Happy Hearth's Warming!!! · 5:55pm Dec 25th, 2017
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or just plain Happy Holidays if you prefer. I regret I was not able to get the new Nightmare Night chapter finished for everything else going on, but it's about half-done now and I'm still going to try and get it finished in the next couple days around family affairs. But since I feel something is owed, please accept the gift of a teaser...
Pinkie Pie had barely fallen under the influence of Starlight's sleep spell before the unicorn mare turned to Trixie, each breathing slightly raggedly and covered in a thin sheet of sweat, the sweet and all but intoxicating aroma of cotton candy still hanging in the air making the heads swim and their desires surge.
Its effects were not lost on Starlight. It’s still trying to get us… I gotta do something NOW! “Trixie… hold still!” Starlight ordered as she first brought up a stiff breeze to cleanse the air of the corrupt but potent power within it, trying hard to ignore its effects on her tingling teats and swelling marehood, then turned her spellcasting on her flushed-cheek friend, trying to purge her of aural influences as she’d just done to herself.
It was surprisingly difficult to do; the evil energies were incredibly resilient and even all but cloying, a miasma in the very air that clung stubbornly to them both. But anypony who knew Starlight knew she was equally stubborn and resourceful, especially when it came to magic, and with her power and persistence she finally banished the foreign magic from them both. “Better?” she asked her friend and lover as she felt her arousal ebb to her great relief.
“Trixie is okay,” the showmare confirmed with a ragged breath and jerky nod, still amazed and appalled at what she’d been thinking of doing, unable to look at an unconscious Pinkie Pie. I was ready to suckle a teat and eat her OUT! she shuddered as Starlight turned her considerable power on their earth pony friend, trying to cure her of her magical malady only to find she couldn’t.
What IS this thing? I can’t dispel it! she thought in frustration as she tried several spells in succession over the new few minutes, each more powerful and draining than the last, only to find the corruptive magic had its roots in Pinkie Pie too deeply. It resisted all her efforts to purge it, and she finally fell back onto her haunches in defeat, the futile effort wearing her out.
Trixie noticed and materialized her friend an ether potion from her wagon. Though not legal for her to make as they had to be carefully processed and purified to rid them of wild and unpredictable Everfree magic, making and selling them under the table was how she supported herself more than her shows. They were something she drank before performances to restore or boost her power, offering a gold-glowing vial for the same purpose to Starlight, who quickly drank it and then gulped down some water from a thermos Trixie materialized next, sighing with relief as she felt her headache recede and her full power restored.
“Thanks, Trixie.” Though she normally shunned such restoratives and didn’t entirely approve of Trixie making them, but she was unquestionably good at it and didn’t abuse them or sell them to those who would. “Whatever this is, I can’t cure her with my magic alone.”
“But what happened to her? What nearly happened to us?”
Now that she could think clearly and had been given a few more pieces of the puzzle, Starlight didn’t take long to guess an answer. “Trixie… I think we’re dealing with an STC.”
“A what?” she blinked. “Trixie has never heard that term before!”
“I’d be surprised if you had. An STC is a ‘Sexually Transmitted Curse’, Starlight clarified, her voice grim. “I’ve read about them, but they’re rare and don’t generally spread that far or fast because ponies can only have so many partners. When they’re discovered, they’re easy to stop simply because they do spread so slowly; you simply quarantine the afflicted and let the curse run its course. Some are known to induce desire as a means of spreading themselves faster, but they’re typically quite subtle about it and can’t infect other ponies until their host has sex with them. But this one…?” She motioned down at an unconscious Pinkie, who still seemed to be wearing a dreamy expression. “This seems to work by causing intense infatuation and overwhelming arousal in not just its host, but those around it. It releases this magical pheromone or something that just requires you to be in its presence to affect you.” She shuddered, suddenly realizing how dangerous such a curse could be.
“Fine, but… where did it come from?” Trixie asked, breaking into her thoughts. “And why did it transform Applejack?”
“I think it might have been the cider,” Starlight answered, picking back up the interrupted chain of thought she’d been following before Pinkie Pie’s appearance. “It was made from Everfree apples, so it might have been a bad batch containing corrupt forest magic.”
To her credit, Trixie picked out the problem with that theory instantly. “But we had the cider too! Our drinks came out of the same keg as everypony else, so we had the same batch! And we weren’t affected until just now!” the showmare pointed out.
Starlight blinked, and then facehooved at her own misdirected conclusion. “So it couldn’t have been the cider…” she mumbled in annoyance, rubbing her forehead and mentally kicking herself again for not realizing it. “Okay, let’s look at this logically starting with the progression of cases. We’re pretty sure Applejack was affected first…”
“Fluttershy was affected first!” Trixie quickly corrected, wondering again why she didn’t enter law school. “She acted exactly the way Pinkie Pie did here! So Trixie thinks the proper question to ask is… what happened to her that didn’t happen to us?” the showmare said with certainty, then gave her friend an accusing look like she’d already guessed the answer...
An answer that was inescapable to Starlight as it was damning. Her shoulders slumped and her lip quivered. “Twilight was right. This is all my fault…”
I will attempt to get the full chapter released in the next few days. As for to expect? Well, you may recall that I said that odd or unusual ships would be a feature of this story... and I'm pretty sure nopony has done the one you're going to see! 
Happy Hearths warming friend. And write on!
Merry Christmas, Firesight!
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Fear not, my friend! Writing on.
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Neglected to answer this before. Thanks and a belated Merry Christmas to you!
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huzzah!