I awoke lying on my back in a total daze, completely unaware of my surroundings. My vision was much too blurred to see any definitive images that would clue me in on my exact location. No sound was made that could tell me where I was. However, I was able to move to an upright sitting position and inspect my own appearance. I was surprised to see that I’d been clean; no dirt or blood staining my outfit. In addition, my limbs were free from ensnarement and devoid of any physical torment.

“How…? I coulda sworn I was…” I muttered to myself, scratching my head in confusion. "Where am I...?" I shook my head quickly, hoping to gain some semblance of awareness.

“Ty…” I heard someone gently call from a distance, alerting me into opening my eyes wide.

“Yea?” I responded as I looked around the unfamiliar landscape. I got no response. "Who's there?"

“Ty…!” the disembodied voice sang again, sounding much closer. The voice itself sounded vaguely familiar, but my confusion would not allow me to put a name or a face to it.

“Yes? I’m here! Who’s lookin’ for me?” I called, scouring the area a bit more scrupulously despite my myopic vision. "What do you need?"

“Ty…” the voice called one more time, coming from right behind me. I slowly turned around to be greeted with a brightly smiling lavender unicorn, who'd come into my sight very clearly. As soon as I laid eyes on her, the environment became clear: I’d suddenly found myself back in my own universe; my room to be exact, sitting on my bed next to Twilight Sparkle, who'd also seemed to have been cleansed of injury and physical signs of fatigue. The room was dark, no light other than the moon gleaming through the window to provide any clarity to our surroundings.

“Oh thank goodness, i’ss you, Twi…” I breathed a sigh of relief, the wary tension that had been building inside me suddenly gone. “What’s up? How'd we wind up back here?”

“I love you, Ty... I love you… so much…” she dreamily whispered, grinning at me in wistful ecstasy. I didn't quite know how to react to such a sudden, yet affectionate confession. All I knew was that those words, coming from Twilight, sent me into a state of absolute bliss… Right there, I wanted to reciprocate her affection by confessing my feelings to her.

"Aww..." I replied, love-struck as I ran a hand along her smooth, silky mane and down the back of her neck. "I l--!" Before I was able to say anything else, the unicorn lunged at me, blinding me from seeing anything but her mane and vibrant, luscious violet eyes as she voraciously locked her lips with mine. I did nothing to stop her. The unicorn kissed me deeply, seeming to pour all of her feeling into the lovely gesture as she wrapped her forelegs around my neck and pulled me close. A few seconds later, she pulled away, still smiling as a strand of saliva kept our mouths connected. The unicorn, noticing the strand, blushingly giggled as she lifted a hoof to wipe my lip clean. Being utterly beguiled by her charms, I did the same by softly running my thumb across her bottom lip.

“I want you… here and now…” she admitted with an unusually erotic inflection in her voice. “Give me all of your love, Ty… and in return, I’ll give you mine…”

"Whoa... Giggety, Giggety, Gig-Eh-Dee...!"

"Wow... how sudden... I'd be a bad guy t' say no... but... are you sure you want to do this, though? I mean..."

"Please, take me!" She interrupted as she pounced on me yet again. Taken by pleasant surprise, I hungrily welcomed her uncalculated embrace as we fell back onto the bed with her on top of me. I closed my eyes to bask in the moment of bonding with my filly-friend, wrapping my arms lovingly around her as we kissed deeply, stopping for nothing as I lost myself in the love of the unicorn… the air became hot and thin… our breathing and moaning was heavy and primal… and before I knew it, I found myself uniting with her in the most physically intimate way possible. Any objections I’d harbored against this sort of behavior were cast to the wind as Twi and I became one, each of us thoroughly enjoying the explicitly wondrous feel and taste of one another… Everything became a blur; my vision was fading into blackness and all sound was inexplicably drowned out as Twilight and I indulged in each other's intimate desires. Eventually, the two of us reached the simultaneous climax of our physical lust, causing me to black out in pleasure…

However, when my two most vital senses returned to me, I was alarmed to be greeted with the physical form of someone else. The eyes were no longer purple. They’d taken a more rounded shape. The mane was no longer dark blue, nor was it shaped the same. The horn had disappeared. The coat was no longer lavender. I’d even felt something… feathery in my grasp. Instead of Twilight, I was greeted with the sight of long, straight pink hair, soft, round pools of turquoise, and a bright yellow coat.

“That was… wonderful,” said the voice, now sounding whispery and soft as its owner nuzzled into my shoulder. Baffled and speechless, I looked around to see that I was no longer in my own home… I was no longer holding Twilight. I was in the home and the embrace of the yellow pegasus mare known as Fluttershy. I’d been holding her in my arms as she lay on top of me, smiling the same way I’d thought I’d seen Twi smile as she stared into my eyes. Except… my arms weren’t arms. I noticed that I’d been shrunken in size and my body had been reformed to the shape of a quadruped. I took note of my jet black coat and lack of hands, which only served to befuddle me further.

