Thunder roared through the air, and a droplet of water fell on Luna's snout as she trotted along the forest path.
"Rain? Now?" She said with a mix of surprise and indignation. "But we're miles from the visitor center!"
Luna spread her wings and was about ready to take off when she felt a hoof on her withers that stopped her. "Luna, what are you doing?" Celestia asked.
"I'm going up there and telling the weatherponies to delay the rain for another day, what else?"
Celestia shook her head. "Dear sister, we're on vacation! We've relinquished our authority so that we may experience life as it's meant to be lived! It wouldn't be right of us to go up there and throw our weight around. We haven't used our privilege for the entire trip, and we won't start now."
Luna frowned, but relented, furling her wings up. "...I just didn't want to get wet."
"Come now Luna, a little water never hurt anypony~" Celestia said with a wink. However, as if on cue, the light drizzle had erupted into a mighty torrent. Heavy rain pounded the two alicorns, soaking them. "...On second thought, perhaps it's best to find some shelter."
The pair galloped along the hiking trail, keeping their eye out for a big tree, a rocky outcrop, just anything that could protect them from the deluge. Suddenly, the pair spotted a large cave in a nearby cliff face, and quickly ducked inside. Celestia unfurled her wings, flapping them to shake off the extra moisture while her sister simply set the moisture drain from her body.
"Ugh, why did nopony tell us there was going to be rain today?" Luna asked sarcastically.
"Because we don't have our secretaries with us right now, remember, dear sister?" Celestia replied smugly.
"Yes...I almost forgot," Luna said as she took off her shirt and laid it on a big rock further in from the mouth of the cave. The air inside the cave was cool, yet dry; Luna hoped that after some time her shirt would be at least wearable. Celestia followed suit, leaving both bare. Even though ponies typically wore limited clothing, it somehow felt a little strange to be completely naked. Luna didn't know about her sister, but she wore the shirt partly because it was just strange not to feel *something* around her after wearing her obsidian regalia for most of her life.
Luna paced around like a cat before sitting down on her haunches. "Well, this didn't go quite how I planned."
"Come now, Luna," Celestia continued. "The unpredictability is part of the excitement! I would say that this cave is as beautiful as any nature trail."
Luna crossed her forelegs. "Perhaps...it does have some natural beauty, but I was just excited to see the great flower field at the end of this trail."
"Hmm...this cave does seem to go far. If you don't mind, I'll trot along and explore a little to see if I can't find something just as stunning!"
Luna sighed. Her sister meant well, she couldn't be mad. "You can go ahead. I'll just rest here for a while and dry off. I'm fairly confident you don't need me to accompany you for your safety."
"I'll be back soon," Celestia said, stepping deeper into the darkness with her horn casting a faint yellow light to allow her to see.
As Celestia trotted off into the darkness, Luna sat down on a rock near the cave entrance. She looked wistfully into the pouring rain, listening to the sweet sound of droplets striking leaves. A flash of lightning and the following crack of thunder made her ears swivel. In sense it was like a symphony; in her time, controlled weather was rather crude, but over the millennium that she had been gone, the pegasi had turned it into a veritable art. As an alicorn, she too could interact with weather; perhaps she could spend her leisure time dabbling in the esoteric and mystical realm of Equestria's atmosphere. Regardless, the sound of rain served as a good accompaniment for Luna as she levitated a damp travel brochure from the pocket of her shirt over for reading. In her head, she began to plan the next steps of her and Celestia's route after they got to the end of this trail. The plan was to follow it to the Matador Cliff and then simply glide down to the resort down its base. Luna smiled and fluttered her wings at the thought. The joys of flight...
Luna planned out the trip several days in advance before she realized that something wasn't quite right. She wasn't carrying a pocketwatch, but Celestia seemed to have been gone an awfully long time by now. Didn't she say she was just going to take a quick peek? How deep could the cave possibly go? Luna knew that her sister was adventurous, but she always used common sense, at least.
"Celestia? Sister?" Luna called out into the cave, hoping that her sister was within earshot. Only her echo answered. Feeling a bit concerned, Luna stood up, leaving her and Celestia's shirts and other effects on the ground, and began to trot deeper into the cave. As she lit up her horn to cast a ghostly glow on the darkness, dreadful thoughts began to well in her mind. What if Celestia had gotten stuck somewhere? Perhaps there was some sort of cave in? Maybe some vent of noxious gas had knocked her out, and she had mere moments before she succumbed??? Luna quickened her pace as her calls for her sister went repeatedly unanswered.
