Dust motes hung in the afternoon sun as it shone through the only window in the Golden Oak library's reference and research section. Just out of range of the warm beams, a small dragon sat on the floor, arms folded, staring straight ahead with simmering annoyance. His lower half was covered in a snow-drift of crumpled papers, and as he sank deeper into the annoyance another ball of rejected writing bounced off his head to join the pile. He shook himself, scattering the papers, and turned to the purple unicorn leaning over the desk next to him.

"Twilight, you've been writing all morning! It's just an invitation."

The purple unicorn sitting at the desk next to him didn't look up. "It has to be just right Spike. I don't want this to sound dumb."

The dragon sighed. "I know you want the book reading to be great, and that you've been planning it for weeks. And it WILL be great."

"Because I've been planning it for weeks?"

"Because your friends will be glad to come. And because the book is great-" He looked up at the volume next to her on the table, The Magic of Trust. "Who WOULDN'T want to know how an earth pony could trick everyone into thinking he was a unicorn long enough to graduate from a Canterlot magic school!" He glanced down, seeing one of the crumpled balls stuck in his tail and bent down to pull it out. Twilight finally looked up, watching him with a smile. "You're right. All I need is something simple. Thanks Spike." She turned back, raising her quick to write the final draft. "Oh."

The dragon looked up. "What?" Twilight laughed nervously. "I'm out of ink. It looks like I used the last of it on the one I just crumpled up. The dragon sighed again, but he was smiling. "Don't worry, already on it."

"Just the two-bit kind, right?" He called as he headed for the door.

"Yes, thank you!"

"Got it!"

Twilight heard the door open and close, and turned to one of the nearby shelves. Might as well do some research while she waited. Eyes scanning the selection, she pulled half a dozen books from their places and set them on the desk with a satisfying thud.

*******

"Excuse me-"

"Gwaaah!" Twilight started, almost jumping out of her chair at the sudden voice in her ear. Turning, she saw a dusty brown unicorn
looking back at her, a little worried now. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Is this the Golden Oak Library?"

"Yes, yes it is. That's right!" Twilight said, much too quickly and a pitch or two higher than was ideal. She coughed, bringing her
voice down to something more professional, and continued. "Sorry, I must not have heard you come in. Twilight Sparkle." She held out a hoof. The unicorn shook it. "Haze." He glanced down to the pile of crumpled paper. "Working on something?" Suddenly remembering the mess surrounding her and the piles of open books on the desk, one of which she had apparently been sleeping on, the purple unicorn gave a nervous laugh, shoving all of it to one side without looking at it. "Nothing important, just some research. What can I help you with?"

"This."

From his pack, the unicorn drew a thick, heavy book, setting it on the desk in front of Twilight. She leaned closer, inspecting it. The leather binding was old and worn, but sturdy. She could see no signs of tearing along the edge or spine. The pages were uneven, not neatly trimmed, and they looked yellowed, but only slightly. There was not title on the front or spine, no markings at all, just the smooth, ordinary leather. But even at a glance, she could tell there was something more going on, and as she turned it on the desk she felt the magic she had expected, a cold, subtle energy swirling beneath the leather.

"Enchanted." She continued turning it in her hooves.

"Yes. What can you tell me about it?"

She lifted it slightly, turned it over. "Not much. There's definitely magic here, and a whole lot of it. It isn't a simple gimmick or gag like children like to use for pranks sometimes. It's woven much deeper in." She stroked a hoof across the cover in small circles.
"And it feels...strange. Not like an enchantment should."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Enchantments are usually like ornaments, like adding a little bit of clockwork on to something. Simple and functional. This is huge, and it's almost like the enchantment is just there as...containment, or a holder for something else." She pushed it away. "Without any markings that's as much as I can get from the outside though. Have you ever opened it?"

The unicorn shook his head. Twilight nodded. "That was probably a good idea. A very good idea. Hold on-" She reached onto the shelf behind her, pulling out several smooth, flat stones, each a little smaller that a hoof and jet black. With a deft movement she quickly laid them out around the book, and when the last stone was in place strange symbols appeared on each, glowing a gentle blue.
"For protection-" She gestured to the stones. "They filter any magic cast through them and neutralize and contain anything dangerous. SO great for researching ancient magic artifacts." Twilight grinned. "Even so, I wouldn't normally trust them with something this strange, but these are custom made by one of the best unicorns in the craft in Canterlot. These things could even stop a lot of Celestia's magic!" Twilight stopped, suddenly realizing how much of a magic nerd she was being, and coughed. "Anyway, let's give this a try."

Slowly, her hoof moved to open the book, grasping the cover, carefully pulling it back-

Haze's hoof pressed down on hers, closing the book. She looked up to him, confused.

"Before you look inside, there is one other thing you should see." He held out a worn piece of paper, very yellowed and covered in fold lines. Twilight pulled a soft pad from the nearby shelf, the kind she used for re-conditioning books, and laid out the paper, carefully opening it. A poem was scrawled across the fragile surface in harsh, jagged strokes. Her eyes traced the lines...

Inside the patch the rabbit fled
Inside the patch the rabbit bled

Ran from wolf's teeth, dripping red
caught by briar's teeth instead

Round the ankle, holding fast
Round the neck that pulled and gasped

Harder did it twist and pull
Deeper did they thrust and go

No escape by foot or ear.
No escape from strangling fear.

