//------------------------------// // For the Thrall of It // Story: For the Thrall of It // by TheMusicalBoy93 //------------------------------// It was yet another bright and sunny day in the quiet town of Ponyville. On the outskirts of town, where the rolling countryside met the ominous front of the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy’s animals went about their daily activities in the grounds surrounding her cottage. Robins, mockingbirds and blue jays whistled gaily as they busied themselves with their nests and young. The many polychromatic fish that inhabited the river that ran by the house leapt for flies that were bussing around in the reed beds. And, of course, Harry the bear was enjoying a nice big honeycomb, filled with freshly made honey, while he scratched his back on his favourite gnarled oak tree. All around the modest little abode, the animals carried on their day, blissfully ignorant of what delightful deviousness was being committed within their beloved caretaker’s home. Inside the cottage, the blinds and curtains were all drawn and shut, locking out any trace of natural light into the room. A small white bunny rabbit busied himself with yet another length of rope, slinging the cord over a simple wooden chair parked in the centre of the cottage living room. And who would be sat in the chair, as Angel Bunny busied himself strapping her down against the uncomfortable seat’s perch? Of course, the poor young mare in this predicament was none other than dear, sweet Fluttershy. The butter coloured Pegasus sat as still as possible in her chair, watching as her faithful, if mischievous, little pet performed his evil little acts upon her. But the look upon her face as she observed her captor’s actions wasn’t one of fear or worry. No, the young pony looked on as her pet bunny tied yet another elaborate knot in her binds with a look of… excitement… in her eyes. Angel pounced atop her head and leaned down over her face to gently coax her mouth open. Fluttershy offered no resistance to his requesting paw and opened her mouth obediently. With her maw open and vulnerable, the rabbit placed two coils of rope between her teeth before gently pulling her mouth closed again, tying the rope around the back of the pony’s skull. The buttery pony gave a contented sigh, allowing her shoulders to slump deeper in her seat as she acclimatised herself to her new bindings. The mare’s cheeks flushed with a light tint of pink as a look of arousal spread across her once-innocent features. Fluttershy wriggled a little, testing the strength of Angel’s knot tying abilities, and finding her bindings satisfactorily constraining. The yellow pony sighed happily to herself, allowing the ropes around her midriff to cinch a little tighter. The mare let out a soft moan and rubbed her thighs together as the ropes between her hind legs slowly began riding up into her groin. Angel Bunny rolled his eyes at his Mistress’ weird display of sexual release, and hopped away to raid his special carrot drawer, letting Fluttershy continue writhing saucily against her bindings. With a well-practiced series of ear wiggles, she lowered the blindfold she had perched on her brow down over her eyes and settled into her seat with a lusty groan. Fluttershy sat in her state of thrall for a good ten minutes, her wings buzzing with excitement as she, voluntarily, remained vulnerable in her seat. Without warning, the front door of her cottage burst open, prompting a started squeak from the timid mare, who was still trussed up against her chair. With a few frantic shakes of her head, her blindfold came loose and flew off her face, landing smartly on the seat of her couch. Her pupils shrank in horror at the spectacle that greeted her. Standing inside the doorway to her cottage stood her friends; Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight. All of them wore expressions of varying levels of shock and surprise. Rainbow looked like she was trying hard not to burst out laughing, while Pinkie looked like a little filly who had walked in on her parents “wrestling”. Rarity looked ready to faint, but seemed reluctant to, which was odd for her. Applejack, thankfully, looked the least affected by the tableau the buttery Pegasus’ friends had walked in on, although her hat had somehow lodged itself in the rafters in Fluttershy’s ceiling. Twilight’s Alicorn wings were extended to full, prideful, length, and her entire coat was bright red with an embarrassed blush. Fluttershy herself, however, was catatonic about the predicament in which she found herself. She shrieked in horror, flailing around madly against her bonds, completely forgetting the fact that Angel always allowed the knots he tied to give the Pegasus some slack if she were to calmly shift her position accordingly. The ropes cinched tighter and tighter on the struggling mare, the ropes around her belly starting to dig into her flesh a little. Angel took his cue and leapt into