Finally, she turned a corner and was met with a terrifying sight: she saw a pony hanging in a spider web, completely mummified in silk. From the size, she could immediately tell that it was her sister. Only Celestia's nostrils were exposed, and in the course of Luna being completely stunned, she could see them subtly twitching, indicating that she was still alive.
"Greetings~"
A sweet yet insidious voice filled the air, echoing all around the cavern and making Luna feel like she was completely surrounded. Luna lowered her head, scraping the ground with her foreleg as she readied herself. "Who's there!?"
"Kikikiki...~"
This time, however, the sound was more concentrated, and Luna could tell that it was coming from up above. Her neck quickly craned back so she could see, and her eyes went wide as she saw the laugh's owner. It was a strange creature, unlike anything Luna had ever seen before. In the pale glow of her horn, Luna saw something that vaguely resembled a changeling, except more arachnid than equine. Eight pointed legs hung down imposingly as the strange creature dangled from a thin web being spun from its fat abdomen. Light blue and dark purple dominated its carapace, and though she possessed eyes similar to a changeling, they were each accompanied by a smaller eye above and toward the side of the head. She possessed a mane rather than a frill like most changelings, though Luna wondered if the pink material was truly hair or...something else.
"Who are you?" Luna asked defiantly, stepping back when she noticed that the creature was descending right above her.
"I'm Kiki, and this is my cave~" She said with an unusually bubbly voice, though Luna couldn't help but notice that it was a bit too sweet for this sort of circumstance. "There's no need to introduce yourselves. Everycreature in Equestria knows who you two are. Before you go firing off any sort of spell, just know that you're the intruder here."
Luna scowled. "Well, we apologize for trespassing on your domain, though there wasn't any indication that anything lived here. Nevertheless, I demand that you release my sister at once! Do so, and we'll agree to leave peacefully."
Kiki finally reached the ground, her legs moving in tandem to orient herself properly and sever the thread she was rappelling from. The sight of it made Luna shiver, though that was a certain beauty in seeing everything move in tandem. "And if I don't?"
Luna bowed her head threateningly, her horn glowing brighter. "Then be prepared to face my wrath."
Kiki stifled a giggle. Luna was definitely one. Her sister had been disappointingly easy to ensnare, but Luna would require a bit more wit and guile, it seemed~
"Very well, if you wish to free your sister, I won't stop you. After all, I didn't plan on having my face friend off today," Kiki said, crossing her forelegs and pouting.
"You...won't?" Luna replied, somewhat confused. She kept herself ready, but she wondered if this truly was just some misunderstanding. Her sister always said that she was too hasty to judge.
"No, but Celestia may be a little disappointed. After all, she's very comfortable and even seems to be enjoying herself~"
Luna looked confused, snapping a quick glance towards the web. From within the cocoon, Luna could see some wiggling accompanied by soft sounds that Luna couldn't tell whether were muffled pleas for help or...something lewder.
The princess of the night blushed slightly before quickly turning back to Kiki. She knew that her sister was too adventurous for her own good, but to imagine that she had let some strange creature cocoon her for little more than a cheap thrill was...something that she couldn't 100% rule out, sadly.
As if sensing Luna's thoughts, Kiki took a step forward. "Are you sure you don't want to try it yourself? Spiderling silk is incredibly pleasant on the fur, and being completely surrounded by it feels absolutely wonderful~"
Luna pointed her horn at Kiki again, making the spiderling stop in her tracks. "I think I'll pass."
Kiki simply shrugged. "Eh, suit yourself then. Cut your sister down and leave my cave."
Luna narrowed her eyes. "...And you'll just let me?"
"Yep. Why would I want to keep a bore around my peaceful domain?" Kiki replied.
"...No traps? No dastardly feint to catch me when I'm most off-guard?" Luna continued.
"Not at all..." Kiki said, rolling all of her eyes.
"...Okay..."
Luna kept her eyes on Kiki as she stepped forward. She knew that Kiki had some sort of trick or deception planned...Kiki may have had a cute and adorable exterior, but Luna could sense that, deep down, Kiki was very dangerous and not to be trifled with. She even stopped for a moment as she watched Kiki, just sizing up that devious little smirk on her face. Kiki was obviously planning something with that fang-filled smirk.
