Sisterly Games

Celestia groaned as her vision slowly faded back into view. She blinked a few times, not knowing exactly where she was. The darkened space blurred around her as the fog cleared from her mind and she drowsily tried to sit up. It took the princess a few tries to right herself, and the effort did little to clear her muddled mind.

What had happened to her? Where was she? The last thing she remembered was that she was on her way to the annual Princess Summit in the Crystal Empire. Then… the train had stopped in the middle of the tundra for some reason and now she was… in a cave?

It was hard to make out the dark stone walls around her - Celestia’s eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the dark. But she could definitely make out the tell tale rocky features of a cavern of some sort. There was very little light provided, the only sources being a few eerily glowing crystals embedded in the ceiling. They did little to lighten up the space, but provided enough for Celestia to spot the huddled form of someone else sprawled out across the cold floor to her left.

Fearing the worst, Celestia shakily stood and took a few steps towards the limp form, only to walk muzzle-first into an invisible wall. The static of ambient magic crackled out as she grunted in pain, and took a few steps back from the magical barrier that separated her from the woman across from her. Upon closer inspection, Celestia’s heart hitched as she realized that she would recognize that deep, midnight blue coat anywhere.

“L-luna?” she croaked out, her voice hoarse and dry from whatever amount of time she had been unconscious. “Luna?” she tried again, and breathed a sigh of relief as her sister stirred.

“Celly?” Luna’s voice was equally as hoarse, and the shorter alicorn groggily raised her head to look around. “S-sister?” she inquired as her senses began to return. “Where are we?”

Celestia slumped against the magic barrier. “I have no idea, Luna,” she answered. “Do you remember anything after the train?”

With a grunt, Luna lifted herself into a sitting position and rubbed the side of her head with a shaky hand. As her fingers dragged through her hair, she realized that both her and her sister’s regalia were missing. Thankfully, they seemed to retain both of their gowns. Not the best clothing to be wearing at the moment, she surmised as she adjusted the top of her clothes to fully cover both of her round breasts. “Uh, no. We barely even remember the train,” Luna replied distantly as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. “Is that an arcane barrier?”

Celestia simply nodded. “Yes. We seem to be separated-” she began, but was unexpectedly interrupted.

“Welcome!” a disembodied voice suddenly rasped out, seemingly from everywhere at once. The sudden noise caused both of them to start. Celestia jumped up to her full height and lit her horn, ready to defend both of them at the drop of a pin. “Good to see you’re both finally awake. I hope you’re finding your stay… comfortable.”

It took Celestia a few moments to place the familiarity of the voice, but her eyes narrowed and her muzzle turned down into a sneer as she recognized it. “Chrysalis,” she practically spat out.

A dry, cackling laugh echoed around the two alicorns in response, a sound that effectively chilled both of them to the bone. “Oh, very good, Princess,” her serpentine voice drawled out between laughs. “You can recognize voices. How insightful of you. Unfortunately, that’s not the answer that will help either of you advance.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “What advancing do you speak of, bug?” She, too, stood up and brushed herself off.

There was a groan this time in response. “Tsk, must we really degrade ourselves to using slurs, Loonie?” she asked with an air of fake annoyance. “I thought we were all beyond that? But… a thousand years on the moon does tend to leave one with some old fashioned values, I suppose.”

The smaller alicorn growled in response and seemed ready to spring forward but Celestia shot her sister a look. “Calm down, Luna,” she advised. “Keeping a cool head is going to be what gets us out of here.”

Another laugh. “Sure it is,” Chrysalis replied. “Now, you may be wondering why I’ve gathered you here today.”

“Enlighten us,” Celestia replied. She attempted to keep the malice in her voice to a minimum.

There was an amused hum that filled the air for a moment before Chrysalis continued. “Down to business as always, eh, Princess? I can appreciate that.” Celestia sneered at the patronizing tone, but didn’t interrupt. “This is a fairly simple game. I will present various tasks and challenges, and you will complete them. If you are successful in a challenge, you will get to advance on to the next one. If you fail to complete one…” There was a heavy pause for a moment before she continued, “you will face a punishment. Accept the punishment and you will once again be able to advance. Reject it and, well… you lose.”

The weight of the Queen’s words hung in the air as she let the two princesses absorb all of the information she had just presented them. “And so,” Chrysalis sighed as she wrapped up her explanation. “With the rules explained, are you ready for your first challenge?”

This time, Celestia struggled to hold back a growl. “We’re not going to play your games, Chrysalis,” she spat. “Stop this foolishness and let us go!”

The changeling’s voice paid no attention to the alicorn’s tirade, however, and simply continued on. “Your first task is to solve a riddle,” she said. “Listen carefully, as I will only speak it once.” Chrysalis cleared her throat dramatically before continuing. “I’m as light as a feather, but weigh the same as anypony else. What am I?”

