Author's Notes:

After reading this, the latest chapter, please consider checking out this important blog post on the new patreon for the story!

Galaxia High Patreon, this is a link!

“So, are you having fun?” Spike asked with a small smile as he stood out in the hall with Fluttershy.”

“Oh, definitely,” she said with a giggle. “I haven’t been able to cut loose like this in a long time. I’m really glad we got this club up and running.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty great.” He said with a grin. “Makes me think of my old group back in middle school,” he muttered. He shook his head and looked back over to her. “Gotta say though, I didn’t really expect you to play such a… well, an open character.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Well, I haven't known you that long, but you at least seem to try to be subtle about it when you enjoy things like spankings in front of others.” Spike saw her face instantly change to one of horror. Never had he seen someone go pale and blush that hard at the same time. “Oh, shoot, you WERE trying to be subtle! Fluttershy, I didn't-”

“Was it that obvious?!” she interrupted, her chest visibly inflating as her breath picked up.

Spike quickly shook his head. “No! Of course not! I just... after seeing it so many times in the same week I just started to pick up on it.” When her hands went to the seat of her dress, he realized bringing up how many times he'd seen her flank this week might not be helping the situation. “I'm sorry, I'm not trying to upset you, really! P-Please calm down!”

Fluttershy began to glance around, took some slow breaths, and finally calmed down. If only a little. “I'm not... normally so open, o-or lewd. You wouldn't know that since you don't know me that well, so I've probably given you a really bad impression of me.”

Spike winced. “No, it's not like that! I don't think you're that kind of girl! That's why I was surprised by the kind of girl you were playing!”

The yellow mare's hands fidgeted with each other. “I’m not required to play a character that’s exactly like me. That’s part of the fun of games like this. Playing characters that can be so different from myself. I've kind of given up on being more open and assertive in real life, so I figured that I’d do it in other places. Stories that I write, characters that I play, that sort of thing.”

He saw an opportunity to change the subject. “You slide into other roles so well. When you’re describing what Nepeta is doing, or when you’re speaking as her, it’s amazing how different you act. You aren’t playing a character, it’s almost like you become someone else, like you get right into the head of whoever you’re playing. Have you ever tried acting?”

Fluttershy glanced up at him surprised, brushing her hair from over her shoulder with a much softer blush. “I... tried back in middle school, but I get terrible stage fright. It's easier for me to play characters I really like with a much smaller audience.”

“Is that so? Then, do you like anime by any chance? Cus if you did there's this cosplay cafe I've been wanting to check out in the downtown middle-ring shopping center. Maybe we could-”

“NO!” Fluttershy cried out, wings bursting out rigid and her face terrified and flushed.

Spike reared back against the wall, his own shock from her visceral reaction visible. “D-Did I say something wrong?”

The door next to them opened, and Derpy poked her head out. “Okay, I think I’m all set. You guys want to come back in and we’ll get back to it?”

“YES!” The embarassed pegasus paused to clear her throat a bit. “I mean, yes, let's get back to it. Okay, Spike?”

“I... okay, Fluttershy.” She clearly didn't want to talk anymore, so he wouldn't push the issue. He watched her hurry in, and followed after her.

Sulfur wriggled a little bit as she sat down on the dirt floor of the tent. It was far larger than the typical ones she’d seen outside, but was still not really made for a huge number of visitors. Even with Red Quinoa sitting on Kylah’s lap nearby, Sulfur still sat nearly knee to knee with Nepeta and Copper, all of them still nude. She could feel the nervous blush overcoming her scales, worrying that it was obvious how uncomfortable she was.

Neither of her companions commented on it, at least. Maybe it wasn’t that bad.

“So then,” Kylah finally said, raising her head. “You wanna know why we attack village?”

Sulfur nodded. “We were told you had been preventing anyone from leaving for a long while now,” She stated. “That you attacked them constantly, trying to get in.”

“Not to hurt ponies, no,” she shook her head. “To stop the Master.”

“The Master?” Nepeta asked. “What do you mean?”

Kylah sighed and brushed a finger over Quinoa’s back. “Moons ago, ponies come to forest to make home. But they start building home in bad place. Secret place. Place where the Master sleeps.” She glanced at them, her face stoic and serious. Sulfur thought she saw a hint of regret in those eyes. “We try to stop. Send some to talk sense. Ponies panic when see us. Kill our messengers. Continue building. Start digging downward.”

“Downward?” Nepeta asked.

“The well in the center of the town,” Copper said. “It goes deep, unusually deep. And when I looked down into it, I couldn’t see the bottom, or hear any sort of water underneath.”

“No water. Only master. We try to stop them. We get desperate. But they build walls. Have better weapons. We grow nervous. Attack more. But we not able to stop them.” Her ears flicked. “They have found it. The Master. I feel it.”

“And what exactly is the Master?” Nepeta asked, leaning forward, tail twitching nervously behind her.

“Master is ancient thing. Evil thing. Ruled forest long before my birth.” Kylah cast her hand forward. “Grandsire sealed away master, under the earth. Freed forest from grip. He control plants. He use plants to control others. His power spread as he grow strong.”

“The plants in the village forced me away when I tried to connect with them,” the Druid said, snapping her fingers.

“And the villagers were all acting like weirdos, too!” Quinoa finished. “Whatever that Master thing really is, it’s obviously got a hold on everyone in the village!”

Sulfur grit her teeth. “Then we really were tricked.” Her hands balled into fists. “Ifrit damn that thing…”

“Can stop,” Kylah stated. “It not yet strong enough to control forest. But need to hurry. Time short. Will try to go beyond forest if it gets forest back.”

“Then we have to hurry back and stop them,” Sulfur said quickly, standing up.

“Yes! That is what I like hearing!” Kylah roared, standing up.