Till it hung still in briar's teeth
It's life pooled on the ground beneath

To flee the patch the rabbit tried
To flee the patch the rabbit died

As she finished the poem, Twilight felt something run through her, cold and uncomfortable. Then it was gone. She turned the paper slightly, looking it over carefully. "Where did you find this?"

Haze stepped up behind her, looking over her shoulder. "With the book."

"Strange." She thought a moment, hoof hovering over the lines. "I'm not recognizing this poem, but the paper is old. Really old. Most ponies stopped making it like this over a century ago. I wonder-"

"To flee the patch the rabbit tried" The unicorn behind her softly intoned.

"To flee the patch the rabbit died" Twilight murmured, eyes lidding slightly for a moment, then blinking as she smiled enthusiastically. "Wait, I think I might have something on this. Something I saw in the archives a few weeks ago." The purple unicorn started off at a brisk pace. Haze followed close behind, then beside her for a moment, speaking again.

"To flee the patch the rabbit tried."

"To flee the patch the rabbit died" Twilight murmured, eyes sinking again for a moment, then springing back open. She continued walking, leading Haze deeper and deeper into the far section of the library. At last they reached a shelf, and Twilight ran a hoof through the volumes. "I think it was right about here..."

To flee the patch the rabbit tried
To flee the patch the rabbit died.

"Yes! Here it is!" Twilight pulled out a worn yellow volume, flipping through it quickly until she came to an entry titled "Rites of the Mountain Tribes."

"I thought that idea sounded familiar! Listen to this-" Twilight raised a hoof as she started to read.

"Little is known of this remote mountain people, even what their real name is or the exact mountain they live under. Reports conflict on most details, but converge on one aspect of their culture: The myth of the rabbit. Found repeatedly in various forms through all accounts, this archetypal story tells of of a rabbit that escapes a wolf through confusion and trickery. It is perhaps fitting that the mountain tribe, like their totem, continue to evade researchers and explorers to this day."

Twilight turned, triumphant. "I knew that sounded familiar. Now let's-"

Haze wasn't behind her anymore. "Haze?" Her head swung quickly back and forth, scanning the area. Haze was gone.

"Haze?" She took a step forward, and stopped. Her hooves weren't making a sound on the wooden floor anymore. Nothing was. Not the birds outside, not the slow, constant creak of the tree that had kept her up for weeks when she first moved here. Everything was dead silent. She looked down at her hooves, and immediately regretted it. Everything looked as it should, but as her head tilted down she
was seized by a sickening sense of vertigo, as if she was teetering on an edge high, high in the air, looking down. Teetering, and then tilting. Falling towards the fast-approaching ground. She tried to scream, but there was no sound now, not even her voice. Down and down, faster and faster at the ground. Until she hit. Hit and went right through, and darkness wrapped around her.

She opened her eyes.

Everything was dim, dark shapes. Vague and confusing, like her eyes wouldn't focus. She was standing. She felt cold, cold and stiff. There was a pony shape in front of her. It spoke.

"No escape by foot or ear"

"No escape from strangling fear" She heard herself reply. The words fill her with inexplicable dread, but her voice was flat and even. Blank.

A notebook appeared in front of her, held in the air. A quill next to it.

"Bleed."

Her hoof moved to the quill, shifted it to the page, began to write. Strange symbols, shapes, notches and curls. Nothing that Twilight could recognize. But she knew what she was writing. She could feel it flowing out of her, through the hoof and on to the paper. Magic. Every defensive spell she knew, every counter, every way of fighting a magical conflict. All embedded now on this page, glowing. And only on this page, she realized. She couldn't remember them any more when she tried, only when she gazed at the symbols. Writing and writing until there was nothing left in her, no defensive spells at all. Just what was on the page.

The pony shape took the notebook. Tore the page from it. Crumpled it into a ball. Twilight's face stayed blank, but her mind watched in horror as her knowledge, all that precious knowledge, was crushed and mashed. The pony reached out a hoof, spreading her mouth open wide, and shoved the ball inside.

"Chew."

She did, tears running down her face, expression still blank. She felt the paper crumple against her tongue, tearing between her teeth, and as it did the magic losing its structure, crumbling in her mouth. A decade of her life, struggle and pain and triumph, hard won, was all there, was all being destroyed. SHE was destroying it. She couldn't stop. She gave a ragged sob as she felt it melt away, Symbols dissolving, paper dissolving, magic dissolving, all collapsing to a soft gray pulp. No magic now. No expert knowledge. Just fiber and ink.

"Swallow."

Her body obeyed before she could even try to struggle. One gulp, and even the pulp was gone. Nothing left. She felt empty. Weak and empty.

"Follow."

The pony began to walk. She followed behind, limp and automatic.

The walk was long and vague, the surroundings always shifting in and out. But eventually, Twilight realized she was standing back at the desk, Haze's book still waiting, unopened. Some stones surrounded it, but the pony shape pushed them aside, off the table. It picked up the book, holding it in front of her.

"Watch."

Slowly the cover began to open, pages fluttering, spreading. Twilight watched, unable to look away. As the book spread open, she thought she could see something on the clear white page-

A sharp, electric zap ran through her head. Twilight yelped, jumping back as the world rushed back into focus.

