The house was oddly quiet without anypony else in it. One by one, her friends had left as the morning had passed, Applejack returning to help out her family, Pinkie to work on a cake, Fluttershy to feed her menagerie, and even Rainbow Dash had weather duties to attend to.

That was fine. The whole point of loosening the grip of the magic over them was to let them tend to the things that mattered to them. She wanted friends who happened to be willing to give her their bodies and obedience, not puppets that were incapable of making their own decisions or having their own desires.

Well. Nearly all the time, that was what she wanted. If she wanted to have a room full of mindless sex toys occasionally, that wasn't wrong.

For a while, it had been just her and Spike. He'd not asked any questions about the others staying over, as she'd intended; it just didn't seem important or unusual to him. He hadn't gone into the guest bedroom, either. Hadn't so much as glanced at the door. It troubled her, a little, seeing the evidence of the compulsion she'd laid on him. It didn't look right on someone that young. But she couldn't explain, and she couldn't hide it from him, not when he lived with her. So that was all she could do. It had been something of a relief when he'd decided to go out, though he had been gone for a little longer than she'd expected. It was getting dark out.

Finally, a knock at the door, followed by the latch lifting. Twilight's shoulders loosened as she relaxed. "It's about time you were home, Spike. Did you enjoy your walk?" She glanced around.

Celestia was standing in the doorway.

Do not panic.

A moment of surprise was unmistakably on her face, but that was to be expected. With determined effort, she pictured the pony in the doorway as someone else. Her beloved sister-in-law, Cadence. The smile that came to her lips felt a little less forced.

"Oh! I had no idea you were coming to Ponyville! Please, come in. Can I make you some tea?" Jerking out of her chair, she turned to greet Celestia properly. Yes, this was good. The surprise could be natural. She was anxious, and eager to please. She had this.

Celestia studied her, with deep, knowing eyes. Finally, her lips parted. "I'm not here, Twilight."

Immediately, Twilight lost sight of her. Deep down, she knew that Celestia was still standing where she had been a second ago, but she couldn't convince her eyes. She had to be looking everywhere but directly at her mentor, and she couldn't convince herself of that, either.

Her heart hammering, Twilight tried to think of the appropriate response. Nothing came to mind. She couldn't let Celestia get any more suspicious! After standing in place for a moment, her expression blankly pleasant, Twilight turned around and settled back into her chair.

What was she here for? What was she going to do? Was this the start of another game? The ache of Celestia's presence, that simple and absolute knowledge that she was in the room with her, was almost unendurable. No commands had floated into her awareness; Celestia wasn't giving her orders. What was she doing?

Against her better judgement, Twilight willed herself to perceive Celestia once more.

Warm breath tingled on her ear. "...clever for such tricks, aren't you, my faithful student. You wouldn't be caught out so easily. I wonder if you are listening to me at this moment, understanding every word." Her laughter was soft, and gentle. It was a sound that had always soothed Twilight. Now, she desperately fought herself to stop it raising goosebumps of fear up her arms.

"You're going to have such an exciting time this evening, Twilight. Do you know what I'm about to say to you?"

She did. Fear sweat was beginning to prickle on her skin.

"It's time to prepare you. Awaken, Twilight."

-

"Good grief, I can breathe fire, Twilight! I'm daring, and brave! Sir Eireheart wasn't afraid of the dark!"

Catching him with one arm around his slim shoulders, Twilight ruffled his soft, flexible headspikes with her free hand. "Sir Eireheart didn't leave his jacket behind and stay out until after sundown in winter!"

"Twilight! I'm an adult!" Spike protested huffily, with all the offended dignity of a boy barely grazing his teens.

Twilight smiled contentedly as she released him. "Oh, I'm very sorry. But you still need to be home earlier next time, okay?"

"Fine, fine. It was pretty cold out, anyway." Spike moved around the room, snagging a stray blanket and some well-thumbed comic books as he set up an impromptu nest in one of the deepest chairs.

"Good. I've got to go out soon, and if you hadn't come back before I did, I'd have worried all evening."

Spike blinked, looking up. "Go out? Where would you go out to?"

"There's a dance on this evening. I felt like... well, going out! Meeting ponies!" Twilight blushed gently.

Spike gave her a sceptical look. "Okay, who are you, and what have you done with the real Twilight Sparkle?"

"Oh, Spike, it's not like I've never gone out dancing before."

"Twice. Ever."

"I have to get ready, or I'm going to be late. I've left out some things for dinner, and don't stay up too late if I stay out too long!"

"As if that's going to happen."

