girls realized this after Fluttershy asked the Bandersnatch before it left. Pebble tried to lie his way out the situation, but since the townsfolk knew the word of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony carried more weight and knew full well the six girls wouldn’t just lie about something like this. In the end Pebble confessed that he lured the two beasts into the outskirts of the village with herbs that contain distinct smells that rile up them up. He even spread those herbs in the locations where the two beasts rampaged (although getting them into the air was a bit difficult). He even admitted to ruining the work of his fellow earth ponies himself. He confessed that the reason he did all of this was because he was rejected by a Pegasus girl he had a crush on. So he decided to make the village live like in the Dark Ages, since he thought that if he can’t have a different kind of pony for a girlfriend, than ponies of different kinds wouldn’t socialize with each other.

The girls tried to persuade him to let this rejection go and move on, but he stubbornly refused and was therefore taken in by the local authorities. As he was hauled away by the local guards, he kept swearing that he will have his revenge against the Elements of Harmony when he escapes.

The mane six off course didn’t take him seriously and after hearing that the villagers learned their lesson in friendship they left to return back to Ponyville. However those from the village, who knew Pebble very well knew that once he set his mind on something, we sees it through. The disaster that just occurred was a fine example.

Anyway, once they returned the six girls held a friendship council in the castle’s council chamber to make sure that everything was in order. Once Twilight was sure everything was in order and the map went back to its slumber, everyone went about their own businesses: Applejack went back to Sweet Apple Acres to get some of her chores done, Pinkie Pie went back to Sugarcube Corner to work in the kitchen, Rarity went back to her Boutique to work on some new outfits just for the heck of it, but not before Fluttershy told her that she will be going by said Boutique later. Twilight was certain everyone left, but surprisingly enough Rainbow Dash was lazily lying sideways on her chair, with her hooves and tail dangling off one side.

So now it was just the two of them alone in the castle. Something Rainbow Dash quickly questioned as she followed Twilight down the hall, as said alicorn was carrying a large pile of books in her magic grasp.

“So Twilight, how come it’s just us two here? Where’s Spike?”

“Oh, well princess Ember invited him over to the Dragon Lands on a, and I quote, ‘official royal dragon business’.”-the friendship princess replied, using air quotations at the end, and having a knowing smirk on her face.

“Oooohhh, I get it.”-Rainbow said, also with a knowing smirk-“And what about Starlight Glimmer? Where’s she at?”

“She went to hang out with Trixie again.”-Twilight replied casually as they both entered the princess’s room.

“Sooo it’s just us two…alone…in the whole castle?”-Rainbow asked with a mischievous smirk, although Twilight couldn’t see it, since her back was facing the Pegasus.

“Yes Rainbow…it’s just the two of us.”-Twilight replied, although there was a bit of nervousness in her voice and she was blushing like crazy as she placed the pile of books on a dresser.

“Well then…IN THAT CASE-!”-Rainbow said, and then suddenly wrapped her arms around Twilight’s midsection, eliciting a quick yelp from the surprised alicorn princess.

“RAINBOW! Wh-what in sweet Equestria are you doing?!”-Twilight asked as she was still blushing like crazy.

Rainbow gave a slight chuckle as she put her mouth next to Twilight’s left ear and said softly-“Come one Twilight. You’re an egghead, even you should know what this means.”

Rainbow then started moving her hands, her left one stayed attached to Twilight’s hip, while her right one slowly crawled up the princess’s body and then began groping the bookworm’s C cup breasts. She even started kissing the length of Twilight’s neck.

As Rainbow’s hands kept working on her body, this action made Twilight feel like she was turning into jelly, and she also instinctively and reflexively push her hip and chest further into Rainbow’s hands.

“Rainbow I…I know what…what you mean, but…”-Twilight said between moans of pleasure-“You kn…know how…s…sensitive I am whenever you…you touch me like that…”

Twilight was trying to look behind her with a glare at her girlfriend, but found it quite challenging to do so. And Rainbow kept smirking as she ceased kissing the princess’s neck and said softly again-“That’s the point princess.”-then she lightly bit Twilight’s ear, making her moan a bit louder.

Having enough of her friend taking advantage of her little surprise attack, Twilight narrowed her eyes in determination and pulled her thoughts together long enough to say-“Okay then, two can play at that game.”-and in a surprising turn, Twilight spun around and quickly grabbed Rainbow’s already erect wings. She then started massaging said appendages, which sent shivers of pleasure up Rainbow’s spine. It also made her blush like crazy and her legs started turning into jelly.

“H-hey…n-no fair. Y-you’re…cheating…”-Rainbow said, trying to sound annoyed, maybe even a little angry, but was having a hard time doing so.

“Hey, for the record, you started it.”-Twilight said with a smirk and still blushing intensely.

Rainbow kept moaning the more Twilight massaged her wings, until at one point the athletic mare smashed her lips with the princess’s lips. The two kept making out, Rainbow going so far as sneaking her tongue inside Twilight’s waiting mouth.