A silence hung in the hair following the question. Despite the fact that the answer came to her quickly, Celestia refused to answer. She was not going to show her captor and sort of satisfaction by playing her insufferable games. Instead, she clamped her mouth shut and raised her chin in direct defiance of her captor.

“I need an answer, please,” Chrysalis drawled, her voice sounding vaguely amused. “Your petulance will only lead to an… unfortunate punishment.”

“Sister, we should just answer,” Luna said. “Was it not you who urged us to keep a cool head? Perhaps we have something to gain through cooperation.”

The pale alicorn had no choice but to concede that her sister was right. “Pegasus,” Celestia said reluctantly as she crossed her arms, her own logic used against her. “The answer is a pegasus.”

“Mmmm, very good, Princess,” Chrysalis complimented smugly. The stone in front of Celestia suddenly glowed a bright, neon green before dissolving away to reveal another chamber ahead.

“It can’t be that simple,” Celestia muttered to herself with a roll of her eyes as she started moving forward into the next chamber.

“Oh, but it is. I wouldn’t try to trick you, now would I?” Chrysalis replied. Celestia could practically feel the smug smile dripping off of her hissing voice. “What kind of queen do you take me for?”

The simmering rage nearly blinded Celestia to the fact that her sister was not following her into the next room. “Luna?” she questioned, looking back towards the other alicorn.

Luna frowned in response as she put her hands on her hips. “Our own portal has not yet opened, sister,” she said.

Celestia looked and sure enough, there was no way for her sister to move on to the next chamber. “What is the meaning of this?” she asked quietly, fearful of the answer.

“Aha, well, you see… Luna didn’t really answer the question, now did she?” Celestia’s eyes narrowed as Chrysalis spoke. “So, therefore, she will receive the first punishment.”

“That wasn’t-” Celestia began but was cut off as Chrysalis’s magic suddenly flashed before Luna. She directed her attention back towards her sister, fearful of whatever “punishment” the changeling queen may impose on her. “Luna! Are you alright?”

Luna shifted as she checked herself over. “We do not appear to be harmed, sister,” she replied as she patted herself down. “However, we seem to have been… delivered something.” Celestia looked over to where her sister gestured, and sure enough, something had been left behind.

Before Luna were three large bowls, each filled with a mound of a brownish, lumpy substance. Each mass varied slightly in color and consistency, but they appeared to be variations of the same thing. As a matter of fact, they looked suspiciously like mounds of pony shit. Luna took a cautious step forward and sniffed the air. The foul scent of feces drifted across her muzzle as she got closer, and she reared her head back in disgust.

“Is that… is that what I think it is?” asked Celestia quietly, her mouth agape in shock and disgust.

Luna chose not to respond to her sister, and instead directed her anger at Chrysalis. “What is the meaning of this foul display?” she demanded as she pinched her nose between two fingers.

Again, Chrysalis’s cackling filled the room. “Why, this is your punishment, of course!” she responded with echoing glee. “But do not think of it as something so horrible. Instead, think of it as a second chance… a personal challenge to allow you to advance with your sister.”

Celestia balked at the words. “How dare you!” she cried out in defense of her dear sister.

“This is disgusting,” Luna said as the ripe scent of feces slowly filled her side of the cavern.

“As your surprisingly intelligent sister already enlightened us, the answer to the first riddle was ‘a pegasus,’” Chrysalis went on, ignoring both alicorn’s protests. “Your task will be to tell me which of these three piles of shit were produced by a pegasus.”

The darker alicorn nearly gagged at the idea. “How are we possibly supposed to discern that?” she asked in disbelief. “The fecal material of various ponies are very nearly identical.”

“But not exactly identical!” Chrysalis interjected with glee. “And it is your challenge, your punishment, to figure out which one is which.”

“You are a vile creature,” Luna sneered as her eyes darted from each of the three piles with disdain.

“Maybe,” Chrysalis conceded. “I will admit to experiencing a sick pleasure from watching your repulsion so vividly across your face.”

Reluctantly, Luna took a step towards the three bowls of shit. The foul aroma assaulted her nostrils with every breath, but she refused to show any further disgust so as to not humor her captor. Instead, she suffered in silence and inhaled the putrid fumes as she stood over the mounds of filth. After taking barely a second to appraise each one, and not able to tell the slightest bit of difference, Luna vaguely gestured towards the center bowl with her free hand, the other still covering her nose.

“This one,” she called out. “This is the pegasus feces.”

There was a moment of silence before Chrysalis’s voice tutted in disappointment. “I had thought better of you, Princess Luna,” she said sarcastically. “So little effort put into your work. How could you possibly know which shit is which?”

Luna sputtered, completely astounded by the response. “How could we possibly tell the difference?!” she asked again.

