Adapt to Hazardous Situations
Waking up with a bloody nose can be an annoyance. Maybe it happens because you got into a fight and took some hits, or maybe they just run in your genetics. But when one happens unexpectedly it can leave you a bit concerned, perhaps you feel the need to suddenly go to the clinic for a check up, or get some tissues and hope the bleeding stops before others begin to worry.
For Twilight, it was no concern to her at all. What was much more worrying was the fact she couldn’t move her legs, that her head felt like it was going to explode, and her horn felt numb, not the type of numb from a loss of blood but the feeling that someone had chiseled it down. But worst of all was the fact she couldn't see, something was wrapped around her eyes tightly enough for her to feel her veins bulging against whatever fabric the blindfold was made of.
After several deep breaths ideas began to form in her mind. ‘Am I dead?’ was the first one, but she quickly discarded it after more of her sense and memories came back to her. She remembered being at the library and hearing a knock at the door before trotting to greet the pony behind it. ‘Maybe I got sick and I'm at the hospital? What happened to me?’ was the next thought. After opening the door she’d greeted the mare in front of her, she had a white coat and an odd mane, a mane she couldn't quite recall the colors of. ‘Oh no...Oh Celestia no!’ was her final thought. The mare had asked for a very popular book on the other side of the library, it had been checked out enough times for her to remember where it was without calling for Spike. When she had turned to retrieve it something hard, and sturdy, had collided with the back of her skull, and her mind had become scattered as she’d stumbled on the floor, trying to collect herself before everything went black.
The blindfold wrapped around her eyes was gently removed. She was lying on a couch, and as her eyes adjusted to the low light level she noticed there were dirt walls around with wooden support beams keeping the roof from collapsing every five feet gap, making her feel like she was in a mine shaft. ‘Ransom’ the voice in her head said again and again, whoever had taken her probably knew she was a noble pony, but didn't quite understand just how important she was. This set her mind at ease, but only a small amount. Soon ponies would stumble into the empty library, see her missing, and Shining Armor himself would lead the search party. But if they did know what they were doing… Twilight quickly pushed this thought aside and convinced herself that this was a desperate one pony operation that would be resolved quickly.
“You are so cute when you are asleep…” said a voice behind her. “I used to watch you sleep all the time in the library, you never use those curtains…”
Twilight felt a chill run down her back as she heard the voice speak, it was… wrong. It sounded like a filly’s, only mixed with pain and pleasure. Her head shifted to her legs, looking at what was restraining them. All four were tied with ropes pulling them close together, then reinforced by leather being wrapped around both sets. She could barely feel them, the tightness alone almost made her eyes water.
“But I always preferred to watch you when you were awake, reading or going for a walk. The best times were when you would just go under a tree in the park and read for hours. I could watch you all day in plain sight and you were none the wiser.” The voice spoke longingly, as its source slowly got closer to her.
Her horn felt empty now, not numb, like all the magic that had once swirled within her had been drained. She tried to focus her eyes upward and check for a ring around it but she couldn't see anything from her position. Despite her head still feeling the recent trauma from the attack the rest of her body felt mostly fine, if she could free herself from her binding she could make a run for it, plans were already forming in her mind.
“Oh how I'd just watch you… I wanted so badly to just- to just say hello to you, I knew everything about you after all. From where you grew up to your favorite books, favorite ways to make breakfast… but I knew you would never like me very much.” Twilight felt a hoof touch her flank and begin to make circular motions over her cutie mark. “You always liked stallions, after all. But you don't have to worry about that, I can be the strong, confident stallion you never knew you wanted!”
Twilight began to take very deep breaths. There was no way it was ransoming, the pony behind her was clearly insane. If she couldn't find a way to leave soon she had no doubt in her mind she would be another tragically young dead mare on the local newspaper like so many others. She whimpered as the hoof began to go up from her flank and towards her neck as the figure came into view, it was the same white mare from earlier. Her hair was greasy and frail, her skin looked sickly and her pupils were wide like a filly’s looking at a new toy from behind a window.
