Servile

Chapters

Prologue: Felt Feathers
A Prince Trotted In
All Good Things
Rewritten Perceptions
Indentured
Future Plans
The Longest Chapter
Foreboding
Itinerary
Facing Forwards
But Head Over Hooves
An Evening to Ourselves

Prologue: Felt Feathers

Believe it or not, up until the events of the Winter Moon carnival I led a fairly normal life. I got up at about mid-morning, I went to work at Aloe and Lotus’ spa, and I went home. On occasion I’d go and have a sip of cider, or I’d get some pastries from Sugarcube Corner, but in all that was my daily routine. This might not seem too fantastical but I can honestly say that I loved my day. It was simple, I didn’t expend too much energy, and honestly it brought me quite a bit of self-satisfaction when I realized that nopony really knew my personal life. I was a masseuse working at the spa that lived two buildings over in apartment twenty-four. I was just another pegasus from Cloudsdale who came to Ponyville for a quiet life. I honestly wish that I could say that I now lead that same life, and follow that routine, but that would downright misleading. It all started at mid-winter, on just another day as I described above. With a few major differences, of course.

I remember opening by eyes, and thinking just how lucky I was. The sheets were curled up around me, blankets thrown overtop my wings and hooves snugly fit into wooly socks that went up to my knees. My blue feathers probably looked sapphire in the dim glow that came through my window, the light from the sun barely making its way through the clouds to light the space. When I looked across the room at my dresser mirror my eyes glinted gray, a dusty charcoal color that meant that days like this were perfect for me. I live to this day with a number of biological problems, and my eyes are one of them. Besides being a strange ashen hue, my corneas weren’t and still aren’t the best at dealing with bright lights. Overcast, rainy and snowing days are my favorites merely because they didn’t give me headaches when I walked out my door in the morning. I sat up in bed, the covers falling off my chest and pooling into a heap near my back legs. I was met with a burst of colder air, causing goosebumps to erupt all over my body. I shivered, wondering if I should take the day off to enjoy the weather. Perhaps indulge in a cup of tea. I shook away those thoughts; it was almost time for the Winter Carnival. Aloe and Lotus would be livid if I didn’t take customers on a day like this.

I carefully extricated myself from the covers, sighing. As hard as it was to leave my warm bed, I knew that I simply needed to get up and motivate myself. It wasn’t any use laying around and being lazy, especially when there was work to be done. I slipped on a morning robe to keep warm, tying it at the waist while I was still sitting on the edge of my bed. It was sky blue, bordering on teal, and the sashes were the same dusty gray as my eyes. It hardly mattered to me what color it was, but when I’d bought it the garment had only seemed fitting, with another plus being that it was wool. I slowly shuffled my way across the floor to the bathroom, the cold carpet leeching the warmth from the bed right out of my hooves, ignoring the thick socks I was wearing as it stole away my comfort. I just wanted to get back into bed and fall asleep the moment they touched the white-ish gray carpet. I continued on, though, trudging over to the sink and splashing water on my face in a vain attempt to wake myself up. Although it didn’t work, I felt a little less inclined to turn around and dive back under the covers. As the shower started I caught a glimpse of my Cutie Mark, the real source of my lethargy.

Although pegasi don’t usually have too many ‘special’ abilities, like unicorns do, I suffer another malignant condition, specific to myself. I’d never heard of a pony having the abilities that I do, and admittedly, I myself wish that I didn’t have to live with them. The whole problem with my Cutie Mark is that I have the curious, albeit uncomfortable, talent of knowing the immediate wants of anypony I touch. Although this doesn’t sound too bad at first, this is compounded by the fact that I usually feel the immediate desire to satisfy the command; this makes me a good masseuse. I know just where the knots are in a pony’s back, the sweet spots, where the tension is, if they want me to talk to them during the massage or to remain silent. If they wanted to listen to the spa’s soothing natural spring, or listen to the radio. All of these things also allowed me to do a number of jobs better than most, including being a waiter. I could take a pony’s orders just by grazing my wings against them. The skill of knowing what a pony wants is great under some scenarios, but terrible under others, especially when I feel the sycophantic need to do whatever anypony around me wills me to.

