> They-Gay and the Warriors of Social Justice
>  by EnergeticRider
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Who am I?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Trigger Warning” - a notice appeared on the screen. A purple alicorn pony, who was sitting in front of it, rolled her eyes and made a long yet quiet sigh. It was the second or maybe even third warning in this recording already, and so far it was followed by nothing more than generic shots of They-Gay and Warriors of Social Justice posing for the camera. Or generic shots of Castle Blood Moon. Or even more generic shots of the lands and forests around it. Just like in other “orientation videos” she was shown earlier.

And even those earlier “orientations” had at least some fun moments. Like the tournament recording where the pony saw quite a few slick martial arts moves. They-Gay was the winner, of course, smashed every opponent with their glowing hammer. But other participants had quite powerful weapons too, some were using magic. Certain spells were quite interesting.

“How are you feeling, horsey?” a soft voice asked from half-darkness of the vision hall.

The hall wasn’t very big. In fact, it was just one of the “wine” cellars, repurposed for meditation and study. And a niche with a holographic projector that, for convenience, everyone called just “screen” was made in a wall to show holo-recordings to the students.

At the moment, there were only two students of magic studies in Castle Blood Moon. And apparently, the pony one wasn’t allowed to watch recordings with “violence, harassment, and other disturbing imagery” without supervision. Of cause not because she was a pony, the headmistress of the magic school made that explicitly clear, but because she had a traumatic experience of coming to this world a few weeks ago and losing her memory.

“I’m fine!” answered ‘horsey’ with mild annoyance, throwing a glance to the left, towards her appointed caretaker. “And I’ve asked you not to call me that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.” A slender hand, so white it sparkled even in dim light, gently stroke pony’s mane.

“Ra-aight..” snorted the alicorn, but only in her head – she didn’t want to be distracted with another argument in case there will finally be something actually interesting on the screen. This wasn’t the first time she was made uncomfortable by the very person who also instructed her how not to be offensive.

It was quite frustrating to see that someone, who scolds others for any ‘insensitivity’ or ‘microaggression’, would constantly slip in that regard. And while the signs of attention from the vampire princess were not entirely unpleasant but at times she could be really creepy, regardless if she identified as a man or a woman at the moment.

The identification part was also quite confusing, as princess Sparkla was very feminine. Especially in her favorite black dress that consisted of a tight top and a knee skirt with a left split so wide that it showed her hip.

Usually, the dress was complemented by a translucent cape that split into two strips down the line, which made it look like two insect wings. Average height, slim (unless after some exceptionally large feast that would make her belly swell and as a result princess looked like a fat moth), with long violet hair and large eyes, attenuated by goth makeup, Sparkla looked like an anime goth teenage girl.

Even the princess’ ‘male armor’ that she donned when training or going on a mission had two metal caps to accommodate C-sized breasts, and a chain-male mini-skirt was even shorter than the dress. No one would mistake her for a boy. And what was even the point in changing identity? It’s not like enemies would ask her if she is a girl or a boy before the fight.

Enemies. The Patriarchy. If it was even half as bad as the pony was told, then fighting it was what Sparkla should have been focusing on. Not on her identity and affection to a pony (from pony’s point of view quite unhealthy affection) that she was assigned to take care for.

They actually had a very heated argument on the subject just a couple of days ago. That time princess came to her “horsey” right when the purple alicorn was learning an especially hard spell from the castle archives. And not a minute passed after Sparkla sat on the grass beside her ward, a vampire girl already started cuddling.

First, Sparkla messed her ‘pet’s’ mane a bit. Then her hands went further back and lower. She continued by massaging pony’s flanks, right where a purple star mark was. The pony already had the idea where princess’ cuddling will end up. But decided to postpone another argument about ‘exploring sexuality’ until after she finishes with the spell.

The spell was supposed to create a storm-cloud that would shoot bolts of lightning precisely on the caster’s command. And for an alicorn pony that would be the most exciting thing she had done since coming to this world. To actually make a hard spell on her own! Everything else could wait...

And right at the very moment when the magical energy blasted from her horn, pony felt a prick on her year. A bite! Sparkla really decided to intensify the foreplay this time, she thought. And that single thought was a distraction that made a spell go astray. The storm cloud appeared right beside one of the castle’s towers, instead of the opposite direction.

The next second cloud burst with lightning bolts blasting in all directions, blinding and deafening. Several bolts hit right into the top of the tower, like it was a giant lightning rod. The roof practically exploded, sending bricks and roof tiles flying in all directions.

Despite her frustration purple alicorn managed to raise a force field just in time. A few bricks had eventually flown at them and hit the glowing dome.

Luckily, the storm cloud dissipated almost immediately. Both princess and her ‘horsey’ stood in complete silence for quite a few long seconds. Then some rumble came from the top of the exploded tower.

A black head popped up from the pile of rubble that roof tiles and bricks turned into.

“Oh, my!” It was Bow – Sparkla’s butler.

Except Bow wasn’t black, he was Asian. Or rather would be Asian in a world where Asia existed. However, his narrow slanting eyes were now round-wide open from the shock of surprise (or maybe just shock as the lightning had hit a metal railing he was holding a moment earlier). And his light skin was now covered with black charred dust.

Apparently, he was going up or down the tower’s stairs when the spell destroyed the top floor. And the remaining charge went down, charring the walls of the stairwell.

By some miracle or more likely protective enchantments, the trap door that had lead to the stairs to the now destroyed room at the top remained intact. And somehow Bow managed to open it, even if it was buried under the rubble.

“Oh, my!” said Bow again with his usual calm tone with a streak of amusement, that somehow was well heard despite the distance. “How did you do that, my Sparkle?” That’s how he and Queen Angelica called princess most of the time. “Or was it our pony’s magic?”

“She is in the process learning,” answered Sparkla before alicorn could muster a word. “There is no big deal.”

“Are you sure?” asked Bow, his voice still calm, as this wasn’t the first ‘incident’ with partial destruction of the castle in his memory. “Your mother...”

“I’ll speak with my mother myself!” shouted Sparkla back. “You better go and wash before someone accuse you of wearing blackface.”

Without much argument, though without haste either, Bow went back down. There wasn’t even an audible rattle among the debris this time - so skillfully he moved. Just the sound of trap door shut, barely heard from afar.

“Oh, horsey!” Sparkla turned to her pony. “You really made a mess.”

This was the final straw.

“Me?!” exclaimed purple alicorn pony. “It was all your… advances!”

“But horsey, I’ve already explained to you, that you should explore...”

“And you always talk about consent,” interrupted angry pony. “But when it comes to me, you never ask! Or brush any of my objections, like they aren’t valid.” And after a bit of thinking “horsey” shouted: “Am I a sex object to you?!”

“Sexual objectification” was another concept Sparkla often talked about. Most parts of her explanations wasn’t very clear or consistent – why would sexual desire of someone else make you an object? Why other desires wouldn’t? Why your appearance even matter? All that was very confusing, but if someone would be a victim of being treated like an object for sex, that would definitely be a pony without memory, who was taken advantage of. At least that’s what a pony without memory felt right now.

Sparkla herself was quite taken aback by the accusation. It was the first time that her pet alicorn lashed at her back so strongly. So, princess of the Blood Moon Castle decided to change her approach.

“I’m just trying my best to care for you,” she sat in front of her pony and raised a hand to gently stroke her mane. But then thought better of it and put her hands on her knees. “You don’t have any memories. And you definitely confused about a lot of things. My little ‘horsey’, you...”

“And stop call me that!” lashed ‘horsey’ anew. “I’ve already told you that I don’t like that name. You constantly lecture me that I should speak non-offensively, so everypon… everyone will feel comfortable and safe. And yet, when it comes to attitude to me, there is nothing that stops you from making me uncomfortable.”

“But I’m just calling you that because you don’t remember your name,” answered Sparkla, her tone being a nanny explaining basic things to a child. “Horsey is a cute and non-offensive...”

“But I feel offended!” Alicorn pony without name stomped her hoof right in front of Sparkla. “I want another, that I wouldn’t feel being degrading.”

The main reason ‘horsey’ nickname felt bad to her was that it was yet another thing that was ‘assigned’ by others. And each time the pony was called that, it was a reminder of her loss of memory, her being alien to this place. One could expect that people who were all about personal identity would understand that but, apparently, they weren’t.

“So, what name do you want?” asked Sparkla.

“I...” The pony stopped, trying to think of something. She didn’t actually expect her caretaker to submit so quickly. Now, as her angry outburst was over, nameless alicorn realized that she never thought about her own name.

And the most embarrassing thing was that the first word that popped into pony’s mind was Sparkla herself. Why would that happen? She really hoped that it wasn’t because of some ‘repressed romantic feelings’ - that would mean… She didn’t want to think about what that would mean.

Or maybe her real name somehow connected to the vampire princess? Some association? Or maybe forgotten name was some sparkling object?