Twilight glanced at the clock. It was almost-

Massive doors flung open in her mind, memory bursting out in overwhelming waves. The facade of a Twilight who remembered nothing vanished, pushed aside by the vast realisation of the charm, everything it had wrought in her life, from the moment she first opened 'Peaceful Charms' to that afternoon, to the instant Celestia had said to her...

She'd been focused, and her protective measures had kicked in. She'd forgotten everything that could be a threat to Celestia, all the better to pretend her innocence. Now enough time had passed, and the countermeasure was ending. The pounding of memories and realisations was like a sudden headache, gripping her temples with vicelike pressure. She staggered, gripping the back of a chair. Her fingers dug into it roughly.

She looked up to see an expression of concern on Spike's face. "Uh, Twilight? Are you okay?"

Winching an expression of unconcern onto her face with painful effort, Twilight straightened. "Oh, I just tripped, that's all." After a moment, she added quickly, "Stubbed my toes. Ow. I'm going to go and get ready. Excuse me!"

Limping slightly, to sell the lie better - yet more lies! - she climbed the stairs. Safely out of sight, Twilight flattened against the wall and breathed deeply. She really had to change the way that safety measure worked. It was probably effective, it had triggered when it should have, and the timed recall was a success, but... ow. The memory release needed to be much, much gentler.

Pushing herself off the wall, Twilight entered her bedroom, and began sorting through her clothes absently. It was going to be hard to find a suitable outfit to go out dancing in, but a little skirt, a tight top, and she'd be most of the way there. There were some clothes she hadn't worn for a while that had grown a bit small, that would probably do.

Celestia had focused her. After teasing her. What did she want? What had she done? It didn't seem like she'd lost much time, between when Celestia had arrived at her door and when she remembered innocently trotting around the house and tidying, but her memories could have shifted. None of her thoughts were fully trustworthy.

All she knew were two things: that Celestia was playing some game of her own with her, and that something was probably going to happen tonight. The dance seemed like the most likely place for somepony to take her aside, to give her some perfectly innocent request, and it seemed a bit of a stretch that Celestia had just happened to come by on the one evening she'd been planning to go dancing.

She'd have to be on her guard, she told herself, as she admired her outfit in the mirror. A skinny white t-shirt with a colourful pink and purple star clung to her as if painted on, far too snug to wear a bra beneath it. Beneath that was the maroon skirt that had shrunk in the wash, baring the lower halves of her cutie marks, and a bright pink, sparkly pair of stockings that Pinkie had gotten her. Cutely casual white shoes with just a little heel rounded off the ensemble.

Wrapping a short black coat around her shoulders, Twilight abandoned the explosion of clothes littering her room to clean up later, and clattered down the stairs. Waving goodbye to Spike, she called out, "No late snacks!" to the incoherently spluttering dragon, and stepped out into the cool darkness.

Almost immediately, she found that her coat was a bit inadequate to keep the cold off, but a wave of her horn drew a cloak of warmth about her that held the chill breeze at bay. The streets were almost deserted, but she could hear the distant beat of music escaping the dance hall, and knew that Vinyl Scratch was already holding court in her very own kingdom. Coloured lights blinked through the windows as she pushed the door open, and slid inside.

Pausing only to hang up her coat in the hallway, alongside an eclectic collection of others, she stepped into the main dance hall. The chatter and laughter of dozens of ponies washed over her, underscored and half drowned out by the thudding beat that pounded from the grand speakers. There were Aloe and Lotus Blossom, Lyra and Bon Bon dancing together, and even Big Mac showing a range of flexibility that she honestly wouldn't have expected from the big stallion. She really had to defensively charm him so Celestia couldn't get anything out of him, but that would have to come later. It wasn't like she could speak to him now, anyway, not with Celestia lurking in the wings.

A shock of blue hair bobbed and weaved above the turntables. Reflective purple glasses flashed in the flickering lights. Twilight raised her hand cheerily in greeting as the crowd swirled around her, drawing her into the crush of ponies moving. A disbelieving grin crossed her face as she spotted a distinctive grey mane swinging back and forth, and made her way over to the gyrating mayor. The older mare wore a figure-hugging green dress, and was cutting a surprisingly energetic swathe through the crowd.

"Mayor Mare! You dance?" Twilight called above the noise of the crowd, moving up to dance with her.

The mayor shook her hips in a way that would have done credit to a pony half her age. Whatever age she actually was. "What?" she called back.

"You dance?" Twilight shouted.

"WHAT?"

"NEVER MIND!" Giggling to herself as she gave up, Twilight dropped into sync with the Mayor, tossing her mane and flicking her tail with each sway of her hips. As the songs chased themselves, one after another, and the crowd pressed more closely around each other, she began to relax and enjoy herself. Under the circumstances, she couldn't even hear anyone trying to give her a request anyway.