Suddenly, Luna realized that she felt...different. It was hard to explain; Luna felt light as a feather, and the soreness that she had developed in her croup from the hike had suddenly vanished. Despite the pleasantness, she suddenly felt very unsettled. She just needed to stop dawdling, free her sister, and then hightail it out of there. She turned to face Celestia again, and saw a disturbing sight. Luna say *herself* trotting forward. Well, shambling would be more like it; Luna saw herself moving unnaturally, like it was coasting on a rapidly dwindling energy source. She tried to reach out and move forward, only to find that she was stuck in place. Looking around, she saw that she was tangled up in some pink ethereal webbing, and that her own limbs were looking a lot more...ghostly...
"Kikikiki~"
That laugh shook Luna to her core. She watched helplessly as Kiki skittered over to the web that Celestia was bound to just in time to catch Luna's body as it collapsed. "Aww, you look so tired...does this mean that you changed your mind about trying cocooning out~?"
Luna was aghast as Kiki grabbed the head of Luna's body, moving its head up and down to pantomime a nod from the empty vessel. She was speechless as Kiki casually hoisted Luna's body up into the web and quickly begun to spin it around, spooling thread after thread of her silk around it. In moments, Luna's body was completely mummified, with Kiki finishing up her work by twirling a thread around Luna's horn, tying it tightly at the base, a common technique to inhibit the use of magic.
Luna finally found the strength to yell. "What...what sorcery is this!?"
Kiki simply chuckled as Luna's soul continued to struggle against the silk. "I can make special silk that can ensnare the souls of others while their bodies pass through. It's one of my favorite abilities~"
"You...you said that that there would be no traps or tricks!" Luna stammered.
"There weren't any. It was *you* who decided to stare at me while you walked forward. If you had simply been looking where you where going, you would have seen the silk and stepped around it, kikikiki~"
Luna cursed herself. "Is that how you ensnared my sister!?"
Kiki cocked her head cutely. "No, because she had the good sense to look before she stepped. As for how she ended up in my web...well, I'll let you use your imagination until she's able to tell you. If she tells you~"
"I demand that you restore me at once!"
"With pleasure, Princess!" Kiki said. She curled her abdomen and shot a strand of silk at Luna, landing right in the middle of her chest. With a quick jerk, Kiki pulled on the thread, ripping Luna's soul free of the web and sending it flying. Kiki was masterful in her maneuver; Luna soul flew through the air right towards where her body was cocooned. She spread her wings to regain control of her momentum, but it had no effect. It was too late that Luna realized that perhaps souls did not move according to normal physics. She was helpless to avoid impacting her cocooned body, feeling herself twist and deform as she was "sucked it" at the moment of contact. The feeling lasted for a second, though, and Luna saw only darkness. Her body felt numb and heavy, but she could slowly feel her soul bleeding through the entirety of her vessel, slowly squirming more and more as she regained control of her vessel. She was relieved that her soul was once more in its proper place, though she wondered if she hadn't just made the situation worse. Layer and layer of spider silk blindfolded her and grasped her body tightly. All she could do is muffle into her full-body binding while she wriggled helplessly in Kiki's web. At least Kiki had left Luna's nostrils exposed like her sister, otherwise, as the alicorn thought, she would have met an unpleasant end via smothering and been helpless to do anything. For whatever reason, Kiki wanted her and her sister alive, and Luna didn't know if she was truly out of danger yet.
"There, feeling better now, Princess Luna~?" Kiki asked. She grinned snidely as Luna could do little more than muffle incoherently. "Good~ Now that you're both nice and comfortable, why don't we have a nice, friendly chat? After all, you're going to be like this for a while~"
"Mmm mmmhm!?" Luna said behind her bindings. Fortunately, Kiki had cocooned many, *many* individuals, and was very good at interpreting muffled speech.
"Yes, Princess, a while," Kiki continued. "After all, you did trespass into my home. Don't you think it's fair that I submit you to whatever judgment is fair?"
"Hmm hm hsh frr!?"
"Of course, if you don't like it, then maybe we can work something out that'll leave both of us satisfied," Kiki added as she took one of her spider legs and began lightly petting the cocooned Celestia. She was definitely quite the prize, and did seem to be much more agreeable than her sister. In fact, the way she shivered as Kiki lightly stroked her made the spiderling wonder if she'd even be bargaining at all...
