Children of the Night

Chapter 3

Chrysalis was standing in the courtyard of Canterlot castle, among a crowd of captured Ponies and their Changeling guards. She could, of course, just force them into obidience with her magic, but where would be the fun in that? No. That just wasn't good enough. She had waited for her moment of triumph for so long, she just knew she had to enjoy every second of it.

In the center of the courtyard, stood one of the Alicorn Princesses of Equestria. That annoying mare that had ruined her plans last time with her stupid "love". She had resisted hard, but in the end her Changelings had managed to restrain her. Now, in the light of an early morning sun, stood Princess Cadance chained to the ground in the courtyard. Her pink coat and soft ice colored mane, dirty and untidy. Chrysalis chuckled when she thought about the Y-shaped gadget, that held Cadence's hips in the air. Cadance on the other hoof, threw herself against her restrains, but with her horn magicaly silenced, there was no way she could break those chains. Every scream the Princess gave was like music in Chrysalis's ears. This was the sole reason, she had not gagged the stupid Princess. She wanted her to scream, wanted her to beg for mercy, wanted her to beg for more once she was broken. Everypony in the audience shall see it, to remind them how powerless they were in the end.

"Let me go! What are you planning you damn insect?"

A stirr to her left caused Chrysalis to look around at another Princess she had caught recently. The element of magic... Now even little fillies could become Allicorns... How it disgusted her. She herself had caught this one, when she had tried to ambush her on the streets of canterlot, after the guards had sounded the retreat. She didn't remember this ones name, but she knew that she was somehow related to Cadance. That was enough reason for her to have her around when this happend.

Twilight could do nothing to help her foalsitter, and fellow Princess. Her horn had been silenced, and her body was wrapped in chains from neck to tail. Her wings ached under them, but again there was nothing she could do about this. She felt powerless, but still she fought on. She wanted to shout out to Cadance to encourage her, to ensure her that, no matter what happend, she was there for her, but the gag in her muzzle prevented even that. The four changelings holding her reigns stood around her, keeping her in place, and preventing her from looking away from Cadance. Tears formed in Twilights eyes, as a strong kick hit her flank and almost broke her right wing, even through the chains.

"Stop stirring you stupid mule! The show is about to start!"

Twilight watched as a changeling approached Princess Cadance from behind. No, there wasn't just one of them.... Several stood in line, as if waiting to get their.... turn? Understanding dawned in Twilight's mind as the changeling hopped onto Cadance, and mounted her. The Princess of love screaming in terror and pain.

"No! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Get away! Pull it out! PULLL IT OUT!"

A gasp ran through the Ponies in the crowd, while the Changelings began to clap and cheer. Chrysalis just smiled wickedly. This kind of treatment suited her just right. She was the Princess of love after all, so Chrysalis merely gave her what she wanted. She had over a hundred volunteers for this job and they would keep this mule busy until she collapsed from exhaustion. After today, this would be the morning ritual in canterlot castle. Turning away she smiled, as she made her way back into the dungeons. There were other Ponies to break, before this day was over.

Applejack opened her eyes slowly. Everything around her seemed to be blurred, so she couldn't make out anything. Her head felt heavy and she wanted to go back to sleep, when a familiar voice draged her back to the waking world.

"You are finally awake darling. Are you alright? Does it hurt?"

Hurt? What was supposed to hurt? Applejack didn't understand what Rarity was talking about. And where the hay was she? Why was Rarity with her? A dull pain in the back in her head flared up when she tried to remember what had happened earlie. She and her friends had been in Canterlot, to attend Twi's crowning ceremony.... Then... during the prosession through Canterlot... Applejack jolted fully awake, the last remnants of drowsiness washing away like dirt after a hard day on the farm.

"The Changelings! Rarity! Whaddabout the Changelings?"

"Just look around and you can see for yourself. I guess it's hard to miss."

