So, the hut is still a mess, Rarity is tied up next to you. Trixie kidnapped Zecora. And most importantly, the saddlebags that held your trench coat is missing! This is the worst possible thing that could happen.

Well, well, well. Finally conscious again are we? Good, now to the matter at hoof, your slave (Trixie) has up and left with your mate, leaving you unconscious next to a tied up fashionista...this is highly sub-optimal.

Well, now, that's an unexpected turn of events, isn't it? Your Trixie made of with your Zecora, among some of your other possessions. That won't do at all. Are you annoyed? Definitely! Angry? Well, a little. But you'll manage this.

Well, only one thing to do...ON YOUR HOOVES BLANK SLATE!!!!

Well... sounds like Trixie kidnapped Zecora. ... ... ... TRIXIE KIDNAPPED ZECORA?!?!

You shot to your hooves, books, various bottles, and some kind of basket of red flowers falling off of you as you did so. Even so, it wasn't until you staggered to your hooves, eyes wide, and breath quick, that the realization of what Rarity had actually said fully made impact with you.

TRIXIE KIDNAPPED ZECORA!!! TRIXIE!? WHAT THE BUCK!?!?

You quickly snapped your eyes shut and started to calm your breathing to avoid panicking. If your recent near death experiences had taught you anything it was that panicking tended not to go especially well for you. So you breathed in deep, then out, then in, then out, slowly calming yourself as you began to logically assess the situation.

Okay... Trixie had kidnapped Zecora... AND she had taken the saddle-bags that had your trench coat in them. She had also, during these events, tied up Rarity. Which meant that she was surprisingly kinky and probably a freak in bed- BUT THAT WASN'T WHERE YOUR MIND NEEDED TO BE AT THE MOMENT!!! Your mare had just run off with your zebra! Right after things were JUST starting to calm down! And that kind of pissed you the buck off!

But you couldn't let that break your calm any more than panic. You needed to keep a cool head to address this situation. After all, it wasn't like this was even the most annoying thing to happen to you while you were in the Everfree. And you WERE a vampony prince with dark powers received from Nightmare Moon's legacy! You could manage this, you could keep your cool, keep calm, and fix this situation in a mature, thoughtful, and pragmatic fashion...

But seriously, Trixie of all ponies? Last time you spoke she was terrified of you, borderline dependant, a psychological wreck from the realisation that she's incapable of making good decisions (Exhibit A: Kidnapping the Mare-friend of the pony who is quite possibly the re-incarnation of Nightmare) and getting nervous when you called her "pretty", so... *groan* she's gone full Yandere hasn't she? NIGHTMARE CONSIGN IT TO TARTARUS! Must every mare around you be bat-shit crazy‽ Ok, calm, let us think about this rationally. Trixie is crazy, obsessed with you, and willing to kidnap Zecora over it. Zecora is paranoid, wants to take away your embryonic divinity, and is currently in the clutches of a mad-mare who, unless bad anime has lied to me, is probably monologuing about how "You'll never have him," and "Once he sees the deeps of my love, he'll have to love me." Ok, so not the best situation.

Also, you did whisper to Trixie about the herd thing Zecora cooked up, didn't you..? If not, do it! A dream-like idea like that should be introduced to her in her dreams. You're sure Trixie will come to love the feeling of being your herd-slave along with Zecora... and maybe Rarity, if she agrees...

... ... BUT SERIOUSLY!!! TRIXIE!?!? THE PRISSY UNICORN BITCH MARE!?!?! REALLY!?!

Your calm went out the window for a moment as the second wave of emotional impact hit, and you brought your right forehoof up to your forehead, starting to rub it in little circles as you closed your eyes and gritted your teeth.

What, what, just what could have POSSIBLY possessed that mare to DO this!? Hadn't you been whispering in her ear how she basically needed you to do anything right? Hadn't you worked to make sure she knew how useless she was?! Hadn't you explained in intricate detail how you were her only hope, her only salvation, and her only way of actually being worth a damn bucking thing!?!? And now she goes and kidnaps your lover! How the buck does that even-

... ... Wait... wait wait wait... ... she wasn't jealous of Zecora was she? After all you'd met her first, moved in with her, it was her hut you were living in, and while you'd worked Trixie up to be focused upon you hadn't claimed her. In fact the only mare you'd claimed, through the entirely appropriate method of a good rutting, was Ze-

...

Buck. Buck that was it wasn't it? She'd become so obsessed with you that she didn't want to share you, and become jealous of Zecora's connection with you. She must have wanted you to love her and only her or something like that... ... Well, things could go rrreeeaaaaaalllllyyyyy bad for your plans if you didn't try and nip THAT in the bud. After all, love should be free right? For you, and revolving around you. And yours. Love should totally be yours and you should be free to love multiple mares up their various orifices without fear of retribution multiple times over in complicated positions with-

DOWN BOY! NO! NOT THE TIME!

'Sigh' ... Ahem, so, anyways, jealousy was DEFINITELY something you could NOT allow... If your sleep whispering thus far hadn't done the job properly and created the right kind of dependence then you REALLY needed to get on that, do a LOT of talking in her ear to make sure she absolutely understood that she was yours, and there was no reason to feel jealous of all the other mares that were yours to! They couldn't live in harmony unless they were all devoted to you completely and existing for your sexual pleasure, it was what they really wanted deep down, and the best thing for all of them!

"Mwfter ate? Awue der?!"

...Speaking of such...

And I guess you could maybe untie Rarity (and cop a feel), but that's optional.

This is... inconvenient. Well not totally, Rarity kind of looks good tied up actually, no BAD peenie! Down, play dead! Ok, untie Rare ask her how long you were out.