action, grabbing hold of the central knot at the back of the chair and giving one of its loose ends a sharp tug. The constraining yards of rope fell about the floor, melting away from Fluttershy’s trembling form and allowing the Pegasus to leap to her hooves. She scrambled for the knot that kept the last length of fibrous cord in her maw. She caught one of the loose tassels and pulled, freeing her mouth from its gag. She stood stock still in the middle of her living room, eyes desperately roaming her surroundings for a means of escape, while pointedly trying to avoid looking anywhere near her friends. She tried to speak, to grovel, to her friends, but her voice wouldn’t obey her. It kept cutting itself off in squeaks and whimpers, never managing to construct a half formed word. After a few minutes of mindlessly stuttering, and managing to regain control of her motor skills enough to steady her breathing, Fluttershy stared, defeated, at the floor, scuffing a hoof along the shag pile carpet. “I-I’m sorry yo-you all had to see that,” she whimpered at such a low volume, her friends had to walk into a tight circle around her to hear what she was saying. The five friends all exchanged awkward glances. None of them knew how to deal with the freshly burned memory that had been branded into their brains. And nopony was too keen to start a discussion over it, either. The awkward silence was so tangible, you could see Rarity and Twilight’s horns cutting through the very air surrounding them. Eventually, Rainbow grew tired of the pony-footing around the subject. “Oh, for the love of…” She threw her hooves into the air, making everypony present jump at her outburst. Having commanded their full and undivided attention, Rainbow pointed a hoof at the mortified Pegasus before her. “Look, Fluttershy, I’ve known you for more than half our lives. You and me, we’ve been through some pretty weird times together. I’ve seen you in more compromising positions than I care to mention, and I’ve helped you out of many of them, too. As far as I’m concerned, Fluttershy, whatever you get up to behind closed doors is your business.” Fluttershy released a breath she didn’t realise she was holding in. She had been so worried that her friends would be so disgusted by her little… ‘guilty pleasure’… that they would stop being her friends anymore. The nods and murmurs of agreement from her friends to Dash’s statement, however, dispelled all her fears at once. After everypony had recomposed themselves and reassured one another that their friendships remained intact, and that all private activity was, from now on, on a strict need-to-know basis, Twilight stepped forward to steer the conversation toward the direction the ponies had intended it to go in the first place. “I’m sorry we all barged in on you like that, Fluttershy,” she started, eliciting a series of nods and mumbled apologies from the rest. “And I’m sorry that we didn’t exactly come here for a social visit.” Fluttershy’s ears dropped a little, but she had suspected as much. “I got a letter this morning from Princess Celestia that there were reports of attacks happening off the coast of Horsesea. She’s requested that we go over there right away and find out who, or what, is responsible.” Fluttershy felt her wings tense at her sides at the prospect of something attacking innocent ponies at the aforementioned seaside resort town, but nodded her agreement all the same. The six ponies made their way to the train station, and boarded the next train headed to Horsesea. The train rolled in and hissed to a halt while the station ponies positioned the boarding ramps at the doors of the train’s carriages to allow the passengers an easy disembark way. The many commuters disembarked from the train and made their way into the town proper. All but six, who lingered on the station platform a little longer to plan their actions. “Alright, everypony,” Twilight said, turning to each of her friends in turn. “According to Celestia, the attacks take place down at the beach. And only mares are reported to be the victims of these attacks, so everypony take care, alright?” The other five mares nodded, each looking rather nervous, due to this newfound knowledge that only mares were susceptible victims to these attacks. The group made their way down to the beach, Twilight at the head, and cautiously combed the sandy tourist trap for any sign of their attacker. They didn’t have to look for very long, much to their chagrin. A piercing scream rang out across the beach, prompting the six mares to break out into a frantic gallop to reach the distressed pony in time. As they rounded a corner near the surfboard rental shack, they narrowly dodged a stampede of ponies that were fleeing from the beach as fast as they could manage. Twilight and friends looked on once the horde of panicking tourists had passed, mouths agape in horror at the scene before them. They watched in shock as Octavia Melody, a well-known cellist