Shining Armor walked up to the door to Twilight's bedroom, and knocked on the door. He sighed when he didn't get a response. There was nothing in the world he would have liked more than to hear his little Twiley's voice, using the strength she had recovered to assure her brother she was okay. That she was healed, and now could use her vast intellect to work at figuring out the exact whereabouts of her friends- the ones whose friendship with her was now hanging in a precarious balance on a swinging, unsteady loose pendulum.

"Twiley?" Shining asked with concern when Twiley didn't answer. He understood she was very deep under the weather, but not even a groan to show she had heard? Shining made a disapproving expression as he remembered Fluttershy had requested to be alone with his sister. He knocked on the door again, much more urgently this time. Fluttershy's caring nature meant she would rush to reply if she heard knocking as distressed as this.

When there wasn't any reply, he knew something was absolutely wrong.

Disregarding any request for their conversations to remain private, Shining put his military training to good use and kicked the door open.

"Twiley, what's wrong!?"

Shining's jaw opened with more emptiness to it than the furthest reaches of outermost space.

Under the bedsheets, where a sick woman should be laying, there was nothing but some overturned blankets revealing an empty mattress.

Applejack and Pinkie found their conversation in the other room interrupted by a piercing scream of utter horror.

"TWILEY'S GONE!"

Meanwhile, in Shining Armor's temporary office, set up inside the hospital to allow Shining Armor to continue his operations while still being able to see his sister whilst she recuperated, the two teens – having introduced themselves as Raspberry Swirl (the jerky one with the red cap) and Lime Lick (the meek one with the red cap) and told Shining Armor about their encounter with Rarity in the woods.

"Do you think we're in trouble?" Lime Lick questioned.

"No." Raspberry answered. "I mean, we told them everything they could have wanted to know that we know."

Lime Lick began to relax, his usually nervous mind beginning to think less of how they could be arrested for something and more of how they had done nothing to be arrested for. However, his relaxation was cut short when he was startled by a soft hand suddenly slapping onto the side of his chair, nearly making him to jump out of it. He turned to see a smiling woman with long pink hair. Normally, he wouldn't have been so scared, but whoever she was, she was allowing him a view down her otherwise tame sundress, which made him think of his encounter with the distractingly attractive mare in the woods.

"Hello, boys." The woman purred at them.

"H-hello." Lime Lick replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm Fluttershy, sweetie." Fluttershy answered in a low tone that removed any trace of doubt in his mind that he was about to go through the same thing here that he did in the Forest. She removed his hand and walked over to the desk, smiling in a disturbingly inviting way.

"I've heard you told Shining Armor where my friend Rarity was, and while I appreciated it at first, I've done some reevaluating … and decided that, no, I don't like that." Fluttershy put her finger to mouth and bit on it, trying to induce thoughts of biting into Lime Lick knew he shouldn't have been thinking.

Lime Lick panicked, not wanting to go through that experience in the Forest again, and bounded out of his chair, but Fluttershy, with surprising speed, seized his throat in her hand with an unusually soft grip that made his body relax, even though his mind didn't want to. Raspberry wasn't sure what to think, until a light forest-green ooze began bleeding out of Fluttershy's hand onto Lime's neck, making his eyes turn spacey with pleasure and relaxation.

By now, Raspberry realized being near this – infected – mare was quite the possibly the last place he wanted to be. But as he burst forth from his chair and tried to run to the door, he found his path blocked by another woman, this one smiling the same inviting smile, her arm resting on the door frame.

"Hi, Twilight!" Fluttershy greeted, still rubbing Lime Lick's neck to relax his senses and numb his mind.

Raspberry grimaced, looked to Twilight, and then found himself subject to the same treatment as his partner in crime. Twilight made a dark purple goo from her throat, dripping like an arm that just had a sword slash through it, and clenched his throat, making him just 'feel good' – he couldn't put into words if asked, but he felt good. It was like the slime not only covered his throat, but also smothered anything resembling a thought process or independent will.

Twilight gripped his throat unnecessarily hard, grinning broadly as she let sink in the implications of this little teenager being under her absolutely control. He would do whatever she told him to, and he would have no choice in the matter but to comply to the sweet sound of her voice, which she could feel from the slime's magic would echo over and over in his head until it was the only thing he could hear, the only thing he could even think about.

Fluttershy quit rubbing Lime Lick and staggered backwards, falling against Shining Armor's desk. Her abrupt fall alarmed Twilight, as not only she was in risk of hurting herself, but she knocked things on the desk around, making clinking noises that Twilight worried about could alert a Guard to the commotion going on in here. The last thing they wanted to happen right now.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight abandoned Raspberry's throat and rushed over to aid her new lover. "Are you okay?" She put her hands on Fluttershy's shoulders.

"I'm fine..." Fluttershy said, wrapping her elbows around her chest. "I just feel like something is missing..." she hugged her chest tightly, accidentally squeezing it tauntingly, causing Twilight to lick her lips in anticipation. It was like she was trying to say 'taaake meee'... Fluttershy noticed, and immediately became apologetic. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to get you...bothered."

"It's okay." Twilight assured her, even though the sight of Fluttershy's squished chest really made her want to rip Fluttershy's dress off. She patted Fluttershy's back. "We should go find Rarity."

Sometimes, Rainbow reflected sitting on a rock as Rarity worked on the decor of their new home, there some distinct disadvantages to having a girlfriend that produced addictive delicious fluids. Like wanting to drink more of it when her stomach was already filled to bursting with the syrupy fluids that felt light as swirling foggy mists in an evening dusk.

"Rarity..." Rainbow whined, falling over onto her back. "I'm thirsty..."

Rarity stopped fiddling with the makeshift drape she was affixing to the wall and gave Rainbow an over-the-shoulder glare of disapproval. "Darling, I just fed you."

"I know, I know..."

Rarity fiddled with her breast, gauging to see how much was left in it before the next gurgle of the slime's seemingly infinite productive process came by and filled it up anyway. As much Rarity didn't want to overfeed Dash, thinking how Dash could regurgitate or worse if given too much in one sitting, she couldn't deny liked the sensation just as much Dash did.

Rarity felt and kneaded at her fountain-like flesh, calculating how much was in, and how long it would take Dash's stomach to digest and settle the foggy fluids in her stomach with enough room to let in what Rarity had left over.