“You’re coming with us?”

“Course!” she chuckled. “My people fight Master before, we fight now!”

“No,” Red Quinoa said quickly, hopping up and waving a hand. “As much as I like the idea of storming the place with an army of Gnolls at my back, the Master’s probably expecting that at this point. It’s probably thinking either we’ll kill all of you and be none the wiser, or you’ll kill us and then just go back to trying to hack your way inside. Either way, it wins.” She tapped her beak. “We need to get back inside and get straight to the Master.”

Sulfur smirked and slowly rose to her feet. “I have a plan,” she announced with a grin.

It felt so good to be wearing clothes again. Clothes and armor both. Also, having her sword and shield back helped a lot too. She felt protected. She felt confident.

She really wished Nepeta would get dressed already. Sulfur groaned a bit and looked at the naked Sphinx, her clothes stuffed into her pack, all of her bits bouncing and wobbling as she walked. Copper, and even Red Quinoa had redressed themselves once they had been presented with their clothes and gear again. But Nepeta? No, not at all, she had just stuffed what little clothing she had back into her pack and started traipsing along as if it didn’t matter. “You do realize we’ll be back at the village soon, right?” she asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“So do you not think it might be best to get ready for a fight?” she asked.

“I’m ready,” she said with a nod. “Trust me, I’m ready.”

“Really? Because you look like you’re getting ready to go out at night, walking the streets for a lonely man.”

“Or woman, thank you very much,” Nepeta said with a pout. “And don’t you go talking bad about my night walks, they are purely for innocent purposes.” She pouted and flicked her tail gently. “But all you need to know is, out here, without my clothes? I am at my strongest.”

“And your most vulnerable,” the dragon grumbled.

“If she wants to be nude while fighting plant zombies, let her,” Red said. “I just don’t get why we had to drag Kylah like this all the way back.”

Sulfur glanced back towards Red Quinoa, who, along with Copper, were dragging a tied up Kylah behind them. She’d been tied down, loosely, to a large bark shield, one of the gnoll’s making, to make it look like she was a captive. Sulfur shrugged. “If this Master is capable of using plants as its eyes, then we’ll want to try and keep up the facade as much as possible, until we get in and can see what is going on. No telling how far its influence has spread after all.” In truth, she honestly just found a measure of satisfaction in seeing the big woman trussed up and dragged along like this, considering the humiliation she’d suffered at the gnoll’s claws earlier.

Quinoa glanced back at her with an apologetic look. “Sorry about this, love. You all right back there?”

Kylah let out a small barking laugh and wagged her tail lightly. “Worry not for me,” she said with a grin. “Have taken much worse. This actually nice, being led about. Don’t like being tied, but otherwise fine.”

“Well, we kept the ropes pretty loose for you,” Red told her with a smile. “When the time is right, you can jump up and help us out.”

“Just remember,” Sulfur said as the top of the wooden walls began to come into view, “The ponies in that place are most likely under the control of this Master, not dead, but not in control of themselves. If they move to stop us, try your best to keep your attacks non lethal. I don’t want any unnecessary blood on our hands.” She glanced at Kylah in particular. “That goes for you as well, Kylah.”

“I not want to kill anyway,” she stated. “Ponies annoying, but they not dangerous, generally.”

“Generally,” Sulfur muttered. They continued onward, growing silent when they faced the massive wooden gate back into the village. The dragon took a deep breath and called out to them, “Hello! We’ve returned from the gnoll encampment! They’ll not trouble you anymore! And we come bearing their queen!”

Much like the first time they had arrived, after a long silence, a guardspony poked their head up over the side, tilting his head several times as he looked them over. “Welcome back,” he called. “We will open the gate in a moment for you.”

Sulfur nodded. “Much obliged! Thank you!”

“So far so good,” Nepeta muttered, cracking her knuckles.

“Get ready,” Copper said. “When we get in, we get as close to the well as we can, and then try to get down to where the Master is.”

They nodded in agreement and Quinoa reached down, rubbing the gnoll queen’s head. “Remember, look fierce, but defeated. We bested you in combat, so hopefully they’ll buy it.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Nepeta quipped with a chuckle, “None of them seem able to recognize basic social cues anyway. Doubt it would care one way or another.”

Sulfur made a waving motion with her hand, hushing them as the gates were swung open and they slowly started to walk in. Just like before, there was a massive crowd of villagers around them, staring at them with wide, vacant eyes. They tensed as they drew closer, but the crowd slowly parted as they started to move forward. “We’re going to take her to the mayor’s home, to discuss payment.” she called.

“No need, no need!” a happy voice said, as the mayor of the town walked forward. Sulfur noted that her movements were more stiff and unnatural than their first visit. “I am here! Yes, here… we will take care of… that thing.” She pointed a twitching finger at Kylah, who let out a soft growl at her.”

“We’ll not hand her over until after we’ve discussed payment. At your house.” Sulfur frowned deeply as the crowd slowly started to press in around them, getting uncomfortably close.

“No, no, no,” the mayor said, drawing closer to her. “I think not. I think… we can discuss everything right he-HURK!”

She was cut off as Sulfur bashed her shield into the mayor’s face, sending her backwards to the ground. “So much for subtlety!” the dragon announced.

The mayor snarled, her eyes growing completely white, face twisting into a scowl. “They know! THEY KNOW! GET THEM!”

“Everyone shield your eyes! Quinoa, do it!”

The party shut their eyes tight, save for Red Quinoa, who raised her staff up high above her head and shouted out a spell as loud as she could. Her gnarled staff let forth a magical burst of light that lingered above them, causing the villagers to recoil away, groaning in pain. “My eyes!” they all declared, nearly as one. “My eyes!”