from Canterlot, was held high in the air by a large, dark blue, tentacle, screaming and flailing her hooves around in blind panic. Her marefriend, Vinyl Scratch, was trying desperately to kick and bite the grizzly appendage, cursing and swearing at the beast to let her lover go. The massive tentacle just roared in anger at the alabaster unicorn’s impudent behaviour, before a second tentacle erupted from the ocean and scooped her up as well. The two ponies yelled and shrieked as their captor carried them away to sea, leaving the shores of Equestria behind in a spray of sea foam. Rainbow Dash recovered first from the horrifying scene she had witnessed, dashing into the sky above her friends. “Come on, everypony! I have to chase after that thing!” The group nodded in unison, before rushing off to the rental shack to hire a boat. __--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--** The grey Earth pony and white unicorn found themselves being slung into a glass tank, just barely big enough to house the two of them. Octavia wrapped her hooves around her marefriend’s barrels, while Vinyl glared daggers at their ponynapper, who had revealed himself after climbing out of the ocean into the giant blue tiled temple they now found themselves in. The creature stood well in excess of twenty metres tall; tall enough to even make Tirek quiver in fear. Where one would expect the creature to have legs, it instead stood on eight long tentacles, each one as thick as a tree and lined with hundreds of suction cups that slurped and popped as they dragged the behemoth’s bulky body across the temple’s tiled floor. His torso looked something akin to a Minotaur’s body; broad and toned, with muscles that rippled and bulged with his every movement. His head, however, was an abomination, for lack of a more appropriate word. His head, on its own, could have been little more than a giant octopus, the cranium sagging and pulsing like a heart, and eight gangly tentacles dangling over the place on its face one would expect a mouth to be on a pony. The huddled equines had only ever heard of this sort of creature before in bedtime stories. Old pony tales from salty seafarers from long, long ago. But, here before them, stood a perfect specimen of a creature, long since thought to be either extinct, or just plain fiction; a Kraken. __--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--** The Mane Six disembarked from the speedboat they had hired – well, commandeered, more like, since Twilight had, for once, flaunted her Princess status at the boat hire pony, saying it was a matter of national important – and slowly climbed the steps of the Atlantean temple. Fluttershy brought up the rear, while Twilight and Rainbow boldly headed the stealthy advance. They hid behind a thick pillar, sneaking yard by yard into the miles-wide temple in search of the two stolen ponies. They made their way to, what looked like, the throne room, freezing in place at the tableau they walked into. There, sat on a throne made of coral and shipwrecks, was a giant blue Kraken. Nestled in his lap sat a very disgruntled, and extremely embarrassed, pony dressed up in a latex costume that made her look like a cat, complete with paws and whiskers. The Kraken stoked the pony with his gargantuan thumb, much to the pony’s vexation. Scattered all about the room were massive glass bowls, something akin to fish tanks that played home to the multiple mares that had gone missing from the previous attacks. “Oh. Oh my,” Fluttershy stuttered as she noticed what had happened to the ponies who were now being held captive in the giant fish bowls. Many of them were bound and gagged with ropes or leather or latex outfits, all of them held in very compromising positions that left nothing to the imagination. Her cheeks blushed bright pink, and she wriggled her back to keep her wings at her sides. Twilight gulped and gathered everypony together into a huddle. “Alright, girls. We’re going to have to play it calmly and cautiously if we’re going to safe those poor ponies. Whatever he has planned for them, it can’t be good. Rainbow Dash, I need you to fly up to those fish bowls and try to get those ponies out of there without being spotted.” “You got it, Twi.” Rainbow gave a mock salute and began to fly from pillar to pillar, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible. “Pinkie Pie,” Twilight continued, “do you have our party cannon?” “Naturally,” the pink party pony chimed, pulling a large blue cannon, almost as large as she was, seemingly from nowhere. “But why do you need it, Twi-Twi?” “In case Rainbow gets caught. We may need a distraction.” Twilight peeked out from behind the pillar she and the other ponies were hiding behind to find Rainbow carefully lifting a purple pony, Twilight recognised her to be Berry Punch, out of her fish bowl, the poor mare lying in the Pegasus’ hooves obediently, having been drugged up on enough alcohol to put Celestia into an alcoholic