Twilight Sparkle regained consciousness in much the same way as she had lost it, in a swirl of colour and sound. The alicorn raised her head and saw that she was lying on a richly appointed bed, covered in soft cream coloured cushions. Soft harp music accompanied by gentle bird song came through diaphanous curtains that were in every colour of the rainbow. They surrounded the bed’s perimeter, walling it off in ramparts of colour as they diffused the outside light through them. Twilight rolled over her back to look toward the source of the music and something pulled at her neck as she did so.

She stopped in her roll, lying on her back and her questing hoof traced out the solid torus of a collar around her throat. As far as Twilight could tell by feel, the collar had neither hinge nor lock, and was a single solid piece of material. A light chain had been looped around the collar leading toward the headboard of the bed, which is what had pulled against Twilight’s movement. Surprisingly though, the leash was simply clipped on and it was the work of a moment to detach it. As she put the chain down however, it jangled and chimed and the soft music cut off as if somepony had thrown a switch.

Moments later a shadow began to gently make its way through the layers of curtains around the bed, and Twilight began to roll herself to her hooves. As she did so though, she was slowed by an odd weight and fullness in her lower belly. Some instinct she did not recognize told her to stop her motion once she had made it to her side, and Twilight decided to listen to it. As Twilight lay there the last curtains were pushed aside by the approaching figure and the shadow resolved itself into the alabaster and indigo form of Rarity.

“Good morning, My Princess,” Rarity said, bowing low to Twilight. “Your servant hopes you had a pleasant rest.”

Twilight looked at her friend in both shock and amazement. She had always known that her fashionista friend was beautiful, in an academic sense, but she had never been the target of that beauty. This time Twilight very much was the complete and total focus of Rarity and it took her breath away, and Twilight made her eyes catalog everything she was seeing in an attempt to overcome the effect her friend was having on her.

Rarity’s blue eyes looked up at Twilight through a translucent white veil which was held up by a whisker thin silver chain going up into her mane. That mane was a work of art, holding the balance between erotically mussed and celibate sophistication. About her body, Rarity wore a harness made of strips of silk in various shades of blue, indigo and purple. More silken strips criss-crossed their way down each of Rarity’s limbs, ending at a cuff above each hoof. Combined, the harness and limb strips served to accentuate and highlight each subtle movement of the unicorn as she held her subservient position before Twilight.

Even the mere act of breathing caused the costume about Rarity’s body to ripple and shimmer with shades of colour and Twilight found her eyes were being naturally drawn to Rarity’s rump. For there, the unicorn’s tail stood fully raised, with the dock forced nearly vertical by a rounded silver cuff clasped around it. A cuff that bore the six pointed lilac star emblem of Twilight Sparkle.

“Is everything alright, Princess?” Rarity asked, shifting her rear weight from side to side and causing her tail to flag back and forth as she did so. “The doctor said your morning sickness should be gone by this point in your pregnancy.”

“My preg—” Twilight began, then stopped herself as she put a hoof on her belly. Now she knew why her instincts had screamed at her to stop her roll to her stomach and why her belly felt heavy and slow. She, Twilight Sparkle, was pregnant.

“Would my princess like something to drink?,” Rarity asked, lifting her chin to look up at a completely confused Twilight from her low position beside the bed. “There is some chilled mango juice waiting for you.”

“Rarity, I—” Twilight began, her already stuttering mental processes slamming to a halt as her mind tried to reconcile the sensual vision before her with the polite and proper savvy mare she knew.

Rarity half rose from her kneeling pose beside the bed with subtle, sultry grace and as she did the motion showed off a tight collar against the white fur of her throat. Made of a single piece of amethyst crystal that glowed with an inner fire, the collar was not just an object of bondage, but also served as an elegant piece of jewelry that enhanced Rarity’s beauty to something nearly god-like.

“You need not say anything more, my princess,” Rarity said, drawing close to Twilight in a rustle of silks. “I am your body servant, in all things. Let my body serve you again, my Crystal Princess.” Rarity took another step forward and Twilight only had enough time to register the feel of Rarity’s fragrant breath against her muzzle, before the unicorn crossed the last inches of space between them, and sealed her lips to Twilight’s in a passionate kiss.