While the amnesiac alicorn pony was following her trail of thoughts, Sparkla decided, yet again, that her little pet wouldn’t make it without her guidance.

“How about Darkness?” she suggested a name, she would like herself. “Or maybe Shade? Or Shadow?” Princess continued, making a little pause before coming up with each suggestion. “Dusk? Midnight?” The last word made a sort of a click in pony’s mind.

“Gloom?”

“Twilight?”

“Yes,” suddenly the pony heard her own voice before realizing that she answered the question. But the next moment she felt a sense of familiarity. Word ‘Twilight’ was indeed the word from her past. Could it indeed be her name? Name ‘Sparkla’ felt familiar too. Could she have two names? Well, one name is better than no name. Sure better than ‘horsey’.

“What?” asked Sparkla, stopping her suggestions.

“Yes. I like the name ‘Twilight’.” answered Twilight. “Call me that, please.”

There was a pause.

“Absolutely!” exclaimed Sparkla and bent forward to hug her little pony. “Twilight—it’s so romantic, especially for vampires. I’m so glad that you’ve chosen that and not some stupid name like ‘Swift Wind’ or something.”

“I see...” exhaled Twilight, feeling girl’s hands around her neck. Hands that had a lot more strength than those of a human teenager. “Personal… Space...”

“Oh, right, right,” Sparkla released her hug and sat back quickly. “Sorry.”
> Who are My Enemies?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was watching a holo-recording. There was a ‘trigger warning’ on the ‘screen’, one of many. And her caretaker, princess Sparkla, again started to cuddle with her hands gradually going for pony’s most intimate parts.

It was only a few days passed from the ‘tower destruction incident’ and the vampire princess had already forgotten her lesson. However, this time Twilight wasn’t busy with the spell, so she just removed a sparkling hand with a slight telekinetic push.

“Well. At least I have a decent name now,” thought Twilight, reminiscing events of not so long past.

And suddenly something drew her attention to the hologram. It was something she had never seen before – like a silver river running across the screen. Except its flow was too arranged – it wasn’t flowing, it was… marching.

When the camera focused on the silver flow, Twilight saw that it was no river. It was a road through the forest, and a column of shiny metal machines was moving along it.

Machines had a roughly humanoid shape, only more angular and their ‘heads’ looked more like discs. Judging by the size of nearby trees they were more than three meters high. And their gait was very calculated and repetitive – mechanical. That’s why Twilight decided they were machines and not just people in armor.

Also, she now noticed other machines. They were walkers too but not really humanoid. Two of them had legs like those of birds and one, the biggest, walked on four legs.

“What are those?” asked Twilight, nodding her head to the screen.

“Rush’n bots,” answered Sparkla, in a whisper for some reason.

“Ah! So those are rush’n bots,” said Twilight after a pause. “I saw those things being mentioned in some books.” Indeed, the lightning cloud spell, that Twilight was studying a few days back and that lead to the whole destroyed tower was described as very effective against those Rush’n bots.

“Yes. They are made in great numbers by specially trained bears that are imprisoned in Patriarchy dungeons. Production is always rushed to meet Patriarch’s demand and that’s where the name comes from. Our headmistress explained to us.”

“Is that really so? It seems really strange,” asked Twilight with her eyes widened in surprise. Though that must have been so indeed – headmistress of Magic School was the most trusted and respected cis white woman in the whole Great Rebellion. She was Sparkla’s mentor and probably the only person whom vampire princess would believe unconditionally. “Though probably not more strange than summoning me to help your cause.” Pony finished after some thought.

She wanted to ask something else but suddenly a battle cry came from the holographic projection niche and several silhouettes appeared right in front of the ‘river’ of marching Rush’n Bots. Those silhouettes dashed towards the bots’ column quickly moving into the camera focus.

When attackers were seen on the screen properly Twilight counted seven of them. Three squad members remained at the roadside. They had large tubes that they placed on their shoulders and started to shoot fireballs with them. Twilight was wondering if it was magic or tech but decided not to ask Sparkla for now.

All three “ranged weapon guys” were wrapped in ragged cloaks and had their heads covered with scarves. All pieces of clothes were green with some stains and streaks of other colors to mask their owners among the trees and underbrush.

Four melee fighters, on the other hand, were all dressed in tight and sometimes in quite revealing clothes. One of them, clearly the leader, was wearing a silvery chain-mail that ended with a short, also chain-mail, skirt. The leader’s dark boots were high, so they left just a small strip of sparkly skin under the skirt. Dark violet hair, this time tied into a ponytail. Even seeing from the back Twilight has no doubt now – the attack was lead by princess Sparkla herself.

The very vampire princess Sparkla, who was sitting right beside her in her gothic and rather revealing dress. And as usual, putting her hands in Twilight's hair or other places. But this time all alicorn’s attention was drawn to the screen.

“You were attacking them in broad daylight?” Twilight voiced one of the many questions that popped into her head at once. But probably it was the most appropriate one since this video was supposed to educate her on the tactics of the war with the Patriarchy. And the daylight was clearly not the best time for vampires to rush into battle. Sun was negating most of their abilities, like turning into a mist, plus physical strength and magical power were also reduced.

“At night they make camp. Too well defended,” answered Sparkla. “We were hoping for the element of surprise.”

Apparently, the hope had been realized. Even with the first charge Sparkla and the warriors, she was leading managed to throw bot column into complete disarray. Twilight saw two or three machines immediately exploded and fall in the dust of the road as a pile of metal scrap. Several more lost their heads or limbs, chopped by attackers’ blades. In hands of vampires, whom all melee fighters apparently were, even cold steel was a dreadful weapon. And blades with runic enchantments sliced enemy metal like paper.

Sparkla’s own sword was thin and light. It looked more like a rapier, especially with a fancy golden guard. But she (or rather he, since Sparkla preferred to identify as a man in battle) artfully stabbed Rush’n bots in their joints, making them unable to fight even without being blasted completely.

Despite the initial disastrous blow, bots managed to regroup. They opened fire, shooting energy bolts from their “hands”. One of the ranged squad members, ones that were hiding among the trees, wasn’t quick enough to dodge and got a bolt right in the stomach. Twilight heard a man’s scream that made her veins turn to ice.

And in the next moment, the camera passed the corpse. She knew that this person was dead. Even his limbs were still twitching, life was leaving the body through a large hole in the abdomen. Twilight saw now that under the ragged camouflage there was a full-body armor that even included a mask with a respirator. But that armor still failed to stop the energy bolt from going right through the body.

“You had humans fighting alongside you.”

“Yes. He was one of the allies,” answered Sparkla. “And now you see how Patriarchy took his life without any hesitation. We must fight it, so those people’s sacrifices weren’t in vain.”

“But aren’t Patriarchy has soldiers too? I mean, they are living people, aren’t they?”

“Hey, you chrome-dome morons!” cried Sparkla (the one on the screen), jumping on the pile of disabled or exploded rush’n bots. There were already more than a dozen bots fallen, so the pile looked somewhat like a low but wide hill. Remaining bots concentrated fire on her.

“But they are evil. And more importantly, those white men that are at the top, enjoy their privileges in the White Zone, issuing orders from there. All whom they send in the field are thralls, bots, and things in between.”

“Trolls?” Twilight misheard unfamiliar word.

“Thralls. Battle slaves that were raised in a patriarchal toxic culture. All they know is competition and oppression. Sometimes they use their science to implant tech right into their bodies – they don’t tolerate those, whom they see as weak. But in truth – thralls, bots, thralls with bot parts – all of them are monsters, who don’t have even a grain of compassion for those, who don’t share their world view.”

“Monsters,” repeated Sparkla, for some reason in a lower voice.

While they were talking, in the battle recording Sparkla actually managed to draw the fire upon himself – apparently due to “competitive culture” rush’n bots couldn’t resist a chance to take down so lucrative target. Dozens of blasts came at the vampire princess, but he jumped to the side. Then dashed to another direction.

It was a spectacle – to watch princess dodge bolts and explosions. Like a moth dancing among the flames. And in the end, he managed to dodge all of the shots. Even deflect a few with his rune-covered rapier.

For the moment it seemed the advantage was still at Warriors of Social Justice side – all bots around were blasted or crippled. Only a few retreated to the tail of the column, under the protection of larger walkers.

“But aren’t we technically do the same? We fight Patriarchy because they have different views too?” Twilight thought the fight to be coming to an end. So it was a time for questions now.

But before she got an answer, a terrifying screech came from the holographic niche. And a dark shadow flew over the projection of the battlefield displayed there. Apparently something just leaped from the remaining tail of the column where a raw of bots were still firing at the rebels. And the leap was so huge that the dark thing flew over the scrap hill that Sparkla was standing on again and landed right behind his back.