"Fifteen minutes." Rarity told Rainbow Dash, speaking the conclusion the instant she finished calculating it. "Fifteen minutes, and then you can have some more."

Rainbow Dash made a pained groan. She hated waiting for anything, and the liquid in her stomach was so light and foggy it felt like was barely even there. Floating just above her stomach acids, a taunting treat that even when she had it all, she couldn't get enough of it.

While Rarity continued to adjust and play with the dead vine in her hands, Rainbow Dash amused herself by picking up a pebble and hurling out the entrance to the cave. She chuckled at far and fast it flew, remaining self-sure in her own athletic ability.

"Ow!"

Rainbow bolted up, not expecting her pebble to hit somepony. Her panic was settled easily, as she saw the rock had hit one of the teens they saw earlier, so she was pleased she had managed to hit them. Both he and his compatriot fell to their knees just before Rainbow Dash's seat, their hands bound together by the slime, which was curling around their wrists like snakes.

"Well, well, well..." Rarity clicked her tongue, putting the vine drape away and walking to the children. She crossed her arms to prevent them from getting any undeserved peeks at her chest.

"Little tip..." Rarity said quietly, giving them a disapproving glare with her sharp, cold eyes. "When a woman... exposes herself like that to you, there is an unwritten agreement you will not turn around and give the authorities all the information you have on her!"

"We-we're sorry..." The one with the red cap stammered. "We didn't-"

"Didn't what!?" Rarity snapped, mildly curious for how the boy might try to weasel his way out of this.

"Rarity..." Rainbow Dash tapped Rarity's shoulder. "Look."

Rarity took her gaze away from the teens, and was surprised when she saw Twilight and Fluttershy standing before them with crossed arms and bored expressions.

"What are you doing here!?"

"We came to join the winning team." Twilight answered coolly.

Rarity tilted her head. "The winning team?"

"You two? You know, join forces or...whatever it is you villains like doing."

"First, we are not villains, we are victims as much as you are-" Twilight laughed derisively, but Rarity ignored her, "second, I don't believe you." Rarity quietly hissed. "How do we know this isn't a ploy to get us into your brother's grubby little claws?"

Fluttershy raised her hand, and after a moment's hesitance, clenched it against the air. A light, almost mucus-like color of the mysterious slime began to form around her palm, dripping to the ground like unclean gutters.

Rarity smiled cruelly, satisfied. "I warned you that you wouldn't fight the urge for long, Twilight."

"Yeah, yeah..." Twilight glared to the side a little. "Anyways, we brought these two as a peace offering."

Rarity put her hands together. "And what a peace offering it is!"

The two teens' teeth chattered, dreading whatever cruel fate the otherwise visually stunning woman before them had in mind. Lime Lick remembered his mother teaching him not to judge a book by its cover, but he always figured that was more about just because somepony was deformed, that didn't make them evil. He had never thought about the inverse; just because they're pretty doesn't mean they're nice.

Rarity started pacing around them, her long legs making sweeping strides. "Now, what to do with you...you understand we can't let you go, darlings, yet at the same time, our food is only merely enough to feed me."

Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh my goodness! I hadn't thought about that! What do we do!? We can't feed all the four of us and two...hostages as well!"

"Fluttershy, Fluttershy, calm down." Rarity said sweetly, putting her hand on Fluttershy's shoulder. "I have something special in mind for you and Twilight, and Rainbow Dash simply feeds on me..." Rarity's eyes tilted upward, a new thought coming to her.

"Feed on you?" Flutttershy questioned. She didn't like the sound of that all. It sounded Rainbow Dash had been drinking Rarity's blood.

"This is brilliant!" Rarity suddenly exclaimed, startling Fluttershy. "With Twilight and you, we just have to, ahem, induce the production process and then between the two of us, we can be self-sufficient! We won't have to sneak in and out of town for food!" Fluttershy felt uncomfortable, as she was sure Rarity was eying her chest.

"Hmm." Rarity turned her eye to Twilight...and her chest.

Twilight start feeling self-conscious, not aware Rarity was looking at a specific part at her and not her in general. "What?" Twilight looked downwards at herself. "Do I have something on me?"

"You." Rarity said, pointing to Fluttershy's nose. "You will be the Lacmagistra. Twilight will the Lacmancipium."

"What?" Twilight and Fluttershy said in unison.

"Lacmagistra...Lacmancipium." Twilight muttered. "That would mean...Rarity, are we going to-"

"All will be revealed." Rarity said. She turned back to the two teens, who at this point, were scared for their very lives. "What should we do with you? We can't let you go free, because you'd just turn around and snitch on us again..."

"We won't! We won't!" The one with the blue cap swore up and down.

"Mm, sorry, darling, but that's not good enough." Rarity told him, and all hope he had left of going home to his mother completely left him. Rarity began pacing around again. "Some method of torture would be ideal..."

"Maybe you could smother them with your chest like you do me." Rainbow Dash suggested, sounding just a bit too eager to see the two tortured. "I'd love to how big their little nosebleeds would get."

Rarity was amused by the idea, but she was hesitant about her sharing her plentiful chest. "Rainbow Dash, you said you were okay the first time I seduced them, but then you weren't, and now you are again!"

"Changed my mind."

"Very well...but at some point, you really must quit flip-flopping to the convenience of the plot."

"Yeah..." Rainbow admitted, but she crossed her legs and leaned forward on her rock seat. "But I really want to see them suffer. You know, a little enjoyment from their suffering before it gets impossible."

Lime Lick's teeth chattered. He really didn't want to get seduced by Rarity like he was in the forest. It left him so...bothered that it was painful he didn't have any lover of his own to turn to.

Rarity noticed his anxiety, and smiled cruelly. "You...I let you get a closer view at my bosom in the forest as you were much more polite than your cohort here." Rarity gave the other boy a glare.

"If you're going to suffocate them in your chest, why not do both of them?" Fluttershy suggested. "It's certainly big enough..."

"Fluttershy! I'm...sort of flattered, actually, but I'm surprised you would say something so audacious!"

"I'm sorry..." Fluttershy looked to the ground and put a hand over her forehead. "This slime is making me think very...inappropriate things."

"Join the club." Dash snarked.