Luna, in response, began a muffled tirade that made Kiki roll her eyes. She didn't quite seem to get that if she just relaxed and submitted, then she could have a lot of fun together. It seemed that Luna could learn a lot from her sister. In fact, Kiki thought as she smirked devilishly, she could help Luna do exactly that~
"I'll tell you what, I'll undo your cocoons if you give me the pleasure of letting me taste your souls~"
Luna began to utter muffled protests, and even Celestia seized up at that proposition. Reasonable, Kiki thought; even though she's a bit more submissive of the two, even she probably would have apprehension about letting her soul be toyed with. If only they knew that they could trust her to not harm them. She'd only make minor adjustments, all for their own benefit, of course~
"Come on now," Kiki continued. "I won't eat them. It's just that, well, I've never experienced what an alicorn's soul is like. I bet it has such a wonderful essence, bursting with magic, I'd delight in seeing it. Besides, the fact that I'm even asking should be a sign of my good intentions. After all, if I had bad intentions, I'd simply play with your souls without giving you a chance to say no."
This seemed to assuage the sister's concerns a bit, as Luna's muffled moans shifted from a combative to more annoying. Celestia, too, simply to relax a bit within her bindings. Kiki continued to pet and caress Celestia with her spider legs, slowly positioning herself above the sun princess. "So, Celestia, will you let me touch your soul? I promise I won't do anything bad, I just want to see it for myself~"
Celestia paused, and then she nodded.
"Oh, thank you. I promise you won't regret this~" Kiki continued.
Luna's muffled protests clearly disapproved of Celestia's choice, and she wasn't afraid to let her sister know. However, with her completely cocooned, there was little that she could do. Kiki proceeded, quickly spinning a small net of soul thread and making a cat's cradle with in in between two of her legs. With all eyes focused, she tapped the net on Celestia's withers, slowly and gently pulling it back. A ghostly figure of Celestia's shoulders emerged stuck to it, gradually emerging from within the cocoon. However, Kiki was careful to keep Celestia's head stuck inside the cocoon so that she wouldn't see when Kiki made some adjustments~
"Wow, your soul is beautiful, Celestia," Kiki said. To her trained eye, she could see all the indicators of greatness: subtle yet constant shifting of particles of light within indicated vast magic within, while a smoothness of her ghostly self suggested a gentle, compassionate nature, among others. A very fine soul indeed, Kiki thought.
She gently poked the soul with one of her legs, sending a ripple of energy throughout it. Celestia moaned at the sensation of feeling her entire being be touched so deeply. It was a profound feeling that Celestia had never felt before, like her whole being was being tickled all at once. Kiki continued to examine Celestia's soul more deeply, prodding with more of her legs while her magic swirled and mixed with the very fiber of Celestia's being. "Let's see...hmm...kind, wise, playful, pretty much what I was expecting...Oh, what's this? *A strong sense of submissiveness?* How interesting~" Kiki thought silently.
Even though she was silent, Celestia was not. She wasn't trying to keep it a secret just how incredible she felt. Indeed, Kiki knew that fiddling around with a subject's soul was extremely pleasurable, unsurprising as how it was intimacy on a level that most never experienced. She was making so much noise, in fact, that Kiki sensed that she was getting to Luna, who stopped her complaining and instead silently fidgeted.
"Luna, are you suuuuuure that I can't play with your soul too?" Kiki said in a teasing voice.
Luna, was silent for a while, before slowly nodding yes. Kiki grinned with a devious smile. It was tough for bystanders to resist their curiosity. Before Luna had time to reconsider, Kiki quickly spun another soul net and snatched Luna's soul in a method identical to Celestia. Kiki was an experienced soul manipulator, and had turned it into an art. Within seconds, Luna was in a similar arrangement to Celestia, with her soul vulnerable while still rendering her blind. Having eight legs definitely came in handy for entertaining multiple guests at once.
"Now for you, Luna...let's see...you're also brimming with magic, but you're a little...hmm...tense I see. Cautious, careful, little patience for when things deviate from a plan...distrustful, but that's to be expected based on your behavior so far...but don't worry, we can fix that~" Kiki thought.