Was this one of the thralls, Sparkla was talking about? It didn’t seem to have any mechanical parts. It looked more like a monster with a body resembling a xenomorph from Aliens, though more “buff” and less “boney”. Its head, however, was more round, remotely resembling one of Venom, with large jaws and sharp pointy teeth. Jaws were complemented by two mandibles as those Predator hunters had.

Of course, Twilight hasn’t watched (or at least didn’t remember watching) Aliens, Predator, or Venom. For her, it was just a dark, roughly humanoid beast, terrifying and graceful at the same time. And this creature used its pike-like tail to stab Sparkla in the back.

Except vampire princess managed to turn around just in time to parry the blow with his runic rapier. Lucky for Sparkla bots stopped firing, so he didn’t need to defend himself from both sides. Still, the force of the monster tail’s blow was enough to push him back. Sparkla stumbled and fell behind the pile of rush’n bots’ carcasses. Two rebel fighters saw that and dashed to help their leader. One was armed with a huge battleax, another with a scythe.

Fighters raised their weapons over their heads and stroke almost simultaneously. Yet, the Patriarchy thrall caught both of them. Grabbed two shafts with its hands which had three fingers with sharp dagger-like claws. But two warriors didn’t even try to free their weapons – they pressed on, pushing the creature back. Blades of the ax and the scythe drew closer to the beast’s shoulders with each step.

In a moment Sparkla jumped back on his feet and ran up the ‘scrap hill’ to hit thrall from the back. But before the vampire princess had a chance to strike, the creature suddenly twisted its arms in a way that its hands stretched back. Ax and scythe blades were pulled the same way and went down right behind thrall’s backside. Shafts of both weapons dropped on the dark gray shoulders and their wielders found themselves right in front of the beast’s head and its maw.

Before any of Sparkla’s comrades even realized what had just happened, a dark creature stretched its neck and bitten off the shoulder of the one who held the ax. Or rather bitten and ripped off by jerking the head to the left. Then it opened its jaws and a torn hand with a shoulder piece flew to the side. A fountain of blood gushed out of the fighter’s wound, right in the face of the ax wielder’s partner.

Twilight felt sick. This time “trigger warnings” appeared to be justified after all. Even while the pony knew that both fighters were vampires and such an injury wouldn’t be fatal for them, this gory sight made her body tremble.

But the fight continued. The fourth vampire rebel, who was using claymore as the weapon of choice, finished another bot, turned around, and rushed to help. But he (subconsciously Twilight assumed gender as the guy looked like a quite buff male) was far away. But Sparkla finally reached the “scrap hill” summit and delivered his blow.

This time it was the monster, who parried. It made a 360 spin, its tale clashed with Sparkla’s rapier and the force of the blow made vampire princess fall back. Again. Though this time he managed to keep the balance and after a backflip to land into an attack stance.

As for two other rebels, they were just thrown in the opposite direction. The one with a maimed shoulder lost the battleax, unable to hold it with remaining left hand strongly enough. The one with the scythe, however, managed to pull scythe’s shaft from thrall’s grip.

Monster brought its hands forward and looked at the rebel’s battleax in one of them. Then it made a few moves with it, spinning the weapon with quite visible proficiency. And then… made a sound that could be a sort of chuckle, throwing the weapon away.

At this moment a guy with a claymore sword finally got to the monster and attacked with a forceful vertical slash. This time thrall tilted its body a bit, not even far enough to dodge the blow. The sword stroke the carapace on the upper back, just at an angle… and slid down without leaving even visible dent.

“What?!” exhaled Twilight with her jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe that this creature’s skin was tougher than the metal but apparently it was.

The fighter with claymore didn’t expect such thing either. He lost his balance and practically bumped into the dark creature. Thrall caught his hands as if it wanted to help the guy get up but immediately spun around once more, pulling the body into the air. Then it slammed him into the metal scarps.

Twilight heard a moan of pain – apparently poor guy ran into some sharp rush’n bot remains. If he was a vampire it was hardly fatal, but claymore was out of the game now. Meanwhile, the monster turned around and looked towards Sparkla. It spread its mandibles in a threatening grimace. Vampire princess, who was now ready to attack, stayed in place and just raised his rapier in a defensive position.

Suddenly, Twilight realized that a trembling sensation she was feeling wasn’t her own. It was Sparkla’s hands – at least she put them on my shoulders and not somewhere else, slipped out of place thought in pony’s mind – that were shaking at the sight of the dark thrall.

“But she was there. She had returned. She had survived!” as these thoughts dashed through Twilight’s head as she saw, how the creature jumped at its prey.

It was like in slow-mo. The beast grouped then sprawled, flying in the air, towards the princess. It opened its jaws wide, stick its claws forward. Would the tiny rapier be enough?… And suddenly a bolt of light came upon the creature right from the sky. Right in the mid-jump that bolt struck and with a force of thousand people pulled it down and pressed into the road dust.

The dust cloud blurred the vision. Twilight could only discern a human shape in it. Then a too familiar pike-ending tail shot up from the ground. The creature was still alive! The tail bent, trying to pierce a person who was standing on its owner. But a black hand in a golden vambrace grabbed it right below the ‘pike’.

“E-e-e-ehh-h!” heard Twilight as the person in the dust cloud spun around, pulling monster in the air.

The spinning scattered the dust cloud and now she saw clearly a person who was holding the thrall by its tail. The next moment they let the tail go and the dark creature flew away for more than ten meters and landed somewhere in the ditch on the side of the road.

“Take that, you ugly dirty inhuman bastard!” cried They-Gay.

Yes, that was They-Gay – the leader of The Great Rebellion and the most equal among Warriors of Social Justice. Glowing in their hand was a hammer that smashed up numerous opponents. Their hair despite the just ended tussle was standing in a neat flattop. Their dark brown skin almost blended with black tights, making an impression of They-Gay athletic body being naked except for several pieces of armor.

There were six pieces. Two vambraces, that could transform into gloves if needed. Two knee-high boots. Breastplate, that was a bit flat but still large enough to encompass breasts (if They-Gay had breasts). And some sort of metal shorts that actually consisted of several segments, so not to restrict movement. By the way, shorts had enough space for a dick too  (if They-Gay had a that).

Of course, Twilight didn’t know if They-Gay had breasts and/or dick, as it would be too rude for her to just come up and ask “Do you have boobs or a dick?”. Twilight had asked Sparkla if she knew, though. But didn’t get any answer, only a lecture about how it doesn’t matter if you have a dick or other things – thinking otherwise would be both sexist and transphobic.

“I see, I’m not late for the party,” They-Gay turned to Sparkla, who was standing in speechless admiration for her idol both in combat skill and in gender non-binarity.

“What took you so…” started Sparkla but then a too familiar screech resounded over the battlefield.

A place on the roadside exploded with mud, gravel, roots flying from the ditch all over the place. And a seemingly defeated monster landed on a road once again.

“That's impossible!” Twilight exclaimed that out loud in frustration. No one had ever managed to get up after a blow by They-Gay’s glowing hammer. Either during training or in the duels at the tournament, when they didn’t even use their full strength.

This creature just shrugged off a blow that was supposed to break its spine in half. And before that, it brought down two vampire warriors like it was no big deal. It couldn’t be a simple slave that does master’s bidding. Because if it was just one of the ordinary battle slaves this Rebellion would be already over.

On the screen, Patriarchy troops went to their last counterattack. Not just the thrall, who ran at They-Gay and clashed with them in a black whirlwind of blows, kicks, and stabs. Rush’n bots that so far remained at a safe distance now ran towards rebels too, shooting their energy bolts. And they were joined by one of the larger walkers too. Chicken-legged, with two cubic missile racks on its side (if Twilight played any BattleTech game, she would say this mech looks a lot like Mad Cat).

Sparkla and the scythe guy ran towards the bots. It was a sound decision – neither of them was a match for the thrall but they could at least ensure that bots won’t interfere in its fight with They-Gay. And for a half-a-minute, they managed to do that. Two blades with the fire support with two remained allies were enough to hold rush’n bots at bay.

Then the large walker fired a volley of missiles. Apparently, without much aiming as some of the missiles had stroke Patriarchy own bots and many more just missed. However, one of the rockets, by mere unlucky chance hit the ground right beside They-Gay and the thrall. The explosion sent opponents to the opposite directions. Both of them flew far away and on their fall scratched the ground really hard. Yet both immediately jumped at their feet.

However, thrall found itself right beside Sparkla, who was too busy slashing the bots to notice the threat outright. And when he turned it was too late – the monster grabbed him with its claws by the shoulders. Then opened its jaws and mandibles wide.

“Sparkla, no-o-o!” cried They-Gay and leaped towards the two.