You should probably start by ungagging Rarity (heh) and ask where they went. The saddlebags, I mean. Not the mares. Because Zecora's with Trixie and she's a kind of accomplished mage, so they're probably safe. Probably. And it wouldn't do to go searching for a pair of beautiful mares in some dark, scary woods without looking the part of course.

At least some good came of this: You can now say, without a shade of doubt, that this Rarity chick looks absolutely perfect in restraints. Something to take note of.

That will give you an idea of how far they've gotten. With luck (yeah, 'cause you've had so much of that lately) they'll still be within your domain. If so, the Forest will be able to tell you exactly where they are.

Rarity looked REALLY good trussed up like that. She could totally be a model in one of those 'Tacked Up Mares' magazines. She could even make her own bit and saddle. Seriously though, the way her little flank wiggled while she was trying to get free was just adorable! And you especially appreciated how her tail moved during her struggles, giving an occasional glimpse of her ga-

NO! NO! NO! ALREADY SAID THIS WAS NOT THE TIME! KNOCK IT OFF!!!

You closed your eyes and gritted your teeth as you, once again, made your best friend in the whole world shut the buck up with it's opinions on the situation and tried to listen to the opinions of your occasional acquaintance, Mister Brain.

Rarity had been conscious during Trixie's little psychotic break with reality, and you had not. Of the two of you, the one more likely to have seen which way they went, and if Trixie took the very very important trench coat containing saddle-bags, was her. And while you probably COULD coax it out of her while she was still tied and gagged, it would rather difficult to explain doing so and not taking the opportunity to untie and ungag her, probably making things awkward in the future. So, Mister Brain concluded, you needed to untie her and ungag her, to figure out which way the mare and the zebra went. Your best friend hated Mister Brain.

So, taking another deep breath to preserve your cool, you calmly trotted over towards Rarity.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here, hold on a second, let me get you out of that." You spoke and... huh, your fangs weren't getting in the way. What was up with that? Were they still there? Yeah, yeah you thought so, you could kinda feel them, though they felt a bit weird, so what- Oh buck it you had enough problems right now, you'd worry about it later!

"Ohw, tank'ue mwfter ate!" Spoke Rarity, shifting position again, her tail moving to uncover a key bit of territory on her person, much to your friend's pleasure and Mister Brain's annoyance. You briefly entertained the notion of making a little touch against her pretty pink valley... But there weren't actually any ropes crossing down there, so it'd be pretty much impossible to excuse it away. With an internal sigh, you stopped letting yourself get distracted by the equestrian form and started to work.

You figured you'd start with the hat covering her face and the gag that was most definitely beneath it. You knew just enough about gags from your salvaged and scraped together kink reading, to know that 'Over the Mouth' gags working without something stuffed in to the mouth beneath was the product of poorly written adventure novels and half-formed fantasies from lewd and deviant artists of pen and parchment. There would be another gag under the hat, probably 'OTM' but only there to hold in another more substantial gag in the actual mouth, likely wadded cloth or the like. So, with that knowledge you leaned down to take the brim of the hat with your teeth, your experiences with telekinesis not filling you with confidence in trying that approach, and grabbed onto it, clenching your teeth down and then starting to tug it up off of her muzzle.

Or rather, trying to. To your surprise the hat resisted your attempts to remove it. You furrowed your brows, very much in aggravation, and pulled again. It still wouldn't budge. You growled slightly and gritted your teeth hard, glaring at the hat that was giving you so much trouble. In frustration, you gripped hard and pulled hard, trying to tug it up off of her.

"Uw, Mwfter ate, dwat's abet wuf-" Rarity started to say, apparently a little nervous at the effort you were placing into removing the hat. But her protest was interrupted as a-

RRRRRIIIIIIIIPPPPPPP

Sounded from your tugging, and the hat came almost flying off of her face, only your teeth's' hold on it preventing it from behind tossed up into the air. Two little strips of pink-cloth dangled from the hat, and the rest of it fell open from her mouth where it had apparently been, revealing a little pink bow stuffed in, having been held by the cloth. You blinked, and furrowed your brows, taking the hat in your forehooves and turning it over to see a pair of safety pins in the material, holding the cloth to it.

... Okay. Okay, Trixie had used the bow and ribbon from the hat to gag Rarity, then placed the hat over and pinned it to the cloth to keep her from shaking it off, making a functional blindfold... That was actually pretty inventive. Creative use of materials and all that, making a gag and functional blindfold out of one hat and pins... You hated to admit it but maybe you could learn some binding techniques from Trixie later on because that kinky mare kinda had a talent for this sort of-

"Pff!" Interrupted Rarity, spitting out the bow that had been stuffed into her mouth in what was probably a very unladylike fashion. She blinked again and looked up to her hat, the pair of safety pins jammed through it and the ripped pink cloth now hanging from it, with what looked like a stunned expression.

"Oh... oh my chapeau..." Spoke Rarity, her voice soft, and filled with a soft-spoken sorrow for the destruction of her beloved headwear. ... It occurred to you that it would probably be best not to bring any attention whatsoever to how dirty the floor she was laying on right now was, if she had that kind of reaction to what was functionally just a torn ribbon on her hat she'd probably react far less charitably towards a dirtied coat and mussed up mane. You shook your head, and dropped the hat from your mouth, looking down to her bindings and still very much focused on the task at hoof.

"Um, yeah, sorry." You muttered, looking over the knots.

"Think the hat's fine, just the ribbon got torn, so you can, like, add accessories or something..." You muttered, not exactly versed in the ways of fashion, or comforting mares, or talking to tied up ponies... There was a lot of new ground here for you to cover. That could wait though, you had shit to do. Furrowing your brows you examined Trixie's knots. They were pretty impressive, well-tied and neat. Trixie was... really good at trussing up ponies. Again, you entertained the idea that you actually might be able to learn things from her... But you didn't exactly have time to admire, Trixie'd already gotten Nightmare knew how much of a head start.