"You know, if you wanted to do some erotic asphyxiation..." Twilight offered, earning confused glares from everypony. "What? Anyways, the best thing to cut off circulation..." Twilight plucked a piece of her mane of. "A long strand of hair should do wonders!"

Rarity's eyebrows knitted together, balancing what to do. Her lips turned neutral for a moment, before they went upwards again. "How about we use one of them to torture the other? Now, for some reason..." Rarity walked towards Lime Like and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up with ease Twilight wasn't expecting.

"Did- did the slime enhance your strength?"

"I believe so!" Rarity answered happily, ignoring the worried grimace of the teen held helplessly in her grasp. "Where was I? Oh, yes! I have a funny feeling it was his-" Rarity jerked her head towards Raspberry Swirl, "idea to go to the Guards, so I feel quite confident in doing this to you."

"D-d-doing...what?" Lime Luck stammered.

Rarity offered him no answer, only smiling seductively. She put both her hands on his neck, then pulled him into her chest, slowly, letting every inch of soft flesh caress his face, little by little...

"W-why..." Lime Lick stammered. "W-why does it sound like there's liquid in your chest?"

"Because there is." Rarity answered quickly with a blush, before burying the rest of his face and most of his head into her chasm.

Raspberry could only stare. Granted, his hands were tied, and all the lady-mares in the room had varying degrees of magical slime that gave them weird abilities, so there wasn't much he could do anyways...

Lime Lick's arms flailed about, getting that same feeling of unbearable arousal Rarity had given him the woods. "MMMPH! MMPH!"

"Pardon, darling?" Rarity asked mockingly, hugging him more tightly against her seeming bottomless chest. Rarity laughed when she felt him start to relax, and finally start to enjoy his 'torment', sinking into the pillow-like vice grip, letting them cover his face.

"Mmmmmmmmm..."

His arms fell to his sides, but whether that was because he was enjoying it, or was losing too much air to stay alert, Rarity neither knew nor cared.

The two pegasi in the room were on the edges of their seat, literally for Rainbow Dash, enjoying the spectacle. They were experiencing some sort of sick amusement at seeing somepony so helpless in the grasp of their leader. Their...Lacmagistra Imperatrix, of sorts.

Raspberry continued staring – what else could he do, really? - and began to worry they were going to do the same thing to him.

He didn't notice Twilight get down her knees behind him. Or that she was trailing the piece of her hair that she plucked, while making mathematical calculations in her head of how wide around his neck was and how long the hair would have to be to really suffocate him.

"There we go!" Having calculated that, yes, her plucked mane was long enough to wrap around, she pulled the hair strand around his neck and pulled it taut around his neck. His immediate reaction was to reach his hands around his neck and try to pull it off, but his hands were still tied. It was infuriating, as he was certain that a strand of hair would actually be fragile once enough force was applied, but the mare behind him was being gentle and loose enough to keep her hair from breaking on him.

"Ooh...I'm getting flustered." Twilight admitted, wiggling the hair back and forth a little. "This isn't normally my kind of thing, but it's really quite something to see you squirm so helplessly..."

Raspberry squinted his eyes shut. He felt sick when he imagined the positions reversed, and yeah, could see how that might be appealing, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he fell backwards, his read resting on Twilight's chest. He looked oddly peaceful for just being choked unconscious.

Lime Lick's limbs went completely limp, prompting Rarity to wonder if he was out. She removed her arms, and the way his completely still, somewhat cold body slid his head out of her chest and dropped to the ground suggested to her that he was.

"Somepony pick them and throw them somewhere they won't be in the way." Rarity ordered, rubbing her together to dust them off. Rainbow Dash volunteered, getting off her rock and picking Lime Lick up by the legs, dragging him towards an unused portion of the cave further down.

"Now..." Rarity turned back to Twilight and Fluttershy. Twilight was entertaining herself by twiddling Raspberry's hair before Rainbow Dash came over to drag him as well and put him next to his partner.

Twilight got to her feet, and looked to the unconscious teens. "Rarity..." Twilight wondered what happened. A few days ago, Twilight would never thought herself capable of doing something like that to a man, much less a teenager. She didn't think Rarity could do such a thing. It was unlike her to do something like that – it was unlike Twilight to do something like that- yet here they were, both doing it.

Something drastic had to have happened. Twilight couldn't bear the thought that this was a path Rarity had gone down naturally of her own accord, and she had seen the effects of gooey slime had on a person's mind. If it could make Fluttershy and Twilight do what they they did to each other...

"Rarity?" Twilight spoke quietly, barely above a whisper.

"Yes, darling?" Rarity said, causally doing the same thing to Rainbow Dash as she just did to Lime Lick with no concern for the fact Twilight and Fluttershy were inside the cave with them.

"What happened to you?" Twilight spoke her question out loud. "What happened that made all of...this," Twilight gestured to the boys they suffocated in the corner, to Rainbow Dash in her trying to suffocate and enjoying it in her bosom. "Okay?"

Rarity froze. Rainbow Dash perked her head up when she realized Rarity had stopped giving her ministrations. Rainbow Dash noticed the atmosphere slowly beginning to heat up, and not in the way she liked.

"I never said any of this was 'okay'." Rarity snarled at Twilight. "I never said it was good. I never said it was all right." Rarity removed Rainbow Dash from and stormed towards Twilight. "I never said any of that."

Twilight started backing away. "Rarity...calm down." Twilight lowered her arms through the air. "I didn't mean it like that...I was just curious!"

Rarity ground to a complete stop. She turned around and put her hand over her eyes, so that she didn't have to see anything.

"Do you really want to know what happened?"

Twilight hesitated. She wanted to know what sparked this chain of events, what had caused this downward spiral of events to occur, but did she really want to know what Rarity went through?

"Y-yes." Twilight answered resolutely at last. "Yes, I want to know what happened."

"Remember when I said all will be revealed? Come." Rarity instructed. "We'll take you and Fluttershy to the other cave."

"Other cave?" Fluttershy wondered.

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. She hurriedly rushed over to walk side-by-side with Rarity and whispered her mistress's ear. "Uh, Rarity? Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes." Rarity answered, her voice unwavering as forged steel on a high-class royal sword. "In order to understand our motive, they must go through exactly what we did."

"But..."

Rarity grabbed Rainbow Dash's wrist and jerked it, making it them lock eyes. Rainbow's lips quivered under Rarity's ice-cold gaze, so far below zero that it was almost supernatural.