Twilight couldn’t move. Time slowed again as she watched how the beast goes for a bite. But this time it didn’t aim for the shoulder – it was the princess’ head between the jaws. Twilight saw how point-sharp teeth touch the white sparkling neck. And suddenly she realized that it is her own head that monster is going to bite off. She felt its teeth on her own neck piercing her purple skin…

With an ear-piercing scream, Twilight jumped so high that her horn nearly stuck into the cellar ceiling. She also pushed Sparkla, as it was Sparkla who clutched Twilight’s neck so tightly that her nails dived under pony’s skin, to fall back on the floor. Then with the help of her wings, purple alicorn landed. And she had enough time to see Sparkla.

“Are you out of your mind?!” yelled the pony at her appointed caretaker.

“C-calm down ho… Twilight.” Sparkla said in an unnaturally calm and low voice. “Please.” Now there was a clear pleading tone in it.

“Calm down? Calm down?!!!” Twilight screeched.

“You weren’t ready for this kind of imagery. This recording could be very traumatizing for such a delicate psyche as yours.”

“I wasn’t traumatized by the recording. It was your… You…” Twilight stammered in her furious tirade. Her mind was still processing what she saw in the recording. What was happening there... “It was you! It was you, who was traumatized,” she said in a less loud but still angry voice. “Don’t project your own emotions on me. You were in that fight yourself. Why haven’t you mentioned that from the start? About that super-thrall. It’s clear that it gave you…” Twilight paused trying to remember a psychology book that was one of the first she read to prepare for magic studies course. “PTSD of some kind.”

Suddenly, Twilight realized that recording was still playing. She turned around but it was too late – on the screen Patriarchy rush’n bots were already running away without even trying to return fire. Thrall was nowhere to be seen. The camera was showing woods where large walkers went, also trying to escape.

“How did you…” Twilight saw Sparkla rubbing his (her – Twilight corrected herself – at this moment Sparkla identifies as a woman) neck and swallowed the word ‘survived’.

Sparkla remained silent and Twilight didn’t dare to ask more. After all, she can always play the recording again. Maybe with They-Gay as a guide. For now Twilight decided, she should be satisfied with what she got. And she got more than she was bargained for – the real meat of the action, some first-hand footage of what the Patriarchy forces are.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door slammed open with a loud bang.

“What is going on here, people?” They-Gay asked right from the doorway.

They were wearing the same armor suit, except the body-tights were white. And instead of a glowing hammer, there was a keg of beer in their hand.

“I think your scream was heard all around the castle! What were you doing?”

“We were just watching an education video,” answered Sparkla whose voice almost came back to normal.

“About the fight with the Patriarchy,” added Twilight.

“I’ve should have known,” replied They-Gay and drank all the remaining beer in one gulp. “Ahhh. Patriarchy has some pretty scary shit.” Then they made a pause as if thinking. “Let’s go party, so you could forget about this kind of stuff.”
> Where am I?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were a few types of parties in the Castle Blood Moon. The most basic ones were sleepovers, usually organized by Sparkla. Those happened almost every night and took place in one of the spacious rooms of the castle.

Vampire youth, as well as their human allies and even some other kin from Rebellion, gathered and discussed the latest news and gossips, especially about recent Patriarchy actions. In addition, they exposed social injustices in their own lands and made suggestions about improving life in neighboring villages – how to increase the percentage of women among hunters and other jobs with high social status, how to make people of darker skin color be more prevalent in various positions of power.

At first, Twilight was very excited about such discussions. She even introduced some “equity and diversity” projects of her own. But then she had quickly run out of ideas. And, to be honest, others were out of original ideas too. As time passed, Twilight found out that new speeches and discussions were revolving around the same topics and new projects were essentially the old ones, just with non-essential additions and described in different terminology.

This discovery dampened mare’s enthusiasm quite a bit. She decided to cut back on disputes and during sleepovers spend more time reading books and studying spells in the corner of the room. Sparkla didn’t mind. After all, defeating Patriarchy and creating a society where everyone was absolutely equal in a chance to get a job and ability was impossible without strong magic and complex spells. And there were still many speakers remaining to keep vampire princess entertained as a host.

They-Gay had hosted parties too. Those happened only once a week but had a lot more people attending them. To accommodate everyone, activities usually took place outdoors, on the castle’s grounds.

There was much larger and diverse entertainment program – artists and craft-masters were welcome to show their finest works, especially if they were praising Rebellion’s cause, proficient warriors and mages demonstrated their skills and even competed with one another. They-Gay themself participated in some events, making guests amused both with their impressive fighting techniques and a stand-up comedy numbers, not always funny but still very passionate and engaging and, most importantly, always safe and inclusive. Though you couldn’t expect anything less from “the beacon of hope” for the whole Great Rebellion.

Most of all, Twilight herself wanted to witness a Martial Arts Tournament, like the one she saw in the holo-recording the other day. Sadly this event was held only once a few months and she had to wait. However, They-Gay organized a few training sessions were fellow battle mages taught alicorn pony some basics of combat magic. And later they even had a smaller tournament for magic users only. As an extra surprise, They-Gay had signed up Twilight as one of the competitors.

Alicorn had bested two of her opponents but lost the third duel. She really hoped that no one noticed she did that on purpose – it was too much anxiety for her to even be in the ring, totally newcomer in combat magic, with over a hundred spectators.

Actually, that was the only thing she didn’t like about They-Gay’s parties. As cheerful and sociable as they were, They-Gay always pulled her into some activity or contest. Even if Twilight had some interesting spell or chapter in the book to study, they always dragged her out of the room and on the stage.

The only reason she allowed such an attitude to continue was that usually after all the distraction she indeed felt her spirit on the rise. When the festivities were at their end and people around her were resting on the grass before finally leaving, pony sometimes even had a feeling like she was home. Had she similar parties in her own world too? Could be someone there who also ‘forced’ her to have fun?

The third type of party that Twilight encountered was Queen Angelica's. And pony was infinitely glad that those weren’t the ones she was dragged into. In fact, the only time Twilight stumbled upon one was when she was looking for Sparkla, wandering in the labyrinth of Castle Blood Moon dungeons.

After entering one of the heavy wooden doors Twilight didn’t even understand at first what she came upon. There was a semitransparent folding cloth screen in front of her that shielded the most of the hall further on. From behind it she heard moaning, the kind of people make of pleasure, especially of the carnal kind. At least, that was her first guess. She even discerned numerous silhouettes of naked bodies, male and female alike. And with her cheeks reddened she was going to leave this… attraction.

But then she had heard a snap of a whip and another moan, this time one of pain (or at least Twilight thought it was) made pony freeze in place. What kind of orgy was that?! As thoughts were rushing through pony’s mind, she started to hear more subtle sounds – chains rattling, ropes creaking, some bleating of a person that was gagged, a splash of unknown liquid spilled. There was more whip snapping too. And other sounds that she wasn’t able to guess, or more importantly didn’t want to guess. Now, the pony wasn’t even sure if moaning was one of pain or pleasure.

Twilight didn’t know how much time had passed as she was standing in front of this deeply unsettling spectacle but she finally got a grip on herself. As pony now was able to move, she was going to leave this place immediately. But at this very moment, two sections of the screen went aside and another person entered from that side. This person was no one other but Queen Angelica.

“Oh, I was wondering who was standing here,” she said in a sticky-sweet tone. “Welcome.”

The only clothes on her were black knee-high high-heel boots and a leather bikini bottoms with something attached to them, that at first Twilight had mistaken for a large baton. Nothing else. Queen’s long almost black with the only tint of purple hair was flowing down unbridled. And her large gorgeous breasts, the only two things that violated traditionally perfect proportions of a tall fit body, were freely swinging in time with her hips as she made her steps towards Twilight.

The ‘baton’ was swinging too because it wasn’t attached to the bottoms’ side but to the front. Twilight realized now what it was. After all, princess Sparkla gave her a book about various sexual practices as a part of ‘exploring sexuality’. However, pony never imagined that strap-on dildo could be that big. How it would fit… well, anything human? Or pony…

The one thought that she’ll have to participate in something like this, made Twilight weak in her knees. She stumbled and instead of going to the door bumped at the wall. She hit some instruments hanging there. Instruments?

Pony quickly turned her eyes to the things she just touched. And couldn’t take her gaze from them. Various blades, ropes tied into complex knots, gags, lots of stuff she couldn’t begin to imagine the purpose of… and several more strap-on dildos, some looked even bigger than Angelica’s.

Suddenly, one of the dildos that pony just touched, made a click and dozens of spikes came out of its ‘head’, so it started to look like a battle mace. Mare’s eyes widened in shock and she turned to the Queen, unable to do anything but to stare at her with dazzled expression.

“He-he,” Queen giggled as she perfectly understood what question took over the shocked pony. “You see,” she bent a little towards Twilight and lowered voice into a conspirator whisper.” Some boys like it rough.”

And then she made a thrusting motion with her hips, making her strap-on go up and forward. There was still some distance between Angelica and Twilight, but pony felt like the dildo is going to hit her on the nose. Luckily that didn’t happen or pony would faint for sure.

