> Discord's Gift
>  by David Silver
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1 - For You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord laid across Fluttershy's couch, watching her work. She was cleaning things. "I don't understand why you spend so much time cleaning, it's just going to get dirty again."

"Then I'll clean it again." Fluttershy set aside her duster. "Thank you for keeping me company while I tidy up."

"You deserve so much more than mere 'company', dear Fluttershy." He sat up and put his hands on his legs. "Tell me, I already know I'm your bestest friend ever, but surely a mare of your calibre has considered 'other' kinds of company, no?"

Fluttershy tilted her head at Discord like a confused puppy. "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"Oh, you know, a 'special somepony'?" His brows waggled with suggestion. "Someone to be friends in the dark of night when I'm away."

Fluttershy began to darken rapidly. "W-well, n-no. I mean... I don't... I..."

"Don't be so shy." He was at her side without traversing the space between, grabbing her side and hugging her close. "It's perfectly natural for any pony to want to have that sort of company, even just once in awhile. Even you, dear Fluttershy, must have some desires."

"No! I mean, I'm just fine." She pushed Discord back a few precious inches. "I'm just fine with the company of friends and my animals."

Discord squinted a little as he released Fluttershy. "Your animals? Oh! Oh... Really, Fluttershy, I would think you're above that." He crossed his arms scoldingly.

Fluttershy did not get what was being thrown at first, peering back at Discord a moment before it clicked and she jumped with the force of it. "Not like that! Discord, thank you for your concern, but I just don't need any of that."

"Oh dear." He tapped a hoof on the ground, actually standing on it in his worry. "That's not healthy. You're repressing your needs. You don't even know what you want!"

"I know what I want, Discord, and I'm getting it." She smiled gently at him. "It's alright."

"Fluttershy, tell me truthfully, have you tried?"

She went dark and quiet.

"Exactly as I thought. You think you don't want it, but you've never even given it a try. Oh, I know!" He clapped his hands together and brought them apart, a small strange cube existing between them where it had not a moment before. "With this, we'll get right to the bottom of things and put a smile right on that darling face of yours."

Fluttershy took a step back. "Discord, tell me exactly what that is." She pointed at the mystery cube and its strange patterns. They seemed to flow when she looked at it, changing slowly and perpetually, but only when it was at the center of her field of view.

Discord set the box down on the ground. "Don't be so shy. Just step up and let it do all the rest of the work. It will explore you and your possible wishes and find what puts a smile on and give you plenty of that." He flashed a triumphant smile. "And you can do it privately, so if you want me to skedaddle for an hour or two while you have fun, you have but to ask."

Fluttershy squinted at the box, trying to figure out some meaning to it when a slippery tentacle flopped free of it and grasped the area around it. Fluttershy shrieked in surprise and hopped back. "Discord, you make that thing go away right now!"

Discord huffed, arms folding. "What, not even going to give it a chance?"

"I don't want to give that thing any chances!" Her expression was changing from shock to anger, stomping her front-hooves.

"Not even one?" His bottom lip poked free in a pout, eyes glistening with fresh tears.

"Away, now..." She glared at Discord with singular desire.

"Oh, very well." He snapped his fingers and the box ceased to be. "Your loss."

The box had not been destroyed. She had asked it be sent away, and so it was.
> 2 - Start Case 1 - Chilling With Tree Hugger [Milking, Vaginal, Oral]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tree Hugger sat in a curious pose for a pony. Her hind-legs were crossed and her forehooves touched one another. Her eyes were closed and she made soft noises of concentration, her mantra. "Ohm.... Ohm... Ohm..." Incense hung in the air, helping to 'clear' it despite creating a fog of aromatic scents.

It was a fine day for smoothing out her chakras, and she planned to take advantage of it. She raised her hooves to her head. "Crown, open wide and, like, feel the flow of the universe..." She let out a slow breath before inhaling deeply of the incense, a smile on her face.

She moved her hooves to her forehead. "Third eye open wide, see all the wonders of the world." Her words were slow and dreamy. She was in the zone, and she loved it. "Like, I can see..." She drew in the foggy air as her hooves lowered.

With an almost silent pop, a box plopped down into her lap. She blinked her eyes open, surprised. "Hey, woah." She curled on herself to see the strangely flowing cube. "Wow... Is this something from the other side? Am I seeing this with my third eye?" She reached out with her right forehoof for the flowing patterns of the box. "What's the happs?"

The box's side burst open, making Tree Hugger tilt her head. She grabbed it gently by its intact sides and turned it to peer inside its depths. A new scent tickled at her nose. She snuffled it up with grown curiosity. "Oh, wow, that's totally opening a chakra out of order." She set the box down and slowly stood up. "Sacral's second to last." She could feel her thick equine lips warming. Moisture was starting to build inside her. She was growing warm and she felt good in a curious way.

"Some of that is familiar." It was far from the first time she'd opened the sacral chakra, but usually she was ready for it. "Where's another pony when you want one?" She looked around her humble home, the psychedelic art and soft pillows offered no answer to her current desire. She heard something wet and her attention slid back to the mystery box. Projecting from that open side was exactly what she wanted. A huge equine member was thrusting into the air, twitching and ready for use.

"Far out..." A normal pony would have been alarmed, but Tree Hugger wasn't even sure if what she was seeing was real or just what her third eye was witnessing. "Maybe this incense is a little too strong." Not that she shied away from the box. She licked over her lips as she measured it up with her eyes. "A little big." And it shrank as if on command. "Get out..." She picked up the box, horsecock bobbing from the motion. "You're the best." She carried the mystery box towards one of her larger pillows and set it down, shaft pointing up at an angle.

The scent of the room was becoming tainted with her own arousal, but that was not a smell she was unfamiliar with. She turned around, presenting her rump towards the box. She could feel her lips opening and closing in winking motions and shook her rump left and right.

Suddenly, she felt a blunt tip pressing against her. She hadn't lowered towards it yet, but there it was. She let out a blissful sigh as it rubbed up and down along her weeping lips. It didn't make any sense, and she had a hard time caring entirely. The flat tip pressed into her a few precious inches and her body went tense a moment before she relaxed. Her powerful tunnel grasped at the tool in her even as the rest of her relaxed, trying to draw it deeper. Her tail was raised high and to the side, allowing the stallion that wasn't there to mount her properly. "Oh..." Her front lowered and she began to stretch out. There was no real stallion, so she could sprawl out. Of course, some stallions she'd been with, the good ones, would sprawl with her.

She let out a heady groan as the shaft sank several precious inches into her. It started to draw back, only to press in further. It seemed almost shy, feeling out exactly how deep she was, how much she wanted. She welcomed it, grabbing and pulling at it with her talented inner muscles. Her tongue poked free of her snout, panting a little with rising pleasure. "You can go faster than that, like, go ahead."

Something wet slapped against her snout and her eyes turned from looking over her shoulder to seeing that a second shaft had coiled around her like a vine. It leaked salty precum over her lips and her eyes widened a moment before falling back to their usual half-lidded state. "Far out..." She flicked her tongue across its tip, licking up the salty fluids. "I'm tripping out..." She imagined waking up later, a wet mess. She hoped the headache wouldn't be too bad, but it was, perhaps, worth it.

There was no more time for other words. The shaft pressed past her willing lips and ran across her tongue. It pulsed with a powerful and thumping heartbeat as it filled her snout. She closed her lips around it, imagining the stallion that should be attached to it, but wasn't. Some small part of her nudged against her, trying to remind her that several mounting things were distinctly wrong. She told it to chill out, but the words came out as a muffled mess around her phallic gag.  She could feel the powerful veins of the shafts that pierced her from both ends, spit roasting her. She let out the smallest growl as she ran her tongue in a swirl around the member before her nostrils flared.

The shaft behind her gave a powerful thrust, perhaps testing how firmly she could take it. Her tail hiked up and she squirmed with ever increasing pleasure. She twitched as she felt something tickling around her lower belly. She tried to see what it was, but the shaft in her mouth held her forward and she couldn't bring up the will to care enough to struggle against its attentions. Whatever it was nuzzled around her breasts, brushing the fur aside to get at her hidden teats. They normally were quite hidden on most mares that weren't in the middle of raising a foal. With a wet sound, two suckling presences popped onto her exposed teats. Rhythmic suckling felt funny at first. Tree Hugger squirmed with confusion before a moan was forced from her with the increasingly energetic pumping of the shaft buried in her thick equine lips.

Her liquids were flowing free of her. Every thrust of the cock behind her came with a loud squelch as frothing fluids were forced out between it and her trembling passage. A thin line of saliva ran down her open mouth. Her entire body was tingling with the intense pleasure she was being given. She opened her mouth a little wider, trying to say something, when the horsecock in her mouth swelled, its flare going full size as a load of fluid traveled up along it. She was suddenly forced to swallow a thick load of rich cream, some of it spilling right back out of her mouth before she could close her lips around the member properly and get to nursing at it. It tasted bitter and salty, but something about it seemed so... perfect. Her eyes closed just a little more as she trembled, overwhelmed.

As nice as it all felt, she was not an entirely passive mare. She gave a sudden agile twist and practically fell over on her rump. She could feel the shafts turning around inside her, but they didn't retreat or let up, pumping into her. The shaft that had exploded into her showed no sign of fatigue for its own release. She brought her hind legs up and around the length that rocked into her quivering vulva and found that it had grown much longer than it had started. Only the very end of it was in her, the rest was a huge flexible pony cock that ran back into the strange cube it had all started from.

She could finally see what was going on, peeking down across her belly. Two cylinders ran through the air from the cube to her teats, terminating in two large milking devices that were working her increasingly sensitive nipples. She had not been much for breast play before, but the cube's attentions were awakening her to the possibilities. Each pull was a little thunderstorm of intensity as she weakly kicked out a foreleg. She felt like she was swollen, huge, like her teats had become massively sensitive organs that undulated under the building pressure.

Her vision dimmed as the most powerful climax of the evening washed over her. Her passage went tight as a muffled groan caught in her throat. The unnatural length within her pulsed and began spraying her womb down with its unnatural seed. She was this strange cube's plaything. The part of her that quivered was alright with that situation, but the rest of her started to grow concerned. She closed her hooves on the shaft that led to her mouth and pulled it free with a slow wet motion. As if to say goodbye, it spewed one last great load across her tongue, lips and much of the front of her snout, but she was free of it. "Gnarly... That's enough." She shook her head, cum dripping from her fur. She jumped slightly as the one between her legs gave a mighty push. "Dude... that feels nice, but..." She started to reach down and brushed against the tubes running to her sensitive teats first. "You should go..."

She grasped as firmly as she could with trembling legs and pulled at it. It came free an inch and she gasped with surprise, falling back even as she was rocked under the unending pounding of the cock breeding her tirelessly. "No way..." An inch should have been more than enough by far to get the tube free, but it was still on her teat, which had swollen up to match the diameter of the thick tube itself. She had a teat that could rival a cow's and was still being sucked on, milking her. Focusing on it, she could see that streams of thick cream were flowing from both of her teats, being drawn away into the box. "This is out of this world..." Tree Hugger struggled to make sense of it, but there wasn't a lot of sense to be had.

A soft pinch brought a moment of clarity. It had done something to her captured nipples, and the result of it became clear rapidly. Her breasts were swelling beneath them, feeding them more milk, rounding and bulging as if she were already foaling. Tree Hugger was not sure if she should go with the flow anymore. She bent over on herself with amazing flexibility, grabbed the right tube in her snout, and started pulling fiercely. Each tug freed another inch of her flesh. "Little... more..." She wrenched it free and milk sprayed free from the last suction on the sensitive flesh, soaking her belly with warm fluids.

She could see that her nipple had grown to about six inches in length, thick and dribbling milk along its drooping flesh, but that left the other still trapped. She wasted no time grabbing for it, but it flexed to avoid her grasping mouth. "Uncool." She snapped at it again but it wove and bobbed like a snake. Only when she brought in her hooves and snout in concert did she trap it and get a strong hold on it. As she pulled it free, the shaft inside of her trembled and exploded in a massive spray of seed. It pulled loose of her even as she ripped the tube free, spraying her rump down with its fertile offering. The tubes and cocks withdrew into the machine, leaving her to flop weakly on the soaked pillow, panting for breath.

She wasn't sure if she should avoid that incense in the future... or stock up.
> 3 - Like, gnarly man.[Nursing, Mind Control]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tree blinked open her eyes. She reached out in a slow stretch but found her fur stuck to the pillow she was on. She moved her hoof the other way, but it was just as stuck. Slowly, she sat up, the noise of her fur separating from the fabric a low but constant noise of tearing as she winced. "I need a bit of a shower, maybe..." She managed to get herself upright and felt a new pressure against her belly.

Her eyes fell and saw the box first. It was seated on the floor, clean, pristine, and just as wickedly psychadelic to view as ever it had been before. It was sealed, with no strange parts dangling free of it, or moving to do strange things to Tree Hugger. Memories of what had happened flooded back to her and her nose wrinkled. "You weren't just part of the trip..." Her eyes descended further, to where the pressure had been. Her belly protruded into an udder, a full udder.

She reached with shaking hooves to inspect those two bulging breasts. Each was capped with a nipple, no, teat. To call those swollen and massive lengths nipples felt like a lie. Each was about six inches long and thick enough to draw a slow, "ohhhh, wow..." Every brush of her hooves along the altered flesh made her twitch just faintly. It felt nice. It wasn't an overpoweringly nice, but nice. "I wonder what it's like when somepony else is around..." She rolled free of her filthy pillow and stood up tall.

At least, she tried. She wobbled dangerously to the left before she caught herself. "Easy there. We just need to clean our energies." She glanced back over herself, matted and filthy from what had happened before. "And maybe clean other things..." She trotted towards her bathroom. As she went, she glanced back at her udder. Its swaying she could feel with every step, distracting her mildly. It felt full.

It struck her just as she reached the door to the bath. "Do I need to be, like, milked?" She sank to her haunches. "Full on blowing my mind. I wonder if a cow famer would give a hoof with that...?" She shook her head and stood back up, climbing into her tub and getting the water flowing. The filth of her own fluids and that of the strange cube began to run free of her as the water cascaded down her green form. The heat built, steaming the room and drawing a slow sigh from her. "I wonder what that thing is, its energy feels way off."

She lowered her head under the spray, allowing herself to be silent save for a low hum to clear her thoughts as the water cleared her fur.  She did not consider for a moment the idea of being embarrassed about her new growth. It was a part of her. Unasked for and unexpected, but a part. "Just have to be chill."

Cleaned, she hopped free of the tub and toweled herself off before emerging. The cube still sat there. "Are you scoping me out?" Tree peered at the thing a moment as if expecting it to react. "That's alright, dude." She turned away and walked for the door. She had things to do.

As she walked down the road, she greeted the ponies she could see. "Blessings." "Peace." "Righteous day." Despite all her greetings, the ponies seemed hesitant to return her enthusiasm. They were staring at her, and what was bouncing around her hind legs. Tree Hugger didn't pay the attention much mind as she made her way towards a cafe. "Just the thing for a radical breaking of the fast."

She trotted up to a wide-platform chair and sank into it. "I'm ready to start a groovy day. I'll have my usual, please."

The waitress approached her with an unsure smile. "Good morning, Tree Hugger... Are you... alright?" Her eyes darted towards Tree's new udder and kept wrenching up to meet Tree's eyes as if in internal struggle. "Do you have some news to share?"

Tree tilted her head slowly. "My aura's a little wavy today. I'm trying to clear my chakras with a little familiarity. Some of your hashed oats and a big cup of coffee, please."

She cleared her throat softly. "O-of course, I'll get that right away." She started to turn away but stopped. "Tree Hugger... I know we don't talk... much outside of your breakfasts... but... really, are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

She reached out and pointed directly at the udder. "Are you expecting?"

Tree's own eyes fell on the distended organ. "Don't suppose you know someone willing to give a righteous milking to that?"

The waitress went a deep red instantly. "O-only cows let somepony that's not their young do that."

Tree extended a hoof to nudge the firm sack of pink flesh. "You can call me a totally awesome cow if it gets it taken care of. It's really harshing my buzz."

The waitress struggled to look away, but her eyes kept returning to the udder. With Tree nudging it, the waitress licked her lips. "M-maybe I... can help." She had never felt the slightest attraction for mares before, let alone the breasts of a foaling one, but with every movement of that glorious milk-sac, she was drawn deeper. She wanted it. "If you want?"

Tree leaned back with a soft happy sigh. "I knew I could count on you, Buttercup. You are the rainbow to my stormy day."

Buttercup glanced around the cafe. She was in full sight of the public. She trembled, not wanting to proceed. "I..." She knew she shouldn't, but she came closer. She had to have it and Tree Hugger was offering it. The impulse grew more powerful as she came closer. A subtle scent teased at her nose. It was like milk, but just a little off. She wanted it. "One order, Tree Hugger Special!" she called out suddenly, then she lunged forward.

Tree's eyes widened ever so slightly as Buttercup dove at her. The waitresses lips sliding over one of her thick teats made her tremble with a new pleasure. As nice as the milker that had given her that teat had been, the feel of an actual pony was something else. When Buttercup's tongue ran around it, Tree put her hooves on the helpful waitress' head. "Mmm, more of that. You have to suck though."

Buttercup nodded into the breast flesh. She felt so comfortable there, as if she were meant to be there. With partially glazed eyes, she began to draw on it, noisily suckling on the firm flesh as her cheeks deflated with the pressure. The milk came quickly, at first a taste. Sweet perfection exploded across her tongue and she moaned whorishly into the connection. It was fulfilling her on a level she did not think was possible. She needed more, all of it!

Tree felt herself going limp and went with it. "Ohhhh, that's just the spot. You're mellowing out my aura something fierce..." Her tongue began to peek free as the discomforting pressure in her udder began to ease. "You righteous mare, keep that up..." The idea of being embarrassed at the scandalized faces of the other ponies in the cafe gaping at her and the waitress did not even register as a thought.

One rotund mare stepped towards the obscene display with a scowl. "Stop that this very instant!" she bellowed, her fat jiggling with the force of her fury. "This is indecent! Think of the foa--" Her words died in her snout. She had been peering at the lewd act and had come close enough. The noisy suckles of Buttercup had only helped the hypnotic scent of the milk spread and it was invading her thoughts. "Think of..." She ran a tongue over her lips. Her eyes were glued on Tree Hugger's second teat, hanging there all alone, milk hanging from its tip. "Think... of the ponies who don't have a chance." She stepped towards Tree Hugger with a dopey smile. "May I have some?"

Tree Hugger nudged Buttercup deeper into her udder with one hoof as the other reached out towards the mare. "Righteous. They both need some awesome attention."

A stallion suddenly rushed forward, nudging the fat mare aside with a frown. "No, let me! I'm better at sucking!"

Other ponies were coming closer, some with complaints, others with requests, but as they drew closer, they fell under the pervasive control of Tree Hugger's magnificent udder. Buttercup suddenly came free with a ragged gasp, milk trickling from her snout. "F-full." She just couldn't force another swallow, filled to capacity. "Full..." She sounded like she was announcing she had one some grand medal, and fell backwards to the ground, weakly gasping to recover from the ordeal. "So good..."

Tree Hugger perked an ear at the mare. Though the pain had lessened, she didn't feel drained by far. "Good thing more ponies are feeling so radically helpful today." She spread her forehooves wide. "Who's next?"

"What's everyone looking at?" came a new voice. Muffins had arrived, flying gracelessly. "Oh, hey Tree Hugger!" She waved energetically as if not noticing the crowd of hopeful milk-wanters at first, but that quickly changed. "Wow, you sure are popular today."

Tree Hugger smiled at the familiar pony. "Muffins, you. I know you. Can you do me a solid and help get the milk out of these." She gestured down at her milk sacs.

Muffins landed just in front of the crowd. "Oh, sure. I love helping! How do I do that?" Her eyes were drawn to those thick teats, one to each teat, following them independently as she licked her lips. "I'm thirsty."

"I have all the drink you need right here, dizzy momma." She nudged her fuller teat. "Come and take it."

Muffins could feel a nagging sense that she shouldn't, but the desire, no, absolute need for what Tree Hugger was offering was overwhelming. She trotted up, fell to her belly, and practically collapsed onto the teat, sucking it up and nursing on it like a lost foal.

Tree let out a dreamy sigh as she nudged the other teat. "First one gets it." It rapidly became pandemonium as the crowd pushed and shoved to get closer. One snout closed over her other teat and the crowd stilled. With both nipples being slurped away at with noisy draws, it seemed the immediate need to fight for them abated. They were waiting their turn. "Awesome..." Tree put a hoof on the head of either pony sucking at her. "You have no idea how nice this is. You two are my heroes right now, like totally."

On one side, Muffins was nursing softly but consistently, her lips firmly sealed and applying firm and even suckles to keep the milk flowing. On the other, a stallion had managed to become the lucky other pony and was working far more aggressively. His head bobbed with every suck and his teeth brushed against the sensitive flesh, helping to squeeze it and coax the milk out just a little faster.

Tree was starting to lose sense of the time. She was a source of milk, of fulfillment, and she was loving it. She didn't want to ever stop. That cube had just given her a desire, and she couldn't even muster the will to be angry at it. When each drinker reached their capacity, she waved the next forward. She would stroke their heads, pet their ears, and love each fiercely. She felt like a mother to the entire crowd and she savored every moment of it.

A masculine voice broke through Tree's fog, "Wow... all of them?" Behind the cafe's counter stood the chef of the cafe.

Tree looked around, realizing that all her supplicants were sprawled out on the ground. Many were rubbing their full bellies, others were completely knocked out. All were gorged and content. "Bummer, guess that's everyone." Her udder didn't feel empty, but it didn't feel full either. "Did you want some?"

"I'll pass, Tree Hugger. Your order's up." He nudged forward a tray with her food on it. "Have a, what is that word you use... radical, yeah, radical day."

"Righteous." Tree rose to her hooves and advanced to claim her breakfast.
> 4 - Start Case 2 - Welcome to the Big Apple[Transgender]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unaware of anything odd going on elsewhere in his community, Big Mac lashed out his hind legs. His hooves struck the tree with a satisfying thump and apples began to rain down around him, landing perfectly in the buckets he had set up to do just that. He nodded with satisfaction as he picked up the rope of the first in his mouth and lifted it into a wagon he had brought with him.

He turned for the second basket and stopped. Laying there on top of the pile of apples was a strange cube with stranger patterns that swirled and flowed along its surface. He wondered a moment where it had come from in silence before he shrugged. There was work to do, and he planned to do it. He picked up the second basket and slid it beside the first, continuing his work.

He labored through the day, building a sheen of sweat as he worked through the orchard, the refreshing cool breezes that wafted through easing the heat of the bright sun overhead. Being a farmer was no easy task, but it was one Big Mac was home to. It was a fine day. Warm, but not too warm. It was just breezy enough to take the edge off and not turn his sweat into a sudden dip into chills.

Content, he hauled his wagon full of buckets of apples towards the barn. He nudged the door open with his snout. "Hello, McIntosh," came the friendly voice of Daisy Jo, a brown and white cow that the farm housed. "Hard day in the fields?"

Big Mac walked past her, bringing the wagon attached to himself into the barn. "Ayup." He pulled himself free of the wagon's harness and circled around it. "Everythin' alright?"

"I can hardly complain." She was smiling at him warmly, her thin tail swaying. "You Apples provide so much for us."

"It's a trade." Big Mac gave a light nod. "Still, good to see ya."

"Trade nothing!" She waved it  away with a frantic hoof over the side of her stall. "I know what you get from our milk, and it isn't that much. You feed us, shelter us, keep us safe from horrible things. Why... What's that?" She was looking past Big Mac towards the strange cube that was parked on the rim of the wagon in clear view.

Big Mac turned to see what she saw and the straw in his mouth drooped a little. Hadn't it been in one of the buckets of apples? "Musta fallen off." He trotted towards it. "Ya know who's it is?"

"It isn't yours? What is it?" Big Mac only shrugged at her question, so she moved on to another topic, "All done with your chores?"

"Ayup." Big Mac nudged the strange cube. "Yer lucky, gettin' ta just stand around like that."

Daisy perked an ear. "Don't you go thinking that. It's boring! Why, I wouldn't mind trying out your job, but I don't have the strength for it. The trees wouldn't even feel me."

Tossing the cube onto his back, Big Mac turned to Daisy. "Well, maybe not a cow specific none..."

"You look like you're thinking about something, hon." She fluttered her big lashes at him. "Go on, I won't share... Besides, not like ponies usually listen to us cows much anyway."

Big Mac considered as he approached Daisy. "Yer right... Ah'm just lashin' out, and ah'm sorry." He adjusted the harness around his neck lightly. "Ah get jealous of Applejack. That mare gets to save the world practically every week, ya know?"

"Oh, yes, she does do that." Daisy nodded. "But while she's gone, who's here to take care of us? You! You're our hero." She leaned over the fence of her stall and gave the stallion a nip on the closest ear. "Don't you forget it."

Big Mac chuckled softly. "Ayup." He trotted past her and closed the door behind. Daisy's words were kind enough, but he found his thoughts going to his dreams. What if he was a hero? What if he was a 'destined' one? "Nope." It wasn't likely. He would never be a princess. He let out a soft sigh as he slipped into the house.

Granny Smith was cooking something on the stove busily. "'Lo Big Mac. Good day?"

"Ayup." He walked past her, stepping across the familiar wood of his family home. He made his way to his room and crashed down onto his bed. He was startled when he heard something clatter to the floor. It was the cube. It had fallen off of him when he had flopped onto his bed. It wasn't doing anything, and there on the floor was about as good as anywhere else. He left it be and drifted into a bit of a nap.

He awoke when something brushed against his nose and made him sneeze. He curled with the force of the sudden gust and blinked his eyes, focusing on a strange petal hovering just in front of his face. It was a bright blue flower and was glittering with a pollen. His sneeze had shaken some of it free, descending down on him in a dusting. Big Mac stiffened. Was that Poison Joke? How did that get in his room?

His eyes swept in a panic to see blue wherever he looked. His room was an infestation, a comedy routine of Poison Joke!

He felt something brush up just under his chin. Another blue flower had somehow snuck up on him. "Git... away--" His voice faltered as it changed. With every syllable, it was becoming lighter and softer. "Wha?" he asked with the timbre of a mare. He had to get out of there! He scrambled to his hooves even as more pollen was kicked up.

It got into his nose and he had a horrible urge to sneeze, but he held it in despite the flaring of pain in his irritated nostrils. Sneezing would only make it worse, or so he figured. He barely got out a feminine whimper as the pain began to fade thankfully, but it didn't go away. It seemed to press deeper into his snout and change as it went. It became a warmth, then a tingle, and finally a pulsing sensation that wasn't entirely bad. Big Mac looked down at his snout with crossed eyes as it began to shrink and round out. He was getting a mare's chin and face. He squeaked with dismay and jumped from his bed for the door.

He landed barrel-deep in a bed of thick-grown blue plants. They ensnared him, wrapping tightly and hugging him like a firmly attached lasso. "No, lemme go!" He cried with his female voice. "Stop!" But they didn't let go, or stop. A new bud tickled at him just where his hanging balls ended and before his puffy horse anus began. He squealed and thrashed, trying to escape what couldn't be good. "Nope, nope, nope!" He lashed out a hoof at it, but another vine caught the leg, then a new one snagged his other hind leg and pulled them apart, immobilizing him, exposed.

The tickling bud seemed insistent on grinding its yellow pollen across the red fur of his taint as strange sensations rumbled in his lower belly. He couldn't see it, but he was rapidly developing everything a mare might need to become a mother. The strange sliding sensations being his own organs being pushed aside to make room for a womb as it grew and matured rapidly. When it reached the surface, an alien pleasure exploded across Big Mac's vision and he let out a girlish shriek as the thick lips of an equine female ripened, winking wildly as the vulva stretched out, taking up more and more space between his balls and anus.