"Now let's see what I can do about those ropes..." You muttered leaning down towards the bindings...

P.S. start turning Rarity into one of those loyal harem slaves.

Okay let's get a step by step plan going that can change a the yo

1. Use powers on Rarity to plant loltay to you

Indeed she'd look wonderful with your other two girls as well... you bet the prim and proper lady has a hidden kinky streak a mile wide. Having her in your herd would be great. If, once, you do have the herd Zecora's working for so eagerly. Oh, but you don't want to spoil the surprise! Maybe you can drop a hint or two, though. You could tell her that you don't mind her company like this; in fact, you rather enjoy it. But don't overdo it, don't be creepy about it. Try to hit a romantic damsel-in-distress cord within her. She probably likes feeling helpless on some level, Unicorn mares like her apparently often do for some strange reason. Just look at that masochist Trixie. You can build on that later on.

Apparently not much. Shit was tight...ly tied. You tugged, and nudged, grunted, and pulled, and while you were making some progress, the knot-work was aggravatingly difficult to undo. You thought about just summoning your blade and slicing through the buckers! See how useful those complicated ties were then! But you didn't really want to let Rarity know that your 'condition' included the ability to summon a deadly weapon at any time of your choosing. That sort of thing might disturb her, might make her scared of you, and you didn't want that... You wanted a beautiful mare like Rarity to love you, to adore you, to devote herself to you... Come to think of it, you wanted every mare to devote themselves to you... And there was absolutely nothing wrong with that.

So you struggled with the knots while Rarity coughed, somewhat anxiously, and cleared her throat.

"Ah, AH, ah, ahem, heheh. So, um, I am rather sorry about this current, ah, state of affairs darling. While I had expected that I might become tied up for a bit in the process of delivering your new coat and making sure it fit to your satisfaction, I had not expected the tying to be quite so, um, literal." She spoke. Obviously nervous, obviously trying to dispense some of the tension with small-talk. You smiled, and chuckled a little.

"It's quite alright Miss Rarity. Lots of things that I don't expect happen to me all the time. So, so, sooooo many things." You spoke, sighing out some tension of your own as you looked over the knots. For once you weren't lying, being crafty, ungenuine, or pursuing a hidden agenda with the statement. This was very literally exactly how you felt on the matter. Shit happened to you. A LOT... Frankly, you could relate.

"Thwough 'Ugh' I hawf to awsk," You continued, grabbing another strand of rope and giving it a tug with narrowed eyes, then pulling it until it, thank Nightmare, unraveled the knot, and undid Trixie's hoofwork just a bit more, letting Rarity start to work her forehooves to try and get the rest off.

"Is there a reason you haven't just used your magic to undo these?" You asked, after spitting out the strand from your mouth, and turning your gaze down to look for the rest of the knots.

At that question, Rarity actually blushed a little and shifted position awkwardly.

"'Ahem', yes, well, I did try that at first darling, however Trixie cast a spell on me before I was tied and, uh, ahem, I haven't exactly been able to... Use my magic... At all, really..." She muttered, before lowering her head slightly and looking away, embarrassed blush still on her face.

"Oh, oh dear, there is a lot of dirt on the floor isn't there? Hah-hah, ah, um, how unsettling..." She muttered before lowering her gaze even further as you worked on her knots.

"I, um... I must not seem very ladylike, just at the moment." She continued, her response to the tension and anxiety of her situation apparently to turn into something of a chatter box. You weren't sure if that was adorable or annoying, you'd have to decide on that later. For the moment, you just looked up at her from the newest knot in the binds, one near her hind legs as she looked like she was making some progress loosening up her forehooves, and smirked a bit.

"Are you kidding? Every proper Lady gets to be a damsel in distress at some point." You spoke, causing her to look up at you and blink a bit in surprise.

"I mean think about it. How many times have the Princesses been captured? They're some of the most powerful ponies in the realm, the most high-born, posh, royal, 'ladies' in all of Equestria. But they get captured regularly and need to be rescued. Classic damsel in distress!" You spoke cheerily, reaching down to one of the knots and grabbing it with your teeth.

"Fwankly, 'umf', wit 'ow offen et appens, et mwight jwust stwart'oo be'a trend!" you spoke with your mouth full of rope, impolite but necessary given the situation, giving the stubborn chord a few good tugs as you did so. You succeeded in loosening it up a bit, though the knot remained intact, so you let the chord go before leaning back and looking for another weak spot in the knot.

"After all, high society emulates the rulers, and if the rulers are always being kidnapped, then it'll become just plain fashionable for the noble class to get nabbed to! All the high society ladies will be setting up kidnap parties and hosting celebrity abductions! Heck, might even start a fashion trend, 'Damsel-Wear' look good when you're getting grabbed!" You spoke cheerfully, before leaning down and furrowing your brows, looking for the weak-point in this knot at the hind-hooves.

"I... I hadn't quite thought of it like that, Mister Slate." Spoke Rarity softly, her eyes starting to scrunch slightly as the wheels began turning in her head... Then she shook said head and looked back down to her tied forehooves, refocusing on the task at hoof. With a scrunched face she resumed tugging at them, trying to loosen them up and get her forehooves free while you continued to focus on her hind-legs.

"Though you know darling, as... interesting as that viewpoint is, their royal highnesses are not actually TRYING to get captured when such unpleasantness occurs. It just sort of, um, happens." Muttered Rarity as she looked down to the ropes, then gave a strong pull and the chords went loose.

"Ah!" She exclaimed cheerfully, the ropes finally falling from her forehooves, letting her pull them out of the binds and start to rub each, said hooves likely a bit sore from the constriction and position.