Hearing Twilight's cry and seeing her jolt backward, Haze set down the book and stepped forward, confused. The purple unicorn lay where she had fallen, limp against one of the shelves. He reached out a hoof, but before he could touch her, he heard a click above his head, and a dull pain suddenly shot down his horn. Grunting, he stumbled back, reaching toward the pain to feel a small metal ring tightly grasping the base of his horn. He could feel his magic pooling beneath it, blocked and useless now. He looked back to Twilight. She was gone.

He wheeled, scanning the room just in time to see a blur of purple shoot toward him. She hung in the air just long enough for him to see two things: the rage on her face, burning incandescent through the tears on her cheeks, and the two protective stones in front of her, held aloft in her magic. He reached out in defense, but there wasn't time. The stones dodged past his grasp, hitting his temples, hard as he tumbled back against one of the shelves.

There was a spark, and Haze screamed, seizing against the bookshelf as white-hot magical energy seared through every inch of him. For an instant, he thought he could smell something burning. Then he sank into darkness.

Someone was knocking at the door.

Twilight tightened the rope, and stepped back slightly. Haze's body hung spread eagle against the basement wall of the library, wrists and ankles tightly bound with rope that ran through metal eyelets above and below. She had installed them to easily hang tarps on the wall for various experiments, but now they were proving useful in other ways.

Someone was knocking at the door.

The ropes were just a start though, to hold him in position. Now she started on the magic. Thank Celestia, her spells had started coming back to her as soon as that jolt hit. Her mind still felt foggy, confused, but she could find what she needed, and she was going to use ALL of it. Restraints around the wrists, ankles, neck, far stronger than anything the ropes could do. Magic cancellation. Silence. More magic cancellation. Layers of spells and counter spells, laid down over every inch of the unicorn. And sleep, to make sure he stayed like this for as long as needed.

Someone was knocking at the door.

The book was secured in a trunk at the far end of the basement, encased in so many spells that it would take a good fifteen minutes to get them all off again. Not that she was in any hurry to. Meanwhile, more spells for the unicorn-

Someone was knocking at the door.

With a frustrated yell she let the last spell drop. Rushing up the stairs from her basement and to the front door she yanked it open, and nearly off the hinges. Without seeing or caring who had been causing the noise, she started talking with a politeness so strained and intense it sounded as if it might crack into something homicidal at any moment.

"I'm sorry but the library is closed right now," She strained through clenched teeth. "We're having a little bit of an emergency, nothing to worry about, should be open again soon but for now I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Thanks!" She slammed the door shut.

Right against a horseshoe the knocking pony had thrown in the jam. The door bounced back open. Twilight yelled again.

"Look, will you PLEASE-" For the first time, she finally saw the pony in front of her. He was tall and haggard, with eyes that seemed to see every part of her, accented by dark, tired circles. A beaten trench coat covered most of him, and in one of the far pockets Twilight thought she could see a flask. He looked young, older than Twilight, but young for what she was guessing his profession was,
and even a little handsome, if handsome had tumbled down a hill and into a bar fight for a decade. He spoke.

"That emergency wouldn't have a horn and a strange book would he?"

Twilight's eyes widened. "How did you-"

Ignoring her question, the pony stepped past her, into the library. "Twilight Sparkle, my name is Stormy Weather." He pulled what was indeed a flask from his coat, and took a long sip. "We should talk."

The two ponies sat opposite each other at Twilight's kitchen table. Twilight poured some tea, offering a cup to Stormy. He shook his head, and began.

"Thanks for sharing. Looks like you've got it contained, at least for the moment. Saves me some trouble."

Twilight sipped her tea. "What do you know about all this? Who is he?"

"It. I know that much. The it that calls itself Haze. I've been chasing it for a long, long time."

"Calls itself?"

"Oh he started as a pony. Haze started as a pony. What's underneath our hooves now though, locked up in all that magic, isn't Haze. Not mostly anyway."

Stormy leaned back in his chair. "Let me tell you a story Twilight Sparkle. Once, there was a village of ponies who could touch each other's minds. With a look, with a word, with a touch." He gave a grand gesture with his hoof. "Normally that would be a recipe for disaster, for obvious reasons. But they found a balance in it somehow. Probably helped that it was temporary, only lasted a few
minutes. Built their culture around it. Helped each other. They were isolated, lived near the base of a mountain without much contact with the rest of Equestria. Maybe on purpose. Seemed to work for them. For a while."

Twilight took a sip of the tea.

"One of the unicorns from the village loved to explore the caves that burrowed into the mountain near the village. One day he found something. A book." Stormy pointed to the volume resting between them on the table. "That book."

"When he returned to the village, something was wrong with him. The other villagers tried to help." Stormy took a long sip from his flask. "Things went bad. Very bad."

"All this started for me as a missing pony case. A few mares had gone missing here and there. The lucky ones showed up again with amnesia, or with empty eyes, empty heads and empty tongues. The unlucky ones just didn't show up again at all. All their friends and family told the same story: catching glimpses of a dusty brown unicorn around them before the disappearances."

"I worked the cases back, further and further in time. Further than any kidnapping case should have gone, almost a century. Until I ended up at that village at the base of the mountain. I found the story I just shared in the village archives. The villagers weren't too talkative, but skeletons usually aren't. That was all there was, just bones and rotting buildings. They were having a good time though. No sleeping in graves for them. They were all over the town, hunched over tables, leaning against walls, tending empty stores, a whole bunch scattered across the main road. Everyone in their place. Like the whole town decided to just stop moving one day, and nature took its course."