coma, as the prismatic pony flew her away and toward her friends’ hiding spot. She placed the drunk pony down gently, checking her pulse to ensure she was alright. Finding a steady, if faint, heartbeat, she made her way to another fish bowl. Fluttershy looked down at the boozed-up mare, blushing at the sight of the binds that held the Earth pony in a perfect hogtie. She locked her hind legs together and tried to will the growing heat between them to subside. Finding no success in her efforts, she stuffed her mouth with a hoof and bit as hard as she could against the tough hoof nail. She tried to think of unattractive things. She tried thinking of Rainbow Dash after a big sweaty workout. No, that just made her feel even hornier. How about thinking about Twilight making out with Flash Sentry? Well, the image of Flash made it less attractive, but thinking about Twilight wrestling tongues with another pony didn’t help the matter at all. Failing to find something unsexy and pacifying, Fluttershy gave a weak, aroused whimper into her hoof. Unfortunately for her and the group, the whimper did not go unheard. The Kraken reared his head and scanned the large room for the source of the sound. His eyes fell upon the fish bowl that housed Octavia and Vinyl, with the addition of Rainbow Dash, who was trying to carry them both out of the glass prison at the same time. The aquatic beast rose from his throne, giving a rumbling roar of dissatisfaction at the Pegasus’ attempt to rescue his captives. “Shoot!” Twilight broke out into a run, followed by Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity, towards the Kraken. “Pinkie! Now would be a good time for that distraction I mentioned.” The pink party pony gave a nod and fired a large burst of confetti and steamers from her trusty party cannon directly at the Kraken’s face. The cephalopod creature stumbled backward, shielding his eyes from the spray of polychromatic party bunting. The ponies took full advantage of their little smokescreen, and charged the goliath. The Kraken recovered quickly, however, and swung a tentacle across the floor, knocking the advancing ponies on their backs, some of them smashing into nearby pillars. Fluttershy squeaked in terror at the sight, and hastily beat a retreat. The Kraken spotted her, however, and extended a slimy tentacle toward her, plucking her from the temple floor, and dragging her away as he made his way deeper into the temple. __--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--** Fluttershy trembled as she felt the icky, slimy tentacle that held her hostage wrap around her barrel, constricting her breathing as she was dragged deeper and deeper into the temple. She couldn’t be sure if her trembling was from fear or arousal, but she prayed to Celestia that it was the former. After, what seemed like, hours, she was hoisted into the air and swiftly bound in rope, fashioned from thick, tough seaweed, that held her legs and wings close to her body, making her look like a caterpillar. Her vision blacked out as the Kraken spat a thick, goopy black ink on her face, gluing her eyes shut. She felt something gooey and slimy being shoved into her mouth, gagging her so she could protest or call for help. Fluttershy would never claim to be a meat, or even seafood, connoisseur, but at a guess, she supposed the slippery glob that filled her maw was some kind of jellyfish. Her ears perked up to listen as the Kraken began muttering to himself. “If those ponies think they can stop me creating my own personal harem, they’ve got another thing coming.” The butter Pegasus squeaked at the monster’s words, hoping the heat in her body was her muscles tensing up in an attempt to ready her to flee. As she squirmed, however, the seaweed binding her tightened around her, squeezing her as she fussed. The yellow Pegasus eeped at the sensation of the seaweed constricting her, particularly around the groinal region, eliciting a soft moan from her. She settled a little, resigning herself to the tight bonds that held her with little more resistance. The Kraken pulled a lever embedded into a wall with a large mosaic of, what looked like, some form of Alantean god, which appeared to have a body not too dissimilar to that of a human, if Twilight’s description of them was anything to judge by, and a face full of tentacles, numbering several dozen at a rough guesstimation. The large portion of the wall that held the mural swung open to reveal a menagerie of fish bowls, each housing several ponies the beast had ponynapped from his hunting grounds. He started collecting the innumerable prisons, making his preparations to leave the temple and relocate, away from interfering ponies. As he lifted a glass prison housing a white Pegasus mare with a yellow mane and tail, a rainbow coloured blur swooped into the giant bowl and plucked the trussed-up pony away from the Kraken’s clutches. The octopus behemoth snarled in frustration at the ponies’ meddling and