“Wha…? How did I…? Fluttershy? Wha’ss goin’ on?” I asked in bewilderment, foolishly hoping for a legitimate answer.

“We just made love, sweetie…” she softly whispered in my ear as she cuddled and ground her lower body into me. “And it was the best…” Instantly, I was confused beyond belief as my heart sank.

“Made… LOVE???” I thought, my mind wracked with dread and confusion. “That is insane! Me? And Her?? But… I’m with Twilight!! I WAS with Twilight! Wasn’t I? Why would I do something like this? With Fluttershy of all ponies! Why am I not with Twilight!?”

"Even I gotta say tha'ss a bit of a mind fuck..."

"But... I thought Twilight was...!"

"Shhh..." the uncharacteristically-seductive mare quieted me as she lifted her head to meet my gaze as she playfully pressed a hoof to my lips. "You don't need her... you have me... I love you much more than she ever could... and we just got done proving it, baby..."

"That doesn't make sense! Why would I EVER--?" My thought process was interrupted when I felt the hoof remove itself from my mouth. I was thoroughly alarmed beyond my wits when it was replaced with a pair of lips pressing against my own. My eyes opened wide with total shock as I processed the fact that Fluttershy had just kissed me. "What... the hell???" Flabbergasted, I hastily pulled away from the embrace. Fluttershy lifted her head back up, seeming a bit confused.

"What's wrong, Ty? Don't you love me?" she sincerely asked as she kept me pinned down with her body.

"I... sure I do, but..." I had no idea what to say... But, I was positive I didn't want say anything that would offend the mare. "Not in the way you want me to... This isn't right... I'm supposed to be with Twilight. She's my filly-friend. I'm sorry, Fluttershy... I jus' don't feel the same way about you that you do me... I don't even know how I wound up here... None o' this seems right at all...!"

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head violently to make sure I wasn’t simply hallucinating. Rather than simply appear somewhere else like I had just a moment ago, I’d suddenly felt Fluttershy's presence disappear along with the environment. I'd begun falling before I’d even opened my eyes. Wind was flowing by me at a velocity I couldn’t comprehend as I kept my eyes shut; too afraid to look at the ground I was plummeting towards. After what felt like an eternity of being at the mercy of gravity, I’d finally come to a complete halt… But rather than crash land into the new area, I found myself suddenly levitating, my eyes still clenched.

“You’re ours, now… hahahaha…!” I heard a deep, sinister voice taunt. Suddenly, a shock ripped through my body, forcing me to open my eyes. Again, the landscape had changed; this time, it was a dank, creepy forest, where I’d once again found myself tied up to a tree. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. I tried to struggle, but I only found it extremely exhausting… but then, I noticed I could move my arms and legs. I was human again. But then… I wasn’t hanging from the tree by my torso… I was hanging by my neck. I suddenly felt a stark tightness grip around my windpipes with the strength of a python. Panicked, I clasped my hands around the leafy tether, trying vehemently to break free from the literal death grip of the vine. My eyes wandered around the forest, looking for someone or something that could help me. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a familiar lavender unicorn walking right into the area. I tried reaching out for her as I struggled for breath. She seemed to notice my frantic waving, as she stopped and looked up at me. However, the look on her face wasn’t one of worry or shock… it was one of bitter vindication; a look of pure, unadulterated hatred, piercing directly into my asphyxiating being.

“You cheat! You liar! You… you pig!” she insulted, seeming to care nothing for my dire situation.

“T-Twi… Light…!” I managed to gargle out, feeling as if my head was going to explode any second. “Please…! Help…! Me...!”

“I don’t need a special somepony! At least… not one… *sniffle* like you… I hate you, you cheater! I never want to see you again!” she bitterly spat, hitting me with a tsunami of emotional torment as I felt my hands go limp as my resolve to break free weakened dramatically. I blinked slowly, managing to look down to see that the unicorn had her back turned toward me. However, I could hear something coming from her… sniffling… whimpering… weeping… She was crying.

“I… don’t understand… What’s… goin’ on here?”

“I… I… wouldn’t do that to you…! You know that…!” I managed to choke out again as I ignored the vine suspending me in the air by my constricted esophagus to try and reach down towards the grieving mare... then I blinked once again. The instant I reopened my eyes, however, the unicorn I knew as my significant other was gone. My body went completely limp, devoid of any more physical suffering. Instead, there were only feelings of despair… anguish… sadness… Although my body suddenly stopped any sort of movement, my eyes were still functional. I looked at the area Twilight was standing in to instead see the malevolent, wrathful faces of most of her friends and family. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, Princess Luna, Spike… All of them glaring spitefully at me; dissonant scowls on each of their faces… but Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were nowhere to be seen.