A thick bud curled up and tickled at the end of his sheath. Big Mac wasn't the cleverest pony around, but even he could guess what was happening. "Please, no..." He didn't want to stop being a stallion. "Don't take it away, please... No..."  The bud paused a moment as if reconsidering and Big Mac dared to let hope surge. "Please?" His voice was alien to himself, as was more of his form. Was he still a he? "Ah don't wanna lose it..."

The bud hung there, doing nothing. He was still a stallion, at least for the moment. Big Mac sagged with relief, trying to see behind herself with very little success with the plants holding him straight, arg, his gender was very confused in his mind. "What're ya doin'?" He couldn't escape, but maybe he could... reason with the plants?

The bud lowered and began to rub firmly along either side of his sheath, sending strange new pleasures radiating upwards into him. He mewled and groaned like a well-stuffed mare, his free forelimbs pawing at the ground. "What're... ya doin'?" What was going on became clear soon enough. He grew a mare's udder. It was small, like a normal mare that wasn't with a foal, but it was there. His breathing picked up with alarm, but the wave of anxiety started to melt away. Was having an udder so bad? All mares had udders...

"Ah ain't a mare!" he protested loudly with his female voice. He twisted left and right, trying to break free when a new tendril dove for his head. With a quick twist, he avoided it. "Stop!" It came at him again and he half-curled back on himself, narrowly avoiding it. "No!" He had nowhere else to run. It plunged down and stuck fast to his forehead. Those increasingly familiar waves of change began to radiate from its point of contact.

He felt himself relaxing. Something was growing, pushing. He almost felt... His cheeks warmed at the thought of it. It was like he was becoming erect, from his forehead. What was happening? The idea of an actual penis thrusting free of his head was not a good one. He could see the vine leading away from his head if he focused on it, but he couldn't see what it was doing. Would it be so bad?

If he had a penis on his head, yes. Yes it would be. He was quite sure of that. As if to prove him wrong, the tentacle drew wetly free, leaving a glistening length of polished red alicorn behind. He had a horn. It was long, tapered, and... his? Yes, it was his. Big Mac grinned a little goofily. He had fantasized about having a horn, but it had just been idle fantasy. There it was... "Wow..."

The vines that had wrapped so snugly around his midsection began to draw away, allowing him to take a step without resistance. He felt something new brush against them as he tried to stretch. His stretch had activated two new limbs. He had wings, red, large, glorious wings. He gaped back at them. He spread one, then the other, then together and back again. They were his. They obeyed him. He started to giggle in his new girlish voice. Those vines weren't just trying to make him a mare. "Ah'm a princess..." He stood up taller. "Ah'm a princess!" He danced from hoof to hoof, excitement growing in his addled mind. He looked himself over, crossing his eyes to see his big horn and looking back at his wings and peeking under a leg to see he still had his stallion bits and a mare's udder.

"Ah'm both?" When he fully coiled, he could see that he had the lips of a mare, jostling for space with everything else he had back there. His back end was nothing but a huge erogenous zone. He wondered what it would feel like if he let a stall... He blinked. Was that a normal thing for him to think about? Well... if he had... that... why wouldn't he be mounted at some point?

He licked over his lips. Of course, he was also a stallion. He could and would do the mounting too. He tried to shake free of the lewd whimsies. "Ah'm a princess!" He said to remind himself and focus his thoughts. He wanted to show everyone! With a girlish giggle, he opened his door. The poison joke was receding, pulling back into the box it had spilled from. Big Mac was paying it no mind as he emerged from his room, a changed pony. He had so many things he wanted to do.
> 5 - Behold[Orgy, M/F, Vaginal]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Big Mac, s'that you?" Granny Smith peeked up the stairs towards Big Mac's room. "What's wit..." Her voice trailed off as she beheld Princess Big Mac, jaw going limp.

"Hello, Granny." Big Mac stepped down the stairs in a lively canter. "Sorry, gotta do princess stuff. The day won't save itself." He gave the dumbfounded elder a firm nod. "Ah'll be back later." He brushed against her side as he walked past her, eyes on the door. "Ah'll make ya proud."

"Proud? What?" Granny spun to face him, but he burst through the door and took off on new wings. "Dang idjit! Ah'm already proud of ya!" Her angry words were heard by none and her impotent hoofshaking did little to bring the altered Big Mac back. Her hoof lowered to the ground and her rage faded to musing. "Mmm, maybe Ah'll finally get to be a great grandma after all..." Applejack seemed unlikely to come through on that end, but Big Mac...

Big Mac soared through the air, giggling in his new girlish voice as he felt the wind rushing through his fur. He was free, free of the shackles of the ground, but more than that. "Ah'm a princess." He reminded himself as his eyes swept over the town, looking for a specific thing. "Somepony must need mah help..." He saw a good target. A group of ponies were gathered around a juggler near the market, watching her bounce balls, rubber chickens, and other odd things around.

He wanted to be seen. He dove for them on sure wings, only giving a flap to come out of the dive at the last moment and land with what he hoped was grace before them. "Ponies of Ponyville," he spoke in a booming voice of a princess. "Princess Big Mac is here to serve you."

The juggler's arms fell and the things she was jostling collapsed around her.

Lyra tilted her head at the big red former-earth pony. "What the hay happened to you?"

Bon Bon smacked her over the head. "Watch your tongue, but, what she said. What happened?"

The crowd was filled with similar statements of wonder and curiosity. Lyra gave her friend a cross look before trotting up to Big Mac. "You're a mare..."

"Ah'm a princess," he countered.

"No, pretty sure you're a mare." She reached out and touched his cheek. "You're shaped like a mare. You sound like a mare." With a leaning, she peeked under his barrel. "Oh..."

Big Mac nodded confidently. "See?"

Without hesitation, Lyra scooted around Big Mac to peek at his back end. "Nope, mare." She prodded him right where a pony should not be touching without invitation. "See?"

Bon Bon stormed up "Lyra! I can't take you anywhere!" She grabbed her friend's ear in her mouth, clenched in her teeth and started pulling her away from Big Mac.

Big Mac let them go, his eyes on the rest of the crowd. "Ah'm a princess and am ready to save the day."

The Juggler, her things gathered back up, pointed to town hall. "Maybe they'd know if something was wrong? Are you alright?"

"Ayup." He gave a quick bobbing of his head before he trotted towards the town hall. He would be the best princess there ever was!

A confused male voice came, "Big Mac?" It was Caramel, the amber coated stallion approached him from behind. "Is... that really you?"

"Princess Big Mac," he corrected with a smile.

"Uh, yeah?" He looked to her confusing genitals, but his nose twitched softly. Much like Tree Hugger had before, Big Mac's presence was a corrupting one and he was falling into it with his proximity and lack of friend to pull him free. "Yer... a mighty pretty princess."

Big Mac warmed in his cheeks, tail giving a swish at the compliment. "Thanks kindly! Now, how kin ah help?"

Caramel stepped closer, his snout even with Big Mac's cutie mark. "Oh, help, sure. I was headed for town hall." He pointed the way. "I was going to get permission to do some repairs..." That sounded too pedestrian, and he wanted Big Mac to stick around. He wanted that more and more with every passing moment. "Caused... by a monster!"

Big Mac turned around, his snout barely an inch from Caramel's. "Monster! Now we're talkin'! Where's it at?"

Caramel's nostrils flared. Even her, his? Her. Even if Big Mac objected, she was a she as far as Caramel cared. Her breath was lovely. Her body was lovely. Every part of her... "Y-yeah... I... this way." He turned back towards his house, wondering how he would make up a monster for her to slay, then a thought struck him. "Actually... it ran off, this way." He veered off towards the Everfree. There would be no shortage of monsters there.

Big Mac trotted beside Caramel with a big smile. "Ah'll take care of it for ya, like a good princess."

"Best Princess," sighed out Caramel as they went. His shaft, normally well-behaved, began to slip free of his sheath, swaying left and right with every step. He wasn't even aware of it, his mind consumed on the red mare beside him. The drops of excited pre struck the ground, leaving a sporadic trail behind himself. "I bet you're real good..."

"Mmhmm." Big Mac nodded as they passed by Fluttershy's cottage. The yellow pegasus was outside, and seemed to notice them. He raised a hoof at her. "We're huntin' monsters," he called out to her. "Ah'll take care of it for ya, so relax."

"Um, thanks?" Fluttershy tilted her head at the two of them.

Caramel stiffened at Fluttershy's voice. His moment was shattered as he looked between her and Big Mac and squeaked, realizing that he was walking along with a huge erection. "I have to go!" He wheeled around and fled as fast as his hooves would carry him, shaft bouncing around wildly as it began to soften.

Big Mac sank to his haunches, pouting a little. "But... the monster..."

Fluttershy approached on cautious hooves. "What monster?"

Big Mac pointed in the direction Caramel had fled in. "He said one wrecked his house."

"Oh my." Fluttershy squinted a little, though it turned into a blink. "Have we met?"

"Sure we have," spoke the mare Big Mac. "Ah'm Princess Big Mac."

Fluttershy's eyes widened as the similarities became more obvious. "Big Mac?!" She glanced away and back. The handsome slab of a stallion she had carried a crush for had... become that? "You're a mare?"

"Nope." She turned and raised a leg to make the proof of his maculinity clear. "Ah'm a princess."

"You..." Her nose twitched softly. She felt a warmth stirring in her as memories of her feelings for Big Mac drifted towards the surface. "You're... less scary."

"Scary?" Big Mac perked one of his ears at her. "Whattaya mean?"

She reached out a hoof and felt his chest. "Still strong, but... less hard." Her eyes half lidded. "You're really Big Mac?"

"Ayup." He nodded firmly as he sat before her. "Ah didn't mean to scare ya none. Yer safe with me." He spread his wings out to wrap around her, drawing her close. "Ah'll protect ya."

Fluttershy's cheeks burned at the proximity. She squeaked demurely, but didn't struggle. Being held so close to the big stallionmare felt... nice. She felt safe, so very safe, but also a little... "Big Mac?"

"Mmm?"

She nuzzled into his belly softly. "You smell nice."

"Thanks." He nuzzled her between the ears. "Feel better?"

"Thank you, um, Princess Big Mac." The smile that spread on his face as she called him by his chosen name was brilliant. "You really like that name, don't you?" She leaned up to press her snout against his, nose to nose. "You're a pretty princess."

Big Mac felt his tongue grow wet, salivating from the praise. He ran it over his lips before he nipped at one of her ears. "Ah'll be yer princess."

"I... would like that." She nuzzled up under his chin. "You'll protect me?" Her nose pressed into his throat, nipping softly through the fur. "You'll never leave me alone?"

He squeezed her tighter to his front. "Nope." He raised his fore hooves along her sides, feeling the sleek muscles of the pegasus in front of him. "Yer a special mare too. We kin be heroes, together." He pressed his forehead to hers. "Ah'd like that."

Fluttershy's nose wriggled as a new scent hit it. Her eyes darted down to see Big Mac's pole starting to slither free, emerging an inch with every pulse of his powerful heart, and he had many inches to give to the world... or her. "Oh my..." Part of her wanted to flee away as quickly as she could, but most of her wanted to be nowhere else more than there, with Big Mac, and all he had to offer. "Is that... for me?"

"Ayup." He nodded softly. "We'll fight for harmony, together."

Fluttershy shrank away a little. "With that?"

"If ya want." He stood up and took a step towards her.

She did want it. Against all logic, even as she quailed with a conflicting brew of emotions, she leaned forward and kissed the very tip of the drooling member. Her soft little tongue darted out, cleaning it for but a moment. "Big Mac..."

A heavy weight landed on Big Mac's rump. He craned his head to see that Caramel had not run as far as he had figured. "Huh? Ya feelin' alright?"

Caramel hugged Big Mac's midsection with his fore hooves, pulling the princess closer. "I'm sorry I got scared, but I can't leave you! I want you, Princess Big Mac. Please tell me you want me too!" His eyes shone with insane glint of lust and corruption. "I'll be your stallion forever!"

Big Mac's tail twitched, wanting to accept the offer. "Ah'm a princess... Ah have to protect lots of ponies."

Fluttershy seemed oblivious to Caramel's presence, slowly nuzzling and kissing along the mighty spear before her. "You'll protect me..."

Caramel shuffled in place, lining up his own painfully rigid phallus with Big Mac's oozing nethers. "You'll protect me too. We... All hail Princess Big Mac!"

Big Mac's weeping vulva winked open at the sudden exclamation. "Ah'll... protect ya both." His front end lowered a little over Fluttershy as his rump wriggled in clear invitation for the stallion already mounting him. "Protect ya good."

As Caramel got the blunt tip of his eager pole to press directly to those twitching lips, Fluttershy gave the end of the shaft she was occupied with a kiss and turned around, her wings wide. "Protect me." Her vulva pulsed with desire, wanting nothing more than to be lost in the presence of her new princess.

Big Mac cried out like the mare she was more than not as Caramel sank several inches into her new passage. She could feel her tunnel trembling at the presence, trying to draw it deeper as she shuffled on her hooves. He... it was becoming confusing. He was a he as he grabbed for Fluttershy and thrust forward, seeking to ram his own, royal, penis into her waiting depths. The motion carried him away from Caramel, but he responded with a more powerful thrust, shoving himself halfway into Big Mac even as the princess was forced to press all the deeper into Fluttershy.

Both of the speared mares gave a shared cry of pleasure and surprise, caught on the swords of their mates and wanting little more than more. Big Mac drove back against Caramel, forcing his throbbing length to sink further into her rippling passage, but the motion drew her, er his, member from Fluttershy, so he pounded forward, driving Fluttershy forward with a squeak, but that made Caramel's shaft withdraw. He was caught between them, bouncing back and forth with competing needs, competing sexualities. She wanted to mount. He wanted to be mounted. Big Mac was a confused tangle of pleasure and lust.

Fluttershy dug her hooves in to anchor herself against each powerful piston slam of Big Mac against her. She could feel herself stretching around his intrusion just for him to draw back in constant motion. She was panting for breath, lost in the moment. "Protect me," she managed to gasp out as if the breeding of her would somehow shield her from a hostile world. "My princess!"

Caramel pulled his princess back with each smooth shove into her welcoming interior, driving fluids out around his rigid shaft with every motion. His great equine balls slapped up against her perfectly rounded ass at the end of each pound. The cries she made were music to his lost mind. He would play her like the priceless instrument she was. "Protect... me..." he grunted out, despite being the one topping Princess Big Mac.

Big Mac, lost in his dual pleasures, hit the peak first. He could feel his balls jump, seed pouring hot into his shaft, running down the powerful equine length even as her passage tightened around Caramel and began milking him wildly. He called out without words, all senses going white with the power of the drugs that swamped her system in a moment of utter completion.

Fluttershy squealed as she felt the bulge traveling along Big Mac's pole, though it turned into a throaty moan as it splashed into her. A thought that she might become with foal came to her, and she didn't care. Her princess would protect her, always. She collapsed, twitching with washes of pleasure as her inside and out convulsed with abject delight.

Caramel was the last to tip over, the tightening and wildly rippling tunnel of Big Mac driving him on to manic little pushes. The sensitive end of his shaft swelled as he hit his limit, driving himself in as far as he could as he blew his load into the fresh womb of his princess. He stood perfectly still for that precious moment as rope after rope of life giving seed flowed before his muscle tone betrayed him. He collapsed onto Big Mac, who collapsed onto Fluttershy. The entire mass quivered before they all fell over together, still in that shared union with only the sound of their gasps for breath between them.
> 6 - Seeing Stripes [Rhyming]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the ponies struggled with their gift, a zebra noticed something adrift. She wandered through their town, searching with alert eyes and ears pricked. She saw ponies worshipping at a great teat, but she would not be tricked. "How foolish are they," she thought. She would help them, for them she had a soft spot. She trotted with purpose for her home. On the way she spotted another set caught in the syndrome.

Her thoughts came to a sudden crash. Perhaps it wasn't a good time for rhymes.

She had moved past Fluttershy's cottage to find she was home, and she had company. It was Caramel, glassy eyed but otherwise normal, and a female Big Mac. They were kissing and hugging and all the more. Fluttershy noticed Zecora and gazed at her with a happy smile that spoke volumes in its entranced joy.

Zecora fled, lest she become part of that growing madness. She never felt safer in the supposedly fearsome embrace of the forest she called home. She galloped up to her hut's door, spoke a near silent request to her ancestors, and slipped inside. With a relieved sigh, she sank to the floor. She was safe there.

She had little time to wait, however. "I must save those pony folk. From this madness I will unyoke." She began gathering her supplies, considering which would be best for the task at hand. She rooted through her roots and leafed through her greens. She ruminated on her fungi and sorted through her recipes. "Yes." She had decided and went to fetch the first ingredient, but it wasn't where she thought she had left it.

In its place was a black cube she didn't recall the presence of. "What strange thing is this?" She frowned at its swirling patterns. She was absolutely certain she'd remember it if she had ever seen it before . "It is not like me to miss." She took half a step back, afraid to even approach it. What if it was linked to what else she had seen?

The cube suddenly shuddered. One of its sides fell down, revealing a dark interior. From within disgorged the very plant she had been hoping to find. Zecora peered at the plant, sniffing the air cautiously. It smelled right. Perhaps she had been hasty? Perhaps it had come to assist her instead. "Thank... you?" She stepped forward and took the plant in her teeth and hurried to her cauldon, dropping it in.

Every time she reached for the next ingredient, it was there, held in the dark confines of that mysterious cube. She started coming to it first instead of searching her supplies. Perhaps, she thought, it was a gift sent to help treat the problem. Had Twilight sent it? It was rare that the ponies reached out and gave her a gift instead of the other way around.

With a renewed smile, she stirred her creation slowly. Perhaps things were not nearly as dire as she had thought. Maybe the ponies really did care for her as she did for them? She tapped her stirrer against the side of her cauldron and sat down. It would be nice if they returned her feelings, but she was a strange thing to them. They respected her, even liked her... but she was still an outsider. A welcome guest, rather than a member of the family...

With a soft sigh, she dipped her snout into the cauldron and took a sip of what she had made. It was bitter and foul, but it was just the right amount of both unpleasant qualities. This would do nicely. She grabbed a few jars between her forelegs and filled each in time before tying them to her side for transportation. "I am coming to your rescue. A zebra fix is on the menu." She pushed open her door and began trotting down the path back towards Ponyville with determined steps.

She emerged from the forest near her first target. Fluttershy and those with her were clearly not in their right mind, and she meant to fix that. With a firm nod, she trotted towards her cottage. There were no ponies in sight, and no animals either. "Curious..." The thought of them being absent did not sit well. She trotted to the door and raised a hoof to give a knock, but just as she was about to strike the wood, a great roar came from the forest.

Zecora twisted to see an enraged monstrosity. Its head was bald, shaped like that of a vulture. It had no wings, instead grasping arms and cloven hooves for feet. Its tail was wiry and thrashed as its three eyes looked about almost randomly, none in sync with the others until they all fell on Zecora in unison. Its color was difficult to say, it seemed to shift with its movements and by the moment, as if it were a soap bubble ready to pop.

She screamed. That was no beast she knew.

A great crash came from within the cottage. Big Mac burst through the roof in a streak of red. A low chorus sang out, "Princess Big Mac!" as if in heavenly choir. 

He came down with a great crash right in front of the creature. "Stop right there!" His heroic entry was mildly sullied by the fact that he was dangling and bobbing fiercely with every powerful movement, as if he were interrupted in the middle of something most intimate.

The creature gave an unnatural hiss that seemed mixed with the sound of rattling gears before rushing at him with those gnarled hands.

Big Mac met the charge with one of his own, his horn glowing brightly through the charge. They collided with a terrific flash, the beast showing new scorches, but had gotten a grip on Big Mac's sides, trying to wrestle with the newest princess. He wouldn't have it and lowered his head, firing brilliant magic into the things face, but it slid off, leaving more marks but not telling damage.

It heaved Big Mac to the ground and thumped its chest with its hands in triumph.

"Nope." He thrust a hoof up at it and a bubble of force sealed it tight.

Until its wiry tail brushed across it and it popped, freeing the beast. With a cackling laugh, it charged on the downed Big Mac.

Zecora watched the battle play out with wide eyes. When had Big Mac gained a horn, and the ability to use it? Had she missed that before? Regardless, staring blankly as he struggled in a life or death battle hardly seemed proper. She pulled out a small pouch and slunk closer, hoping that they would continue.

She needn't have worried. The battle raged on, with Big Mac gaining a few painful stripes where its dirty fingers had dug into him. With a girlish grunt, he rose to his feet in a sudden burst of strength, throwing it back to the ground. It was just the opportunity Zecora needed. She closed the distance and threw the pouch down on the creature. It exploded in a cloud of dust that clung to the thing's soapy skin.

It screamed, not a battle cry, but one of pain. It scrambled up to its cloven hooves and ran wildly back into the forest, screaming and dancing.

Big Mac nodded at Zecora. "Good work. Ah woulda saved you though. Ah'm a princess."

Zecora looked Big Mac over, noticing his female lines to go with his new horn. "So I see, But this is not how it should be. Big mac--"

"You're the best, Zecora." Big Mac hugged Zecora without warning. "Why do ya live so far away?"

Zecora's eyes widened a moment before they fell back down. Big Mac smelled... nice... "Why... would you want me closer?"

"Because yer smart, n' nice, n' wise..." He tilted his head at the zebra in his grip. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because as a pony I am a poser." She raised a hoof to her chest. "I am zebra, this is plain. To be a pony I will not attain."

He shrugged softly. "So?" His horn glowed and hefted her right off the ground. "Zebra's just a striped pony anyway. Yer alright in mah book. Hey! Fluttershy, Caramel!"

The door to the cottage opened, revealing the other two ponies present. Big Mac pointed up at Zecora as he walked along with her floating over him. "Tell her how good a pony she is."

Fluttershy tilted her head at Zecora. "Oh, um, hello." She waved at the captive zebra. "You're a very nice pony. You've helped us, oh... so many times."

Caramel tilted his head. "Ponies used to be afraid of you. I'm, uh, sorry about that." He put a hoof behind his head. "I was a real dummy for going with the crowd like that. You're an upstanding mare."

Zecora wriggled her hooves fruitlessly in the air as if she could escape by running from the force that held her. "But I am not a pony."

Big Mac reached up from below and gently poked Zecora in the belly before letting his hoof slowly trail circles along the sensitive anatomy. "What's that even mean? What's a pony?"

Fluttershy's ears perked. "A pony has four hooves."

Caramel reached up and brushed one of those perking ears. "They have two ears like these."

Big Mac put his free forehoof to his snout. "They gotta muzzle like this."

"Even if I would like to agree..." Zecora's cheeks were darkened. Big Mac's rubbing felt nice. It wasn't appropriate, but she couldn't quite muster the will to care. "What of my speech, I rhyme without stop. An etiquette breach, A syntax swap."

Fluttershy waved for Zecora to be closer and Big Mac obliged, bringing Zecora down in front of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy leaned in and pressed her nose to Zecora's. "No two of us talk exactly the same way. We're all a little different and, um, that's alright." She kissed the very end of Zecora's nose. "You're a pony where it counts the most."

Caramel peered at the curious flasks hanging from their friend. "What are these for?" He nudged at one with a hoof.

Zecora glanced back at them. They were... important, right? She couldn't quite place it. "Am I really a pony? Is this just a kind decree?"

Big Mac casually cleared Zecora of her possessions, setting it all aside before gently releasing Zecora from his grip. "Ah can prove it." He stood up, shaft swaying with the movement. It had softened a little during their conversation, but that was rapidly undoing itself.

Zecora's ears pinned. She wanted it, but she knew the timing was poor. "I... thank you, Big Mac for your offer of passion. My fertility's cycles have an unbending ration. I do not need a foal at this time. Please accept a no with this little rhyme." She kissed his cheek. She hadn't planned to kiss his cheek, but she did. He smelled nice. She could feel the urge to accept what he was offering grow by the moment, but her willpower was strong enough to trot away instead.

Caramel's attention was still on the curious flasks. "She left these."

Fluttershy shrugged. "We'll keep them safe for when she comes back."

Big Mac nodded. "Ayup."

Zecora frowned as she returned to her house. The further she walked, the more her senses began to return. She remembered what she had come to do and gave a most unladylike swear. Her brew had gone to waste, and going back to fetch it risked falling under the sway of the communal madness.

She thought of what they had said to her. Was that also part of the insanity? Were they saying things they believed? It was hard to give them the benefit of the doubt, given the situation. She would need to make a solution that didn't need her being close to deliver. Surely she could think of something. Maybe that cube would help her cook it...
> 7 - Start Case 3 - Muffins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Tree Hugger had led a group away, Muffins remained. She wanted to go with Tree Hugger, but her fretful looks around as she waddled spoke of other concerns. "I'm gonna fall behind." Her plaintive voice reached no sympathetic ears, as was often the case. She had to make her own ends meet, and she planned to do it. If only all that milk in her belly would go away.

She slowed in her waddle, eyes half-closing. Thinking about that milk made her drowsy. "It was pretty good... Wait, no! I have to keep moving." She shook her head violently to shed those thoughts and got back to plodding towards the post office. When she pushed through the front door, the mailmare at the counter blinked owlishly at her.

"What in Equestria happened to you? Are you expecting and managed to hide it until today?" She hopped up to her hooves. "You know what, it doesn't matter, you can hardly move."

"I'm fine," argued Muffins, waving the concerned motions of the approaching mare away. "I have to get back to work."

"Work can wait a little." She turned Muffins around despite her complaints. "You just go home, rest, and get better. I swear, you find new and interesting ways to derp it up."

Muffins went red in her cheeks. "I wasn't trying..."

"I know you weren't." She kissed Muffin's cheek. "Now go home. You're not in trouble."

Muffins delayed a moment, looking towards her friend and then the door with her misaligned eyes. "Are you sure you'll be alright?"

"Home." She pointed sternly. "We'll be here tomorrow, promise."

With a sunk head, Muffins finally capitulated. On the bright side, some of the milk had moved through her belly, allowing for a slow walk instead of an awkward waddle. She made her way home, noticing there weren't as many ponies walking around as normal. "That's funny..." It did mean her way home was unimpeded and she smiled as her small but comfortable dwelling came into view. "Maybe a little nap is just what the doctor ordered."

Her thoughts wandered towards the doctor, her favorite doctor. "I wonder how Time Turner's doing..." She smiled at the thought of the brown stallion. "I bet he'd know just what to do." She closed the door behind herself and paused. There was a strange cube right on her coffee table. Its sides swirled with strange colors. To make it more concerning, each of her mismatched eyes saw different colors at the same time. "Woah..."

She trot up to it with renewed energy. "Where'd you come from?" She sat down next to the table and reached out for it without fear. "Are you a gift? Maybe from the doctor?!" She giggled with joy, imagining Doctor Hooves sneaking into her house and placing the interesting cube where she'd spot it. "He's so thoughtful! Actually, he's kind of empty-headed at times, just like me, but..." She tilted the box left and right. "I wish he were here. I want to thank him!"

The cube hummed softly in her hooves and she jumped with surprise. "Woah, did I break it?" She pulled it in closer and sniffed at it. It smelled like ten different things at once and she giggled with bemused confusion. "Wierd..." Her eyes fell on a small portrait of Doctor Hooves she had perched on the wall and let out a dreamy sigh. "Oh, Doctor... If only I could admit my feelings." She set the cube down and trotted over to the portrait. "Would you even want this derpy mare? Will I forever be 'That silly friend'?" She sank down onto her generous haunches. "Do you put up with me, or... What am I even asking." 

She turned back to the cube. "Of course you like me. Look what you did!" She burst into joyful giggles. "How did you even know I wanted... whatever that is." She clopped her hooves with building joy. "It's a perfect thingamabob." She spread her wings and made a sudden bounce, coming down on the couch when she meant to land next to the table. "Oopsie." It was close enough for her to grab the cube off the table. "Now what do you do? I bet..." 