“Now, run for it! We have to get to the well!” Sulfur shouted, twisting around and barreling through the villagers in her way, her shield raised as she knocked them away. As the light faded, she chanced a glance back and was relieved to see the other four running after her. As the villagers began to recover, Nepeta twisted around and tossed two large sacks at the ground. Seeds spilled out onto the soft dirt in front of the villagers and instantly, a massive tangle of overgrown weeds and vines sprouted forth, wrapping and twisting themselves around the villagers’ legs, causing them to trip and stumble, or keeping them from moving at all. They ignored the inconvenience and continued to crawl and scramble towards the party, trying to pull themselves free while even ignoring that the plants existed.

“That should buy us some time!” Nepeta said as she ran to keep up with the others. “I think that was most of the village back there!”

“You had to say something didn’t you?” Quinoa asked as more villagers began to pour out from the alleyways and around the back of the various structures around them. They weren’t moving quickly, but there were still far more of them than there had seemed to be when they had first made it there. Quinoa growled and swung her staff at one of them, knocking them down, while Kylah snarled, bringing up the rear and throwing everyone who got close to them away, hard enough to send them tumbling head over heels.

“There’s the well!” Sulfur said, pointing towards the large, stone well sitting in the center of the town square. However, a large group of villagers were shuffling their way in front of it, forming a makeshift wall to keep them from reaching it. “Hellfire,” she cursed, “We don’t have time for this.” She stopped and raised her shield as the wall began to advance on them.

Red Quinoa panted as she came to a stop. “I think I can launch a spell down in there that will take care of the problem, but I need time to prepare it. It’s going to take a lot of energy. Do you think you and the others can keep them off of me?”

Sulfur grunted a bit and knocked away an advancing villager, who fell to the side, but immediately started to pull themselves up. “I’ll try. Now hurry and cast your damned spell,” she ordered.

Quinoa smiled and nodded, setting her staff on the ground and clapping her hands together. “In the name of the eternal flame and the ever wave, I ask you, the spirits of our world to grant me your power…”

As she continued to whisper the incantation, the villagers continued to converge on them. Nepeta continued to throw small fistfuls of seeds to the ground, invoking more tangleweed plants, but they grew more slowly. She cursed and flapped her wings, taking into the air to keep herself out of harm’s way. “The closer we get, the more power this thing has over my plants!” she called. “I can’t risk casting anything having to do with plants or I might end up causing more problems!” She let out a hiss, and kicked a nearby villager in the jaw.

Kylah roared and grabbed an armful of the villagers, throwing them back into their fellows. “Hurry, love!”

Quinoa didn’t answer, being deep in concentration at the moment, magical energies starting to flow out of her.

“I’m going to try and route them away!” Copper shouted. He started to throw stones and rocks into the crowd, shoving them away, attempting to get the attention of as many of them as possible. It seemed to work, as those that he harrassed and attacked turned their attention to him and started to shuffle back his way, away from the rest of the group.

That still didn’t stop the large, advancing wall of them in front of the well. Sulfur punched one and bashed another with her shield, but their lack of pain made them continue to crawl forward even after she downed them. “Any time, Quinoa.”

“... and let the sun and moon vanquish this horrible darkness that has blighted our world!” Quinoa called, raising her hands up and making a motion as if tossing something. A large glowing orb of energy flew forward, falling down deep into the well. The shambling villagers stopped, their attention slowly turning towards the well itself.

KABOOOM!!

A massive fountain of fire launched up and out of the well, shattering its walls, followed quickly by a puff of black smoke billowing up and out of the hole in the ground. Sulfur raised her shield up to defend herself from the falling debris, a good bit tumbling down over her body, clanking against her shield and armor.

The villagers around them howled loudly and clutched at their heads, falling to the ground, or getting on their knees, howling and wailing as they clutched at themselves.

Quinoa panted and stumbled forward a little bit. “Whew… and that, ladies and gentlemen, is my magic burst.” She groaned and started to fall forward.

Kylah caught her and helped her tired body come to a gentle rest against the ground. “Are you well, love?” Kylah asked gently.

“I’m fine. Not the first time I’ve done that.” She grinned up at her. “My body always goes numb when I use that spell. Don’t think I’m going to be good for much for a while.”

“No need,” Nepeta said as she touched back down, carefully stepping over a writhing, crying villager. “I think you might have actually taken whoever this Master character was out completely with that spell! Nothing could have survived that!”

“Yes,” Sulfur said, slowly approaching the rest of them. “You… you did it.” She cleared her throat and tapped her shield against the ground. “I… think that I owe you a bit of an a-”

The ground under their feet started to rumble and shudder. Kylah gasped and raised herself up, but before she could do anything, a massive vine burst from the ground, it’s long, slender tendril whipping forward and wrapping around her body, lifting her up into the air.

“Kylah!” Quinoa managed to push out, her voice weak and strained as she tried to force her body up. She didn’t have to, however, as a second vine burst forth and yanked her up off the ground with a firm lurch, making her let out a squawk.

Nepeta saw the pattern and attempted to leap up into the sky to keep from getting caught, but no sooner had she left the ground than another two vines shot up through the ground, one grabbing hold of her ankle, anchoring her to the surface while the second lassoed around her wings, pulling them taught and keeping her from being able to fly as they slowly coiled around the rest of her.

Sulfur’s eyes widened as she watched this happen and quickly leaped to the side, avoiding yet another vine that lunged out of the ground. She whipped out her sword and hacked at it, cutting through it in a single slice, it’s base writhing as it disappeared down in the earth below. She glanced over to the now widened hole where the well once stood. Something was forcing its way through. The giant top of a mushroom slowly protruded out, followed by a thick stalk underneath it, possessing two giant, dead, black eyes, letting out a loud, angry droning sound. Its top was scorched black, probably the after effect of Quinoa’s spell, but it hadn’t been enough to finish it off apparently. And as the rest of its body appeared, a giant plant appeared below it, some sort of strange, ravenous, writhing mass of tangled weeds and giant leaves, several large mushroom sprouts covering its form.