Twilight had always suspected that Rarity would be a good kisser. Rarity was a mistress of all the social skills, and Twilight had theorized that kissing would have a language all its own. Twilight was not prepared for the tangled weave of emotions the kiss was evoking in her, however. Desire, apprehension, confusion, and even traces of lust all merged themselves into a warm ball of heat that settled into her chest. Twilight knew that there were questions she should be asking, concerns she should be having, but they seemed distant and unimportant.

As the kiss went on Twilight let herself respond in kind. Rarity had always been a dear friend and whatever else was going on, she was obviously willing, and able… oh, so able, to bring pleasure to Twilight. Twilight had envied her friend’s beauty often. Her trim flanks, her elegant mane, her tidy fetlocks. Twilight had seen how those qualities, and others, blended together into a sleek, desirable package that drew stallions to Rarity like bees to nectar. Twilight had sometimes wondered what it would be like to feel that desire, to taste that honey, and now with a single kiss, Rarity was raising that desire in Twilight.

“Rarity, I —” Twilight began, as she lay back on her side, breaking the kiss, but wanting more.

“Rarity?” the alabaster mare said, cocking her head. “I’m so happy you chose to use my name, princess. Allow me to serve you some more while you describe what you like about your servant.” Rarity began to slowly run a line of kisses along the underside of Twilight’s jaw, then down the side of her neck.

“Your… your coat. I’ve always admired how you can keep such a white coat so clean,” Twilight moaned as the kisses slowly trailed down her ribcage. Some part of her noticed that her words were echoing oddly, but it was another unimportant concern to her. All Twilight cared about were the blissful sensations Rarity’s skilled tongue and mouth were creating in her.

“Thank you, my mistress,” Rarity said, pausing just above Twilight’s teats and now fully straddling the supine alicorn. “What do you like about the colour of my mane and tail?”

“Oh, Rarity,” Twilight said, her eyes half-lidded in pleasure as the alabaster mare resumed her ministrations, circling and lapping at Twilight’s nipples. “That mane of yours, that incred… ah… ble indigo mane of yours. I could bury myself in it forever.” Golden sparks of pleasure were shooting up and down Twilight’s spine now as Rarity continued to tease and nibble and suck on Twilight’s sensitive parts.

“Would Mistress like to taste her servant while she serves your holiest place?” Rarity asked, and she lowered her rump so that her glistening outer lips were positioned in easy reach of Twilight’s tongue.

From this viewpoint Twilight could see that the tail cuff also connected rigidly to a glowing, twitching plug lodged firmly in Rarity’s ass. The scent of vanilla filled Twilight’s nose and she recognized it as the scent of Rarity’s arousal and desire. The plug had obviously been working its magic in Rarity for quite some time. Twilight couldn’t resist the temptation or the sensations rising in her, and she parted Rarity’s outer lips with her tongue, stroking the sensitive inner petals and tasting the leaking nectar from Rarity’s core.

“My Princess,” Rarity cooed, arching her back in pleasure, which had the side effect of dipping her rump even closer toward Twilight, who took full advantage by driving her tongue deep into Rarity’s core.

Sweet Celestia, Twilight thought, feeling Rarity’s walls clench around her. She really does taste like marshmallows.

“Please, princess, grant your servant one favour,” Rarity begged, as a delicate shudder passed through her. “Tell me again what Our Lord’s commands were on your final trip to Canterlot. I always love to hear of your triumph in His name.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight asked, confused as she paused in her savouring of alabaster goodness. Rarity used that moment of hesitation to dip her own head to Twilight’s treasure, parting the lips with an expert tongue and drawing it over Twilight’s clit. Sparkling fireworks filled Twilight’s vision even as Rarity’s rear loomed even closer and Twilight dismissed the odd question as she sunk her muzzle back into Rarity’s vanilla scented marshmallow core.

You need to take control, Twilight.

The odd thought came from somewhere in the back of Twilight’s mind. It broke up the maze of pleasure that was pleasantly scrambling her mind and she pulled her muzzle away from the winking joy that was Rarity. Twilight fought to clear her mind of the glorious mind-numbing sensations coming from the tongue lashing Rarity was giving to her inner core and clit.

“What… what are you talking about, Rarity?” Twilight asked, trying to force herself to concentrate. Rarity paused in her erotic ministrations to lift her head a bare inch.