She tried to turn and twist it, then began tapping at its panels. "There's no way he didn't put some crazy puzzle in you..." Suddenly it shifted in her prying hooves, sliding over exactly one panel's worth. "Oooo." She pushed down on the overhanging portion and it came down down with a satisfying click. "Doctor, you are the best!" She had never asked for a puzzle box, but now that one had been given, she loved it.

After adjusting the position of the tiles for a few minutes, one of them popped open abruptly just as she pushed it into position. From within came a phone receiver. "What the?" She never had a phone herself, but she knew what they were. It was just hovering there, waiting to be picked up. "Oooo." Could it be a the doctor? She set the cube down carefully, then grabbed for the phone, shoving it up against her face. "Doc?!"

"Is that you, Muffins?" It was him! "Strangest thing, th--"

"I love it!" cried out Muffins, interrupting him. "You are the best stallion ever. Are you busy? Come over!" She bounced up and down on her couch with escalating rapture. "Please please please!"

"Oh, well, alright? Is everything okay over there?"

"It will be once you're here." Muffins kissed the part of the phone she was talking to, then put it down where it had started. It hung up despite having no cradle. It then sank into the box and the panel closed. "Best gift ever." She gave a soft clopping of her hooves. "From the best stallion ever."

She tapped at the box. "I wonder what other secrets you have..." As if in answer to the question, a side panel burst open, a little journal spilling free. "Huh?" She grabbed it up. It read 'Things I Want From/With the Doctor'. Derpy began to giggle loudly. "Oh, Time Turner, how forward..." She licked her lips as she flipped it open. It was blank, waiting for her to write what she wanted.

She got out a quill, giggling all the while. "Where to start..." Not that she'd share the journal with the doctor, no. She wasn't that brave.






Say 'I love you'

Get married

Have like a gajillion foals!

Explore the world...maybe before that last one.

Make the biggest most amazing contraption ever!






Muffins felt a heat tingling down almost behind her. Her marish vulva were tingling. She was no filly and knew it meant she was getting excited, but she didn't normally get that way easily. "Mmm, Time Turner." Her thoughts wandered towards other, perhaps more lustful, things. "What I would want with you..." She tapped the quill she held in a wing against the journal, considering.






Be filled by his 'little doctor' (hope it's not little at all!)

Stuff a muffin in a naughty place and have him clean it, with his mouth

Be ridden like a real horse, the naughty way, where other ponies could see.






Muffin's cheeks burned brightly at writing the last one. "Oh gosh..." What had prompted that? She had never considered showing off such private things in public before. She moved her quill to strike it out, but suddenly veered off and continued writing out her depraved fantasies.






Let him pack my fudge

Return the favor!

Fly into the air with him super high and make a foal on the way down






A hoof wandered down to her wildly winking lips, rubbing gently across it as she let out a dreamy sigh. "Oh, Turner..."

Jarring her out of her fantasy came a loud clopping at the door. She squeaked and threw the notebook away, hurling it across the room. Scrambling to her hooves, she rushed for the door, tripped, and slid the rest of the way, bumping into it with her nose. "Who is it?" she asked from where she had landed.

"Muffin? Is that you? Are you alright?"

She smiled at the voice of the stallion she was just fantasizing about. "Oh, one moment!" she sang out as she hopped back up and tried to get herself as presentable as possible in the brief moment before she grabbed the door handle in her mouth and pulled it open. "Doctor!" There he was in all his glory. She didn't hold back the urge to jump at him and hug him tightly against her still mildly swollen form. "It's so good to see you!"

He wrapped a leg around her, returning the hug. His eyes were on her swollen sides. "Got into a muffin-eating binge?"

Her cheeks swiftly darkened. "Oh, yeah, something like that..." She backed away and waved inside. "Look, the puzzle thing you got me!" She pointed at it. "It's the greatest! How did you make it?"

He strode inside, leg kicking the door shut behind him. "That's a most curious... thing."

"You would know!" She rolled her eyes, a confusing display. "You made it."

"Derpy Muffins Hooves, I did not make that." He used her full name to make his sincerity plain as he trotted up towards it. "It's a... fascinating whatever it is."

Muffins tilted her head. "But... It gave me a phone to call you, and a j--" She realized she did not want Time Turner seeing that journal. "It knew you!"

He tapped at it gently with an extended hoof. "Mayhaps it was constructed by somepony that knew both of us well? Who would fit that bill and also have the skill to fabricate such a thing?" He reached into his unseen pocket and pulled out a magnifying glass made for a pony. Its lense was inline with the handle, allowing him to hold it in his mouth and peer through it. "Very... unusual design."

Muffins slid over to the discarded journal, deciding that was a fine time to hide it. She snatched it up and scurried away with a little nervous whimper.

Time Turner was left alone with the cube. "It obviously has some magical abilities, but that doesn't really say who made it or not. I've made a few things myself and I'm no unicorn." He noticed two panels were not quite aligned and perked his ears at them. "What's this then?" He reached and gave a push. It clicked into the place he thought they belonged with a satisfying thunk, then a panel popped open.

He set aside his magnifying glass and pulled out his torch instead, shining a light into what seemed like an endless pit. "Very concerning..."

Muffins set down the journal under her bed. "Phew." She closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief, but when she opened them, the journal was gone. "What the?!" She sat up suddenly, bonking her head on the bottom of her bed. "Ow." There was no time for nursing booboos. She started searching her room frantically, trying to find where the journal had run off to.

The Doctor noticed something in the gloom and reached out for it. He pulled free a slender little journal. His eyes scanned over the title and his cheeks darkened. Was it something written by Muffins? Who else could it be? He considered putting it down and looking away, respecting her privacy. In fact, he did just that, trying to ignore it entirely.

Alas, every time he started to poke and prod at the box, his eyes wandered back towards the journal. Maybe just the littlest peek wouldn't hurt too badly? It was probably filled with cute things. With a final squirm, he picked it up and nodded. "Just a little peek..." He turned it open.



Say 'I Love you'



His blush only got worse. "Does she want... me to say that... or her?" Either direction made him warm and tingly all over. He hadn't considered Muffins in that light before.



Get married



"Oh dear..." He skipped ahead a few lines, and the depravity truly began. With a limp jaw, he read over the lustful wishes of his friend who was a mare who would like to be his marefriend.
> 8 - Long Flight[Vaginal, Exhibition]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turner ran a dry tongue over numb lips. The indecent proposals in the book had him in a raging blush, not to mention other projections that had him bringing his legs closer together in a feeble attempt to hide his reaction. Part of him wanted to run to Muffins, to hold his precious Derpy close and just surrender to the building feelings.

Would that be bad? "She is a perfectly lovely mare..." He imagined her smiling face. He thought of the bubbles that graced her rump, her bubbly rump. So round and large, what stallion wouldn't want...

He shook himself free of those thoughts as he heard hoofsteps coming down the stairs. There was Muffins, looking quite dejected with her ears hanging low and her eyes looking towards the ground. That was when her mismatched pupils were often at their least, when she was miserable.

Turner stepped towards her firmly, abandoning the journal to flop to the ground. "What's wrong?"

The sound of the book hitting the ground caused her to jerk up. Her lovely irises contracted on seeing the journal. "I-I can... oh Celestia, no I can't." She went limp and sagged against the wall beside her. "It's alright. You can run away now... I understand."

He was at her side in an instant in a burst of a gallop. "Run away? Whyever would I run away from you?" He smiled at her uneasily. "We... need to talk, I think."

She shrank back a moment before she sat down on her round haunches. "You're not... leaving?"

"Whyever would I leave when I have you right here?" He kissed her on the nose even as his own cheeks darkened. He had meant to be encouraging and say something clever, but he kissed her instead.

She righted herself. "Do you... mean that?"

"Muffins..." He glanced away and back at her. "I... love you. I'm not sure if I'm ready for... the other part of the first segment... but... may I be your coltfriend?"

Tears glistened in her eyes before she blinked them away into proper streams. "Yes!" she squeaked out, throwing her arms around Time Turner and hugging him tightly. "Yes!" They pressed tightly to one another, knowing nothing but the spreading warmth of joy in their newfound conviction to their relationship.

"D-did you... read more than that?" Muffins sat back out of the hug, ears perked at him. "Oh gosh, I didn't... I was just..."

He put a hoof on her nose gently. "As a greater pony than myself once said, there is no wrong way to fantasize."

Muffins burst into giggles. "You don't mean that, I mean..." Her cheeks darkened with every breath. "I mean, the first one was... pretty normal." She looked away. "But the other things... I mean... I don't know if you're into... any of that... and... trusting me, gosh, worst flyer this side of Fluttershy to... do that... in public! You'd never be that insane."

He put his hoof on her chest, feeling the rapid thumping of her lovely heart. "The most insane thing a pony can do is fall in love. After that, everything else seems so small... Muffins, I am ready to follow you anywhere. You've never let me down before, not on purpose at least." He flashed a bright smile. "I always feel safe around you. You wouldn't let me down."

Quietly, on the living room table, the cube pondered its purpose. It had led the two ponies to confessing their true feelings and professing love and willingness to find one another's pleasure. That was good. Neither was actually doing that. Its limited intelligence struggled with the idea of if it had done well or not, and if the situation needed remedying. Perhaps a little nudge was called for?

Derpy's eyes went even more split than normal for a moment before she squirmed in place. She had a special kind of heat. Normally, it would be a fine time to find a nice private place for some relief, but she had her lovely doctor right there... "You... want to try a little?"

"Try a little what?"

Even his adorably innocent face amused her. He really had no idea. There was nothing for it. She kissed his cheek and turned around, presenting her rump to him. "Number one!"

"O-oh!" Surprise ran through him before he felt his already half-firm member start filling up. Her suggestion seemed like a really good idea. "I would... be honored." He kissed her bubbled rump on either side before nuzzling around the base of her tail, encouraging it to lift up and out of the way. "Misses Hooves..." He chuckled softly. "If ever we did... we wouldn't have to change last names at all."

She laughed with him at that. "I never thought of that. It must be destiny." Her laugh turned into a giggle. "But enough of that, c'mon!" She wriggled her backend left and right. "It's not polite to keep a mare waiting."

His pulsing member needed no further invitations, but his mind was another thing. He kissed her plump cheeks, left then right. "Has anyone told you how amazing you are."

"N-no..." She looked over her shoulder. "Can you... tell me from up top?" Her cheeks were a rosey hue, wanting to hear more, but..."

"Well, you are!" He nuzzled into her winking female flesh, the touch of his short muzzle hairs sending electric shocks through her body, but it wasn't what she wanted, not exactly. "You deserve every bit of love."

"Then go ahead and give it to me. Doctor, I need you, in me, right now!" She stomped her hooves, dancing from one to the next. "Stop teasing me!"

His ears went down against his head. "I... never did this before."

She let out a frustrated growl even as it turned into laughter. "Poor Doctor. I'm sorry. I... didn't know. Look, just hop up. Play leapfrog, and lose on purpose."

He hesitated a moment before his lust-ready muscles propelled him up onto her, hugging her from above rather than standing on her. He held her close and nuzzled into her withers. "This feels nice." His shaft rested right between her powerful thighs, rubbing against the fur with every motion. Was that sex? He decided quickly that he liked it.

His motions only served to stoke the fire Muffins felt behind her. She jumped up in place, adjusting her rider with each powerful motion. For all she lacked in coordination, she had strength and stubbornness. She got him back and began to bounce him up and down, tensing every time the tip of his lovely flat-tipped tool brushed against her waiting lips.

It clicked in his head as he was jostled around and he thrust his hips forward. sinking several inches of his member into her with a wet squelch. His eyes closed tight and he shuddered. Nevermind that first thing... Actually being in her was much, much better. "My little Derpy..." He took a hesitant step forward, pulling her back onto his member. He mounted her as a stallion should. "O-oh my..."

Muffin's tongue poked free, hanging from her snout with the satisfaction of finally being speared by the pony she loved. "Yes... Better than any muffin, Doctor."

He kissed her between her ears. "Not better than this Muffin."

They laughed together before Muffins pressed back firmly, then drew away. "It's a dance, move."

"R-right." He moved against her, countering her motions. At first it was timid and uncertain, but with every saw of their sensitive organs, that doubt faded away. They soon knew the pleasure of union, and wanted more of it. Their pace started to pick up, faster and faster. Crotch and rump slammed together with powerful slaps, his balls coming to a half against her back end with each crashing motion.

Her wings spread out, wrapping around him in a hug as she heaved and bucked back against him. "Just... like that..." All too quickly, she felt him flare inside of her. She tried to get more pleasure out of the last moments, grinding and pushing against that plug just before thick sprays of seed filled her, but it didn't douse the fire. She wanted more. Even as he started to slump on her back, she petulantly grunted in frustration. "This ride isn't over." She hugged him all the tighter with her wings and began walking along with him still attached.

"W-what are we doing?" He looked around with a dumbfounded expression, his ears swiveling wildly. "Muffins? We're headed towards the--Muffins!"

She was not stopping. She booted the door open with a powerful kick and stepped through, her stallion trapped against and inside of her. "We're gonna go for a ride."

He tried to step free of her, but the ground dropped away from him suddenly. He hugged her tight with a frightened cry. He could see the world below shrink rapidly as they ascended. He would fly with her, or else. "O-okay..." He tried to think of a clever way out of things. "We're making a bit of a display." He could see some ponies had noticed their ascent. Some of them seemed to think it was just odd, perhaps they thought they were really just flying piggyback instead of... the other option.

"You said you didn't care." Her wings spread out, flapping powerfully. "Did you lie?"

"No! No... Muffins, I really love you."

"Then fly with me. Trust me." She smiled back at him before ascending ever higher into the sky. Only when all of Ponyville seemed small and the air was thin did she even off, barely able to keep herself going with the height they had achieved. "See, all private here." There wasn't a single pegasus that flew so high as to be near them. They were all far down below.

"This is kind of nice..." Time Turner craned his head left and right to see all the various parts of Ponyville from their altitude. "T-thank you, for sharing this with me." He hugged her firmly, nuzzling into her fur. "Now we'll go down?"

"Yep." She dipped forward like the end of a roller coaster. They were suddenly plunging towards the ground far faster than Time Turner could have liked. "Make a foal with me, the--" Her words were almost drowned out, shouted over the wind. "--traditional pegasus way, like warriors." She grinned at him in her cockeyed way, not an ounce of hesitation in her.

He did what most any earth pony would do in a similar situation. He screamed. His own scream sounded alien in his own ears, the ground coming at him all too quickly. He felt her insides flex around his stallionhood, beckoning him to do what he was thinking very little like.

It was the only way. If he didn't do his part, as a stallion, they would both dash against the ground. He pulled her tighter, one part out of fear, but another to make his first move. She made a muted but musical noise of approval as he started grinding against her, working despite his thumping heart. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the oncoming doom. There was only himself, and his beloved Muffin. He would do his part. This he swore to himself.

With almost desperate plunges into her delightfully round form, he listened for her sounds of rapture instead of the ominous rumble of the wind that made his ears flap around wildly. He heard a distant shout. Had they been spotted? Their climax would be remembered, one way or the other, either in triumph or a strange tragedy. He bit down on the back of her neck. "My precious muffin, I will... glaze you from the inside."

He could feel her tremble, both in laughter and around his arousal. Her reply was lost to the wind, but no words were needed for their motions. He drove deep into her quivering tunnel, fluid running out along his shaft, forced by the fast winds back towards his flopping balls. He didn't dare look down, or anywhere else. The only part of his world that was left was his muffin, his marefriend.
> 9 - Pressed Berries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Berry Punch staggered forward. "Maybe that third, um, sixth? Something with a three, that many..." She leaned up against a barrel, the world spinning around her. She heard somewhere that a good sky gazing could clear the mind. Turning her eyes upwards, her mouth hanging a little, she saw something odd.

Two ponies, coming straight for her. One of them was good ole' Derpy, in the process of derping it all up again. Hugging her from behind was Time Turner. Wait, was that a... hug? Berry squinted, trying to make it out. "You crazy girl." She sat on her haunches, laughing manically. "Seriously? Is that even legal?"

Turner was entirely unaware of Berry's witness to his desperate moment. He reached low around Muffins, teasing around her mostly hidden teats in time with his quick pushes into her heavenly interior. What would it take to properly please his new marefriend, and not smash into the ground? He didn't know, but he wasn't ready to give up just yet.

Muffins was in her own world. She squealed as she felt his hooves gently brushing sensitive flesh. The rigorous pounding of her was exquisite, but the greater pleasure was knowing that the doctor mounting her really cared for her. It was great all over, her entire form alive with completion. It was so much, too much. She wailed, a distorted siren for those listening below as her entire body clenched and convulsed, hitting its proper peak as she hadn't felt in so long.

Her wings sprang free, going wide and stiff. They caught the wind quite suddenly and she came to an abrupt and complete halt. Shame Time Turner didn't.

He slipped from her when she stopped without warning, yanked from her in all possible ways. He gave a panicked scream as he plummeted to the ground, his hooves flailing wildly.

Berry tilted her head up at them. "Finders Keepers." She hopped up to her hooves and moved to the left, then the right, trying to put herself just under the falling stallion. "Come here, you stud..."

Turner squinted against the oncoming wind. The ground was coming all too quickly. Wait, was there someone down there? Yes, it was Berry Punch. "Get out of the way!" he shouted down at her. Flattening both of them would hardly help.

Up above, Muffins let out a happy little sigh, contentment ruling her form. "Thank you so much, Doctor." She looked over her shoulder and saw he wasn't there. "Doctor? Time?" She spun in place, looking for her missing paramour.

Berry giggled softly. She couldn't make out what Turner was saying, but he was shouting something. "He wants me!" She threw out her hooves wide and stood up just in time to receive him. They were thrown to the ground with the force of Turner's plummet, bouncing off the dirt with the tremendous impact. Fortunately for Time Turner, she served as an adequate cushion. Though he felt sore in places he was normally not aware of, he was breathing.

He groaned as he pushed up on his hooves, them on either side of Berry's still form. "Oh my..." Had... "Berry? Please tell me you're alright..." He perked an ear and shoved it against her chest. He didn't hear anything. Panic surging, he put both of his hooves against her chest and started thumping her. "Wake up! Wake up, damn you!" He would not live his life knowing he'd flattened a mare.

"Doctor!" came an excited voice as Muffins swooped down and came for a landing beside them. "Where'd you go!?"

"No time, Muffins." He leaned in and pressed his lips to Berry's, breathing into her still lungs.

"Are you... kissing her?" She blinked slowly. Jealousy flared bright, but fizzled almost as quickly. Berry wasn't moving. Her eyes were closed and she was limp beneath Time Turner. The realization of what was going on came to her like a splashing of ice water. "O-oh no! No no no no!" She danced from hoof to hoof, looking around in a panic. "Save her!"

"Trying. 1, 2, 3..." He had gone back to compressions, trying to coax some life from her still form. "Muffins, go to the hospital, get help."

"R-right." She spread her wings, but didn't fly. "Wait, Doctor! Didn't you say you had your zappy thing?"

"Zappy... thing? Oh!" He reached into his pocket with his snout and came out with his curious little multi-tool. "Excellent idea." It crackled to fitful life, arcs of electricity jumping from it before he plunged it down on the unconscious mare's chest. Blinding light forced them to close their eyes a moment.

Berry jumped and shook from the force of the jolt before a ragged gasp escaped her lips. "Oh wow, that was a good hit." Her eyes opened and her breathing resumed at a softer pace. "Anyone get the number of that cart?" That was when she noticed she had a stallion on top of her. Her stallion. "Ah ha!" She wrapped her hooves around the stunned doctor and hugged him tight. "I caught you, fair's fair!"

"Group hug!" Muffins dived onto the two and hugged them both eagerly. "I'm so happy you're alright."

Berry kissed the mare's snout pressed close to herself. "Well, shoot. I thought I'd have to fight you for him, but if this is turning into one of those three-way things, I'm not complaining."

Derpy sat up with a confused expression. "What?"

Time Turner took the momentary lull to slip away himself, sitting down a short distance away. "Look, um, Miss Punch, I'm glad you are alright. I certainly didn't mean to make such an... entrance. Are you certain you're not hurt?"

Berry sat up with a little pout. "I was happier when I was buried in ponies." A wave of nausea suddenly rushed up from her belly and she scrambled to her hooves, barely getting a few steps before much of what she drank was sent splashing against the ground in a great voiding of her abused stomach. "Oh wow... maybe just a few too many."

Muffins stepped after the other mare. "Are you... alright?"

Berry spun back to face them, a foreleg over her snout. "Oh, yeah, just... a little partied out."

"Really, Miss Punch." Time Turner shook his head as he moved to offer a supporting hoof. "You need to get yourself home."

She leaned up against him, half draped over him. Her nose wriggled before she buried her snout in his mane. "You smell nice... Are you coming with me? We can all go to my place."

Muffins frowned as she approached. "He does smell nice, but that's my nice smell." The frown eased a little, noticing how weakly Berry hung off of Time Turner. "Look... let's go, back to your place. You need to lay down."

Turner nodded in agreement. "She's absolutely correct. Come on." He nudged himself under her suddenly, hoisting her up onto his back. "Allons-y! Off we go." He stepped into a lively trot towards her home. "Come on, Muffins. I think she could use a pair of helping hooves."

"Of course, Doctor." She trotted up beside him, smiling. It wasn't how she imagined her first time with the doctor would end, but she was with him, and they were united. She could think of so many worse ways to go. Her cheeks suddenly colored as she leaned in closer. "By the way, you were, um... very good."

"Dibs on the next shot," suddenly cried out Berry Punch before she flopped back across Time Turner, muttering something lost in her haze.





She bobbed her head in time with the music being played in her headphones. Silent to the rest of the world, she ran a hoof across the portion of her record collection she had brought with her. Vinyl considered a moment before selecting one. It floated up under her power and landed lightly on a turntable. She gave it a little spin, producing a discordant squeal, and she just nodded.

"Everything alright?" A stallion approached her with perked ears. "The speakers are all hooked up right?"

Vinyl gave a firm nod to him and adjusted her glasses. She held up a hoof and bobbed it once, twice, and on the third time the turntable began to roll properly. Music began to come free, playing the original song the record held for just a precious moment before her hoof came down to distort it, making it jump and dance to her practiced touch. A second record came up to join it, both hooves working manically across the two to produce a beat worth listening to. Just as it was getting good, it stopped. She lowered her hooves.

The stallion laughed at it. "Saving the good stuff for tonight? That's fine. With the famous DJ-Pon3 in the house, I doubt I have a thing to worry about." He slapped her on the shoulder with a hoof. "I'll hear you tonight." He ambled off with a pleased look on his face.

Vinyl's eyes dipped back to her selection of discs, considering them before noticing something amiss. She knew her collection well. That was not part of it. Her magic wrapped around the odd cube and pulled it free. "What the..." Speaking before a performance could be bad luck, but to hell with that. "What is this thing." She turned it this way and that, but she couldn't make heads or tails of it until she spotted a small metal stud poking out of one end, just the right size for a record. "No way!" Searching harder, she found the sound plugs. It was a record player!

With a big smile, she set it down beside the two she had brought with her and got to hooking it up to her sound system that the speakers of the club. A record player that interesting looking? "You must make all kinds of crazy noise." She grabbed one of the records off of her existing players and placed with all due reverence upon her newer player. "Did 'Tavia get you for me? That mare is absolutely the best!" She willed the player to begin, and it began spinning the disc.

Giggling with expectation, Vinyl looked for a pin to lower, but there was none. Her look of joy turned to confusion, but suddenly sound began to ring out loud and clear. The record was playing. She shrugged her shoulders softly. Magic, why overthink it? It was a quality play. "But now let's see how you dance" She lowered a hoof to the record and gave it a spin. It slid smooth as butter. It didn't scratch at all. The play simply moved with the speed of her motions. Her insides fluttered as an unseen magic flowed through her. "That was... amazing." She propped up her goggles a little before she shook her head out.

She had to feel that again! She got the base beat going and began to play with the track of the disc on her new players. That internal shifting felt like she was being rocked to the same beat she was crafting, and it was hypnotic and wonderful with every thrumming pulse. "I'm gonna drop this beat so hard," she spoke through clenched teeth and a face of determination. It wasn't play time, but she didn't care. She had to play more, and harder. She had to feel that aching pulse of naked music itself running through her body, making her feel more and more alive with every step.

With some willpower, she raised a hoof free of the record. It was too early. She would bust out her new player in the middle of the session that night and rock people's worlds. With a growing grin, Vinyl got to making sure everything was perfect, ignoring the heat that had built up behind her. There was no time for that. Her truest passion had need of her, and she tried not to keep the mares of her life waiting if she could help it.
> 10 - Start Case 4 - Dropping the Beat[Transgender, Orgy, Lesbian]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vinyl had her booth entirely set up and ready. She had her tracks, her discs, and her inspiration. She tingled with unknown power, but she didn't care or know about that. She was going to make sweet music with the crowd that night. With a growing smile, she ordered her discs for the fourth time. She wanted the playlist to be just right. She would play with the beat to perfection and work the crowd. They would writhe and dance like puppets, and she was their loving master.

The door opened. It was time. Vinyl smiled at the filing line of ponies and quickly slipped the first disc into place. She didn't put it on her new player. The intro track mostly just had to play without her caress, and what few motions it would need had to have a heavy distortion, which the new player didn't do. That was fine. A mix of tools meant she could make just the right sound when she wanted to make it.

"Vinyl!" shouted one of the stallions bobbing to the beat of the introductory tract. "Always nice to see you, even better to hear you."

He thrust a hoof up at her and she returned the gesture back at him, not touching. He was a fan of hers. She knew him. He knew her, at least as an admirer of her work. They didn't do things outside of events, but fans were good. He was just one of many souls that would dance with her. Would he become lost in that beat? 

She hoped so. She was ready to command their full attention. 

Her own head was bobbing softly, not with the current beat, but the next. She knew the next step and with a fluid motion, summoned it. She put down a disc on the new player and her hoof hovered over it, trembling, before just the right note hit. Down it came, down went the other. She began playing the records, messing with time itself, dropping that beat so hard it should have been called abuse.

She could feel that powerful flutter run through her. Her insides exploded in alien pleasure as she opened her snout in a silent sigh, a needy but breathless moan. Ecstasy ran through her as she worked the music with an energy she had never felt before. She was in an ecstatic state that deepened with every motion, with every  powerful thrum of the speakers. This was not a sexual thing. No, this was the older, deeper meaning of the word. She felt like she was being pulled of her limited mortal shell, transcending to higher planes of existence as if she were being shaken free of the banality of life and welcomed with open arms to musical perfection.

She remembered she had eyes and opened them. Was the crowd lifting with her? Was she alone in that perfection? No, she could see them being swept away. They bobbed. They swayed. They were thrashing and moaning in the same breathless way that had consumed her. She noticed not a single one of of them was being rowdy. No matter how deeply they were being carried away, they didn't crash into one another. Good. It was a smooth nirvana, and she was its director.

Vinyl had three records going at once. She had a hoof on the new player and one of her precious babies while her horn played the one in the middle. Each additional spinning disc made it more complicated to keep track of, but she didn't care. She was navigating a musical sea, the waves crashing against her boat and her wild eyes locked on the horizon. She was riding it all and nothing could stop her.

"Vinyl?" asked a female voice. A familiar voice.

Vinyl blinked for the first time since she had began. Her eyes lowered and swept over the room. "'Tavi?"

That's when she noticed many of her dancers had slumped to the ground. They were still twitching and jerking in time to her beats, but something was clearly wrong. "The hay..."

Before she could finish the thought in her head, Octavia sprung up just in front of her booth. "Vinyl, there you are!"

Falling over backwards with surprise, Vinyl thumped against the back wall with an oof. "'Tavi, what are you doing here? I mean, I'm not..." She noticed the music was still going. It was still playing, without her. With her. She could feel its pulse all through her. How? "Um, hey?" Didn't Octavia know she preferred to not speak mid-performance? Of course she did. What was going on?

