Collar6 #1101

That's odd. Try this one: https://discord.gg/6He26yJ

Fiona

Well now, things have certainly taken an unexpected turn, at least for those present in-universe. But, for us readers, we had suspected that something like this was going to happen! However, while certain long term readers might be expecting Michelle will shut down this mental attack no sweat (or at least she'll only pretend to be affected by it, in order to lure Blackstone into a false sense of confidence, using this as a way to gather some solid proof that Blackstone's been abusing her Kingdom's ability to ignore certain international laws, doing so in order to get what she wants), I predict that Michelle’s actually going to be affected by the attack for real, with her needing to be rescued by Laura and the other as a result… I suspect that there might be some people who will be left wondering: ‘Why or how exactly would Michelle end up losing to Lady Blackstone in a battle of dominant nature, given her Dominant Soul trait’; so let’s go over the potential reasons I have for this predicting this outcome, shall we? Well, the first thing which we need to remember is this: while Michelle is able to no-sell certain abilities; like Michael’s hypnomancy attacks and certain enchanted items which had been designed to affect the balance between a target’s dominant and submissive sides, all thanks to her 100% dominant soul (so there's not even a trace of submissive energy for them to have an effect, with Michelle having inherited this trait from Nora and potentially her father), we still don’t know just how Blackstone’s odd ability to ‘convince’ her victims to fully co-operate with her ‘suggestions’ works exactly (only that it seemingly needs her voice to be both heard and understood by her chosen target, at least from what Midnight had ended up recalling of her own first encounter with Blackstone, but even that information isn’t totally reliable; given just how foggy Midnight’s memories had been [with her only clearly remembering that she got invited to the Blackstone Estate under the fake offer to sell certain wares to them], before she'd ended up in that latex pony suit which we had first seen her wearing in the comic)! For all we know, Blackstone’s unique ability might end up bypassing the dominant soul trait (with there being a weird Rock-Paper-Scissors or Pokémon typing system for just how effective all of these various moves are) by targeting the target's mind or memories directly, with this trick allowing her to potentially implant Michelle with a set of false memories; ones which will make the fiery red-head believe that she is only a simple pony-girl who is called 'Red Knight' and Blackstone's her owner come to bring her back 'home' to the estate (with this causing a brief battle between her, Nora and the others, when they'd try and stop her from leaving with Blackstone); these fake memories lasting for long enough to let Blackstone (and whoever has helped to bring them here) securely restrain her latest acquisition in an escape-proof manner (since I have the feeling that Blackstone’s ability to mess with her target’s memories has serious limitations that are based off how dominant her target really is (with the stronger willed targets having it slightly easier when shaking off their fake memories); or Blackstone may get a real kick out of returning her victims’ original memories to them at the times of her choosing (usually when they're trapped in a impossible situation), taking great amusement in seeing her captives struggling helplessly against all their restraints and wondering how exactly they'd ended up in their current situation [or just how long it has been since the last time when they have been allowed to think for themselves, which might also be a way to sap their will to fight back, if there’s nothing present that would help them to accurately mark the passage of time between these moments of lucidity and all those in contact claim it's been way longer then it really was]; then puts them under her control again)… Also, don’t people remember what Blackstone’s favorite activity is? It’s the capture of those people who would be considered extremely dominant and forcing these victims to behave just like a submissive for her own amusement, with Blackstone's specific kink making them act as highly trained latex ponies which are belonging to her stables. It’d be foolish not to assume that she has come up with multiple ways of turning what her preferred type of target would normally consider to be one of their greatest strengths into a major weakness, or that she might still have some off-screen backup to deal with Nora and the others (maybe one of Blackstone's stable management who we have yet to see in full, also having some kind of mental manipulation ability, fitting with the theme which all the Blackstone Stable members have shown off so far)! Not only that, Michelle clearly was not expecting Blackstone (or the person who she had been suspecting was Blackstone, as the comic mentions) to be so brazen as to make some kind of surprise attack on her so directly (clearly visible in Michelle’s shocked expression), with Blackstone doing this in a location which Michelle had considered to be reasonable safe and right in front of several people she knows (all of whom will be try to stop this assault); along with her reputation as a person who no-one would dare mess with, so she might not be fully prepared to defend herself, which might give Blackstone just enough of an opening to successfully use her ability... Finally, hasn’t the writer said that we would be getting to see Michelle suited up as a latex pony-girl for quite a while in the next big story arc (or current one, given when they said this)? It’d therefore make almost perfect sense (story-wise) for Michelle to fall victim to this first attack and she gets spirited away by Blackstone, before the others can react to it (thus forcing Laura and her fellow slaves to go after their mistress and lover, once they have either fully dealt with the Starlight Butterfly situation by themselves, or asked Nora to handle things on that front), since I really don’t see Michelle getting ambushed like she has been here for a second time in a row (given that she rarely makes the same mistake twice); unless she'd potentially gets blackmailed with some kind of threat towards her loved ones (something which also might be possible, given that they’re all currently stuck in subspace and unable to defend themselves from an attacker) to force her to surrender now, to keep them all safe. Another element, which most likely end up taking place even if we do not get Michelle under Blackstone's full mental control, is a potential 'Woman in the Latex Mask' scenario (bonus points to all who can work out the reference I am making here, using the setting and location of that next story arc); something which would really be a sensible move for Blackstone to make here, since while her arrogance seems pretty high, even she must know that taking a head Mistress from another country is going to bring down a lot of potential heat on her kingdom! Especially given that she has captured her chosen target right in front of two Phantoms (one of whom is the victim's mother, even if that last fact wouldn't be public knowledge), with this group being one of those rare few people which her kingdom's influence can't make them turn a blind eye to her breaking several international laws in such an obvious manner (or at least, I would sure hope so, but we may have corruption at the highest levels)... But I guess we are going to have to wait and see if these guesses are on the right train of thought or not, won't we?