“Oh, here you are!” exclaimed Sparkla, nearly making pony jump. She appeared at Twilight’s side without her noticing.

“Oh, my Sparkle!” exclaimed Angelica. “Do you and your pony wish to join us?”

And for the longest moment in her life (at least the life alicorn could remember) Twilight’s heart stopped as she wondered if her princess will accept the offer as another opportunity to “explore sexuality”.

“Oh, sorry mom,” quickly replied Sparkla. “We are just too busy.” She grabbed pony in a hasty hug and pulled towards the door. Twilight trotted along and tried not to fall as she could barely control her legs. “And I’m afraid my Horsey isn’t ready for such... intense experience.”

In a few moments they were out of the chamber and as the massive door was closing, another whip crack and a moan came from somewhere beyond the wooden screen.

“I have some business to attend too,” they heard Angelica deep voice before the door was shut completely.

This all was before Twilight got her name and before she started to really object Sparkla’s petting. And yet, that night vampire princess haven’t as much as touch her ‘horsey’ and left pony alone. Pony being quite thankful for that.

Later Twilight was pondering if Sparkla’s hasty retreat from her mother’s chamber showed that the princess was actually caring and aware of the pony’s emotions. Or was it just motivated by a selfish desire not to share her pet with anyone else? Was Sparkla disturbed by her mother’s antics too? Or vampire princess’ lust and urges towards her four-hoofed companion were inherited from that woman?

The only thing Twilight was sure of, she didn’t want to participate in such ‘party’, regardless on what side of spiked mace strap-on she would be. And she would try to avoid Queen Angelica’s chambers at all costs.

That’s why when Sparkla’s butler Bow came and brought to Twilight a personal invitation from the Queen to become a guest at Castle Blood Moon Royal Gala, she became quite agitated. What if this was going to be another BDSM orgy?

“No, no, no,” assured her Bow. “It all be quite civil. Royal Gala is actually a very official business. Princesses, tribe chiefs, and other royalty will be invited to the castle from all over Edenia. Or at least from the parts of the planet that aren’t under the Patriarchy.”

“Why?” suddenly asked Twilight. “Are there no royalty in Patriarchy?”

“Well, there are of course,” answered Bow with a baffled expression on his face. “But they are enemies, you know.”

“But do they need to be?” explained Twilight. “Sure, white men at the top will never abandon their privilege but there are those who are at the bottom, those who are oppressed.”

“Remember that dark thrall that nearly bitten off Sparkla’s head?” Twilight asked Bow because he was the ‘adult supervisor’ that she ended up with while re-watching the battle holo-recording.

This was kind of funny, considering that he was younger than Spakla but as a human looked his age of almost thirty, while her appearance was still of a teenager. Butler also made a lot of comments during the playback of the battle and, to Twilight’s surprise, demonstrated quite some knowledge in tactics and general insight into many details.

Vampire princess missed her final death by a hair – at the last moment, They-Gay threw their hammer and hit the monster at the back of its head, making the beast to open its jaws and free girl’s head that was almost separated from the body. Together with other warriors and arrived reinforcements they were able to finally make Patriarchy forces flee. However, Sparkla herself was out of commission for several hours. Daylight profoundly reduced her regeneration, and it took her a lot of time before she could even speak.

“If not for They-Gay and their reinforcement, that thing could wipe out the entire squad. Or even larger force. Imagine if we could turn it to our side!” Twilight continued.

“This creature must be intelligent. Sure we can communicate and show that being equal among equals is better than being a slave sent to the battle by a bunch of white dudes, who don’t care,” she made a pause to collect her thoughts. “We have designed so many programs to ensure equity. We could make another one specifically for that creature. Or even better, make it join the ones existing. For example, it could join the one that ensures the equality of black people. After all, this creature has dark skin or carapace or whatever.”

“Excuse me, my Twilight,” Bow interrupted her. “I think you misunderstood the idea. Simply having dark skin doesn’t make you black.”

“It doesn’t? Why?”

“Well. It’s complicated. You better consult Doctrina about human race oppression dynamics and historical injustices across the dimensions topics. ”

“Ugh!” Twilight made a sigh of pain and suffering. “Why there are always some complications come up that no one even mentions beforehand?!”

“Also, if you must know,” Bow took that complaint to heart. “There were actually a few attempts of negotiations with the Patriarchy. And all of them failed. I know, because my mother participated in one of them.”

“You have a mother?” exclaimed Twilight in surprise. “Oh, sorry. Of course, you have. That was silly.” she tried to make an excuse. “It’s just you never mentioned her. You only talk about your gay dads.”

“Yes, I don’t usually talk about my biological parents. Especially around other LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA folk, as that could remind them that same-sex couples can’t have children without adoption or magic. That wouldn’t be very supportive for LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA cause,” explained Bow. Judging by his calm and friendly tone he wasn’t mad at pony at all. “But I guess with you it would be fine to talk about them. My mother and father died when I was very little. It happened when standing against the Patriarchy turned in all-out war. And they were two among scores of first victims.”

Twilight wanted to express her condolences but didn’t know what to say. And a second later Bow continued.

“Actually, my adoptive dads took more than a dozen of the war orphans to their home and, just like me, raised all as their own children.”

“Wow! That was such a great act of bravery and kindness,” this time Twilight didn’t have to search for words. “And they managed to raise you such a dignified person.” She made a pause. “Honestly, I think that the story of how they adopted you and other kids would only help to make people more accepting of same-sex couples as parents.”

“It may be so for some,” Bow shook his head. “But for others just a reminder of the war and that in less dire circumstances I would be raised by a straight couple.” He made a long sigh. “Look, it’s all complicated. Because…” Butler stopped, thinking of how to better end this conversation.

“Because, even if you’re a man that loves another man, that doesn’t make you LGBT – ik – ap-…” Twilight stumbled while pronouncing the acronym as she saw Bow’s eyes widen in a shocked expression.

He stretched his hand, dipping his fingers in Twilight’s mane.

“Oh, my!” he exclaimed and gently tousled pony’s hair. His face became content again and he smiled in approval. “Twilight, one day you will become a great Warrior of Social Justice.”
> Who are My Allies?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preparations for Royal Gala took more than a week, even with all of Castle Blood Moon servants working day and night. Their tasks included: hanging up Royal Family banners in the courtyard and the main hall, preparing various exquisite dishes, planning the most precise schedule of every activity, so the arrival of every guest would go smoothly.

Twilight herself volunteered to help, at first just with the scheduling. But then went further, using her telekinesis to carry banners as well as large frescoes and murals that were to decorate the main hall. It really sped up the work, even more so as the alicorn could quickly teleport and fly to any place her help was needed.

When Sparkla found out that her pony would spend days in hard labor, she was quite shocked. Those mundane tasks were undeserving of “magical steed” refined skills, she told Twilight. But then Twilight reminded her guardian, that her skills actually weren’t that refined. And without permission to attend the school or go on any mission, preparations to Royal Gala were the greatest opportunity to practice in arts of telekinesis, teleportation, and other stuff.

Finally, Sparkla had to give up, grudgingly accepting that her beloved ward wouldn’t spend much time with her until Royal Gala itself. For Twilight it was a bit of a bonus perk, as she started to grow really tired of her caretaker’s unending attention. Even as Sparkla stopped being so blatant in her “exploration of sexuality” attempts, she still tried to push her pony into some weird activity from time to time, now using guilt as an additional means of pressure.

However, the main reason for Twilight to volunteer wasn’t an attempt to escape Sparkla’s shenanigans or even practice her magic. What Twilight really wanted was to talk with Bow more.

As it turned out, the butler knew quite a lot about the war on Patriarchy and was well educated in history, geography, and many other subjects. And, unlike Sparkla or Queen Angelica, he wasn’t so reserved in sharing his knowledge. Finally Twilight had a living source of information about the world around her and she hoped to use that opportunity. For starters, she wanted to ask about many blanks and contradictions that were in the books from the School of Magic Studies and Castle Blood Moon’s library.

Sadly, at first, they both were too busy to talk. While hanging new bat vanes on the castle’s rooftops, Twilight was starting to worry if she would even have time to talk and learn at all. However, to pony’s surprise, she found another source of knowledge. Banners, murals, and frescoes, that she helped to hang in the main hall and adjacent corridors, depicted scenes of early battles with Patriarchy and festivities in the villages that commemorated Castle Blood Moon victories. And as Bow came to inspect the decorations, she immediately asked about those.

“Well, our castle was always on the front line in the war,” explained the butler. “Queen Angelica obviously wants to remind our guests about that,” he made a wily smile, “And she wouldn’t miss the opportunity to boast of her heritage a bit.”

Quite a few of that “heritage” was a bit disturbing for Twilight’s taste. Though she guessed that gore and orgies hardly could be avoided if your subject is a vampire clan history.