They continued eating each other up, until they had to separate to get some air into their lungs. Once she caught her breath Twilight got her thoughts back in order and saw Rainbow smirking at her, still blushing intensely. Twilight shyly looked away, still blushing herself and asked in a small voice-“W-what?”

“Hehehe, looks like I’ve rubbed off on ya, huh egghead?”-Rainbow answered, still smirking-“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We have been dating for three months now.”

That was when Twilight cast her gaze to the ground and gently moved away from Rainbow’s hands. The princess of friendship than walked towards a window and looked out, gazing upon the ‘small’ town of Ponyville with a faraway look in her eyes. This brought some concern to Rainbow as she move over to her fellow element with a worried look in her eyes.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”-Rainbow asked-“Is it something I said? Was I too rough just now? What-“

“It’s not that Rainbow, it’s just…”-Twilight cut off her friend, while still looking out her window-“I still can’t believe this is happening.”

Even though she couldn’t see her, Twilight could sense the confusion emanating from her athletic lover and so she elaborated-“We’ve been friends for three years now. We’ve been fighting monsters and villains and solving one friendship problem after another and saving so many lives…and yet we’ve only found out just a year ago that, not only are we BFFs for life, but that we also…love each other. I mean…I’ve read plenty of romantic novels, so I know the fundamental concept of love, but…I never thought I would experience it with my best friends. It’s like we were friends one day and then lovers the next…”

Twilight would’ve continued, if Rainbow hadn’t wrapped her arms around the princess’s shoulders and placed her head on Twilight’s left shoulder. Twilight quickly stiffened and blushed, thinking that Rainbow is gonna start groping and kissing her again, but to her surprise, the rainbow maned Pegasus simply sighed and spoke:

“Now you’re starting to sound like an old lady Twilight. That’s not a very good look for ya.”

Twilight simply giggled softly while holding Rainbow’s arms-“I know, I know. I just can’t believe that so much has happened since we first met each other.”

Rainbow playfully rolled her eyes as she let go of Twilight and began speaking again-“Okay enough with all this nostalgia crap. I get it, okay? You’re slow on the uptake, even though you’re an egghead.”-Twilight cast a light glare at her friend for that comment, but Rainbow didn’t seem to care as she sat down on a chair and continued-“But we’re all alone now. We’ve got the whole castle to ourselves, so why don’t we make use of that time. I mean I get that you and I have been busy with our duties and stuff, but it’s been like, what, a week since we got…intimate with each other.”-as she spoke Rainbow directed a hungry gaze at Twilight, who reflexively put her arm over her breasts and put her other hand over her vagina, as if Rainbow’s starring right through her clothes-“And I mean really intimate with each other.”

After a moment Twilight cast a shameful gaze on the ground and before Rainbow could ask what’s wrong this time, the studious alicorn spoke up first-“But still…sometimes I wonder if…I’m being too…selfish.”

At this Rainbow looked at Twilight as if she grew scales, toes with claws and started breathing fire like a dragon-“Wha – selfish?”

Twilight then began to elaborate as she approached the sitting Pegasus-“Well yeah, I mean think about it. You’ve known the other girls longer than me, and every time I want you to be with me, it’s like I’m keeping you away from the others. Especially Fluttershy.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at her saddened girlfriend, so to remedy this depressing atmosphere she took ahold of Twilight’s hand and gently guided her to her lap, surprising the bookworm. When Twilight looked at her friend Rainbow still had her eyes narrowed and said:

“Listen Twi, because I’m only gonna say this once: you are NOT selfish. Just because you want to spend time with me, doesn’t make you any more selfish than the rest of the gang.”-before Twilight could come up with an argument, Rainbow continued-“Look I get it. This is the first time you’re in a relationship and you’re not totally sure about how to react to certain situations. And you know what? That’s one of the things I like about you.”-upon seeing the princess’s confused look the athlete continued-“Every time we have sex together, or even be alone like this, you always get so nervous and look so clueless about what to do, that it’s just so freakin’ adorable. Now don’t get me wrong, I like the other girls too, but there’s just…something about you that always draws me to you whenever I’m around you. I’m not usually into the whole sappy romance thing, but I guess I just can’t put it any other way.”

After Rainbow was done with her speech, Twilight looked astonished at her friend and then smiled softly and gently cupping Rainbow’s cheek.

“I think I know exactly what you mean Rainbow.”-then the princess gently kissed the athlete on the lips, and then gently lied her head down on Rainbow’s chest and spoke once again-“But are you sure about it? I mean…us?”

“Off course I am Twi.”-Rainbow said, while gently wrapping her arms and wings around her girlfriend-“Besides, you are allowed to be a little selfish in a relationship.”

Twilight giggled softly, before speaking again-“Geez look at us. I’m the princess of friendship and the bookworm of the group and I’m supposed to be the one giving heartfelt speeches.”

“Hehehe, a lot of surprising things happen in a relationship Twilight.”-Rainbow chuckled-“Speaking of which…”

Rainbow still had her wings wrapped around Twilight, but her arms began to snake around the bookworm’s body in an attempt to remove her clothes. However Twilight grabbed the snaking arms and began getting up:

“Nonononono, Rainbow please no.”