Eyes narrowing, she let out a battle cry and charged forward. If she could take out that beast, perhaps that would be the end of it. She leaped out of the way of another vine bursting from the ground. The beast lashed out at her from where it sat and she blocked it with her shield, though the force caused it to fly from her hand behind her. She growled loudly and let out another battle cry as she gripped her sword in both hands and slashed through yet another couple of vines that attempted to reach out to her. She charged forward as fast as she could, flinging herself towards the huge mushroom creature, blade raised above her head, preparing to cleave the creature in twain!

However, a large group of the villagers, or rather, the master’s puppets, were on their feet again, and threw themselves in her path just as she was fixing to bring the blade down. She stopped herself just in time as they threw themselves on her, grabbing at her arms and legs. While she managed to beat a couple of them back, they held her just long enough for another vine to snake around her, constricting against her and lifting her up into the air. Her legs were clamped together and her arms pulled tight to her sides. She tried to buck her way out, but the vine held her tight, as it did with the others. Kylah was trying hard to yank herself free, snarling and snapping her teeth at the vine, but it was always just out of reach of her powerful jaws. Quinoa, still drained from her burst, was about as limp as a rag doll and offered no resistance to being held. Nepeta, for her part, was looking at the Master with wide, fascinated eyes. “What’s so interesting?” Sulfur asked, still trying to wriggle her way out of its grasp.

“Amazing! It’s a giant Myconid! I had though they’d all been chased off from this part of the forest eons ago, but this one… this one not only survived, but it grew to an enormous size! And it’s releasing spores! Yes, those spores are how it’s controlling everything, it’s almost like it’s releasing little tiny bits of its own mind into the air, infecting others with its will! When the villagers dug the well, they must have released it from where it was sealed and gave it a chance to start spreading its spores again! And look, it must have been entombed with that Tendriculous! That’s where all these vines are coming from, and it’s using it to spread its spores and deliver nutrients to the plants in the village to make them grow stronger so it can use them once it’s infected them! This is fascinating!”

“Be fascinated later! If we don’t get out of these vines, we’re all going to be dead within minutes!”

“Well, not necessarily,” Nepeta said as the vine began to twist and rotate her, as though the plant was inspecting her. “Myconids are both curious and cruel creatures. They generally like to toy with their prey and captives a bit before killing them.”

“Oh, well that’s comforting,” Sulfur growled, gasping as she felt the vine grasping her starting to wriggle about between her armor and into her clothes. “What do you think you’re doing beast!” She snarled and opened her mouth, preparing to let loose a large burst of flame, but before she could, a second vine shot up and wrapped tightly around her snout, binding it shut, preventing her from breathing fire. And then the first vine, with surprising dexterity, began to undo her armor. Bit by bit, she was stripped of anything she was wearing on her scales. A quick glance to the side showed Quinoa’s robes and Kylah’s loincloth fluttering down to the ground as well. Soon, even the tunic and tights she was wearing under her armor followed suite. A giant root, probably attached to the giant creature the Myconid was riding, rose up out of the ground and the vines lowered all four of them down to it, bending them over, their backsides raised behind them. More vines sprouted from the ground and started to shift and tap at their bare bottoms. Sulfur let out a loud groan through her clamped mouth. ‘Oh hell,’ she thought to herself.

“Wow, it has been a long, long time since I’ve seen such a bad series of rolls from so many ponies at once,” Luna lamented.

Spike shook his head. “Hey, you were doing fine for a while, Luna. At least until Derpy kept making you roll over and over and over again.”

“Hey, I already cut like eighty percent of this campaign thanks to little miss romantic over there,” Derpy said, pointing at Rainbow, who just whistled innocently. “So if I say Luna had to make four different saving throws in a row in order to avoid getting captured, then that’s what’s going to happen.” She crossed her arms and nodded.

“Um, I think she’s still a little bit sour about the whole thing with the Gnolls,” Fluttershy whispered to Spike.

“Eh, just Dungeon Master syndrome. She’s taking it a lot better than some ponies I knew,” he whispered back. “Best to just roll with it. Not like she’s actively trying to get us killed. At least not yet.” He glanced up. “Okay, so I’m still free, and since I was leading a bunch of the villagers away, I should be well out of that thing’s line of sight, right?”

Derpy nodded. “The path that you took led you to being on his left side, almost facing his back. The villagers following you all collapsed and lost interest at the same time as everyone else did, so you are pretty heavily stealthed right now.”

“Where am I in relation to the rest of the party?”

“The Myconid rose that root up right next to him and has them placed so that they’re all facing back to you as well. None of them can see you and you can’t see their faces.” Derpy picked up a pencil. “Alright, since you’re perfectly poised for a sneak attack, you’re probably gonna instigate a sneak attack, so-”

“Actually, I’m going to hunker down and watch for now.”

“Wait, what?” Fluttershy gasped. “You’re just gonna sit there and watch?”

“Dick move, Spike!” Rainbow said with a huff, grumbling and drumming her fingers against the table.

“What?” Spike asked, blushing. “I just… I can't just rush in there. I've gotta wait for the most opportune moment! Wait for him to let his guard down, right? Right?”

“Perv,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Ecchi,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Moron,” Luna finished.

Spike grew redder and redder with each of their accusations. “Hey, Derpy’s the one describing all of this! Besides, it’s not me who’s interested in seeing where it goes… my character is.”

“Uh huh, sure,” Derpy said with a nod. “Whatever you say, voyeur.”