"Yweah, I knwow-" You spoke, before giving another chord another tug and VOILA! Knot undone, only one left before the fashionistas hind legs were free. You grinned at your accomplishment, before spitting the chord from your mouth, and turning your gaze to the last knot, furrowing your brows as you started looking it over for weak spots.

"It's because the Royal Guard keeps letting them get taken, and for some reason THEY'RE not strong enough to stop it either... But the Royal Guard has had a pretty terrible track record with the Princesses. There was that Nightmare Moon thing, okay, Nightmare Moon was very very powerful, overpowered Celestia easy, I can understand their having some trouble." You stated matter-of-factly, before looking up to Rarity.

"Um, could you wriggle your hind legs a bit, try and loosen the ropes a little more?" You asked politely, Rarity blinking in response.

"O-oh yes, of course!" She spoke, before starting to shift her hind legs, her forehooves to either side of her helping keep her sitting up as you looked back to the remaining knot. Yes there was a mare wiggling her hips but it was on the ground and this bucking knot was where you needed your focus. You wanted to KILL. IT. DEAD... And also discuss the Royal Guard's numerous flaws as you felt like going on a roll.

"Thank you, and then we've got the changelings. Their queen kidnaps and REPLACES a Princess, the Royal Guard does NOT notice. Shining Armor, their Captain and her groom, is mind-controlled by aforementioned queen, completely invalidating the shield barrier defense. And then, when the shield barrier breaks and the changeling invasion starts the Guard gets COMPLETELY overrun. Even though they had a very strong presence in Canterlot at the time and were on alert, they folded like paper when the fighting started." You muttered, before tentatively reaching forward and tugging at a strand for a moment... before shaking your head, and letting it out of your teeth.

"Could you kick your legs to either side please?"

"Um, pardon?" Asked Rarity, blinking a bit.

"Your hind legs, could you kick them to either side, loosen the knot a bit more?" You asked again, voice still calm.

"Oh, um, very well." Muttered Rarity, before she KICKED her hind-legs wide, tugging on the rope, letting you see where the knot tensed and stretched, and giving a little glimpse of her groin all in the same motion... You smirked, then continued on with your criticism of the Royal Guard.

"And then during that whole night and day thing, when the sun and moon were both in the sky at the same time? The Royal Guard couldn't even FIND the Princesses. They got kidnapped, from their castle, IN CANTERLOT, by freaking vines from the EVERFREE, and the Royal Guard didn't even know they were missing until, what, the next day? AND they didn't mobilize to stop the whole Everfree invading Ponyville thing! And then during the Tirek assault, once again, completely powerless to stop either Discord or that Tirek nut from doing as they damned well pleased, and getting to the Princesses." You continued, before sighing.

"Well, credit where it's due, they're really disciplined and look great in their armor, also pretty loyal... but if we're going to be honest here, the officers of the Royal Guard really SUCK at their jobs..." You muttered narrowing your eyes as you glared at the last knot.

"It's kind of depressing really... AHA! There you are!" You exclaimed aggressively, target strand found, before leaning forward and grabbing the piece in your teeth, starting to tug on the newly discovered weak point.

"I-I fear that you may in fact have a point, darling..." Muttered Rarity, looking somewhat discomforted and furrowing her brows.

"There was that ugliness at the Crystal Empire after all..." She continued, under her breath.

"Hmph?" You asked, mouth-full of rope as you kept on tugging.

"A-ah!" Spoke Rarity, blushing just a little, apparently embarrassed that you'd picked up on her low muttering. Or maybe just that she'd muttered it in the first place. Either way, she cleared her throat quickly and began explaining.

"Ahem, hm, well, far be it from a lady to spread idle gossip, o-or besmirch the brave stallions and mares who defend Equestria! Mostly stallions who look positively dashing in their lovely polished armor... ... 'mm, ah' H-however... during the Princess gathering at the Crystal Empire, a good while before the... unpleasantness that was Tirek's attempted usurpation of Equestria, her majesty PRINCESS Twilight's crown was stolen from her. S-she eventually got it back! The one she's wearing now is one HUNDRED percent genuine don't worry about that! But during the theft the pilferer completely evaded the guard patrols and then they didn't really, um, show up when we were chasing her down to get the crown back... They were pretty much absent throughout the whole event..." She spoke, causing you to blink, and look over to her.

"... Whow... 'at's... pwety twerible." You spoke, before shaking your head, and tugging again at the knot.

"Hwow mwany utter times'did dey buck'up dat we'jus don't know'bout?" You muttered, before pulling hard once more... and unrvalleing the final knot.

"Aha!" You shouted in triumph, before looking over to Rarity with a grin.

"You have been freed m'lady!" You spoke, offering your right forehoof towards Rarity, still smirking wide at your success. The unicorn blushed a bit, and cleared her throat as she reached with her own right forehoof to yours, and allowed you to help pull her up to her hooves.

"Oh, um, thank you very much, dear Mister Slate." She spoke, her voice pleasant, and that little blush still on her cheeks...

On the non-"small-domestic-crisis" side of things. "Dusklight" really? REALY‽ Dusklight is the first thing you think of when bringing up Vamponies? Strigoi Mort? The Striges? That one count that acquired the nick-name "Son-of-Dragons" for being a murderous arsehole? Nothing? Hopeless philistine.

Rarity then blinked, furrowing her brows and leaning in closer, looking at your mouth with a slightly confused expression, before her eyes widened with realization.

"Oh! Mister Slate, your fangs have shrunk!" She spoke, surprise evident in her voice. You blinked at her proclamation, and then licked your tongue around your teeth, moving the soft squishy feeler to the sharp points, feeling them scratch lightly against your tongue.

"Huh, yeah, I guess they have." You spoke simply, before moving your tongue back into the bottom of your mouth.