“Aw c’mon Twilight, why not?”-Rainbow asked, now getting impatient

“Rainbow look I’m really tired right now. We’ve been traveling all day yesterday, and just got back this morning, and not to mention you’re little ‘sneak attack’ earlier. *Rainbow looked away blushing* Look I just want to lie down right now and maybe catch at least thirty minutes of sleep.”

“Pfft, killjoy.”-Rainbow grumbled and looked away with her arms crossed and pouting. But Twilight knew how to remedy this.

“However I did say that the castle is completely empty.”-at this Rainbow looked back at the princess with a raised eyebrow-“Sooo I don’t think anypony would mind a Wonderbolt Pegasus reading a few ‘Daring Do’ books in the library and then would said Pegasus go into the princess’s bedchamber after, let’s say…thirty minutes?”

Rainbow looked up at her smirking friend with wide eyes, and now realized what she meant: if Rainbow would occupy herself with reading her favorite book series, then Twilight would get some rest and everypony is happy. And if she’s being honest with herself she was going to let Twilight get some much deserved rest after the last sideways mission.

Rainbow then smiled and got up from her seat and began walking towards the door, with Twilight following-“Alright Twi I guess I can’t argue with what you said…again.”

“Off course not.”-Twilight said as Rainbow now looked at her as she was standing in the doorframe-“I don’t have a heightened intelligence for nothing, you know.”

Rainbow chuckled at this-“Hehehe, yup, you’re an egghead…but you’re my egghead.”-Rainbow then kissed Twilight, more gently this time, before said princess gently pushed Rainbow off herself.

“Okay, this us your que to go, before we unwittingly change my plans.”

“Hehehe sure thing Twi.”-Rainbow turned around to leave, but then she turned back to address Twilight with a mischievous look on her face-“By the way Twilight, are you gonna bust out your toys this time too?”

At this Twilight’s head turned beat red and she most certainly thought that steam was coming out of her ears, before speaking-“W-well I-uh I…”

“Hehehe, hey c’mon Twi, you don’t hear me complain whenever you go all bondage freak on me.”-Rainbow chuckled, which made Twilight narrow her eyes and turn away from her, like she got offended or something.

“Hmpf, well maybe I will ‘bust out my toys’ as you’ve just put it. In fact, I have even come up a good roleplay scenario just for you.”

Rainbow just rolled her eyes before saying-“Sure, whatever ya say…Twili.”-then she slapped Twilight’s bottom once, getting a little ‘eep’ from the princess, and then closing the door and heading towards the library.

Twilight simply blushed once more and slowly made her to her bed, still recovering from her friend’s action. Once she got to her bed she sat down and began thinking.

“That Rainbow can be such a…pervert sometimes…But I guess her daring nature is what drew me to her in the first place. And the fact that she’s an athletic tomboy helps as well.”-Twilight thought as she lied down on her bed, still in her clothes-“I should change out of my clothes to rest better…but I’ll just end up naked either way thanks to Rainbow later. Plus I’m feeling too lazy to change anyway…by Celestia’s mane she really is rubbing off on me.”

With that last exasperated thought Twilight turned on her bed so her back was facing the door, closed her eyes and went to sleep.

30 minutes later

“Your majesty. Your majesty please wake up.”-a voice whispered as somepony gently shook Twilight’s shoulder.

Said princess moaned slightly as she slowly opened her eyes, expecting to find Rainbow Dash being impatient as ever and wanting to get to their fun as soon as possible.

However as Twilight fully opened her eyes and the world came into focus the pony standing before her…wasn’t Rainbow Dash. It was instead a pony with sky-blue eyes, dressed entirely in black, even wearing a black mask to cover the bottom part of her head, reminding Twilight of the ninja ponies from Spike’s comic books. However this stranger being in her room was already cause for alarm, especially since Twilight saw that there were two other figures standing a bit of a distance from her bed, the shadow’s hiding their faces and bodies from view.

Recovering from her initial shock Twilight quickly got out of bed, horn and hands glowing with a dark pink aura and the mystery pony took a few steps back.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my castle?”-Twilight asked, her eyes narrowed in anticipation, but the mystery pony in front of her simply put her hands up in surrender and began speaking:

“Please calm yourself your majesty. We are not here to hurt you or anypony for that matter.”-she spoke softly and didn’t even try to reach for any weapons on her.

This somewhat calmed Twilight’s nerves as she looked more carefully and noticed the tip of a deep purple horn sticking out from under the pony’s hood, meaning she was a unicorn. Twilight also noticed the strange silver belt buckle that was in the form of a symbol she couldn’t recognize.

After a moment Twilight slightly lowered her hands, the glow vanishing from them, but her horn kept in glowing and she still held her glare.

“Somehow I doubt that.”-Twilight retorted-“But say I believe you for a moment, what do you want than?”