The thump of the music faded, and in the momentary lull before the next song, Twilight grinned at the mayor. "This is fun! I should come out like this more often!"

Any possible reply was forestalled by a new sound. A pulsing, thrumming note spilled from the speakers, sweeping across the hall and filling it end to end, rising and falling. As suddenly as it had began, silence fell, and the chatter of the ponies around her died away with it. An abrupt premonition made Twilight twist on her heel.

Vinyl was standing above the turntables, the impenetrable gaze of her purple glasses aimed directly at Twilight. Her hand slid over the turntable, flicking a switch. Distorted, fragmented words rang out, sliced together from syllables spoken in a dozen voices.

"This is a reasonable request for Twilight Sparkle: come on up! It's time for the special dance."

Rough-edged bass boomed from the speakers, and struck Twilight like a hammer blow. She felt the impact of each beat down to her bones, imagined her mane blown back by the impact, and helplessly, she felt her body react to it. All of a sudden, she was painfully aware of her sex, her skin tingling with new heat. Her nipples stiffened, achingly taut, poking through the thin cloth squeezing her breasts.

In seconds, her self control was torn to shreds, blasted from her mind by the bass line. Oh, she wanted to fuck. She wanted to rip off her clothes right then and there. Each note felt like her heart was beating in time.

Vinyl Scratch. Vinyl controlled the music. Vinyl controlled her arousal. She had to go to her.

It was Celestia's doing, of course. Twilight didn't care. Her lips parted, feeling the heat rising in her cheeks as she pushed carelessly through the crowd towards the DJ. A tiny, sane part of her mind tried to end the command to be more easily aroused while she was carrying out requests. It made no difference. She was in the grip of new orders, and she couldn't fight them.

Vinyl Scratch was so hot. Standing at the turntables, bent forward with her hands on the discs, Twilight could see her clearly now. A dark grey jacket, halfway unzipped, exposed smooth white cleavage beneath. Her tiny aqua shorts scarcely covered the curve of her ass, leaving her long thighs exposed. Each flick of her hands on the turntables twisted the music that thudded heavily through Twilight's body, jerking her this way and that as she swayed to a stop before Vinyl's deck.

Behind the reflective purple glasses, a glimpse of crimson eyes, hot and intent on Twilight.

Twilight felt herself arching her back, thrusting out her scantily-covered tits, rocking her hips from side to side with startling, blunt lewdness. Her body wasn't her own to control. Vinyl had her now, in the grip of the music, and she couldn't resist. Didn't want to resist. It felt too good.

Maybe this was how she lost. Not because she couldn't think of a way out, but because it just felt too good to even try. Her panties were damp against her skin. Her hands slid under her small breasts and cupped them through her t-shirt, offering them to the other pony. Twilight was surrounded by ponies, in one of the most public places in Ponyville, and she just didn't care. Let them watch. Let all of them see how horny she was.

Vinyl Scratch's hand moved to the zip of her jacket. Twilight swayed forward, urgent need on her face, wanting more than anything for the lithe DJ to strip. Coloured lights flashed on Vinyl's white skin, painting her a dozen flickering colours in quick succession. Gazing over her violet glasses at Twilight, Vinyl's red eyes met hers, and she slowly drew the zip down.

The jacket fell open, baring round, firm breasts with pale blue nipples. Silver bar piercings glinted in the shifting light. A rich shudder of arousal flashed through Twilight. She wanted, needed, to feel those pierced nipples between her lips, to explore them with her tongue.

Vinyl's hands danced over the turntables, her head keeping time with the beat without looking away from the transfixed pony in front of her. The music faded for a moment, and Twilight heard for the first time her own harsh, deep gasps of arousal. A solitary part of her struggled to think above the urge to mindlessly embrace the music, wondering if Celestia had focused everypony on the dance floor to ignore what was happening.

A slower, more sensual ripple of sound flowed out into the hush. A fresh urge rose in Twilight, irresistible, as the music sank into her body once again.

She had to strip. She had to give her body to Vinyl. She had to obey the music. The insistent thought should have alarmed her, even scared her, but it didn't. She'd always been aroused by watching a mare submit, and now, that mare was her. Leaning back, she gripped the bottom of her clinging t-shirt and slowly, inch by inch, lifted. Electricity tingled on her skin as she bared the bottom of her compact breasts, and her jutting nipples came into view. Tugging her top off entirely, she tossed it aside, and swung around to waggle her ass at Vinyl, at the luscious pony that controlled her.