The diamond dog leaned against the side of the building he was hiding behind, eyes wide, a small blush coming to his dark fur as he took in the small lineup of backsides in front of him. While he was still a good distance away, he was still close enough to make out the details in them. Of course, he’d already seen Quinoa and Nepeta’s backsides plenty, though out of respect for her, he’d avoided directly looking at Sulfur’s rear when she was naked, as he had picked up on how uncomfortable it made her. Now unable to do anything but look towards it, though, he had to admit, he hadn’t expect something that fleshy. The same with Kylah’s backside as well. The gnoll was definitely more muscled, but her backside still stuck out a fair bit. It was rather nice to look at.

Right, right, they were in danger! He had to try and focus! He had to-

WHAP! SWAT! SMACK!

He half jumped when the long vines holding them down started to whip back and forth, drumming on their bottoms. There were two vines to a rear, one working over each cheek and his eyes widened, jaw dropping slightly at the sight. The women started to yelp and squirm and hissing, writhing against the binds that were holding them in place, but none of them were strong enough to break free. Apart from Quinoa, who was just whining and whimpering as her limp body wiggled about after each snap, the others gave out hearty bucks and writhes with every strike.

That plant was definitely not holding back either, whipping them hard enough to leave bright red welts behind with every snap, and judging by the way that the Myconid was giving them all of its attention, it was putting all of its concentration into tormenting them as much as it could. Even the villagers it controlled, despite merely being extensions of it, had all eyes glued to the scene of it. The perverted plant was probably peering at them from every conceivable angle all at once from the way that they were surrounding the group.

WHAP! SLAP! SMACK! WHAP! SPLAT! SPAT!

The edges of the vines snapped against every conceivable inch of their bottoms, from the center of their cheeks, to up near their docks, right down to their sit spots, leaving a trail of red, stinging welts all along their rumps. The snaps were hard enough to make their bottoms wobble in a rather enticing manner, which was a bit of an annoyance for the fighter, as he found it more than a little distracting. The redness from the snaps were starting to spread out like ivy over their buttocks, making them all glow brightly. It was like a big row of torchlight.

WHAP! SLAP! SNAP! SMACK! SMACK! SNAP! WHAP!

The yelps and howls from his companions began to grow louder as their will was slowly eroded away by both the pain and, he had to imagine, the humiliation they were feeling. Kylah and Sulfur were thrashing about even harder now, Sulfur’s mouth open enough for her to scream, but the vines kept her face pointed away from the vines, not that she could concentrate enough to breath any fire. Nepeta and Quinoa, by contrast, were both compeltely limp now, both bawling like naughty pups over their sire’s knees, barely offering any resistance as their plump rears were turned cherry red.

It was then that Copper noticed something strange. The Myconid’s head, that giant mushroom top, was starting to shake and shiver, a small, dusty looking cloud of purple spores starting to gather around it. His eyes widened as the gears in his head started to turn again. The Myconid wasn’t doing this for pleasure. It was weakening them. If it broke them down enough, they wouldn’t have the willpower to resist its control and it would be able to take hold of their minds easily.

It wanted to control them, rather than kill them.

Copper cursed lightly as the spanking continued, the red welts starting to darken even further. If it didn’t stop soon, they’d probably be bruising. And that was probably the point it would try and take control.

WHAP! SPANK! WHAP! SPANK! WHAP! SPANK!

He shook his head again. No more distractions, he couldn’t let himself get distracted any further. If he didn’t act soon, his friends might very well become his enemies. Taking a deep breath, he drew his broadsword from his back. He couldn’t chance throwing something from this distance, and he doubted that an axe lodged in the thing’s back would completely kill it. He wasn’t even sure if it had a brain or a nervous system!

No, he had one chance to sneak up on it, so he had to make it count. He dropped his bag, he let go of nearly all of his equipment, gently laying it down to the side, holding up his blade. “Be you god or demon,” he whispered, glancing at the sky, “Be with me. My cause is worthy.”

His prayer said to whatever deity was listening, he raised his blade and slowly started to edge his way towards the beast’s back. He flattened his ears to try and block out the howls and cries of his companions. He focused his eyes on his target to avoid looking at anything else that might be “distracting”, and inched forward, blade raised. He got closer, and closer.

Soon, his soft edging turned into a slow walk. Then a jog… and then when he was within range, he tilted forward and broke into a full on sprint. The Myconid stood and slowly turned around to see what was coming at him. Copper let out a battle cry and lunged up into the air, as Sulfur had tried to do before. But there was nothing stopping him now.

The blade came down, and in one crisp, quick, clean motion, bolstered by the strength of his swing and the weight of his body, he cleaved the Myconid clean in two, and buried his sword deep in the head of the Tendriculous.

It gave a bubbling, gurgling howl as its master’s two halves fell from it, and then slowly fell limp as Copper fell to the ground, it’s body immediately starting to shrivel and turn grey. The diamond dog yanked its blade out and held it up, glancing at the halves of the mushroom creature, but neither side moved. It’s blank eyes grew glassy and faded. Copper let out a small sigh of relief and glanced to his companions, hurrying to the side and yanking the dead, shriveled vines off of them. “Are you all okay?” he asked.

Sulfur groaned and slowly slid off the gnarled root before reaching up and pulling the vine off of her mouth. “What… took you so long?” she panted.

“I had to… ah… pick my moment carefully,” he said, smiling at her. “Glad to see you’re all right.”

“You too,” she grunted. “Quinoa? Nepeta? Kylah? You three still with us?”

“I’m sore, but alive…” Nepeta mumbled.

“Humiliated too,” Kyla groaned. “Love?”

“Here… and exhausted and still numb… and warm now,” she grumbled.