"I...I..." Dash stammered. She hung her head. "I'm sorry, Rarity..."

"As you should be." Rarity chided her. It was up to the mistress, the school- teacher...the abuser in a relation to explain the servant, the victim what the victim could and could not do. What they were allowed to, what they were physically capable of doing. Openly and directly going against their mistress's wishes was one the things they could not do, under any circumstance, for any reason.

They walked out of the cave, all four of them. Rarity worried that the teens might wake up and stumble their way of the cave and back to town, and tell Shining Armor where the girls were, but taking Fluttershy and Twilight through their new initiation rituals took precedence over all...except maybe feeding Rainbow Dash, but that was a different story.

Besides, she reasoned, Shining Armor had investigated their cave once and was told by one of his own soldiers Rarity and Dash had left the cave. Given the choice between the two, would Shining trust some teenagers reporting the exact same thing over as they told him before, or one of his own, trusted lieutenants?

"Mm..." Flutterhsy moaned, closing her eyes to fully immerse herself in the intoxicating aroma in the air. "What is that smell?"

They arrived to the other the cave. The cave with the vines poking out of its entrance, strewn about across the forest floor like a hunter's net waiting for a deer to catch and pull upwards, suspending the prey helplessly from a tree branch. A cruel, unkind, unnecessary trap for a poor, innocent animal whose only crimes were being an animal. The red flower buds began popping, sensing prey was near. Rarity noticed some of them were stubbed and inactive. The ones Rainbow Dash had cut for decorations.

"What are those?" Fluttershy asked eagerly. Being something of a nature girl, she loved to discover new things about her favorites fawns and fauna. "I've never seen that kind of vine before! What are they?"

"Evil." Rainbow Dash answered seriously.

Twilight brushed her fingers over her lips. "Rarity, what..."

"In." Rarity demanded, pointing her finger at the cave. "Walk towards those plants."

Twilight stared open-mouthed, horrified Rarity had the gall to give her orders like that. "Rarity, you can't just boss us around like that! We're your friends!"

"IN!" Rarity shouted. She grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and threw her forward, making the librarian stumble towards the vines, where their disarming scents were being produced nonstop to lure in, entice, and disable the fighting spirit of any nearby prey. Twilight wobbled and moaned a little, enjoying their pleasant aroma. Fluttershy, sensing no danger from them, walked towards Twilight and joined her in sniffing the pheromone-filled air.

Rarity couldn't fathom why the vines were taking so long to get to work on Twilight and Fluttershy, while they had only taken seconds for her. She was just thinking that line of thought when, finally, the vines lifted and began to coil around Twilight's and Fluttershy's arms and legs.

"AH!" Twilight screamed and tried to jerk away, but as with all constrictors in nature, the more she struggled, the tighter they got. It was a programmed response, a distinguishing characteristics of the snakes and in this case, vines, to apply more pressure when met with resistance.

"Okay...that's different." Fluttershy quietly mumbled, a little unsure, but not afraid. That could change at any moment, however.

The vines began their kissing motions, popping sweetly against their knees and elbows.

"Very different!" Fluttershy added.

More vines began raising up off the ground. They snaked through the air, alternating themselves left and right. It was as if they thought themselves actual snakes, and not just very snaking vines. They curled through the air, launching with the speed and intensity of an enraged dragon's lashing tail, before planting (pun not intended) themselves into Twilight's and Fluttershy's chests and 'kissing' them as well.

"Ooh!" Twilight's neck made a sudden jerk upward. She hadn't been expecting them to do that. As she encountered no resistance from her, they were free to go further as they pleased, playing with her body like she was a doll. That was how little her opinion mattered to them, but then again, they were plants. It's not like they understood a concept like an opinion to start with. They kissed very thoroughly on Twilight's chest, which they easily maneuvered around so that every bare inch was covered in flower buds.

"Muhmuhmuhmuhmuh..." Twilight moaned, brought to pleasant extremes by the vines. Fluttershy certainly couldn't do anything like this when they were making out. No person or pony she know would be able to do something like this.

The vines lifted them up in the air, both of them still fidgeting in the hold of the veins. Without warning, they raised them both up a little higher, than reared up and launched, pushing the two of them against each other and smashing their breasts together.

Twilight and Fluttershy both blushed.

Rarity watched without so much as blinking. Rainbow Dash held Rarity's arm and nuzzled her mistress's shoulder, waiting for the torturous experience to just be over with so they could get on with the rest of their lives.

The vines, still kissing every part of their bodies except their stomachs and abdomens, began rubbing Twilight and Fluttershy together. They looked away from each other in shame. Shame they were being violated by plants. Shame they were being used to violate each other. Shame they were kinda of enjoying it, deep down, though they would sooner swallow large rocks than admit to anypony.

Although she tried to resist and deny it at first, Twilight found herself easing into the horror of it all more comfortably as she saw Rarity watching with impassive, cold, and most importantly non-judgmental eyes.

"You're very soft, Fluttershy..." Twilight admitted.

"A-are you enjoying it?" Fluttershy asked, even though her blush was still going strong.

"A little...I feel like I'm being flattened and it's...yeah. Rarity is the biggest out of all of us, but relatively speaking, you are bigger than me."

Like she always defaulted to, Fluttershy apologized. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be! It makes for a very...unique feeling. Hahaha!" Twilight breathed airily, a little bewildered she was admitting her enjoyment of such a strange and disgusting feeling like mobile vines using one of her friends to rub up against her and arouse her.

The vines started curling around the backs of their necks, and grabbed the backs of their head. They tilted and jostled the poor girls' heads around before pushing them against each other, trying to make them kiss. If Twilight didn't know better, she'd think the plants were trying to...make sure they liked each other. That they were okay with engaging in intimate behaviors with each other.

Rarity blinked, reflecting on when the same thing happened to her and Rainbow Dash, and what they did...they been so aroused by the plants' massages to the point they were welcomed the warm company of another and kissed without hesitating. From the looks of it, it appeared Twilight and Fluttershy were going through the same thing, following through with the same emotions.

The vines jerked suddenly, pulling Fluttershy and Twilight apart. They lifted them even further up in the air, and then began to retract into the cave like spring-loaded grapple guns being retracted.

"Aaah!"

