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// Don't Do Knights Drugs 
// Story: My Little Space Empire: Mechs are Magic 
// by Wheezyandbreezy 
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Pinkie sat in a hospital gown strapped into a chair that completely immobilized her. She uncertainly called out. "Ummm Love Muffin? I'm okay with trying new things in the bedroom. . . But I'm not so okay with all our friends watching." Applejack and Rainbow Dash snickered. 

Twilight glared at the two and they hung their heads like scolded children. "Not right now Pinkie." Twilight said, completely devoid of amusement. "This is a bad idea even IF everything goes as planned, much less if something were to go wrong."

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Come on Twilight." She batted her eyelashes. "I trust you."

Twilight's heart melted. "I know, that makes it worse." She pressed Pinkie's head against her chest and stroked her hair. "I just don't know what I would do if I lost you." Rainbow made a gagging face at the display. Applejack promptly slapped her upside the head. 

Twilight took a deep breath and summoned S.P.I.K.E. "Testing effects of Discord Serum. First test point two five dose. Dr. Sir Fluttershy attending."

After Pinkie Pie had recovered from having angry sex with a demigod she had volunteered to have the Discord Serum tested on her on the extremely unlikely chance it would help her figure out where the cloners were hiding. Twilight had completely cleaned Terra's orbit of space trash with her tantrums, and Celestia had received several bills for destroyed satellites that had gotten caught in the crossfire. 

Twilight had taken the Discord Serum out of its evidence locker and used extremely small samples of it to test the accuracy of her recreation from the recipe she'd torn from Hondo's mind. She had poured over every single shred of information about the drug, its results, and its victims. She had worked for several days straight until she found a chemical compound that would neutralize the effects of the drug just in case. She had decided to start off extremely light, just one fourth of the dose given to the original test subjects. So everyone gathered in the observatory of the training bay, watching a vaguely orange liquid being pumped into Pinkie's veins.

They all leaned forward in expectation, waiting breathlessly to see what it would do to the enthusiastic woman. And they waited. And they waited. Eventually Applejack and Rainbow Dash fell into playing cards and Pinkie fell asleep in her chair. Twilight, instead of becoming bored with the lack of results, watched like a hawk on amphetamines. After three hours without a single change Pinkie Pie woke up suddenly. "Ooh ooh! I feel something!" The assembled women lurched forward to see what would happen. Pinkie Pie smiled and her stomach growled audibly. "I feel hungry." Rarity and Twilight facepalmed and both Applejack and Rainbow began banging their heads on the observatory glass.

Fluttershy moved to help Pinkie Pie out of her restraints but Pinkie smiled and shook her head. "Nah that's okay." She slipped her arms out of the restraints then slid smoothly out of the chair. "I got it." The rest of Strike Team Sparkle stared in confusion at Pinkie. Twilight rapidly recorded, "possible elasticity of ligaments." Twilight decided to call a halt for that day, but kept a close eye on Pinkie Pie. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to happen, or at least as normal as normal gets with her. 

The next day, after a full meal and a potty break just in case, Pinkie was strapped down with different restraints. "Twilight seriously, why do I have to be tied down?" 

Twilight got eye to eye and nose to nose with Pinkie and in a voice that was as cold as iron explained. "Because several victims of this drug have had violent muscular spasms, and I don't want to have any issues if we have to give you the antidote." Pinkie promptly licked the tip of Twilight's nose. She sighed hard and muttered to S.P.I.K.E. "Testing effects of Discord Serum. Second test point five dose. Dr. Sir Fluttershy attending." Again the orange liquid flowed into Pinkie's arm, and again they all leaned forward in expectation.

Pinkie sat bored out of her skull for several minutes. Rainbow and Applejack began their card game, but the remaining women still stared in expectation. Over the course of several minutes they observed Pinkie's mood begin to worsen and worsen. She whined, "Uuugh. . . Twilight! I'm boooored, and it's hoooot. . . And my chest hurts! And Rainbow Dash is cheatiiiiiing."