"Dearest Vinyl," spoke Octavia, her rich voice wrapping around Vinyl despite the loud music. "I had to speak to you. It's time... I admitted my feelings." She put her hooves on her chest. "Vinyl, I--"

"I love you!" spoke another pony. Another... Octavia. The second was standing right beside the first, having risen from the dance floor. The first didn't seem to mind the presence of the second. They both gazed on Vinyl with the same refined look that made her want to melt.

Vinyl glanced between them, and beyond. The dancers were reforming before her. One by one, they were rising as Octavia. The entire room was filling with her favorite mare. The bouncer pulled off his glasses, revealing feminine eyes and a smoldering look. Perhaps changing more slowly from just listening to the music, she could actually see his body being reshaped by it. 

He reared up onto two legs, trying to assume Octavia's proper stance. Her eyes dropped down between his hind legs where his once-proud stallionhood peeked just a little from its home, but it, and its den, were dwindling rapidly. He was becoming a she, a very specific she.

"Vinyl..." The first Octavia came around the booth. "We've missed you terribly."

"You aren't real!" shouted Vinyl. Shouting was very unlike her. Her throat hurt from the outburst. The music suddenly stopped. Everything was silent a moment. Dozens on dozens of Octavias were staring at her in confusion a moment.

The second Octavia approached with that gentle, regal smile of hers. "Our feelings are real, Miss Scratch. We want you, and your music." She reared up in front of the booth and ran a refined hoof over one of the records. "Please, play for us. Play... with us."

All the other Octavias voiced their agreements in a chorus of encouragement. They began to call for Vinyl to continue with a beat all their own, stomping their hooves on the ground in delicate but easily audible step that matched with the beat that the song should have had, if Vinyl hadn't interrupted it.

Vinyl ran a dry tongue over equally parched lips. She felt numb as the first of the mares nudged her back into position by her beloved players.

"Only you can do it," the Octavia instructed. "Go on. We have the utmost of confidence in you."

It was all she knew. She reached for her discs with trembling hooves and swapped out for the next set. "A-alright. If you want music, you... get music." A new terror was seizing her heart. Should she be running? Should she be fighting the fakes? She didn't know. She knew music. She took a slow breath and got the records spinning. The music resumed and she began to play. Her worries melted away. She simply forgot them as she fell into the trance of weaving her melody. Each beat was a blow against her fears and regrets.

The room filled with her performance and the ponies that were Octavia danced. They were no longer bobbing or swaying or jerking or twitching. They were waltzing, spinning, and moving with one another. It was a wild thing, seeing dozens of Octavia's dancing as if it were a formal ball to the beat of her heavy electronic rhythm.

A set of equine arms wrapped around her from behind. She could smell Octavia's breath. "Keep going," encouraged the mare behind her, grinding against her gently. "Keep going..."

It felt like Octavia, smelled like her, sounded like her. Vinyl tried to glance back, but could see little but the arms around her midsection. She could see her precious friend's hooves at her front. She played. With every motion, the Octavia ground a little more firmly, as if the music were driving her to wild lusts and she were acting it out on Vinyl's back.

A soft nuzzle was felt on Vinyl's cutie mark and her eyes fell to the side to see a second Octavia had snuck up. On being spotted, that Octavia smile up at her demurely before nuzzling around her towards the front. "You put in ever so much effort. You deserve some attention too, wouldn't you say? Keep playing..." She nuzzled around her groin, working her way in a slow circle. She kissed each teat with her soft lips, breath washing over them. "You deserve so much more. So very much more..."

Vinyl tried to focus on the music, to keep it going. Her right hoof slipped as she felt a soft tongue touch one of her thick vulva. The music skipped, and the mare's tongue slipped inside her as if she had slipped with the same discordant note. When the beat recovered, the mare below her pulled away just to resume slow teasing circles of her tongue around her outer lips.

The first Octavia nipped gently at one of Vinyl's ears, breathing across it. "Harder."

Harder? Vinyl tried to figure that out. Did they mean play harder? That was all she could do. She would not be a slave to anyone's music. She held back the beat, letting it build. She could feel both mares growing more and more tense. Their motions slowed, waiting. They were hers to control, not the other way around. Vinyl smiled, the idea that they were slaves to her music emboldened her as she waited a moment longer. "And... drop." She brought on the beat deep and hard. 

The mare behind her collapsed against her with an orgiastic cry. The many Octavia's on the dance floor met one another in wildly passionate kisses. The one beneath her dived forward, giving her a wholly different kind of kiss. Vinyl grit her teeth against the sudden pleasure as Octavia's talented tongue dug deep into her sensitive passage, exploring and roaming around the quivering flesh in pursuit of the most responsive inches of her delicate insides. She kissed Vinyl's button of a clitoris as it winked out to greet her.

Vinyl tried to focus on her music, but it was becoming a challenge with the attention she was getting. She bent over a little as she grabbed up the next record on her plan when it slipped from numbed hooves. The first Octavia had sunk behind her and was putting her preciously refined tongue where it had no business being. Vinyl squeaked in surprise and brought her tail down, but it only landed on the Octavia's head as she slowly explored the fat doughnut of Vinyl's puckered anus. The sensations were new, alien, and had her held captive. She squirmed between the two mares that worked her so close to one another. She could feel their snouts brushing against one another as they struggled for space to worship her with their tongues.

"Vinyl..." Another Octavia was trotting closer, several other to her right and left. "You deserve better."

"We're going to reward you."

"As is only proper."

"You've opened our eyes."

"Let us return the favor."

Each spoke with the same voice. They were all Octavia.

She tried to get her hooves back under her, to escape in a moment of panic, but the mare with her snout buried in her sex caught her clit so gently and suckled it, sending Vinyl to the ground in a crash. The others were on her. One buried her snout into Vinyl's throat, nuzzling and nipping gently. Others found places along her barrel. Two began worshipping either of her cutie marks.

A large shape pressed against her mouth and Vinyl blinked up to see the one of the Octavias at least hadn't entirely become a mare. That Octavia gave a wicked smile as she nudged her stallion tool against Vinyl's lips. "Simply relax, and let us handle this. You've played for us, now we will play you."
> 11 - Sowing an Orchard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Treehugger was happy. How could she not be. She was being carried on a comfortable cushion on the backs of two ponies, with about a dozen others following behind them. Good ponies. Thirsty ponies. She rested a hoof on her distended udder and felt across its sensitive surface. To think, she had been alarmed when it first entered her life. How silly she had been.

She had become a mother, source of life and nourishment. "Totally wicked," she sighed out.

The pony to her right, Filthy Rich, had his eyes set forward as he carried her along. Tree looked to the left to see Spoiled Rich, his wife, taking up the other end. It was nice to see them together, having a good time. She was the secret to that, but she was only helping a small selection of ponies. She smiled her easy smile. "I should, like, help more ponies out."

Spoiled rolled her eyes. "That's easier said than done." Her acid had not been entirely subdued by becoming enthralled by their new mother. "You don't even have the foggiest idea of how to form a proper network."

Filthy smiled apologetically. "My dearest means that while your current business plan is quite... compelling, you only have one source and no distribution methods, limiting your potential." He licked his lips. "Speaking... of that, may I have a sip, mother?"

Tree Hugger did not reply to either of them, she was too busy thinking over their words. "Woah, I'm the source..." She had read things about envisioning 'the source' before, but she had never really considered herself one, but she was, right? She was the center. She tapped a hoof on the cushion. "It's time we brought joy to more ponies. Where is milk usually bottled up?"

A small hoof suddenly rose from the crowd, hefted up on the head of another pony with the filly it was attached to coming along. "At mah farm," explained Apple Bloom. She was a filly, and fillies needed milk to grow big and strong. Tree smiled at the little one. It was a good reminder of all the help she could be to the world. Sure, when Apple Bloom was having her turn, she wouldn't get... the other fun parts, but there was a deep satisfaction in helping that little filly to grow.

"Radical." She nodded at Apple Bloom and reached out a hoof. The other ponies were obliging in bringing the filly forward and placing her on the cushion with Tree Hugger. "We're going to pay a visit then, chill a little, and then we have to get serious." She hugged the country filly close, pressing her against a swollen udder. "Go on, you earned it."

Apple Bloom did not need to be asked twice. She popped a nipple in her mouth and got to drinking. There was no sexual tension between them, just a thirst and a quenching. She was as eager as any newborn, her little body seeming to process the milk almost as quickly as she could guzzle it down. Her eyes drifted shut, lost in the satisfaction of her new favorite drink.

Tree Hugger imagined all the good it would do for her faithful. She would help Apple Bloom grow tall and strong, so the little filly could become a powerful mare, chasing her own dreams. Tree Hugger let out a happy sigh. "Alright, let's get going." She raised a hoof towards the apple orchard. It wouldn't be nearly as fun to have ponies drinking her gift indirectly through bottles, but it was the right thing to do. She nodded to herself. With great power, well... "Have to be cool about this."

The procession moved out of town under cover of darkness, the sun sinking as they went.

"Pardon," spoke Filthy sudden. "As... much as we love and adore you."

"Your milk, specifically," added Spoiled.

"Yes, that, but we do have business that needs tending to." He sounded so apologetic.

Tree tapped her chin before helping Apple Bloom hop to the ground. "But we are doing business, man." She flopped out across her cushion. "Woah, wait. A totally awesome idea just hit me. You run stores, right?"

"Sure do!" Filthy smiled in the dark, pride in his work clear. "That's why we were hoping..."

"Hold that thought." She reached out and tapped his nose with her hoof. "What if you sold my milk? Ponies will want it even more if it looks like, you know, something they want." She bobbed her head softly. "Even more than free. You can get it places, right?"

Spoiled snorted softly at that. "Are you doubting my husband? He can get a good to market, all the markets. You just have to get us the commodity and leave the rest to your business superiors."

Filthy licked over his lips. "I'm sure we can work something out... say... for a small percentage of the milk?"

Tree perked an ear at that, though it fell to the side shortly thereafter. He hadn't asked for a portion of the money? Was that normal? She sat up and nodded. "That sounds totally radical. We just need the milker and bottler." She pointed through the darkness. "Apple Bloom, be a righteous filly and lead the way."

"You betcha!" The filly darted out ahead of the group and they followed her through the orchard, soon arriving at the cow's barn where all the milk supplies were. "Here we are!" She hopped up and pulled open the door easily. "Their milk ain't half as good as yours."

"Excuuuse me?" came a voice from within, a cow that heard the slight. "Our milk is of the highest quality." Soft murmurings of agreement came from the other cows.

Tree Hugger hopped down from her cushion and staggered a moment with the realization that her massive udder had some real weight to it. "Who is that?"

"One of the best dairy cows on this farm." The statement came with some dissent from other cows that contested the notion. "Daisy Jo. Now why does it sound like there's a whole herd coming in during sleeping hours?"

Tree Hugger advanced on the dark interior of the barn, her faithful following behind her. "This is, like, your luckiest day. You get to see the most bovine pony you ever saw."

"I'll be the ju--" Her voice trailed off as Tree Hugger came into view with her massive udder. "That... isn't normal."

Tree Hugger approached the cow without pause, a happy smile on her face. "It's better than normal. It's a righteous wave of the future." She reared up with effort, her hooves holding her up on the fence that separated her from Daisy. "But we're not done. A big udder full of milk is only step one. We need a taste test to be sure."

Daisy's left ear flipped back on her head. "Ponies aren't usually... up for having their milk drunk. Don't ask me why, it isn't that big of a deal."

Tree Hugger put a hoof to her chest. "I'm not a normal pony."

"So I see..."

One of the other cows leaned her head over the fence. "Land sakes, I've never seen anything like that. Someone get a lantern going."

Apple Bloom hopped up and quickly had a lantern burning softly, shedding needed light across the room. "Here ya go." She suddenly yawned widely. "Momma Tree Hugger, can I go to bed?"

Tree Hugger lifted her ears towards Apple Bloom. "You poor little angel. You get right to bed and dream some awesome dreams." The idea of causing harm to her precious little disciple was repugnant. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Apple Bloom gave a sharp salute, hopped down, and galloped off towards the main house and her bed within.

Tree hugged as she slid down from the fence and came around. "Let them out. We can't have a properly righteous contest with them in there."

The crowd that had come with her hurried to open each stall, giving the cows their freedom. Daisy stepped free, looking over the faintly glassy-eyed population before her. "My mother didn't raise any fools. What if your milk's not right?"

The drew alarmed gasps from the crowd. A mare nearest by gave the cow a prod. "She is the lifegiver, source of nourishment and fulfillment!"

Daisy hiked a brow at that. "Fulfillment? Milk only does the first part." She stepped towards Tree Hugger. "You can try mine first."

Tree nodded softly. It'd been a while since she had milk that wasn't her own. How long had it been? She couldn't remember. Without shame, she closed the distance and thrust her face forward. She captured one of the bovine's teats in her mouth and began to suckle just the way she liked being suckled from. She formed a tight seal with her lips and teased along the length with her tongue as she rocked her head back and forth slowly, encouraging it.

Daisy's eyes went wide as she danced on her hooves. That was very different from the near-clinical milking she normally got when one of the Apples tended to her. She let out a low and haunting moo of surprised pleasure. "W-well... you're... mighty fine at milking, I'll give that..." She could feel her milk escaping her with every pleasurable tug of the mare at her udder. "Yes... you keep right on... doing that."

Tree Hugger had not realized how hungry she was. All the offering of her milk had been depleting her. Given a chance to refill the tank, so to speak, she became lost in the act almost as surely as any of her followers working at her. All eyes were locked on Tree Hugger and Daisy Jo, watching the cow low and shudder with delight as she fed the ravenous mare. Each teat was given its turn and depleted before moving onto the next, some dribbling down Tree Hugger's jaw.

By the time Daisy Jo was completely run dry, Tree Hugger was just starting to feel a little full. She sat back with a satisfied sigh. "Righteous... Your milk's great." She nodded softly, satisfied for the moment as her body labored to turn that milk into her own.

Daisy smiled. "I told you. No pony's milk is going to..." She staggered back, still recovering from the unexpectedly sensual milking. "--compare to a cow's!"

Spoiled pointed at Daisy, then Tree. "The contest is not complete until you return the favor."

Tree nodded at that. "She's completely right. Wicked momma, I knew you'd watch out for me."

Daisy glanced away at the rest of her sisters, all looking to her expectantly. She didn't see an immediate way out. Just a sip? She'd try it. It'd be nothing like a cow's, and then she'd be done. No sweat! She lowered her head and nudged Tree onto her side carefully. With that udder in easy access, she captured a teat in her mouth, even as she wondered how odd it was that horses only had two teats instead of the proper four.

She drank. The enchantment about Tree Hugger wasn't designed for cows, and could not ensnare her with scent and proximity alone, but when the milk flowed over tongue, her fate was sealed. Nothing was as good as that milk. She had to have more. She drank and drank, trying to return the favor of draining Tree's udder. As the magic flowed into her, she could feel it coursing through her and settling in her own milk bag. She was becoming something special. She would be the second holder of that milk, but she knew, just knew, that it was Tree Hugger's milk, and she was Tree Hugger's. She was just another four teats on Tree Hugger, and she couldn't be happier.

The other ponies began to notice a change. That wonderful scent they had followed was coming from the cow. It was different, more subtle, but there.

Even as some of the other ponies began to crowd in to sample the altered cow and drink the milk that was almost as good as the original, Filthy had his eyes set on business. He began gathering the milking supplies. It took some convincing, but Spoiled lent a hoof getting the milk jugs over.

Tree Hugger pawed at the air with all four hooves as if running sideways slowly. Instinctively, she knew her gift was being shared. "Every cow gets a turn. You're all part of this now..." She smiled dazedly, remembering when she had been called a cow earlier. "Moo," she said before giggling airishly.

With the coming of the next dawn, Ponyville would start to find their meals much more... fulfilling.
> 12 - Lyrical Intervention
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zecora slumped against her cauldron. Her attempts at finding a cure had run into dead end after dead end. Most required her close proximity, and that was unacceptably hazardous, just as likely to snare her as it was to save any of the others.

Of all the days such a specific malady could befall her, why then? She glanced back at her rump, tail lifting a little. If she desired a foal, she need only surrender. She was healthy. The time was right. She would become a dam of some half-blood zebra.

Would that be so bad?

Zecora's left ear twitched. She did not oppose the thought of motherhood, but... She shook her head vigorously. "I must keep a clear head. I will not share a random bed." She was a shaman. If ever a foal were ahead of her, it would need be an important child. She couldn't simply lay across the path of a random stud. That would be shameful. No. She would be strong...

She was making no progress. She sat up on her haunches, tapping at her cauldron forlornly. "I need some help, clever and smart, to even get me to the start." She looked over at the cube that had provided all the materials she wanted and smiled. That had been nice of Twilight to just slip into her hut. A most gracious and wonderful gift.

Twilight... She trotted to the cube and grabbed a corner of it in her teeth, tossing it up and back. Even as it fell onto her, she trotted for the door. Twilight was clever and smart, sometimes too much so. If anypony could give her a hint, perhaps she would be best seeking out a royal solution.





Twilight and Spike sat at the map. The map was showing all of their cutie marks, and Spike's head, swirling around Ponyville. They were being called, but none of the others were present.

Spike rolled a hand at the display. "So, what do you think it means? I'm not sure they're coming."

Twilight heaved an exasperated sigh. "They've never... not shown up to a map calling." She glanced back at her pulsing rump and back to the map. "Maybe they're in trouble?"

Spike hopped up on his small throne. "Maybe they're already looking for the problem, or ran right into it before they got here. Friendship problems can be tricky like that."

Twilight's frown grew. "That could be true. It is right here in Ponyville. Maybe we're just the only two not already there."

Spike rolled a hand at Twilight. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find us a friendship problem."

She smiled at that. "That's the spirit. Let's leave a note, just in case, and we'll head out." With her magic, she quickly scribbled a note and left it on the map before the two of them moved out. Spike hopped up on her back for an easy ride with Twilight as his valorous steed.

Just as they reached the front door of the castle, a knock came from the other side. Twilight tilted her head in surprise and pulled the door open to reveal their exotic friend, Zecora, with a curious cube on her back.

"It is good to see my princess friend, perhaps you can assist with this problem then." She trotted inside. "Hello to to you as well." She dipped her head at Spike. "I hope you have time for what I will tell."

Twilight suddenly smiled. Had the friendship problem come to her? Wouldn't that be convenient. "What's wrong, Zecora?"

Spike pointed at the box on her back. "What's up with that? Some kinda zebra charm?"

Zecora glanced back at it, then raised a brow at Spike. "It is a gift, most precious and grand. But it is not the matter at hand. The ponies of the town have taken leave of their senses. We must cure them of this or there will be dire consequences."

Twilight's smile only grew. If that wasn't the problem, what else could be?! "We're here to help! Is it a poison joke outbreak?"

Zecora's snout wrinkled a little. "If only it were so simple, I could pop that problem like a pimple." She shook her head quickly. "Big Mac has become a princess, and that is only one instance. Behind him and her stood two others, Fluttershy was but one another. They were..." She trailed off, trying to think of good words to explain the madness she'd seen. "Another with an udder fit for a cow, and I couldn't even start to tell you how. Multiple copies of the same mare, More than one just shouldn't be there!"

Spike scratched at a cheek with a clawtip. "That sounds... kinda crazy."

Zecora nodded at that. "Precisely so, and it must be fixed. The ponies of this town are transfixed."

Twilight raised a hoof to Zecora's shoulder. "Well you've come to the right place. We'll have everything back in order in no time. Perhaps we should go see this problem for ourselves?"

"No!" Zecora stepped to the side, barring the way to the door. "To be close is to invite peril, They wear their madness like apparel. To stand close is to share, This is a thing you should not dare."

Spike raised a claw. "Wait, did you mention Fluttershy before?"

"She is lost, by Big Mac's side. She is now Big Mac's bride."

Twilight colored faintly. "Well, I mean, they did have a short... thing... I thought it had passed?"

"Please, let us focus." Zecora looked Twilight eye to eye. "We must find the locus. Disrupt it and free all our friends. It is the only way to make amends. I have tried to think of a proper brew, but I just don't know what to do."

Twilight turned away from the door. "Well, let's approach this logically. What do you know and what have you already tried?"

Zecora smiled at that, feeling some small measure of relief. She began to detail the mixes she'd made and how they would work, in theory, and their universal failing of proximity. As they talked, they walked. The three of them ascended to one of Twilight's laboratories, vials and beakers bubbling with unknown fluids. It was like Zecora's hut, without any of the rustic charm.

Spike hopped down off of Twilight. "If this is a science thing, Twilight'll figure it out in no time at all," he stated with complete confidence. "Show us that 'egghead power' as Rainbow would put it."

Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "I'll use my 'egghead power', right." She trotted up to the chalkboard and began placing numbers on it. "Approximately how close does the trouble begin?"

Zecora moved to stand beside her. "It grows in intensity the closer one comes. I could not say precisely when it becomes. Where we are standing--" She gestured between herself and Twilight. "I would be lost. Between Spike and I, the dice would be tossed."

Twilight lifted an ear. "Is it magic? Or does it spread some other way?" Her nose twitched in a soft sniff. Why did Zecora smell... nice? She leaned forward without thinking about it and sniffed at the striped equine's neck and mane. It was heady, exotic, and perfect.

Zecora felt her cheeks warming up at being sniffed so openly. "We should... focus."

Spike tilted his head at the exchange, confusion growing. "Twilight?"

"Mmm? Oh!" She blinked out of it. "Sorry, I got distracted a moment there. Are you wearing a perfume, Zecora? I'd love to get that recipe."

Zecora shook her head quickly. "There is no perfume to enhance my scent. There is only my season that comes yearly frequent. You are a mare, this much I know. Only a stallion could properly sow." She smiled gently. "I appreciate your words, kindness in speech. the bees and the birds is not a lesson I will teach."

Spike came closer on unsure feet. "She didn't smell that great, Twi. Focus." Even as Twilight stammered and blushed as she tried to get back to work, he came in close and tried giving a sniff himself. As it turned out, zebra pheromones are not made to entice dragons, but the magic box she wore was enhancing that aroma and he felt strange sensations he was not accustomed to. She did smell nice. One could argue she smelled better than Rarity, as impossible as that seemed.

His cheeks went dark. He was being unloyal. "I... have to go." He scampered away, leaving the two mares alone with wild thoughts of somehow making up for his impure thoughts that did not have his true love in them.

Twilight raised a hoof towards her fleeing assistant, but he was gone in a flash. "Well... guess it's just the two of us then..."

"Just you and me," agreed Zecora as her own snout wriggled. Twilight did not smell bad herself, but she was a mare, and Zecora needed a stallion to scratch at that particular itch. "Let us work together against this mad spree."

They turned their attention to the herbal properties of leaves, roots, and assorted chemicals Twilight had ready for such tasks. In a pot they began to mix and test. Twilight shook her head. "I really think some Twalderin Root would help,  but I'm all out."

Zecora's ears perked as she curled in place. "That is why I brought this with me. Simply ask the box."

"Right, ask the box." That would be a silly thing to do, but she was trying to not think about the scent in her nose and its nudgings to act. She stepped up to the box on Zecora's back, the oddly colored cube. "Do you have some Twalderin Root?" The box fell open. Inside it was a bundle of the root she had asked for. With a broad smile, she grabbed it with her magic. "Perfect!" She ground up the bulbous plant into a pink paste that she added to the batch. "If we do this right, we can cover the entire town in a fog."

"A fog of a literal sort, to give their minds needed support." Zecora looked equally pleased that they were making progress. Twilight was so very smart. She would make a fine partner. Royalty, clever, powerful of magic... A pity she was a mare... Zecora shook her head, trying to be free of those thoughts, but they would not simply go away. Besides, zebra did not have magic, not of that sort. What would a half-zebra with Twilight's lineage be like?

Twilight was muttering to herself as she worked, trotting from place to place as she checked her notes and figures and added pinches of other bits to the bubbling brew. "We're lucky you weren't affected." She threw a leg over Zecora's withers, drawing the Zebra close. "I don't think I've said this before, but I should have! It's always reassuring knowing you're there, watching out for us. You always have the answer, or can at least get us pointed in the right direction. Zecora, I am glad to have you as a friend."

Zecora felt her heart twist. On one level, it was a joy to be called a friend and praised for her wisdom. On another, she wanted more than friendship. "It... is a pleasure to serve as your seer. One simply wonders what it would take to endear." Wait, what did she just say? She darkened swiftly, realizing her words.

Twilight laughed softly, not entirely realizing what was said. "Silly Zecora. You're already dear to me." She leaned against the Zebra, sniffing gently at that heady perfume. "Very... dear..." She sat up suddenly. "Listen to us, rambling away. Maybe we're already being affected." She hopped up to her hooves and trotted to the pot. "We should be the first to be fogged, just in case."

Zecora followed after Twilight, her eyes between the princess' legs. Why did she have the wrong parts? "Tell me Twilight and tell me true. Is being a stallion something you can do?"

Twilight froze in place before slowly turning to face Zecora.
> 13 - Start Case 5 - Twilight Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight struggled to hold the scene in a detached light. She knew exactly why Zecora had asked that. She knew what the stakes were. She was not being asked something tawdry and dismissable. Zecora was in season, and was asking her to create a child with her. She had just been proposed to by a mare she respected. While it would normally be an impossibility, she knew, and she knew Zecora knew, there were ways around that. The question was sincere. "Are you... sure?" The thought of asking why had faded from her. "I've never even had a coltfriend before, let alone..."

Zecora pressed her nose against Twilight's and they shared breath through flared nostrils. "You have grown so very much, To even lend the faintest touch. I consider myself lucky to be part, to witness your transformation from the start." She rubbed her lips against Twilight's, but found they pressed back. They kissed silently a moment, their minds becoming more and more focused on the intimacy between them. "You understand my ways, you find the social network a maze. You are more skilled at finding the path, but you would still prefer the comfort of math. Let us be alone, together. We will have each other, no matter the weather."

Twilight suddenly moved away, leaving a confused Zecora behind. She grabbed a bit of chalk in her magic and began scribbling on one of her boards. "In order to attain the desired effect, we will require..." She licked over her own lips and found the faint taste of her future wife. She warmed at the thought of it. "Creating working genitalia is no simple task. The appearance, that's easy, but we want something capable of creating life." Her wings spread slowly as she worked. "We need something with a very specific harmony." She began listing the specific details such a thing would need in exacting minutiae.

Zecora understood. She slowly nodded and turned to the box still balanced on her back. "You have been very kind, perhaps you could deliver the vine?" She knew what vine she wanted, specifically, and the box somehow knew without her specifying. It opened to reveal the needed orange-red vine within.

Twilight squeaked with a powerful smile and grabbed the vine in her magic. "Perfect! Now... before I proceed..." She set the vine aside carefully. "We should talk."

Zecora blinked at that. "Have we not already? We have only to remain steady."

Twilight lifted a hoof. "Before we can 'remain' steady, we have to 'be' steady. Zecora, as a princess, I am legally entitled to oversee bonding ceremonies." She softly coughed into a hoof, her blush intensifying. "Are you proposing? Are you willing to commit to this, to raise any foal we make right, together?"

Zecora's rump sank to the ground. For just a moment, her mind cleared, the fog pulling back a little. To be married was a heavy thing. To a pony, no less... She looked Princess Twilight over from her hooves up to her twitching ears. The heat inside herself was nudging her towards a yes. "Would you..." She ran her tongue over dry lips. "I will still be me..." Her rhymes were lost, set aside in the moment of gravity. "Even bound, I would not stop. Will you love me as I am?"

Twilight stepped closer, eyes locked on Zecora's. "You want to be closer to those plants. The Ever Free is your home, and I... wouldn't want to disrupt that, but this would be a second home." She tapped at the crystal beneath her as she walked. "You would be welcome here, wanted... here." She reached Zecora, their faces so close. "We both have our responsibilities, but we will have each other."