But she totally forgot about bloody images when she was handed the most amazing of all the decorations to bring to the Main Hall. This decoration was a large globe, almost 3 meters in diameter, that showed the planet Edenia in all its glory. It had marked every land and nation on the planet with calligraphic titles and color to distinguish territories of influence.

Patriarchy, obviously, was marked by white color. A small white blob in the northern hemisphere easily missed almost the motley of countries on the largest continent.

“But its sphere of influence is actually bigger,” warned Bow, who stopped to inspect the globe, after Twilight put it on the special stand in the center of the hall. “See?” he raised his hand to gesture at the area, as the northern hemisphere was barely visible for the butler from below. “Several kingdoms around it that have a lighter tint. Their governments oppose progress and support the Patriarchal way of life. They claim it’s for ‘preserving culture and traditions’ but really they just enjoy the privileges that Patriarch grants them. They are nothing more than Patriarch’s puppets.”

“Seriously?” exclaimed Twilight, who was hovering in the air to see better. “All these lands?”

She saw a light tint spread over the territory at least ten times bigger than the White Zone itself. It covered all of the kingdoms in the midlatitudes of the continent from the west coast to the Wind Mountains ridge in the east. The only exception was a green patch, that bit into the whiteness from the southeast.

“Wild Woods,” Twilight read the caption. “Wait! That’s us! That’s how the forest around is called.” she remembered that name quite well from her talks with Sparkla and They-Gay.

“Correct,” confirmed Bow. “All the Wild Woods is Queen Angelica’s domain.”

“No wonder that Patriarchy puts so much pressure on us! They already control everyone around here. We are like a sore in their eye,” Twilight threw a glance at other lands that weren’t marred by white tint. They all were either far south or north. “I take it other kingdoms don’t have nearly as much trouble?”

“Also correct,” nodded Bow. “Even those who border the “puppet kingdoms” don’t experience as many attacks and pressure as villages in Wild Woods. And the rest just prefers to ignore Patriarchy completely, as they don’t see an immediate threat from it. The only exception being the Kingdom of Polaris,” Bow waved his hand vertically. “It’s far north, even beyond the northern shore.”

“You mean this kingdom is in the sea?!”

“Not exactly. Most of its territory is on the ice fields. Though in later years those fields are melting at an alarming rate due to Patriarchy influence on ecology.”

“Patriarchy can do even that?” Twilight’s eyes were wide with amazement as she was floating towards the north pole. “Who could have thought that such a tiny splotch on the map, that barely covers…”

Purple alicorn fell silent as she was throwing glances over the hemisphere. Her lips just moved, muttering some calculations in her mind. A few seconds later she lowered herself, now floating near-equatorial line. Then she started to move sideways, finally making a full circle around the planet.

“Eh, Twilight?” asked Bow while looking at his wristwatch.

“Bow,” replied Twilight ignoring an urgent note in his voice. “How much of the planet is actually explored?” she asked while looking right at Patriarchy’s white zone again.

“About one-third,” Bow scratched his head.”I think. Kingdoms that border unexplored territories don’t really try to mark those borders. Besides, we also have many smaller lands that are governed by chieftains or warlords – they don’t like to share any strategic information about their domains. There are also a few huge lawless… I mean ‘autonomous zones’ at the west coast.”

“Autonomous zones?” repeated Twilight while still making estimations with her eye and mind. “How are they marked? All I see is sort of ‘here are monsters’ drawings. Just like on the other side of the globe.”

“It looks like most of the explored area is still around The White Zone. Even if you add Polaris and…” Twilight stretched her neck to read the title over a bright oval that encompassed the island chain near the equator. “...Atlantia, it would be a quarter of the planet's surface at best!”

Alicorn fell silent, processing her discovery. Bow turned around, waved his hands several times, pointing the servants where they should move another table. Then he turned back to her.

“I don’t understand why that bothers you so much. Most of the planet is covered by hazards of all kinds. Toxic wastelands, forests, and oceans filled with dangerous creatures. Kingdoms are established in the safest territories, yet even here it’s not wise to wander far into the wildness. You don’t even want to know what monsters can be found in the uncharted lands.”

“Monsters,” repeated Twilight, seemingly to herself. “Do you remember the dark thrall creature from the last skirmish?”

“Oh. This again?” Bow put a palm to his face. “I thought we were done with it.”

“But what if the Patriarchy got this monster right from some uncharted land?”

“I really doubt it. For one, that would require them to arrange a large and well-armored expedition. I doubt that would go unnoticed.”

“And if they did that through one of their puppet kingdoms as a proxy? Are you sure that you can track Patriarchy’s every move?”

“Maybe not every move. But arranging a party to scout Outer Territories certainly would require a lot of preparations. As I said, that wouldn’t go unnoticed,” assured her Bow. “Even if they somehow managed to do that, there is problem number two – there is no one in there but monsters.”

“Monsters,” repeated Twilight that uncomfortable word. “But isn’t Patriarchy call us ‘monsters’ too?”

“Yes, it does. But only because we look different. Atlantians have fish tales instead of legs, many of our kingdom citizens are vampires – Patriarchy can’t accept that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Twilight interrupted the butler as she didn’t want to hear the same “that evil Patriarchy is intolerant” spiel for umpteen time.

“Look,” said Bow, almost apologetically. “What I was trying to say, unlike Patriarchy we accept everyone regardless of appearance. In Free Kingdoms it’s more important who you are as a person. It doesn’t matter how you look, what matters is that we share same emotions, same empathy, same social values.”

“When I said ‘monsters’, I meant real monsters – savage, feral creatures that don’t share anything with us on an emotional level. They don’t build societies or civilizations, they can’t be reasoned with. They just see you as food. That is the very reason why those lands remain unexplored – you simply can’t find allies there. You can’t become friends with someone whose entire thinking is different from yours.”

“Ah, I see,” answered Twilight, though she felt something was off in this line of reasoning.

“Eh, Twilight,” Bow interrupted her pondering. “Let’s hurry with the globe. It should have a precisely 27 degrees incline. We also have to rearrange the tables around the pedestal.”

“Yes, yes,” affirmed the alicorn and a purple aura of her magic enwrapped the globe of Edenia.

Twilight raised it, feeling its heaviness even through a telekinetic bond. Servants would have spent a lot of effort and time carrying it without her help. Lucky for them the pony was able to teleport the globe from the hold to the Great Hall almost in an instant. And now it took her less than five seconds to correct its angle on the pedestal.





Twilight’s involvement really paid off as servants (or “human personnel”, as Sparkla suggested to call them to show respect) didn’t overwork to the point of dropping of exhaustion, like in the case of the previous Royal Gala years ago. This time everything was ready even the day before the date of the celebration – thus everyone could have a night of rest. And even the next day most servants had free time. Except for cooks, who were very busy since morning – certain dishes were quite perishable and had to be prepared right before the gala itself.

As vampire tradition for parties dictated Royal Gala was to start only with nightfall. Guests, however, started to arrive as early as noon. The first one was Princess Iceberg from the kingdom of Polaris. Her royal sled was pulled by five ice-magicians, including herself. Even in hot weather as was on the Royal Gala day, the road behind the sled remained covered in ice for at least an hour.

The next transport was a carriage intricately decorated with what looked like green and golden vines, pulled by two horses. Because of the remaining ice crust, the carriage slipped and nearly flew from the road into the castle’s moat. However, at the last moment, an incredibly strong gust of wind pushed it back on track.

“Oh, my!” exclaimed Bow, who joined Twilight at the top of the castle’s watchtower for a moment. “I guess, our lesbian princesses decided to arrive too.”

“Who?”

“Princess Hurcana and princess Tieuppa. That’s Tieuppa’s personal carriage. And have you seen how it had course-corrected by wind magic? That’s can only be someone’s from Wind Mountains kingdom work.”

“Ah, and so you deduced that only a princess could ride with another princess,” guessed Twilight. “But could that be just some hired mage? Like a guard or mercenary.”

“Oh, I really doubt that. You see, Tieuppa’s kingdom is not on best terms with Wind Mountain people. Up until recently, they had a long and quite a bloody feud going.”

“What has changed?”

“Well, they married.”

“The princesses?”

“Yes. Some people say that they did it to end the feud,” Bow made a small pause but Twilight didn’t say anything. “Others say that they were genuinely in love with each other. But either way that action was against the traditions of both kingdoms.”

“Uhum,” Twilight nodded while still looking through the window.

Below them, servants tried to calm down two carriage horses, who were still agitated after a near-death experience. Twilight knew that those beasts didn’t have her intelligence or even her sapience, but still was worrying for them more than for the princesses and carriage coachperson.

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine,” Bow followed the pony’s glance. “As I’ve said, those two princesses were brave enough to go against their entire courts. Their people’s prejudice. Such a small incident wouldn’t be a big deal after all the assassination attempts they have survived.”

“I’m worried about the horses.”

