Inside a chasm near the outskirts of Equestria, a new hive had been constructed. After the humiliating defeat at the hooves of Shining Armor and Princess Candace, Chrysalis was recovering and planning a way to strike a deadly blow to her nemeses.

She sat proudly at her throne, which was spiked with holes on the sides, matching her image in both design and colour. Several of her guards stood at her side abiding to her every whim. It had taken some time but her plan was finally coming together.

A small changeling ran into the throne room, gasping for air.

“My Queen, the Pegasus has arrived!”

A malevolent smile spread itself on Chrysalis's face and a faint glimmer appeared in her wicked eyes.

“Excellent! bring her to me.”

The guards ran out of the throne room and soon returned with Toy inside a large cage made from spikes that resembled changeling limbs. The cyan mare seemed distressed but other than that in great shape.

“I see you fed her well private. You may indulge yourself in the harem.”

“Thank you my queen!”

As the private rushed to the pleasure quarters of the hive, Chrysalis stood from her throne and approached her prey.

“No, let’s see what makes you so special. My best spy was very keen to get you here to me.”

“Who are you and what are you going to do to me? Please, all I want is to be with my Mistress.”

“Interesting; allow me to see if I can make that happen.”

A devilish smirk and a beam of green magic later, Chyrsalis was searching through Toy’s emotions. It was odd, most of her was a blank slate, that of a newborn filly as if she was not the real pony that inhabited this body. But once Chrysalis found the object of her affection she knew her agent would have earned a promotion had they not gotten sent to the depths of Tartarus by Luna. She focused and began to copy the image from Toy’s memory. She became smaller; her fur became white, eyes magenta and her mane dark blue.

In front of toy was now her Mistress and the cyan pony's eyes lit up in admiration. Chrysalis began to feel her love, and the sensation began to influence her arousal. This pony was a love mine, a rare thing indeed that only happens if powerful magic is involved.

“Mistress Bass, you are back! Oh please, please let Toy out so I can be of assistance.”

“Very well. Guards escort Toy here to my private chambers!”

“Right away, Queen Chry…”

A quick growl coming from their queen made them realize their mistake.

“We mean Mistress Lace…”

“Bass you cretins!”

“Bass, of course!”

The lackies pulled the cage into the east wing and Chrysalis laughed manically. Her plan finally had the perfect power source.

Twilight entered Rarity’s boutique and saw that her friend was hard at work, making satchels that were sturdy enough to survive the trip.

“Hello Rarity, how are our preparations going?”

“According to plan so far! I am almost done with these bags, AJ is done with the provisions, Fluttershy has mentally prepared, and Luna and Pinkie Pie were doing something or getting somepony, I can’t remember.”

“And Vinyl?”

“Today is her Wubgasm Day.”

The look of confusion on Twilight’s face made Rarity sigh.

“Vinyl plays music on such frequencies that arouse Octavia and then they make love.”

“How do you even know that?”

“Vinyl is a Sister remember? I know more about her then she does.”

Before Twilight could reply the door of the boutique open once again and Luna, Pinkie Pie, and a pony completely new to Twilight entered. The newcomer was slightly brown with a soft pink man and a balloon animal for her cutie mark. But what was jarring to the purple unicorn was that this mare’s skin was seemingly made out of rubber! Twilight read of ponies who had abnormal skin but she never thought she would meet anypony like that in her life.

“Hey Twilight, hi Rarity!” said Pinkie Pie in her usual cheery demeanor.

“Hello Twilight and Rarity, I would like you to meet a dear friend of mine, Miss Maple Gleam.”

“Pleasure to meet you all, especially you Miss Rarity.” said Maple in a calm soothing voice.

“Oh my, it’s you! So great to finally meet face to face!”

Maple Gleam enjoyed a nice hug from Rarity, leaving Twilight confused like so many time in recent times.

“Why does it seem you know everypony in Equestria Rarity?”

“Oh Miss Maple is my supplier when I need stretchable materials such as rubber, latex or vinyl. She is the best supplier in Equestria, and also makes great maple syrup. We communicated by mail so far, but with her being in Manehatten most of the time, we never had a chance to meet like this.”