Fluttershy repeated her frantic catchphrase. "Oh my goodness oh my goodness oh my goodness!"

Rarity and Rainbow Dash watched the silhouettes of their friends fade away into the cave's entrance.

"You think..." Rainbow Dash stammered, and Rarity fiddled with their hands until she had hers around Rainbow Dash's. "You think we did the right thing, doing this?"

"No." Rarity's answer was clear as water. "We did what it wanted me to."

Inside the cave, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy were treated a to a fantastical sight to behold.

Once the vines had brought them inside the cave, they slowed their retraction considerably, wanting to be sure their captives could take in every moment of the appearance.

All around the cave were glowing darkish light blue crystals. They were short, and gathered closely together in clusters. They were on the floor, the walls, the ceiling, all around. They were actually quite dim individually, but together, in such large numbers, their luminescence added on to each other until it reached the point were they were bright as spotlights on a lively fashion show. They were so bright, and so pretty...they were quite soothing, almost to the point of hypnosis.

"Oh my goodness!" Twilight exclaimed. "Fluttershy, the crystals! The vines! They're...part of a larger process! We haven't gotten to the worst of it yet..."

"Wouldn't that be 'best'?" Fluttershy dazedly mumbled, already under the spell of the crystal blinding lights.

"No! Because...agh! It...uuhh..." Twilight made the mistake of closing her eyes and taking her vision off Fluttershy. When she opened them, she got a full blast of the crystal lights. Her eyelids lowered. "Why was I mad again?"

Twilight and Fluttershy both twitched instinctively when they felt a bizarre change in the air pressure around them. They looked back and forth to see what the cause of it was, but only when they looked down did they see the empty, deep, black pit underneath them.

The vines began to lower them into it, taking their time at a slowed pace so they wouldn't abruptlys fall down and break their bones. As the two of them were lowered further down the pit, Fluttershy saw little things resting on the walls.

"Twilight? What are those?"

Twilight took a good long look at the strange decorations. The more she looked at them, the more she realized they were the same thing – or possibly the source of- Rarity's lavender slime finger. They were raised up on the walls. Long stalks rested between rocks that ended at the very top in the form of a bulb the shape of an unopened bud.

"I don't know."

After reaching a certain depth, the vines stopped the descent. The slime things on the walls started to come to life, twitching to work out any kinks that may have resulted from being dormant. They raised up and began to grasp at their legs.

"But I have a bad feeling we're about to find out." Twilight added.

The vines binding them began to loosen up and let go, pulling out from the cavern, their purpose fulfilled. Twilight bit her lip. She understood perfectly what was happening. The vines were supposed to massage and kiss them, before bringing them on a tour through the cave's blinding crystals, before exchanging hands, er, tendrils with whatever these pink slime limbs were attached to.

More of the light-colored slime tendrils began to rise out from deeper into the pit and wrapping around them. Some of them went around their arms, some around their legs.

Twilight noticed the gooey slime things were extremely soft and malleable. Simply flexing her wrist forward suddenly was enough to shake into a completely different shape. Twilight started to worry, as it occurred that a goo like this that shifted in shape and form so easily could be used for a variety of...inappropriate activities, and given the events of the last 36 hours, that seemed to be what was about to happen.

"Gaaah!" Twilight's screamed drowned out Fluttershy's as a tendril suddenly launched from the darkness and onto their chests. The slime expanded and shifted until it was inside their clothes and completely covered their chests like ancient breastplate armor, meant to perfectly fit every inch – every single inch, down to the centimeter.

And then the part Twilight wasn't really looking forward to began. She knew it was coming, and she knew how she would react, but that didn't dull the surprise of it happening.

The goo around their chests...contracted, squeezing them. Their eyes rolled upwards as they moaned in unison.

"Oh...Twilight!" Fluttershy shrieked. "I didn't want something like this to happen, but if it must...I'm glad it was with somepony I trust like you."

Twilight smiled, prompting Fluttershy to smile back in response. They could at least hang onto that. No matter how horrible it got, at least they were friends that had developed a close relationship, and not a complete stranger they barely knew...or even worse, alone.

"That's good to hear...Flut...ter...shy." Twilight's speech staggered as another pinkish lavender, see-through tendril wiggled into her vision.

"Don't you dare." Twilight warned the tendril, as if it could understand her words. She had no idea what it was, and as a result, she didn't know how intelligent it was.

It didn't seem to understand, or care for Twilight's words, as it shoved itself into her mouth and began to envelope her tongue and suckle on it, just like the red slime Rarity mailed her did.

Twilight moaned for a short while, before something happened around the tendril wrapped around her chest. It felt like something inside had popped and she was somehow...

Leaking.

Rainbow Dash held Rarity's arm firmly, kneading to try to cope with the guilt of having left their friends to suffer the same fate they had shared. Standing there with her gorgeous girlfriend, Rainbow Dash felt she brought a scene from one an old monochrome movie Rarity would've liked for them to watch together, to life. The meek, younger, weaker girlfriend clinging for comfort to her masculine, superior man. In this case, Rarity was the 'man', but that didn't hamper Rainbow Dash's amusement. It enhanced it. She never thought she would ever be the 'weaker' of any group, ever.

The fact they had managed to at least make it so there two people there, so the suffering wasn't limited to just one, only softened the impact of the blow so much.

"Rarity..." Dash said timidly. "We shouldn't have done this. I know we infected them with the slime already, but did we have to throw them in there too?"

"No, no, I thought we went over this already." Rarity answered. "They wanted to know what happened. "

"We couldn't have just...told them?"

Rarity's eye twitched. "No! They have to understand the horror of it all... like I said, Fluttershy will be Twilight's Lacmagistra, just as I am your Lacmagistra..."

"Lacmagistra..." Rainbow Dash repeated mindlessly. She nuzzled Rarity's shoulder. "My Lacmagistra...where did you get that term from, anyway?"

"It was in the voice of the slime."

"Oh. Okay, I guess that makes sense- wait...voice? It has a voice?"

"Yes..." Rarity took in a deep breath. "It's told me the relationship of partners, how its magic works, and what it wants us to do next...this is only the beginning, Rainbow Dash...soon, we'll infect the whole town."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash jumped away from Rarity. "Rarity, I had been feeding on you so we wouldn't have to do that!"