As I slipped under the water in the shower I can’t help but be reminded of why I’d left Cloudsdale in the first place. I left because I was tired of being the only pony that had empathy. Spending my foalhood seeing the immediate impulses of ponies around me left me unhappy, and scared of how cruelly selfish a pony could be. I personally remember accidentally bumping into no less than ten stallions on the way to class sometimes and having their fetid impulses for debauchery pushed into my head. The worst part was that I immediately wanting to satisfy them, that I felt the servile need to do all the shameless things they were thinking. It took all the willpower I had sometimes to stop and separate my own wants from theirs, telling myself that whatever they wanted was wrong. Mares had equally disturbing thoughts, if not worse since sometimes their minds were consumed with the hormones a doctor might tell you is called heat.

For all those reasons and more, I decided to get a job that scarcely involved mares in estrous or stallions at all. No stallion in Ponyville really ever went to the spa, and mares during estrous stayed home for its entire duration. This town isn’t like Cloudsdale, where mares were practically shameless and stallions were almost equally as uncouth. I could bump into somepony walking to work and not have to worry about cringing inwardly towards their vile wants. Ponies weren’t perverted, nor were they prone to think ill of others. Ponyville is a nice choice for me, and it allowed me to live my life relatively free of the less desirable aspects of my gift.

I stepped out of the shower, sighing. If only I could have sat under the hot water forever. I dried myself and dressed hurriedly, making sure to include a pair of snowshoes and a hat. Unlike most of the Equestrian winters, this one was shaping up to be the worst to date as far as snow went. As I glanced out my window I noticed that there were ponies of all types moving snow, the unicorns were shoving it into alleys with their magic, pegasi were getting rid of the problem altogether by bucking away clouds that threatened to release more of the powder, and earth ponies were using shovels and salt to fight the ice coating the sidewalks. Although I could fly to work, and it was only two blocks away, I knew that it would be cold. I kept on my socks and slipped on the shoes, wondering who would come in today. Rarity was a frequent customer. I pondered that as I walked out the front door, trotting at a brisk pace, buttoning my coat. As I walked down the street I realized that there was banners being hung, and all the bulbs in the lampposts were being replaced. The Winter Carnival would be coming soon, and everything had to be just right for Prince Lune.

I shook my head and continued to trot down the street. The chances of me getting the slightest glimpse of Lune were nearly nill. He was a prince, after all. The park would be so crowded that night that even if I went to stand outside the park that right that very moment I probably still wouldn’t see eye nor feather of the prince of the night. I shrugged; it was just another part of working. Although Aloe and Lotus wanted to take the day off, due to that night’s festivities, I had volunteered to take customers. They were paying me extra, and I didn’t have anything to do today otherwise. I saw the spa in the distance and knew that my day was about to begin. The sidewalk was almost pure ice in some spots, so I had to use my wings to right myself as I hit a rough patch. On more than one occasion they saved me from a very unflattering spill down onto the pavement. My flannel coat might have been keeping the wind out, but slipping and falling into a puddle would more than do in the woolen jacket. As I was almost at the door of the spa I took one final, clumsy step and fell down, front first.

I took a few seconds to recuperate, laying on the sidewalk with half my muzzle pressed against the ice. My back legs were still standing, while my front legs were scratching at the ice, struggling for traction as I tried to haul myself up. It proved to be impossible as I managed to get my head off the ground, half-crouched, my rear in the air and front almost to the ground. I probably looked absolutely ridiculous. Luckily there weren’t any ponies around on the street to see my lack of coordination. I opened my wings and lifted myself off the ground with a single downstroke of my wings, falling back down away from the patch of ice that plagued the front of the spa. I stuck the key in the lock and opened the glass door, smiling as half-cool, half warm air flooded over me. Something about the spa that I enjoyed was that it was always a temperate climate, not quite cold though warm enough to keep one from shivering. It was, in essence, perfect.

I strode forward and opened the half-door to behind the counter, opening the power boxes and flicking the switches. There was a slight flicker as the lights came on and hot tubs two rooms over rumbled to life, heating and churning. I turned the sign to ‘open’ on the front door and picked the myriad of magazines out of the mailbox, my vision lingering on the ‘Stallion’s Fashion’. I set the others down on the waiting room table and went behind the counter, opening it to the main article. I usually indulged in fashion catalogs, and though it is difficult for me to admit I sometimes ordered a few items from the mares section of the magazine. As I settled into the chair behind the counter, I flicked to the next page. Hopefully it didn’t have another article on rising fashion prices.

