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The Everfree Forest glowed under the full moon but Apple Bloom barely registered its beauty. Guard duty always caused the mind to wander and this night she was ruminating about the anniversary of the end of her world. She was painted in the green designs of Zecora's potion. This one made them nearly invisible to anyone who did not know where to look but it was no replacement for a cutie mark.

Has it really been ten years? Am I really a twenty year old blank flank? I can barely remember what the world looked like when the sun was up. Tirek and his eternal night thing really happened and now he's forgotten all about us. I wonder if he's off conquering other nations or if he's already covered the world. Will we ever leave the Everfree Forest again? Is there any end to this cycle of nothing really happening?

A presence was creeping up behind her causing Apple Bloom to grip her spear a little tighter. Instincts took over as she closed her eyes and opened up her other senses to the world around her. Small hooves and slight breath made the tiny stallion seem like a colt. He had always had a thing for the red maned mare and he regularly tried to impress her in little ways. In the fine tradition of hormonal teenagers without supervision, Apple Bloom had given him some tasks and then added him to her harem.

"Pipsqueak," she said when he got within a few feet.

"Oh, raspberries," he muttered in the Trottingham accent she adored. "What gave me away?"

"Nuttin'," Apple Bloom said as she turned away from her moonlit vigil to admire the way his muscles rippled through his slight frame. "I told you, I always know where my harem's at."

Pipsqueak blushed and moved over to her. The stallion's was always at the level of her breasts and she delighted at how he loved to rest his head in her bosom. His little wings fluttered when they kissed and for a brief moment there was hope.

Four years since I claimed him and he still acts like this is all new. Has it really been ten years since Twilight lost her fight with Tirek?

The kiss broke with a little whimper and it took a moment for Pipsqueak to recover his senses.

"You stallin'?" Apple Bloom asked with a smug smile.

"Oh, right," he said, shaking his head and then straightening to stand at attention. "Zecora wants you."

"All of us?" she asked.

"Probably," he said.

"Where?"

"Fifth dungeon," he told her. "She sounded pretty dramatic. It might be something big."

"Thanks, Pips," Apple Bloom said and she gave him another kiss for good measure. She left him with a tented loincloth and leaning against his spear. Though she knew her colts all fought for her affections she could not help but bask in their praise. The power she had over them would never get old.

The Castle of the Two Sisters had seen better days but the ponies who currently lived there had made a point to keep the outside looking as dilapidated as it had the day they had arrived. The tunnels under the castle were extensive and they had mapped most of them in the past decade. Every once in a while somepony would stumble through a secret door but the tunnels under the castle were well traveled. A whole world of underground tunnels lay beyond what was familiar but nopony knew how extensive those were.

Sweetie Belle was already leaning against the wall at one of their predetermined spots. The three friends had a rule to always meet up before going to see Zecora, especially when it was going to be something dramatic. As she approached, Apple Bloom could tell her friend had not come from guard duty and so her troubles were likely something domestic. Without making a sound, Apple Bloom moved into the torchlight and leaned against the wall opposite her friend.

"You lookin' worried," Apple Bloom said.

"Oh, it's just Pound Cake," Sweetie Belle lamented.

"He still wanna be part of your harem?" Apple Bloom asked with sympathetic amusement.

"Both of them do," Sweetie Belle said with a sigh. "They're just too young! I keep hoping they'll grow out of this fascination with me but it just seems to get worse as they get older."

"Well ... we do glow a bit after a feeding," Apple Bloom said with a leer.

"Will you stop making us sound like vampires?" Sweetie Belle almost shouted.

"Succubuses," Apple Bloom said, deliberately mispronouncing the plural because it drove her friend mad.

"That's no good either!"

"This old argument again?" Scootaloo said as she stepped into the torchlight. She was quite a bit smaller than her two friends and they were pretty sure they knew why.

"Sweetie's just not acceptin' what's happened to us," Apple Bloom drawled.

"It's just so weird," Sweetie Belle said in protest.

"Uh-huh," Scootaloo said coolly. "Does anypony know why we're here?" The other two shook their heads and the three mares moved towards the tunnels until they reached sub dungeon five.

As was commonly the case, Zecora appeared to have been there for hours. The room smelled of herbs and incense and the zebra was working on a potion when the young mares entered. Without looking up from her work she motioned to a space on the floor. The three friends moved to that location and sat cross-legged until their mentor turned and spoke with theatrical assertiveness.

