“So tell me, Trixie,” said Twilight, “how did two ordinary business ponies become a pair of Equestria-dominating sociopaths?”

Trixie froze for a moment, then carried on opening up her boxed meal on her tray. Other than that brief hesitation, she gave no sign she had heard Twilight at all. Twilight looked around the empty commissary the two mares were sitting in. Twilight could not see anypony else who might be listening in or any other reason why Trixie wouldn’t respond.

“Trixie,” asked Twilight, “did you hear me?” This time, Trixie stopped laying out her food, bowed her head and sat silent beside Twilight, breathing deeply with her eyes tightly closed.

“Trix—” began Twilight.

“Trixie isn’t here,” the blue mare interrupted, her voice quiet but clear. “143 is here, only 143. Do you understand, 614?”

Twilight’s head rocked back. Of course the mare beside her was Trixie. After the number of times she and Trixie had been at odds, she could never mistake another pony for the flamboyant showmare. 143 was only her employee number, the number she used to refer to herself when she talked in the third person. Then, a terrible thought occurred to Twilight, and she felt her heart sink into her stomach as she understood the meaning of what Trixie was saying.

“I...614 is...I’m sorry, 143,” said Twilight. “But can you tell me if Trixie is safe?” 143 raised her head, opened her eyes and looked at Twilight. The pain on 143’s face nearly broke Twilight’s heart on the spot. Twilight had seen a similar expression from Fluttershy once, when one of the pegasus’s animals had unexpectedly died overnight.

“Yes, Trixie is safe,” said 143.

“Do you keep her safe?” Twilight asked. 143 gave Twilight a slow nod with the same pained expression.

Trixie’s answer told Twilight everything she needed to know, but it also gave her some hope. If the 143 persona was keeping Trixie ‘safe’, it meant the original Trixie was still somewhere inside 143, just buried. It also meant Twilight had to tread very carefully. She needed answers, but if she did something to break 143, Twilight might never get the answers she needed to understand what had happened here. Also, she owed it to the Trixie of her own world to do all she could to help Trixie’s counterpart, and the best way for Twilight to do that was to be true to her nature and try to make a friend.

“Can I give you a hug?” said Twilight, and 143’s face showed sudden surprise at the offer. “That is, if it is okay with you.” Twilight held out her forelegs in offer. 143 looked at Twilight for a long, long moment--then sprang upon Twilight and hugged her fiercely.

“Thank you,” 143 said into Twilight’s ear. “Thank you, very much. It has been a long time since anypony was kind to 143.”

“I’ll do anything I can to be here for you,” said Twilight, hugging back just as tightly. “I’d like to be your friend, if that’s okay with you.”

“It’s been a long time since 143 had a friend,” said the blue mare, continuing to hug Twilight. “143 would like that very much.” The hug kept going for several minutes with Twilight making soothing noises while 143 sniffled into Twilight’s shoulder. When the hug finally ended, 143 kept one of her forelegs around Twilight’s back as if to prolong the warmth of personal contact Twilight had given her. Twilight mirrored the mare, realizing 143 needed that almost as much as she needed food. For the next few minutes the only sounds were those of eating, as the two mares satisfied their bodies hunger, in companionable silence. Then, her body’s needs sated, Twilight felt it was time to ask a few more gentle questions.

“The last thing I want is to cause you pain, but can you tell me if you know what happened to Trixie?” asked Twilight as gently as she could.

“Why does 614 want to know?” asked 143, pulling back.

“I know...knew a mare very much like Trixie,” said Twilight. “In her memory, I’d like to help Trixie, and you, if I can, and the best way to start helping Trixie is to know what happened to her.”

143 nodded and slid back to her former position beside Twilight. “Trixie was a traveling showmare,” she began, with a happy smile. “Everywhere she went ponies adored her and her shows. But one day disaster struck, and her wagon broke down while she was between engagements.”

“What happened?” asked Twilight, leaning close in sympathy. It had never occurred to her how narrow a financial edge travelling performers like Trixie had to live on. One bad turn of events could lead to disaster.

“She had no bits to pay for repairs,” continued 143, mouth downturned in a grimace. “But all seemed saved when two business ponies approached her, offering a loan.”

“Flim and Flam,” said Twilight with a knowing nod.

“Yes,” said Trixie, ears drooping to match her expression. “Back then Trixie did not know them, or that they took advantage of every pony they ran across. They had recently won an entire farm in a wager and they were using it to leverage their assets. They wanted Trixie to become one of those assets.”