The pony clad in black lowered her hands as well and began speaking-“Alright, well to put it simply…we need you to come with us. We need your…help, in a sense.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow curiously at this claim, and decided to feed her curiosity-“’Need my help’? With what? Is it a friendship problem, or…”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you the reason for your help, because my…our mistress didn’t tell us.”-the pony half lied, although Twilight didn’t know this.

“Well if you won’t tell me what the problem is, than why would you ask for my help in the first place?”-Twilight asked, knowing that a pony dressed like some kind of ninja would have more of a reason to pay her a visit than simply asking for help.

Said pony sighed in what sounded like defeat and then directed a worried look to Twilight before speaking again-“Please listen to me, your majesty. I will be straight with you, we need your help with something very important, but I’m afraid we were ordered to…*sigh again* to kidnap you, your majesty.”

With the pony bowing her head, she couldn’t see the shocked look on Twilight’s face.

And indeed Twilight was equal parts shocked, equal parts surprised and equal parts horrified. Now since she is a bondage enthusiast and a well learned scholar, she knew very well what ‘kidnapping’ meant. She read about how most often ponies of high noble standing would be kidnapped by villains for ransom or to send some kind of message to rivals, and she even had a few fantasies about Rainbow Dash kidnapping her in a future roleplay scenario of hers. She figured she might end up being in a kidnapping situation some day since her mother is a very well known scientist in Canterlot and her father is a decorated war hero, and especially now since she is a princess now and a world class hero to boot.

What she never expected was for her kidnapper to, not only admit that she is kidnapping her, but also looking nervous and also looking like she didn’t even want to kidnap the princess of friendship.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself Twilight looked at the masked pony and spoke once again-“Okay, alright…just slow down for a second. What do you mean you have to kidnap me?”

The masked pony took a deep breath as well and spoke once more-“As I said before your majesty, our mistress has ordered us to bring you to her by kidnapping you. Now I didn’t lie to you before when I said we need your help, because we truly do. Our mistress simply told us that this is the only way you will be able to help us.”

“But I…I don’t understand.”-Twilight said equally confused and excited, although she was doing her best to keep the later sentiment under control-“I-is it really necessary for you to kidnap me? I mean how would that help you in any way? Isn’t there another way for me to help you?”

“I am truly sorry your majesty.”-the masked pony said with regret-“Believe me this is not easy for me or my sisters. But I’m afraid there is no other way.”

Upon hearing this, Twilight narrowed her eyes. While her bondage loving side would try to convince her that being kidnapped would be very very exciting, her rational side won over as she said with finality in her voice-“Then I’m sorry. You simply saying that you have to kidnap me in order to help you, doesn’t convince me to actually help you. It just tells me that you are criminals and not to mention that kidnapping is wrong. So I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you over to the authorities.”

The ninja pony bowed her head with a sad look in her eyes. Truth be told she knew the princess would refuse, but she was hoping it wouldn’t come to this.

“*sigh* I was truly hoping we wouldn’t have to resort to this.”-she then gave a hand signal and the two figures behind her stepped forward into the light. The one on the left was another pony (an earth pony to be exact) dressed exactly like the one Twilight was speaking to, but it was the second pony that shocked Twilight.

The second pony was Rainbow Dash, but she was completely tied up. Two lines of white rope looped around her body, above and below her breasts, her hands were behind her back, tied up at the wrists and her legs were secured together right above her knees. Because of this, the masked earth pony was keeping her left hand on Rainbow’s left shoulder and held Rainbow’s right arm with her right arm to keep her from either running away, or toppling over. Her wings were also secured with a pair of silvers clamps, studded with four purple gems: one keeping the two appendages together at the base of said appendages, and another keeping her wings folded.

“Mmmhppf Twmmmlmmmpf!”-Rainbow mumbled since she was gagged with a white cloth being tied over her mouth and nose.

“*gasp*Rainbow!”-Twilight gasped in shock, before looking back towards the first masked pony, narrowing her eyes, and her hands reigniting with magic, but much more intensely this time-“Don’t you dare hurt her you…YOU MONSTERS!”

“Your majesty please stop and let me explain!”-the masked unicorn pleaded, but Twilight remained impassive and her magic seemed to grow in intensity, but the unicorn continued-“When I said we need your help, I meant that we need the help of ALL of the Elements of Harmony and-“

“So you’re telling me you’re planning to kidnap the rest of my friends too?!”-Twilight demanded as the magic around her hands seemed to have turned into purple flames now and her eyes became enveloped in a white glow.

“Your majesty please-!”-the masked unicorn tried to plead further but Twilight didn’t seemed to want to let her.

“Twmmlmmphf!”-Rainbow Dash yelled through her gag, which Twilight seemed to have heard and when she looked at her bound friend, Rainbow simply nodded her head with a determined look in her eyes.

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock for a moment, before her eyes turned to normal and the magic around her hands became normal once more. She understood that Rainbow wanted her to listen to the masked unicorn, but she was completely unsure about this. However Rainbow’s determined look seemed to have slightly eased her worries as the princess directed a glare of her own towards the masked unicorn.