"Tirek, a centaur of ultimate fright, has made our world his eternal night. Since magic was taken from every race, inside every foal is a readymade space. If we replace your original power then another magic can be made to flower."

Zecora made each of these visits a bit of a production and the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat rigidly attentive for each performance. Their leader went into a small history lesson, reminding them of how Tirek had stolen all pony magic and then locked nearly every adult up in Tartarus. For some reason the blank-flanks had been able to carry on without their magic but not one of them had gotten a cutie mark since the cataclysm.

"So you think we can buck up by getting' a different kind of magic?" Apple Bloom asked as she played with a strand of her long red hair.

"What type of magic are you thinking of using?" Sweetie Belle asked with a touch of suspicion in her voice.

"Tirek has summoned his eternal night but from this darkness we shall find our light!" Zecora's teal eyes flashed in the torchlight and Apple Bloom wondered, not for the first time, if their leader was cracking under the strain of eternal night. "Each race was designed in a way to be strong, but without your magic your bodies are wrong. To fight this evil you must conform to this night's power and make you transform. Each of you must take a mate to fill you with power and change your fate. Mate with a male and take his essence, then grow in strength and leave adolescence."

"But we already got a harem," Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo cleared her throat loudly and Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Well Sweetie an' I both gots harems."

"And look at you two," Scootaloo said with a little pout in her voice. "I still look like I'm fifteen while the pair of you are obviously all grown up. I think we know why that is."

"We grew up a bit more because we are taking in the last bits of pony magic from our harems," Sweetie Belle said after a moment of thought. "Zecora, are you saying we need to add non-ponies to our harems?"

"Just so," Zecora said with a nod.

"But, what good will that do?" Scootaloo asked. "How do we get our friend's back by getting laid by something exotic?"

"The boys put their power into us when we sex 'em up," Apple Bloom said as she considered Zecora's wisdom. "All we need to do is find more powerful boys and we should become more powerful."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Sweetie Belle said as she struck a thinking pose. "If we find a magical race that resonates with us we can take a male's power into us and make it our own. Of course that might change our physical bodies too. Hmmm ... I wonder what we should go for."

"Maybe something that can fly?" Scootaloo asked as she fluttered her tiny wings.

"That's a cool idea," Apple Bloom said with a grin. "Though what boy are _you_gonna let poon-doggle ya? You're ah mare flicker?"

"Yeah! And?" Scootaloo's face-fur fluffed and her blush could be seen.

"We're not judging you, Scoots," Sweetie Belle said quickly. "We just know you don't like stallions. It might be harder for you to do something like this."

"I'll do it for Dash!" Scootaloo shouted with a trembling fist. "If it gets me closer to saving her then I'll go to the dragons or the griffin lands and let a dozen studs use me as their cock-sleeve!"

"Whoa there girl, reign it in." Apple Bloom sounded so much like her sister that the others paused to blink at her. Apple Bloom used the moment to move over and give her friend a hug. "It's okay, Scoots. She'll be fine."

"Don't ... go huggin' ..." Scootaloo tried to resist the hug but then she stopped and let the tears fall. Sweetie Belle joined the hug and the three of them supported each other until they were steady once more. "You two smell good."

"And just like that she's fine," Apple Bloom said. The three of them giggled at their inside joke and they turned their attention back to Zecora. "So I gotta question. Losing our magic is what makes us infertile, but if we get all freaky with some dark horse then what? How we gonna do this without getting' knocked up?"

"A potion, of course, will protect your soul and prevent your bodies from breeding a foal." Zecora took down several ingredients and added them to her cauldron.

"Of course there's a potion for that," Apple Bloom said with a smirk. "You need anything special for this mission?"

"Pony passion is low but to succeed, gather your harems and draw forth their seed."

"Blow-jobs for all, eh?" Apple Bloom said with a roll of her eyes.

"How many?" Sweetie Belle asked. Zecora handed the two young mares glass vials with lines drawn on them. "Oh ... that could take a few."

"I reckon five or six each," Apple Bloom said and her friends looked critically at her. "What? You think they call me the Scarlet Succubus 'cause o' my hair?"

*****

Tender Taps blushed so much that his orange fur turned red. Leaning against the wall, his purple eyes were wide as he watched Apple Bloom work. Though fully erect and swollen, he still felt pitiful and weak. Bloom fondled his orbs with one hand and stroked the base of his shaft with the other. Her pink tongue lolled out, slurping along his length as she enjoyed his ridges.