"Don't know why really, but then again, I don't know why a lot of the shit that happens to me happens to me, sooo..." You shrugged. Rarity 'winced' a little at the choice of cuss-word, but recovered and smiled politely before speaking.

"Well, I think it makes you look far more elegant Mister Slate! Or at least will when you have, ahem, had a wash or two 'cough'. B-but after you have they will make you look QUITE sophisticated! Like one of those older vamponies, the ones who had poise and grace! And, um, also a tendency to feast on the blood of mares and wage war on all light, but still! They were very fine dressers, and very well mannered." Spoke Rarity, nodding sagely.

"Hmmm... were they now?" You asked, your right eyebrow raised. Suddenly you felt... ashamed, for some reason. Ashamed for only being able to think of the Dusklight novels, and some general mythos, when it came to the Vamponies. You felt as though there might have been some real gems that you had missed. You turned your gaze over to Zecora's bookshelves, the ones you HADN'T messed up with your impact, with your right eyebrow raised. Zecora was very smart and well-read, well-journeyed... she'd probably know all about Vamponies, even the obscure stuff... Maybe when she got back-

"Gah!" You shouted, straightening up quickly and eyes snapping back to Rarity.

"Zecora! Trixie! Kidnapping! Trench Coat! Find!" You spoke, in a quick succession of rapid words that could only under the most charitable of circumstances be considered actual communication. But it got the point across as Rarity's own eyes widened with horrified remembrance.

"Oh my Celestia of course! Mister Slate, we MUST rescue Zecora from Trixie! And-wait, did you say trench coat?" Asked Rarity, blinking and raising her right eyebrow as you, breathed in and out quickly, your forehooves prancing against the ground your own nerves started getting to you.

"Yes! Zecora, Trixie, Kidnapping, Trench Coat, that is exactly what I said, we have to get them all back!" You spoke, before blinking, and stopping your prancing for a moment as you looked into Rarity's eyes.

"Um, Trixie did take your saddle-bags with the trench coat in them, right?" You asked, causing Rarity to blink again.

"Yyyyeeessssss, she did steal my saddle-bags while kidnapping Zec-"

"Then like I said! Zecora, Trixie, Kidnapping, Trench Coat! Did you see which way they went!?" You asked, as your mind raced away entirely from vampires and back to the task at hoof, of retrieving your trench coat and lover.

Depending on how long you've been out cold, and whether or not Zecora went willingly, they are probably still in the Everfree. This place is your realm, your domain, there is nothing within this forest that you cannot find! Now how to reach them before they leave the forest...unicorns can teleport to anyplace they know well, and the Everfree Forest is now as familiar to you as the back of your own hoof, that might do the trick. Now GET MOVING!!

Nomad

Blank Slate, you have the power of the unicorns at your beck and call, and the voice of the everfree to guide you, why not use those powers together, teleportation through the unicorn magic while using the Forest to guide your landing point, surely you could do that at least,

"N-no darling, I'm afraid I didn't see much of anything after Trixie, um, blinded me with my own chapeau, and gagged me with the ribbon completely RUINING the design in the process! That mare has no respect for a properly put together ensemble..." Muttered Rarity, obvious bitterness creeping into her voice as she narrowed her eyes... before they suddenly widened with realization and remembrance.

"Oh! But I do recall Trixie saying something to Zecora before they departed! Something about needing her to 'guide Trixie to the hiding spot'! She did actually say refer to herself in third person when saying it, a terrible habit darling. B-but if she needs Zecora to find her way then she's probably still somewhere in the Everfree!"

That bit of news caused you to grin with a spark in your eye. You could find anypony ANYWHERE in the Everfree, of that you were most certain. Granted you weren't entirely certain why you were certain, but you were certain! And with that certainty came the confidence that if Trixie was dragging Zecora around the Everfree, then it was only a matter of time before you got to them both...

"So if we rush back to Ponyville and get my friends, then we can start searching the Everfree for-"

"No." You replied, immediately, stopping that thought in it's tracks before you actually thought of how to explain it... The knee-jerk reaction was one of obvious importance though. Trixie was witness to some of your more... questionable activities. And matters with Zecora might not be fully settled as of yet. Risking outsiders coming into the situation was not something you wanted to do, you needed to take care of this yourself, without drawing any real attention. And fortunately, you were able to come up with a good excuse as to why that needed to be.

"No Miss Rarity, every moment we waste is another where somepony could get hurt. There's no time to wait for back-up." You spoke, your voice firm. Rarity blinked.

"But Mister Sla-"

"Trust me Miss Rarity, I know the Everfree by now. I can get to them much faster without having to worry about anypony else getting lost or hurt." You spoke, turning your gaze to her eyes, then giving her a grin.

"Besides, I'm already a mess. What's one more jaunt through the most dangerous forest in Equestria before bath-time?" You asked, light-heartedly, Rarity grimacing somewhat in response and raising her right forehoof up daintily in front of her mouth, coughing politely.

"I... that DID occur to me darling, 'ahem'." She spoke, before lowering her forehoof back down to the ground, sighing out lightly.

"You're... you're quite right Mister Slate. Time IS of the essence... But are you sure you don't need any help? I wouldn't want you rushing alone into danger..." She spoke, her voice slightly concerned before you shook your head calmly in response.

"I can handle whatever the Everfree has to throw at me. And I don't know what's going through Trixie's mind, but I want to find Zecora and her before whatever it is has made her do something truly foolish... Personally I think she's having a mental breakdown or something, and I don't want a big audience to be privy to it. Especially if I can talk her back down to Earth, and I'm fairly sure I can." You muttered, before shaking your head for a moment, before blinking, and furrowing your brows.