Applejack grabbed Rainbow's flesh wrist with her augmetic hand and saw that Rainbow was in fact holding five aces. Applejack frowned and Rainbow smiled sheepishly as she muttered, "Heh heh eat shit Pinkie." Fluttershy and Twilight whispered excitedly with each other, they agreed that irritability and increased body temperature and heart rate were common side effects of the Discord Serum. S.P.I.K.E. and Rarity were less than convinced though. Rarity remarked. "Well anyone could've told you that, it doesn't necessarily mean the drug's working."

S.P.I.K.E., apparently being the only sensible person in the room, turned down the air for Pinkie. "Ah thanks S.P.I.K.E.y wikey." Five sets of eyes all turned as if on one axis towards the restrained woman, who simply sat there red faced and smiling. Every woman there had just heard Pinkie's voice in their minds as well as their ears.

Twilight stepped forward slowly as if in a daze. "Pinkie? Did you just use telepathy?" She asked in the psychic equivalent of a whisper.

"WHAT?" The rest of them heard Pinkie shout in their minds. 

After she was done wincing Twilight furiously recorded everything that was going on. Pinkie, a non psychic, had just used telepathy, and on a half dose. They had no idea what would happen when they reached a full dose. They monitored her brain activity closely, and it seemed to be coming in more logical pathways than it had without the drug. Twilight decided to prod. "You said your chest hurts, can you elaborate on that?" She asked while still typing with her mind.

Pinkie looked down at her chest then up at Twilight. Twilight suddenly felt her own chest tighten as if her heart was beating harder than it needed to. "Like that." She said with a smile on her face. Twilight's face went pale. Pinkie, a non psychic, had just done something no other psychic had ever figured out how to do. She let someone literally feel her pain. Twilight decided she'd seen more than enough for one day and gave Pinkie the drug that would nullify the Discord Serum in her system.

Pinkie's head fell heavily with relief. "Ah thank God! I was baking like bacon!" She once again slipped her bonds easily. "Got a bit of a headache though. Think I'll take an itty bitty teeny weeny nap." She then collapsed to the floor. Twilight and Fluttershy rushed to her side then teleported her to the med bay. She was hooked up to an I.V. and they checked her vitals, everything seemed fine. They brought in a portable M.R.I. machine and Pinkie's brain looked like it always had, there was no swelling or bleeding anywhere to be found.

Twilight stayed by Pinkie's bedside all night and long into the next day. When she woke Pinkie merely stretched and yawned as she always did. Twilight was overwhelmed with relief when everything seemed to be okay. As it turns out they drug had just exhausted Pinkie rather than injure her. Twilight decided against performing any tests that day. The two spent a lazy day in bed. Pinkie's faint had genuinely scared Twilight, so she spent the day just reassuring herself that her little pink cupcake was safe.

The next morning Twilight reluctantly resumed her tests. This time Pinkie was sealed in suspended animation. The drug would simply be absorbed through her skin, and if the nullifying agent was required she would simply receive it the same way. "Testing effects of Discord Serum. Third test point seven five dose. Dr. Sir Fluttershy attending." The drug was administered, but this time every eye was on the large transparent cylinder. Pinkie's breathing immediately began to grow laboured. 

Again Twilight felt mirrored symptoms as they progressed, and she recorded whole pages worth of information as events transpired. Pinkie looked around as if reacting to sounds from all over the room. She looked at Twilight, her eyes wide. "Warkly is this how you feel all the time?" Pinkie could see and hear the thoughts of every soul on the Damocles within three decks of the training bay. She began to feel almost overwhelmed, as if too many people were trying to talk to her directly at once. 

Twilight felt what Pinkie was experiencing and it was almost nostalgic. All of a sudden Pinkie felt a relieving stillness coming in the direction of Twilight, just as Twilight had felt when she had first met Celestia all those years ago. Twilight stepped forward, a warm smile on her face. Her and Pinkie both pressed their foreheads to the glass and experienced a long pleasant moment of shared consciousness. For the first time Twilight could read Pinkie's mind, and she loved what she found there. Pinkie began to blush heavily and giggle. "Love muffin! Not in front of the girls." 