swung a huge tentacle across the room, missing all present but Fluttershy, who was unable to move out of the way of the tentacle’s path of trajectory. The butter pony was sent flying out of the temple, landing in the middle of the vast ocean that surrounded it with an almighty splash. The five remaining ponies gasped in horror as the Kraken’s carelessly discarded their friend, all turning in unison to snarl disapprovingly at the monster. Twilight fired up her magic, while Applejack and Rarity cracked their joints, readying themselves for a rumble. Rainbow flew straight towards the creature, cracking him heavily under the jaw before carrying on her flight path and diving into the water after Fluttershy. The kraken shook the stars away from his vision, and looked out at the four remaining ponies, who were advancing on him menacingly, like a pack of predators ready to disembowel their stricken prey. __--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--** Rainbow swam as fast as she could, the salty water stinging her eyes as she chased down the rapidly sinking body of her fillyhood friend. Her lungs burned as her oxygen reserves quickly depleted, begging her to gasp, to gulp. To do anything to get some fresh air back into her body. Doing so, of course, would’ve been suicide, however, and a massive impediment to saving her helpless friend. Her vision began to darken at the corners, and she pushed herself harder. She wasn’t as big an egghead as Twilight, but even Rainbow Dash knew that water was several times thicker than air, so it was little wonder that her movement was slow and sluggish while she was fully submerged beneath the ocean’s surface. The tightness in her chest worsened, and she frantically kicked all four legs, even trying to adapt her wings into rudimentary oars to help make her swim faster. If she didn’t reach Fluttershy in time… well, the thought didn’t even need considering. She pushed herself to her absolute limit, praying to Celestia that the laws of physics would allow her to perform a sonic rainboom underwater. __--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--**__--** The Kraken roared in distain as he swung once more for the quick moving ponies, who were irritably dodging each and every one of his attacks, causing him to break pillars and walls this way and that. The rook of the temple had collapsed in places, and parts of the floor had been broken away into the ocean. One by one, the ponies he had captured for his harem had been rescued, and his home was now being torn apart piece by crumbling piece. The Kraken roared furiously, beating a swift retreat toward the ocean’s edge. “You win this time, ponies,” he snarled, “but I shall return. And next time, I shall be victorious!” And with that, the Kraken dived back into the water, swimming away with powerful jets of water from his muscular tentacles. Twilight and friends busied themselves with making sure the ponies they rescued were unharmed before rushing to the edge of the ruined temple, all waiting with bated breath for Rainbow and Fluttershy to remerge. Seconds turned into Celestia knows how long, every second that ticked by spelling impending doom for the two Pegasi ponies trapped beneath the surface of the water. After close to a minute of suspense, a muffled boom rippled the water from below, and a large, rainbow coloured, streak burst from the ocean, turning in a sharp arch high above the temple before crashing into the tiled floor to reveal two dripping wet Pegasi; one gulping in air like freshly pressed cider, the other barely moving at all. The ponies hurried to Rainbow and Fluttershy’s sides, the prismatic pony recovering quickly from her ordeal and hurrying to Fluttershy, frantically checking her vitals. As time ticked on, everypony grew more and more nervous that Fluttershy may not be waking up again. But after a tense, pregnant, pause, Fluttershy gave a huge cough, hacking up salt water and vacating her airways to allow herself to slurp in some very much needed oxygen. Her friends let out a synchronised breath that none had realised they were holding, before their thoughts once again cycled back to the question of how Fluttershy was feeling after her traumatic experience as she lay on the floor, gasping and moaning. As they watched her steady her breathing, however, they became very acutely aware of the… tenor… of her gasping, and the buttery mare began writhing a little in her seaweed binds, causing her voyeurs to blush a little. “She’s fine,” Applejack concluded with a nod, though she yanked the brim of her hat over her eyes to avoid looking at the spectacle. “Come on, y’all. Let’s get these poor mares home, while we leave Fluttershy to it.” The other ponies nodded briskly before making a swift exit from the temple, leading the herd of captured ponies away to bring them back to the mainland. They would come back for Fluttershy in due time. But, for the moment, she probably appreciated the… alone time.