He leaned forward. "I've been chasing him, IT, ever since. Got close a few times. Now I've finally caught up."

Twilight took a long gulp of the tea, letting the detective's story sink in. "So you still don't know exactly what he, it is?"

He shook his head. "Only that its dangerous, on a level I haven't seen before. And you see a lot as a free-lance problem solver in Manehatten."

Twilight set down her cup. "I'll get a letter to Princess Celestia as soon as my assistant returns. I'll need her help if I'm going to contain this, and she may know something we don't."

Stormy gave a nod. "I'll defer to your expertise then. Chances are it'll take an alicorn to keep 'him' in check anyway. But whatever you're going to do, do it quick. Our guest has a way of slipping away, no matter how well he's secured."

Twilight nodded, standing. "I'll start on the letter. If my assistant isn't back when it's finished, there are other ways I can-"

She stopped suddenly, swaying slightly.

"Twilight?"

A wave of dizziness washed over the unicorn. She braced herself against the table, but the room kept tilting, swaying with a sickening lurch, back and forth.

"Twilight?"

Stormy's voice was soft and distorted. It sounded far, far away. Twilight's hooves felt a mile from her head, and her head felt so heavy. Like it might start...tumbling...down... She felt herself fall toward the table, but the rushing darkness swallowed her before her head hit the wood. Her limp body dragged the tea cup with it as she slid off the table, and unicorn and cup hit the floor together.

Stormy stood over her, expressionless. Bending down, he grasped her front hooves, and started to pull.

Twilight groaned. Her head throbbed. She tried to move a hoof to it, only to feel something holding it in place. A few short tugs proved the same was true of the other hoof, and her ankles. As the world slowly came into focus, she realized she was spread against the basement wall, with the same magic, ropes and, by the feel, the same horn ring she had been holding Haze in place with.

Haze was in front of her, sitting a few yards away in a wide cushioned chair pulled from storage deeper in the basement. He was lounging in it in utter relaxation, head back, legs spread. A pony sat at his feet, and as Twilight forced her aching head to focus she realized it was Stormy. His trench coat lay in a heap nearby, and stripped of it he looked smaller somehow, less imposing. His front hooves grasped the edge of the chair, holding himself steady as his head gently rose and fell between Haze's legs. From her position on the wall Twilight could only see the back of the detective's head, but the soft, wet sounds that rose from him occasionally made his actions clear enough. Haze's hoof rested on the back of his head, stroking his mane and giving an occasional shove of encouragement.

As she took all this in, Twilight saw Haze look up suddenly, catching her gaze. He grinned, his hoof giving a hard shove down and smiling a little wider as he heard the stallion between his legs start to choke. "You'll have to forgive my friend-" Haze said, forcing Stormy down farther with a rough thrust. "He didn't know he was drugging you anymore than you did. He couldn't even have told that story without some help." He held up the detective's flask, dangling it from his hoof. The choking was growing quieter now. "Pulls his mind together. Almost as good as new. There isn't much left of him otherwise."

Haze finally released his grip, and Stormy's head rushed up, involuntarily gasping for air, then sinking back down to continue its task. As soon as he did, Haze tipped the flask, pouring out the contents over Stormy's head. Twilight could smell the reek of alcohol across the room, but the detective gave no response as it soaked through his mane and ran down his face. Haze laughed, tossing away the empty flask and admiring Stormy's work for a moment. "I wouldn't worry though. He has all the intelligence he needs." Haze stroked the obedient stallion, then got a good grip and forced him down again, setting his own quick rhythm with one, two, three thrusts and then holding him deep, deep down as he gave a pleased snarl. When the climax passed, Haze tugged Stormy up by the mane, pulling him off the object of his attentions with a quiet slurp and turning him to face twilight. He dangled limply from Haze's hoof, his eyes glassy, staring out into nothing. Cum pooled on his limp tongue, hanging from the tip, and more was splashed across his face and mouth. "Poor Stormy." Haze growled mockingly. "He'll never know he found what he was looking for."

Twilight's eyes darted down for a moment, from the broken detective to what he had been tending too. Haze's thick length lounged between his legs, still slick and still hard.

With a flick, Haze tossed the detective to one side. He crumpled on to the floor in a broken heap, unseeing eyes staring up at the ceiling. The unicorn stepped toward Twilight, laughing as he saw her quick glance. "Eager Twilight? Don't worry, there's plenty of time for that." She glared back at him, trying to say something, but discovering she couldn't. "Shhh. No more talking Twilight."

He pulled out a book, bringing it to eye level. THE book. "You have some reading to do."

Twilight forced her eyes shut as tight as they would go, tilting her head as far to the side as she could manage, away from the book. She heard a laugh, and felt Haze lean in beside her, whisper into her ear. The words he spoke were strange, foreign. They sounded soft and flowing, and as he spoke, they began to take on a hum. Not the words, so much as the ideas they were weaving. Even as Twilight couldn't understand what any of the ideas WERE, she could feel their presence, pulsing, glowing, vibrating in the air. Alive and growing stronger. In the air and in her, humming, twisting, breathing. Warm and alive and softly sinking into her mind. She tried to fight it, tried to struggle against the restraints, even though she knew better than any pony there was no possible way they would give. But there was no escape. Nowhere to go, no way to shut out the ideas, or even slow them, as they sunk deeper and deeper, spread further and further in her mind. No way to fight the gentle, slippery hum.