"Although..." You muttered, before looking back up to Rarity with furrowed brows. Unicorns could... teleport right? Yeah, yeah you'd heard that some unicorns could do that. And maybe you could teleport to right to Trixie and Zecora! ... No not with your own magic. You nearly fainted trying to heal Trixie's bum, were still trying to get your head around simple levitation, and pyromancy was bucking exhausting. You were fairly sure that if you tried to teleport yourself to an unknown location you'd just get a bucking migraine, or wind up like half inside a tree-trunk or something. But if Rarity could teleport you to someplace you were thinking about...

"Miss Rarity..."

"Hmm?"

"Do you think you can possibly... teleport me? To someplace I'm thinking of?" You asked, causing Rarity to blink, then quickly shake her head.

"Oh no-no-no-no-no! Mister Slate, teleporting YOURSELF is a sign of advanced magical power in a unicorn! Teleporting somepony else to someplace THEY'RE thinking of? That would take a tremendous amount of effort darling! I'm afraid that my talents are primarily geared towards the arts of fabulosity and the gem-hunting necessary to facilitate it! And even if I was capable of such feats Mister Slate, Trixie has sealed or 'locked' my magic away somehow, so that I cannot access it. Regrettably I can be of very little help to you..." She spoke, her voice soft and lowering lightly as she confessed her lack of power.

You sighed... ... Whelp, that was a dry well. Time to stop dawdling and get this show on the road! Get out there into the Everfree and bring back Zecora from the clutches of Trixie! ... And then figure out what the buck Trixie was hoping to accomplish taking Zecora into her clutches in the first place.

Also, we can't forget about the Plantimal. Now that we can hear the Everfree, perhaps it might have some role to play in this current predicament as well? It's part of the Everfree so it's not to much of a stretch, right? Maybe taking it out of it's cage will prove useful in your search.

2. Use plantanimal to find them with ever free powers

3. Find a rescue mate and punish slave

"Skkrreeeeeeee!!!"

The skreeeeing of the planimal caught your attention, small as it was, and you turned your head to look back over towards the unruly abomination. It's remaining three heads were gnawing on the bars of it's cage again, glaring red-eyed venom towards you as it bit and chomped at the bamboo bars, some marking done by it's teeth but not, fortunately, enough to get through them.

You narrowed your eyes a bit more.

"Hmmm..." You muttered to yourself. ... ... You hated the planimal. You REALLY did. Aside from trying to kill you, like most everything else in the Everfree, it was just a loud, annoying abomination of all that right and proper in the universe. But... you had this feeling in your gut that it might be somehow be useful out in the Everfree... it was, after all, a part of it. AND the Everfree had made it more and more apparent over the last few days that it intended for you to learn it's secrets... perhaps this Planimal was a part of that? Perhaps through some method that you had yet to see, it could aid you in the recovery of your zebra and unicorn? Maybe, just possibly? You breathed in and out slowly, with narrowed eyes leveled at the thing... then turned and started walking over towards the Planimal.

"Mister Slate?" Sounded Rarity curiously, as you walked up below the cage, looking up at it from where it hung with furrowed brows. You continued to look at it for a moment, before turning your head to look over your left shoulder, back to Rarity.

"I'm getting the feeling that this... THING might be useful." You spoke simply, causing Rarity to blink in surprise, and then raise her right eyebrow.

"Really Mister Slate? You think that that, errr... creature, can help? Are you sure?" She asked, obviously perplexed. You shook your head.

"No, but I tend to follow my gut instincts... right down a path of extremely mixed and often painful results..." You muttered, before shaking your head and looking back up to the Planimal. You closed your eyes, and your horn began to glow blue. Immediately sweat began to form on your skin, getting into your coat and mixing with the mud, as a blue aura engulfed the cage and the planimal in it.

"Urgh!" You sounded, wincing a bit as you extended just enough magic to pull the cage up off of it's hook... and then released it, letting it fall down with a 'Thunk' onto the floor and it's side as the Planimal let out another "Skrrrreeeeee!!!" of agitation, and flailed it's remaining tendril-heads against the bars. You breathed a bit heavily for a few moments from the effort of even that simple telekinesis spell... then sighed, leaned down, and glared at the planimal.

"Hey." You spoke, and the planimal continued to thrash.

"HEY!" You shouted, and the planimal stopped thrashing long enough to glare up at you, 'HISS'-ing slightly from all three heads.

"Look. I don't like you, and you don't like me. But you're not getting out of that cage anytime soon, and I don't want to kill you... what's left of you... for some reason that I'm sure would make sense to the psychologist I don't have but probably need." You muttered, before shaking your head.

"Anyways, here's the deal... I'm going to take you out into the Everfree." You spoke, all three of the Planimal's heads blinking at that.

"I'm going to take you out into the forest, and if you BEHAVE and don't cause TROUBLE for me... I don't know, maybe I'll get you some nice dirt or something, or a rabbit, whatever it is you eat!" You spoke, a bit irritably, before shaking your head.

"Ugh, or maybe I'll play you some music." Strangely, that one seemed to get a straightening up reaction, as though suddenly the Planimal was somewhat interested. You blinked.

"... Yeah... yeah we'll go with that. I'll play you music if you work with me here, deal?" You asked, and the Planimal didn't 'skree' or hiss, or growl... just glowered with six red eyes...

"I'll take that as a yes." You spoke bluntly, before leaning down and gripping the top of the Planima's cage in your teeth, lifting it up.

"Rwight, led's get-dis done." You muttered, before turning with the planimal cage swinging from your mouth over towards the door, before stopping in front of it, putting down the planimal, and looking back to Rarity.

"Don't worry about a thing Miss Rarity. I'll be back as soon as I can, with Zecora, Trixie, AND the Trenchcoat!" You spoke, giving her yet one more nod. Rarity for her turn gave a slightly nervous smile, and nodded to you in return.

"Good luck Mister Slate! Please hurry! I'll be waiting here for your triumphant return!" She spoke, probably trying to match your confidence. You gave her a grin in return.