A low chuckle echoed around the room. “Very well. Since you seem to be stumped even on this menial first challenge, I shall grant you a hint,” Chrysalis said. “Aside from consistency, there is one major difference between the crap of each species of pony…” she trailed off, building suspense to a non-existent drumroll for a few moments before continuing. “And that would be the taste.”

Luna’s face transitioned from shock to a surprisingly blank, incomprehensible look as she dropped her gaze down from the bodiless voice to the piles of dung in front of her. She stood there in silence for a moment before she could finally speak again.

“You can’t be serious,” she finally said softly.

“I am,” replied Chrysalis.

“We can’t-”

“You can.” Chrysalis cut the alicorn off.

“We won’t.” Luna asserted.

“You will.”

“She will not!” exclaimed Celestia.

“You have three minutes to complete this challenge, otherwise you lose,” Chrysalis finally said, tired of the inane back-and-forth.

“What happens if we… lose?” Luna asked, a hint of nervousness finally permeating her voice.

Rather than answering the question, Chrysalis simply said, “Your time starts now.”

Luna quickly looked over at her sister, panic slowly building in her eyes. “You don’t need to do this,” Celestia assured her. “This is all some awful game. Don’t give in.”

“But, Tia,” Luna said. “What happens if we lose?”

The question gave the elder sister pause. “I… I don’t know.”

“Nobody knows where we are. We don’t even know where we are!” Luna continued. “We are defenseless and we have no idea what Chrysalis has planned!”

Celestia had to admit that her sister was right. This was truly a horrible predicament they were in, with no clear way out. She frowned sadly as the younger alicorn turned away and approached the mounds reluctantly. There was nothing that Celestia could do but watch helplessly as her sister subjected herself to her punishment.

Luna got down onto her knees to bring herself closer to the first bowl of feces. She paused to determine which was the best way to actually follow through with the task. The thought of reaching down and digging into the piles of crap with her hands was unappealing, and with no way to actually wash them, she decided against it. So the only other option was to bring herself face-first with each fecal mound. With no other choice, she leaned forward to rest on her hands like a dog, and lowered her face down towards the first bowl.

The stench filled her nostrils and her nose scrunched up in distaste, but she forced herself to move closer until her mouth was just a mere few inches away from the smelly scat. There, she froze, only able to breathe in the foul air yet unable to part her lips or advance any further. This collection of crap was made up of dark brown clumps, their soft forms pushed into one another to form a neat pile. They were mostly round in shape with clear cracks and wrinkles from passing through someone's colon and combining together into solid clumps.

“Two minutes.”

The loud warning startled the anthro alicorn and she unconsciously jolted forward. Her lips pressed against the greasy surface of the scat and her stomach turned as the radiant heat of the pile warmed the outside of her mouth. With the first step done, and the weight of the impending time limit egging her on, Luna reluctantly parted her lips and opened her mouth to let her tongue stretch out and touch the filth in front of her.

There was no immediate explosion of flavor as the tip of her tongue pressed into the soft mound of crap, and the lack of taste encouraged Luna to press in deeper. She dragged her tongue up the side of the fecal ball, but immediately regretted her decision. A gritty layer of shit coated her tongue and an intense, bitter flavor seeped into her mouth. She gagged and pulled back as she desperately tried to discern any usable information from the horrid taste in her mouth. But there was still not enough information for her to even remotely figure out what was happening.

With the realization that the clock was ticking, and not knowing what else to do, Luna fully resigned herself to this fate and leaned back with. There was little hesitation this time as she opened her mouth and took a sizable bite out of the pile of crap . Her teeth cut through the soft shit easily and cleaved off a chunk that her tongue pulled back into her mouth. Luna held back a retch as she let the waste roll around her maw, and she tried to pull out any notable flavors.

Bitterness was the overwhelming flavor, but there was an additional earthy sour undertone to it as well. The consistency was soft, but gritty - akin to what Luna would assume chewing on drying mud would feel like. As her saliva wet it though, the shit was quickly mushing together into a thick paste. Having identified everything she felt she possibly could from having it in her mouth, Luna spit it back out onto the ground in front of the bowl. There was no way she was going to be able to force herself to swallow that.

From across the barrier, Celestia grimaced as she watched her sister spit out the mouthful of shit onto the floor and crawl on over to the next bowl. Her own stomach turned as she stood there, and she reached down to clutch at it in sympathy. She was helpless to do anything as Luna leaned down and sniffed at the second pile before leaning in closer.

Luna could immediately tell that this bowl was vastly different from the previous one. Upon closer inspection, this crap was a paler brown in comparison, with a smoother consistency. The immediate scent was much more fragrant as well, but Luna barely paid it any mind as she took a bite. She wanted this to be over and done with as quickly as possible.

