~~~~~Twilight Hall~~~~~

Twilights mind had no idea what was going on. That normally might have scared her, except the warm feeling in her body wasn't letting her get scared. After three or four attempts to work up a good panic, Twilight's mind gave it up as a bad job and decided to just roll with whatever was happening. Given how 'what was happening' happened to be a soft and squishy Pinkie Pie pressing into her body, and kissing her. Quite thoroughly, as it turned out. Of course, her Shadow was in the driver's seat again, so she was kissing back with equal thoroughness.

As pink and purple body met, Twilight's hooves dug into the soft squishiness that was Pinkie. Pulling her in closer and meeting tongue against tongue - which was enough to startle a moan out of her. Something funny had been in those cupcakes, and whatever it was it felt awesome. Every touch of her body, especially her sensitive parts was heightened in an exponential fashion. Her tongue brushed up against Pinkie's again in their kiss, and it felt like somepony had just licked her clit - pulling another sweet moan out of both of them.

So on it went, two ponies rubbing their hooves all over one another and kissing long and deep. Twilight slowly felt all of her desire to hold back eroding out of her bit by bit. Her melted shadow-mane and tail slowly growing more and more eager to welcome a new member into the family. Tongues thrust against one another, and bodies writhed in pleasure. Twilight decided to be mad later, right now she wanted to fill this pink mare with her Shadow so they could revel in it together.

Pinkie finally broke the kiss, her breathing heavy and slow as she stared needingly into Twilight's eyes. "C’mon Twi..." She whispered a little hesitantly, and Twilight wondered if all of her friends had harbored a crush for her somewhere deep down inside. "Let's really party." she giggled softly, but it wasn't her usual high-pitched laugh - it was a lusty, sexy sort of sound that drove into Twilight's ears.

Pinkie giggled again in that same sound, leaning in to brush Twilight's liquid mane back with her hooves. The liquid shadow melted into Pinkie's touch, and both of them shivered in reaction to it. "Mmh. You feel like frosting." Pinkie purred. "All soft and sweet." Pinkie was actually nibbling on her shadow mane, pulling the dark energy into her body willingly as she rubbed sexily up against Twilight's body.

Pinkie's hips shifted a little, and she pressed her own groin up against Twilight's - getting a surprised sort of squeak out of the lusty shadow lady. The touch of Pinkie's slit against Twilight's nearly sent her into orgasm instantly. Pinkie looked like she felt the same way - her eyes widening and a wordless squeal of pleasure pealing out of her lips. "Oh Celestia, Twi!" Pinkie moaned out, all trace of her usual wacky persona gone - replaced by... Well, Twilight could only describe her as a very sexy pink minx. "Mmmf, we need to party like this more often.." She spoke in those delectable tones, still nibbling and kissing at Twilight's mane.

Twilight laughed softly, her hooves coming up and dragging Pinkie's head down. "Mhn, C'mere - I got a new kind of party to show you...." Twilight purred out, fastening her lips to Pinkie's and letting the shadow flow freely between them. Pinkie's eyes widened at first, and then lazily half-lidded. Their hips bucked against one another as the shadow slowly wrapped around their bodies, sweet moans echoing up to the ceiling.

~~~~~~~

"You. Gave. Them. WHAT?!" Captain Winterlight's voice had risen from simple incredulity to complete disbelief. "There is no facehoof big enough to describe how incredibly..." She threw her hooves up in the air, waving them at the sky in disbelief. "GAHH! You both knew the Queen's never indulged before!" A pair of blank looks from the two ponies before her, and Winterlight's hooves fell to her sides. "Oh by the Shadow, you didn't did you." Her voice was utterly flat, like someone had broken her vocal cords.

Shadow Dancer and Silent Moon actually looked at each other, in spite of the fact that one of them was blind. There was a moment of tense silence between them, both of them shifting in their hooves. Dancer spoke first, sounding more than a little abashed. "You said she'd been fully inducted, Captain. By Tartarus, every Shadowbolt gets fed a Sundrop at some point during training." Dancer mantled her wings and looked grumpy. "Not our fault you didn't get specificabout what kind of induction."

Silent Moon shook her head calmly, her tone gentle. "Winterlight, she was going to experience it sooner or later. Better to do so in the company of someone she trusts implicitly." Her ears twitched a moment and she gave a little smile. "It's a moot point anyway. They're already going at it. Quite enthusiastically too." Dancer rolled her eyes a little at her, and Moon softly giggled. "Look, there's nothing we can do about it now. They're going to be like that for the rest of the night."