143 bowed her head, sniffling before she continued. “Before she knew it, Trixie was trapped, her body held in a suit and her mind bound by their training. Nopony had ever thwarted the brothers in any of their schemes, even the Princess listened to them, and so nopony came to save Trixie. The brothers felt no guilt at what they did, because nopony had ever bested them and showed them a better way.” Tears began to drip down 143’s muzzle.

Twilight pulled 143 into another hug and let the former showmare silently cry on her shoulder again. Only the occasional sniffle could be heard, and Twilight felt her own eyes sting with unshed tears of empathy for the plight of the unicorn in her hooves.

“You, um, 143 said Trixie was ‘safe’ earlier,” said Twilight, after 143 had stopped crying and Twilight had regained her own composure. “Does Trixie know how you keep her safe?”

“No,” 143 said quietly, her head still resting on Twilight’s shoulder. “Trixie is playing to adoring crowds of ponies who love her. Trixie is very happy and 143 wants Trixie to stay happy.”

“It’s okay, 143,” said Twilight. “I understand.” Twilight leaned over and gave 143 another hug. As they finished the dregs of their meal, Twilight reviewed what she had learned. Without the help of Twilight and her friends, it seemed the Apple family had lost Sweet Apple Acres due to their bet against the Super Easy Cider Squeezy 6000. The brothers must have kept pushing to see just how far they could go after that, using the value of Sweet Apple Acres as a source of venture capital, and they still hadn’t hit their limit.

“We need to be going,” said 143, breaking Twilight’s reverie. “614 needs to be back at her workstation for the night and so does 143.” Dealing with their trash the two mares headed back to Twilight’s alcove cum cell.

“Open please,” said 143 as the pair arrived back at where Twilight had been dropped off by the claw. The blue mare levitated a muzzle and air hose combination in front of Twilight.

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to have that tonight?” asked Twilight, trying to swivel her head away from the approaching muzzle. “Please, you don’t have to put that on me.”

“614 needs to be muzzled and have the air tube,” said 143, smiling, almost as if muzzling Twilight was part of a game. “At night, the air here isn’t breathable, so 614 needs positive pressure air. But no intubation for you. Just the basic airway protection and airflow.”

“Oh, I see,” said Twilight. She held open her mouth as Trixie gagged her with the airway tube and muzzle combination. Trixie checked to make sure the muzzle was secure on Twilight and in doing so she brushed her lips against Twilight’s ear.

“Thank you,” 143 whispered. “Please try to remember that 143 is your friend. Flim and Flam are going to try to take your name from you. They hate that name.” Twilight’s eyebrows shot up and she tried to ask a question, but 143 held up a hoof to stop her and then pushed a button on the wall.

“143 ready for disconnect from 614. 614 ready to return to workstation,” said 143 in a clear voice. Moments later, the padded claw descended from above and locked onto Twilight’s body, holding her immobile. Nothing else happened for nearly a minute. Twilight just hung there, a few inches off the ground, with 143 still tethered to her. Then, a pair of stallions came in, and Twilight recognized Flim and Flam. Flam had a very smug expression on his face as he disconnected the tethers connecting the two mares. His brother, in the meantime, hooked up the connector to Twilight’s air line and placed the helmet back on Twilight’s head, cutting off Twilight’s vision. Then as fresh air began to flow into Twilight’s lungs, Flim said something that sent a chill down Twilight’s spine.

“614,” said Flim, close beside her. “I’m afraid that, despite your fine work today with my brother, we’ve decided you needs some extra training. I look forward to seeing how well you do.”

The claw rose away from the floor and deposited Twilight in her alcove. The alcove’s nighttime restraints locked onto her automatically and “The Voice” began to speak in her ears again. “614 is a good pony. If 614 is an obedient pony, 614 is rewarded. 614 must protect Flim and Flam. Flim and Flam reward 614. 614 must protect her rewards.” Twilight’s suit gave her pleasant rubs to emphasize the ending of each sentence.

Really? thought Twilight with some relief. Are those fiends seriously trying to condition me to be some sort of guardian for them? Flim and Flam were vastly underestimating her if they thought some simple conditioning was going to be enough to break her mental disciplines enough for her to leap to their defence in a crisis. But if the brothers thought Twilight would jump to their defence...Twilight gave a wolfish smile that no one could see.

Twilight began to drift off toward sleep, doing her best to tune out the endless repetitions from The Voice. Her direct prospects for escape were no better than they had been in the morning, but now she knew more about the mechanics and nature of her bondage. She possibly had an ally, or at least a sympathizer, in this world’s Trixie, and she had gained a bit of information on how the brothers had pulled off their coup. Combined, that information could hold the key to her freedom, but before she acted it on it, there were a couple of questions Twilight knew she had to answer first, two large questions started with the same word

Why?