“You want me to listen? Fine! I’m listening, so start talking.”-Twilight demanded, and after taking a breath to calm her nerves the masked pony spoke once more.

“As I was saying, you majesty, we need the help of all of the Elements of Harmony, and before you ask, yes, our mistress has ordered us to kidnap all of you. Please you must understand your majesty we, the Sisters of Shadow, have great respect for you six. Both as Elements of Harmony, Guardians of Equestria and as the ponies you are. Your exploits all across Equestria, the lessons you have taught ponies everywhere, even your very personalities became an inspiration for me and my sisters.”

Now Twilight was more confused than ever. It sounded like these ‘Sisters of Shadow’ seemed to have taken tabs on her and her friends’ exploits. And it also sounded like this masked pony, who wants to kidnap her and already has captured Rainbow Dash and is keeping her hostage right in front of her, seemed to hold genuine respect for her.

“Well she did keep calling me ‘your majesty’ instead of by my name. Still…”-Twilight thought as she asked the masked unicorn her next question:

“Well if you and your ‘sisters’ respect us so much, than why do you want to kidnap us?”

“Because…”-the masked unicorn lowered her head as she hesitantly continued-“…because our mistress ordered us to. And yes, I know that is a pathetic reason to kidnap somepony, especially you your majesty. But there is simply no other way to answer your question.”

Twilight quirked an eyebrow, silently telling the masked intruder to try and say something more, to which she hesitantly did-“…let’s just say…we owe a lot to our mistress, and her word goes above even that of the royal sisters. ”

For Twilight this respect the unicorn was professing sounded like the kind of respect she herself had, and still has, for princess Celestia. However there was one last question which Twilight wanted answered, and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“And if we refuse, than are you…going to hurt us?”

The masked pony could hear the nervousness in Twilight’s voice, and she answered in a regretful tone-“I’m afraid we were given permission to use force to bring you in. Something I am very much hoping to avoid your majesty. Like I said we hold great respect for you and would sooner kill ourselves than hurt you with our own hands. Which is why I am pleading to you your majesty to come with us peacefully and willingly.”

Twilight stayed silent after this. Initially she thought this masked unicorn was some kind of criminal who only wanted to kidnap her for some kind of ransom or to make money out of her through…other means. But now, after hearing everything she just said, Twilight believed that there is something more to this pony and these ‘Sisters of Shadow’ and it genuingly looked like this pony didn’t want to kidnap her and she is only doing this because she has to. Twilight hesitantly looked at Rainbow and asked:

“Rainbow, is this true?”-the captured athlete mumbled nothing and only nodded her head slightly.

With this in mind Twilight looked towards the masked unicorn and spoke-“So if I agree to go with you, than you will promise to not to hurt Rainbow or any of my friends?”

The unicorn looked up with wide eyes now filled with hoped and quickly responded-“Yes, yes off course your majesty. You have my word.”-she even took a knee to emphasize her words.

Twilight slightly flinched at this, since she never got used to ponies kneeling or bowing before her. But after a moment of silence, she gave her response:

“Alright, I’ll go with you than.”

“Thank you your majesty. You don’t know how much relief this brings us.”-the masked unicorn said as she rose from her kneeling position and approached a very nervous Twilight after producing a couple of ropes from some kind of hidden pocket behind her.

Once she was standing before the princess of friendship, the masked unicorn pulled out a large silver ring studded with a single green emerald from one of the pouches on her belt. She held it in front of Twilight and said:

“Before I proceed with securing you your majesty, I have to place this ring onto your horn. I assume you know what this is?”

Looking at it carefully, Twilight immediately answered-“Yes, yes I do. It’s a magic suppressing ring. It’s usually used by solar and lunar guards and other law enforcements when apprehending unicorn criminals. However even regular citizens can acquire them if they wish to suppress unicorns with unstable magic abilities. Because of this these rings became commonly known as unicorn rings.”-after elaborating the specifics of the object, Twilight directed a worried and nervous gaze towards the pony holding the ring-“But is tying us up really necessary? I mean I already agreed to willingly go with you.”

“I have asked my mistress that very same question your majesty, and I’m afraid her answer, as well as mine is, yes it is necessary. After all we are still kidnapping you.”-the masked pony said, and without waiting for an answer she gently slid the ring onto Twilight’s horn.

Said alicorn did her best to not moan, since her horn is one of many sensitive areas that she has on her body. Her eyes widened with shock though when her masked kidnapper produced two silver clamps, similar to the ones binding Rainbow Dash’s wings and knew what that meant.

Twilight nervously looked down, hoping the unicorn who was now stepping behind her didn’t see her intense blush. The next moment the princess felt the cold clamps around her wings and she did her best not to moan this time either. She did flinch however and gave out a barely audible yelp.

“Alright, now please put your hands behind your back your majesty.”-the unicorn said gently, to which Twilight didn’t respond verbally, and instead silently did as she was told. The masked unicorn did notice while she was securing the princess’s wrists that she was slightly shaking, and decided to speak-“There is no need to be afraid your majesty. I told you we won’t hurt you or your friends and I meant it.”