Slowly, she felt her body stop straining against the wall, every muscle slowly going limp in the restraints. There was no choice, no boundary to break. Control just slipped away. And even as she realized this, her mind followed. Heavier and warmer, duller and slicker. Until all the fight slid away, out into nothing. Every muscle loose, every thought limp. Every part of her warm, relaxed, obedient. The warmth pressed her eyes open. She saw the book, hovering in front of her, waiting. She smiled slightly. She was ready.

As she watched, it opened.

Lines danced on the page. Always shifting, re-arranging. At first they looked like a maze, and Twilight's obedient gaze traced a path through the churning passages, deeper and deeper to the center. But the further she delved, the larger the pattern grew. Focusing, she pressed further, deeper, and the maze kept twisting on, growing, spreading outward.

She suddenly realized the room was gone. Haze was gone. The pattern filled her field of view, flexing and turning in all directions. But she pressed forward, deeper, further. She had to find the center. The words had said so. The words still said so. She worked deeper and deeper in, toward the center now of not a circle, but a sphere. Deeper and deeper, and things grew darker, even as the edges grew clearer and sharper.

Deeper and deeper, and the pleasant hum had become a howling now, like wind against sea cliffs, like wind racing down a mountain.

Deeper and deeper until all was pitch black, midnight black, empty black. But in front of her, she could feel the center. Feel that she had arrived. She reached out a hoof. She was standing, now, the restraints gone, everything gone, just her and the center, the dark endpoint of the pattern. She reached out-

And touched it.

The howling stopped, dropping away into deathly silence. In the darkness she could see the pattern all around her, but not a maze now. Shapes weaving in and out, sharp, vicious thorny tendrils woven thick, not moving now, still. It was lighter now, just light enough to see the nest of tangled shapes around her, to see the slight hints of light outside. And to see something in front of her.

Tendrils rose from the floor, twisting and twitching angrily, weaving themselves together, weaving into something. Something that stepped toward her. Or seemed to. It looked like it had four legs, a head, maybe even something that could be a tail. Occasionally, when the writhing black lines formed just right, it almost resembled a pony. But then the lines would start to fight each other again, and the suggestion of a shape would collapse back into its vague mass. Whatever it was, it WAS stepping closer now. Right up to her. Looking down at her, a good foot taller than her.

Bending down.

Twilight couldn't move. She wanted to move, wanted to run, but she couldn't.

Smiling. Or something that looked like a smile.

She couldn't move, she couldn't move.

Pressing closer.

Helpless, frozen. Helphelphelp-

And then Twilight felt the thing press against her. Against her lips. It was horribly cold, and sharp, like hundred knives all with the flats turned toward her and the terrifying implication that they might turn to their edges at any moment.

Terror flooded Twilight, icy cold. Can't move, can't escape. Can't move.

She felt a different cold start to spread through her. Not the coldness of fear, or winter. The coldness of death. The cold that was left when all the heat and vitality slipped away, never to return. It started in her lips, then her face, her head. Then slowly down her back, her chest, her legs. Shivering, shaking, all the while the twisting, angry mass still pressed against her. Farther and farther, colder and colder until the last bit of warmth drained from her tail, and the thing pulled back. Smiled again.

All of Twilight's being was screaming. No sound could come now, but she was screaming, with every inch of her mind, her heart, her magic. The thing smiled wider, with that sharp, cold smile, black pits in its head staring down at her. And as Twilight looked into them, she realized the scream was the last thing she had. The last bit of warmth.

It started to waver, weaken. The thing kept smiling. Twilight could feel the scream slip inside her, pull, tumble- and it was gone. Inside the terrible thing, slight shimmers of purple could be seen, tangled in the thorny mass. It's sharp tendrils pushed at them, tugged, stabbed, crushed. Until at last it was finished.

Until at last the thing bent down again, kissing Twilight, letting the shimmering essence back into her.

Twilight blinked.

The terrible thing stared back.

Twilight screamed.

Really screamed now. Long and hard. Until there was no more air to scream with. Until her head spun, her legs gave out. And she collapsed, falling into darkness again.

Twilight felt wood under her. Her tongue was numb. For a moment, she stayed where she lay, letting the room around her fade in. Still the basement. She couldn't see Haze. Or Stormy.

Cautiously, she tilted her head slightly, eyes scanning the room. Finally she saw Haze, his back to her. Beyond him were the stairs. Twilight felt herself shiver, a bit of that horrible cold still lingering. She tried to focus, quickly weighing her options. Whatever was going on here, it was out of her power to control now, especially in her current state. The best she could hope for now was to disable Haze and get away, come back with help. She closed her eyes and waited.

Eventually she heard hoofsteps coming back to her. Closer, closer. When they were on top of her, she made her move. Rolling on to her back she gave a hard kick up. Right between Haze's rear legs.

She was rewarded with a satisfying yell from the unicorn as he collapsed onto the floor beside her. Springing to her hooves, Twilight hit him with the strongest confusing spell she could manage and bolted for the stairs. Ten yards, five, two-

Magic circled around her feet, drawing tight, and she tumbled to the the floor. Her mind raced as she tried to free her legs. Had the confusion spell not hit? Was she still too weak? Suddenly she realized something was wrong with the counterspells, the ones that should have freed her by now.