“Oh,” replied Bow. “I guess that's your personal bias. You need to train…”

“Hey!” Twilight’s exclamation interrupted the butler’s would-be-tirade about bias training. “What are they doing?!”

Bow already saw how a door on the carriage side opened and princess Tieuppa jumped out on the ground. Dark-skinned, like all South Jungle people, she was wearing a tabard dress, decorated with golden rings and numerous thin ropes running through them. The braces on her hands looked like they were wrapped in ropes completely, which looked kinda heavy.

Meanwhile, servants were still failing to calm down the horses, who were neighing anxiously and so loud that even Bow and Twilight heard them from up above. Tieuppa raised her hand effortlessly despite the amount of rope on her braces. And the next moment ropes themselves come to life and flew forward, snaking around two horses’ limbs and muzzles, forming the nooses.

Beasts were still agitated and didn’t even notice how ropes entangle them at first. But then the nooses tightened up at Tieuppa’s command. Neighing stopped in an instant and both horses fell to their knees as ropes squeezed their limbs and mouths. That was exactly the moment of Twilight’s exclamation.

“Oh, my…” started Bow his usual cheerful catchphrase, except his tone wasn’t cheer at all now but heavily concerned.

He didn’t finish though as a purple flash almost blinded him. And when the butler managed to focus his sight again, Twilight was already down below. Bow saw how Tieuppa made a step back from a little alicorn, though her ropes were still restraining two carriage horses. Then Twilight said something, not loudly enough for him to discern, probably demanding to free those beasts.

Bow couldn’t make out if Tieuppa answered something. Only that the princess did sway a bit in her stance in front of Twilight. He also noticed a carriage heeled a bit as something large and heavy appeared in its doorway. With another concerned “Oh, my!” he dashed down the ladder.

Butler’s concern was well-founded as Twilight indeed made a demand to stop animal abuse, and Tieuppa was the person who wasn’t used to demands. Especially from animals themselves.

“What is going on?” a lazy voice came out of the tilted carriage.

“Nothing, darling,” answered Tieuppa. “Just a small talking horse. With wings and a horn. Probably some magic experiment on the loose.”

“I am not an experiment!” Twilight raised her voice. In her whole life, she remembered, no one ever treated her in a such condescending manner. “I am a being from another dimension! I was summoned here to be They-Gay’s mighty steed…”

Tieuppa burst into laughter.

“M-ha-ha-ighty steed! Aren’t you a bit too small to carry someone like them in a battle?”

“I… I…” Twilight stumbled in her answer. She was indeed too small for They-Gay to ride on her, and that along with her memory loss was evidence that something went wrong during the summoning.

A tiny neighing of pain came from the tied-up horses – that was all they could do with their mouths roped. And that reminded Twilight of her business at hoof. Seeing the torment of two innocent creatures strengthened her resolve.

“I said, release these two horses now!” Alicorn shouted and even stomped with her hoof. Tieuppa was even taken back a bit.

“Why do you allow this little horse to shout at you?” a voice from the carriage came along with an exceptionally loud creak as Hurcana was squeezing herself through the door.

“Why indeed,” the dark-skinned princess' voice change sent a chill over Twilight’s back.

A pony froze for a moment and before she came to her senses the ropes were all over her.

“You!” that was the only thing Twilight managed before one of the ropes snaked around her muzzle and shut it the same way it did with two carriage beasts.

Nooses around other limbs have tightened too. Twilight felt how they cut into her legs, forcing the pony to kneel. No way! She resisted, also trying to manipulate the ropes magically. But for some reason, her telekinetic grip was constantly slipping. Still, she managed to keep standing on her hooves.

Then she threw a glance forward. Hurcana finally squeezed herself through the carriage door, with the sound of a plug popping out. She used her wind powers to move swiftly despite her weight and landed right beside her dark-skinned wife in one leap.

Tieuppa herself was standing with arms stretched forward. She even bent a little as if to put more force into her ropes that went from her wrists and shoulders to Twilight and two carriage horses like a dozen tentacles.

A pony looked into Tieuppa’s face and suddenly broke into a sweat. Princess’ face showed tension and effort to keep ropes tied but also something else – a sort of grin. A playful grin of someone who doesn’t apply as nearly as much effort as could. Eyes of human and pony princesses met and Tieuppa made a very small nod. “Yes, my little pony, you are correct.”

Next moment Twilight felt nooses cut into her legs with multiplied strength. She cried from the pain, except only a quiet whinny came from her tied muzzle. And then she was on the ground. Just like that, her legs folded by the strings of grinning puppeteer.

The pose alicorn was now was especially inconvenient as her hind legs were a bit spread and one of the ropes stuck right between them, rubbing her privates. What an embarrassment!

“Now, we teach her some manners,” Tieuppa turned her head a bit towards her extremely chubby companion. “Shall we?”

Hurcana giggled into her palm.

“Let’s start with a simple bow,” Tieuppa waved her right hand and the rope that tied Twilight’s muzzle went down, while another, that was between her hind legs went up.

And again it was rubbing her pussy, invoking a weird sensational mix of pleasure and embarrassment. Yet, as the rope went higher, it started to cut into her flesh, replacing pleasure with pain. Instinctively Twilight rose her rear.

“Good!” smiled Tieuppa.

At that moment Twilight realized that ropes weren’t even holding her hind legs at the ground, like moments ago. The princess used her ropes but she just manipulated the pony through the deepest and most primitive instincts! Angered by that revelation, Twilight immediately lowered her butt, trying to put it back on the ground. Yet, the motion made her rub the rope again and a pleasant sensation in her pussy brought a blush to her cheeks. She even moaned a little, but the sound wouldn’t pass her tightly shut mouth.

The pleasure was short-lived though. As Twilight’s buttocks almost reached the ground, rubbing changed into pain as the rope cut right into her pussy even stronger than before. Her tormented whinny died in her mouth just like the moan of pleasure. Yet, her wide-open eyes had pupils contract, betraying pony’s state.

“Defying your mistress, are we?” said Tieuppa with a tone of a displeased teacher.

“Maybe she enjoys it?” half-whispered Hurcana to Tieuppa’s ear. “I’ve heard many interesting things about the orgies in Blood Moon Castle. She could be the queen’s pet or something. What if this little horse was made to be masochistic?”

“Hm-m..” Tieuppa brought a finger to her mouth, thinking. Then waved her hand.

Two of the rope ends that were somehow free, rose up on both sides of Twilight, like charmed snakes. Though she didn’t notice them, busy with resisting the nooses that pulled her head down and her buttocks up. Then two free ropes went into a spin, to gain some momentum. And finally, both ends swung through the air, like two whips, and hit Twilight’s flanks right at the same moment and right in the center of her star cutie marks.

“MMMMMHHHHFFFF!” wheeze went even through tightly shut pony’s mouth and two princesses heard it just fine.

“Well, I think this shows clearly enough,” concluded Tieuppa.

“I’m still not convinced,” said Hurcana with pretended concern. “Maybe it was a scream of joy. Or maybe she just cried because of surprise. Sometimes I do that too when you shake or prick me without warning.”

“I’m pretty sure, that was pain,” answered Tieuppa, then turned her head to her partner and winked. “But if you want we can check that a few more times.”

Two ropes, that were still swaying in the air due to the princess’ power, stroke Twilight synchronously again. And again. And again. All times the mumble that was Twilight’s suppressed scream of pain was quite distinct.

To the alicorn’s surprise, after each whip, she felt a pleasant sensation. It went from her rear, from her crotch. She suddenly realized that the rope again rubs her pussy. Even more intensely than before, maybe even going inside.

“Are you satisfied, darling?” asked Tieuppa, looking at Hurcana with a playful smile, she never even looked at Twilight while her ropes were flogging little pony.

“Yes,” Hurcana winked. “For a time being.”

“And what about you?” finally Tieuppa deigned to look Twilight in the eye. “Are you going…”

Suddenly a neighing went from Twilight’s left. It was one of the carriage horses. Apparently, the princess of ropes carried away with Twilight’s punishment so much that it slacken her grip on two beasts she tied up first.

In a moment, anger twisted Tieuppa’s face. She clenched her right hand into a fist and ropes on the unfortunate creature tightened with such a strength Twilight thought she could hear the horse’s teeth crack. And after that ropes smacked the horse’s head right into the ground with a loud thud.

The whole action took less than a second, yet somehow it lifted a spell Twilight was under. Or was it a spell? Maybe she was, indeed, no more than an animal, just with a few magical tricks?

“No!” she screamed in her mind. She wasn’t an animal. She was a sapient being, able of rational thought, possessing a strong will. She would never succumb to some BDSM shtick. If only she could focus!

Twilight’s legs started to feel numb due to a lack of blood circulation. Her whole body felt like an air balloon. The world around started to sway. Focus!

She couldn’t remove the ropes with her magic. Burning them would burn herself as well. And they still resisted her telekinesis. Why? Twilight tried to feel the magic flowing through them. Getting rid of all other senses.