Salty pre-cum leaked from his tip and Apple Bloom swallowed this offering while she sucked at him. After taking a deep breath, she opened her throat and drew all of him in until her nose was pressed against his swollen sack. Both hands messaged sensitive parts as her head bobbed up and down. Saliva secreted in little rivers. The glistening moisture was spread over his surface as talented fingers found his favorite places.

All of this stimulation went on for several seconds. Apple Bloom would then draw back, take a breath, and then slide all of him back into her through once more. Again and again Apple Bloom stimulated the colt until Tender Taps shivered, let out a pitiful whimper, and deposited his seed into her mouth. Apple Bloom was careful not to waste the precious gift. Gently, she sucked at him until she was certain he was finished. Once he slipped free she took up her glass bottle and spit the contents inside.

Once finished the young mare got to her feet and looked critically at what her work. It had taken her whole harem but Tender Taps had put her over the line that Zecora had drawn on her bottle. Apple Jack had once told her little sister that a stallion could fill her mouth until it overflowed with seed, but that before Tirek took their magic. These pitiful colts had barely given her a taste of their essence and she wondered if Tirek's curse was reversible.

What it would be like to do this with a real stallion? What he would be like if he was at his full might?

Apple Bloom sat next to Tender Taps and drew his head onto her lap. Fondly, she stroked his purple mane and thought about the way he liked to dance. Other ponies said his feet seemed to blur before they all had their magic taken but now he danced like anypony else.

Getting Tender Taps to participate had put her over the mark, but Apple Bloom had wanted to avoid getting him involved in this mess. She could ignore the sea of slumbering colts who laid sprawled upon the ground but Tender Taps was more than just a part of her harem, he was her special somepony and using him like this bothered her.

He definitely came more than the others. Maybe his passion for me made this work better. I guess his love really has made him stronger. She wanted to talk to him about it but the colt was snoring softly and she could not bring herself to wake him.

She licked her lips like she had been eating peanut butter, savoring the taste and the way it made her feel. Thanks to Zecora's knowledge, she now knew that the high she got off of this was not completely chemical. The wanna-be stallions did not have much magic left inside of them but they poured what little they had into her, when they came, and it was that magic that made her feel so good. That was why she called herself a succubus. She was literally feeding on their lust to make herself feel better.

Putting a blanket over her sleeping special somepony, Apple Bloom dressed in the rags she called clothing and stepped out of the private area. She was the first to arrive in the main hall and so she picked a shadow to lurk in as she brooded over her feelings.

"Hey there."

Apple Bloom blinked and it took a moment to realize Scootaloo had already been sitting there and she had been too self-absorbed to notice. "Oh ... hey."

"Two-Bits for your thoughts?"

"I'm ... it's nothing." Apple Bloom tried on her poker face but Scootaloo was not some hormone-brained colt trying to get a taste of the Scarlet Succubus.

"Come on, Bloomie," Scootaloo said with obvious skepticism on her face, "it's just me."

"Well ..." Apple Bloom looked away and let out a sigh. "It's just ... we're sacrificing everything here."

"You mean getting poked by a scary something-or-other?" Scootaloo said with a little shiver.

"No, I can handle that," Apple Bloom said with a dismissive waive of her hand. "I mean ... I don't mind tumblin' any o' the colts here. It's just ... I didn't wanna bring Tappy into any of this. He's just so smitten with me an ... well ... I jus' don't know."

"You know he'll do anything for you," Scootaloo said. "He'll be okay."

"How do you know that?" Apple Bloom asked. "How do I know he's actually fine with any of this? How do I know that he's not just saying that to make me happy? He's such a doormat! How do I know that he's actually fine with this when I _know_he'll do or say anything to make me happy?"

"I think the word you're looking for is, sub."

"Yeah ... he's a sub, alright," Apple Bloom said as her friend managed a smirk.

"I think you answered your own question," Scootaloo said.

"Thanks, Scoots." Apple Bloom took a deep breath and then allowed her friend to give her a hug. "You're really good at this."

"I know," Scootaloo said as she released her friend form the hug before it went on a little too long. "Maybe someday when this is all over the CMC can become a group that helps ponies with their problems and gives advice."

"Cuttie Mark Consultants?" Apple Bloom asked.

"That sounds good," Scootaloo said as she faked a bright smile. "Now, how's Sweetie doing?"

"Oh, I'm sure she has her boobs out," Apple Bloom grumbled.

"Jealously's not good for either of us," Scootaloo said flatly as she pulled the fabric of her shirt taught over her tiny nubs.

"I know," Apple Bloom said in a pout. "I'm sorry. But she's just so ... so ..."

