The Maretress

Author’s Note: What you are about to read is a grimdark clopfic meaning it contains sexual encounters involving characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and also themes of torture and slavery. This first chapter is entirely Safe for Work, but implies the dark themes that will be explored in detail in the following chapters.

Chapter 1 The Wizard

Spike, the baby dragon, opened his eyes reluctantly. His owner Twilight Sparkle rarely let him get a decent amount of sleep, not so much because she didn’t let him, but because she was always up which kept him up. The purple pony was once again pacing in the Library as she fussed over her list. She realized that she was supposed to help her friend Applejack with her harvest several days ago, but she had gotten absorbed in her research on dragons raised by other races. She found it odd that Applejack had never confronted her or got angry about it. In fact she hadn’t seen the farm pony for a week.

Ever since Spike had abandoned his own kind she wanted to help him understand that not all dragons were like the ones he happened to meet. The clip clop of her hooves on the wooden floor finally made him realise he would not go back to sleep until she did. Sleepy eyed he got up and got himself a sandwich in the kitchen. He talked to Twilight as he ate.

“Please Twilight, don’t tell me you are still researching dragons, I already told you. I’m a pony now, I don’t care about dragons.

“I’m sure you will want to meet more dragons someday Spike, you are just young and I’m going to help you when it is time”. Twilight objected as she opened a book to a particular page.

“Look Spike” She pointed at the page. “This talks about a rarely travelled land far south of the San Palomino Desert, There are dragons there might be much better than the other ones, they don’t terrorise ponies for one thing”. Spike walked up to her and closed the book with his claws.

“Please Twilight, just leave it. I don’t care right now and I don’t want you to either”.
Twilight sighed in submission, “Okay Spike, I’ll leave it alone for now, maybe I will wait until you are older. Spike faceclawed but decided not to argue and accept his temporary victory.

“I’m going to have a bath Twi, and then I’ll start my chores”. Spike yawned.

“Okay Spike, I’ll move on in my check list” Twilight unfurled a several meter long piece of parchment that was full of a rigorous schedule of what she would do for the week. She crossed off research dragons and found herself free for the next hour. But she didn't like this; there was nothing she hated more then to do nothing. She looked at the next item on the list. ‘Find and collect overdue books’. Twilight sighed; she was not looking forward to this. She would have to look at her records and knock on the door of everypony who had an overdue book and try to ask nicely for it back or the money to replace it. It often wasn't that easy.

She looked at the records and noticed that Rainbow Dash still had the most recent ‘Daring Do and the Forgotten Kingdom’ She was surprised how quickly her Rainbow maned athletic friend had already reached the last book, when she used to think books were too geeky for her. Now she was a reading machine.

Knock! Knock! Came a loud sound from the door. Twilight was actually relieved; maybe she could have something to put off her next awful job for a bit. She opened the door and let a strange unicorn pony she had not met before inside the public library.

“Hello I’m Twilight Sparkle, librarian of Ponyville, are you here for a book?” She says sweetly in her most accommodating voice. “I’ll just let you know Daring Do is out, because somepony won’t return it, I’ll try and get it today”.

The mare walked in, she had a dark grey coat and a pitch black mane and tail. She reminded Twilight of Octavia except for a much less maintained and long mane and bright blue eyes.

The mare looked at Twilight with a serious expression and as if getting back into a character she suddenly smiled. “No not really… I’m here for you”.

“For me?” Twilight tilted her head in curiosity and asked “Why would you want me?”

The grey mare took a moment to respond as if she was carefully picking each word. “I’m…. I’m looking for the elements”.

“I see….” Twilight lifted her head proudly. “I’m the element of magic, did you need help finding the others?”

“No, I already have them back at my castle” She responded.

“Oh… well what did you need us for?” Twilight asked.

“Just… something… something important” The mare said.

“Well it had better be important” Twilight warned. “My checklist is already full this week”.

“It is trust me” The mare stomped her hoof for emphasis.

Twilight stared at the pony and rubbed her mane as she thought. “What is it? Do you need the elements power to defeat an evil?”

“Yes, something like that” The mare nodded.

Twilight looked at her list again as if it was the only thing keeping her from going. She looked again at the dreaded job of collecting late books and decided she could put that off to next week, in fact it was a relief.

“Well I was going to do something for the next few hours but I will put it off if this is really important” Twilight reasoned, She kept looking at her list. “How long will it take to get to your castle?”

“About three days” replied the mare.

