//------------------------------//
// L'Amour Contre La Luxure 
// Story: Quete 
// by Comrade Bagel Muffin 
//------------------------------//

Escutcheon slowly opened his eyes. He looked up expecting a blow that would never come. He looked up at the filly that just moments before had been tormenting him. Tears started falling onto his face and chest. He gulped not sure what was going on or what he was suppose to do, as Plum broke down into sobs above him.
"Uh, Plum are, are you okay?" His voice was shaky. The earth pony filly collapsed on him crying and sobbing. "Uh, Plum?" She wrapped him up in a hug. "Shhh, you're okay," he said trying to calm her down.
"I want to go home." She nuzzled her face into the blanket that was still being used to keep Escutcheon's forelegs firmly bound. "I want to go home to mommy and daddy." She sobbed. "I want the burning to stop. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry please just take me home. It's not right here. There's no love there's no love, here. I just want to go home."
"Why haven't you?" he asked looking up at her not thinking to question her sudden change of heart.
"She won't let me she won't let me." She sobbed into the blanket.
"If you untie me, I'll take you home, Plum. Okay?" She nodded several times in quick succession. "Thanks. Now please hurry and get off, while I can still think."
"Okay sorry." She unties his forelegs and quickly gets off of him. "Sorry it's hard to think when she gets into to your head." She pulls the blanket up close and takes a strong whiff. Escutcheon sits up, and pulls the ring off of his horn and throws it away.
"What happened?"
"I don't I don't know. One day I was just playing with Goldie and then I-I just, I don't remember. I heard her talking to me. I saw flashes, but everything was like a dream. The next thing I remember is, I was going to hit you, but when I touched the my blankie, I felt warm and I didn't feel empty anymore."
"Were there any other ponies with you deeper in?" he asked. She nodded. "How many?"
"Hundreds." she answered.
"Who is she?" Plum shook her head side to side. "Was there a gem?"
"Yeah a big pink pearl in the middle of the temple." She looked up. "But that's in the middle of the forest. I don't want to go there. I don't want to go back."
"We need to help the other ponies."
"If we go back she'll be angry she'll do a lot of bad things to us." Plum curled up, and started sobbing into the blanket again. "I don't want her to do that to me again. Not again, oh please not again."
"She won't hurt you okay Plum, but I need you to take me there." She shook her head. "It's okay I'll be with you. I going to cut her off, so she won't hurt you or anypony else ever again." He gently rubbed her back, he tried to focus on anything other than the smell of her pheromones. "But I need you to take me to the big pink pearl okay?" He patted her back until she calmed down.
"Ohmka," she said into her blanket.
"Hmm?"
"Okay, okay." She tried to calm herself down. "It's further in."
"Okay Plum, lead the way. We'll go at your pace. Okay?" She nodded and lead him further into the jungle. Escutcheon following behind her. He pulled out a cloth and covered his nose. He looked around at anything he could think to look at, that wasn't her flanks. Slowly his mind started to clear and his hormones fell to a more manageable level. He thought about Dusk, and was glad that she didn't see him as he was only a few minutes ago.
"We're almost to the temple there are a lot of streets and pools between us and it though. How are we suppose to get through?"
"I'm sure we'll work something out," he says calmly.