"That's the spirit Miss Rarity! Now..." You spoke, looking back forward and pushing the door open with your left forehoof.

"Let's go grab a mare and trench coat combo..." You muttered, before leaning down, plucking the planimal back up to an annoyed "Skrrrreeeeee!!!" and stepping outside, letting the door close behind you...

Turn Trixie into a fully loyal harem slave, by first finding her and then talking her down, then brainwash her.

Oh, and when you find them, ask Trix what exactly she planned to achieve from all this. Don't yell at her, unless you can get her in a position where she can't harm Zecora. The Illusionist appears to be in a delicate emotional state at the moment, and if possible you want both mares alive.

Welcome to the land of the conscious.

Trixie seems to have made another bad decision in her life.

So it falls to you to find her and explain to her why its bad.

What did she want to do? Did she want to use the amulet for power again? The "good" decision that made her unhinged the last time?

Or did she want to pawn off the amulet? And then what? Her reputation is ruined and she would be wanted for theft and battery. So she wouldn't be able to get back into the show business. That plan only functions until the money runs out again.

And she only would have to ask and Zecora surely would have given her a job to earn money.

You even wanted to ask her if she would be your magic teacher.

Instead she disappoints you and makes another shortsighted, foalish decision.

Just reaffirming that she needs to be guided like the irresponsible filly she seems to be.

On that note, you need to find Trixie and Zecora! You didn't get your herd yet. Whatever Trixie's idea is about all of this, it's probably dumb like all her other ideas. Once you find them, find out what she's planning, do damage control, bring them back home. She probably needs another paddlin'! That's something to do when Zecora agrees to it, so make it a point to include it in your sleep-therapy to tell your Zebra as well as your Unicorn. That being Trixie, Rarity is a conquest for another day. Hum, Zecora might need some more... direct... discipline as well, so if she does ask for it, indulge her.

once you have caught up to Trixie, approach her calmly, she is a very unstable pony at this current point and if not handled correctly, could break and do things you hope will never happen, thankfully your voice is smooth and hopefully you have enough wit to think about your words correctly, if you can, try and have her understand that she is loyal to you and that what she just did is something she should never have done, but like i said before, do these things carefully.

Blaze

As you stepped out of the hut, the planimal cage hanging from your teeth, you closed your eyes. You breathed in deep, then out slowly, and tilted your head to the side, listening... 'whispers' began to fill your ears, heading straight through your ears and into your mind. They were... noticeable. Not loud but strong, stronger than last time certainly. They practically walked straight into your consciousness, pulling you, beckoning you, telling you where you wanted to go... You opened your eyes with a smirk.

"Awight. I gwot-dem, dey wen'dis way." You muttered, your teeth around the planimal's cage as you trotted down Zecora's steps, then turned and started moving towards the trees. You'd find them. Of that you were ABSOLUTELY certain. And when you got to them, you'd be able to fix everything, and get it back to normal!

... ... ...

ONE HOUR LATER...

"Skrrrreeeeee!!!"

"Shwudup."

"Skrrrreeeeee!!!"

"Shwudup."

"Skrrrreeeeee!!!"

"Fwo buwk's 'ake shwudup!"

You were not in a good mood. How bucking far into the Everfree did Trixie GO!? You'd been walking for an HOUR now, and the stupid bucking planimal buck-face kept making bucking noise! What was it hungry? Annoyed? Tired of a long journey? WELL SO WERE YOU!!! Buck... buck you hadn't had breakfast you were pretty damn sure. You couldn't REMEMBER the last time you'd eaten buck it and now you were marching through the Everfree with a damn planimal monster THING hanging from between your teeth! Buck it's complaining!

You breathed in deep, and HUFFED out through your nose, eyes narrowed as you continued to trot through the Everfree. You needed to be calm by the time you got to Trixie. She was going to be in an emotional state, YOU needed to have a handle on your temper by then. Two emotional ponies would just make more bad decisions, and she'd made more than enough for the both of you.

You went over, AGAIN, how you were going to handle this in your mind. You were going to approach her and talk with her, just ask her what she was doing and let her rant. Then, as she ranted, or after it, you'd explain why she was wrong and identify all the faulty bits of her logic that she'd shown. You would teach her, AGAIN, that her own decision making process was flawed, and that she needed somepony else, somepony WISER, to make decisions for her. Then, once Trixie and Zecora were back at the hut, you could apply sleep-whispers as needed to both of them, make sure that neither of your mares showed jealousy or denied their true desires again.

It was a simple plan but you were fairly certain that it would work. You were absolutely certain that you'd be able to talk Trixie out of her agitated state. But you needed to be CALM about it, rational, and without strong emotion. Be the voice of reason. The silky smooth voice of reason who could talk the mare's into lifting their tails and presenting their flanks! ... Um, hopefully, eventually... FOCUS DAMN IT!

You shook your head irritably, and started to try to calm yourself again. Especially as the whispers seemed to be getting more... intense? Perhaps? It was feeling as though you were getting closer for some reason. You weren't entirely sure how but you were. So you took a few more additional deep breaths, ignored the planimal's incessant 'skree'-ing, and just tried to calm down. Present a semi-kind, partially gentle face for the mare when you got to her.

With another deep breath, you walked past a tree, ducked down a short path, and walked into a small clearing, with what looked like a... pond of bubbling green water? ... What? You blinked, then shook your head and looked again to make sure you were getting this right. ... Yep. It was a pond of green water, with some bubbles rising to the surface and 'bursting' on occasion, heavy and thick looking. The pond itself seemed out of place, like it had been PLONKED right in the middle of the clearing. There were some bushes here and there nearby, some actually stretching and dipping into the water at the sides. Maybe that was where the green came from? But whatever the reason for that water it was giving you a WEIRD vibe. You did NOT like the look of it.