“Well that will probably change, as I am moving to Ponyville.”

“Really? That is wonderful!”

Twilight listened to their conversation, but her vision kept on scanning Maple. Her slick skin, the shine it got from the lights, her mane made form one single patch of rubber made her hard to ignore the allure this pony had.

“Eh, eyes over here Miss Twilight.” Maple said an chuckled, her rubber tongue sticking out.

“Oh I am so sorry Maple! It’s just your body is really mesmerizing… I mean interesting!”

“Oh I am not angry, I got used to the attention really. Besides, I never would have made my place in life if that poison joke pony wasn’t so weird. In fact the silo falling on me right after it happened was the first sign my condition is in fact a blessing. Anyway enough about me, Princess Luna asked me here for a reason and I'm hapy to help such a great costumer.”

Rarity’s face contained a big grin while Luna’s was just a tad red. Both Pinkie and Twilight were oblivious to the joke.

“Well I brought Miss Maple here to help us with a very delicate problem.” Luna interjected before the mares could ask questions.

“The Wonderbolts have located the hive but are unable to enter from above, since our mission is to be a stealthy one.
Unfortunately the hive is surrounded by a artificial lake that is full of some acidic substance. The switch to open the floodgate is located on the other side. A Pegasus can’t fly across since there are guards above the moat, but a pony could swim under them. The problem is, there is only one material that can survive the swim and that's Maple’s rubber.”

“But if we open the gates, wouldn’t that alert the guards?”

“Very astute observation Twilight as always. Luckily, we have enough unicorns to cast an illusion around the two guards for the two to three minutes it takes to cross. Once we are over there, we can let new acid in. Of course some other guard could see this, but since we know when they feed the chances of that are slim to none.”

“So I guess Maple is joining us on this trip?” Twilight asked.

“Sorry but I can’t. I really wish I could but with me moving here and my production in Manehatten, not to mention I'm caring for my friend Abacus while she recovers from a nasty injury. There is a way I can help however."

Maple reached into one of black satchels, which was coated in rubber as well it seemed and grabbed a small jar with seemingly translucent substance that moved inside. Rarity’s face gave a knowable look as she now understood Luna’s plan to enter.

“I think Miss Rarity will know what to do when the moment arrives.”

“Understood Maple..and thank you for this. I know it wasn’t easy getting it.”

“No worries, once Princess Luna explained the gravity of your predicament I spared no expense.”

Rarity took the jar and placed it into her own personal satchel. Twilight and Pinkie were not quite getting the purpose of the liquid, but they trusted Luna’s judgment.

“Well that settles everything! We start our rescue mission first thing in the morning.”

With Luna’s command, the ponies went to their respective homes.

Twilight and Maple walked together for a bit, as their homes were really close to each other.

“You seem pretty distracted Miss Sparkle, what is the trouble besides Dash’s capture?”

“Was I that obvious? Well let’s just say I did something to her that I wish I didn’t and those things might ruin any chance of us being together.”

“Let me look at you.”

Maple grabbed Twi’s chin with her rubber hoof and gently turned the unicorn’s head sideways to face her. She looked focused into Twilight’s eyes, and smiled at the end.

“I wouldn’t worry about that.”

“What, how do you know?”

“Well my profession has made it possible for me to watch relationships both succeed and fail. When you say her name, when you think about her, your love for her can be seen. It shines through all of the doubt and remorse for whatever you did to her. “

“Thank you Maple for words of encouragement and for that liquid. By the way, what is it?”

“Oh that is for you to find out when the time is right. All I am saying is that I am the only pony in Equestria that can make it.”

Maple smiled as always and waved goodbye to Twilight as they reached her house. Twilight waved back, a new fire fueling her after the talk.

She needed to take all the rest she could get however, there were many ordeals to face in the coming days.

Author's Note

A small breather as we delve into the journey. Maple Gleam is an OC of a dear friend of mine who has a special property that will make for some fun later on. Next time, hiking, camping and more!