“You let her down, human…” spoke Celestia in a stern, emotionless tone. “In turn, you’ve let us all down. And now you must pay the price…”

“What did I do??”

Following Celestia’s decree, the vine had finally broken, sending me plummeting into an abyss of complete blackness. I didn’t scream as I fell… Inexplicably strong feelings of regret and miserable dejection all but silenced me as I hurtled toward the unknown... Eventually, I’d crash-landed into a pit of nothingness, my wrists and ankles suddenly bound with rope. My body was the only light glowing in the darkness as I’d pulled myself up to a position where I was on my knees. However, when I looked down, I noticed my clothes were filthy, ragged, and stained with blood. In an instant, my limbs and head were throbbing viciously, crying out in agony. I couldn’t tell what it was being caused by, but everything suddenly hurt as if I’d been in a losing battle against a rabid gorilla that was armed with brass knuckles...

“I thought I told you what would happen if you broke that Pinkie Promise…” I heard a scratchy, menacing mare’s voice admonish. A second later, Pinkie stepped into my view, her body glowing in the darkness like mine had been. She wore the same facial expression of disdain as the others had… Her hair wasn't styled in its usual fashion, though... it was straight... flat... her mane hung down over one side of her head as she glared icy death at me.

“I… I’m sorry…” I pleaded. “I’m really sorry…”

“That won’t work,” she informed. “You’re a cheater cheater, pumpkin eater, and you hurt my friends. And more importantly, you hurt Twilight. You’re going to pay…”

“Pinkie Pie, wait!” I heard another voice call. Almost instantaneously, the figure of a familiar pegasus mare came into view. “He didn’t mean it! I-it wasn’t his fault! I—!” Fluttershy tried to explain.

“I don’t wanna hear it from YOU!” Pinkie harshly screamed. “You’re just as bad as he is! We’re not friends anymore, Fluttershy! No one wants to be friends with a pony who steals her best friend’s special somepony! Go away!” Fluttershy seemed devastated by her former friend’s unforgiving judgment. The look of emotional pain that plastered itself onto the distraught mare's face was far too much for me to bear… the guilt I was feeling was amplified fiftyfold. A lump had formed in my throat as I watched Fluttershy break down into tears and crestfallenly trot away into the darkness without so much as even glancing back.

“This is all my fault…” I mumbled in solemn realization. “I let her down… I betrayed her… I broke her heart… I hurt her… and now she wants nothing to do with me… and she abandoned one of her best friends… Twilight, I’m so sorry…” I hung my head low and shut my eyes just one more time… except this time, I had no intention of reopening them. The barrier I’d formed against my own sorrow had finally been broken, thanks to my disheartening epiphany. And with that, I began to weep… in that moment, Pinkie Pie had pulled some sort of party cannon out from nowhere and aimed it directly at me as she pressed the barrel against my forehead. I found the courage to open my tear-riddled eyes look up and see her... But what I saw wasn’t Pinkie… it was instead, a stallion. Shaggy black hair… threatening red eyes… a tan coat… and a gleeful, toothy evil grin as he aimed the cannon at my face… I couldn’t bear to look at it. I lowered my head back down as I continued my pitiful display of shame and regret.

“Hasta la vista… Hahahaha…!”

*BOOM*

“Wuh!” I awoke with a start and a gasp, my heart pounding furiously in my chest as I breathed heavily, sweating profusely and trembling with fear. I couldn’t gather up the strength to look around and see where I was, but from the feel of it, I’d been lying on something hard and wooden. The area in which I was lying was too dark for me to see anything. Instead of focusing on my surroundings, however, I took the time to think about the nightmare I’d had… it was vague and hazy at the moment... I could only remember certain parts of it… Something happening with Fluttershy… Twilight crying… me choking… and the *BOOM* that startled me awake…

While I couldn’t remember the full experience of it, I couldn’t help but feel overcome with remorse when Twilight and Fluttershy came to mind. Especially Twilight… I know I didn’t cheat on her. I never would. But… I still had a pang of penitence hanging around my head as I thought more of her. I wanted to see her again… to admit to offering her friend a rubdown… to apologize for not considering her feelings when I did… to hold her in my arms again… but I couldn’t, as I realized I’d been captured. My arms and legs were still numb, rendering me unable to move. In addition, I was still very woozy, soon finding my head drooping back down onto the surface I was resting on. As I lay my aching head back down on the ground, a sudden, crushing hopelessness took me over as a lump formed in my throat.

“I’m sorry, Twilight…” was all I could think of before my lingering physical fatigue took me back into the enigmatic realm of my own addled mind…