After an overlong moment of tenderness Rarity cleared her throat loudly and a softly blushing Twilight administered the nullifier. Twilight glared at the top of the suspended animation chamber, waiting for it to somehow just pop open because Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pied. Several moments later Pinkie knocked on the glass. "Umm Twilight, I'm kind of locked in here until you let me out."

Twilight nodded as if satisfied and levitated Pinkie out of the tube. Because of the shared consciousness, anything that Twilight had needed to know from Pinkie was answered instantly, so she decided they were done for the day. Plus after what was exchanged in their minds they needed a bit of private time. Words might give a hint at what's in the mind, but nothing even comes close to seeing what someone actually thinks of you in their deepest thoughts.

The next morning came, but instead of being terribly satisfied, Twilight was very unsettled. She wasn't sure about giving Pinkie a full dose yet. She tried to use any excuse she could find to delay the test. She poured over the original team's notes, she spoke with Celestia to see if any new news had arrived about the cloners whereabouts, she read and reread her own notes, she even sipped her tea extra slowly just to procrastinate for just a little longer. Finally Pinkie Pie had to put her foot down. "Twilight I know you're worried." She hugged Twilight tight. "But if you haven't killed me by now then you're never going to." She giggled. "Besides." She kissed Twilight's neck. "It was kind of hot being in your brain like that." 

Twilight held her tight for a long moment. She couldn't see the future like Pinkie, but somehow she knew this test wouldn't go well. If they stopped now everything would be okay. Nothing bad had happened yet. They'd played with fire, but no one had gotten burned. They entered the training room and Pinkie slipped into the suspended animation tank. Twilight sealed the top, but instead of administering the drug, she only stared at the woman she loved for a long moment. There she floated, so happy, so trusting, her adorable smile on her face. Pinkie put a hand to the glass. "I'll be fine love muffin. I promise." Twilight inhaled deeply and administered the Discord Serum. 

Pinkie Pie's breathing once again became laboured, but her expression wasn't of fatigue, it was of excitement. She again looked around at the voices she could hear and her smile grew. Twilight stepped cautiously forward. "Pinkie? How do you feel."

Pinkie's eyes snapped to Twilight's as if surprised. All of them heard, "I feel everything." The suspended animation tube opened by itself and Pinkie floated by herself out of it. "I need to fight something." Rainbow grinned widely and moved towards the door, but the rest were uncertain. Twilight was caught between curiosity and caution. Pinkie walked as if intoxicated towards Twilight. She stumbled up against Twilight and she felt the heat radiating off of her. "Please love muffin. I need this." She pulled Twilight's face down to an inch from her mouth and whispered, "Please."

Within five minutes six mechs were in the void with training rounds in their guns. It was all against one and Pinkie Pie was giggling madly over the coms with predatory excitement. Rainbow decided to start things off with a mad dash, no pun intended, towards Pinkie. Rainbow immediately found herself several thousand miles away. Pinkie had launched several explosives in such a pattern to gently launch Rainbow off course. Applejack immediately opened up on full auto. Pinkie only moved mere feet to avoid her sprays. Rarity was practically useless with her long range cannon as Pinkie neatly avoided her shots.

Twilight teleported her and Fluttershy into close range but Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy and swung her mech bodily into Rainbow's mech that had zoomed back in to attempt a slash. The two went hurtling off into space leaving Twilight having to dodge Applejack and Rarity's fire while Pinkie pressed her relentlessly. Applejack and Rarity were forced to hold fire as Pinkie always moved to keep Twilight between herself and their lines of fire. Pinkie and Twilight grinned with the joy of battle. Two mind readers dancing the compliment to each other's movements. One would strike and the other would be counter striking in the same movement. 

Pinkie loosed a curtain of explosives between her and Twilight. Twilight panicked and tried to teleport away from the blast. The second before she disappeared though, Pinkie blew through her own curtain and latched onto Twilight. She flipped Twilight behind her and they came out of the teleport bubble propelled forward by the small bit of the blast that had come with them. 