Why had Flam reacted as he had to her name? It made no sense, but Twilight sensed the answer was important. That brought her to the second question. Why had Celestia allowed this to happen? She could have prevented all this and barring that, even now, she could bring Flim and Flam to a screeching halt if she chose to. So, why wasn’t she?

“We believe we can answer that question, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

“Who?” asked Twilight, realizing she was no longer a bound captive, but instead was standing in a grassy field. This is a dream. thought Twilight. Which means...

“Hello, Princess Luna,” said Twilight.

“Greetings, Your Highness,” said a grey-blue alicorn as they materialized in front of her. Twilight stared for a moment at Luna. It was the Princess of the Night, but she looked the same way she had when Twilight and her friends had first freed her from Nightmare Moon. As Twilight considered that, she felt a sensation like gossamer soft wings stroking her head and mane.

“Of course, we are not thine own beloved Princess. But even so, we heard thy question in the dream and it drew us to thee,” said this world’s Princess Luna, as again Twilight felt the gentle sensation gliding across her head. She glanced up, but saw nothing.

“Yes,” Twilight replied, shaking off the odd feeling, “that would be correct. I’m a dimensional traveler. I came here once before by accident and decided to return to explore.” For a third time Twilight felt the odd, not entirely unpleasant, feeling over her forelock and crest.

“Indeed,” said Princess Luna. “Now thou hast fallen prey to the schemes of a pair of brothers most grim. Thou should feel no shame at becoming enmeshed in their coils, as have many before thee.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” replied Twilight, in the formal language this Luna seemed to prefer. “But how do you know what has—” Twilight broke off as yet again, the fluttering feeling flowed over her head and things added up. The feathery touch wasn’t happening on Twilight’s head, but rather in it. Luna was reading her mind using some form of neuromancy!

“Princess,” growled Twilight, even as she brought her mental defences into being, “get out of my mind. You do not have my permission to be there.”

“Oh!” said Luna, recoiling in surprise. “Our apologies. It has become Our habit to scry the thoughts of Our subjects when visiting them in their dreams. We have found it speeds things along considerably.”

“Apology accepted, Your Highness,” said Twilight, making sure her mental shields were fully prepared. “But in the future, if you feel the need to know something, either ask me directly or ask my permission before you engage in neuromancy. I won’t be unreasonable about it.”

“Very well, Princess,” said Luna. “To answer your question, Celestia has not put a halt to Flim and Flam because she has become lost to madness.”

“What?” asked Twilight in an incredulous tone. “How?”

“May we be permitted access to thy memories so that we may compare them with our own, Princess Twilight?” asked Luna in response. “We swear upon our horn and our honour that no harm shall come to thee as a result.”

“I haven’t had a good track record trusting ponies since my arrival here,” said Twilight. “Not that I think you are lying, but I have little reason to trust anypony around here. What’s to stop you from taking my memories and running off to do something with them?”

“Running off...” Luna sighed, and her ears drooped as she turned her gaze downwards. “Let us show thee what our life has been like since our Return.” Without any indication of magic from Luna, the grassy field around the pair blurred, replaced in a moment by a large, dimly lit room. Along one side of the room was a good sized table, where a tired and worn Celestia was seated, intently studying several dials and gauges. Although the solar alicorn looked a little haggard, Twilight could feel the driving energy and vitality coming off of her.

Then Luna nudged her, pointing to the center of the room. Through gritted teeth, she said, “Look now upon the glory of Luna, Princess of the Night and Diarch of Equestria.”

Twilight looked, and gasped as she took in Luna’s plight. Like Twilight, Luna’s body was encased in a suit, only Luna’s covered her completely, from the tip of her horn to the end of her tail. In addition, three golden magic-suppression rings were stacked up her horn, and both air and feeding lines entered through her muzzle piece. Beyond that, Luna’s body was also wrapped in a harness that held her suspended in mid-air, the lines spring-mounted so that even the occasional body twitch was guaranteed to accomplish nothing beyond pointless thrashing.

“Keep watching, young princess,” said Luna, ears flattening in anger. As Twilight watched, the captive Luna began to kick and buck for some reason, and Celestia grew alarmed, eyes flicking frantically from one gauge to another.

“No, no, no,” said Celestia in a chant, fear and panic on her face. “Not again. The darkness will not have you, sister!” Celestia punctuated her last sentence by slamming down a hoof on a large red button. Alarms sounded and a loud buzzing emanated from the bound Luna. A quick look to the alicorn’s rear showed the ends of plugs that were twins to those deep within Twilight’s own body pistoning in and out. Just as they had with Twilight, the plugs swiftly drove Luna’s body to orgasm, driving away conscious thought and any possible plans for escape.