"Like her sister?" Scootaloo said with a leer.

"Yeah!"

"I know," Scootaloo. "She's great mental material for when I'm flicking it."

Apple Bloom tried to make an angry face but the high of pony magic in her veins made the joke much funnier than it should have been. Her laughter was explosive, loud, and it doubled her over until she was forced to lie down on her back.

"Woo!" Scootaloo laughed. "That was a great reaction."

"It's all the jizzim," Apple Bloom told her. "Perks a girl right up."

"Is that why your nipples are poking through?"

"Hey!" Apple Bloom said as she covered them with her hands and blushed.

"What?" Scootaloo asked with an amused look. "You can't dangle those in front of me and expect me not to look."

"Oh! Hey girls!" Sweetie Belle bounced over and held up her bottle as if she expected fanfare to play. "You done too?"

"Uhm, Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said as she blushed uncontrollably.

"Hmmm? Oh! Buck!" Sweetie Belle turned around and rearranged her shirt into something less nippily, but she could not stop muttering.

"Did they get bigger while you were in there?" Apple Blossom asked.

"It seems like it," Sweetie Belle said with a pout. "I wish I was more your size."

"Suck less shlong," Scootaloo said coldly.

"But I like schlong!" Sweetie Belle nearly shouted. "I know it's making us grow more than the others but this is ridiculous. I mean ... look at these things! They're just so inconvenient! I wish my sister was here to make me proper smallclothes."

"Just one more reason to get this done, then," Apple Bloom said as she brought determination back into her demeanor. She put her hand forward and looked fiercely at her friends. "You ready?"

The other two put their hands into the center and the three of them shouted. "Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!"

*****

Years spent living under the canopy of the Everfree Forest had not made the place less dangerous, but the surviving blank-flanks were far more prepared after a decade of living in it. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had touched up each other's body paint and soon they all resembled green stripped zebras.

Never willing to break the battle-buddy rule, all three mares moved together, covering each other's flanks in an effort to keep the others safe. The trio had decided they were already closer than most sisters and so they would risk voyeurism in order to stay safe. They traveled the familiar path without speaking, not daring to give away their position to anything that might decide to hunt them.

Apple Bloom cleared some brush, slowed to a halt and leaned against a tree. The other two followed her example and the Crusaders remained quiet and alert as they took in their surroundings. The Everfree Forest made its creepy sounds and the three mares breathed a little heavily from their excursion, but they smelled something unmistakable.

A look at her friends showed they were thinking the same thing. Some frantic hand gestures allowed them to express it but then they rolled their eyes and moved to the tree-hut. The fire was burning and the unmistakable smell of Zecora's home washed over the girls as they crossed the threshold. No one spoke for several seconds as they stared at their mentor but eventually it was Sweetie Belle who cracked.

"How does she do it? I saw her before we left and she was still cleaning up her potions! It took us five hours to get here! There's no way she got ahead of us!"

"I know, right?" Apple Bloom echoed. "It's like she's got a portable hole or one of those fancy teleportation mirrors!"

"Someday we're going to find out she's secretly twins," Scootaloo said flatly.

The outburst died down and the three of them approached the tree-hut in silence. Their spears were all put together in a triangle against the wall. The heat of the cauldron and the scent of its contents welcomed them inside but they could not shake the feeling that Zecora had never left this place.

"Welcome to my home, now come into the dome."

"Yep ... it's her," Apple Bloom muttered. She and her friends pouted as they moved to sit in a circle around the zebra. Once settled, Zecora held up a talisman and spoke special words of her native tongue. A soft green glow filled the room and the outline of a physical dome could be seen. It made the room feel smaller and their voices bounced a little. The barrier would keep their voices from carrying and if anything approached the barrier would make them invisible to the eye.

"Zecora?" Apple Bloom eventually asked. "How do you get here ahead of us?"

"In the past I normally would not say, but it is time that I show you my way." Zecora's words caused all three of the CMC to lean forward, their ears full forward as they hung on every word. "When crossing through these mortal streams, I travel through the realm of dreams. The spirit world, it lets me through, and this I shall teach to you."

"Wait," Sweetie Belle said as she scrunched up her face in thought, "I remember Princess Twilight talking about this. She said there was a realm ... or a higher plane. It was a place where Princess Celestia existed to use her highest magics. Princess Twilight said she went there before returning as an Alicorn."

"Yes," Zecora said with a shallow nod. "The Alicorn world is a part of that realm but I have learned to travel by my own helm. Sometimes in spirit and sometimes in skin, this is a secret known to my kin."