“Rest for a moment,” Copper told them. “I think we all need a moment,” he said, motioning to the crowd of villagers who were all starting to slowly recover.

“I cannot believe your luck, Spike,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “First, you decide to put all of us in danger and just take in a free show. Thanks for describing that, by the way, Derpy,” she said.

Derpy rolled her eyes gently, but shrugged.

“And then you roll an eighteen for stealth, nineteen for move silently, and then a perfect natural twenty for your hit roll, and cleave both of them in HALF in one hit!”

“Well, I mean, it was kind of my thing,” Spike said with a smile. “Well, okay, stealth isn’t really my thing, that was definitely all luck. But it worked, right?”

“Yeah, it was pretty cool,” Derpy said. “Might have been even cooler if it came at the end of a much longer, awesome campaign,” she grumbled, once again glaring at Rainbow.

“Ugh, Derpy, I’m sorry, all right? I was just playing my character, it’s part of the game, right?”

“Well yeah, but it still annoys me!” she groaned, flailing her arms a bit.

Luna cleared her throat. “Maybe we should continue and wrap up before we get into that?” she suggested.

“Fine, fine, we’re almost done here anyway… and almost out of time,” Derpy lamented, glancing at the clock. “So let’s see…”

Several hours of rest, and many explanations to the confused villagers later, the party was given a complimentary room at the small inn in town. They were being heralded as heroes, but sadly, the villagers were just too poor to pay. It made sense. After all, they’d been lured here by the Master, who had probably tried hiring them specifically to kill off the gnolls, or maybe get itself some stronger bodyguards. Either way, Sulfur had refused any sort of payment anyways, though she had promised proper compensation to her friends once they returned to her temple and she could tell her Abbot what happened.

Kylah and Copper were quick to lend a hand in cleaning up the place, particularly cleaning out the store houses of all the rotting food and supplies. Kylah had offered to have her people come and help them forage for fresh foods and restock their supplies, in an effort to build better relations between the forest gnolls and the village, and as an apology for the misunderstandings when the village had first been built.

Nepeta, Quinoa, and Sulfur, however, were still recovering in their room at the inn. While Sulfur did want to go out and assist the others in cleaning up, she knew there was something else that had to happen first. She observed the two others carefully for a moment. Nepeta, despite her lack of an ability to sit at the moment, was hurriedly scribbling down notes in her journal about what she had seen and experienced. Quinoa, on the other hand, was finally starting to recover from her earlier magic burst and was up and about, stretching her limbs again.

“You know, you don’t have to hang out with us,” Quinoa noted. “I know we make you uncomfortable.”

Sulfur blushed and sighed, rubbing her arm gently. She was back in her tunic again, her armor packed up neatly next to her bag. She figured she had little need of it now. She walked forward, a hand on her hip, looking between the two. “Perhaps, but… I owe you both a big apology,” she stated.

Nepeta’s ear flicked and she looked up from her journal. “Mreow?”

“Come again?” the griffon asked, blinking.

Sulfur bit her lip. “I was… quite harsh, on both of you during this job, mostly due to my own prejudices, my own dislike of magic. But despite my behavior, both of you have acted as both dependable fighters, and good counsel throughout our time here. I humbly apologize for my behavior. To both of you, and I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive a foolish Paladin.” She bowed low to them.

The two magic wielders glanced between each other for a moment and then smirked at one another before smiling at her. “You really wanna make it up to us?” Quinoa asked as Nepeta set the journal to the side, on the bedside table.

“Er… yes?” the dragon asked, nervously.

They nodded and Quinoa slid over to the bed, carefully sitting her sore rear down on the soft mattress, letting out a soft hiss. She pat her lap gently. “Alrighty then. Come here and bend over.”

“Er, is that… is that strictly necessary?” she asked, flush coming to her face.

“Hey, you said anything,” Nepeta said.

“And it’ll be a sign that you trust us,” Quinoa added.

Sighing, the dragon shuffled forward, rubbing her arm. “V-very well. If it will help you to accept my apology, I will do this.” She slowly and obediently bent herself over the griffon’s knees, wiggling lightly. She squeaked as she felt her tunic lifted up and her tights being pushed down. She groaned as her swollen, welted bottom was put on display, her face flushing almost as red as her tush. “Please be gentle,” she mumbled, steeling herself for what was about to happen. She deserved this. If they wanted to punish her for her behavior, that was their right. She could not deny them this.

She let out a rather adorable squeak as she felt something very cold and soft press against her backside. She raised her head up and craned it back towards her rear, blinking in surprise as she saw Nepeta gently drizzling some sort of cream over her backside. Quinoa then began to rub it into her scales, carefully sliding her palm along her soft bottom. She shivered, the effect being almost instantaneous. “Mmmph… mmm…”

“How’s that for gentle?” Quinoa asked.

“I-I thought you were going to… to…”

“Spank you?” Nepeta asked, chuckling as Sulfur nodded her head. “No, never. Well, at least not after what we all went through. Our butts are still in rough shape too. We just wanted you to trust us. And you did.”

She relaxed and sighed, wiggling her backside again as the two of them continued to tend to her rear. “I… thank you, both of you.”

“No problem,” Quinoa said softly. “Now just relax and enjoy yourself for a bit, okay?” she asked, as she brushed a finger along her sit spots, making the dragon shiver again.

“I… I will,” she mumbled, sighing again. And she did enjoy herself. Both of the magic users carefully caressed and rubbed at her sore bottom, offering her a good amount of relief. Whatever they were rubbing over her, it pushed away the fire and the pain quite quickly, dulling the terrible throb until it was little more than a light ache. She sighed and smiled, closing her eyes softly, trying her best to ignore the fact that two women were currently caressing her ass and just enjoy the feeling.