Not satisfied with that, Celestia turned a valve on a container Twilight hadn’t noticed before, labeled “Anesthetic,” and as the gas flowed through the lines, Luna’s body gradually ceased its struggles.

“Such is our life now,” said the Luna beside Twilight, as they witnessed Celestia nodding in satisfaction at the final moments of her bound sister’s subdual. “The realm of dreams is our only escape from this loving durance vile our sister has subjected us to.”

“This is horrible,” said Twilight, eyes wide in shock. “Nopony should have to live like that. Why are you even showing me this?”

“You wondered how you could trust us,” said Luna, jaw working. “How you could trust us not to ‘run off’ on you. We thought it may bring you to trust us more to see for yourself that running is not an option for us.”

“How—What happened?” asked Twilight, still shocked at the completeness of Luna’s imprisonment.

“May we look upon your memories, Your Highness?” asked Luna. “In order that we can provide a proper answer to thy question.”

“All right,” said Twilight, bowing her head toward Luna. “You may look, only.”

“Thank you. We shall not abuse thy trust,” said Luna, whose eyes began to glow. Twilight dropped her mental shields and again she could feel the feathery soft touch of Luna reading her mind and memories.

“That actually feels kind of nice,” said Twilight, eyes half-closing.

“Thank you,” said Luna, with a small smile, pleased at the compliment. “We strive for our touch to be as gentle and pleasant as possible. Ah, and now we see the divergent point. The place where our worlds parted in their path.” The pale blue alicorn’s power swirled and Twilight saw two scenes play out, side by side.

“In your world, Princess Twilight,” Luna began, “Celestia had the six Element Bearers, led by yourself, to lead the charge against Nightmare Moon. Together, you found the Elements, accepted their power as part of yourselves, and together cleansed your Princess Luna of the Nightmare. Then, most importantly, you remained to support both of your princesses and help your Luna find her path in a strange new world.” While Luna narrated, Twilight saw the scenes from her mind’s eye, memories of how she and her friends had brought their Luna back.

“But in my world, Princess Celestia was unable to find Bearers for the Elements,” Luna said, frowning. “Particularly for the elusive Element of Magic. As the time for the return of Nightmare Moon grew closer and closer, our sister grew more and more desperate. Finally, with nopony to turn to, she forced a connection to the Elements through sheer strength of will. Using the Elements, she was able to cleanse us of Nightmare Moon.”

Luna paused. “But in the moment of her triumph, the abused Elements repudiated her and scattered themselves to the four winds. Far and wide, across Equestria and beyond, they fled. We were barely conscious at that time, but even so we heard the first whisper of doubt that struck our sister as the Elements flew from her—doubt that her victory would last, that the Nightmare would never return, that we would never fall again. Her doubt grew to fear, the fear grew to paranoia, and the paranoia to obsession.”

“Since then, we have not known a moment when our body and our magic were not bound or controlled in some fashion.” Luna bowed her head. “But as bad as those first days were, far worse was to come when, some four years ago, Flim and Flam approached my sister with an idea for a way to ensure that we would never revert to our Nightmare Moon form. They promised her that if she gave them full authority, they would give her a way to be sure we never again fell to darkness.”

“The suits,” said Twilight, aghast. “Celestia authorized the process that caused the suits to be created.”

“Even so,” said Luna, nodding in agreement. “As you have surmised, with Celestia giving them access to the full resources of the Crown, they created the suit in which we, and now so many others, are now enslaved. Celestia watches our every movement, breath and heartbeat, seeking some sign that the Nightmare is once again seizing us. She controls everything we see, hear, taste, and touch. Our only respite has been the dream realm.”

“I had wondered about that,” said Twilight. “If your magic is sealed, how are you able to dreamwalk or perform neuromancy?”

“Dreamwalking is a part of who we are, a part of our basic nature,” said Luna, with a sideways smile. “The only thing that could separate us from the dream realm would be death. This brings us to ask something of thee.”

“You...you aren’t going to ask me to kill you, are you?” asked Twilight, taking a step back.

“Nay, at least not initially,” said Luna, as she returned them to the grassy field where Twilight had first met her. “Things cannot continue as they are now. Eventually, Celestia will decide that it is safer for all to simply kill me.” Twilight noticed the switch to the personal pronoun, even as the grim-faced alicorn pressed on. “If I knew my death would free my sister of her madness and return her to a proper stewardship of Equestria, I would welcome Death’s embrace. But there is no guarantee that would happen.”