“Three days!” Twilight repeated in shock. “That will be three days back as well!” She looked again at her list and found that most of her dates were with her friends anyway. “I suppose most of my checklist is invalid without them”.

“So can you please come Twilight, your friends need you for this” the mare insisted.

“Can you tell me where we are going?” Twilight demanded.

“To the Forgotten Kingdom” The mare exclaimed.

“What?!” Twilight gasped, but that’s…. that’s only a legend”. She thought back to the Daring Do series and although they were all fictional they were based on places or things that were at least rumoured to exist.

“It is not a legend, but we strive to remain hidden, I am the Princess there and I’m sorry but I had to take your friends there without anyone knowing, I don’t trust anypony else to know about us, especially Celestia”. The mare ranted.

“But why wouldn’t you trust…” Twilight started.

“Shhhh” The mare put her hoof on Twilight’s mouth. “Listen, Twilight just hold my hoof and you will soon understand everything”.

Twilight nods and clops her hoof with the mare’s. “Um… Ok”.

Suddenly the library starts to fill with a bright light and the mare’s horn starts to glow brilliantly. Not even Twilight had seen a horn go that bright. She knew what this meant, that this unicorn was casting a spell with power beyond her comprehension. She suddenly had second thoughts about going with this mare, but she decided that if she moved now, interrupting the spell could have bigger consequences then to let it finish.
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Twilight suddenly found herself feeling very hot and was sweating profusely. At first she thought that the bright light was still blinding her but she found that it was instead the burning sun’s rays reflecting off of the yellow sand that was all around her. As her eyes adjusted, the mare pointed Twilight’s gaze toward a large castle made of sandstone nearly as yellow as the rest of the surrounding desert.

“Welcome to the Forgotten Kingdom, I’m afraid this is the last remaining structure” The mare explained.

Twilight looked up in astonishment. “This was exactly as it was described in the Daring Do and The Forgotten Kingdom novel. Only one conclusion crossed Twilight’s mind. “Are…Are you Daring Do, or I mean are you the author?” Twilight asked a little star struck.

“Ha ha, yes and no” The mare replied. “I wrote the latest novel, turns out the publisher in Manehatten doesn’t really bother to verify the author I claimed to be”.

“But that’s copyright infringement! You can get in serious trouble for using somepony else’s creative property without their permission” Twilight ranted.

The mare just smiled uncaringly. “Really Twilight, who would come and arrest me for that all the way in the Forgotten Kingdom, a place most ponies don’t believe exists”.

Twilight nodded. “I guess you are right… what about my friends, you said they are here, can I see them, please?”
“Of course” The mare nodded at her warmly and motioned for her to follow into the massive sandstone castle.

Twilight was relieved when the searing heat finally died down as they entered the shade of the structure. Inside it looked just as exquisite, if not more so then Canterlot castle itself. The many colours of the tapestries that hung from every marble arch inside looked marvellous and completely contrasted the yellow featureless desert she saw outside. Twilight finally started stepping on tiles; she noticed this because the entrance was sandstone floored until she got further in. She realised that there was no door to this palace, although if there was it would have to be massive.

“I’m going to go to my room for a rest, you will meet your friends further down the hall, if you need anything feel free to knock” The mare left Twilight alone and went through a doorway.

“Wait!” Twilight tried to object her leaving, but was ignored. “Fine if you won’t tell me what is going on, my friends will”. She trotted up the hallway, now at a faster pace. She got to what appeared to be an extravagant throne room. She saw Fluttershy and she smiled. The yellow mare however looked extremely sad and was sweeping the huge marble floor with her wing.

“Fluttershy!” She called out and she run into the room.

“EEEEKKK!” The yellow mare shrunk to the ground and started shaking uncontrollably. Her normally soft pink mane was getting brown and dirty.

“P-please!” She squealed, “I-I’ve been good! Don’t hurt me!”

“Fluttershy?” Twilight said again when she got closer. “It’s me Twilight”.

“Twilight!” Fluttershy suddenly looked up from her head buried in her hooves.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy gasped. “Twilight, get out of here!”

“Not without you and not until you tell me what is going on” Twilight objected.

Applejack ran into the room and skidded to a halt in front of Twilight. The poor orange pony was nearly red with blisters and massive bruises all over her body. Some of her blonde mane had been clearly ripped out unevenly, her knees were covered in scabs and she even now had a nose ring and three rings pierced into each ear.

“What happened to you Applejack?” Twilight gasped.