Applejack looked around. The first thing she noticed was a big metal ring around her midrift, that held her in place. The dark stone walls that made up the walls of the room she was in, were damp an there was water trickling from some of them. Even the smell wasn't too pleasant. As a farmpony, she was used to foul odors , but this place smelled like rotten mushrooms and week old Pony dung. Her head sank as she realized that she was most likely in some kind of dungeon. Rarity however, she could not see. The cell had a solid metal door, so she couldn't have seen her wake up from another cell....

"Rarity? Oh Ponyfeathers, com'on out. That ain't the time fer hide'n seek."

To her left, Applejack saw a white hoof step out of the shadows and a single blue eye was illuminated by the light shining through a whole in the ceiling. It was most likely Rarity, but she didn't step all the way into the light so she could see her. Frustrated Applejack tried to raise one of her forelegs to stomp the ground, but Rarity's voice stopped her.

"Applejack, look at your hooves... If I were you, I would not try to move my legs. They said they gave you painkillers... So you could "enjoy" the pain slowly creeping back".... I'm so sorry Applejack...I could do nothing to stop them...."

As Applejack looked down on her forelegs, she immideatly noticed that they were bent in odd angles, in places where there were no joints. Panicked she turned her head and took a look at her hindlegs... What she saw made her blood freeze in her veins. Her legs, where crooked and twisted. Her joints and the bones attached to them, must have been broken, to make them look like this. Her mind raced franticly over what Rarity had said...

"They have given you painkillers...."

If those painkillers stopped working, the pain from four broken legs would flood into her conciouss mind. The farmpony didn't want to admit it, but that pain would most likely drive her into insanity. One last shimmer of hope shone through the darkness. Rarity was in here with her. If she could use her telekenisis, she could atleast set the bones right. Sure she would never be able to buck Appletrees as hard as before, but she would atleast be able to walk, in a few weeks time.

"Rarity, suggarcube... can ye' do mah a favor?"

"If I can.... but I doubt that I can...."

"Could ya use yer magic to atleast set mah bones right? Ah know mah days as a farmpony are over, but ah don't wanna end up crippled."

There came a slight sobbing noise from the shadows in which Rarity stood.

"I am sorry Applejack... I... I can't do that..."

"But why not?"

Slowly, full of hesitation like a filly who knows she did something wrong confessing to her mother, Rarity stepped into the light. There was an eyepatch over her right eye ,and a trickle of blood flowed down her face from beneath. Her whole body was covered in cuts, that would leave scars for sure. But what made Applejack gasp in horror was her forehead... There, where her Unicorn horn should have been, was nothing but a bloody stumb....

"Oh Rarity... What happend?"

"They left me a choice Applejack... They said they'd saw off your legs and leave u here so I could watch you die, or I could sacrifice my eye and horn, and they would only break them.... To my shame, Applejack, I hesitated... They had already cut me, and I didn't want any more pain... But I convinced myself in the end that your legs, even if broken and growing back together the wrong way, could be mended eventually... I can live without two eyes and my magic, even so my days a dressmaker, are over aswell...."

Raritys voice quivered as she spoke, but she stood in front of Applejack, looking down on her firmly.

Applejack didn't know what to say to that. Her friend had sacrificed part of her body so she could keep her legs... She didn't like to be endebted to somepony, but this was a debt she would never ever be able to repay. A sharp pain in her haunches make her wince, as Rarity suddenly raised a foreleg.

"I'm so sorry Applejack... I may not be able to mend your legs, but I can atleast knock you out again, so you don't have to feel the pain creeping up on you..."

"Wait!"

But everything around Applejack turned black again as Raritys hoof struck the side of her head.

Chrysalis watched the spectacle from an observation room, on the upper floor of the dungeon. Cameras where a fine invention with so many uses. Three screens where lined up in front of her, each showing a cell. Two of them contained two Ponies. The last one contained only that annoyingly hyperactive element of happiness. Once the "show" in the courtyard was over, that new Princess would be brought in there with her. After seeing what she had seen, that element could TRY to cheer up her friend as much as she wanted, but there was little chance for success.