“I love hearing the story of your triumphant mission in Canterlot,” Rarity said, her voice slightly muffled, her breath puffing against Twilight’s treasure. “Let your servant give you pleasure while you fill her ears with the tale of how you brought the tyrant Celestia to her knees.”

“The ty—” Twilight began, only to gasp again as Rarity plunged her muzzle deep into Twilight’s vulva and slid her tongue down Twilight’s wet and warm passage. In her mind Twilight began conjuring a fantasy to give Rarity what she wanted, Her usually disciplined thoughts were melting and shifting out of their usual ordered patterns. How would she bring down Celestia if she needed to?

Control your thoughts, Twilight

Again came the odd warning from the back of Twilight’s mind, and Twilight thought that this time she could recognize the voice, but she couldn’t put a name to it. As she dwelt on where she knew that voice from, Twilight realized her mind was becoming more ordered, becoming more able to think rationally past the path Rarity’s pleasuring was driving her towards.

“Rarity, I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” Twilight said, tilting her head. Something definitely did not fit here and the wrongness of several things began to strike home, but just as she began to assemble that wrongness into a hypothesis a deep and dark voice interrupted her.

“Having yet another between meals snack, my broodmare?” King Sombra said, as he came through the diaphanous curtains that surrounded the bed. Twilight’s nose suddenly filled with the scent of flowers and she felt a sudden surge of desire for the powerfully built, charcoal grey stallion before her. His elegant black mane was accented by his curved scarlet horn and he carried himself with a majestic pride, as if the ground beneath him existed only to give him a place to stand.

Trixie Lulamoon was not having a good day. It had started out well enough. A whole new world, with new ponies to show her skills off to, all while standing at the side of the princess she had newly pledged herself to. Twilight Sparkle might have been her rival in the past, but Trixie would be forever grateful to the Princess of Friendship for giving her a sister to love and cherish.

Now following her princess had brought her to this strange and sad new world, where she, Twilight, and Derpy had been arrested and subject to a truly revolting set of procedures. Trixie smiled to herself as she slunk through one of the side corridors of the massive complex she found herself in. Everypony always seemed to think that without their magic, unicorns were helpless and would meekly submit to anything that was put to them.

Trixie, however, was made of sterner stuff, and as a stage magician with years of experience she was more than used to working without her horn. Her guards had never noticed Trixie sliding out the emergency kits she kept in the hollowed out recesses in her hooves. With a few deft motions, hidden through sleight-of-hoof, Trixie had her shackles unlocked and all she had to do was wait until the door of her cell was opened. Then it was a quick twist, a rolling of her forehooves, and a well timed buck threw both of her guards into the cell they had meant for her.

She’d left the helpless duo behind as they began calling out for help, and Trixie had made more use of her experience with illusion to disappear into a side corridor as more guards came pounding toward the cells. No pony tried to stop Trixie as she backtracked her path as best she could to where she had been separated from Twilight and Derpy. Confidence was always the key in situations like this. So long as she looked like she belonged there and knew where she was going, no pony was likely to stop her.

Trixie turned another corner, down yet another hallway studded with doors unmarked, except for numbers on each one. She tried to summon up a little magic for a guidance spell, but it was no use. Whatever those fiends had painted her insides with it was still doing a devilishly effective job of blocking her magic. Trixie pulled in a breath, raised her chin haughtily and made her way down the corridor, making sure to look down her nose as she did so. She’d already bluffed her way past one encounter by simply and silently staring down a stallion who had asked for her identification. Trixie allowed a small smirk as she walked down the corridor, when a muffled thumping sound brought her to a halt.

The sound was coming from the door just ahead of her and to her right. No pony else was in the corridor, so Trixie softly stepped to the door and laid her ear against it, trying to listen. Her efforts were rewarded with her hearing another muffled thump followed by an equally muffled curse. Trixie wasn’t sure but she thought it sounded like Derpy.

“Nocte,” Trixie whispered and from the shadows appeared the star-steel blade of the Zodiac Sword that Princess Luna had bonded to Trixie through blood and magic. So long as Trixie lived, the blade was hers to command in the service of Princess Twilight, and together she and the blade were Luna’s gifts to Twilight following her return from the world 143 came from.

She would rather not have summoned the sword to her just then, as the shimmering steel blade with its crescent moon guard was difficult to conceal, but if it was Derpy on the other side of that door, she owed it to the pegasus to come to her aid. It was what her sister would want her to do after all.