They weren't happening. At all.

Was the limiter ring still on? She couldn't move her hoofs, but she could roll her horn against the floor to see if- Her eyes went wide. Her horn was gone.

She felt herself plucked off the floor by the restraints, forced into a sitting position. Haze stepped out of the darkness, smiling. Twilight glared back. "You took my magic."

He grinned. "Not just took. Haven't you looked at the restraining spell Twilight?"

She looked down. The glowing cuffs around her wrists and ankles were...purple. A very familiar shade.

"Took and kept. I think I'll make better use of it. Let me show you-"

She saw the magic flash this time, unmistakably purple around his horn, then yelped as it hit, a painful jolt sparking between her legs.

He laughed, slowly circling her. "Better already." Twilight followed him with her eyes, trying to stay calm. "So what now?"

He finished the circle, back in front of her. "Now we finish you. And thanks to this-" he held a hoof to the purple magic glowing on his horn "There are so many possibilities." He closed his eyes a moment, thinking. Searching. Until he gave an awful laugh. "Yes, this will work."

Worry spread over Twilight's face as he stepped closer. "What are you-"

"You'll see."

Leaning forward, he held Twilight's head in his hooves, and started to cast. Twilight offered no immediate resistance, but as the spell started to sink into her her eyes went wide in recognition. "No-"

"No what Twilight?"

She only glared at him. The magic burrowing into her skull now was an interrogation spell, crafted at some point in Equestria's dark past. Abandoned by its creators because it was better at destruction than information gathering. The idea was to break down the victim's 'spirit', all the positive mental forces they could wield. Hope, willpower, love, confidence, identity. All the things that kept a mind going and held it together. If the mind was a safe, all the usual brainwashing and mind-altering spells tried to get at secrets by finessing out the combination, or drilling past the lock, or somehow coaxing it open. This spell didn't waste time. It just melted the safe completely, in the hopes that the caster could pull something useful from the steaming slag that was left.

Unfortunately, the spell only worked about half the time. Skill, mental strength and health were all unstable elements, and in the end there was often little left but mental wreckage. The spell had moved from interrogation to torture, and then been forgotten by all but the secret archives in Canterlot. Twilight had learned it defensively, so she could fight it if she had to. Even in training, it had been a hard spell to fight. Now, with no magic, she was helpless. A rabbit staring at a boulder tumbling down at it.

She shivered at the implications, involuntarily tugging at her restraints as the spell worked its way in. She kept glaring, but even as she did she knew it was pointless. There was no escaping this now, even if she could run. Her training had made her keenly aware of how the spell worked. Once it took hold, as it already had, it would keep on its task, deeper and deeper, until the caster called it off. She was already doomed, but was going to hold off admitting it for as long as she could.

Twilight winced as she felt the spell finally grip her mind and start to tighten. That was most of what it was designed to do, just grasp the outer shell, the mental defenses, and tighten, harder and harder, like a vice. Until things started to break.

As she twisted helplessly against the magic holding her in place, she felt the spell start to squeeze. Not physical like a headache, but mental, like all her thoughts, all her mental energy was being strained, pushed farther and farther. Harder and harder, tighter and tighter until something snapped. Some little piece collapsed against the strain. That DID hurt. A lot. Twilight yelped as the jab of pain hit her, followed by a brief, sickening wave of dread as the broken piece of her mind yielded what it had been defending.

"Enjoying yourself Twilight?" Haze mocked, adjusting the magic slightly.

She stayed silent, but there was no glaring now, just a look of dread. The bravado was gone. The feeling of that piece of her mind snapping, dissolving had shaken her. It had always been muted with her own magic as a defense, but now, full force, it was a sickening lurch. And that was just the first piece.

Another snapped. And another. Twilight jolted a little with each, fear and pain etching deeper and deeper on her face.

The spell kept tightening. Her mind kept collapsing, piece by piece, block by block. Her surroundings started to blur, sound and light still there, but less and less distinct. She realized there were tears running down her cheeks. She couldn't remember when that had started.

She tried to focus, tried to hold together. But it was so strong, so painful and every collapse made the dread stronger, made her feel more and more disoriented and overwhelmed.

She was quietly sobbing now. Shaking. Her head was burning. It was so hard to think, so hard to think.

She felt something shift. Accelerate. Oh Celestia, it was speeding up. Her eyes widened. This had always been the point the training had stopped at, the point of no return. She knew what was coming next.

"Please, please no. Don't..."

The pleading wasn't for Haze. She wasn't even aware he was there anymore. It was just a plea for help. A plea to make the pain stop.

The spell crushed tighter. Twilight gave a terrified gasp. That was all it had needed. With that last press, the snapping, grinding collapse of her mind snowballed, until it fell into a constant cascade of destruction.

Twilight screamed, thrashing in the restraints like a wild animal. A torrent of destruction poured through her, memories flashing and vanishing in an instant, a pony with a stetson, an alicorn teaching magic, a levitating egg, stacks of books, pancakes, her first crush, her first book, her first letter. All gone. All ground up and thrown away.