“Yes, yes I know, I know…”-Twilight tried to keep her voice and breath even and sounding as neutral as possible, because her bondage loving side was beginning to show and the fact that this pony touched both her horn and wings didn’t help matters at all.

Rainbow Dash on the other hand glared at the masked unicorn, jealous of the fact that some stranger was tying up her Twilight and not her. She knew that Twilight was slowly getting aroused by the feeling of being tightly secured and it angered her that it wasn’t she who was tying her up, despite the current situation.

“Mmmmpphhf.”-Rainbow silently mumbled under her gag as she slightly moved around, forcing the earth pony beside her to slightly tighten her grip.

“Hey, hey calm down will ya?”-the earth pony said, with a tone and accent that suggested she was probably from Manehattan-“Look Midnight ain’t gonna do nothing bad to your friend, so you’ve got nothin’ to worry about.”

Rainbow simply rolled her eyes at what the earth pony just said. She knew her partner won’t hurt Twilight, she just didn’t like how her girlfriend was getting aroused by being tied up by somepony other than herself.

Back with Twilight, the masked unicorn had finished tying up her wrists and started looping rope around her body just above her breasts. This wasn’t making Twilight’s situation any easier though as she was still shaking in nervousness and she felt like her face was on fire. So she thought she would try to talk to her kidnapper to at least get her mind off of her current situation.

“S-so I uh…I never got you name, d-did I?”

The unicorn looked surprised at the nervous princess, but after a moment of silence she answered-“I shouldn’t tell you, but…I suppose it wouldn’t hurt too much…my name is Midnight Blue. That’s all you need to know your majesty.”

“O-oh, okay…”-Twilight said, while still keeping her voice even.

While she was tying the second line of rope under Twilight’s breasts, Blue decided to ask something interesting-“I take it, you are not only okay with being tied up, but you are also enjoying it?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock at this question-“H-how did you-“

“Me and my sisters have been well trained to read body language as well as observe the subtle changes in one’s movements and gestures. Plus, no offence your majesty but your blushing face and nervous voice make it easy to figure out.”

Even though Blue was wearing a mask, Twilight could tell that she was smirking at the last part. Twilight lowered her head in shame by the fact that her secret, which only her friends knew of, was found out.

“Y-yes I do like being t-tied up. I a-also like b-being g-gagged…I l-liked bondage for a long time now.”-Twilight said, but when Blue lowered her body to get started on her legs as well Twilight quickly asked a concerning question-“A-are going you going to give me a…c-crotch rope t-too?”

At this Blue looked up and answered calmly-“No of course not you majesty. I’m just going to tie up your legs and we will be done here.”

“Oh thank Celestia…”-Twilight said with much relief. If Blue had tied a crotch rope on her as well, then she wasn’t going to be able to hold herself back anymore.

“Hmpf, traitor…”-Twilight heard a voice in her mind, which oddly sounded like Rainbow grumbling.

Looking towards her already tied and gagged girlfriend Twilight noticed how Rainbow was looking to her left side with a pouting and jealous (?) look in her eyes. Thinking that the ring didn’t suppress her magic completely, Twilight decided to start up a mental conversation:

“Rainbow Dash? Can you hear me?”-upon hearing her voice inside her own head Rainbow looked up in surprise at Twilight, who smiled softly and said-“Okay, so you can.”

“Wait a minute.”-Rainbow said mentally-“I thought that ring thing was supposed to turn your magic off. Isn’t that what you said Twilight?”

“Yes, but maybe it only suppresses my magic enough to not use any major spells. Either that or maybe alicorns are just too powerful for a suppressing ring to work completely.”-Twilight responded, but then she saw Rainbow regaining her glare and it was directed towards her.

“Alright so seeing as we can talk without using our mouths…you mind telling me what the heck is up with you getting excited about being tied up by some bad pony?”-Rainbow mentally demanded.

Twilight looked confused at her friend and quickly responded-“W-what are you talking about Rainbow? I’m not getting excited about anything here! You know very well that my body gets like this whenever-“-Twilight then stopped her thought and while she was smirking towards Rainbow she thought-“Wait…Rainbow Dash…are you jealous that somepony else is getting me excited by tying me up?”

“Hmmpf?”-Rainbow’s eyes widened and started blushing under her gag and looked at the still smirking Twilight, before the athlete closed her eyes and turned away in an aggravated manner.

“W-well...I am your girlfriend! So I am the one who’s supposed to make you excited!...and that Midnight girl is looking at ya now.”-Rainbow said with a deadpanned mental tone when she looked back at her friend.

Looking surprised at first, Twilight looked to her right and saw Midnight Blue standing still and looking at the princess expectantly and holding a white cloth in her hands.