"And I appreciate your efforts." Rarity assured her, wrapping her fingers around Rainbow Dash's chest. "In particular, I love that you always give it your all when drinking from me...but this slime's origin goes further than we originally thought. I can see its life. It's an animal. Princess Celestia herself made it as a source of company when she was younger, but something went wrong, so she buried it. Since then, it just does what it does, like an animal...it has no concept of privacy or decency."

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped, trying to take in all the information Rarity told her at once. "Wait, wait, so Princess Celestia...kind, caring Princess Celestia made that...thing!?"

"That's correct." Rarity answered. "And it doesn't realize what's going on at all. It retains information, but doesn't use it. We could infect the whole town and take over! We could be queens!"

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped again. "Rarity...I'm sorry, but I can't go through with this." Rainbow Dash stood up and held her ground. "This is wrong, and I'm not going to let you go through with it."

Rarity narrowed her eyes. "Excuse you, darling?" Rarity held her hand, and her Slimefinger materialized. Then something Rainbow Dash wasn't expecting happened. The Slimefinger expanded and stretched across her finger, until reached the finger next to it, and it keep expanding, until it reached the next one and so on until the slime substance had enveloped her entire arm in a tentacle-like shell.

Rarity raised her new appendage, and before the horrified Rainbow Dash could react, smacked her in the cheek with it, and it hurt hard. Rainbow Dash could barely feel the left side of her head after such a brutal impact.

"I am your Lacmagistra, not the other way around. Do you understand what that means? Do you?"

Rainbow Dash put a hand to her numb cheek and nodded like a scared child. "Uh-huh."

"Good. But, just to make sure you do..." Rarity retracted her goo – enough goo to completely cover her entire arm and it retracted into her, absolving into her skin and disappearing. There wasn't any evidence there was a portion of her body large enough to contain it all when not in use.

Once she had retracted it all, she pulled down on her dress 'til the right side of her chest was exposed. "I'm going to discipline you now. Drink."

Rainbow Dash nodded weakly, then shakily stepped towards her Lacmagistra and put her mouth to the exposed tip.

"But just a little bit, darling." Rarity conditioned her, and Rainbow Dash had no choice but to comply.

Rainbow Dash put her mouth to work, and as instructed, took only a little bit, a few drops...then a few more...then a few more.

"I did not give you permission to drink that much!" Rarity snapped.

Rainbow Dash pulled away and threw her hands up in the air. Seeing her so weak and gutless brought Rarity out of her power trip.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash...I'm sorry." Rarity said. "I started thinking about the high fantasies of using the goo's magic that I got lost in it, and acted inappropriately...here." Rarity pulled at her dress strap and exposed her other breast and knelt onto the ground. "Drink as much as you like."

Rainbow Dash smiled.

"We should consider that Couple's Counseling everypony suggested." Rarity murmured as Rainbow Dash crawled over and began to drank with the kind of loving she was supposed to give Rarity when they did this sort of activity.

Rainbow Dash's magenta eye widened, and she pulled away from Rarity and wiped her lips.

"Oh, darling..." Rarity whined, afraid she had scared Rainbow Dash too badly during her little delusion of grandeur episode. "You don't have to stop."

Rainbow Dash pointed to the cave.

Rarity turned to see Twilight and Fluttershy staggered their way out, grabbing at rocks to keep their balance. Their clothes were torn, shifted slightly in one direction or the other, little pieces of lavender goo were dripping off their arms, and some creamy-looking dark purple sludge-like fluid of questionable nature and origin was dribbling down their chins. Their chests seemed to have swollen up a size or two, as well, but not in a attractive way. In a swelling bruise kind of way. Their stomachs had a bulge each.

"Ha..." Fluttershy exhaled sharply. "I feel like that thing was trying to fill me up with so much until my stomach popped like a balloon!"

Rarity stood up to meet them, not even bothering to pull her dress back up. At some point, in between sliming up Twilight and now, they had abandoned all since of decency along the way, tossing it somewhere along the path where it was trampled over by passersby who honestly just didn't notice. Rainbow Dash felt differently, and pulled it Rarity's dress straps up so her chest was covered.

Twilight breathed heavily, clutching at her air-deprived chest. She looked to Rarity

"Is...is that what you and Rainbow Dash went through?"

Rarity somberly nodded.

Twilight grimaced.

"How have you not killed yourself? Most ponies I know from Canterlot would kill themselves rather than suffer knowing they went through that!"

"I'm stronger..." Rarity made a gestured, and Rainbow Dash rested her head on Rarity's pillows. "And I have Rainbow Dash."

Twilight looked at Rarity, and the woman she had been hating for the last several hours, the woman she had resenting, questioning if they could still be friends...

In that moment, she felt nothing but admiration for her.

Twilight looked to Fluttershy, who was trying to stuff her swollen chest back into her sundress. She smiled awkwardly when she noticed Twilight was looking at her.

"It's good you have Fluttershy, isn't it?" Rarity questioned. "Your Lacmagistra...and Fluttershy, with Twilight as your Lacmancipium."

Twilight and Flutttershy looked at each other. A spark flew between them. An implanted spark, one that was in their minds by the creature's magic, which never would've happen if they hadn't gone in the cave, but it was a spark, and they felt so much more at ease looking at each other.

They got off the rocks and walked towards each other, as slowly and nervously as two crushes meeting for the first time on their first school dance.

They reached around and wrapped around each others shoulders, occasionally brushing their fingers in the others' hair.

"Lacmagistra..." Twilight said thoughtfully.

"Lacmancipium." Fluttershy said equally thoughtfully.

Rarity chortled briefly. "I think we have our arc words for this story...and it only took five chapters. Hmph. Well, anyways, I've come up with a new plan."

Twilight was too distracted by Fluttershy's chest, imagining when she would have her first opportunity to consummate their unholy union by drinking from her directly for the first time. Though delayed by some mental jet lag, Rarity's words eventually hit Twilight's ears.

"Hmm? Plan?" Twilight asked, briefly taking her eyes off her new Lacmagistra.

"Yes! We're going to use the slime and take over Ponyville!"

That brought Twilight's and Fluttershy's attention away from each other and to reality.

"What." Twilight said flatly. She understood the slime could mess with their heads, make them make love to each other, but make Rarity so stupid as to think she could take over Ponyville with some magic goo?