“I can become everything you have ever wanted! You'll love me, maybe someday as much as I love you! Oh, I can't wait to get started! I just don't know what to do first!” The slight grin on her face warped into a toothy smile as she began to pet the unicorn's mane softly, like a nervous foal would pet a cat. “I think we should have a simple date, nothing too fancy of course, I know you don't like those kinds of things! How about we just c- cuddle a little and watch a movie?” The mare's voice cracked a bit saying the last few words, making Twilight wonder just what kind of lunatic she was dealing with.
The white mare placed both her hooves onto Twilight’s back and pushed her close to the edge of the couch before climbing overtop of her and lying down, then she wrapped her front legs around Twilight and pulled her into a tight embrace as her muzzle thrust itself into her neck. Twilight could feel the deep breaths the pony was making now like a dog trying to find a scrap of food on a carpet, she almost screamed as her body began to try and shake her off in protest, which only made the mare hold her tighter and push further into her sensitive neck.
The mare suddenly stopped and giggled. “Oh my, I forgot to turn on the damn movie! Silly me.” She quickly picked herself up and hopped off the couch and out of Twilight’s line of sight again. With the mare being preoccupied Twilight began to look around the room more. On the other side of the ten feet wide tunnel was a bed, and deeper down the tunnel was a wall where a few small lockers had been placed, the other end had no lighting and was simply a black abyss.
“Here it is! I got it,” said the mare estatically, running back into eyesight with a small projector and a large tan bedsheet. “I only have one movie right now but I can totally get another one from town, I'll get you anyone you want!” After quickly trotting over to the wall and hanging up the bedsheet on the supports, the mare retraced her steps and placed the projector on top of the head of the couch. Twilight heard her mumble something under her breath before the familiar sound of duct tape being pulled off the roll. After a moment passed the projector flickered to life and began to play. Twilight didn't bother to look at the title screen as she began to wiggle her legs in an attempt to loosen the restraints on them, then quickly stopped as the white mare flopped down behind her and pulled her in for another tight embrace.
“I first saw you at the town hall that night Nightmare Moon showed up! I was entranced by how you stood up to her, I just had to know more about you! Especially when I found out what the odd little tiara around your head was.” Once again the mare thrust her muzzle into Twilight, deeply inhaling her scent.
“Why me?” were the first words Twilight could say, asking the universe more than the mare behind her. These types of horror stories weren't supposed to happen in Equestria outside of fiction.
“Why not you? Why not the perfect mare in Equestria?” the mare holding her said before planting a wet kiss onto her cheek.
Twilight’s body began to clench in fear, but some part of her brain that wasn't cowering away only became more curious with the answer and wanted to know more. “I'm just a librarian!” she lied, probing for more information.
“If only that were true! I would have gotten you down here weeks ago, wouldn't have had to spend so much time hunting down all those anti magic talismans just to hide you from Celestia. I can't even use my own magic down here.”
Focusing through her fear, Twilight began to process this. This wasnt some ordinary psycho who escaped an asylum, they at least had some idea of what they were doing. “W- what?” Twilight asked, trembling.
“Well, going purely off your cutie mark I knew there was something special about you. Then I started doing some digging on what happened that night with Nightmare Moon, piecing together who those other Element Bearers were, and I just knew that even without your horn you'd still be emitting a heavy, trackable magic field.”
“M- m- my horn?” the former unicorn asked in horror.
“Sawed it off while you were sleeping, couldn't have you doing anything with that almost alicorn level of mastery you have! But don't worry, broken horns are fixable… kinda…” The mare raised her horn and tapped the other’s horn’s stump before covering it back up with Twilight’s mane. Tears now began to flow down Twilight’s cheeks as her mind struggled to process what she had just lost. “I put it somewhere special, I plan on putting you somewhere else that special too.” The white mare then began a breathless laugh, trying to laugh and suck in air at the same time sounded like nails on a chalkboard to the pony she was holding.