“What do you want me to do then?” asked Twilight, wiping a hoof across her forehead in relief.

“Find the Elements,” said Luna, striking a dramatic pose, “and use them to restore my sister and cleanse the madness from her. Either do it yourself or send forth ponies you deem worthy of the task. You bore an Element once; your judgment is sound.”

“And if the Elements can’t be found?” asked Twilight, dreading the answer.

“Then find where Celestia is holding me,” said Luna, in a very small voice. Her strong stance crumbled like sand on a beach as she lowered herself to her knees. “Find me, and kill me. Give me a clean death instead of this death by inches I suffer now. It is a long chance, but that may be enough to shock my sister back to her senses.”

“Princess,” said Twilight, daring to place a comforting hoof on Luna’s shoulder, “I’m a captive nearly as much as you are. If I do manage to escape, my first priority is to return to my own Equestria, not to interfere with yours.” Luna bit her lip and looked up with pleading eyes to Twilight.

“Please, Princess Twilight,” said the despondent Luna, “must I beg? If that is your wish, I shall. What can I offer you? Riches? Power? Myself as your plaything, should you free me? Any of these things and more I shall willingly grant you if you will perform this service for my Equestria.”

“I—I—” stammered Twilight, as the magnitude of what she was being asked to do struck home. She took a steadying breath. “I make no guarantees, Princess Luna, but I will promise this. What I can do, I will do.”

“Thank you,” said Luna, raising her head again. “We knew thou could not refuse a plea for action on behalf of justice.”

“Oh?” asked Twilight. “How?”

“Because apparently thy counterpart, or someone using her name, is already a thorn in the sides of Flim and Flam,” said Luna.

“Really?” asked Twilight, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Is that why Flam reacted as he did when I told him my name?”

“Indeed.” Luna nodded. “Our Twilight Sparkle disappeared from sight years ago. But over the past four months, the brothers have begun receiving their first setbacks since they embarked on their course. Each setback is accompanied by paperwork that ends with the same closing salutation.”

“Which is?”

“Twilight Sparkle, speaking for Boskone.”

Twilight snickered, then chuckled, then began to full on belly laugh while she stood in the field she and her companion were in.

“Your Highness,” said the grey-blue form beside her, testily. “What is the cause of this mirth? We tell thee of portents most dire followed by an ominous and cryptic salutation by thy counterpart and thy response is frivolity?”

“I...I’m sorry, Princess,” said Twilight with another laugh as she fought to bring herself under control. “It’s just been too long since I had a good laugh, and from that line I can assure you my counterpart is definitely alive and well.”

“Might it be possible for you to enlighten us as to how that one line provides you with this knowledge?” asked Princess Luna, narrowing her eyes in annoyance. “We would find the revelation most illuminating.” With a last chuckle, Twilight took a deep breath as she braced herself to stand properly beside Luna and not like some purple incarnation of Pinkie Pie.

“It boils down to an old series of stories I read as a filly,” said Twilight. “Ponies of the Lens defined a genre, but almost nopony knows about it today.”

“We assume this is relevant somehow,” said Luna, cocking an eyebrow.

“Well, when I read the series, I sort of got a little—okay, a lot—obsessive about the stories,” said Twilight, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof in embarrassment. “When I wasn’t reading, I would charge around our house acting out scenes from the books.”

“We understand,” said Luna, nodding. “Thy family would remember that phrase from those days and know thy counterpart, their daughter, is alive.

“Exactly, Princess. Other than my counterpart and her family, the only ponies who would understand the reference would be my peers in a small community of well...nerds,” said Twilight, smiling. This world’s Luna might be a prisoner in the most complete bondage ever devised, but her mind was still sharp and active.

“So, even as she helps engineer what I hope is the downfall of the brothers, she finds a way to let her family know she is alive. She must be a very impressive—Tartarus!”

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, eyes wide at the sudden expletive.

“My sister is trying to rouse me early for some reason,” said Luna, turning to Twilight with sudden haste. “I will hold thee to thy—” Luna’s form popped like a soap bubble as she was dragged back to the waking world, leaving Twilight by herself to ponder on the lunar alicorn’s words and the discussion they had.

Long delay in getting this chapter out due to cold and flu season hitting my family very hard. Every time we think we've got it licked another round of hacking and sneezing starts. However, you will also be pleased to know that the next chapter is already about 75% written.

Considering that writing was going slow due to my cold I had unleashed the full might of Javarod and Door Belle's editing skills on the chapter. No less than seven editing passes and three drafts were written. But despite all that Gdocs got cranky again with the formatting and even importing the document didn't help. I once again had to manually go through and check all my spacing. Hopefully, I caught everything.