Ponyville, the town where she was a wanted fugitive that was crawling with Shining Armor's guards who were looking to arrest her?

Rarity's eyes shot open, and she looked down to see one of the vines was trailing around her leg.

"Grr!"

Rarity felt infuriated the vines had the gall to make her go through this again, for a third time, and raised her Slimefinger again, meaning to slime over her entire arm, but then something strange happened.

The vines backed away at her slime, and it wasn't out of fear. It almost seemed like...recognition.

The vines all around began raising up and curling around through the air, and it was almost like they were bowing to Rarity, understanding they had gotten to her before.

Rarity looked to Twilight. Twilight shrugged. "Why would I know?"

Rarity looked at her finger, and got an idea. She wiggled it through the air, and the vines moved in concert with it, shaking up and down.

"Interesting!" Rarity exclaimed. "It appears they regard me as some sort of queen..."

"Hoo boy." Rainbow Dash put her hand over eyes. "Power trip again already."

"I can control them..." Rarity muttered. "They would make an excellent defense! Come, let's go back to the other cave and gather up those teens."

They heard footsteps crunch the grass somewhere too far from them to see, but close enough for them to hear.

"And let's hurry!" Twilight exclaimed.

They quickly made their way back to their other cave. The teens had woken up, but wisely, they hadn't moved at all.

"There you are, darlings." Rarity said mockingly. What, they were going somewhere with their hands tied like that? "We're going to be moving to the cave next door."

Raspberry Swirl lived up to his name and blew a raspberry at her.

"Tsk, tsk...such rude manners."

"Uh, Miss?" Lime Lick said quietly. "We've been out for awhile."

"Yes..." Rarity admitted, while Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight started to pick up their 'furniture'. Rainbow Dash looked at their freezer and thought about picking up the ice, but decided could wait until a clean-up trip afterward.

"Well, my mom's probably going to be worried and come looking for us..." Lime Lick said.

Rarity shook her head. She had more important things to attend to than worrying about Lime Lick's mother. Like how she was going to 'spread the love' through Ponyville. "Well, she's a good mother, then, isn't she?" Rarity turned around, and suddenly found the end of a double-barreled shotgun pointing at her face.

"Yes. Yes, she is."

Standing in front of her with the shotgun raised straight at was a woman Rarity didn't recognize in a blue sweater, wearing a brown leather coat and green cap like the ones Lime Lick and Raspberry wore.

And Shining Armor was with her.

"I...I thought you had left. One of my Guards said you left." Shining said. He gestured to the woman. "She figured this would be a place to start looking for her son. I wasn't expecting..."

Rarity didn't seem bothered in the least. "Lime Lick's mother, I presume?"

"You presume correct." The woman said. "Blueberry Bite. Or just Blueberry for short."

"T-Twiley?"

"S-Shining Armor?" Twilight stammered, dropping the groceries of Rarity she had picked up.

"What...what's going on?" Shining asked. "Why are...and Fluttershy with..."

"It's quite simple, really. They've merely have obtained the same condition as Rainbow Dash and I have." Rarity calmly answered.

"I want my son and his friend." Blueberry growled.

"In one piece, I presume?" Rarity said defiantly.

Blueberry pushed the shotgun up against Rarity's nose, causing her vision to focus on it.

"Twiley...I...I can't believe you would betray me! Betray your friends like this!" Shining Armor shouted.

"I...I..." Fluttershy came over and put a hand on Twilight's shoulder as she stuttered.

"Shining Armor." Rarity hissed. "We can either debate Lime Lick's release, or Twilight's allegiance, but not both at the same time. Now, as I was going to say..."

Rarity demonstrated her unparallelled mastery of the slime virus within her and ensconced her whole arm in a fine coating before anypony could realize what happened. Rarity lashed the tentacle around Blueberry Bite's shotgun and yanked it from her hands.

Rather then turn the gun on them, Rarity curled her little tentacle around the shotgun's barrel, and bent it in half like an imperfect V. Rarity then tossed the shotgun to the ground and pointed to Lime Lick and Raspberry Swirl in the corner.

"Take your son and his friend and go."

Blueberry Bite glared, but she didn't mach to do. Rarity had taken and disabled her weapon, and was offering exactly what Blueberry came here for, so what point in was there in fighting anymore?

"Come on." Blueberry went to her son and helped up and Raspberry up. The slime manacles detached from their wrists and dropped to the floor. The slime crawled like pulsating slugs towards their point of origin- in this case, Fluttershy, and crawled up her legs and into her skirt, and then further upwards until they reached her shoulders and went down to her hands, where they absorbed into her flesh like parasites.

"Is-is that what happened to you?" Shining stammered, pointing at Fluttershy. Twilight nodded.

Blueberry Bite ushered the children out of the cave, giving Rarity dirty looks the whole time.

"Twiley..." Shining said.

"I...oh!" Twilight grabbed Fluttershy and turned the pegasus around, burying herself into Fluttershy's chest, so that it would absorb her tears. "I don't know what to think!"

Shining Armor hesitated, "I'm sorry, Twiley. You might not be sure of what you should do..."

The Captain of the Guard raised his spear, emblazoned with all the royal markings to be expected of something Canterlot borne, but had no practical purpose. Tassels, jewels, embroidery...all making the spear a regalia to behold, but hardly a weapon to inspire fear.

Before Shining could put any of his Royal Guard training to use and capture one of them for questioning, Rarity clocked him with her slime arm, knocking him out. Somehow the tendril was strong enough to disable his conscious mind even through his royal helm.

Twilight looked at him, then at Rarity.

"You can debate it later." Rarity said. "Now come. We need to get to the other cave where the plants will defend us. Now."

Twilight couldn't argue with that. They ran out of the cave running as fast as they could.

With nothing on their backs, and the vine-protected cave was not far, so it didn't take them long to reach it.

It suddenly occurred to Rarity how hilariously ironic it was that the cave Rainbow Dash and Rarity had dreaded seeing ever again, and now it was going to be their first line of defense.

"There they are!"

"Wha-"

The four ladies stopped dead in their tracks, right in the middle of the vines. Around them were eight to ten Royal Guards, two of which were carrying a half-conscious Shining Armor. He wasn't the Captain of the Guard for having a weak stomach.

"For the love of..." Rarity scowled. She raised her Slimefinger, and the vines sprung to life.