The zebra smiled gently. "I would be a fool to decline. Our thoughts seem to align. Princess Sparkle, I humbly beg, will you make me a newlywed? We will seal our vows with new life. You as husband, I as your wife."

Twilight lifted into the air on her wings and clopped her forehooves together. "I accept." She had a longer acceptance speech in mind, but it was forgotten in the moment. "Now, let us begin!" She pushed the original brew to the side, forgotten and just in the way and grabbed a new pot to get to work in. "This will be much like our marriage, a union of herbalism and unicorn magic."

Zecora smiled at that as she stood up and moved to assist. They worked side-by-side to create a paste, dark blue in color.

Twilight scooped out all that would fit on her hoof, which was considerable with its thick consistency. "This will make the spell work properly." Her horn grabbed a book off a shelf and yanked it over. It flipped open along the way and slapped down in sight. "Spread this along my undercarriage, where the change is to take effect. Be thorough, and be generous." She held out the goopy hoof to Zecora.

Zecora lifted an ear and reached out to accept, taking most of the gunk  from the messy hoof and circling around to Twilight back end. She imagined a stallion and reached forward, smearing it along where a stallion's tool should reside. Twilight's fur was soft and smooth, but Zecora had to get past it. It was the flesh she knew that would be affected most, so she worked the paste deeper and deeper until she felt it sticking to the princess' lower belly.

Twilight shivered softly as she was anointed. "That's... right..." Her tail lifted up out of the way for her assistant. "Get some more, keep going. The more the better for this." She peeked back to see Zecora hard at work lathering up the future sight of her foal maker. She squeaked as she felt those hooves straying back and up. "Don't get it where it doesn't belong."

Zecora shook her head. "You will need more than a dong. Jewels vast and heavy, more precious than your crown. I will ensure that they can drop down." She did not touch Twilight's twitching mare lips, but slathered just under it and beyond, creating plenty of space for a stud's equipment. "Are you ready for your spell? With this in hoof, you'll make me swell."

Twilight tried to focus on her book, mouthing almost silently parts of the spell before she raised her head. With glowing horn, she intoned, "With task ahead, and mare anointed, with calling clear, a stallion is appointed." Her magic swept back over herself. The paste suddenly began to tingle fiercely, interacting with the magic. Zecora gasped with delight as she began to deform. Heavy balls descended into a new sac. The rest of the magic was still working when Zecora suddenly nuzzled those new jewels.

The sensation of the new organ's touching made Twilight gasp with delight. She pressed back towards her new wife, dancing from hoof to hoof as her sheath began to grow and extend, a stallion's tool rapidly developing within. As Zecora worshipped at her seed factories, Twilight's thoughts become less and less clinical. She wanted to fill Zecora. She wanted to fill her in every way, and those dirty thoughts began to interfere with the magic. Her new balls began to swell as her shaft grew all the more rapidly. She was becoming a stud worthy of calling royalty.

Zecora buried her snout into the expanding flesh, inhaling deep of a stud's scent. She knew without doubt that it was the cure to the pressing need behind her. Her tongue flicked out across each swollen jewel even as they stretched and bulged with untold male energy. She had no words at that moment, and none were required. She drew back and trotted around to be in front of Twilight. With raised tail and winking lips, she made her wishes known to her future husband.

Twilight opened her eyes as the new, but wonderful, sensations stopped behind her. She looked back, then forward. Ah, there she was. Zecora had taken a wide legged stance, with tail raised and to the side. Thick zebra lips opened wide in invitation. The curious part was that Zecora was making a chewing motion as if she had something in her snout, but she didn't. Was that part of zebra mating? Twilight was curious, but she was also increasingly ready to do as was being bidden.

She felt a new weight fall from her formed sheath. She was becoming erect and for a moment, she just felt the alien sensation of that tool becoming massive and hard. She could feel the tension growing. There was one thing this was made to do, and she planned to do it. She reared up and put her hooves on Zecora's back, topping her.

Zecora backed up. That new tool pressed flatly against her ready lips and sank into the wet heat, submerging into her needing depths as she took the first motion. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut, unprepared for the intense feeling of entering the spellbinding female she had selected for a wife. She wrapped her hooves around Zecora's midsection and thrust herself forward into the seer. The end of her shaft was easily the most sensitive and she could feel that slick long passage parting to allow her deeper.

That horse cock was wide, almost too much so. Zecora could feel her channel being stretched by the impressive thing as she let out a low moan of utter satisfaction. She looked over her shoulder to see a very focused Twilight, trying to pound into her just right. With wet slaps, they met, balls slapping against her rump as that shaft pressed into the very end, kissing her cervix deep within. She was filled, completely. Twilight was perfectly large enough to leave no more room, fashioned just right for her. They were made for one another.

Twilight was not ready to do as she had read in some of her less reputable books. She wanted to rut Zecora forever, or at least for a long time, but stallions were not made for that, and she was not even a stallion until moments before. She felt her massive balls lift up and suddenly there was potent, life-starting goo rushing down her twitching shaft. She cried out with surprised bliss as she felt herself emptying out into her striped mate, filling her belly with all Twilight had to give.

Zecora squeezed her eyes shut as she felt heat spread within her. She was being seeded, like a plot of land. She would eventually produce a harvest just the same. The satisfaction of it send ripples through her form and along her tunnel, milking the shaft and making it clear that she wanted what it was giving. The thought that it had been a short coupling did not register to her, overridden easily by the satisfaction of being bred.

Twilight twitched and spasmed at the heavenly sensations coming from her member, but she was not as fulfilled. She saw her performance as a failure. They had barely begun! She leaned in over Zecora, rubbing at her sides and belly. "Don't worry, I'll keep going. Just... give me a moment."

Zecora turned an ear back at Twilight. "What? My husband, you are quite silly. We have all day for you to call out shrilly." She twitched her tail, tickling at Twilight's underside. "Once an hour, give or take. We'll make sure there's a foal to bake. Don't strain yourself, my husband dear. For all of today, I will be near." She stepped forward, pulling free of Twilight's spent member. With a flushed face, she popped free, letting Twilight fall back to the ground. "That was good, your performance grand. Now what was it that we had planned?"

Twilight blinked softly. "We were..." She looked left and right before spotting the abandoned pot. "That's right!" She started for it and felt the ponderous swaying of her tool, not yet withdrawn properly. She blushed, imagining how it must look. "Are you sure I did that right?"

Zecora kissed her cheek gently. "You were fine. With practice you will learn my confine." The fog had abated. She was happy for the moment. "Now let us turn our thoughts to others. We will return to them their druthers."
> 14 - Case 6 - Cookies and Milk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiled looked up from her newspaper. "It seems the locals have gone a touch rowdy."

Filthy perked an ear towards his wife. "Oh?" It struck him. Hadn't they been in the process of something? Ah. Milk. He wanted some. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted it. "Good thing we're too civilized for that sort of thing, hmm? Could you be a dear and pass the  milk?"

Spoiled turned up her nose at the idea of such menial work. Besides, the milk was hers! She put a hoof on the carafe that held the precious fluid before she suddenly smiled gently. "Filthy, have you forgotten?"

Filthy went rigid. Spoiled never asked that in that special way unless... Was it their anniversary? Was it her birthday? What had he forgotten?! "Of course not, beloved." He began to sweat, trying to think of what he could have missed. "I do need to, uh, put the finishing touches on it." He dropped from his chair and hurried for the door. "I'll do that right now."

He had to find something that would appease her. Perhaps flowers? They usually went over well, and it was early, hopefully before the crowds showed up.





"You are simply the best," spoke Daisy with a smile as she leaned in to take the bag away from Pinkie in her mouth and passed a few bits in trade. "They smell extra delicious today."

"I know! I mean, I'm pretty sure you meant that as a compliment, but they really do smell extra good." Pinkie was bobbing her head energetically. "I hope you and the other girls enjoy them half as much as I did making them!"

With mutual delight, they parted ways. Daisy trotted energetically back towards the greenhouse that she shared with Lily and Rose. The town seemed still asleep in the early morning. Some of the regulars she was used to seeing just weren't out and about. "That's funny," she muffledly noted around her paper bag. It was far from abandoned. Why, Pinkie had been there ready with cookies, and so her first task of the day was complete.

She clopped a hoof against the door of the greenhouse and it opened almost immediately to reveal Rose Luck. "Do I smell something great or what?" She took the bag from Daisy, or tried.

Daisy danced back a step and snorted before moving in past Rose. She set it down gently on an end table. "There's plenty enough for all of us. Pinkie went all out and had an inspired session of baking."

Lily approached from the interior of the greenhouse, ears perked. "I could use a little snack. The weeds are being extra stubborn today. I swear it's like they have a wicked will of their own sometimes."

All three giggled at the idea as Rose brought over a plate and set it beside the bag. Daisy upended the bag, spilling out the baked extra-goods across it in a display of deliciousness. "Breakfast is on!" crowed the mealbringer with a smile. "Four a piece."

Rose snatched up a cookie in her snout as her hooves secured three others. "I know," she said with her mouth full, sitting to start chewing the cookie, but the taste exploded across her tongue and made her pause. "By Celestia's flowing beard! These are good!"

The other two peered at their friend and her curious swear before they took a cookie each themselves and dares take a nibble. Soon all three were making soft mmms and sighs as they savored cookies more entrancing than even Pinkie was known for.

All too quickly, the cookies were gone. Daisy let out a sad sigh before her eyes fixed on Rose's mouth. "You... have some... right..." She came closer with every word until she lunged the last few inches, tackling Rose to the ground and licking at the mare's snout, trying to get the last few crumbs for herself.

Rose squealed in surprise and flailed, but her nose told her that Daisy had just as many crumbs as she did, and panic began to ebb. She wanted cookies too. She returned the licking, and their tongues met. That was when they realized that the breath of one another was thick with the promise of cookies, and their kiss became frighteningly deep almost instantly.

Lily stared at her suddenly amorous friends with wide eyes, wobbling in place. The urge to simply pass out was intense. It was a response all three had when faced with the unknown. But she wasn't collapsing. She felt, strangely, stable. She felt increasingly secure and... She struggled to find the words when Rose and Daisy's makeout roused her back to reality. "Rose? Daisy? What are you doing?" She moved to rise to her hooves, but her movement was slow. Was it shock?

When she drew a hoof from the ground to step towards them, she felt weak. When her hoof was back on the ground, strength returned. The act of walking was slow and uncomfortable and she had no idea why.

Daisy pulled free of the kiss with a loud gasp for air. "I never knew you tasted so good," she crooned down at Rose, rubbing down against her.

Rose had her arms wrapped around Daisy, running her hooves up and down her friend's back. "There's a lot we don't know about each other." She leaned up, noses touching. "Want to find out more?"

They both giggled as they rolled over, away from Lily.

Lily frowned, trying to catch up, but walking was proving too annoying. She stomped down a hoof, sinking it into the soft earth of the greenhouse. A strange and alien pleasure shot through her. She could feel something growing from her hoof suddenly, snaking out into the ground. With wide eyes, she looked to her pink hoof to see it turning brown at the bottom. She lifted the hoof with considerable effort just a few inches to see that thick roots were descending into the earth. 

She shuddered and let out a soft little moan as roots began to sprout from her other hooves. She was becoming a plant? Panic tried to surge, but was met by an urge for calm. She stood where she was, becoming further and further rooted as her pelt began to color, green mixing with her pink hue in a strange new color. The sun felt nice. "G-girls..."

Rose looked over from where she had ended up on top of Daisy and paused. "What...?"

Daisy peeked as well and began to gape with Rose. Their friend was becoming a plant. "Sweet Celestia! Can you move?!"

Lily nodded quickly and forced a step. She could feel the roots shifting beneath her and she left a furrow through the ground, but she could move. "What's happening? Please, help me." She said the words, but she did not, could not, feel true panic in her core. The sun felt so nice. She felt something ticklish around her ears, but couldn't see quite what was going on. "What's happening?"

Rose stood up from Daisy. "You... just sprouted Lilies..."

A knocking came from the front door suddenly, causing all three heads to snap towards it. "Are you open for business? No one was at the stand," came Filthy Rich's hopeful voice. "It's an emergency."

Rose gently ran a hoof over Lily's new lilies as Daisy rushed past them both towards the door. "One moment!" She glanced back. "I'll get what he wants and get him out of here, alright?" The other two nodded nervously and she pressed on, opening the door to their greenhouse. "Good morning, Filthy. What can we get for you?" She forced her best fake smile into place.

Filthy sagged with relief. "I'm glad you're here. I've forgotten something important to Spoiled and I can't for the life of me remember what it is. I want to get a nice big assortment of flowers for her to help smooth things over." He moved to step inside and Lily tensed.

She tried to think of some desperate means to tell him not to continue, but her nose twitched. Filthy's breath had a hint of... something good. As she tried to sort it through, he had already walked past her. "Wait, no!" she cried, far too late. She lunged for him just as he recoiled at the sight of the rooted Lily. Their heads bonked against one another artlessly, striking both dizzy a moment.

Daisy crashed to her haunches and felt a sudden sharp rush of alien pleasure run through her bottom. She looked back there to see where her rump and hind legs had touched the ground, they were rooting just as well as Lily's had. "I... don't want to be a plant!" she cried.

Rose thrust out a hoof. "Everypony calm down." the other two flower ponies looked at her oddly. Calm was not their general way of operation. "Try. Daisy, can you--"

"--What is going on?" demanded Filthy as he recovered from the collision.

Rose rapidly approached Filthy. "This is a, uh, bad time." Her nose twitched softly. "Say... did you... happen to have some cookies?"

He blinked at the very notion. "I can't say I have. Are they alright?" He glanced between the two rooted mares.

Daisy tried to force herself upright, but seemed to only succeed at burying her hind-legs into the soft earth. With her hips just above the ground, she found she could almost swim with her buried hooves, moving with speed that surprised her. She felt tickles as daisies bloomed across her green-tinting fur. Her mane deepened from light green to a rich and verdant shade and the sun started to feel really nice.

"I am not entirely sure," admitted the confused Rose before she looked to Filthy more squarely. Something about him... "Are you... sure you haven't had any cookies?"

"What do cookies have to do with anything?" he demanded angrily. "Your friends need help!"

Rose shook her head slowly as she stepped in at Filthy. "I... think you have something."

Daisy suddenly bumped Rose out of the way. "I saw him first!"

Lily seemed to skate across the ground, furrows forming where her hooves passed, but moving without raising them. "You're not leaving me out of this!"

Filthy shrank back, ears pinning to his head. "I, uh, maybe... I should... go." He took one step before a vine that hadn't been there wrapped around his right forehoof. Rose's eyes shone green as the thorned vine pinned him in place.

"You don't need to go anywhere," assured Rose Luck as she approached, another vine lashing out to trap his back left hoof. "You are right where we want you."

Lily perked a fuzzy ear at her friend's new trick. "That is amazing." It was terrifying, but her brain refused to accept that it was anything but the way it should be. "Can I do that?" She frowned with concentration and a many-fronded lily stalk snaked up and wrapped around Filthy's barrel, holding him securely in place.

Not to be outdone, Daisy waved a hoof at the trapped Filthy, but Daisies did not grow long, or in vines. They erupted in a sudden thick bed beneath him. She pouted at the inferior performance. "Aw, come on. Do something!" They did, a cloud of spores filling the air around Filthy.

He screamed and thrashed against his many restraints, but had no choice but to breathe in the spores. He felt a dull fire spreading out from his lungs. What was truly happening, he could not say. "Let me go! Please! I've always been a good customer, haven't I?"

Rose stepped towards him, her hooves remaining free of the ground. Her approach was slow and sensual. "Oh, you have, and we're about to show you just how grateful we are, aren't we girls?" The other two nodded quickly. "See? You came here looking for an exotic flower arrangement, and you found one. The only question remaining is if you have what it takes to pluck us and take us home." All three giggled at the botanical humor as they came in closer to Filthy.

There was gardening to be done.
> 15 - A Fabulous Arrangement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rose circled Filthy slowly. "What a fine stallion we've captured. Aged like good wine." She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Responsible, successful--"

"Sexy," added Lily suddenly. "Don't forget that part."

Daisy burst into giggles. "We're going to make sure we take... measure... of that."

Heat was running through Filthy's entire body. He felt like he was wearing the thickest jacket, all the heat being trapped. He felt a weight descending. He was becoming hard in front of the mares. He could feel their eyes, staring at every inch of his meat as it slid free with the powerful thumping of his heart. It was beyond embarrassing, but he... wasn't sure it was something he didn't want.

The harder his shaft became, jutting out in a proud little arc of equine flesh, the more he considered the curves of the flower mares. If they were offering, and needed him, was he being a bad stallion to give what they wanted? Surely that was just the natural thing to do.

Lily slid across the ground, her hooves always flushed to the soft surface. "I think he wants to get down and dirty in the garden."

Rose slowly nodded as she raised a hoof, placing it just under Filthy's chin. "We're glad you've come around. We are your flowers, Filthy. Will you claim us properly?"

Daisy waved a hoof wildly. "And protect us!"

Rose quickly nodded in agreement with her friend. "And that. No more being scared."

Filthy's ears went up. They were scared? "What are you scared of?" He pulled and winced as a thorn dug into his hoof. "I can't help tied to the ground like this."

The three shared looks before the long leafy vine uncurled from around his midsection and the thorny vines at his hooves drew back. Rose leaned in and kissed his nose. "Our hero."

Filthy's cheeks warmed at the implication even as his nose danced. There was something on Rose's breath. She had a sweet scent, as one might expect of a flower. He wanted it. "Now that you are all my flowers--" All three giggled at the idea. "--I want to take you home." He thought back to Spoiled, still waiting for him. "There is a special mare that needs an extra special gift. I can't think of a more special gift than you three."

Daisy kicked her hidden hooves, swimming through the earth to Filthy's side easily. "We've never been inside your house before."

Rose waggled her brows. "He's never been inside us before... We should fix both counts."

Daisy sank into the earth until just her head was free and swam under Filthy to spring up and kiss the underside of his still firm and pulsing length. "That sounds fun..."

Lily nodded firmly. "Bees may be good enough for regular flowers, but we need something... larger to pollinate us."

Filthy arched his back, making his tool jump and bump against the snout of the eager mare beneath him. "B-be calm. I want... to present you before we play." He wanted her, all of them. He wanted to 'pollinate' them forever! But he also had an angry Spoiled at home that wasn't getting any less angry. No matter how insidious the grip of the milk and pollen's mental effects, he did not forget what mare truly owned him or just how bad the scorn of her disapproval could be. He wanted the flowers, but he wanted to avoid angering Spoiled even more.

He stepped away, walking for the door with his big rigid horse cock swaying with every motion. "This way." Before he could get far through the riot of colors of the garden, a soft knocking came from the door. He could clearly see Rarity's shape and color through the glass, even if the details were smudged by the imperfectly clear glass. The smallest part of him thought he should be worried about some part of his appearance, but he couldn't think of what was wrong with his clothes, so he proceeded. "Rarity, always nice to see you."

Rarity smiled on the other side of the glass. "Is that you, Mister Rich? Why, I hadn't expected you to be here, dar--" Her words trailed off as the door opened to reveal Filthy standing before her with a raging erection. "Am I... interrupting something, dear?" It wasn't the first cock she'd ever seen, but they usually didn't come as a surprise on the way to flowers. She danced as daisies sprouted up around her in a large bed. "What?" She didn't have time to say much more than that before a thick cloud of pollen puffed up into her startled face.

Daisy giggled with delight. "I think I got the best one."

Rose nudged Daisy with a hoof. "At least I'm not rooted."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Why are you not rooted?  It's hardly fair. Still, it does mean you don't get to feel how great the sun can be." She stretched out herself, spreading her planted hooves. "It's like... I can't even describe it, but you're missing out."

Filthy glanced back at the flower mares before stepping forward towards Rarity. "Are you alright?"

Rarity shook her head violently, trying to clear herself of the pollen as she crashed to her haunches. "I've never seen such aggressive plants outside of the Everfree." Filthy was offering her a hoof, and an even closer look at what he was sporting, jutting up from his groin. Rarity blushed softly, which was more embarrassing than anything else. She was not some innocent filly. "Your wife is going to be quite cross with you, Filthy dear, if you go pointing that at other mares."

Filthy perked an ear as he looked under himself as if to confirm that the twitching shaft was still there and belonged to him. "I was just about to give her a very special treat."

Rarity opened her mouth, ready to barb Filthy on his crass behavior when her thoughts crashed. She wondered what the treat was. Did it involve that pillar of virility? She rose to her hooves. "I would like to see that, I think. I'm sure whatever you've come up with will be absolutely fantastic."

Rose trotted out from behind Rarity, Lily and Daisy shortly behind. "Hello, Rarity. Always nice to see one of our best customers."

Rarity looked at Rose with not entirely focused eyes, the presence of the flower girls striking her dizzy a moment. "Oh, Rose, darling, nice to see you. Are you helping Filthy with his 'special treat'?" Despite the fog, she began putting two and two together. There were not many reasons for a stallion to be on display while indoors with mares. She had interrupted something. She felt a flush of envy even as she struggled to explain it.

Daisy bobbed her head as she swam with her hidden hooves, moving up to Rarity. "We are his special gift."

That was when Rarity noticed that Daisy was submerged in the ground, but moving despite it. "However strange, dear, how are you... doing that?" Some tiny part of her insisted that was a thing she should be more concerned about, but she preferred having Daisy close. "I'm not sure how I failed to notice this before, Daisy, but you are a most enchanting mare. I blame my past self for not getting you into clothing to truly emphasize your best features."

Even as Daisy lit up a bright red at the compliment, Lily skated to Filthy's side. "If she wants to come with us, what's the harm? Spoiled will like an even bigger surprise."

"O-oh, yes, a bigger surprise." Filthy turned towards his home. "That will make her even happier." And maybe avoid her wrath, or so he hoped. "Rarity, will you join my flower arrangement?"

Rarity perked an ear, considering that. The girls came closer from all sides, with Rose looking her in the eyes, Daisy to the left, leaning against her, and Lily giving a friendly nuzzle to her right side. Being with them had no downside that her muddled mind could detect. It was exactly what she wanted in the first place. "It would be my distinct pleasure to help bring a smile to Spoiled's face." She thought of Filthy's wife. "She's a fair bit more comely when she's happy. and maybe I could refresh her--"

Daisy turned towards where Filthy's home was. "We'll refresh her extra good."

"I meant her wardrobe, darling."

Rose rolled her eyes. "We'll get all kinds of refreshing done today. Enough talking about it." She brushed up against Filthy as she sauntered past him. "It's time to enjoy the fruits of our labor."

Lily skated up to be next to Rose as she went. "Do we make fruit? I guess if one of us was a strawberry bush." She snorted with a sudden giggle. "But then a certain mare would be tackling us to the ground." The three girls laughed at the thought of the strawberry-loving mare's reaction if any of them happened to started sprouting strawberries.

Rarity walked alongside Filthy behind the three. "This is certainly not how I originally planned the day, dear. I had just wanted a particular selection for a display I have coming up soon. They'll be able to oblige me after we finish presenting this 'treat' to your lovely wife, I hope?"

"They've never let me down." Filthy nodded as he walked. "I don't imagine their, uh, flowery state will make them less able to care for flowers." He leaned in towards Rarity. "I don't suppose you know what's happened to them?"

"I was hoping you did, darling. You were here long before I was. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to have bothered them. Why, I'd say they're happier than usual, and perhaps, dare I say it, less timid? I love the dears, truly I do, but they are the ponies that wilt at the smallest provocation."

"Only when something disastrous comes," argued Filthy. The idea that his flowers were not perfect agitated him on a deep level. "Besides, as you said, they're better now." His smile returned. "We've put that behind us."

"How dreadful of me." Rarity put a hoof to her chest as she walked on the other three. "I don't mean to pry at closing wounds, do forgive me, dear. Let's focus on the task at hoof." She set her hoof back to the ground as she looked around the curiously quiet Ponyville. "Speaking of that, is there a special event of some sort we are celebrating? I'm not as well-informed as Pinkie, darling that she is. Is it Spoiled's birthday? Your anniversary perhaps?"

Filthy's ears fell. "I... don't know. She hinted that I forgot something and I don't want her being upset at my forgetfulness."

Lily paused in her skating to let the others arrive beside her before moving with them. "So, why don't we just make something up? Today is the day that you realized that you're even luckier than you thought you were and you're extra happy to have Spoiled."

Filthy smiled at the sentiment of it, but looked far from convinced. "If it is a specific thing I am forgetting, that will sound like an admission of the fact."

Lilly shrugged. "Then we just don't mention it. We just pile on the gifts and make her forget all about whatever she has on her mind."

Rarity nodded firmly. "I agree." She waved a hoof past Filthy to where Lilly slid along. "She has the right idea. We'll make Spoiled so happy, she won't have room to think of anything but how absolutely fantastic of a husband she has."

"You're all the best." Filthy sagged with relief, his member hanging limply as he felt more relaxation than anticipation in that moment. The fresh air that wafted past helped as well to clear just a little of the fog from his mind. "What did I do to deserve such great friends?" Soon he had four mares pressing to him from all sides, assuring him that they'd handle it and make Spoiled happy.

He had so many amazing mares. He looked forward to making all of them happy, Spoiled and his friends.
> 16 - Special Treat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spoiled took a gentle sip of her beloved milk. "The day is shaping up nicely." Sure, she hadn't actually done anything of note, but she had her milk, and what else really mattered? That thought shattered into jagged edges at her husband trotting in, sporting an obscene erection that swayed with every energetic step. "Now is not the time nor place." It wasn't their special evening at all, or any evening for that matter.

Filthy's trot faltered a moment before he regathered his bravery and moved for the table Spoiled was seated at. "Dearest, I have procured a special gift for you. It will bedazzle and astound you, leave you breathless. May I present--"

Spoiled cocked a brow at Filthy. "Whatever has gotten into you, Filthy? Put that thing away." She gestured with her free hoof beneath her husband's barrell. "Controlling that is a thing all colts learn long before they even have a cutiemark. Have you no shame?"

Filthy shook his head. "We'll get to that, darling. For now, welcome the flowers. I present them to you as a gift."

At their cue, the flower girls entered, Rose at the front in a sensual stroll, her eyes locked on Spoiled's. Lily skated in next, seemingly able to do so despite the ground being that of wood instead of dirt. Her hidden roots easily penetrated the surface, keeping her firmly attached. Daisy came last, swimming through the floor with her head poking free. She raised a hoof and waved energetically at Spoiled as she joined her flowery kin.

Spoiled set her glass of milk down slowly. "What... has happened to them?"

"Isn't it marvelous, darling?" Rarity came last of all. "I was a touch taken aback at first sight, just as you were. They are well and, dare I say, enhanced by their current condition." She stepped up beside the three flower girls. "They've really become true earth ponies, come to think."

Spoiled scowled at the idea. "Earth ponies can be whatever they set out to be." Her teeth clenched firmly, she glared at Rarity. "My husband, an earth pony I will remind, is a very successful businesspony that employs countless other ponies, including pegasi and unicorns."

Filthy slid in beside Spoiled and gently pressed his side to hers. "She didn't mean anything by that, honey buns."

Spoiled went red as she turned to face her husband. "You promised to never use that name in polite company! Enough of this game. Everypony, out! Out out out!"

Rose held up a hoof. "You're entirely right, Spoiled. You've been wronged."

Spoiled blinked at the sudden submissive tones being offered. "Y-yes, I am..." She arced a brow at Rose. "What do you intend to do about it?"

Rose turned slowly to face Rarity. "I think a certain unicorn needs to be taught to respect earth ponies, to learn the pleasure of their company, and just how flexible they can be..."

Rarity took a half-step back. "W-what? Why are you all looking at me like that? I didn't mean anything, darlings. We're all friends here, right?" She forced a smile that felt as fake as it looked.

Lily tilted her head as the conjured thick leafy tendrils to grab Rarity's surprised legs and draw them apart several inches, leaving the mare far more exposed than she would normally stand. "Just relax and let the earth ponies take charge from here. We can be very nice if you let us."