Winterlight just sighed. "I swear to bucking tartarus, If you two weren't Maidens I'd have you cleaning the latrines for the next year." She grumbled softly, kicking at the dirt. "As it is I'm already going to have to report this to the Queen. She isn't going to like it either." There was a savage grin now on Winterlight's face, both of the Maidens suddenly looking a little nervous. "And don't think I'm going to let you two get off easily."

The pair of them sighed dramatically - simultaneously no less. Winterlight rolled her eyes and stomped off, muttering something about getting a team together to clean up the inevitable mess. The two ponies waited until she was well out of earshot before grinning at each other. "Totally worth it." whispered Dancer, and Moon nodded enthusiastically. "Now, since the Captain's gonna be busy - let's go secure ourselves a little treat of our own."

Moon giggled brightly, whispering back. "And we can start planning to bring in the next one. Best let it settle for a few days first though - or the Captain might have a fit." The two of them giggled in unison, and moments later vanished into the shadows of the garden.

~~~~~~~~~

Back inside the building, Winterlight took a deep cleansing breath. Focus. Not all is lost. We'll just have to accelerate things a bit with Dash. That wasn't going to be fun for anypony involved, but she didn't have a choice now. She couldn't have two of the Elements of Harmony drop off the face of Equestria in the same week. That was just asking for Celestia to come beat them about the head with a cudgel. First things first. Deal with the new recruit, then worry about the pink one.

Winterlight's wings snapped open. "Sergeant!" She barked into the air, and a moment later three uniformed Shadowbolts were arrayed before her, each one of them a pegasus. Thank goodness for that. They'll make this easier. "Find Private Dash. Put her on the accelerated training schedule. I want her ready for full conversion within forty eight hours." She paused a little. "No permanent damage. If I see so much as a scar on her, I'll feed all of you to the Queen with cherry tomatoes. Go." She imperiously pointed her wing and all three of her minions vanished before her.

Winterlight sighed. And here I was hoping to enjoy a nice, slow week of torture and conversion. Oh well, life is full of disappointments. I'll just have to take my stress out on those two featherheads. She stalked down the hallways to the kitchens, trying to keep her temper fully under control. She did not like her carefully crafted plans being upset. She especially did not like it when said plans were being upset by her own subordinates who thought they knew better than she did. Granted, Silent Moon was something of a genius - but she was a babe in the woods when it came to this sort of operation.

Winterlight burst into the busy kitchen, and nopony so much as looked up at her. That was good, it meant they were focusing on their work like good servants did. The obscene pink cart was still perched there, and Captain Winterlight flung open the cover to observe what was left. Fully half the cupcakes were gone - a combination of theft, the Queen, and who knew who else. Her wing plucked the shiny yellow and pink candy from atop one of the cupcakes and glared at it.

Sundrops. They hadn't changed much at all in the last thousand years, except in potency. She could smell the active ingredient, a peculiar little flower that grew rampant in forests called Sun's Glory. Harmless on its own (actually quite tasty.) When mixed with the dew-drop flower, the combined chemicals created a potent little drug. Part aphrodisiac, part hallucinogen, the stuff turbocharged all five senses and then made you horny enough to fuck an entire town.

They were indeed a standard part of Shadowbolt indoctrination - usually fed to the new recruit in secret, and followed by an entire day of sexual escapades with the rest of the unit. It was more or less agreed to be a potent bonding exercise, and a way of introducing newcomers to the... loose sexual morals of Shadowbolt squads. Winterlight had to grin, remembering her experience with the stuff so long ago. Lots of old friends. Some of them lovers. All of them dead now, but that was the Shadowbolt way. Live life for today, tomorrow you might be dead.

She shook her head firmly and... with only a little bit of guilt - stashed a half dozen of the candy-topped cupcakes onto a platter before leaving the kitchen. Mistress surely wouldn't mind too much, especially if it kept up morale amongst the troops.

Which reminded her, she needed to make sure the rest of her plans were proceeding accordingly.

~~~~~~~~

Fog lay heavily over the dark forest floor, and silent creatures flitted from place to place behind and within the trees. For a time, all was as it should be here in the wild and untamed slice of nature. Then the silence was shattered by panicked hoofbeats striking the ground over and over again. A Bright white earth pony, clad in steel armor went racing across the forest floor. Dodging trees by the skin of his teeth, his eyes were as wide as a pony's could go without popping out of his head.

His gaze darted amongst the tree tops as he ran, his breathing labored so hard he couldn't find even the means to yell. High above his head, shadowed forms darted from treetop to treetop in pursuit. The colt's gaze fixed on a point in front of him - glowing with gentle firelight. He was going to make it! He was safe! He was... already dead, as a silent armor clad form struck him in the back - driving fangs into the pony's spine just below the neck and snapping his spinal cord instantly.