“So… what happens now?” Quinoa asked. The party had reconvened and gathered their things together, in preparation for leaving the village. “I guess this is the end of the job, right?”

Sulfur nodded. “Well, we’re going to have to go back to town so that I can speak to my abbot and deliver my report. He will not be pleased about not receiving any sort of payment for the job, but I’m sure he’ll understand when I explain the situation. After that, I… I suppose our business will conclude. I’ll pay you each your fees and then you can… well, go off and do what you wish.”

“Well…” Copper said after a moment. “Actually, after I am paid, I could use some help going back to my homeland. My tribe has been in a civil war for itself for years now, about the time I left. Perhaps you could come with me and help me to settle things there.”

“Oooh, if we’re going to the northlands-” Nepeta piped in, “-there are several old, mysterious areas we could examine on our way there, probably plenty of discoveries to be made… treasures to find.”

“And I do have a bit of a collection of maps and legends that might lead us to something more interesting on our journey,” Quinoa offered.

Sulfur blinked. “Well, if you are all going to be doing that, you’d probably need a responsible paladin to try and keep you three out of trouble.” She offered them a small smile.

“Four,” Kylah announced.”

“Four?” Sulfur asked, blinking as she looked at the large Gnoll. “You’re coming with us?”

“Will not leave love.”

Quinoa blushed and leaned back against her, nuzzling her chest. “She and I decided that we really didn’t want to be separated,” she said.

“What of your people?” Copper asked. “Will they not worry for their queen?”

“I tell ponies where to find us,” she said. “Left em with proof of my words. My people understand. I see world. I stay with love.” She stroked Quinoa’s feathers gently. “I no leave her.”

Quinoa let out a soft squeal and squeezed her staff tightly as she leaned back against her hand.

Sulfur rolled her eyes. “Well, this will certainly make going back into the city interesting. But you must behave yourself, Kylah. No causing trouble, for anyone, unless we tell you to.”

She snorted gently, giving a rather cute pout. “I behave,” she promised, a slight blush rising from under her fur as she reached behind herself and rubbed at her backside.

“Aww, does someone need some cream when we stop for the night?” Quinoa asked her, smiling up at her.

Kyla grunted and gave her a firm swat on her own stinging rear. “I be fine… but yes please.”

Nepeta and Quinoa giggled a little bit while Copper set a gentle hand on Sulfur’s shoulder. “I suppose this means you’re stuck with us a while longer, friend.”

“I know. I’m completely okay with that,” she said with a grin. And so the small troop of adventurers, with a new addition to their number, left the little village, and headed off to more adventures waiting for them down the road.”

“The end,” Derpy said with a soft sigh.

“Well, that was awesome,” Spike said, stretching out his arms. “I mean it, it’s been a long time since I’ve gotten to play this game seriously.”

“Yeah,” Fluttershy agreed. “It’s fantastic.”

Luna frowned as Derpy began to fold up her screen and put away her books and notes. “I’m sorry about your campaign, Derpy,” she said gently. “But you know we can still play plenty of other games next time.”

“Are you kidding?” Derpy asked with a big smile. “That was some of the most fun I’ve had since I learned how to play this game! I mean yeah, it’s annoying that my campaign got sort of derailed a bit, but like, seeing everything that happened, watching it all play out, that was amazing! I live for this sort of thing! And the way Rainbow did it was actually really ingenious! Seducing a gnoll queen? Like, I figured someone would try it, but I didn’t think they’d actually succeed!”

Rainbow smiled. “So you aren’t mad?”

“Nope.”

“No hard feelings?”

“Nope.”

“We gonna let bygones be bygones?”

“Nope.”

“Wha-OW!” she winced as Derpy pinched her ear and yanked her forward, depositing her over her knee before the pegasus could react. “H-hey! Wait! Aww, come on, Derpy!” She glanced over at Luna as Derpy started to tug her pants down. “Luna, you’re the teacher here, stop her!”

Luna giggled. “Well, I’d love to, but my own personal philosophy when it comes to this? Is the Dungeon Master should be allowed one free attack on anyone who ruins their campaign. Derpy might not be mad at you, but I think this is perfectly within her right.”

“Aww, come on!” she groaned as her pants were pushed all the way down to her ankles.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow, your butt won’t be as rough as Quinoa’s was.” Derpy said, patting her rear.

Rainbow blushed. “Well, I sure hope not!” she huffed, pouting a bit as Derpy began to swat and slap at her backside. The athletic pegasus was used to things getting rough, so her pain tolerance was enough for her not to start yelping when Derpy took her palm to her backside, but damn, she was still smacking pretty hard. “Ngh! Mmmph!”

SMACK! SLAP! SWAT! SWAT! SPAT! SLAP!

“Ow! ACK! Aww! Are you gonna do this every time we play together?!”

“Only if you ruin my campaign again.”

“No fair! That’s like, half the fun gone right there.”

“Then you either have fun my way, or you have fun with a sore butt,” Derpy stated, maintaining the swats, and smacking up and down Rainbow’s cute rear.

SWAT! SMACK! SLAP! SPLAT! SMACK! SLAP! SLAP!

“EEP! Ow! Nnngh! Unff!” she hissed and kicked her legs a bit.

Spike blushed a little bit and coughed, averting his eyes, glancing at Fluttershy. “S-so, do you want to go and give them some privacy or…” He blinked when he realized that all of Fluttershy’s attention was focused on Rainbow’s rear, which was fairly close , giving her a perfect view of every smack and every bounce of her backside. “Orrr, we could just sit here and wait this out,” he said, smiling and rolling his eyes.

“Says the dragon who waited in the campaign specifically so that Derpy would have to go into detail about what was happening to us,” Luna stated with a smug smirk.