Pinkie used the momentum to blast away from Twilight and towards Applejack. In a flash she had stuck both Applejack and Rarity with a sticky grenade and the two sat still in shock staring at the small blinking indicator light on the charge. Just as she blasted away from the two she slapped Rainbow and Fluttershy with one sticky grenade each. Rainbow had attempted a surprise attack by grabbing Fluttershy and rocketing towards her at full blast. 

Twilight stared in blank astonishment, Pinkie for all intents and purposes had just tagged all of them with a lethal blow. Pinkie had just beaten all of them. They sat in dumbfounded wonder at the mech who simply floated there in the void staring off into the distance. Each of them couldn't believe just how much the drug had improved Pinkie's already impressive fighting ability. Twilight had an open shot at the bright pink mech as it hung there in the void, but she was paralyzed with shock at the performance she'd just witnessed.

Just as the shock was about to turn into hysterical congratulations they heard a sound through the communicator that froze all of their blood. Pinkie had been staring off into the void in silence for several moments. Each of them heard Pinkie crying softly. "No. But I would never! Not to my little love muffin!" They heard her whisper in horror.

Twilight moved forward and asked, "Cupcake wha~"

"TWILIGHT! NO!" Each of them was deafened by Pinkie screaming at the top of her lungs. Pinkie immediately began firing in seemingly random directions. Soon they each had to dodge to avoid Pinkie's attacks. "GIVE HER BACK! GIVE HER BACK!!!" Pinkie screamed, her voice breaking from the strain on her vocal chords.

Twilight's eyes went wide. This was just like several other cases, she was firing at invisible, non-existent enemies. Twilight's aura glowed blindingly bright and she burned straight through her own cockpit. She teleported to the training room and grabbed an emergency injector of the nullification agent. She appeared back in the void close to the area where Pinkie was flailing and firing wildly. She wouldn't stop screaming her name. "TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!!!" 

Twilight stretched out her hand and held the mech unit still in a crushing grip. She teleported into the cockpit and was struck with a wall of horror. The woman she loved had blood running from her eyes and out of her nose. She had foam leaking from her mouth and her eyes were out of focus, darting around as if tracking an unseen foe. Pinkie was unintentionally projecting the visions she saw and Twilight saw horrifying scenes of destruction and debauchery the likes of which could fill the nightmares of a lifetime. Most of the visions involved her having terrible things done to her by their hidden adversary. 

Twilight shrugged off the psychic thought noise and jabbed Pinkie firmly in the leg with the nullifying agent. Pinkie still thrashed about wildly and Twilight began to fear the drug may have caused permanent damage. She lurched forward and grabbed Pinkie's face, staring hard into her eyes. She focused all of her telepathic might on the hysterical woman and commanded. "Pinkie. Be still. You are safe. I am here. Be still.''

Pinkie's thrashing began to slow and after a moment her eyes came back into focus. Her tears of impotent rage turned into weeping with overwhelming relief. She crushed Twilight to her chest and sobbed deeply. Twilight held her tight and stroked her hair as she sobbed. Pinkie clung to her like she'd vanish the moment she let go. Suddenly Pinkie broke away and shouted. "WE HAVE TO GO! NOW!" She began to boost towards the surface.

Twilight tore her hands from the sticks and still in her commanding tone said. "Pinkie. You're okay. I'm okay. I'm here. We need to get you to."

Pinkie didn't hear a word. She merely darted her head around the cockpit as if still searching for her unseen attackers. She lurched forward in her seat and vomited from the stress of the situation. She grabbed Twilight's head in her hands and Twilight saw her tears of relief had turned to pleading sobs. "Please Twilight. We have to go. Please." Pinkie begged through her sobs. Twilight was astounded to see how genuinely afraid she was. This wasn't the lingering fear of a nightmare. Pinkie's eyes were focused, present, clear, and terrified.

Twilight held her close and guided the mech down to the surface with her mind. They landed right on the beach at a lovely little cabin in a resort in the tropics. Twilight telepathically explained to the owner of the resort that it was a military emergency and that they'd need the cottage for at least a night. The resort director graciously accepted, and Twilight saw in his mind that he had been one of the millions of slaves she had freed during her crusade.