Daisy clapped her forehooves together, conjuring a bed of daisies beneath Rarity. "A little puff of something sweet will help her relax."

Rose thrust out a hoof in front of the half-submerged Daisy. "Not yet. I want our unicorn friend to accept us without tricks. If you just spray her until she can't think, what does that prove?"

Rarity nervously laughed. "Y-yes, we couldn't have that, dears. N-now, please, let me go." Her horn glowed dimly as she tried to pry away the vines holding her forward-left hoof, but they were on tight. "I wouldn't want our fabulous relationship marred over such a trifling thing."

Spoiled bounced to her hooves. "Trifling! Easy for you to say! Those rich snobs in Canterlot--" She arched a brow. "--Which you want to join. They always look down on us. It doesn't matter that we are wealthy and connected, we're still not unicorns!" Filthy put an arm around his agitated wife, but she would not be easily consoled. "How dare you! You three--" She pointed at each of the flower girls. "Proceed. Make her regret her hurtful words."

Lily raised her chin and her plants obeyed, lifting Rarity from the ground and spreading her wide for them to access. "You've been a naughty girl. Say you're sorry."

"I'm sorry!" shrieked Rarity without hesitation, wondering what sort of awful things the flower-enhanced mares had in mind for her. "Don't hurt me, please, darlings. This simply just isn't--"

Her words were cut off as Rose leaned up and pressed her lips into the captive mare's. Rarity tried to speak despite it, but the words were little more than muffled grunts as Rose pressed more firmly.

Rarity's ears began to sag. Rose smelled wonderful, and wasn't hurting her. Was a kiss so terrible? Especially one from Rose. Rarity's tension began to leak from her as she leaned back into the kiss. Her eyes fell to half-closed as she gazed deeply into the entrancing flower's eyes.

Lily slid over to Daisy. "Don't look glum. You're approaching this from the wrong angle."

Daisy tilted her head up at her friend. "But all I can do is make daisies."

Lily leaned in with a big smile. "You know what else is also a daisy?"

"What?"

"Sunflowers."

Daisy's eyes went wide. Sure, sunflowers were, scientifically, a daisy. Would that work? She captured the image of a sunflower in her mind and waved a hoof at the smooching Rarity. The floor parted to allow a massive sunflower head to poke free, unfurling into brilliance as it rose quickly. She stopped it just before it could go past Rarity's bottom, giggling madly. "Oh, this just got so much more fun!"

Spoiled raised a brow at what was going on in front of her, her anger abating. "What... are they doing, precisely?"

Filthy kissed her cheek. "What you asked them to. Now, while you enjoy the show, I want to--"

Spoiled put a hoof to his face, silencing him. "I know that tone. It's not our special day. You will compose yourself. Sit, watch." She pointed at the strange show being put on. "We will not debase ourselves in front of our guests." She made a little shooing motion with a hoof. "Proceed."

The flower girls didn't need her permission. Rose brought her hooves up to draw Rarity deeper into the kiss, her arms around the captive unicorn's head as their lips played. She felt a tongue darting against her lips and smiled. Rarity wanted what she was giving. She parted her lips to allow the intrusion, suckling gently on Rarity even as she nuzzled against her.

Mad with newfound power, Daisy brought her enormous sunflower even with Rarity's shapely rump. She nuzzled her styled tail out of the way with the great fronds of the vibrant flower before pressing it directly to Rarity's bottom. Rarity squeaked muffled at the feeling, but was far too distracted by the eternal kiss to pay much mind to what was going on behind her. That changed quickly as the sunflower sprouted flowers of its own, one pressing against her delicate feminine parts.

She was not being punished. The thought of any of this being a punishment had faded away. She was being shown love, and she wanted it. She wanted to be loved forever. When she felt something trying to gain admission to her, she relaxed, willing it to press just a little harder. The sensation of the petals of a flower seemingly growing into her passage was alien, but tickled all the right places as it lengthened and explored her depths.

Lilly nodded with approval. "Now you're getting it, and you left one spot for me." She willed a long stem to rise quickly, bending down at the end to reveal a great phallic flamingo lilly to the world, nectar dripping from its tip. "I think I'll help myself." The glistening and bumpy plant bumped gently into the tight doughnut of Rarity's backdoor. "I'll be gentle, miss Rarity. I just want to express how happy we are to have you as a customer."

Rarity felt something at an entrance she did not use nearly as often. Her eyes opened, but she couldn't look directly behind herself. That was a horse's blindspot, and Rose kept her facing forward. She could see Lily though, looking eager as whatever it was bumped into her backdoor. It felt slick and narrow at the end. Nothing the girls had done so far had harmed her... "Be gentle, darling," she managed to get out around the kiss before she relented back into it, smooching with Rose as if her very life depended on it.

Lilly smiled with permission obtained and confidence swelling. She willed her plant to press firmly, swollen and more rigid than such a flower part had any right to be, it slowly pushed into Rarity's back, oozing its thick nectar as lubricant as it went. The bumps made her legs kick as each row made it into her. Lilly's own tongue hung free a little. "I can feel it." It was like she was taking Rarity personally, which was doubly as curious since she had never had a penis before. "Take it..." she sighed out, pushing deeper and deeper into the convulsing ring of Rarity's anus.

Not to be outdone, Daisy grew deeper and wider, the flower that impaled Rarity growing inside her, its fronds forced back against itself as the stem swelled to become large enough to be a proper pony's breeding tool. She drew it back a few precious inches before slamming it home inside the proper unicorn, revelling in her pleasured squeal. "I'm going to explore every inch of this," she sighed out as tiny tendrils slipped from the end of the thrusting flower stem to reach further and further into Rarity, feeling and probing along the entrance to her deepest chamber.

While battering past it would be painful and possibly quite harmful, the small tendrils could slip between the protective walls, gaining entrance to Rarity's womb in an explosion of growing little vines.

Rarity tensed. She could feel something happening, but didn't know what it was. She felt ticklish in a place she couldn't even define, and her belly was growing more full by the moment. She wanted to look, to feel, to do anything, but the tendrils around her hooves were tight, and Rose was a silken trap she could not easily escape. She lowered her head a little. "D-darling," she got out in the moment of reprieve. "Please, what's... happening?"

Rose leaned to the left to get a better look at what the others were doing. "You're becoming far more... intimate... with earth pony power." She raised a hoof to raise Rarity's chin. "And you like it."

Rarity's ears perked up at Rose. Did she like it? She squealed as the two intruders thrust in tandem, making her tremble with alien delight. "I don't like it," she suddenly said, forcing a composed expression. Rose looked taken aback. "That's because, dear, I love it!"

Rose's sultry smile returned at the admission. "And we love you, dear unicorn. Now admit that earth ponies are great ponies. She gently tickles under Rarity's chin with a hoof, gazing into her eyes.

"Earth ponies are fantastic ponies," easily admitted Rarity. "Not to say pegasi and unicorns don't have their charms as well, of course. We, mmmm, all come, nnng, together..." She wriggled her bottom as the sensation of being filled became slowly more and more intense. "We're... a happy... family, yes darling?"

A sudden clapping of hooves drew everyone's attention towards Spoiled, who rose to her hooves with purpose. She had something to say.
> 17 - Special Evening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the attention of the room turned to her, Spoiled gave a prim nod. "While your attention to detail in Rarity's reform is commendable, I'm afraid something has come up."

Filthy perked an ear at her. "What is that? Something I can help with?"

"Why, yes. You are just the pony that would." She turned to face him directly with a commanding glint in her eyes. "Why, only my husband would do. I'm afraid I've made a slight error." She raised a hoof to hover in the air, directed upwards. "I've lost track of the date. It would seem today is our special evening."

Filthy reacted to those words with a small squirt of prefluids, pearly goop running down his throbbing length as he nodded at his wife. "A very special evening," he agreed. "Do... you want our guests to leave?"

Spoiled turned the hoof to point at Filthy. "Let them bear witness. I have decided that we will try for a second child."

A new voice shrilly cried, "What?!"

All eyes turned to a painting from where the shrill but muffled call came from. The eyes on the painting suddenly drew back, leaving darkness.

Spoiled frowned. "Any daughter of mine would be well-advised to leave the adults to their business." They could hear the scampering of small hooves away. "That's better. Honestly, that filly... Where were we?"

Rarity nuzzled at Rose, rubbing noses together and along one another's snout. "You were saying something about a special evening, darl--" Her words didn't finish, suddenly squealing as the bumpy flower in her bottom gave a firm push to explore her innards. "Oh dear, you are insatiable."

Lily smiled at Rarity gently. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, mmm, of course not. Do proceed."

Daisy tilted her head as she felt something new. She had filled Rarity. Every available inch of her womb was occupied with her grown plants. That place was hers. But what to do with it? She looked over to Filthy and Spoiled. A child? Could she? She pulled her vines in and imagined as hard as she could what she wanted.

Rarity began to moan whorishly as waves of rapture began to ripple outwards from her invading womb. She had no idea what was going on, but she wanted it.

Spoiled turned away from Filthy and swayed her tail left and right. Her precious entrance winked softly just as it came into view with every sway. "You know your duty, as a husband, and as a stud."

Filthy licked over his lips as he rose up to all fours. "I do, and I will fulfill them." He glanced over at the four other females in the room in a moment of self-awareness. As much as he wanted to top Spoiled and do what stallions did, there were properties. 

Spoiled swatted Filthy across the face with her tail. "This is another business transaction. Take command, seize the opportunity, and begin the merger."

Filthy jerked back at being struck by the tail like a whip and nodded quickly. "Of course." He nuzzled at her rump gently. "But a good businesspony understands the importance of courting and relationship making. It eases the later proceedings." He nipped her just above her cutie mark. "And smooth transactions without... hard feelings is the goal, is it not?"

Spoiled lifted hoof to hoof, impatiently swaying her back end. "Needless niceties can complicate things just as easily, dear. When everything is ready, you must take the chance being afforded you." She looked over her shoulder at him pointedly. "Unless you want to see the moment pass you by."

With no further prompting required, Filthy hopped up onto his beloved wife and hugged her firmly around the midsection. "I love you," he whispered into an ear, only to be met with a chorus of awws from the other four females that had paused a moment.

Spoiled's features softened. She looked younger for just that moment. "I love you too," she confessed, wriggling beneath him. "Now, proceed. Make me a mother a second time, you virile stallion."

He growled softly with a smile and wriggled his hips, lining things up. With a smooth push, his flat tip pushed against her dripping lips and slid past into the hot interior of her body. "Mmm, just as tight as that first evening."

Spoiled turned a bright red. "Dear!" The tittering of the watching females did little to help. "I've... been practicing."

Filthy raised an ear at that. His hips thrust forward, sinking himself into the delightful tunnel of his dearest mare. "There is practice for that, specifically?"

"There are practices for anything, dear, and, mmm, a little to the left. One of many of my yoga steps helps keep things taught and ready."

"The divine squat!" suddenly blurted out Rarity.

Rose shook her head. "Naughty unicorn, don't interrupt them." She leaned in and bit gently at Rarity's throat. "They're having a moment."

Filthy pulled her back with every increasingly lustful push into her form. They had become a well-lubricated machine, drawing and pushing in rhythmic slaps. "You... always did... take care of yourself," he grunted out between the powerful motions.

"Of... course." She arched her back to change the angle of entry subtly. "I have to be... worthy of such a... fine stallion."

Filthy almost stumbled before resuming. "That's very... touching."

"And true," she stated in a matter of fact way. "Being chosen by... you... was the happiest... day I knew."

Daisy nuzzled at Lily's hind leg. "That is just too sweet. Do you think I'll find a stallion that makes me feel that way?"

Lily leaned down and nuzzled the top of Daisy's head in kind. "I already feel that way."

With wide eyes, Daisy stammered out, "W-who's the lucky stallion?!"

Lily snorted softly. "He is a she, and there are two of them. I couldn't imagine being away from them."

Rose threw a leg over Lily's withers suddenly. "Aw! You big sap you. I love you too, you wonderful mare you."

Rarity wriggled, held up with powerful plants and firmly violated with two thick plant within her back entrances. "Darlings, mmm, could I... come down now?"

Filthy drove with a renewed passion, even as tears tickled at his eyes. He would be a husband worthy of his lovely wife, and that started with giving her a foal if she wanted one. "A day doesn't pass that I'm not... happy to have... this family." His heavy balls slapped up against her rump as he worked harder and harder. He could feel the climax rushing at him. Ponies were many things, but enduring lovers was not one of them. "Consider this... an investment... with infinite return."

Spoiled convulsed her passage in smooth and long ripples that milked at the powerful pole that pushed against her. "The bank... is open," she said with a little smirk. "Go... on, make your deposit." She rocked back against his motions, encouraging him. "Do it."

The feel of the many little bumps that made up her interior squeezing and drawing at him pushed him over the edge. He could feel heat rush up into the base of his shaft only for it and the tunnel around it to squeeze it forward. In blinding twitches, it rushes up along his mighty spire and sprayed out across Spoiled's innermost barrier. Every spray came with a heady rush of purest bliss. He was fulfilling his most basic purpose in life, being the husband to a fertile and ready mare.

Was she ready? He blinked softly even as spots danced before his eyes. He could see Spoiled clenching her teeth, holding back a cry of her own, but he also felt her writhing, inside and out. She was riding a wave of pleasure just as he was tumbling to a stop. "D-dear, is it... was it the right time?" What were the odds of that?

Spoiled knew she was not properly in heat. Despite that, she pressed back against the softening length that still filled her. "We will just have to keep trying. Not every transaction has assured dividends on the first go."

Rose tapped at Daisy right on the middle of her head. "Hey, you can make crazy powders, right?"

Daisy's ears perked upright. "Sure can. Why? They don't look like they need to be told to play."

Rose rolled her shoulders. "Can you make a mare 'ready'?"

Daisy's smile wavered as she thought. "I don't know... Let's find out!" She waved a hoof at Spoiled and Filthy and a bed of daisies sprouted beneath them. The two didn't even know they were there before they released a voluminous gust of thick pollen across the undersides of both of them, a cloud spreading around the two as they sneezed and coughed.

Rose tapped Daisy once. "That was a bit much, you think?"

Daisy giggled softly. "If they have twins, I doubt they'll complain."

Rarity pulled futilely on a held hoof. "Darlings, really. We've had our fun..."





Discord appeared with a pop just in front of Fluttershy's. He had a basket in hand. "She'll be so surprised to see I've contributed to today's meeting." He nodded at himself with satisfaction. It would be their best tea party ever! He raised a hand a rapped on the door smartly. "Fluttershy, are you at home?"

The door opened with surprising swiftness, and that wasn't Fluttershy at all. Caramel was standing there, looking at him oddly. "Uh, hello?"

Discord blinked with surprise before he smiled. "Oh, is dear Fluttershy caring for one of your pets? She does love doing that. Have no fear, little pony, she'll have them back on their little paws in no time at all."

Caramel quirked a little smile. "Thanks, but I don't have a pet."

Discord's smile faltered. "Then why are you here?" There were precious few other reasons for Fluttershy to have visitors over that weren't the other girls, or himself. He was special! Caramel was... nobody! "Where is Fluttershy?"

Caramel put a hoof to his chest. "I live here, so why wouldn't I--"

He didn't get to finish his statement, suddenly yanked out with a flick of Discord's hand and held hovering in the air. "Where. Is. Fluttershy?" demanded Discord with little room left for distractions. "If you've harmed her," he growled, fur starting to stand on end along the back of his neck. "So help me..."

"Woah! Calm down!" cried Caramel, waving his hooves wildly. "She's fine! I promise!"

"Who is it?" came a familiar and gentle voice from inside the house.

Discord dropped Caramel to the ground, forgetting he existed in favor of advancing into the house. "Fluttershy! There you are. It's me, Discord, here for our weekly tea party."

Fluttershy descended the stairs with a gentle smile. "Oh, Discord! Is it time already? It feels like we just had one. Oh my, I'm not at all prepared."

Discord snapped his fingers, banishing the low-level disarray that Fluttershy had allowed within her home. "The least I can do for such a delightful friend, and I've brought a gift!"

Fluttershy tilted her head at Discord. "What sort of, oh, there you are, Caramel. Why were you outside?"

Caramel darted in past Discord. "Just avoiding him!"

She perked an ear at him. "Now, I know he may be a new sight, but he is a delightful pony once you get to know him. Discord, may I introduce Caramel. Caramel, Discord."

He looked down at the pony. "Um, charmed, I suppose. Why is he here again?"

"Why wouldn't he be here?" returned Fluttershy with some confusion. "We are married, after all."

Caramel stepped between Fluttershy and Discord. "I'm a member of her herd, and protecting her when Princess Big Mac isn't here is my duty, and one I take very seriously."

Discord was still a moment, processing all the nuances that sentence had in it. "Princess... Big Mac? Herd? All three?" He raised a brow so high it bumped against the ceiling, but his eyes were fixed on Fluttershy. "Explain."
> 18 - Sunset
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord threw his hands aside. "This is entirely unreasonable, even for me! What in Equestria has gotten into you, Fluttershy?" But she had no good answers. She just looked confused and a little hurt. He really didn't like that part. "Look, don't you worry your pretty little head. Discord is here and will get this straightened out in no time at all!"

He turned to leave to find a pony in front of him. What was his name...? "Whoever you are, you'd better take care of Fluttershy." He pointed a claw at the stallion. "You don't strike me as the sort that would mastermind this, so do that, hmm?"

The stallion glared at him as ponies liked to do once in awhile, but he ignored it and marched with purpose through the door, literally. He didn't have time to open it, so he just passed through it as if it weren't there. "Where to begin?" He looked left and right before he felt a sharp kick at his lower leg and glanced to see a familiar rabbit. "Oh, hello Angel."

Angel hopped up and down with clear irritation, waving his little bunny paws around wildly. He finally pointed up into the sky directly, chittering something only a bunny would understand.

Discord raised his eyes to the sky to see a chariot headed towards Ponyville, drawn by two large pegasi. A familiar form rode on the chariot itself, her multicolored mane and tail fluttering in the breeze. It was hard not to recognize her. Celestia was paying a visit. She didn't seem to be headed for Twilight's castle, which Discord had thought in the first moment. She was aimed more for the center of the town. How curious... Discord nodded down at Angel. "Thanks for the heads up," He offered idly before winking out of existence.





Celestia looked slowly over the strangely quiet roads of Ponyville as they came in for a landing. It was the middle of the day, but there were almost no ponies in sight. It wasn't natural. Of course, that was what had brought her out. She glanced to the left to the passenger that sat a little behind her. "What has taken hold of Ponyville, and yourself?"

Princess Big Mac flopped over. He was tied securely from top to bottom in thick ropes as a result of his unwitnessed attempt to approach Princess Celestia. "It started with some vines," he said in his female voice, wriggling where he had fallen. "I'm a princess, like you. Let me go and I'll gladly help you."

Celestia set a hoof gently on his head. "You are part of the problem, dear Big Mac, and one I mean to solve."

One of the guards looked over his shoulder. "Princess."

Celestia turned away from Big Mac and looked to see what had prompted the guard. There was a pony,  two. Two of the same pony. She knew that pony. "Octavia Melody," she spoke firmly, only to have them both look up at her with the same refined eyes. "Why are there two of you?"

They looked between themselves then back at Celestia. "I am Octavia," claimed one, only for the other to repeat the sentiment. "We're both Octavia," finished the first and the two nodded in agreement. "Except that one. I don't think she's really Octavia."

The second shook her head. "He's not even a mare. Octavia is clearly a mare, I would know, being her."

Celestia's expression darkened into a frown. "Tell me, were you Octavia one moon ago?"

The first Octavia tilted her head. "No I wasn't." The second agreed with a bobbing of her head.

A faint sigh of relief escaped from Celestia's mouth. "You remember your old selves then?"

The first Octavia put a hoof at her chest. "I was Carrot Top."

The second mirrored the gesture. "I was Cheerilee."

Celestia looked between the two slowly. "Once-Cheerilee--" She stopped her words immediately, noticing that the it brought a wince to the questioned's face.

Once-Cheerilee shook her head. "Please, Your Majesty, do not refer to me by my dead name. I was Cheerilee, but I am not anymore."

Celestia nodded slowly. "I will accept that... Octavia... But I still must ask, what do you recall of your former self?"

"I was a teacher." She pointed off towards the school. "I remember what I used to teach, what students got into what trouble as a habit, and everything else involved in that dreary life. Now, I am Octavia, and I craft wonderful music for refined ears." She smiled gently. "I seem to have misplaced my instrument, I'm afraid."

"I as well," agreed Once-Carrot Top. "We simply must get another."

Celestia tapped a hoof on the carriage she was atop. "Do you know what caused you to cease being what you were, and become what you are now?"

They shared a look as if they were speaking telepathically before Once-Carrot Top raised a hoof. "I had gone to see my marefriend's performance."

Once-Cheerilee gave a prim nod. "Ah yes, I as well. It's so nice that we can share her so readily."

Once-Carrot Top raised a hoof. "Is it really sharing? We were all Octavia. Not sharing with yourself would be a strange sight."

"Too true."

Celestia labored to keep her voice even. "And your marefriend is?" She did not pry into the romantic spoils of her subjects, unless she was informed or invited to a wedding.

Both of them pointed in unison in the direction of Octavia and Vinyl's home. "We reside with her," They both said together.

Once-Carrot Top nodded. "She can be a nuisance at times, but I love her despite. Vinyl Scratch is a pony who's heart beats to a strange rhythm."

"I can feel mine hasten to match it," sighed Once-Cheerilee. "Oh, how unseemly. My apologies, Princess Celestia."

Celestia raised a hoof. "Take us there, now."

The guards heard no room for delay. They had the carriage airborne and sailed narrowly over the rooftops of Ponyville.

Big Mac sat up with some effort. "I'm glad that didn't happen to me." Celestia glanced back at him. "Ah'm still me," he protested. "Ah'm Big Mac, brother of Applejack and Apple Bloom. We have to help them."

"On that last count, I agree." She rose to her hooves as the carriage touched down outside Vinyl and Octavia's split home. "Wait here while I investigate further."

"But--" She stepped away without listening to his words, leaving him with only the guards for company, and they were not up for being good company.

As she approached the house, she heard angry shouts coming from within. Submissive and warding words came in reply, both from mares. There were other mutterings that rose with it. Wondering what was going on, Celestia rapped on the door with her magic.

Things went quiet a moment. A few angry words were bit out, muffled by the wood of the door before the door swung open violently. "Yes!" Octavia stood there, hair frazzled and a fiery anger in her eyes. "Oh..." She deflated, seeing Celestia there. "Pardon me, Your Majesty. I didn't intend any slight. You've caught me at a most delicate time."

Celestia peeked past that Octavia to see there were a dozen other Octavias inside the house, with a sheepish looking Vinyl buried under half of them. "I've come to discuss the sudden surpluses in Octavias Ponyville seems to be suffering." It was far from the only thing she had to fix, but it was a start. "Were you Octavia a moon ago?"

Vinyl thrust a hoof free of the pile of affectionate mares. "Hey, 'Tavi! Nice to see ya!"

Octavia, the one at the door, heaved a deep sigh. "I have been myself since the day I was born. If you can address this serious oversight and restore some semblance of normalcy, I would be deeply indebted."

Dropping out of nowhere, Discord landed beside Celestia. "Not a problem!"

Celestia danced away from the sudden presence of Discord. "Discord! You star-- Is this your doing?" Her face turned into a full scowl. "This has all the marks. What have you done? I thought you had been reformed. We trusted you, Discord."

Discord put up his hands placatingly. "Hold your horses, dear Celestia. I didn't do this! I don't actually know what did, and that's bothersome. Chaos of this level? I should be a part of it! The idea that there's somepony else out there muscling in on my territory? Unacceptable!"

Celestia shook her head. "This is not a thing to be jealous of, Discord. Can you fix them?" She raised a hoof and pointed at the many Octavias. "The ones I spoke to previously do seem to remember who they were."

"Oh, that's good, then they're not 'gone' gone, just put in the back of their refined minds." He clapped his hands together and turned to the Octavia at the door. "What about you, my dear?"

The original Octavia stepped outside and to the left. "Do as you will, but leave me out of it. The only thing whatever this is has done for me is ruin my day and made awkward truths painfully evident."

"Octy, don't be like that!" cried Vinyl. "How could I know!?"

Celestia waved her already raised hoof. "Go on." She was peering at Discord sternly, judging.

Discord rolled his eyes as he advanced on the house. "Don't look at me like that. I said I'm here to help, and I mean it. Now then..." He approached an Octavia in the act of cooking some eggs and grabbed her by the scruff. With a sudden yank, she pulled free a skin of Octavia, wetly separating from the pony beneath in a violent and sudden tear. What was left was a dizzy Nurse Redheart.

Redheart crashed to her haunches. "Why was I pretending to be Octavia?"

Discord tossed the lifeless shell of Octavia aside. "Easy peasy."

The other Octavias looked up at the tearing sound and flinched almost in perfect unison. "Leave me alone!" cried one, suddenly bolting for the door, only to suddenly lift into the air as Discord approached.

"You'll thank me after I'm done," he said like a doctor about to give someone a painful shot.

While Discord worked, Celestia turned her eyes to the original Octavia. "My apologies for having to endure this. We will seek out the root cause of this calamity and put it to rest."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that." Octavia dipped her head low. "With you on the case, I should imagine we haven't long to wait. Have you consulted with Twilight? It is some surprise that she had not already acted. Perhaps she is in trouble?"

Celestia paled at the thought. "Discord, finish here. I'll be at Twilight's castle." She turned without waiting for replies, striding purposefully for her place on the carriage. There was something wrong... "Big Mac. Where is Big Mac?"

The two guards looked back over their shoulders, gasping with alarm as they saw that their captive had escaped.

Celestia put a hoof over her face. "Nevermind, he can wait. To Twilight's castle, immediately!"

Discord threw another Octavia skin onto the pile, patting the dazed Junebug on the head gently. "You don't even like that kind of music."

Vinyl could stand up, her pile of affectionate Octavia's dispersed. "Hey, be careful with them. They didn't do anything wrong, uh, of their own choice?" She glanced around. "Do any of you still like me, or was that just a weird curse thing?"

Thunderlane, head wobbling, raised a hoof. "I always liked your music." His cheeks were pinkened. "I don't... regret our time, but I'm not Octavia."

The original snorted hotly. "I should think not. I am the one and only Octavia." She put a hoof out mildly, just enough to trip another Octavia trying to flee the house. "Here's one for you, Discord."

Discord lifted a hand, the pony plucked by unseen forces and drawn to him. "Let's get this over with. None of this helps my Fluttershy."
> 19 - Mind Games
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweetie Drops frowned at the front of her store. Besides the odd appearance of an altered Big Mac, the entire town was quiet. Too quiet. "I haven't had a customer in far too long..."

"Everything alright?" Lyra poked her head down around the stairs from above. "You look grumpier than usual, Bonnie."

Sweetie huffed softly. "I think something's wrong." She sat just to bring up her hooves and hold them apart. "Something big. My usuals are unusually late. We both saw Big Mac--"

"Princess Big Mac?" Lyra giggled softly. "She was cute."

"She was a he, that isn't normal." She moved around the counter and strode for the front window. "I'm closing up."

"You, close early?" Lyra stepped down the stairs gently. "That's not like you. Were you zapped by whatever this is?"

"Ha ha." Sweetie flipped the sign from 'OPEN' to 'CLOSED' and turned to Lyra. "I need to check some things. Keep an eye out for me?"

"Secret spy things?" Lyra bounced in place giddily. "Can I see?"

"Not very secret if you could, now is it?" Sweetie hiked a brow at Lyra as she walked past. "Be good and maybe I'll bring back a treat for you when I'm done."

Lyra huffed as she sat down. "I'm a spy too, don't forget. You don't have to treat me like a foal."