She took in the rest of the dance floor in one sweeping glance. Lotus Blossom was stripping Aloe, as Aloe lustily caressed the other pony in return. Big Mac's broad, muscled body was on full display, as eager mares clustered half-naked around him. The Mayor caught her eye as she pulled down the neckline of her green dress. Everywhere, ponies were pulling off their clothes and each other's, grinding against each other eagerly. Moans and gasps ebbed and flowed in perfect counterpoint to each note.

She was screwed, Twilight thought distantly. Celestia had abandoned all restraint. Every pony in town was going to fuck, and perform for her entertainment, and there was nothing anypony could do to stop it.

She didn't care.

Flipping up her skirt, Twilight reached back and began spanking her ass with firm slaps, moaning jerkily with each blow. Losing felt so good! With a single swift tug, she yanked her panties down, exposing her glistening cunt, framing it with her hands. Spinning back around, she met Vinyl's eyes, thrilling at the way her body carried her without her consent.

Lifting a hand from the bank of switches and sliders, Vinyl beckoned. Twilight obeyed, dancing forward step by step, swaying her bare breasts enticingly. Inch by inch, a slave to the beat, she came closer.

The DJ's white hand caught her in the centre of the chest. Agile fingers danced over her bare skin, twisting and flicking each of her nipples in turn, prompting a gasping groan of relief and need that only Twilight heard, lost in the torrent of sound. Vinyl's fingers described a half turn in the air, and without really understanding what she was doing, Twilight turned. An instant of pressure on her lower back guided her down, and she found herself bent over the console, her bared ass in the air.

Turning her head as far as she could, she caught a glimpse of the aqua shorts kicked to one side. An instant later, she felt the soft heat of Vinyl's thighs press against hers, warm breasts flattening against her back. Each pulse of the speakers rolled through her body, her hips jerking back against Vinyl in time. The other pony's hands danced over the turntables, the clean blue glow of her magic flicking switches and adjusting sliders.

Finally, fingers slid between her legs, and smoothly stroked up her molten cunt, smearing her wetness across her skin. Twilight gasped sharply, into an instant's break in the music that let the note of arousal carry over the moans and cries filling the dance hall, then her eyes rolled up as Vinyl's agile hand began flicking and stroking her in time with the accelerating beat. Everypony was fucking, and licking, and kissing. A sea of nude, writhing bodies filled the hall, and she was above them, separate from them. She was Vinyl's; another instrument to be played, another piece of equipment to be controlled. It was unbearably erotic, and the shattered fragments of her reason couldn't help but lose themselves in how perfect, how sensual it was to be so utterly overcome.

A hand gripped her shoulder, and without resistance, Twilight turned onto her back to behold Vinyl, nude and perfect. Her lips parted, trembling with helpless lust, Twilight managed to whisper, "I need to cum, I need to cum!" and despite the maelstrom of sound breaking around them, Vinyl nodded as though she'd heard clearly. Vinyl's hand slid under Twilight's neck and pulled her up, leaning forward to crush the DJ's pierced tits against her face.

Caught in frenzied kissing and licking, tugging on the piercings with her teeth, Twilight began to lose track of the touches to her body, to the way fingers danced over her cunt. Her orgasm hit home as a hammer blow of pleasure, cresting in time with a thundering climax that shook the floor and thrummed in her very bones. Vinyl's body quaked with hers, the other pony biting down hard on her lower lip as she jerked and writhed in shared release.

The world was overwhelming; sound and touch and pleasure so great Twilight felt as though she were being smashed into pieces. The music swelled to a final, booming crescendo, and dropped into dead silence.

The only sound was her harsh breathing, and that of the pony standing between her splayed legs.

The only sound.

Pure, crystal awareness seeped into her mind, like a chill liquid, as the tide of overwhelming lust drained away. It felt like waking up from a dream, as though a warm fog of need and submissive acceptance had died with the final note, leaving only a crack-hiss of static at the edge of her thoughts. Tilting her head back, as though letting herself relax after the exertion she'd just put herself through, Twilight took a quick, upside-down glance at the dance floor.

Empty. Absolutely empty. There wasn't another pony in the hall.

There had never been another pony in the hall. Just her, and Vinyl.

And Celestia, of course. Twilight couldn't see her, but for all she knew, she was staring right at her. There was no way her mentor would have set up such an elaborate scene and not stayed to watch it. Though, now she thought of it, Twilight knew she was meant to be in the middle of a request. Everything had to be rationalised away, or its strangeness ignored. Why, it would only be strange to Twilight, Twilight could only realise what had been done to her, if she'd been tampering with the commands Celestia had laid on her.