You shook your head, and turned your gaze to look over the clearing with narrowed eyes. You weren't here for water you were here for Trixie, Zecora, and your trenchcoat. And as luck would have it, you found two out of the three pretty much right away. Against a tree on the opposite side of the clearing was a VERY agitated looking Zecora. Her eyes were narrowed, her teeth were gritted, her mane and coat were just as dirtied as they had been before, and she was actively squirming against her bindings.

Her bindings looked to be, in this case, her own yellow spotted bed-sheets. Like Trixie had levitated them off and wrapped Zecora's body very thoroughly in them, making knots at the back to hold Zecora in place with all her legs bound. It was fairly evident by now that Trixie's horn had been fully healed, which meant that if things came to a fight, it would be an actual fight and not just a quick spanking or two. But, on a positive note, right next to Zecora leaning against the very same tree were Rarity's saddle-bags, the pink with the blue diamonds clear as day! You didn't see Trixie anywhere however, which was odd because the whispers were still telling you that she was here. ... Was she invisible? Did she have that kind of spell?

Regardless, Zecora and your saddle-bags were there to secure, so without further ado you started galloping forward to them.

"Zwcowa!" You spoke out around the planimal cage handle in your teeth, causing her to look up to you, her eyes widening in surprise.

She spoke, an urgency sounding in her voice as you moved over towards her and promptly set the planimal down on the side of Zecora that WASN'T with the saddle-bags, before looking back to her.

"Yeah I'll get you untied in just a second!" You spoke, now planimal cage free, starting to lean over her to get towards the knots at her back.

That gave you pause. You leaned back with your right eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Come again?" You asked intelligently, as Zecora turned her gaze over to the left and nodded towards the pond.

Spoke the zebra, as you looked where she'd looked. Trixie's hat and cloak were there, next to the bubbling green water, hastily discarded it seemed like, and she herself was nowhere to be seen.

Well it wasn't exactly a SEA per se... more of a lake really... or a pond... Yeah, sea was kind of an exaggeration but, well, you're sure it made sense translated into Zebrican rhyming language... or whatever she actual-

Right, important words, listening while the mare's speaking.

You blinked at that, and looked back to Zecora.

"Beast? What kind of bea-"

You started, but didn't really get to finish as Trixie came GASPING up out of the water. You looked to her as she arose, about a foot away from where she'd left her hat and cape, her mane wet, her wounds healed pretty much completely by the looks of it, and her eyes wide with mortal terror. She quickly began to CRAWL onto the grass, moving across rapidly as she tore at the grass with her hooves, pulling herself on her stomach in her desperate bid to get away from the water, completely ignoring her cloak and hat... not exactly like her.

You were about to open your mouth and comment on such, when a set of jagged rocks appeared in the water. Then you blinked when those rocks rose up out of the water... on the back of thick green scales. Hard as the rocks that rose up with them. A pair of yellow-orange eyes with black slits, triangular near the top and going down half-way through the eye, glowered out from them... it was a dark, baleful look. It showed a murderous intent, seemingly born out of agitation and simple killer instinct. As it rose further from the green water, it's light-grey, thick rock-like sharpened teeth could be seen sticking out, all along the line of it's mouth, down it's snout on either side.

It's four short, squat legs stepped into the grass, after Trixie who had finally gotten up to scramble, starting to run forward before stopping in her tracks, seeing you with wide eyes.

"You..." She spoke, her eyes still wide with terror, and you weren't sure if any of that was for you, or all of it was still for the... thing getting up out of the water. But as it continued to come up, it's tail SWISHED out, thick squat rocks glowing close to the heavy appendage, and Trixie turned, breathing fast, as a low growl came from the creature, mostly emerged, the end of it's tail FLICKING into the water, eyes leveled on Trixie...

Now I would normally say you should try to train.

But I don't think you will have the time for that.

Aedin the mage

4. Learn your bucking powers and train in them

On another note try to get your hooves on the amulet.

As an vampony prince you should be immune to its corrupting influence.

5. Take over ever free forest

6. Update as going along

So 5 step so far that must happen good.

Lord Scoro the demon lord

You blinked, looking at the creature as it opened it's mouth and let out a 'GGGRRROOOOOOKKKKKK' a low rumbling sound that could very well have been a roar from the thing. But as it did so you noticed something. Something, that you actually kind of wished you hadn't noticed. A box. A small wooden one, wet and partially splintered but sturdy enough to have survived whatever pressure it'd been put under. A box that Zecora had taken to hide, a box that contained a certain amulet Trixie had wanted to steal, a box... that was somehow lodged RIGHT beneath the big rocky crocodile-like creature's TONGUE... The freaking, TONGUE... ... The tasteful appendage lowered over the box once again, and then the mouth SNAPPED closed, as the creature glowered at Trixie again, then raised it's baleful look up to you, meeting your eyes.

... ... ... Well... ssssshhhhiiiiiiiiittttttttt... ...

Author's Notes:

So I'm NOT dead... I know, I know... a big surprise. I've been in hiatus, without bothering to mark it on the story, so I'm sorry about that. I didn't exactly expect to go into hiatus I kind of... just lost all my energy, drive, and pretty much every ounce of personal work ethic... It's been an interesting last half a year or so.

Regardless, if you're seeing this chapter then that means I'm back. Now I don't know how many of you guys have stuck around, I know inactivity is something of a mood killer. However know that I do appreciate you, whether or not you're still interested in what's going on. And I'm going to try and get this back on track, regular and steady... And that's all I really have to say at the moment. I can't make promises because... well, I don't make promises I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep. But I'm going to try... I hope that this chapter brings you enjoyment.

And just in case there is any confusion, yes. Yes that IS a Cragadile.