Gripping the sword in her hooves, Trixie slid the blade into the jamb and gave a quick twist, opening the door. Beyond the doorway, an overhead light shone down on a small barren room where the only furnishings were a table and two chairs. Or rather, there had been a table and two chairs in the room. Now there were the remains of a shattered chair and a broken table lying around two unconscious stallions who lay on the floor. The only intact piece of furniture was the other chair that the room had started with, which had somehow tangled itself up in one of Derpy’s wings which now hung at an odd angle.

“Hi Trixie!” Derpy said with a happy chirp, as she stood over the bodies of her two guards. “Could you help me with my wing? I just don’t know what went wrong.” Trixie had spent enough time in and around Ponyville to recognize the phrase and lift a single sardonic eyebrow.

“Derpy,” Trixie said, looking for a way to gently remove the chair and impressed at Derpy’s stoicism at what was obviously a badly wrenched wing. “One of these days, things will go very right around you, and Trixie isn’t sure if Equestria is ready for that.” Derpy just smiled back at that.

It took a couple of minutes, but Trixie managed to get the chair off of Derpy’s wing with a minimum of pained gasps from the pegasus. Then at Derpy’s suggestion, the two of them stripped the uniforms from the two unconscious guards before donning them, along with their identifying badges. Derpy’s wings made things difficult at first, seeing as her guards had been earth ponies, but Trixie managed to get them under the uniform, which accidentally became an improvised sling for the wounded appendage. Not before Trixie noticed Derpy sliding a truly impressive number of knives and other small weapons under her clothing.

“Why didn’t you use any of that arsenal back at the train station?” Trixie asked, frowning. “And how did you manage to hide all that? Trixie knows about having tricks up her sleeves but even she didn’t notice most of that.”

“Twilight knew I had all of this on me,” Derpy said, putting a comforting hoof on Trixie’s shoulder, “and she told us to stand down anyway, because she didn’t want ponies getting hurt. Look down, Trixie.” Trixie did, and her eyes widened when she saw that somehow Derpy was now holding a garrote loosely on either side of Trixie’s neck. All Derpy had to do was lean back and she would have Trixie in a strangle that she likely would not be able to escape from.

“How are you so good with those?” Trixie asked, her voice quiet as a chill went down her spine. “Trixie surrenders by the way.”

“You wouldn’t believe how many things want to try to steal the Royal Mail,” Derpy said, taking her hoof off of Trixie’s shoulder and sliding the garrote back up a sleeve of her outfit, “And Trixie forgot she still has her sword out and that it doesn’t need her magic to work. You would have had more than enough time to stop me with it.” Flushing with embarrassment Trixie looked over to where she had left the mystic blade and sure enough, the Zodiac Sword was still there, leaning against a wall.

“Trixie still gets flustered sometimes when she isn’t on stage,” the showmare turned knight admitted, as she went over to the blade and spoke the word that returned it to the shadows. “She tries hard, but Trixie has only had three days of real training.”

“You got yourself out of your chains, and took down two stallions by yourself,” Derpy said, smiling. “Don’t be so hard on yourself for the occasional slip. Just remember what Shakesmare said, ‘All the world’s a stage’. Now let’s go find Twilight.” Trixie visibly brightened at Derpy’s words and the former mailmare could literally see Trixie’s spine stiffen in determination. Together, the intrepid duo left Derpy’s interrogation room, jamming the door shut behind them as best they could so as to further delay any pursuit.

“Here, put these on,” Trixie said, a few moments later, hoofing over a pair of sunglasses she had found in one of the pockets of her purloined uniform. “No offense, Derpy, but your eyes are memorable.”

“Good thinking Trixie,” Derpy said, sliding the shades on and masking her distinctive vision. “So, what’s the plan?”

“We find where they’re keeping Twilight,” Trixie said, her jaw set in determination. “We find her, we get her out and we get ourselves out of here.”

“Good plan,” Derpy said, a happy chuckle escaping her lips, “with only two small flaws. One, we don’t know where Twilight is and two, we don’t know where Twilight is. I know it’s the same flaw, but it’s such an important one that I thought I should mention it twice.”