Her eagerness to complete the punishment was ill-advised however, as the horrid, foul flavor of the second batch coated her mouth. Her teeth cut through the soft shit like yogurt, betraying the outwardly solid form to be creamy and loose in actuality. The disgusting bitterness was accompanied by a horrendously sour and slightly spicy tanginess that nearly made the poor alicorn retch as the semi-solid waste smeared across her tongue and coated her teeth. Luna spat it back out almost immediately, but its softness refused to fully leave her maw, instead sticking to the roof of her mouth and clinging to her gums.

The alicorn could not hold back an awful gag as she tried to evict the foul substance from her palette. She dragged her tongue against her front teeth to try and scrape as much of the disgusting sludge off of her taste buds as she could and spit it back out onto the floor in front of her.

“One minute.”

The reiterated time limit echoed in her ears as Luna begrudgingly shifted over to the next and final pile. She was more reluctant to just dive into this pile like she had the last, and so she took just a second to actually look at it first. This bowl was filled with more solid-looking waste, shaped into distinct logs that coiled and draped over each other. They were a solid brown in color, and smelt similar to the first pile Luna had tried. She could only hope that the taste would be less offensive than the last as she leaned in and hesitantly took the end of one of the logs into her mouth.

Luna took a moment to run her tongue around the knobby end of the piece of shit before biting it. The taste was certainly more palatable than the creamy filth she had just sampled, but still retained that overwhelmingly bitter taste that was present in both other piles. Unlike the first one, however, the earthiness was replaced with a strange, salty flavor that she couldn’t quite identify. Luna hesitated to say that it tasted okay, but she could not refute the fact that it certainly tasted better than the other two.

Her hesitation gone, she bit down, cleaving her teeth through the solid waste to fully take it into her mouth. She chewed through the sample slowly, smashing the feces up into a paste similar to the first to try and reveal any other identifying flavors, but it only resulted in the bitterness increasing to completely overwhelm anything else.

Almost completely lost in how tame the flavor seemed in relation to everything else she had just tried, Luna unconsciously swallowed. She only realized what she was doing as the bitterness hit the back of her throat and her stomach seized in response and she leaned forward to spit out what was left in her mouth. Her eyes widened, horrified at the small amount that managed to make it down her throat with little-to-no resistance. Luna leaned back to rest on her knees and prepared herself to throw it back up, spreading her arms out to brace herself as she leaned down and breathed heavily, but slowly righted herself back up as no urge to vomit came.

Panting, she looked over to her sister as she unconsciously smacked her lips to try and rid the mouth of the foul flavors that remained. “D-done,” she whispered hoarsely as she clutched at her own stomach.

“Thirty seconds.”

Luna suddenly realized that she still had to actually decide which pile of shit belonged to a pegasus. Everything she had just experienced raced through her mind as she attempted to match flavor profiles and consistency with any knowledge she had of the various dietary differences of the three pony species.

The first mound could possibly belong to a normal pony, but that may also just be due to the shape and earthy taste that the feces left behind in Luna’s mouth. The firm shape and consistency could also support this theory, as the regular consumption of daisy and grass sandwiches and other earthy vegetables could probably result in this end result.

She hoped that the second pile was not a regular bowel movement, because judging by consistency alone it would not be a pleasant experience to push out of one’s ass. But upon deeper thought, the softness could be attributed to a diet of richer cuisine, lending itself to a denizen of Canterlot - a unicorn.

Which left the third pile to be a pegasus. There weren’t too many differences between the first sample and the last, aside from the slightly less offensive taste. The consistency was the same, which would support Luna’s theory about diets' effect on fecal composition, as earth ponies and pegasi had similar, if not identical, eating habits.

“Your time is up, Princess,” Chrysalis stated. “Have you made a decision?”

Luna took a deep breath, and pointed to the last pile with a nervous finger. “This one. The third bowl was produced by a pegasus,” she answered.

There was a pregnant silence that stretched on following Luna’s choice. The tension built in the room, and both princesses could feel their anxiety rising as they waited for Chrysalis to speak.

“Indeed it was,” Chrysalis finally mused. “Very good, Princess Luna.” Like the other side of the cavern had done, the rock face before Luna glowed bright green before crumbling away to reveal a doorway.

“You know, I was actually quite impressed,” Chrysalis went on as Luna shakily stood back up onto her hooves and wiped her hands off on her dress. “You really got into it towards the end. It looked like you were actually even enjoying eating a bunch of random ponies’ shit for a minute there! Don’t tell me you have a secret scat fetish, Princess. That will ruin the whole point of my punishments!”

Luna chose not to dignify the Queen’s goading with a response and simply frowned angrily as she stepped forward through the rocky doorway into the next chamber. The bowls of pony crap vanished with the telltale pop of magic behind her, and the rock face reassembled itself so that neither her nor Celestia could backtrack away from whatever challenge awaited them next.