“I see that you just discovered that you can still speak to lady Rainbow Dash mentally.”-Twilight looked nervously at her captor and before she could speak Blue continued-“Our mistress did say that the ring might not work completely on you your majesty. You may speak in your mind as much as you wish your majesty, all I ask is that you do not try to think of some escape plan, alright?”-Twilight nodded at the request, knowing what the alternative is. Seeing the princess’s further cooperation, Blue held up the cloth she was holding and said-“Alright well, all that is left is for me to gag you. I could ask if there is anything you wanted to say, maybe something for your lover, lady Rainbow Dash, but I think you can talk to her later on, so…”

Blue was about to gag the princess, but Twilight drew her head back slightly and began speaking again, stopping Blue-“Wait. Will you promise that you and your mistress will not hurt us?”

“Of course your majesty. We won’t hurt any of you and neither will our mistress. Believe it or not, our mistress holds more respect for you than for the royal sisters.”-Blue said softly before holding up the cloth once again-“Are you ready your majesty?”

“...yes, I am.”-Twilight said quietly.

With that Blue tied the white cloth only over Twilight’s mouth, and tying the two ends behind the princess’s head. Once that was done Blue looked at her companion and spoke-“Alright, well now that we are done here, it’s time to get going.”

After her partner nodded, Blue’s horn began glowing a dark blue color and a moment later she shot a beam of dark blue magic into the center of the room and created an oval shaped portal with a dark blue energy outline and leading to some kind of field outside.

“Alright now, let’s get going.”-Blue said as she and her partner started guiding their respective captives through the portal and after they went through, the portal closed in a flash of light.

After all four ponies stepped through the portal and it disappeared, Twilight and Rainbow noticed that they ended up in the outskirts of Ponyville, and quite far away from the castle. They then noticed that there was a chariot close by, with another pony clad in black, and this one had orange wings coming out of her back. The chariot itself was black, with four silver wheels and having a few silver ornaments decorating it so as to look common enough to not draw too much attention. But even if it did draw some attention, the windows were covered by burgundy colored tarps from the inside.

In front of the chariot was a very tall bird that looked like a terrifying ostrich. It had a pair of large feet with two toes and two massive claws attached to a pair of long reddish legs, its body was covered in purple iridescent feathers, with light green line going down under its neck and belly, it also had some black feathers going down the back of its neck, back and ending in a bunch behind its body forming a tail. Instead of wings it had a pair of short arms with two fingers ending in two claws, it had a long S shaped neck with a very large beaked head at the end. The beak itself was serrated at the edges and had a hook at the end, the bird’s eyes were bright yellow and there was a large, backwards-pointing crest on top of its head to complete its odd and terrifying look.

The black clad earth pony mare walked up to the chariot and opened a secret compartment at the back and pulled out a slab of meat, which she proceeded to throw towards the tall bird. The large creature proceeded to snag the meat and swallow it down whole. While they both were aware that some creatures, even sentient ones, ate meat that didn’t necessarily mean that Twilight and Rainbow enjoyed the sight. After swallowing its snack, the bird sensed that the two new ponies were staring at it, so it shrieked at them in defense, making them both take a step back.

“Don’t you two worry.”-the earth pony mare said, while gently patting the side of the bird’s neck, calming it down-“Terror Birds just don’t like being stared at, like they’re freaks or somethin’. But if ya feed them properly, then they’ll act like little puppies.”

“Alright now, let’s get going then, shall we?”-Blue said as she escorted both secured ponies to the chariot, while the masked Pegasus stayed sitting on the driver’s side on the chariot and the masked earth pony kept the Terror bird calm.

Blue opened the door on the left side of the chariot and helped the two ponies inside. Once inside Twilight and Rainbow noticed that it looked rather comfortable inside. There were two sets of seats on either side – like in any other chariot – but the seats were plush, colored dark red and there was a small cyan colored crystal with a golden ring around it, floating near the ceiling of the chariot.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash sat down on the very comfortable and soft seats and a second later Blue came in as well as the earth pony and sat down on the seats opposite of the kidnapped ponies. After closing the doors and making sure the tarps hid them from the outside world, Blue gave the earth pony a nod and she in turn used her elbow to knock on the wall behind her before speaking loudly:

“Alright Rain Chaser, let’s get going!”-hearing the command the masked Pegasus snapped the reigns in her hands and the Terror Bird started walking after giving a few surprised squacks.

As they started going Blue looked at their two prisoners. Twilight looked both nervous and worried, while Rainbow Dash still maintained her glare directed towards their kidnappers.

“I know this isn’t a very pleasant situation, for either one of us, but I am certain that once we arrive back to our home, you will no longer be prisoners and instead be the honored guests we wish for you to be.”-Blue said, trying to reassure her guests, and while Twilight nodded in understanding, Rainbow kept her glare intact. After sighing, Blue felt the tingling of a communication magic coming up. She conjured up a dark blue magic flame in her opened left palm and spoke into it-“Report.”-she fell silent for a while and after a moment she spoke into the flame once more-“Alright, team Alpha also captured Magic and Loyalty. Now just make sure you keep them calm and relaxed and we will rendezvous at the planned location. Midnight Blue out.”-the masked pony dispelled the flame and looked at the alicorn and Pegasus that were looking curiously at her, to which she answered-“Those were my sisters. They said they successfully kidnapped the rest of your friends, but you have nothing to worry about. None of them were hurt and they all came willingly with them. Relax, you two will see your friends soon enough. In the meantime, I suggest you two get comfortable because we will be traveling for most of the day.”