Her vision glowed purple. She shook like a current was going through her, her screams vibrating with her body. She couldn't feel the collapse any more, just the raw pain and fear. More than she had ever known was possible. More than she had ever thought she could survive.

And then it stopped.

Her body collapsed, free from the restraints, to sprawl on the floor. Twitching slightly. Gasping for air as if she had been drowning. Sobbing, but in relief now. And gasping something between the sobs, slurred and mangled.

"anythingatall"

Haze leaned over the crumpled pony "What was that?"

"Anything at all, do anything at all, no more, won't fight, good pony, will do anything at all, no more-"

Haze smiled. "Good." And stood. "But I'm not done yet."

Twilight's eyes went wide.

"Nononononnooooo!"

The spell tightened around her mind again.

Everything hurt. Everything hurt so bad.

There was a hoof stroking. Stroking over her mane. That felt nice. She smiled.

Slowly her eyes drifted open. She was looking up. A dusty brown unicorn was sitting behind her, looking down at her. Her head was in
his lap. It felt nice.

"Hello." He said, smiling.

"Hello." She replied softly, smiling back. She gazed up at him a moment. "Your hoof feels nice."

He smiled. "Thanks."

She shifted up, a little farther into his lap. "What's your name?"

"Haze." He said, still stroking. "What's yours?"

Her eyes narrowed at this, thinking. "I...I don't know."

"Well, where are you from?"

"I...can't remember?"

"Friends? Family?"

She shook her head. "I can't-"

He grasped her head, gently tilting her gaze back up to him. "Would you like to?"

She paused a moment, then nodded. "Yes."

"Good." He pulled her up a little further, until she was sitting in his lap, leaning back against him. "You need to do exactly as I
say though, or it won't work. Understand?" She nodded.

"Good." He gave her flank a gentle stroke. "Spread your legs."

She did, spreading her legs until they rested against his. She felt herself blush, but wasn't sure why.

"Well done." His hoof traced down her belly, sliding between her legs to stroke at her sex.

"Wha-what are you?"

"It's part of the process. You said my hoof felt good, didn't you."

"Yes." She murmured.

"Does it still feel good?" He gave a teasing twist.

"Yes!" She gasped.

"Then relax. Relax, and listen. You won't be able to understand at first, but don't worry. You will
in time."

As his hoof continued its work, he lowered his mouth to her ear, and began to speak. Just as he said, the words made no sense to her, they seemed jumbled and confused. But his hoof did feel good. Soothing. She relaxed against him. Relaxed and listened. And drifted...

"Hey."

"Hey!"

She blinked. She had lost track of time somehow. The unicorn wasn't speaking the strange words anymore.

"You stopped?"

"Almost done." He replied. She realized her head felt strange. Full, somehow. And her body felt warm. Flushed.

"Are you ready to remember?" He asked. She nodded. "Good. Hold on."

She was about to ask why when his hoof started to move between her legs again, firm and very, very quick, back and forth against her. She gasped, moaned as a wonderful wave of pleasure washed over her, then another happy moan of gratitude as it receded. She looked up to thank the unicorn, but before she could she felt something turning in her mind, thoughts swirling, coming together, slipping into place until the whole thing settled, setting like concrete into one solid whole.

She blinked.

She remembered.

She blushed, hurriedly pulling herself from the unicorn's lap and pressing herself to the floor, head against his hoof.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I didn't, I'm sorry-"

The unicorn tilted her head up to face him, smiling.

"It's OK. You didn't know. But now you do. Don't you?" She nodded.

"Good. Stand."

Shakily she rose, and as she did he did as well, stepping back to sit in a wide, cushioned chair behind him. He tapped the floor in front of the chair.

"Sit." She did, stepping up the chair and sitting at his feet. "Now, tell me what you remember. Where are you?"

"The basement of the Golden Oak Library in Ponyville."

"What is your name?"

"s-Scrap. Scrap Paper."

"Why is that your name, and your mark?"

She glanced down to her flank, and a cutie mark of three simple blank pages greeting her gaze. "Because I'm useful, but disposable."

He nodded. "What are you Scrap?"

"A slave."

"And what am I?"

"My owner and Master." She gave a slight bow with her head as she said this.

"And why are you my slave, Scrap?"

"Because it's the proper place for me."

"And why is that?"

She blushed a little. "Because my nature is to serve, please, and obey."

"And how do you know that that's true?"

"Because I love to be of service. More than anything in the world."

He laughed, spreading his legs to show her his length, full and waiting. He gestured her forward with his hoof.

"Show me. Come and serve slave."

Smiling gratefully, she nodded, leaning forward. She reached out, tenderly grasping his length in her hooves, shivering at its warmth. Slowly, she started to stroke, both hooves together up and down the sides, smiling as the deep black cock grew even stiffer under her touch. She smiled up at him, keeping his gaze as she lower her head to nuzzle teasingly at the underside as the hooves worked, stroking, teasing. This close, she could smell him, deep and musky, and it was suddenly harder to keep up the slow, teasing pace.

At the first bead of precum she started to lick, using her hooves to pull the cock down a little, angling it toward her tongue so she could lap and curl over the hot skin, first the head, then gradually down the whole underside in long, slow drags until finally she was lapping at his balls. She moaned happily as his taste hit her tongue, salty and slick, stroking and licking deeper, teasing more pre from him.

She felt her Master's hoof on her mane, and looked up, lips still pressed against his balls.