"Sweet!" Sweetie Belle shouted as she vibrated with excitement. "I can't wait!"

"Not you, my little pony, I am afraid, I can only teach one of you my trade."

"But why?" Sweetie Belle asked as disappointment moved her close to tears. "I want to learn! My magic hasn't worked in years and I miss it! I want to use magic again!"

"Your magic is different, young unicorn, it is not fair but how you were born. Only an Earth Pony can walk this road, a different power you shall behold." Zecora's tone was stoic and a little melancholy but Sweetie Belle was too upset to give up yet.

"No! This isn't fair! You can't just teach her because she looks the most like you! We can learn! We aren't all that different!"

"We can't help the way we were born," Scootaloo finally spoke up. "I can't fly just because I have wings. You can't cast spells just because you have a horn. Maybe Zecora's magic is like getting a cutie mark. Maybe it's different for everypony."

"Zecora," Apple Bloom said after some thought, "I know you like being all mysterious, but we need to know the plan. This not knowing is driving us crazy."

"Very well, I see, Apple Bloom shall become a zebra like me." Zecora said this and then she paused so Sweetie Belle could wipe her tears and get herself under control. "For our Pegasus pony to rise above all, she shall go into the dream realms and become a thestral."

"A thestral?" Scootaloo said as her eyes grew wide. "You mean the bat-ponies? Nightmare Moon's people?"

"That is not all they are," Zecora told her. "That is just how they look from afar. You shall learn when we go, to the land of dreams where your power will grow."

Scootaloo nodded and her wings fluttered a little with excitement. Apple Bloom could tell her friend was literally buzzing with excitement but they were all trying to stay calm so that Sweetie Bell could get her answers.

"A most difficult path, for your rebirth, is the magic of crystals and gems of the earth. Diamond Dogs hold the key of this power, as you shall see."

"The Diamond Dogs kidnapped my sister and forced her to find gemstones for them," Sweetie Belle said as anger filled her face. "You want me to go to them? I'm not sharing any part of my sacred self with those mongrels!"

"A royal-self from you shall be seen, as you shall go and become their queen," Zecora said without flinching. "The Diamond Dogs of old are gone, the power of darkness has made them wrong. For while their strength may have been upped, Tirek's power does fully corrupt. Twisted monsters now roam those caves; searching for mates and food and slaves. To unlock their power and make their hearts true, we must first awaken the power within you."

There was silence for a time as these words sank in but Apple Bloom could see Sweetie Belle mulling it over. "How are you going to do that?" Apple Bloom asked. "I mean ... it sounds like you're planning on making her an alicorn but I'm pretty sure that's not possible."

"The alicorn path comes not from me, it is up to you to set yourself free."

"Don't tease me with blasphemy," Sweetie Belle stated firmly. "Only our princesses can do that. If there was another way then we wouldn't need them."

"Such thoughts to that goal were easily dispersed, but no one knows who became the first." Zecora's teal eyes held an intensity that frightened Apple Bloom but she watched her meeker friend clench her jaw and find determination no one knew was there. "Have you learned the lesson you yearned?"

"No," Sweetie Belle said as a furious embarrassment caused her to blush and look away.

"Wait," Scootaloo said angrily, "have you been giving Sweetie Belle special lessons?"

"Yeah," Sweetie Belle muttered darkly, "but they didn't do any good."

"Embrace your song and make yourself strong," Zecora said to the unicorn and then turned away to face the others. "Each of you has something to do. Apple Bloom, we shall begin with you."

"Oh?" Apple Bloom said as she sat suddenly straighter. "Alright!"

"A circle of dreams I shall make but to do this shall make a spiritquake." Zecora turned to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and got their attention. "This magic will give us away, but for a time in here we must stay. Tirek's monsters will come for us all, so defend this place, go now and stand tall."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo put on their warrior expressions and nodded. They all stood and the three mares hugged. "Cutie Mark Crusaders forever," they all said as one. This was not a jubilant shout but the stern tones of soldiers who know they are about to go into a dangerous situation. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then picked up their spears and stepped out of the hut.

Apple Bloom swallowed hard as Zecora took her into the bedroom and showed her a magical circle with dozens of intricately drawn symbols painted onto the floor. She listened to her mentor's instructions, stripping down, going through a ritual bath, and then getting a fresh coat of paint applied to her skin. Once all the preparations had been made Apple Bloom laid down in the middle of the circle and meditated as Zecora guided her to the realm of dreams.