Sweetie reached up and pat Lyra on the head. "And that is why I trust you to keep an eye out for me while I'm busy. I don't trust anypony else." Lyra beamed at the vote of confidence. "If I find anything we can act on, I'll be sure to tell." She descended into the basement of her store, leaving Lyra to stand guard.

She began hoofing at the various boxes she had allowed to accrue. "I really should organize these..." She was technically in hiding. Her supplies were not in active use, at least the ones she was looking for. Her candy supplies were nicely organized and ready to go at a moment's notice. If only strange magical things could be solved with a little hard candy. That would be nice.

Sweetie snorted away the idea and reached into a large box, shuffling around with her hooves before she felt a cube with many smaller segments. She drew it out curiously to find what appeared, in her eyes, to be a puzzlebox, like a Rubik's Cube with the most interesting paint job that kept shifting slowly. "How would anypony solve this?" And why was it in her stash of tools? Had Lyra placed it there?

She sat down and set the cube in front of herself. "Even when I keep her away, that filly manages to distract me. I love her, I really do, but I need to focus." She brushed the cube aside and resumed her sifting through the larger boxes. "I have to find what's causing all of this..." She stopped. Her hoof ran into a cube. It felt like... She drew it out and saw it was that puzzle box. "What the..." She set the second one down beside the first, peering at the two of them. "Stay there, alright?"

Back into the box she went. "There has to be something in here that'll help me find what's making all the ponies act so--" She hit a familiar obstacle and drew out a third cube. It swirled like the others, though each one had a different overall color. One was reddish, one was blueish, and the last was greenish, though they all had the same basic pattern that flowed in sync. "Alright, enough!" She set the cube beside its two friends. "You aren't going to help me find the problem."

The three cubes suddenly came together with a blinding flash that left Sweetie Drops blinking away spots. When she could see clearly again, there was one larger cube remaining. It was not red or green or blue. It was the combined thing, whole and still impossible to solve at a glance.

"You are magic," she accused, leveling a hoof at it.

It did not reply.

She reached for it and plucked it up. "Where did Lyra get you from? Why did she put you with all of my things?"

It did not reply.

With a growing frown, Sweetie gave it a twist, turning it this way and that. It slid smoothly with a little click she could feel whenever she reached a new turning point. It was a puzzle box. She had been sure before, but it was without a doubt. "I don't have time for this!" She dropped it to the ground. "The ponies of the town are being affected by something and I have to help them."

Why?

Sweetie hadn't heard any words, and yet the question was quite solid in her mind. Why did she have to help them? "They're my friends, and it's my job besides. If I can help, I should. It's the right thing to do." She clopped a hoof down beside the cube.

Does that make you happy?

"To save my friends? Of course. Why wouldn't I be happy if I can help them?" Her frown turned into a scowl. "And I'm talking to myself." She turned away from the cube and got to digging around her box, pulling out a strange tuning fork. "Here we are, the disharmony detector."

What would make you really happy? Happier than anything?

"Happier than anything?" Bonnie looked over her shoulder at the cube. It hadn't made any noise, and yet the question felt, somehow, as if it came from that general direction. "Happier... than anything?" Her nose wrinkled. "Knowing what I'm talking to would be nice."

A pony appeared. Its fur was the same swirling mess as the cube. Its eyes were portals to infinity. Every brush of its tail created colors never seen before. It was shaped like a mare overall. Its ears were directed at Sweetie Drops directly. "Hello," it greeted.

Sweetie hopped back and up, assuming a battle-ready stance. "You have exactly one sentence to explain why you're here."

"I am here to bring happiness, your happiness. I was created to find the happiness in a pony and draw it forth for them. You don't seem happy." The ethereal figure took one step forward. "Let me help you."

"I'm plenty happy." Sweetie struck the wall beside herself with the tuning fork she had found. It began to vibrate silently, but when she directed it at the strange pony, it emitted a squeal, loud and even. "And you are--"

"--here to help you." It took another step. "You love the one called Lyra." It paused. "Do you wish to make foals with her?"

Sweetie blinked, caught off-guard by the question a moment. "No! To start, we're both mares, so that won't--"

"Would you like to be her stallion? Do you want her to be yours?" It took another step. "Both are possible." It spoke with a flowing voice. Sometimes it sounded like a mare, other times, a stallion. "Do you want to take turns?"

Sweetie pointed at the ground. "Stop coming closer!" The figure froze, not even breathing. "Alright, so who are you?"

"I am not a who."

"What are you?" She hiked a brow.

"I am the desire that hides within a pony that may never be let free. Let me help you."

"No! No, thank you." Sweetie dropped back to all fours. "And if I don't want anything?"

"Then you are still in denial. I can feel wants in you, or I would not have come." It reached out a hoof towards her. "I can help. I can help you and Lyra be happy together."

"We are happy together!" spat out Sweetie.

"You are not." It directed a cosmological ear at her. "You want more. She wants more. You do not grasp it."

"Bonnie, why are you making so..." Lyra trailed off as she saw the strange pony-shaped impossibility standing there. "How long were you planning on hiding that from me?!" She broke into a huge smile. "That is amazing!"

The swirling pony glanced at her and back to Sweetie Drops. "She is less restrained. That is why I came to you. Lyra Heartstrings."

"It knows my name!" Lyra bounced down the last few steps.

Bon Bon rushed to get around it at Lyra, but her legs went stiff. She was stuck in place.

The swirling pony turned to Lyra fully. "I will grant you one wish. It can be anything. It should be something you have always wanted, but were afraid to admit. Anything."

Lyra frowned with thought. Sweetie wanted to shout at her, to wave her away, to do anything, but she was stuck. "Anything? That's a lot of stuff to pick from, hmm. If I could have anything..." She tapped at her cheek softly. "I'd want to annoy Bonnie less often."

Both the swirling pony and Sweetie blinked in unison. "That is a mild request," spoke the figure in a female voice. "I can grant it while fulfilling a much deeper desire. Reach within yourself."

Lyra lifted her shoulders. "I already have everything I want. Bonnie gives me excitement and danger and sweet tasty things. I get to play my music for ponies and we have this nice house." She waved a hoof over the building. "I'm pretty happy, but I wouldn't mind not making Bonnie so mad so often. I'm really bad at that sometimes..."

Bon Bon smiled as she took a step forward, freed without realizing it. "You are an adorable sap, you know that?"

Lyra trotted up to her best friend and smooched her on the nose. "Around you? How could anypony not be?"

The figure smiled gently and began to fade away. Its touch, perhaps, was not needed there. "I will find another's dream to fulfill."

"Wait!" Sweetie turned on a single hoof, spinning towards the figure. "Wait! I have a wish!"

The figure suddenly reversed its fading, ears going up. "Speak your wish."

"I wish... that everypony was free of their wish."

It raised a hoof and shook it at her. "That is not a fair wish. I am here to grant your desire, not act on others'. What is your wish?"

Lyra pressed up besides Bon Bon. "Could I have a cup of coffee?" Her horn lit up to catch a mug that suddenly appeared. "You are the best... um... whatever you are."

Sweetie put a hoof to her face. "Yes, thank you, but that isn't my wish. I wish... I knew how to stop you." The figure ceased to be as soon as the words left her snout. "I suppose it didn't like that request."

A knocking made both mares look upstairs. They scaled the steps, the knocking continuing. Sweetie moved for the door. "We're closed," she grumbled as she reached for the door handle.

On the other side was Discord. "I'm looking for anything unusual. I don't suppose you've seen anything, my good mare?"

Sweetie hiked a brow. "Besides you, I assume?" Still, the timing was hard to argue... "Do you know anything about a pony made of swirls that gives wishes?"

Discord blinked at the question, then clapped his hands together. "Ah ha! So that's the chaos-maker! I want to meet this 'swirling pony' and shake hands, and maybe give him a stern talking to. Really, horning in on my territory... Where are they?"

Lyra waved her hot coffee mug in the air. "Just missed them. Don't be too angry at them. They're the nicest pony I met in a while, Bonnie not included of course."

Sweetie leveled a hoof at Discord. "Whatever that... thing was, it's going around offering ponies' their deepest wishes, with all the mess that entails. Lucky for us, Lyra's deepest wish was to be less annoying, and for a cup of coffee."

Discord looked to the floating cup. "And I see that has been granted."

Lyra slurped from her given mug. "And how! It's really good, want some?"

Discord held up a hand. "I shouldn't drink on the job. Well, thank you both, ladies. The hunt continues!"

Sweetie closed the door with a soft sigh. "That was--"

She didn't get to finish. Lyra was on her, pressing lips tight with a fierce exchange of passion. They slid to the floor in one another's arms. The coffee had, perhaps, not been pure.
> 20 - International Diplomacy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia launched herself from the wagon before it finished touching the ground. "Why didn't I see this coming?" Sure, she had sent her amazing student into dangerous tasks before, but always with preparation and near-certainty that Twilight would win through. This had come without warning, and threatened to destroy all she loved. "What if something even worse than a little temporary amnesia is at play?" she muttered to herself as she strode agitatedly towards the front door of the castle.

Her horn glowed brightly as she threw open the large doors of the castle with enough force that they banged against the opposing walls. "Twilight! Are you here?"

There was a sudden fit of sparkles before a pony that bore the name appeared, smiling. "Oh goodness! I didn't know you were coming, Princess, or--"

Celestia raised a hoof to Twilight's face, silencing her. "Twilight, are you alright?" Twilight nodded silently. "Are you aware of what is befalling your town?" Twilight nodded again. Celestia drew her clad hoof back. "What are you doing about it?" She had a cocked brow, worry giving way to confusion and a little irritation.

Twilight spun in place and threw out a hoof. "I'll leave that to my amazing partner, Zecora!"

The named Zebra stepped in from upstairs, a strange and large contraption strapped to her, like a great iron cauldron with its top stoppered and running to some tubing that led to a great open horn like that of a musical instrument, bits of purple smoke escaping from it. "As you request, beloved wife. With this we will save more than one life." Her pace was slow, the big thing behind her making quite a bit of noise with every step that she prevented from becoming a freefall.

Celestia blinked softly. "Partner?" She looked to Zecora. "Wife?"

Zecora inclined her head a little as she reached the last step and took her first easier step. "Perhaps that is indeed misspoke, for it is she that does the poke. Would you prefer wife or husband?" She aimed the question at Twilight, looking to her.

Twilight colored around the bridge of her nose. "We can iron out those details later, but being called a husband would raise even more questions." She wobbled a hoof at the big device. "This will cure Ponyville!"

Zecora nodded in agreement as she approached. "Inside a secret brew; their fogged minds it will break through. The smoke we spread far and wide. It will turn things towards our side."

Celestia eyed the curious contraption as she stepped to the side in case it went past. "That is quite the remarkable device... but I'm afraid I have more questions now than when you began. Twilight, what has happened? Spare no details."

Twilight looked away. "Some of it shouldn't be shared."

Celestia brought down a hoof with a firm metallic clop. "Twilight, I'm afraid to do this, but I must insist. Tell me entirely without a single step missing."

Even as Twilight flinched back at the ire of her mentor, Zecora advanced into her position. "While Twilight is unsure; to speak of things impure. Our love is true, and this should be said clear. Of all the ponies, she is the one I hold most dear."

Celestia's concerned expression brightened into a sudden smile. "I'm happy to hear Twilight is expressing love to all ponies, even our cherished zebra kin, but, kindly, tell me what exact form this love takes?"

Zecora lifted an ear at Celestia as her eyes roamed over the larger ruler. "We are wed. I am bred."

Celestia slowly looked from Zecora to Twilight, then dipped her head to peer beneath Twilight without subtlety. "Twilight is not equipped to do what you are suggesting."

Twilight raised a hoof to her chest. "With the title of princess, I am fully entitled to oversee and officiate wedding ceremonies."

"Not... what I mean," spoke Celestia through mildly-clenched teeth. "Twilight, what happened? Stop trying to hide from me."

Twilight shrank back a step before she took a shaking breath. "Alright, you deserve as much... In a... moment of weakness... we fell under the effects and... we conceived a foal together. While we have recovered from this moment of passion, we are facing the results like two adults." She threw a leg over Zecora's withers and drew the zebra in close. "I will accept responsibility for what I did and all that entails."

Zecora touched her snout to Twilight's. "The way you tell this tale, you take blame for some fail. While not planned, this is true; Our feelings do accrue." She looked to Celestia directly. "I do not yield for some societal must. This is the princess whom I very much trust."

Celestia raised a hoof up level with Twilight's head, only for it to slowly sink to the ground. "Twilight, we have discussed this manner of magic before."

Twilight's blush began to spread across her face. "I-I wasn't thinking clearly, princess! I'm sorry!"

"I am Celestia, Twilight." Celestia dipped her head towards Twilight. "You have made a mistake, but you are still a princess. What I must know is what you feel for Zecora." She gestured a hoof towards Zecora. "If you feel this is what 'must' be done, say so."

"N-no!" Twilight hopped in place, coming down with all four hooves. "No! I made a foal with a wonderful mare. I didn't plan on this this morning, but I did, and I will do what is right, by myself, and her, and our child. She accepted me, during and after... I accept her. This is... just another friendship lesson, really." She smiled a strained smile. "Not the usual sort..."

"I should imagine not," agreed Celestia as she turned to the large device trailing behind Zecora. "Miss Sparkle, are you prepared to test your device?"

Zecora was quiet a moment before she smiled. "Your blessing I hold most dear. Let us get this plan into gear." She trotted forward past Celestia, the cart rolling loudly behind her. "We should--"

Twilight cut in suddenly, "--to the center of town, where we can get the most ponies."

Celestia's horn glowed with her power as she unhooked Zecora from the machine suddenly. "Come along, both of you. We have a town to save." She moved alongside Zecora, pulling the cart much more easily with her magic.





Octavia shut the door behind the last of her once-clones. "Finally." She sank against the wood, turning as she went to face Vinyl. "You have so much explaining to do."

"I didn't do it!" Vinyl clapped her hooves together and fell to her knees. "I swear! I didn't plan for any of this!"

Octavia rolled up to her hooves and took a single step towards her roommate. "I didn't see you fighting them off, either. You seemed quite comfortable under a mass of pretenders."

Vinyl's ears clapped against her head. "I..."

"Is that all you see in me then?" Octavia raised a brow lightly as she circled the timid Vinyl. "Perhaps some appealing lines? Little more?"

Vinyl licked over her lips as she shook her head. "No way! You're a fantastic mare, a--"

"--easily replaced one." Octavia stopped in front of Vinyl, facing her directly. "Vinyl Record Scratch--" Vinyl winced as her full name was invoked. "We are roommates, and, a few headaches aside, we have gotten along reasonably well." She raised a hoof and rolled it in the air slowly. "Is there something you'd like to admit?"

Vinyl tapped her hooves together, looking around under her glasses just before they were yanked free, her goggles suddenly in the hooves of the irate Octavia. "He--" She didn't finish her outcry, intimidated by the refined glare she was receiving. "Alright..." She dared to look Octavia on without the shield of her eyewear to protect her. "I..."

"The truth," spoke Octavia. "We are beyond little falsehoods at this point, I should imagine."

"Yeah." Vinyl sat up straight. "Octavia Melody." Octavia was not shaken. "I think you're really great. When you smile, I get all weak in my knees. When you play, I wonder why you like that kinda music so much, but I can feel my heart." She raised a hoof to her chest. "It matches, every time, and I can't help but listen, even if it's a song I heard a dozen times before without any variety or anything. I love the way you talk. I love the way you dress. I love you, alright?" She drove a hoof to the ground in a stomp. "I love you! There, I said it. Happy?"

"No."

Vinyl flinched back at the stern rebuttal of her admission. "B-but..."

"It's not that easy." Octavia shook her head slowly. "I acknowledge your feelings, but find them hollow. I cannot return them at this time." She leaned in, noses almost touching. "I can't promise I ever will, if we are being frank, which I hope we are. You have betrayed me. I find myself uncertain you even grasp the nature by which you did. To you, this is just some strange but amusing little event. For me, it is much more. You proved that you were happy in the company of other ponies that were not me, yet accepted them as me. You knew they were not me. Be honest."

"Well, yeah... I mean, there can never be more than one of you. You're way too awesome for that." Vinyl waved the very idea away like an irritating fly. "There's only room enough on this world for one Otcy!"

The faintest of smiles touched along Octavia's set lips. "And yet, there you were, with a dozen of me on either side of you, not looking very put out by the idea."

"A girl can dream, right?" Vinyl tapped at her cheek lightly. "I mean, really, I thought I was dreaming for half of that. I couldn't believe it! Even if they were fakes, they were pressing all the right buttons and... Aw heck, I'm digging myself deeper..."

"You are." Octavia sat on her haunches. "I am not entirely without sympathy. This leads to another thought..." She furrowed her brows at Vinyl. "Last I knew, you were a mare that enjoyed the sight and company of a stallion. When did this change?"

Vinyl blurted out a strangled laugh. "You don't know me as well as you thought you did."

"Clearly not. Explain."

"Right right." Vinyl stood up, her horn glowing. "I don't care if they're an innie or outtie, just the beat that their heart thumps in. Show me a pony that has music running through them and you have my interest." She thrust a hoof at Octavia. "Those copies, fake as they were, they had your music. It's creepy thinking back on it, but they did. They moved with it. Talked with it... I could feel it."

Octavia looked aside at her cello leaning against a wall. "Did they now?"

"Y-yeah, I mean..." Vinyl began to shrink. "I mean... Shoot... I..."

Octavia rose and approached her instrument slowly. "You must not know my music very well, Vinyl, if you think they had it."

"I felt it! I swear!" Vinyl fell back. "Octy..."

Octavia rose, pulling her instrument into place. She drew her bow out and played a single low note. "Vinyl, be a dear and shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

The low note slowly raised and a song formed from the very depths of Octavia's pain. It was not a proper piece composed by any famous pony musician, like so many she performed. She played her pain with sweeps of her bow across her beloved cello, sharing with the world the uncertainty she felt. For as cloudy as her heart was, the instrument rang clear and true, broadcasting her truest self without blemish.

Vinyl's ears were perked, listening to every turn and note. Each extended sound made her hold her breath, only to release when Octavia moved forward. When the song slowly came to a halt, Vinyl sank to the floor. "I don't know you."

"You don't." Octavia set her instrument against the wall and turned to Vinyl. "Would you care to learn?"

Vinyl was up on her hooves in a flash. "Yeah!"
> 21 - Rising of the Sun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big Mac strode with purpose behind his, or her, their, each of their steps. They flicked their head, causing their lightly tussled hair to flow dramatically around their horn. Before them, they could see their target. A large-uddered Tree Hugger approached the town, born aloft by four other ponies. Flanking out from there, four cows marched in step. Behind them, a dozen other ponies and cows. It was no parade. It was an invasion force.

They would not accept it. Big Mac took a soft breath before summoning the great volume, speaking in a fashion proper for pony royalty. "Stop right there," they boomed in their female voice. "Ya ain't going no further."

Tree Hugger's eyes opened slightly wider from their usual half-lid state. "Oh, wow. Chill out with the harsh vibes, sister. Some of us are just waking up and you're setting our chakra all out of alignment."

Big Mac pointed a hoof up at Tree Hugger as they took up the most solid footing they could on the other three hooves. "Ain't time for nothing but you stopping! In the name of harmony, ah will stop you here."





Celestia pointed at the fountain. "Here?" They had arrived at one of the squares of Ponyville, the precious wagon of curative behind Celestia, held in her golden magic.

Twilight bobbed her head. "Put it on top and we'll get this started." She watched Celestia place the curious thing atop the fountain and reached with her own magic, affixing it securely and drawing down a tube from the side of the cauldron down into the water of the fountain. "Zecora, I believe we're ready."

Zecora looked over the entire thing before slowly nodding. "As ever we will be... Twilight. Should the fog chase such thoughts away, I hope I will not regret our play. At least in this--"

Twilight was suddenly there, appearing in a fit of sparkles from her short-range teleport. Her nose was against Zecora's. "Let's just turn it on and... we'll face the consequences, together. I promise to deal with it, as a friend, which we were before this, and will be, after this... and maybe more?"

Celestia smiled gently at the two. "Twilight, that is surprisingly level-headed of you."

Twilight suddenly burst into a short fit of hysterical laughter. "There'll be plenty of time for freaking out afterwards. Right now, I want to fix everyone. I can... fix myself after that." She turned to the device. "Activating."

She grabbed a large knob on the side  of the cauldron and wrenched it with her magic. The entire thing began to hum and shake. They could hear water rushing up inside the tube that connected it to the fountain. The little dribble of smoke it had been releasing redoubled again and again rapidly, starting to cover the area in a thick and expanding cloud of fog.

Celestia backed away from it, her eyes on the smoke as she kept herself just shy of it. "Is this safe for unaffected ponies?"

Zecora nodded with confidence. "It will have no harmful effect. It will simply allow their motives to be checked."

Twilight pressed against Zecora's side. "Any urges or behavioral patterns that originate from outside the pony will be recognized as exactly that. This should be enough to shake loose the effects of most ponies. Few want to be controlled, and knowing they are can make all the difference."

The fog came, spreading faster with every passing moment. Twilight and Zecora were engulfed, forced to breathe the stuff. It burned a little, mint filling their nostrils.

Twilight could feel her affection for Zecora pulling free of herself. She could feel her need to make Celestia happy separating out. It was like she was facing two other copies of herself, though the other two didn't really exist.

"Are you happy?" demanded the frizzy-maned Twilight. "Once this is fixed, the princess is going to put us in the moon next, and we deserve it!" She collapsed onto her belly. "How could we have messed up this badly?!"

The other Twilight shook her head. "You're worked up over nothing. She's not even angry, besides, we have a zebra to love." She half-lidded  her eyes at the original. "I'm looking forward to getting her to myself, back home, in private." She licked over her lips. "She is one fine slice of equine, inside and out."

The original noticed that her lustful side was sporting the weighty shaft she had given herself. It was growing rapidly, ready to use on Zecora. Twilight took a breath, trying to clear her thoughts, but that got more mint burning softly at her inside. She coughed, hoping that effect would fade. "Neither of you are real."

The panicked Twilight bounced to her hooves. "You don't think Celestia's upset?!"

The other batted her lashes. "You didn't enjoy your time with Zecora? She enjoyed you."

Twilight shook her head. "You're not real!" she shouted at them. "Celestia came to help, not to hurt me."

The second came close, her breath somehow noticeable beyond the mint. "I'm no lie. You know you enjoyed it. You know you want it. She's right next to you. Just pull her over and show her..."

The first curled into a ball. "I'm going to set sent to magic kindergarten..."

Twilight focused and could feel it dimly. Zecora was right next to her, possibly suffering her own encounter with her thoughts. Twilight smiled softly. "There is one thing you're not saying."

"What's that?" The sultry Twilight tilted her head curiously. "Her taste? I see why lions hunt zebras..."

Twilight blinked even as she shuddered at the curious turn of phrase. "Dear Celestia, no! You're not mentioning my sincere affection for her. You haven't spoken of love, or respect, or admiration."

The sultry Twilight blinked. "Those are...  nice, I suppose... But she has a flank that just will not quit, and you shouldn't either. Go on, she'll thank you for it."

Twilight raised a hoof and set it on her sultry twin's shoulder. "If it helps, you'll live when we are having private moments, but for now, you need to go away."

The other Twilight's face fell even as she faded away. The scared Twilight scrambled to her hooves. "Does that mean you trust me then? You have to! We're in so much trouble right now!"

The original peered at her scared clone, wondering what had spurred it. Her mind had more to it than whatever had befallen the ponies of Ponyville.





Celestia closed her eyes as the green fog washed over her. It burned when she breathed it. Not terribly, but she could feel it pass into her, and irritate her insides a little. It smelled of mint. All she could see, even when she dared to open her eyes, was endless green. "Twilight? Zecora?" She called to them gently, but no answer came to her.

Warmth stirred the swirling fog before her. A familiar figure emerged from it, burning it away with her demanding stride. "They will not help you, Celestia. They are weak, just like you."

"Daybreaker." Celestia scowled at her darker reflection. "What are you doing here?"

"Is it not obvious?" Daybreaker leveled a hoof at Celestia. "I've come to take my turn. I'll have this little kingdom of yours whipped into shape in no time at all."

Celestia's wings spread wide. "I will never allow it!" She had to breath of the fog and the irritation turned into a coughing fit.

"So weak... In mind, and body it seems. We'll have to... fix that."





Tree Hugger raised a hoof just to gesture downwards. Her loyal groupies lowered here to the ground, allowing her to stand awkwardly on her own hooves. "Hey, sister, I think we're getting on the wrong hoof. I'm here to help Ponyville, ya dig? My milk'll cure all your problems, and make you healthy too!"

Big Mac shook their head. "Ain't right. Yer controlling them." They rose into the air on their new wings. "Ah'll free 'em. It's my job!"

Tree Hugger looked past Big Mac and tilted her head. "Uh, hey, dudette?"

"Don't try ta distract me!" boomed Big Mac.

"I'm not trying to harsh your vibe, righteous sister, but, really, look." She pointed at an incoming bubble of rolling green gas. It was like a fog bank consuming the entire city one building at a time and coming towards them rapidly. "Gnarly..."

Big Mac  came down and spread their wings wide. "Stop!" Suddenly, it was their duty to keep the fog from proceeding. Tree Hugger and her crew were forgotten. "Stop!" The fog did not care for their shouts and engulfed them without thought or hesitation.

"Trippy," mused Tree Hugger before she was lost to the fog, her crew washed away in almost the same instant.

Big Mac was facing himself. It was his old self. A red stallion with downturned ears. "Ah ain't good enough."

Beside him was himself, the gender-confused princess. "Ah'm more than good enough!" They reached and biffed the depressed Big Mac lightly. "Why are you so down? I'm here to help."

"Yeah, the mares in my life tend to do that." The male Big Mac quirked a soft smile. "Good for 'em."

The original Big Mac tilted their head. "That ain't... exactly true?"

"Nope." The sad Big Mac sat up. "Ya know it's true. Remember that night. Sis came back from the Everfree, where we ain't never supposed to go. She did. She came back, all smiles. She done rescued a princess."

The other, the princess, shook her head. "None of that matters, because now we're a princess." She waved a hoof between herself and the other princess-formed Big Mac. "We done it. We made it. We kin save the world!"

The original princess Mac sank to her haunches. "But... we ain't."

The sad one quirked a little smile. "Ya see."

"Yup..."

The new princess quirked an ear. "Ah don't get it. Ya have it. We can be--"

"But we ain't." The older princess rose to her hooves. "Ah'm not helping. Ah'm makin' it worse. Ah... want everyone to see what I got... but..."

"Yer forcing it," finished the sad Mac. "Yer bein' just as bad as the brothers."

The older princess wrinkled her nose at the idea of being compared to Flim and Flam. "No thanks!" He snorted at the sad Mac. "Ya ain't much better. Mopin' around ain't gonna fix a thing."

The sad Mac raised his shoulders. "Should I be happy being more mare than stallion?" His brows went up. "What would Sugar Belle say?"

The older princess blinked softly. He had forgotten. How had he forgotten? "Uh, I..."

"Ya done messed up."

"I did..."

The new princess clopped a hoof on the ground. "She's safer than ever before, because we're here."

"No." The older princess Mac dismissed the new princess with a wave of a hoof. "Ah got a lot to fix."

The sad Mac smiled a little as he rose to his hooves. "Yer gonna tell me to go too?"

The original frowned a moment. "Nope. Sorry for forgettin' ya." They offered a hoof and they hugged gently. Their sorrow would have to be worked through with a bit more time.





Rarity sipped softly from the cup of tea she held in her magic. "I'm ever-so-glad we've put this awkward situation behind us." Despite her calm words, the room was anything but calm. Filthy was atop his wife, the two having switched to belly-to-belly as they rutted with all the energy of ponies half their age. "It's really so nice to share quality time with friends."

Rose drew back from her lingering kiss with Daisy to nod. "It really is. I'm so glad we got together today. We have to do it more often." She nuzzled gently at Daisy. "How are you holding up?"