With a swish of her head, she took the essence of distrustfulness from Luna, extracting it in the form of a small dot of light. Like a vacuum, Kiki's horn drew the dot towards it until it reached the tip, where it entered her horn and became stored in her extensive bank of traits.
"Now let's see...what should replace it...hmm...excitability...stoicism...aha, here it is, submissiveness~" Kiki thought to herself as she conjured up another dot of light on the tip of her horn. Very carefully, she used her legs to create a "gap" in Luna's soul, quickly guiding the dot inside and letting Luna's soul absorb its essence into her. Kiki giggled; Luna likely had no idea that she had been improved, given her inexperience with what soul manipulation actually felt like.
Kiki was ready to finish up, but she suddenly saw another mote of light drift in the air before her very eyes. "Odd...did I accidentally grab two of these? Hmm..."
She grinned wickedly as she turned to Celestia.
"Well, there's no harm in giving her another level of this, kikikikiki~"
Kiki swiftly implanted the submissive trait that she had accidentally summoned, compounding it with the submissiveness that Celestia already possessed. She was certain that the alicorn would be so agreeable now that it would be like taking candy from a foal. She briefly wondered if she could just take control right now...before pushing that thought out of her head. No, IF she felt ambitious, she'd only have one shot. Better to plan that out rather than taking over on a whim...although she felt that she certainly could...when she wanted to. To keep this option open, Kiki quickly retrieved two copies of the trait "Affinity for Spiders" from previous guests and quickly planted one each in the two sisters.
Satisfied with her work, Kiki severed the two souls from her soul webbings with a flick of her legs, letting each soul "spring" back into their respective bodies. As wonderful as the two sisters looked like this, a deal was a deal, and Kiki raised a leg, letting the sharp end expertly slice through each cocoon without harming the occupant. The two sisters flopped down on the hard floor, still twitching from the mind-shattering sensations that they had experienced.
"Goodness...K-Kiki...that was amazing..." Luna panted.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was correct, you two have very unique and powerful souls. It was a delight to touch and taste them."
...And possibly eat them, but later~
"Yes, I haven't felt anything like that in centuries, Kiki," Celestia said, getting up on wobbly legs much like a newborn giraffe. Her body was still coursing with the warm, tingling feeling of what she assumed was the turbulence of her soul, its energies still flowing around due to Kiki's tender massage. When she finally turned and looked up at Kiki on her web, she couldn't help but see the spiderling in a new light. She looked incredibly graceful with all of her legs working in tandem, posing on her web in a way that made her look positively regal. Kiki carried herself well, and now that she could see it, Celestia couldn't help but feel her heart flutter at the sight.
Kiki, however, simply returned the smile. However, Celestia's quivering eyes, folded back ears...Kiki had enough experience to know a look of reverence when she sees it. Celestia took very well to her treatment, it seemed~
"You know, Kiki, is it wrong to feel that I could have spent more time in that cocoon? It felt heavenly," Celestia continued.
"Silk is very comfortable. While I think keeping you cocooned might make for a boring visit, perhaps we can reach a compromise," Kiki said in a flirty tone. She quickly spun a lasso of spider silk and, with a flick of her leg, tossed the loop over Celestia's head and lightly tugged so that it would be snug around her neck. "There, how about a nice little spider silk necklace for you to wear? A gift from me to you."
"It looks less like a necklace and more like a collar," Luna thought silently. She would have protested, but something about the idea of Kiki so casually collaring someone was oddly tantalizing, and Luna's cheeks flushed red...besides, her soul manipulation tricks proved that she had no ill will, so perhaps she could let her host indulge, especially since Celestia's beet-red face showed that she enjoyed the "necklace" too.
"Oh, it's...wonderful, Kiki, thank you," Celestia said, looking down at the spider silk loop around her long neck. She didn't say anything about how Kiki still held the end of the "lasso". "I can feel each and every thread. It somewhat tickles."
"Good, now, let's get out of the reception cavern and let me show you the rest of my home. Just because I live in a cave doesn't mean I'm a barbarian," Kiki said, climbing off of the web. Her legs filled the air with tapping as they stepped in unison. With a gentle tug of her leash, she prompted Celestia to follow. A bit bold, but Celestia stepping forward without question made Kiki realize that perhaps she should start doubling up on submissiveness traits with everyone who visited her. Luna too was unusually receptive, Kiki thought, as she followed along with only a snicker towards her older sister's predicament. She'd have some fun with these two~