Hearing this Twilight sighed in relief, knowing her friends were okay for the most part. But now she had a worried look in her eyes, since they are still being kidnapped and who knows what will be waiting for them down the road. She was even more worried about the fact that Spike and Starlight will not even know where she is or what is even happening to her and her friends.

Looking at her girlfriend, Rainbow saw how worried Twilight was starting to get. With her jealousy finally out of the way Rainbow could now focus on comforting her worried egghead. The athletic tomboy lightly nudged the princess and once she got her attention Rainbow began speaking mentally-“Hey, are you okay Twi? You know, aside from the whole kidnapping thing.”

Twilight looked at her girlfriend and after hearing her question she answered-“Yeah, yeah I’m okay Rainbow, I’m just…wondering how worried will Spike and Starlight be when they realize we are missing. Not to mention your parents, and maybe even my parents, and the townsfolk and-“

Rainbow stopped Twilight’s mental rant by nudging her again and saying-“Okay, okay I get it you’re worried about Spike and Starlight. Look, I’m sure they’ll be fine, I mean you know how good those two can be in a situation, right?”

Twilight listened and nodded her head, knowing that Rainbow was right for once and that Spike and Starlight will be alright. Who knows? Maybe they will even figure out a way to rescue them.

“Yeah, you’re right Rainbow.”-Twilight said-“I should be worried about our situation now. I mean I know I'm into being tied up and gagged, but this isn’t a roleplay scenario. This is real and if thing’s start getting ugly then-“

One more nudge to silence the alicorn princess’s thoughts as Rainbow spoke once again with a determined look in her eyes:

“No, you should be worried about nothing at all. Look I know this isn’t exactly our awesomest moment ever, but we’ll find a way out of this. We always do. And when things get ugly I’ll protect you Twilight, so don’t worry about a thing, okay?”-upon hearing this Twilight smiled under her gag and gently placed her head onto Rainbow’s right shoulder, feeling safe being this close to her athletic friend. Rainbow in turn smiled as well and blushed as well under her gag and she in turn nuzzled the top of Twilight’s head while saying-“Besides, look on the bright side. You always wanted us both to be tied up in a kidnapping scenario, and here we are.”

Twilight giggled at Rainbow’s remark and the tomboy followed shortly.

Watching this Blue and her partner smiled softly under their masks. Even though they were ordered to kidnap their role models, as long as they had each other and felt safe with each other, than there was nothing to worry about.

And this is how a new and unique adventure begins once more for the mane six, their friends and the Sisters of Shadow.

To be continued…

Bonus: How Rainbow Dash got captured

Author's Note

This is an entirely optional read. If you don't want to read it, either because bonus chapters are annoying, or because you already hate this story and want to pull it out of your monitor, rip it apart, pour gasoline on it and then light it on fire, than that's alright.

I'm not entirely sure if there will be more of these bonus chapters in the future, so I won't say anything. The next two chapters will be similar to the first one, and I wish to know what you guys think of the story so far (you know, other than the obvious fact that you guys hate it) and whether I should continue it or delete it.

Bonus: How Rainbow Dash got captured

For twenty minutes now Rainbow Dash had been spending her time in the castle library, eating almost every Daring Do book she could find. Most of them she already read, so she managed to skim through some parts.

Of course even as she was reading through these books, her thoughts kept going back to her royal girlfriend. Rainbow just couldn’t get that touching, heartfelt moment she just shared with Twilight out of her head. She never realized that Twilight was so worried about how their relationship would affect the rest of their gang. While she managed to calm the little bookworm down now, Rainbow had a vague suspicion that she would have to do this again.

“I guess that’s just how Twilight is. Always worried about how her actions would affect the rest of us.”-Rainbow thought as she closed the current Daring Do book she finished reading-“But I will admit she does look cute whenever she’s nervous or worries over nothing. And when she start’s using her bondage stuff, now that’s when she gets hot and sexy.”

Rainbow grinned lecherously as she imagined what her pretty little princess has planned for her. Then she looked at the clock on the wall and Rainbow noticed that she still had ten minutes, but she figured that she’d get to Twilight’s room in ten minutes, considering how big this castle is and if she simply used her legs this time.

So with that in mind Rainbow put her book back on top of the tower of Daring Do books and proceeded to leave the library. As she walked down the halls Rainbow’s mind still drifted towards Twilight and what she might have in store for her.

“Hehe, knowing Twilight and roleplay, and judging by what she just told me, I think that-HMMPF!”

Rainbow’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a black gloved hand suddenly sprung out of a door to her left, covered her mouth and pulled her into the room the door lead to. The room in question turned out to be some kind of small supply closet, which she was pretty sure not even Twilight knew existed.

And the rest is history.