Like a cat, with a mouse.

Sweat cooling on her body, coloured brightly by the silently flashing lights, Twilight looked back up at Vinyl. "I really enjoyed dancing with you, Vinyl! I've never had a dance like that before."

Vinyl Scratch stepped back, grinning at Twilight, and flicked her a casual thumbs up. Her horn lit blue, and the speakers crackled, before declaring, "R-r-r-request over!"

Twilight blinked twice, as innocently as she could manage. "Oh, is the dance done for tonight? I'd better get dressed and go home, Spike will be worrying." Throwing her arms around Vinyl, she squeezed the other mare tightly, then stepped back and picked up her panties, smoothing her skirt back into place.

Moments later, she was dressed and outside, fleeing at the quickest walking pace she dared.

She had to get to Trixie. Not tonight, when Celestia might be lurking, but in the morning. She had to make sure that there wasn't a single command left in her mind that might betray her. She had to be certain that she could chose to perceive Celestia again, and be aware of her when she was present. More than that; she had to step up the risks she was prepared to take. Celestia's games were getting out of control, and they were going to end with Twilight's direct and total enslavement.

The list of preparations she still had to undertake was worryingly long. She had to hurry.

-

Rainbow Dash lounged in a way that cats would envy, and most ponies would injure themselves trying to emulate. Her back arched over the seat of the chair she was occupying, upside down. Her arms and legs lay akimbo, casually sprawled left and right. One hand propped up a comic against the floor, upside down to match her pose, which she was half-reading as she nodded off.

She was lying in her own apartment, messy, bedecked with posters and trophies. She'd done good work clearing the sky that morning, and now she was due a rest if she felt like one. A dozen naps a day were the natural born right of a flier like herself, she concluded, and no pony could tell her otherwise. They didn't have to keep up the incredible amount of energy it took to maintain a level of awesome that other ponies simply didn't have the skill or stamina to match.

Stamina. Rainbow grinned as she played through her recently-recovered memories once again, clearer and sharper than her often hazy recollections. It was impossible not to dwell on the sights and sounds, the moans and gasps, the naked bodies. She'd had sex with Applejack! Several times! She'd been fucked by Twilight, who'd seen that coming? Rainbow snorted her amusement at her own pun.

She let go of the comic book, letting it slump to the floor, and ran one hand over her stomach, up to squeeze one of her compact breasts. So maybe she'd been getting off on that a lot lately. A dozen orgasms a day could be the natural right of a flier, too...

A firm knock sounded at her door. Rainbow released her breast, and let her hand fall to the floor with a thud. "Oh, come on!" she protested to no one in particular. "A dozen times, minimum! You've got to at least give me time for a few!"

The knock came again. Rolling her eyes, Rainbow twisted upright and lowered her feet to the floor. "Sure, sure, I'm coming. Or not," she groused, as she crossed to the door.

Meanwhile, below and to the south-east of Cloudsdale, brilliant sunshine beat down on Ponyville, bringing warmth to the autumn afternoon. Beams of sunlight sparkled and danced through the delicately-wrought windows of the Carousel Boutique, filling the interior with tiny rainbows.

Rarity moved indecisively about her shop, fussily shifting a coil of cloth that she'd been working with further out of the path of the advancing sun. To most ponies, there was nothing amiss about her. She'd spoken briskly but warmly to her visitors, teasing out their desires and hopes, then fulfilling them in elegantly-cut fabric. She was nothing but pleasant, charming, and graceful. They did not see, as she saw each time she moved before a mirror, the faint haggardness to her expression, the traces of lost sleep around her eyes, or the subtle lifelessness of her mane.

The ponies that might have noticed such things were exactly the ones she wasn't ready to see.

A knock came at the door. Another customer, surely. That was good.

"Keeping busy! That's the thing," she reassured her reflection, and stepped towards the door.

Across two towns, two doors opened at the same moment.

-Rainbow blinked. Standing outside, her feet resting lightly on the puffy white cloud, was Twilight. The unicorn spoke bluntly, without preface.

"I need the Wonderbolts, Rainbow. I want them all, and you are going to get them for me."

-Rarity blinked. Standing outside, her hood drawn back, stood Zecora, her brown travelling cloak flapping about her in the breeze. A stark, intense look was in Zecora's eyes, and as they met hers, Rarity felt her expression freeze.

"I witnessed your flight, from her door at night. You and I must speak of Twilight."

Author's Notes:

I really love the design of Vinyl Scratch. Also, the manure is really hitting the windmill now.

Proofed by the splendiferous Setokaiva, who I praise with alliteration.