Trixie said nothing in reply for several minutes as the two mares walked along, putting distance between themselves and where their guards had been left. Derpy was about to ask if they were lost when Trixie saw a harried clerk pushing a trolley stacked high with files and made a beeline for the poor stallion.

“You there!” Trixie said, in a commanding voice and spearing the clerk with her gaze. “The important prisoner, where is she?”

“Um… what?” the flustered stallion asked, trying to lean away from Trixie, while still holding onto his trolley.

“I have important information regarding the prisoner that looks like an alicorn,” Trixie said sternly, putting her muzzle directly into the stallion’s face. “Where is the interrogation taking place?”

“S-Simulacra One,” the stallion stammered out and pointing a hoof back down the way he had come.

“Excellent, carry on with your duties,” Trixie commanded, and the stallion tore off past Trixie and Derpy as if the Furies themselves were hot on his heels. “There we go, problem solved.”

“Do you get the feeling that the ponies here, other than their Twilight, aren’t really that good at this?” Derpy asked, as they walked down the indicated corridors.

“Trixie was thinking the same thing,” the showmare turned knight said, frowning a bit. “Do you think that their Twilight Sparkle is something of a one-mare show with all this?”

“Well our Twilight is certainly capable of plowing through anything she is obsessed with,” Derpy said with a small smirk. “How much more would this Twilight be, considering this war they are in?”

“Good point,” Trixie said, as she saw a sign at an intersection ahead saying “S One” and noting that ponies were becoming more common in the corridor up ahead. Trixie gave her companion a nudge and nodded up ahead. Derpy nodded back and pulled her happy smile as they continued down the corridor and in amongst some other ponies moving around.

Neither of them noticed a shape watching them with satisfaction, from the little used corridors that they had just vacated. A shape that had been following Trixie since the moment she had bucked her guards into a cell.

No, celestial fools, the figure thought to itself. The guards here aren’t bad, just diverted, and you have made for the perfect diversion for me. Hoof-falls sounded behind the pony and they turned to meet the oncomer.

“Oh, Captain,” the newcomer said, saluting. “I didn’t realize it was you. We’re supposed to set up a checkpoint up ahead and alert this part of the complex.”

“No need, Private,” the pony who had been watching Trixie and Derpy said. “I’ve already covered this area, you can head back and let your commander know that things are secure here.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” the younger pony said, saluting before turning and heading back the way he had come.

Oblivious to the drama behind them, Trixie and Derpy pressed on and less than two minutes later they ran across a sign that read “Observation One.” Trixie tipped her head at the door in silent suggestion to Derpy, who nodded her assent. They waited a beat while yet another clerk went by and then slipped through the door.

“Oy, close the door,” a voice hissed from the far end of the darkened room. Derpy closed the door behind her while she and Trixie paused to let their eyes adapt to the near total gloom in the small, square chamber. The room was barely lit by glowing strips along the edges of the walls. More strips outlined a small writing desk, a chair in which a pony sat, and a viewport he was intently peering out of.

“What’s up?” the pony asked, continuing to stare out the small window as he took notes, a pair of headphones on his head. “Hey, can you grab a headset and take these notes for me? It looks like the Inquisitor is having some problems, and I might need to go down there and give her a hoof. That alicorn is trying to buck the program.”

Trixie and Derpy looked at each other for moment, just able to make out each other’s smiles and less than a minute later the stallion at the window was on the floor, gagged, bound and unconscious. Both mares jammed their head together to look out the small window and beheld one of the oddest sights either of them had ever seen.

Apologies for the loooong delay in getting this out. Many parts of life got in the way of this chapter. Including my family coming down with the flu, and the anniversary of my parents deaths. It's kinda hard to write cloppy stuff when you're in that mood, so I took a week off.

I've also been experiencing some angst about this story. Although I know they meant nothing personal by it, but Tongul's comment on my last chapter really cut deep and forced an examination of the story as a whole. The truth of the matter is that they have a point, and the story has sort of gotten away from me.

However, I do intend to keep on for the simple reason that for some reason, this story pushes me. Every chapter has been a battle in some way to write, and to be honest, I like being pushed to my limits. Maybe I'll tire of it, but for now I intend to push on.

Anyway, enough heavy author drama...

Big thanks to Coyotethetrickster and Sandstorm94 for their time and skill with the edits, and I'll see you soon.