Tieuppa said something but her voice was far away now, words completely indistinguishable. Focus on magic flowing through the ropes! Not on sensation, pleasant and painful simultaneously, flowing through her crotch. M-mmm-hf… Focus! Magic flows through the ropes. Just through the ropes? Are Tieuppa’s powers limited to the object she is in touch with?

Suddenly Twilight noticed that the world around her wasn’t just swaying. It was flowing away. She was losing her grasp on the remaining senses. Like heavy pillow was pressing on her, making it harder to breathe. Breathe! Asphyxia! Tieuppa made her noose tighter around the pony’s neck, depriving her of oxygen. There was no more time.

Exhaling, Twilight pulled her magic to the tip of her horn. And made a shot. A very narrow beam, still powerful enough to burn through the ropes went from the horn to the ground in front of her. And then shifted sideways, cutting everything in its path. Including Tieuppa’s ropes.

Nooses that gripped around Twilight limbs loosened. But didn’t fall off completely. Still, at least she could breathe now and the world stopped flowing away.

“How did you?…” exclaimed Tieuppa in frustration – after all she didn’t know what a unicorn is.

Twilight started to rise. Her forelegs trembled as she pushed herself up, but then hot pain spread over many of her body parts. She hissed in agony, yet again her two tormentors would only hear an air pulled by her nostrils. Their faces still had baffled expressions on them and pony realized her new pain wasn’t their spell but just her blood circulation restored. But their stupor wouldn’t last forever.

She lowered her horn, eyes still fixed on two mage-princesses. If Tieuppa throws her ropes, she would shoot them down – Twilight thought. And suddenly Hurcana cried something and jumped forward with speed even more impressive than before. Her hulk completely blocked Tieuppa and immediately Twilight felt short of breath.

“She sucks the air from around me!” realized Twilight watching Hurcana’s stretched hands.

There was no time to come up with a new trick or spell. She just had to run, to fly away. But she was still tied up. Only one option left. Twilight raised her head and focused on one of the towers. And with tremendous effort made a teleport.

“Where did she go?” asked Hurcana, blinking after the purple flash.

“I don’t know, you obstructed the whole view, standing like that,” replied Tieuppa accusingly.

“But… But… she was going to attack you!” Hurcana twisted her head around while talking in the hope to find the little horse again. “Have you seen her horn pointing right at you?”

“Well…” started Tieuppa but suddenly a yelp from above interrupted her.

Both princesses immediately turned around, to face the source of the noise. They raised their eyes and hands to face their probable opponent but only to be blinded by another purple flash. For the yelping sound indeed came from Twilight.

The alicorn miscalculated her initial teleportation and instead of the cozy room found herself on the steep slope of the tower roof. As she suspected, the ropes binding her teleported with her, and even as she was out of her opponents’ reach, she had very little time to free herself before slipping from the roof on the ground two dozen meters below.

Twilight started to pull the ropes using telekinesis. Luckily, without Tieuppa’s magic flowing through them, she didn’t have a problem with grabbing them. But they also turned out to be very durable and in addition interwoven into many knots all over her body.

Pony pushed away her pain of blood circulation and sense of suffocation. She felt she already slipping from the roof. She twisted her body to the right, her horn practically stuck to her side. Then pulled the strings binding her right wing and shot them with a tiny purple blast. Then twisted into the opposite direction to free the left wing.

“A-a-a!” yelped Twilight, feeling her hind legs going over the edge.

She shot the ropes over her left wing already being in the air. With her body twisted like a horseshoe, Tieuppa and Hurcana were right in front of her eyes, raising hands to attack.

“Teleport! Teleport!” pony screamed in her mind and did exactly that.

She failed again to set the destination right and didn’t even change her velocity relative to the ground. But at least she was now behind princesses’ backs. Twilight spread her wings hoping them not to be as numb as her legs. And they were not. Almost.

Her flaps were a bit stiff but she managed to slow down enough before landing. Of course, Tieuppa and Hurcana heard both flaps and an impact. But when they turned around Twilight was already in position – legs, even still tied, half-bent, wings spread and ready to fly her away, horn pointing at her opponents.

“Now…” started Twilight and inhaled deeply, she still was a bit short of breath.

“What is going on here?!” an angry voice, clearly belonging to a teenage girl, came from the direction of the castle's inner gate. Since that gate was precisely to the right of Twilight, she couldn’t see the talker without taking her eyes from her opponents.

“Oh…” sighed Tieuppa, who actually took the liberty to throw her glance towards the voice source and bent her head to Hurcana’s. “Is that who I think it is?”

“Yeah, probably her.” answered the fat princess. “Do you think we can spank her too?”

Tieuppa sighed. “I don’t think so. We are guests here. Let’s not get into trouble.”

“I asked, what is going on?!” the young angry female voice cried again.

Suddenly, Twilight realized – that was princess Sparkla. And she also realized that she never heard vampire princess to be angry, not THIS angry, and that’s why she hasn’t recognized her voice from the start. That was such a revelation that she immediately forgot being angry herself for Tieuppa and Hurcana thinking they will not get in trouble for tying up and spanking Twilight.

“Princess Sparkla, I presume?” asked Tieuppa.

“Yes. I am the princess of this castle. And I demand you to explain yourself,” answered Sparkla, not shouting but still really angry. “Also, lower your hands.”

“Demands, demands…” muttered Tieuppa under her breath, though not loud enough for Sparkla to hear that.

“Can we be sure that your creature won’t attack us?”

“This creature is They-Gay’s… assistant. And my ward. I also really doubt that she would attack any of you without provocation,” replied Sparkla. “So, I ask you again. What is going on here?”

“They tortured the carriage horses,” said Twilight, who finally managed to slip a rope from her muzzle. “And when I demanded them to stop, they decided to do the same to me. Just look!” Twilight shook her body, drawing attention to the remaining ropes, binding her legs and neck, then turned her head so her horn pointed to the two horses, who were bounded with similar ropes but a lot tighter.

“I would remind you,” said Tieuppa with quite arrogant, yet calm enough voice. “That these horses are ours.”

“And the castle is mine,” interrupted Sparkla. “On the land of Moon clan, you will treat every creature with dignity.”

“Listen,” started Tiuppa but Sparkla shoot past her with all vampire speed.

In a blink of an eye, the vampire princess was beside the horses. She was wearing her male outfit with her usual rapier-like sword, the sword that was already in her hand when she bent over two carriage horses.

And before Tieuppa, who made quite a grimace after being so rudely interrupted, came up with anything else to say, all the ropes that tied horses were cut. No one, even Twilight, saw the movements of Sparkla’s sword. Only a series of swishing sounds reached their ears.

Then Sparkla moved to Twilight and with another series of slashes that no one else could follow cut the ropes on her. Every single strike was incredibly precise – all nooses and knots were sliced and not a single cut remained on the skins of all three quadrupeds. Sparkla straightened, assuming a pose “at attention” for a moment, and turned around on her heels to face two foreign princesses. Her sword was raised in front of her face and she swung it to the side, purposefully a bit slower for them to see the motion.

Tieuppa and Hurcana gulped in unison. They still thought that they could take Sparkla down if push comes to shove but no longer harbored the illusions that it would be easy. And, at least Tieuppa, realized that Twilight’s magic was something that shouldn’t be underestimated too.

“We apologize for… misunderstanding,” Tieuppa said that with ceremonial voice and even made a short bow, then pushed Hurcana with her elbow into her belly with enough strength for the fat princess to feel.

“Oh, yes. We apologize,” Hurcana made a short bow too. “We didn’t know that in your castle live such cre-e-e… What is this exactly?”

“This,” Sparkla waved her hand towards Twilight, princess’ sword was already in its sheath. “is Twilight. She is an alicorn, that’s how you call a horse with wings and a horn, from another dimension. It’s quite a long story, how she came here, but suffice to say that she is under my protection now. Also, she is quite a powerful magic wielder and already joined our cause.”

“You mean that ‘Great Rebellion’ we heard about in the invitation?” Tieuppa, apparently, relaxed as her voice was now quite casual and shown genuine interest. “What is this all about?”

“It’s about finally bringing social justice to the lands where people were oppressed their entire history. And I hope that this gala will be a great opportunity for more allies to join us,” Sparkla made a step to the inner gate. “But maybe it’s better for us all to come inside first. Surely, you want to have some food and rest after a long journey,” when Sparkla said ‘food’, Hurcana licked her lips in anticipation. “And after that, we can calmly discuss everything.”

“We would be glad to,” replied Tieuppa with a smile, that Twilight felt was not quite sincere, and pushed Hurcana with her elbow again.

“Yes, yes. We appreciate your invitation,” replied the plump princess as everyone followed Sparkla to the inner castle courtyard. “And would be glad to discuss potential alliance over dinner.”

“Some allies,” said Twilight, but only in her mind so no one could hear.