"How does it feel to serve again slave?"

Not breaking her gaze for a moment, she shifted her posture slightly as she sat, spreading her legs so her Master could see her sex, slick with arousal and dripping onto the floor.

"Better than anything in the world." She replied with utter sincerity. He laughed. "Then finish your work."

She nodded. Her head rose, lips pressing against his tip, then slipping over it, over and slowly down, her head sinking into his lap. She came back up and started a rhythm, quick and eager, steady bobs up and down, up and down, with a hungry look up at him every so often.

He was starting to groan now, louder as she worked faster and faster in his lap, hooves teasing the base as her mouth worked the rest. A little deeper, a little faster. She could feel him against the back of her throat, feel the pre running thick, feel him start to twitch against her tongue.

And then he was over, cumming with a satisfied groan. She moaned happily as his spunk rushed into her mouth, hit the back of her throat, rolled down her tongue, hot and salty. She swallowed every drop, still rising and falling in his lap until he was spent, then gently licking him clean as his length retreated back into his lap.

When he was finally clean, she shuffled back slightly, pressing her head to the floor, flank held high behind her. Reverently, she pressed her lips to his hoof, kissing, then licking.

"Service is joy."

Then the other hoof, a kiss and a lick.

"Service is peace."

Closing her eyes, she rested her head against his hoof, gently nuzzling like an affectionate dog to its owner.

"I will serve my master with joy, and be at peace"

His hoof pressed against her mane, gently stroking. It felt fantastic.

"Welcome back slave."

"Thank you Master." She replied, voice cracking with gratitude. "Thank you so much."

They were at the desk again. Scrap was bent over it, front hooves grasping the far edge, tail raised over her back, legs spread wide. She felt him press up against her, his length hot against her ass, and shivered in anticipation. She felt him lean over her, front hooves next to hers. Length stroking, grinding, teasing. She rolled her hips, quietly begging. He made her beg louder, and she obeyed, smiling as she pleaded for his cock with the most obscene words she could manage. He kept teasing, grinding, stroking until she was moaning and twisting under him, clawing at the desk with need.

And then he took her.

His head pressed inside her. She gave a happy moan as he finally entered and slowly sunk into her, thick and hot and wonderful. Teasing every inch, deeper and deeper until he was all the way in. Scrap groaned as she felt his balls against her sex, loving the realization that every inch of him was buried in her now almost as much as the feeling of it. He held there for a moment, just his breath and hers, both ragged, eager.

Scrap heard a quiet thump in front of her on the table and looked up to see an old, thick book. She didn't recognize it. He spread it as she watched, flicking through the pages, but from this angle, head to the table, all she could see was the edge. But it didn't matter. She only had a moment to ponder the book before she felt him pull back and begin to thrust.

Scrap gave a deep, feral groan. There was no gentleness to his motions, the movement of her Master's hips was hard, deep and savage. And that was EXACTLY what she wanted. What she needed. She was ready for it, Her "readiness" was dripping down the edge of the table and pooling on the floor, and she needed it so, so badly. There was no resistance, no pain. Just the rough, raw satisfaction of being
pounded like an animal in rut.

Slowly, she felt magic twist its way through her. Her magic, or what had been hers. Up through her body and out to the book. But there was no change she could feel, other than that everything she was feeling felt even better, even more vivid. She groaned under him, tongue hanging from her mouth as she started to feel a little overwhelmed by the pleasure. He pulled her back as he took her,
shifting the angle and for just a moment she could see the strange book, could see something on the page. It looked like some kind of maze, with Ponyville in the middle. Before she could think about it much, her Master pressed her head back to the table and it was out of view again, forgotten amidst the pleasure of her Master's cock.

She moaned and gasped as he pressed her into the table, faster now, harder. So happy. So content. This was purpose, this was meaning, this was fantastic! At last the pleasure pushed her over the edge and she came, grabbing the table for dear life, every muscle tight, then suddenly loose. Gasping, panting. Slowly coming down. She looked back at her Master.

"T-thank you m-" He gave another thrust, and came himself. And as the thick, hot liquid filled her Scrap froze mid-sentence, another orgasm rolling through her at the wonderful, unexpected warmth. And then another, and another, and another...

When he finally pulled out, Scrap was long past saying anything. She could only groan in exhausted pleasure. She shuddered a moment, and then her legs gave out and she slid off the table, collapsing onto the floor. Her face looked like she had found all of the most "special" plants in the Everfree and eaten them all at once; tongue lolling over a stupid smile, eyes distant and happy. Everything felt utterly amazing. Her muscles were all limp now; the most she could do was lay where she fell and give a pathetic, bleating moan of contentment.

Out of the corner of her eye Scrap could see Haze lift a quill to the book, writing something. She thought, for a moment, that she should be interested in this for some reason. She laughed at this, or tried to. What would a slave need with magic? She had all the "magic" she needed in her three holes and her teasing hooves. Anything else was best left to others. Her place was to lay here in the afterglow, feeling her Master's warm, wonderful seed inside her, slowly running down her thighs, and know that she was useful. Nothing could be better than this. Nothing could be better than serving her purpose. Nothing could be better than serving Him.

She rubbed her legs together, giving a soft sigh as she felt his warmth between them. She was so happy to be here. She hoped she could serve for a long, long time.