Daisy didn't return the nuzzle. With the kiss interrupted, her eyes had moved to the sun-giving window and what was beyond it. "What's that?"

Without a further word, the fog rushed over the house, submerging all the ponies present into their own minds to face what had been unleashed.
> 22 - Do You Not Want This?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fog engulfed the whole of the town, forcing ponies to see the various parts of their mind and at least face, if not deal, with the presence of the pony in the mirror that they were trying to ignore. It would be a time not easily forgotten.

There was one sapient creature who was unaffected by it, and yet felt the strongest effect. The cube could feel that the happiness it had labored to create was fraying, bending, and in some places, outright inverting into other emotions it did not fully understand. Sorrow, regret, and other dark things came where it had left delight, pleasure, and overwhelming happiness.

What had happened? It surely wished to know. The greatest threats to its assembled utopia had been neutralized, or well on the way. Twilight had been shown love, and was happy. She was still happy. She still felt love, and she was the greatest threat. If she was happy and content, who was the engineer of this calamity?

Celestia? She was a great threat, but it had sent Big Mac to seduce and show her that her life could be so much happier than it was. She did not feel happy. Had Big Mac failed in his task? That must be where it all crashed down.

Where was Big Mac? It could feel him. He was unhappy. It was not a pure sadness. It was... complicated, so very many emotions swirling in an impenetrable mask. What had happened to him? Was this Celestia's doing?

It could feel a mote of anger. It was its creator. Its god, in a sense. Maybe father? Father worked. Of course he would be angry. All the hard work he had entrusted to his creation had been foiled. Maybe father would know what to do to fix this.

Discord tripped as he stomped through the fog, finding a strange, but familiar, cube had appeared right in front of where his foot had landed. "What--" He remembered what the cube was. "You!"

The cube wondered why Discord's anger was directed at it. It had done precisely what was asked of it.

"I didn't ask you to... wait, did you do all of this?" He waved a paw wildly through the foggy air.

It had.

"Why?"

The cube was quiet, not that it had made noise to begin with. Was it not created to find the pleasure within a pony, to draw it out and let them enjoy it?

Discord seemed to be able to hear the cube's silent musings. "Yes yes, but Fluttershy didn't like you, so I sent you away."

But it did make Fluttershy happy.

"About... that." He scowled at the cube with literal flames in his eyes. "What did you do to her? Be specific."

Nothing, directly. It had empowered somepony that she had already admired to step up and make an advance on her, which she had accepted. It was a happy ending! The cube was quite pleased that it had managed to find happiness in Fluttershy even after--

"Curse it all!" Discord hurled the rebellious box away, losing sight of it in the fog rapidly. It was only after it was gone that he realized that doing something about the cube, rather than hurling it, might have been wise.

The cube ceased to be there. Its mental adjustments were being undone, but physical alterations were more enduring. Perhaps that is where it should have focused? It decided this was the case, and suddenly it was beside a shaking Celestia.

Celestia snarled at her mental darkness. "Equestria has no need for a despot like you!"

Before Daybreaker could speak, the cube appeared in their mindspace just behind Daybreaker. Daybreaker blinked softly as her words were taken from her. "Oh, you might have a point there. But you know what else Equestria has no real 'need' for?"

Celestia drew back slightly, disarmed by the sudden attitude change. "What...  is that?"

Daybreaker rose a clad hoof high, pointing at Celestia. "A princess! The ponies of Equestria govern themselves. Do you not wonder why they react so severely to your approach. You hate being separate and alone, don't you? We could do something about that, hmm?"

Celestia tilted her head slightly. "What madness are you speaking? Are you suggesting I force my subjects to accept me? That is a terr--"

"--No no, perish such petty thoughts." Daybreaker waved a hoof as if to clear bothersome smoke. "No, you wouldn't force your precious little ponies, so don't. You are the mistress of your own self, are you not? Set aside the size, put down the wings, or your horn, I care little which way it is. Be a regular pony, with your people instead of above them, hmm. Isn't that exactly what you've said you wanted?"

The cube's influence nibbled at Celestia. "Who would watch over them? Who would react if a great calamity befell my precious little ponies?"

"If you can go one way, why not the other." Daybreaker rolled her eyes. "Just take it back if you need to. What's the big deal, or are you really that much of a coward? Ugh, to think you technically are me, sickening." She spat into the ether beside her. "I'm showing you how to get what you want, and nopony gets hurt in the process. Is that not an ideal victory?"





Twilight could see fog. She could see it fading away slowly. The supply of herbs they had loaded the machine with had to be running out. The minty stinging in her lungs and nose was fading with it, leaving her to take an untroubled breath. "Princess? Zecora?"

"I am here, and renewed. My mind has finished its feud." Zecora leaned over and touched Twilight's snout with her own. "Are you well?"

"I'm alright." Twilight let out her breath in a gust. Why had she been worried for Zecora? The wise zebra was among the least likely to be crushed by her own thoughts. "Do you see Princess Celestia?"

"As far as I can tell, the princess is no longer in the spell." Zecora turned from Twilight and advanced into the fog, waving it away as she went.

"Princess!" Twilight trotted forward a her magic shone, warding away the fog. "Princess?"

She suddenly bumped into a pony. "Sorry, have you--" She trailed off, noticing she did not recognize the pony. The pegasus before her had light-pink fur, deeper  pink-red mane and tail, and a bright sun across her rump for a cutie mark. "Who... are you?"

The pegasus mare sat up, shaking her head as if dizzy. "I'm... Sunny Days, nice to meet you, Princess Twilight Sparkle. I've come from so far away to find you."

Twilight jumped in surprise at that. "To find me?! Well, nice to meet you, Sunny. What can I... do for you? Have you seen Princess Celestia?"

Sunny gave a smile worthy of her name. "Oh, she said she had to go for a while, and to not look for her, and that she's fine."

Twilight crashed to her haunches. "W-what?"

Sunny flinched, seeing Twilight's expression of dismay. "She's fine, really. This just... took a lot out of her, and she's taking a little vacation. She has every confidence in you, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and her sister, of course, to keep things running straight."

Zecora emerged from the thinning fog. "Hello, new mare. All this fog must have been a scare. I am Zecora, friend of Twilight.  We were working to make wrong into right."

Sunny bobbed her head at Zecora. "I can tell I'll like you, Zecora. You seem like a nice mare. I'm new here in Ponyville." She raised a hoof and set it at her own chest. "I don't have a place to stay yet."

Twilight's ears danced. "Oh, that's terrible. Would you like to stay at my castle until you find a more permanent abode?"

Zecora nodded in agreement. "Twilight's castle is quite safe. You may stay until you feel a chafe."

Sunny hopped in place. "That sounds wonderful! I'll go check it out right now. Thank you, both of you." She turned and cantered off towards the castle that wasn't even visible under the thinning fog.

Zecora leaned in towards Twilight. "I hope you are not fooled. That mare has once this land ruled."

Twilight swiveled one of her ears towards Zecora. "What happened to her? Was... Celestia, the princess, a mental barrier she worked past? What does this mean for Equestria?!" She began to breathe a bit too quickly. "This is bad..."

Zecora put an arm over Twilight's withers, drawing her close. "Be calm. She is safe. We know she is not some waif. We will work and find a cure, and she will surely endure. For now we should focus on the town. We should start by asking around."

"Right, right... We have to see how effective this is, and if that disaster is past, at least." She let out her breath in a forced gust of air, trying to control her breath. "Right... Zecora, you start with the west side of town, and I'll tackle the east. We'll meet back here--" She waved a hoof over the mostly-clear square. "--in half an hour, alright?"

They shared a nod, and trotted off with purpose in opposing directions to determine the extent of the damage and how well, or poorly, things had gone with the fog cover.





Sunny knocked on  the door to the castle for it to open quickly, revealing the scaled face of Spike. "Oh, hello, little dragon. I'm Sunny Days, and Princess Twilight said I could stay here for a while."

"I'm Spike," corrected the little dragon before smiling. "Uh, welcome, Sunny." He stepped back and waved inside. "Did you run into her? She and Zecora were acting weird, so I stayed out of it."

"She seemed to be doing fine." Sunny stepped lightly into the castle and looked around. "It's so nice to meet you, Spike. I've heard good things about you."

Spike's fins lifted a moment. "You have?! I mean, of course." His stance became cocky. "Have you been to the Crystal Empire?"

"Oh, yes, I have. They made a nice statue of you up there, didn't they?" Sunny smiled gently as she sat down. "I didn't think I'd get to meet the real thing."

"It's a, uh, pleasure to meet you." Spike tipped a hat he wasn't wearing. "So, what are you here for? I mean, what  brings you this way?"

"Oh, just looking around, being... me." Sunny nodded firmly. "Do you happen to have any tea, by chance?"

"Sure!" Spike turned on a single foot and began walking towards the kitchen. "I'll get some water going. Do you like a specific kind? There's a tea shop right in town that has almost every flavor known to pony. We don't have quite that many,  but we have the basics covered."

Sunny trailed behind Spike. "Something smooth that'll pick you up?"

Spike nodded. "Twilight likes that kind of tea, so we have plenty of it." He hopped up onto a stool and quickly got a box out of a cupboard before he got the water going over a flame in a kettle. "Now, we wait, the hardest part."

Sunny giggled softly. "You are too kind. A little waiting won't hurt me," assured the once-princess. "What is your favorite drink?"

Spike looked perplexed at being asked. "Huh, mine? Nopony ever really... asked that before. Uh... I like a good fruit punch with a dusting of garnets." He patted his belly. "It's a bit of a treat, but mmm, perfect."





The cube was pleased. It had saved Celestia from her despair and now it felt happiness and joy in the pony. Perhaps that had been its mistake. Was it pushing too hard? Maybe it had been assuming too much. Discord had created it to seek out sexual satisfaction, but, it had seen, there were many paths towards happiness. It just had to learn how to better seek it, and match the pony to it in a way that the pony would not later regret.
> 23 - Official Business
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mayor Mare coughed into a folded arm as she balanced on her other three hooves. The fog was mostly gone, at least. "Is everyone alright?" She looked across the room filled with workers of Town Hall, assembled there for emergency proceedings.

None of them seemed physically harmed, aside from some lingering coughing. A few had spooked looks in their eyes, but even those were fading. Mayor Mare smiled with relief. "Somepony go and find out what caused that. It came from that direction." She pointed with the same hoof that had just covered her snout.

One of the guards trotted off purposely to do as she asked and Mayor Mare nodded at him. "As offensive as that was, I feel like... it cleared the air, in a sense."

The secretary normally stationed by the front door bobbed her head. "The town doesn't feel... oppressed, ma'am."

"Very good." Mayor Mare turned back to her office. "I suppose Twilight or her friends took care of it before we did, and I have no urge to complain on the matter. I'll be in my office, if I'm needed. There's plenty of work we're falling behind on." She reared up and clopped her forehooves together in several firm strikes. "Back to work, everypony, let's not waste this day any further than it already has been."

She fell back to all fours and walked. She did not trot. She was trying to give the proper feel of authority and calm, and she could hear it working. The ponies around her began to get back to their work. She could hear typing and filing cabinets being opened or closed. It was time for business again in Town Hall, and she was happy for it.

The click of the door as she opened it made her smile in its banality. She closed it behind herself, walked to her chair and collapsed into it with a tired sigh. Its cushy depths were a small source of comfort as she considered the day. What had nearly befallen her precious town? It was depraved, on so many levels. Her cheeks warmed slightly. She had not been touched by it.

Of course not. She was the mayor. She ran the town. She... was not a target for such passions. She didn't have a coltfriend, and she was not prone to eyeing random ponies in that light. She pulled open a compartment of her desk and soon had a small mirror resting on her desk, facing herself.

She was a pretty mare, wasn't she? She reached up a hoof to brush at the grey mane that framed her face. Of course, it wasn't really grey. She wasn't nearly old enough for that to happen by nature's hoof. "Dignified." Yes, dignified. That was the look she was going for. Dignified could be... attractive, couldn't it? She shook the thought away and reached to pull the mirror down when the reflection within it moved.

"Of course it can be," spoke the mayor in the glass. "Dignified is the most attractive."

Mayor Mare gasped in surprise, dropping the mirror. It fell limply atop her papers. She looked around the room in darting glances, but no obvious source of the mirror's speaking was in sight. It had spoken with her own voice!

"They're afraid," spoke the mare in the mirror. "Think of it like Princess Celestia. She is dignified, and attractive, and nopony would even dare to consider approaching her."

Mayor Mare reached with trembling hooves, lifting up the mirror enough to see her own face peering back at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm you." The mare in the glass turned, displaying her cutie mark, a scroll with a long blue ribbon. "See? Now, let's talk about our future happiness."

The mayor set the mirror up so it stood on its own, facing her. "You can't be me. That's patently ridiculous. I'm occupying that position quite well, I should imagine."

"You are, no complaints here." The other mare nodded softly. "But let's not get distracted. I want to talk about our life goals and happiness, then I'll get out of your way."

"Then you aren't me, so what would you know of my life goals?" Mayor Mare arched a brow at her double in the mirror.

"I know you dye your mane," spoke the double as her mane brightened to a vibrant pink shade. "I know you want to be a good mayor, and being somepony others immediately respect is a large part of that. I know you're still a mare." The double got a sly smile. "That last part is even still in your name, but did you forget it?"

"I should think not," hotly defended Mayor Mare, a hoof at her chest. "At least, I'm still a mare..." She thought of the strange gender-bent Big Mac, a ripple of revulsion running through her.

"What would you be, if you could be anything?" asked the double.

Mayor Mare frowned a moment, but the expression eased. She was talking to herself, not some strange thing. It had been a harrowing day. Maybe giving herself a little pep talk was just the right thing to do. "I'd be exactly what I am." She tapped her chest. "A respected mayor, leader of her ponies."

"You have everything you want already?"

"Well..." She bit lightly on her lower lip a moment. "I suppose there may be a few other things." She held up her hooves close together. "But I'll get to them in time."

"There's no time like the present." The mirror mare smiled. "Let's start on one today! What will be the first?"





Zecora walked towards Fluttershy's home. She could see her rabbit friend glaring at her from beside the door. "We meet again, small hare. Can you tell me what happens in there?"

The rabbit crossed his little arms and made an indignant noise.

"I see..." Zecora could guess what it might mean. She raised a hoof and clapped it against the door in three firm knocks. "Fluttershy, are you home? I trust you did not roam."

The door opened inwards at the top, revealing Caramel. "Hey Zecora." The stallion smiled in a friendly way at her. "Fluttershy's taking a little nap before she does her afternoon chores with the animals. Precious little thing, she takes her job very seriously."

Zecora perked an ear at the stallion. "Are you feeling better? You were stuck writing a love letter."

"O-oh, yeah." He blushed softly at that. "I mean... I like Fluttershy... But... she doesn't..." His eyes went downcast a moment. "The chemistry isn't mutual, you know? I'm just being a good friend."

Zecora smiled gently. "You are a good stallion, your time will come. You have taken this heartbreak better than some." She pointed a hoof down at Angel. "Why is he forbid from inside?  Surely you heard when he tried."

Caramel leaned over the lower part of the door to see Angel glaring at him. "Oh, hey there. How long have you been out here?" He withdrew and opened the door fully. "Come on in."

Angel bounded past the cleared barrier, taking the time to give Caramel a kick in the leg on the way past.

Zecora nodded softly. "I am glad all seems to be well. Is there anything else you wish to tell?"

Caramel darkened. "Uh, I mean, uh... don't tell anyone about... me and Big Mac, alright? Don't figure that needs spreadin'." He coughed into a hoof softly. "Also, uh, sorry for not helping you, before. I guess I was... a little out of it, ya know?"

"I do." She raised a hoof to set on his shoulder. "I forgive and forget. There is no more reason for you to fret. Is Fluttershy well? I have come to tell."

"She was worried about sumthin' but ah don't know what... Maybe it's a mare thing? You wanna talk to her when she wakes up?"

Zecora craned her neck to look towards the sky. "I will take a peek. If she is awake, I will have what I seek." She strode forward and Caramel backed out of the way, allowing her to stride through the house and up the stairs gently. She approached Fluttershy's door and put an ear against it.

She could hear faint sniffling as if from a pony sobbing at a very quiet boo hoo.

Zecora looked over her shoulder and held up a hoof at Caramel, who had followed behind her. She nudged open the door just enough to slip through and closed it behind her. "Fluttershy, dear friend, I have come to make amends."

Fluttershy looked up and across her shoulder from where she had her face buried in a pillow. Her mane was a mess and her tail was limp. "Z-Zecora! Oh no!" She spun around, clutching her pillow tight. "You must hate me!"

"This I do not, precious friend. Your injuries I am here to tend." Zecora closed the distance with a steady walk. "You must be confused and frightened. If you would speak to me, I could be enlightened?"

Fluttershy suddenly hurled her pillow. Zecora flinched away, but the pillow was not meant for her. It struck the peeking Caramel right on the snout and they could both hear him fleeing away. "T-thank you. I don't deserve you." She slowly rolled up onto her hooves. "I was terrible! You were... We attacked you."

"You were under a curse." Zecora backed away to kick the door shut again. "I am glad it isn't worse."

"A-a curse?" Fluttershy tilted her head a little. "But I didn't do... I didn't see..." She blinked softly. "Is that why Big Mac was... like that?"

Zecora nodded as she sat beside Fluttershy's bed and started examining the pegasus in more detail. "Are you well? I see no injury that I can tell."

Fluttershy obediently spread her wings, one at a time, for Zecora to look at. "I'm not... hurt, not like that." She darkened all the harder. "Zecora... When this began, I was in estrus. I was going to take the day easy and let it pass, but then Big Mac came and... made all the right promises... and... and... I don't..." She suddenly launched herself at Zecora, hugging the zebra around the neck as they both fell to the floor. "I don't feel the estrus anymore!"

Zecora pinned her ears back against her head as she ran a hoof slowly down Fluttershy's back. "Then we face a most troubling decision. To bear this foal or not, which is your vision? Whatever you--"

Fluttershy wailed, cutting off Zecora's words as she buried her face in the zebra's neck and began crying. 

Zecora could imagine. Fluttershy had created life, however tiny it was. The idea of not caring for it as any of her animals, no matter the price to herself, would not sit well by her. She did not speak. Words were simply not required. She hugged Fluttershy. She hugged and stroked and made soft noises so Fluttershy knew she had a friend there. That seemed the best course of action for that moment.

Perhaps, she would not make it back to Twilight at the scheduled time.
> 24 - Temporary Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ponies of the recovering Ponyville were gathered before the podium in the town square. Behind that podium was a gently smiling Mayor Mare. "I'm so glad you could all make it. I understand you're all under a great deal of stress with the recent going ons." Soft murmurings of the crowd, with one shouted agreement, told her she was on the right idea. "What we need to guide Ponyville, and beyond that, all of Equestria back on path is strong leadership."

The noises of agreement gave way to confusion. "Don't we have Princess Celestia?" called out Derpy "Muffins" Hooves, snuggled up against her new coltfriend, neither of them looking at all harmed for the going-ons.

Mayor Mare shook her head lightly. "It has come to my attention that she is taking a needed retreat to consider herself. After working for over a thousand years without a vacation, we should hardly blame her. I will be assuming her position, alongside her sister, Luna. We'll keep things orderly and keep everything flowing smoothly."

Bon Bon hopped to her hooves, screaming out in a male baritone, "You can't just say that! Are you taking over Equestria?"

Mayor shook her head. "Yes and no? Luna will be there, and I will step aside as soon as Celestia has received the rest she rightfully deserves. My ambitions are not that high, Bon Bon." Not that being princess for a while wasn't exciting for her to consider. "I will serve as a temporary princess with proper decorum and it will be a smooth transition of power both ways."

Unseen, the cube was pleased. Using intelligence and empathy had advantages. It knew Celestia would be out of the way, but would likely return when she was ready. What better way to give Mayor Mare exactly what she wanted, but also on a temporary basis. The duties would be harsh, and she would tire of them eventually, but it came with a built-in end date. Happiness had been maximized, with no regrets!

"There you are." Discord snatched up the cube from the bushes where it was making its loud, yet silent, expositional thoughts. "Trying to make up for the trouble you've caused?"

It was learning. Analyzing and watching a pony to discern what it really wanted was much more effective than pushing various pleasures on it.

"That's not very chaotic," noted Discord with a flat expression.

Was father displeased?

"Actually, no." Discord tossed it from one hand to the other. "There's really only room for one avatar of chaos around here. There is just one... little... thing."

What was that?

Mayor Mare tapped her podium with a hoof. "While I'm away on this emergency assignment, I will not leave Ponyville without proper leadership. It is my humble honor to present--" She stepped aside as a unicorn mare stepped forward into view. "Raven Inkwell. Many of you have met and interacted with her before, and she has served dutifully as Celestia's assistant, and even my own at times. She knows what needs to be done, and will serve as the interim mayor."

Raven reached up and adjusted her glasses. "It is a pleasure to be your servant, all of you. I'd like to begin by getting a census of exactly who was affected in what ways. We will discern who can be fixed and how difficult each process will be. Budgeting and personnel adjustments will be made to ensure this is done as quickly and efficiently as possible." She extended a hoof to the left. "If those with lingering effects would form a line here, we'll begin the process."

Big Mac landed with a thump at the front of the line, her heavy female lines landing smoothly. "As much as ah kinda... like being an alicorn, ahm ready to stop playin' around and do mah part."

Raven raised her glasses a moment. "I see. You were originally a stallion, were you not?" Big Mac nodded. "Mmm..."

While Raven worked, Mayor Mare slipped away from the stage and began trotting towards the train station. She had a new, exciting, duty ahead of herself. "I do hope Luna doesn't have a grudge about the time I was scared of her." She laughed at her past self. Being afraid of Luna. She was a caring, even loving, ruler. "We've even faced her inner demons, together."

Discord shook his head. "You jostled all their lives around, but it will all settle back more-or-less where they started."

But they will be better ponies for it.

"Maybe. It'll be worth seeing. Now, about Fluttershy..."

It had done nothing to her.

"You only handed the sword to the person that did."

It had not been made to consider that. It was learning.

"Right. Perhaps we should see how she's feeling? Maybe that little unnatural cloud shook her free of her madness. Big Mac, really, that was just a phase, and he has a mare anyway." He huffed as he turned towards Fluttershy's cottage and stepped between frames, his foot landed just outside her door. "No need to be impolite, if she's shaken up." He rose a free hand and knocked on the door.

The door opened a sliver, a large pony eye that was not Fluttershy's peeked at. "She's, oh, uh, hey Discord."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Hello, whatever your name was. Why are you still here?"

Caramel allowed the door to open a little more. "I was waiting on Fluttershy to come out of her room."

Discord scowled at the stallion. "She'll come out when she's ready. This is her house, not yours."

"Oh, uh, right..." Caramel rubbed one leg with the other foreleg. "I suppose that's, uh, true... I guess I'm not really helping."

"Nope." Discord lifted a finger, plucking Caramel free of the ground and floating him out through the half-open door. "I'll tell her you were here," he lied without shame. "Have a nice day." He closed the door from the inside, when he had entered unclear.

Caramel was left looking at the outside of Fluttershy's cottage. He let out a slow sigh. It had been a nice day, but he knew it couldn't last, in his heart of hearts. He rose to his hooves and started a slow walk back towards his own house.

That wasn't conductive to that pony's happiness, thought the cube in its perfectly motionless, silent way that only Discord seemed to hear.

"Too bad for him. Background characters need to step aside when the big boys come in. He'll get over it by the next episode anyway."

You're being meta.

"You're being annoying." He gave the cube a light shake. "Now let's go see Fluttershy." He ascended the stairs with his cargo. "Mm?"

They could hear quiet conversation.





Zecora wasn't hugging Fluttershy anymore, instead sitting across from her with some tea between them. "Know whatever you decide, you will have friends beside."

Fluttershy gave an uncertain nod. "I-I know. The girls, and you, wouldn't... I know." She lowered a hoof to her belly. "It was just so much to consider... But I knew the answer... I did something foolish, but I have to live up to that." Her snout turned up into a smile. "It's... not as if I'm a poor pony, or I don't know... how things work. You do that with a stallion, foals will happen. B-besides, my... parents will help. They're... They know how to be parents." She brushed her hair lightly. "They raised me well."

Zecora tilted her head slightly. "I hope you will not forget those closer you have met. We will all help, dear mother-to-be, we will guide you and support you from a to b."

The door to the room suddenly burst open with a wide-eyed Discord standing there. "Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy squeaked with terror and dropped her teacup, burying her face beneath the tiny table that had held the rest of it, the entire thing quaking with her own shaking.

Zecora looked over her shoulder at Discord, but her annoyed expression eased away to surprise. "What are you doing with my new assistant? It really should be quite distant." She was pointing at the cube in Discord's hand.

Discord's gaze lowered to the cube. "What? This?" Then it hit him. "You messed with her too, didn't you?"

She was happy with what it had done. There were no regrets there.

"Lucky shot."

Zecora knew better than to question who Discord was speaking to. "If you wouldn't mind, a few answers if you would be so kind?"

Fluttershy peeked up from under the table that offered minimal protection. "O-oh! It's that square, from before!"

"It's more of a cube, Fluttershy dear, but yes, the same. Apologies for bringing it back."

She slid back to her haunches and tilted her head. "Now is hardly the time for, um... that..."

"This, we can agree on." Discord patted the cube. "It's not here to do anything but be judged silently by me. This little cube has been running around Ponyville giving everypony what they wanted, even if they didn't really want it."

Fluttershy put a hoof at her chest. "Oh... my... That does explain things." She eyed the cube warily. "I suppose... it's to blame for my... condition..."

Zecora rose up and snorted. "Banish that thing fr--"

Fluttershy put a hoof out in front of Zecora. "No! No... Can I talk to it?"

Discord shrugged and peeled off his own lips and slapped it on the side of the cube.

The cube spoke with Discord's voice, "Oh, that's interesting. Hello, and apologies. I was not created to consider many things, but I am learning."

Zecora's ears lifted towards the box. "You have caused much harm today. What will the future bring your way?"

"Are you not happy with your new wife?" asked the cube. "She seemed happy with you, even after the fog."

Zecora colored quickly. "Most, but not all, of your tricks were unkind. How would you do it different, if you could rewind?"

Fluttershy bobbed her head. "That is what I'd like to know too."

That was a happiness it could bring easily. "I would listen more, and only act when I knew the pony well. There are happinesses that bring less shame and regret afterwards. Mutual respect, meeting life goals, and aspirations are all superior to moments of pleasure that become dark things when that time passes."

Zecora reached up to the cube in Discord's hand and set a hoof on it gently. "Perhaps then, if the truth you speak, you have learned your behaviors to tweak."

Discord set the cube down. "Another reformed troublemaker, and you didn't even have to scold them this time, isn't that grand?" He had not taken his lips back, and yet he had them.

Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "You weren't involved?" Discord suddenly looked awkward. "You were involved, weren't you?" A smile spread across her face as she leaned forward. "You reformed your first."

A savage blush burning across his face, Discord crossed his arms petulantly. "It was an accident!"

Fluttershy lifted into the air and gave Discord a big hug, squeezing him tightly. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You did a good thing, and I'm very proud of you."

Discord did not turn down a flutterhug, but remained red and silent in defiance.

Zecora tapped at the cube on the ground. "Perhaps it would be best if you spent some time at rest. Learn and grow and then you will see. To form a force of good will turn easier to be."

The cube was silent for a time before it made up its mind.

"Out loud," reminded Discord.

"Apologies." The cube would blush if it could. "I will watch and see. Will you show me?"

Zecora jumped softly. "Did you just imitate my style? That only happens but once in a while."

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," assured the cube. "Help me to never again perform battery."

Discord made a dismissive wave of a paw. "Go on, take it. They clearly like you."

The emergency had passed for Ponyville, with lessons learned, passions shared, and new friends and lovers made. No pony in town would forget that time anytime soon.