The poor colt went limp, a hundred yards from salvation. The Night Guard Captain lifted slowly off the body, shaking his head in sadness at yet another needless death. A silent glance and the body was swiftly lifted out of sight by his subordinates. A moment later, he was back in the trees darting from place to place. Four of them now. That's no coincidence. thought Captain Blade, as the rest of his unit quickly rejoined him in their approach to the cave. It looks like the Princess was right.

All around the front of the cave, an enemy camp had already been set up. Two dozen tents, and far more ponies than could fit in them moved around the place - making food, sharpening weapons or repairing armor - and all manner of other sundry things. They were also carrying rubble out of the cave in carts, and carrying the empties back in. They're digging around the traps. Clever, if crude. It also meant getting inside was going to be a pain in his flank. Four guards outside the entrance Going to assume they're always there. Camp's pretty full and...what in the world?

Captain Blade's thoughts were derailed as he watched a curious scene - a cart laden with what looked like unconscious ponies slowly rolled out of the fog. Slave Labor? Was his first thought, but the ponies pushing the carts weren't chained or tied up in any manner. No, that doesn't make sense here. His mind raced as several limp earth ponies and a few unicorns were carefully pulled off the cart by pegasi. They're caring about them too much. He frowned mightily then, as they were laid out one by one on the forest floor, their hooves tied together with rough rope.

Moments later, he got his answer. A thestral wearing a dark blue cloak and a shining silver medallion. That's the symbol of Nightmare Moon! Commander Blade thought with no small amount of dread in his heart. The priestess - Blade knew it had to be a mare now - walked silently through the camp, with the inhabitants bowing to her in respect as she passed. She was approaching the unconscious ponies slowly, a cruel sort of smile forming on her mostly unseen face.

Commander Blade quickly made a judgment call. He scanned every creature in the camp, judging various states of readiness. He had twenty of his Night Guard, and they had...maybe a hundred or so fighting effectives. You have a mission, Blade. Carry it out. He'd carry the guilt himself, like any good commander of the Night Guard would. Poor souls. He thought pityingly of the soon to be dead ponies below. May the Mistress of the Night carry you on to the next life. He softly touched his hoof to his mouth, as did every member of his unit.

The priestess had begun chanting, and Blade turned his head to one of his subordinates - he mouthed silently, in the language of the Guard. "Go back to Shades. Get Reinforcements." Five of his thestrals vanished moments later into the tree line, and Blade turned his head forcibly back to the grim scene before him - Only to find one of those ponies unbound and looking incredibly dazed. Blade looked on in disbelief, as the little red earth pony mare was quietly led into the camp by one of the chefs. What...What just happened? Something else was going on here. Something even worse than ritual sacrifice.

The priestess once again raised her hooves up and began chanting - and a stream of what looked like some kind of dark blue and purple energy slowly flowed from her hooves and into one of the prisoners - invading them in every possible orifice, even through the eyes and nose.

Commander Blade stared in disbelief as the energy seemed to pulse and jerk through the unicorn pony, it's eyes going suddenly wide - revealing nothing but pitch blackness within them for a time before she fell limp onto the forest floor. Moments later, she was gently lifted up, her eyes confused but bright. The priestess kissed her on the forehead and she was led away into the camp. By god. She's... using the Nightmare's power to corrupt them somehow. The thought send a stark stab of terror into his heart, which he mastered in a moment. The Princess must be made aware of this.

He turned and nodded to his Lieutenant, who nodded solemnly. While the team going to hollow shades would rely on speed, this was a message that had no choice but to get through. The Lieutenant gently removed a little blue gem and crushed it in his hooves. A moment later, he completely vanished from sight as the invisibility spell released upon him.