Chrysalis rubbed her frontlegs together, enjoying her plans. Once the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were broken, the Elements would surely look for more suitable hosts, but that could take a while. During that time, they at least wouldn't be a threat. Ofcourse it would have been faster to just kill them, but now where was the fun in that? On the other hoof, keeping them alive, even if just barely in some cases, they could prove to be a threat if Celestia somehow managed to free them... But even so... Even if the Elements did NOT choose new hosts, then maybe she could use some soulless puppets, Especially if they beared such powerfull ancient magic.

A few hours later

It was already afternoon, before Cadance fainted in the couryard. Her lower body was dripping a mixture of semen and blood, as two changeling guards dragged her away. All through the procedure, Cadance had screamed threats of retalliation and pleas for mercy.... Twilight had been forced to watch all of it. Many of the surrounding Ponies had vomited several times, throughout the disgusting "show". Some had even vomited on her, but she didn't care... She loathed herself, for feeling disgust at Cadance, who had shaken shortly before she had fainted. Twilight knew she had tried her best to disguise it, but there was no mistaking the signs. Cadance had been raped for hours, and in the end she had cum....... The look on her face a moment before she fainted, had given it all away. Finally the Changeling in front of her, loosend the grip on her reigns a bit so she could finally take her eyes off of Cadance.

A few minutes later, in a solo cell of the dungeons

Cadance came to her senses again. Her lower body burnt terribly, but it was not like there was anything she could do about it. As before, her hooves and wings were restrained. But... something was different from before. It didn't take long before she realized that her hips were, once again, held up with that strange gadget from before. Did they plan to continue what they had started in the courtyard? When the door opend, and a Changeling stepped into her cell, she readied herself for a continuation of the mutilation from before. The Changeling however made no attempt to do so... Due to her being gagged again, she couldn't speak and only watch as he pulled out an injection from a bag he had brought with him. A short sting in her Rump and Cadance felt sleepy once again. She managed a glare at the changeling that stood behind her, she hoped it, showed all of the rage she felt just now, before she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Ragkar watched as the Pony Princess fell asleep. He did not know why, but for some reason his Queen was quite eager to keep some of these Ponies alive, and let them keep their free will. He, as one of the healers of his hive, had been made personally responsible for the well being of this one. His comrades really had a field day with her. Her Vagina was bleeding badly, and her rectum was badly wounded as well... He sighed. This would take him almost all night and a great amount of healing magic, to make her ready by the next day. Usually he wouldn't have rushed such a treatment, but his queens orders were absolute... She had enjoyed the show way too much to only have it once every few days, so he would most likely, have to pull an all nighter every night for a while. Until the Pony died at least. This was something he was sure of. Changeling body fluids were poisonous for Ponies. So he extracted all the semen his comrades had poured into her, some signs of poisoning were already showing. They were not visible for the untrained eye, but he could see them. Openening her eyelids a bit, he saw small black dots appreaing in her eyeball. All over her coat were dark patches, that were not bruises.... Ragkar sighed again. This one would last only a week, maybe a little longer if he was able to brew some kind of antidote, but in the end it would be the same. He wondered what this one could have done so that his queen would go to this extend as to punish her. It was a death sentence... A very slow and very painful one indeed... Ragkar shuddered as he remembered the experiments one of his fellow healers had conducted. The idea behind them had been crossbreeding between Changelings and Ponies. What the profit for the hive would have been, he never understood.

For that cause, they had captured an Earthpony mare, since they were rumored to be the most sturdy ones. The Earthpony had died only three days after being captured. She had been impregnated, but it had killed her. His Queen knew about this... He shook his head. Enough doubting his queen. She knew what would be best. Once again he concentrated on his healing spell, mending the external and internal cuts on the mares body. But one thought kept slipping back into his mind....

"As a healer I am sworn to mercy.... Wouldn't it be more merciefull to just kill her right here?"