Twilight struggled openly now to free her hooves just so she could clog her eardrums, making the laughing stop briefly. “You know, I do plan on giving you more… erm… freedom. I just have to convince you to not try things like this, but I'm not a dummy. I know how resilient a dog gets when you try to beat it into submission, so every time you do this-” the mare tapped the leather restraints with a hoof “-I'm going to do THIS!” She brought her lips down onto the struggling mare’s face and started to smother her in kisses, leaving behind saliva like puddles of acid. Twilight’s nose could smell the cigarette smoke and hint of hard apple cider from the mare's breath, making her gag, and as soon as her mouth opened her captor took the opportuning to link her lips with hers and force her tongue into her mouth. Now tasting the smell, Twilight began to gag harder, only making the intruding tongue in her mouth go deeper down her throat until she could feel it flick her uvula. Just before she was about to commit, the white mare pulled back and let her breathe.
After she was down coughing, Twilight began to pant trying to suck in the air she had lost. “I would have preferred if you had just hit me,” she said, praying the recommendation would land into the maniac in front of her’s mind and take root.
“That's just it, I don't want to hit you, I don't even want to tie you up like this. I love you, Sparkle. I wish I hadn't had to do all this but- just look at me, I'm a zero and you're a ten. I don't meet any of your types. You like strong, confident pegasi, and I'm a short unicorn who couldn't risk asking you the traditional way because- because you would just say no. Just like every other mare…”
The white mare’s smile turned into a deep frown as she looked away and sat up.
Twilight could feel a tinge of empathy in her heart for her at that moment, but it quickly faded away when she reminded herself this mare was the reason she was down a horn. Deciding to play into her kidnapper’s plan, Twilight began to play along. “What's your name?” she asked in a weak tone
“Cake, Apple Cake,” the white unicorn responded. “But… maybe someday it'll be Apple Sparkle, or Cake Sparkle, since everypony already just calls me Cake.” Her frown warped into a small smile as she looked back at the bound pony in front of her.
“Oh, so I take it you're an Apple? Do you know Applejack?” Twilight probed again.
“Um, I wouldn't say I know her really, I’m just a distant cousin who came down here to see the sun celebration, but I stayed to see you,” Cake said, trying to sound romantic.
The line was almost as bad as the laughing on Twilight’s ears, but she knew she was making progress. “But… Why me? I'm not exactly anything to look at, and there are plenty of other mares that I've met who would fall head over hooves for somepony like you. Not many would have this kind of devotion,” she said with a fake grin.
“No, there really aren't,” Cake ran a hoof down her face and stared deeply into the pony below her eyes. “I guess that movie idea kinda… sucked,” she stammered trying to change the subject.
“Oh, I was watching it,” Twilight lied.
“Neither was I.” Cake smiled before hopping off the couch again. “It's pretty late in the day, I should get something for us to eat.” Quickly she trotted to the locker on the other side of the room, grabbing a box out then trotting back. “In the mood for apples?”
Twilight was not hungry in the slightest, what she really wanted was water. Her mind was still burning lightly from both the trauma and now dehydration. Cake placed the box on the dirt floor then opened it, inside were a few plastic bottles, four apples, and a couple tissues. Cake picked the tissues out with her mouth first and began to gently clean Twilight's face, starting with her bloody muzzle and damp fur, then spat it out onto the floor.
“I'm so sorry I had to hit you with the shovel, you would have easily overpowered me if I had used chloroform.” Cake whimpered, running a hoof gently over Twilight’s scalp. “I used a lot of health potions on you, that's why your nose was bleeding, it's a side effect,” she said, pulling an empty IV bag off the ground to show off. Twilight groaned loudly as she stared at the bottle of water beneath her. “Right, here you go,” Cake said, awkwardly grabbing the bottle and twisting the cap off with her mouth. Twilight slurped as much as she could down the moment it made contact with her lips, downing two thirds of its contents before Cake pulled it away and finished it. “I'll go get us another bottle, stay here and be good or I’ll love on you some more, sweetie!”