DarkJade

Finally! Long time reader, been waiting years for this. The discord link seems to be expired though?

I'm not deleting your comments or editing anything out so I'm not sure? I go through and remove my redundant 'it's going to be late' posts, but that's it.

Fiona

What exactly happened to my previous comment here! I remember making a fairly detailed explanation about potential reasons for how the sneak attack Blackstone has just pulled might end up affecting Michelle's mind (despite how she would normally be able to no-sell certain other moves which have a similar enough effect), along with what might happen in future strips and my personal post counter has stayed the same as when it was posted, but it's no longer present on this part... What's going on? I'm sorry if there was something within it which might be considered a spoiler, or some other issue, but I really can't understand why some of my posts keep vanishing into thin air (with it seeming to keep happening, no matter where I'd posted them); so I'm going to try posting it again, just to see what people'll think of it.

DarkJade

Well now, things have certainly taken an unexpected turn, at least for those people in-universe. But, for all us readers, we have suspected something like this was going to happen sooner or later! However, I'd certainly not expected Blackstone to use a mental attack on Michelle and that it seems like this is actually going to affect her successfully… I do know that there will some people who might be wondering: ‘How exactly could Michelle end up losing to Lady Blackstone in a battle of willpower’; so let’s go over all the potential reasons for this, shall we? The first thing which we need to remember is this bit: while Michelle is able of no-selling certain abilities; like Michael’s hypnomancy attacks and certain enchanted items which have been designed to affect the balance between the target’s dominant and submissive sides, thanks to her 100% dominant soul (with Michelle having inherited this ability from Nora), we don’t know how Lady Blackstone’s ability to ‘convince’ all her victims to fully co-operate with her ‘suggestions’ works exactly (only that her voice needs to be heard [and potentially understood, so there might be a language element to this] by the target, at least from what Midnight's remembered of her own encounter with Blackstone, but even that information isn’t totally reliable; given how Midnight has admitted most of her memories as a 'guest' of the Blackstone Estate are pretty foggy [only clearly remembering that she got invited up to the Blackstone Estate in order to try and sell that group some of her pony-play products, with Lady Blackstone seemingly having taken interest in all of these items], before she ended up in her latex pony suit and an unwilling member of the stable)! For all we know, Blackstone’s special abilities might end up bypassing the dominant soul trait (with there being a weird Rock-Paper-Scissors situation or a Pokémon typing system for how effective all the various moves are; when they interact with each other), with this now allowing Blackstone to implant Michelle with some false memories which will now make our fiery red-headed heroine believe that Lady Blackstone is her owner and she’s a submissive pony-girl known as "Red Knight" (potentially letting us have a brief battle between her, Nora and the others who are still awake, when they all now attempt to stop her from leaving with Blackstone); with all these tweaked memories lasting for just long enough to let Blackstone (along with those of her allies who she still has access to) securely restrain Michelle for transport (since I have the feeling that Blackstone’s ability to mess around with some of her target’s memories might have some time limitations, being based off of how dominant her target really is; either that or Blackstone gets a real kick out of restoring all the real memories her victims have for a time, with her taking amusement in seeing them struggling helplessly against all their restraints and the person left wondering how exactly they'd ended up in their current situation [or just how long it has been since the last time they were left able to think for themselves, which might also help to weaken their ability or desire to fight back, if there’s nothing around that would helps them to keep an accurate passage of time between their rare moments of lucidity,]; then put them back under her control once more, left totally unaware of who they were)… And you know what Blackstone’s favorite activity is? It’s the capture of those people who would be considered extremely dominant by all the people around them and then twisting them into behaving like a submissive for her personal amusement, with her specific kink being to make all these targets into some trained latex ponies in her stables. It’d be very foolish not to assume that she has learnt multiple ways of turning the very item which her preferred type