The Guards raised their weapons and pointed them, not sure what to do without Shining Armor's orders.

"Ooh...please don't hurt them!" Fluttershy pleaded, reverting back to her usual habits. "They're just plants! They don't really understand what's going on!"

The Guards looked towards their Captain. He was awake, but only barely.

He groggily looked towards the stand-off in front of him.

"Let them go." Shining ordered, raising his hand. He was groggy, so his judgment wasn't in the best state, but from what he could make out, he didn't want to hurt Fluttershy's feelings by hurting any plants. He also couldn't just let them go, either. "They're not going anywhere...fall back, everypony..." Shining's eye drifted towards one of his soldiers. "Except you. You stay here and keep an eye on them. Keep this stand-off going until I can think straight."

Twilight was so proud that her brother was tactical enough to realize he couldn't dictate tactics in his current state. Rarity, meanwhile, questioned the wisdom of him leaving only one Guard to keep up the stand off.

The rest of the troop began to follow Shining's orders, retreating back into the forest and towards the town.

Rarity eyed the lone Guard left. The Guard shook in his boots, but he raised his spear at her, as if to say "Try it, missy!" … Rarity decided she was going to go easy on him and not 'try it' as that would involve using her Slimefinger to complete dominate him in a fight.

"Come on, inside." Rarity instructed her little flock. "Into the cave. The vines are under my control."

"I can't believe this..." Twilight muttered, Fluttershy wheeling her into the cave. "Shining Armor knows...I didn't think he would know...what do I do, Fluttershy?"

"Calm yourself, darling, calm yourself." Rarity said, somehow staying calm even though they had a spy on them now, only coming to some sort of ceasefire over Fluttershy's fragile feelings for fauna.

"This battle may be a draw, or loss, even, but the war has only just begun."

"You...you're still serious about that taking over Ponyville thing, aren't you?"

"You know it, darlings."

"You've gone completely insane."

Rarity stopped and turned towards them with a gleaming smile, the kind of smile sweet old ladies give before serving fresh homemade cookies to their grandchildren.

"Yes. Yes, I have. The slime does that to you when you can hear it in your head. An unfortunate side-effect of being the Lacmagistra Imperatrix."

"How do you get to be the..." Rainbow Dash stammered. "The thing you said?"

"I suppose I should explain... have a seat, everpony." Rarity lowered herself to the floor.

Rainbow Dash peered out the cave entrance. "You know, there's only one of him...we could rush him, take him out...he'd never see it coming."

"True, but I do not feel bothering with such trivalent easy tasks at the moment. Now, the thing in the back of this cavern...it always does two victims at once."

"So, you know what it does?" Twilight questioned. "You know how it works?"

"Yes. I'll get to that. Where was I? Oh yes! When doing the two victims, it makes them both produce, and as you are aware, makes them each drink the product of the other. Typically after its mixed said product with drugs from its own body."

"Ew." Twilight commented. She had been through the experience, but discussing it didn't make it any less gross.

"Now, after that, the magic and drugs leaves one member...while staying in the other party, usually whoever is bustier between the two of them." Everypony blushed, Fluttershy especially so. "The magic then lingers – permanently, as far as can be reliably reported – and it induces the urge to feed... it doesn't matter who, but it if's the other person they was implanted, it can create an entirely new relationship between the two of them, and I don't mean just the lovemaking." Another round of blushing. "Thus, we have the Lacmagistra, who makes it, and the Lacmancipium, who drinks it."

"Now, the slime infection can pass either directly from the creature itself, or from one person to another, but it appears the production can only come from it. We all know what the slime does by now, I assume..." There was a round of mumbled affirmation. "And I, being the Lacmagistra of my partnership, and having the slime inside me for as long as I've had, have developed a mental connection, a symbiosis. Ergo, I am now the leader of this group, the Lacmagistra Imperatrix."

Twilight raised her hand.

"You have a question?"

"If she was given the same amount of time, why couldn't Fluttershy by the Imperatrix?"

Rarity chuckled. "Yes, but by the time Fluttershy's had in her as long as I've had, I'll probably have graduated to another, undiscovered stage. Now, understand this; as the Imperatrix, I am your Mistress. All of you. We are now bound to a hive mind, which I am in command of, and I can use that mind to bring you all pleasure..."

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Fluttershy all raised their hands in confusion, as they assailed by waves of unexplainable pleasure, and somehow able to see into the others' thoughts.

"And what I give, I can also..." Rarity jerked her head to the side. "Take."

The three of them put their hands over their heads as it suddenly felt like iron bars had been shoved in from one side and out the other. Rarity cut the pain short quickly.

The message was received, loud and clear. Rarity was in charge now. She was the Mistress. The owner of the brothel, the ringleader, and while their positions relative to each other on the ladder wasn't clear, it was clear they were all beneath her on it.

Twilight reflected on exactly what happened. The thing in the cave had a hive mind, but no real will or initiative of its own beyond the horrible things it did to their bodies. Rarity had taken that hive mind and taken control of it, giving initiative and ambition were none existed before. Which was not to say the thing had developed ambition, only that Rarity was using its strange and mysterious power to fulfill her own.

So, each pony who gets violated by that thing is a part of the hive mind...wait...no wonder Rarity thinks she can take over Ponyville! She's going to make them all part of the hive! Twilight thought to herself. And she came up with this on her own? No. No, there's got to be something else...another voice inside her head? One that doesn't belong to the 'core' creature, but to its offshoot infection? Yes...that's it...a piece of that thing broke off in Rarity's mind and started whispering crazy ideas in her ear...

"Now..." Rarity said, "About that taking over Ponyville business, darlings..."

Author's Notes:

Author's Notes for "The Winning Team"

I was gonna call the boys simple easy-to-remember names like "Joshua" and "Timmy" or...something, but...even accounting for the humanizaton, those aren't very pony-ish sounding names, are they?

Um, originally, I was going make Twilight's and Fluttershy's ...experience happen 'off-screen', but as I was writing, I went ahead and put it 'on-screen'.

I feel like the balance of plot development vs. intercourse scenes vs horror hasn't been quite perfect, and hopefully, I can correct this.

Bonus points if you get the Latin.

Um, was it clear what's going with the hive mind business? Like, was that point clear enough, or, is it confusing?

These chapters are getting bigger, aren't they?