Cake trotted away back to the locker as Twilight used the opportunity to wiggle some more. The leather was sliding off slowly, if she could wait until later that night she thought maybe she could wiggle it down enough to free her front hooves and make a move. She glanced up just in time to see the white unicron turning around, she was in plain view now for her to get a perfect description of her for later. She was indeed short, about four or five inches shorter than average, short enough for it to be noticeable. Her mane was brown, unwashed, and messy like she hadn't brushed it in a while, and her body was skinny enough to where she could see the faintest outline of her ribs. After Cake siphoned more water to her throat Twilight decided to push her affection. “I'm really tired, can we skip dinner and go to bed?”
Cake nodded at the request. “Of course! Hold still.” After placing the lid back onto the crate the mare bit onto the rope connecting Twilight’s front legs to her back, and pulled her off the couch and onto the floor with a small thud. Being dragged through the dirt really didn't bother Twilight, it was the heat of the mine shaft that bothered her more, even with the water her body was still dripping with sweat. Cake struggled to lift her into the bed, needing a five second breather afterwards. “I have to admit, I've been looking forward to this everyday for a month. I'm not going to let you go, Ms. Sparkle!” Cake giggled as she moved to the other side of the small, makeshift bed. It was little more than two fluffy blankets stacked on top of some wooden crates with pillows where the headboard would be. Not exactly the worst makeshift bed, it wouldn't leave straw in your mane or bugs running through your fur.
Twilight rolled herself over, much to Cake’s delight, making the white mare blush as she lay down. Cake once again bit down on her bindings, this time on the leather wrap around her legs, pulling it off along with the rope restraining her front legs. “I'm a very light sleeper, I'm not worried,” the unicorn said before tightly embracing Twilight once again. Twilight rubbed her legs behind Cake’s back, confused but thankful for the first taste of her freedom again. But she knew it was just a trick, with how Cake was wrapped around her she couldn’t even breathe without her knowing, and to fight back? What would she do exactly, bite into the poor mare’s neck? No, she wouldn't go down to her level, she would wait for another opportunity. But as she drifted off to sleep she felt calm, safe in an odd way, her fear was still present but it had shaped into something else, something her mind couldn't define.
Love isn't always a two way street
Twilight awoke knowing exactly where she was just by how uncomfortable the bed was, and the feeling of still being wrapped in the most unfriendly hug she had ever felt. Reluctantly she opened her eyes to meet Cake’s which were open, yet still glazed, clearly she had slept better than Twilight had. The white unicorn ran a hoof over her cheek as she looked at the grump mare in front of her, admiring her beauty. “You snore a lot. But that's okay, I think it sounds nice. Makes my body relax to match yours.”
Twilight took a deep breath, made a wish she was back at home, and prepared herself for the day she would face. “That's sweet of you to say.” Her headache was gone, and she felt better if a little hungry. Cake got up and walked over to the crate she had left last night for dinner, and pulled out an apple as she sat down on the couch, patting the cushion beside her to signal for her love to join her.
Twilight sat up and looked over at the room she was in. The couch was in good condition, probably bought from a yard sale, the projector facing the wall was still duct taped to the couch, and the room had sunlight bleeding in. it wasnt a mine shaft, as she had thought, it was a bunker. With wooden stairs leading out and a flimsy wooden door being what kept the outside world out, anything more sturdy would be a dead give away for guards to suspect it to be more than a cellar or a squatter’s den. She got up and joined Cake on the couch, grabbing the other apple and biting into it as they both stared at the wall. “How did you know so much about me in a month?”
“I didn't have a life back home to go back to, and I know how to live off the land. Of course I'm used to eating cactuses and stealing the occasional bag of grain, here it's like I'm in candy land but- ah, excuse me. I have about twelve to thirteen hours of free time everyday, all of those were dedicated to you, and this bunker. Took me a week to find and finish this place without a pony knowing of its existence. The last twenty-two days were spent watching you from the shadows. I kept track of… everything,” Cake said, embarrassed after saying it out loud.
“Written or memorized?”