“Hey, that was her choice to describe it like that,” Spike said defensively with a blush. “She could have just glossed over it and gotten to the part where it was preparing to take control of you, but nope, she went into every little detail.”

“And you knew she would,” Luna accused.

“Well I didn’t hear any of you complaining.”

“It would have been rude to interrupt!” Luna said in her own defensive tone now.

Derpy rolled her eyes, half listening to them as she continued to whap and smack at the mare over her knee.

SPANK! SLAP! SMACK! WHAP!

“OW! ACK!” Rainbow groaned. “Come on, Derpy, isn’t this enough? ACK!”

“Nope!” she said with a smile. “I almost never get to do stuff like this, so I’m gonna enjoy this!”

SPANK! SLAP! SMACK! SMACK!

“Hnngh! Grrr, not like I was intentionally ruining anything!”

“Tell you what, Rainbow, next time, you can be Dungeon Master for our next game, and if I end up ruining yours, you can do this to me. Fair?”

Rainbow grumbled and huffed a few times before nodding. “Fair.”

“Great!” She smiled happily and let loose another flurry of slaps against the bare flank on her lap. They cratered the toned flank impressively with some equally impressive echoes to the claps.

SWAT! SMACK! SPAT! SPAT! SLAP! WHAP!

“EEP! OOP! Ack, that smarts! Nnngh! Hnngh!” Rainbow winced and bucked a little bit.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow, almost done,” she promised, giggling.

“Well thank the stars for that! ACK!”

SPANK! SLAP! SMACK! SMACK! WHAP! WHAP!

Derpy finished up with one final smack, right in the center of her butt, really putting a good wind up on the strike so that it would have a nice, firm impact. Rainbow arched her back and let out one more yelp and hiss as Derpy pat her rear a few times. “Okay,” the grey mare said. “We’ll call that good. Thanks for being a good sport about it, Dashie.”

Rainbow responded by letting out a snort, but smiled as she was let up, giving the other mare a tight hug.

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Well, that happened.”

Fluttershy snapped out of her trance with a warm glow appearing on her cheeks. “Y-yeah um… I-I guess it’s time for us to go?”

“Oh wait, we can’t go just yet!” Derpy said. “We have to decide what we’re doing next time. Like I said, I was expecting this campaign to last a few more meetings…”

“Well, you already said I could run the next game,” Rainbow stated. “So I’ll handle that. I’ve already got a few ideas in mind, and I have some old ideas I can use if I can write out anything new in a week. Good?”

“Sure, that sounds fine,” Derpy said with a smile, getting up. “And um… thanks again to all of you for coming. Rainbow, Spike, Fluttershy, Luna. This… this was a dream come true for me, finally being able to run a club like this.”

Luna smiled and nodded, slowly getting up and placing her hands on her hips. “Well, you did a fine, fine job, Ms. President. I’m looking forward to more.”

“Same,” Spike said. I’m really glad we were able to make this happen, Derpy.”

“Thank you. All of you.” She fluttered her wings excitedly.

“See you next week?” Fluttershy asked.

“Definitely,” they all agreed. Everyone started to pack up and Spike cleared his throat. “Ms Luna, could I get a lift home with you?”

“Sure, your house is on my way home, so why not?” she smiled and motioned him along, shouldering her own bag as they started to walk off, bidding everyone else good night. But Spike faltered, causing her to pause. “Something wrong?”

Spike glanced back at Fluttershy. “Could you... give me a minute?” The navy blue alicorn smirked and nodded, leaning against the wall as he chased down the pegasus. “Fluttershy! Can I talk to you for a minute?”

The pink haired pony stumbled and glanced back. “Huh? Oh! Spike, sure. W-What's wrong?”

“Nothing! I mean, I guess kinda something?” He sighed and frowned. “I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier. You don't like others knowing about certain interests that you have, and feel like you have to put on a face in front of them. I didn't mean to make you feel bad.”

She folded her ears back with a wince. “Spike, you don't have to apologize. Like you said, you didn't mean to make me upset.”

“But I don't want you to hide who you are either!” That caught Fluttershy off guard. “You actually feel comfortable being yourself when in the club, and I don't want you to pretend or hide or be too shy to be you around me outside of it. But I feel like you can't unless we get to know each other, build trust. I know I might seem like a perv, and you'd be right! But I'm more than some horny boy. Please, give me a chance to prove it.”

Her wings flared up. “Spike, are you asking me...”

“Out on a date, yes!” He placed his hands together pleadingly. “It doesn't have to be right away, and it would mostly be an excuse to get to know each other better. So what do you say?”

Fluttershy was quiet for a long moment, expression unchanging, body unmoving. “I need to think about it. I-If that's okay.”

Spike was a bit dissapointed by that answer, but, he couldn't blame her. “That is. Take all the time you need. And, hey, in the meantime? We still got the club, right?”

Her expression brightened a bit, and she nodded. “Thanks, Spike. See you next week.”

“You too!” He watched her go for a moment, hands in his pockets, before returning to the waiting Empress of the Night.

“How'd it go, cassanova? You attain a marefriend?” she asked in a teasing tone.

“I got a maybe.”

“Oof. Apologies, nephew, but give her time to warm up to you. Dates are not just an excuse to get to know someone, it's to get to know someone better that you already trust. For some, at least.” She motioned him along and they continued away from the others. Once they were a ways down the hall, Luna glanced at him. “So, did you have fun.”

“Heck yeah. You?”

“Definitely,” she agreed with a smirk. “We should talk really loud about how great it was when we get home, so your mother will hear us.”

“Wanna make her jealous about not being a part of the club?”

“Yup!”

Spike rolled his eyes, but he nodded, holding out his fist. “Let’s do it.”

“That’s my nephew,” she chuckled, pounding her fist against his as the two of them walked out of the school building together.