Captain Blade exhaled, and then darted back through the tree line. They needed to find a safe place to hunker down and wait for assistance. This is the last time I only bring one squad on a special mission. he grumbled to himself, with the rest of his team following close behind him.

~~~~~~~~

Twilight had lost all track of time, and she really didn't much care. The shadow power had engulfed the both of them in coat-tight bodysuits of black power that sent near constant streams of pleasure up both her body and Pinkies. Pinkie had taken to the shadow power like a fish to water - she couldn't seem to get enough of it, no matter how much Twilight poured down her throat - or into her sweet, candy-flavored pussy. That had been a special treat for a while, as the two of them had delved in between each other’s legs for a time with sweet writhing tongues.

Pinkie had gone through at least three shadow-driven orgasms, and she was building up to a fourth as the pink mare rode a thick shaft of shadow energy that had attached to Twilight's pelvis. Twilight couldn't even remember forming the thing - Somehow, it had just happened.

Twilight was coming to realize Pinkie Pie was never going to be submissive - or at least, not for longer than a play session or two. Oh, she'd be loyal to the Shadow - but that was because at her core, she was as much of a sex fiend as the Shadow itself. Every single kind of sex, in every single kind of way.

Pinkie had buried that of course - beneath cheeriness, friendship and cupcake. But Twilight had stripped away the veneer of society, and she could already tell Pinkie would be one of her most powerful tools to recruit new minions. She already imagined unleashing the party pony on Rainbow Dash, and the thought sent a pleasurable grin into her face, her hooves wrapping around Pinkie's body and getting rough with her - slamming her hips up into Pinkies and getting a squeal of pleasure for her work.

If the scene was educational for Twilight (In addition to making her incredibly happy with pleasure) It was like a dream come true for Pinkie Pie - For at long last, she'd found a partner as kinky as she was. More kinky, maybe! She'd never even thought of the idea of being taken by some dark power and having it pull out all of her deepest desires for the world to see.

And Pinkie really didn't want to go back to boring normal parties anymore, oh no. She had whole new parties to throw now - Which was a good thing, as Pinkie loved throwing a new kind of party. She'd have to invite all the friends back in Ponyville too! Well, eventually - they'd have to be worked up to the idea of orgies, swinging exchanges and other depraved things.

And shortly after that, she'd fill them with this wonderful feeling too - and then they'd love these parties as much as she would! It was enough to make her giggle even in the middle of her umpteenth orgasm today. Poor Ms. Cake would have to be the first - she was always soooo uptight and tense, and she badly needed a good bucking. Mmm, Speaking of bucking - I can’t wait to finally get my hooves on Applejacks sweetcheeks. She giggled again, cuddling up in that suit of power next to Mistress Twilight.

Oh sure, Pinkie wasn't subby. Well, no more than she usually was around a pony she knew could pin her down and buck her brains out. But she thought it would be polite to call TwiTwi something respectful for this wonderful gift she'd given her. It wasn't every day your eyes were opened to a world without limits, without boundaries. It was a world Pinkie Pie had often lived in, much to the confusion of her friends - now she could show her friends that very same world.

Two bodies of two friends locked together in a kiss, both of them passionate and loving. They were both looking forward to the future. Pinkie pulled her lips away and softly giggled as the last of the shadow power sunk into her skin. "Mmm, I'm hungry now." She licked her lips sensually, and Twilight grinned up at her. "What do you say we go find a snack?"

~~~~~~~~~~

They marched five ponies abreast, and one hundred ranks deep through the gentle snowfall. Their armor glittered in the setting sun, and their lances bobbed in time to their march. Shining Armor could already imagine the impact they'd make tomorrow as they marched through the gates of Canterlot. Maybe those stuffed shirts in the royal council's would finally realize the Crystal Empire was more than a curiosity on their northern borders.

Princess Cadence stood next to him, practically basking in a healthy glow and wrapped up in a beautiful pink and white winter coat. Her eyes were shining with happiness and Shining Armor had to grin a little. I probably look even more ridiculous. Of course, neither of them intended to waste the time they'd have in private on the royal train. Cadence's magic was fueled by love, and they intended to really show their love for one another as much as they could.

Sure, this wasn't a vacation - that didn't mean they wouldn't have plenty of time to rededicate themselves to one another like they had today. It was one of the small benefits to the royal titles that had come with the marriage - nopony was allowed to undertake coitus interruptus. Cadence turned to smile softly at him, and they kissed one another in a simple moment of affection. It was a warm, deep kiss - with just the barest hint of naughty tongue before Cadence pulled away to whisper softly. "I love you, Shiny."

Shiny winked back. "Love you too, Cadey. C'mon, let's get on the train." He nodded towards the awaiting royal box car, and the two of them trotted off through the freshly driven snow together, a small army of maids and carters bringing up the royal baggage. "Do you think we packed too much?" Asked Shiny, eying the massive amount of stuff that was being hauled behind him. "I always feel self-conscious when I pack more than a duffel bag and a few suitcases."

Cadence stared at him then burst into laughter. "Shining, my dearest love - You never fail to remind me how silly some of this royal hubbub can be sometimes." She shook her head ruefully as they hopped up onto the platform and wandered into the royal box.

~~~~~

Captain Winterlight smiled as she quietly flipped through the report scrolls for the day. The city was coming along very nicely, recruitment was proceeding apace, and so far Rainbow Dash had not yet been missed in Ponyville. Everything was shaping up in its proper place. Of course, there's no telling what that bitch Celestia is up to. She mused, eying the small pile of cupcakes on her desk. Nothing I can do about it for now. I'm going to need a spy there soon though. She reached out and snatched up a cupcake, licking her chips. Now, I wonder who I should go share this with...