“Written, then memorized what I felt was important and what wasn't. Always meant to talk to you the next day, always had an excuse for needing more information… until I knew too much. I could see it in the ways you looked at the ponies around you, which ones your eyes glanced over and others you would blank out on for a few seconds before looking away. Your hooves idly drifting or your tail swishing just a little more than before. I know how ponies act, Sparkle, It's my gift.” Cake pointed down to her own cutie mark, it was of a pair of binoculars poking through a bush. “I hate it. You know what it's like to read the ponies around you like a book, to know what they're really thinking behind their mask when they look at you, or eachother?” Cake remained silent as she took another bite into her apple.
Twilight just laid back, staring at the wall.
“No matter what happens in here, Sparkle, I will be happy. Either a little bit or a lot,” Cake said with a mouthful.
Twilight quickly finished her food before looking at Cake, awaiting the next activity that would follow. “What now?”
“What do you want to do?” Cake asked.
“Read something, go to the park maybe, or maybe go to the nearest hospital and see if i can get my horn back on.”
“It's a basic illusion spell under an antimagic ring. Used it to scam the rich out of coins when I was in Canterlot. Your horn is still very much attached to your head.”
Twilight understood now what had happened. Cake was mentally unwell, that was for certain. Most likely she’d gotten a spike of mania and decided to do what she had done. Raising a hoof to the stump she could feel it, a large ring and her invisible horn, which quickly reappeared in her vision once she pulled the ring off the tip. She laid the ring down in the space between them on the couch and Cake quickly grabbed it and hid it in her tail.
“Then let's go for a walk at the park.”
Both of the ponies were now walking through the Ponyville park. Twilight estimated the bunker was at most half a mile outside of town, and not very well hidden. Guards would have torn it apart in one of the first hours of the search had they started looking for her, which they probably would soon if she didn't get to Spike to tell him she was alright.
The two kept walking before sitting on the bench. Cake kept her eyes focused on the ponies walking by, either directly when they were oblivious to her presence or indirectly through her ears or out of the corner of her eyes. Twilight laid back and lifted her head up to enjoy the morning sun. “Show me,” she asked the white mare beside her, to which Cake complied.
“On your left, that mother holding her foal, thirty-six meters down next to her husband. Colt isn't his, he's trying too hard to seem like it is though, keeps smiling every time he looks at him. And the mother doesn't think he's trying enough,” Cake said, now leaning her head back just like Twilight’s. “And there's a pegasus behind and above us, sitting on a cloud, he's watching them like a hawk. Almost pin point on his court mandated three hundred meter distance. He's probably thinking about a way to kill the mother and make it look like the step dad did it.”
“You got all that just by watching them?” Twilight asked.
“If I could hear what those two down the road were talking about, I could probably tell you whether or not she actually loves him, or if she's using him for his bits.” Cake pulled a cigarette out from her tail and lit it with her magic before taking a long drag from it. “Unimpressed?”
Twilight nodded, “Celestia has guards who can do that same trick.”
“I would have been one, had I passed my psych eval.”
“I figured that.”
“It wouldn't have made it any better, of course, I still can't buy food from a store without knowing the cashier wants to kill me. Or the mare behind me wants to blow her brains out. I've never met a mare who doesn't hate me just by looking at me, besides my own mother, of course, who always just felt immense regret in her heart. Or a stallion whose first thoughts are not of either how good I would be in bed or how to get away from me as quickly as possible. And then, when you let it slide, get to know them... You realize there is nothing that makes them special, that the secrets they hide is that they like to knit and don't want others to know, or that they’re foal touchers who think they are good at hiding it.”
“So… what makes me special?” Twilight asked, shrugging.
“You are special. You didn't make friends like I did when you were young, you look at ponies and judge them based on how much they are of use to themselves, not to you or the princess. You avoid the ones who can help themselves but… help the ones who can't, it's the only conclusion I could come to as to why you didn't kill me despite every opportunity you've had, even after I rammed my tongue down your throat.” Cake took another drag from the cigarette and sighed. “So what now, Sparkle?”
Twilight took the cigarette in her own magic and put it out, and stood up. “I'm going home. I have a guest bed you can sleep in, or you can sleep in my bed with me, do whatever you want.” Cake looked down at the barely half finished cigarette as Twilight turned and walked away. It had gone well. She got what she wanted in the end, a form of help. And somepony who cared.