of targets would have normally consider to be one of their greatest strengths (namely their unshakable will and dominant natures) into a major weakness which she can use to break them down, or that she hasn't some off-screen backup (maybe one of the members of her stable who we have yet to see, who also has some kind of mental manipulation ability, given the theme which has been shared by all the other members that we have seen of the group so far)! Not only that, Michelle clearly was not expecting Lady Blackstone (as she has mentioned here, she had suspected just who they were, but was not totally sure; but I'd say it's pretty obvious to her by now) to be quite so brazen as to launch some kind of attack (clearly visible from Michelle’s fairly shocked expression in the third panel of the comic), especially with Blackstone having done so in a location Michelle may have considered to be somewhat safe and in front of several people (all of whom might try to stop this assault); along with knowing about her reputation as someone who'd taken on Xor marking her as being extremely dangerous (and not someone to tangle with), so her mental defenses may not have been fully prepared just yet, which might give Blackstone enough of an opening to successfully use her own special skills on Michelle, overpowering the red head's will for long enough to bring her to somewhere that she can be properly secured... Finally, hasn’t the writer said that we would be getting to see Michelle suited up as a latex pony-girl for quite a while in the next big story arc (or current one, given when they said this)? It’d therefore make almost perfect sense for Michelle to fall victim to this mental attack and she then gets spirited away to Blackstone's kingdom (Blackstone pulling a "Woman in the Latex Mask" routine to hide the fact that she has turned Michelle into her captive, since most people who might encounter her over there would just assume that a newly arrived pony-girl [one who's wearing a special pony mask which is concealing their whole face from sight, with very strict orders given to keep the hood on {maybe having it locked on and only stable staff above a certain rank have a key to open it up} and she's kept isolated from all the other ponies, making sure that she don't have any chance to escape or get information about the estate, the design of this hood allowing the wearer to be fed liquids through it, while preventing any attempts at speaking] on Blackstone's personal estate with the title of "Red Knight" has been called that as a unique tribute to the hero who had defeated Xor [while not even realizing that they really WERE that person], while also relying on her kingdom's diplomatic immunity to help deal with any potential political fallout), before anyone else can react to everything that has happened (thus forcing Laura and her fellow slaves to go chase after their mistress and lover, once they have either dealt with the Starlight Butterfly situation by themselves, or they have asked Nora to handle things on that front, given they don't have time to waste), since I really don’t see Michelle getting ambushed like this for a second time in a row (given her foes rarely manage to get her with the exact same kind of move twice in a row); unless she potentially gets blackmailed with some kind of threat made towards her loved ones (something which might also be very possible, given that they’re all currently stuck in shared subspace and unable to defend themselves from an attacker) to force her to surrender now, in order to help protect them. But no matter what happens next, it looks like Michelle will be the one in need of being rescued this time around! This certainly should make things a lot more interesting, since Laura and the others will need to work out who will be in overall command and what sort of skills each of the members can being to the table... Also, it's your choice on what you want to do next, we'll gladly accept whatever project you feel like working on, that alright then?

DarkJade

She most definitely is :D

Fiona

Haha, I didn't think she was *that* scary there!

Fiona

Thank you and can do!

Fiona

looks like Michelle is going to nee some saving this time

Jason Wyatt

That last panel......I think I’ll have to take a trip to the toilet....I think.....I may have.....had an “accident”. (Gulps)

Lomond

"... If it's alright with everyone...," Yes, it's all right with all of us, you don't have to ask our permission (we've already given it), This is your art, and we're patrons of it, whatever it is or happens to be at any time. Just do it, whatever direction it goes, wherever your muse happens to take it. Keep the faith.

Great Scott

That she is~

Fiona

Uh-oh, looks like Michelle is about to get some quick "reconditioning"...

LlamaMaster

Right!? That would be fun to see. Here's hoping.. *fingers crossed*

Akuhei

RedKnight is going to be such a cute ponygirl name :P

bondagegirrrl

Uh oh

athroughzdude