Applejack was about to speak when Rainbow Dash flew in and interrupted. “We are all fine Twilight” She said trying to be confident. But Twilight could hear a tremor in the cyan coated pony’s voice. Compared to the other ponies Rainbow Dash’s sky blue coat and rainbow mane looked quite well kept and didn’t appear to have any injuries.

“Are you scared Rainbow Dash?” Twilight prodded.

“No! Not at all don’t be silly, I’m not scared! What would make you think I’m scared!” Rainbow Dash replied quickly and loudly.

“Because whenever you are scared you insist you aren’t” The purple unicorn replied.
“I… I never do that and I’m not scared” Rainbow Dash insisted.

Applejack walked up to Twilight and nuzzled her. “Listen Twi, ah ain’t gonna lie, ya shouldn’t have come here”.

“Can somepony give me a straight answer? Where is Pinkie Pie and Rarity!?” Twilight shouted. She locked her eyes on Applejack knowing she would tell the truth, but she just answered the most recent question.

“Pinkie is probably entertaining…. Her” Applejack shudders at mentioning ‘her’. “An Rarity is locked in her room and won’t come out, ah think she did something horrible to her”.

“Who are you talking about?” Twilight demands with some anger.

“That princess Mufiana…” Applejack looks like she nearly throws up from saying the name. “She’s one bad apple”.

“Are you talking about the mare that brought me here, the grey one with a black mane”? Twilight asked.

“No and yes… I mean s-s-s-she, I mean t-t-that her disguise, s-s-she really looks terrifying!” Rainbow Dash stammered.
All the ponies stare at her trembling body.

“Okay! Okay! I’m scared alright, I’m so scared!” Rainbow Dash started crying her cool demeanour finally breaking.
Twilight goes up to Rainbow Dash and pets her affectionately.

“Shhh, it’s okay RD, together we can defeat her and be out of here”.

Fluttershy having stayed quiet the whole time suddenly hugs Twilight while she hugs Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, I love you, I’m so sorry this happened” Her soft voice seems to sweeten the tense air.

“Listen girls, whoever this pony is, she made the most fatal mistake” Twilight spoke up confidently.

“What’s that?” Applejack asked.

“She brought the six of us together; there is no foe all six of us can’t defeat!” Twilight monologued passionately.

“No….” whispered Fluttershy. “I’ve never seen a mare more powerful” She barely managed to say, her voice almost nothing more than a squeak.

“Agreed” Rainbow Dash nodded. “You don’t think we have tried Twilight, it’s hopeless”.

“No, I don’t believe that and neither should any of you, I’m normally more modest about it but…” Twilight prepared to talk herself up for the first time, she didn’t feel good showing off, but she had to motivate her friends. “I am Celestia’s prized student, which means I am one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, I defeated an Ursa Minor”.

“Ahm sorry Twi, this mare is more powerful then you, ahm sure of it”. Applejack stated honestly.

“Applejack!” Twilight yelled in frustration. “Look I admire your honesty, but now you are just killing the morale”.

“Jus’ statin’ tha facts”. The farm pony objected.

“Fine… I’m going to go face her alone then, you want the truth, you are all a bunch of cowards”! Twilight called out to them as she turned away to leave.

“I am not a coward!” Rainbow Dash called out, she was not going to let her pride get attacked. “I’m gonna help you fight her!”

“Fine, if ya’ll are then I have ta help” Applejack submitted.

“Um… I don’t… I can’t” Fluttershy squeaked.

Twilight wasn’t concerned by Fluttershy’s response; she knew exactly how to get her shy friend to move.
“Okay then Applejack, Rainbow Dash, let’s go!” Twilight started marching down the hall to the door to their captor’s room. Fluttershy watched them get further and further away. The further they got the worse her anxiety hit her.

“Um…. Girls, please wait… don’t leave me here!” She squealed. She soon started to follow them at a distance, just to make sure she wouldn’t lose sight of them.

Twilight stops near the door. “Okay girls, is this her bedroom?”

“Yes, she’s likely right on the other side or in the kitchen another room in” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Okay then, give me a moment to formulate a plan” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash was feeling scared and impatient, she thought back to when she was first captured and the most horrible week of her life that followed…
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Spike had finally finished his bath, he spent a bit longer in there then he should have and he hoped that Twilight wouldn't be mad that he indulged a little this morning. He dried himself of and headed downstairs. He found the Library empty, which was odd because Twilight would normally have at least knocked on the bathroom door if she was leaving. The dragon searched her bedroom and the rest of the house before submitting to the fact that she had left. He decided to head into the town and see if anypony knew where she was.