Time passed slowly that day, dragging on like a wounded animal. Aloe and Lotus weren’t there, so I couldn’t engage in any idle chat with them. Not a single pony came until about three in the afternoon, and the guests were hardly typical. The guards that trotted into the spa that day were two, one a stallion and one a mare. The mare was unmistakable; she was a bat-pony, a member of Lune’s royal guard. She could hardly be overlooked with her signature slitted pupils and leathery wings, not to mention her armor. The stallion was a bit more normal, but different from the other guards at the same time. He had different armor than the other guards, with much more of the gilded metal focused around his neck and chest. His yellow-orange coat was much different from the normal guard’s pale complexion. I was about to ask them what they’d have when I realized they were talking amongst themselves already, and it would be rude to interrupt. I sat quietly and read while they finished their conversation.

“Look Heavy, I’m not telling you that it’s a bad idea, it’s just not your style.” The bat-mare said, striding in ahead of him. “Really, no need to go out on the town here in Ponyville when nopony’s gonna join you. Partying is only fun when you’re with friends.”

“I’m going out, nothing you can say about it.” The stallion named Heavy said.

“Well then, have fun. I have to get myself a massage and a quick hooficure first, so if you wanna leave you can. I’ll meet up with you before the Carnival starts.”

“Don’t be like that Magpie.” The stallion insisted. “I’ll wait here if you want me to.”

The mare trotted up to the counter, smiling at me. I felt immediately awkward, stuck there in between the two’s conversation. Before I’d simmered in the faux pas for too long the mare leaned onto the desk with her front leg.

“I’ll take a massage and a hooficure.” She said, waving her hoof at Heavy, who was about to say something. “He’ll take a soak in the hot tub while he waits.”

I wrote the orders down on a notepad, adding in. “Would you like to add anything?”

“Nah.” The mare said.

It took roughly an hour for me to fix the bat-mare’s hooves. They were so worn from her rounds as a guard that any semblance of smoothness had to be fought for. She chatted incessantly, going on about the pains of being a bat pony. She sat there in the chair, talking while I sat on a stool next to her. I could tell the sensitive parts of her hooves, and avoided them. On occasion she’d complain that I was pressing on her hoof to hard, but once she saw how well I’d worked out the crack in her left hoof she fell silent again. I sighed and set the file down, rubbing her hoof one last time to polish. Her pitch-black hooves now shone like ebony in the light, and she complimented me on my performance.

I stood up, putting the things away in the case and thinking of how late I was supposed to be here. Aloe and Lotus hadn’t given me a specific time, so I could probably get away with serving the drunken customers that came in sometimes after midnight. While I pondered this she paced the small room, probably thinking about conundrums of her own. I put the case under the counter and gestured for her to follow me to the massage parlor. She followed me down the hall to the main spa, where I checked the list for her hooficure. I walked down the extremely broad hallway to the end room. I gestured for her to enter first. I filled out the form outside the door and slipped the sign on the door to ‘occupied’ out of habit. I knew that, since there wasn’t anypony here except for me, there wasn’t a chance on being interrupted, but Aloe would have my head if I didn’t follow her procedures. I closed the door with a light brush of my wing and saw that the bat mare was settling onto the massage table, her armor already discarded.

I shrugged nonchalantly and picked her armor up, moving it to a small cupboard off the main room. There was a small stream babbling in the corner, filling the room with a soothing ambiance. I wished that she would’ve warned me before taking her armor off, but it didn’t bother me. I worked around mares constantly, most of them neglected to wear clothing in the first place. The first day had been a nasty shock for the sheer amount of control one had to exercise to not let one’s eyes wander, but Aloe and Lotus had taught me well, and I no longer instinctually looked at a pony that way anymore. They’d trained me to look at a pony’s face, and if not that, their neck. Shoulders as a last resort. The bat mare settled down the table, watching me with those strange green eyes. I asked her a few questions while I set everything up, making idle chat.

“What kind of massage would you like?” I asked, knowing she probably hadn’t been to many spas before. “We offer hot towel treatments, full-body by hoof, and even ice.” I prayed she wouldn’t pick the ice; it was hard to focus when I was shivering my feathers off.

“Full-body.” She replied, laying on her chest. “I’d appreciate a hot towel, though.”

I nodded and pulled one out of the heater, wincing. The towels weren’t warm, but genuinely scalding, spitting steam as a handled them. I trotted over to her, hoping she wouldn’t feel too threatened with me standing over her. I wouldn’t care for her sharp fangs ripping a chunk out of my leg. She just nodded, turning to look at the floor through the head of the massage table. I set a gentle hoof on her wings, guiding them into a position where I could still get in between her shoulder blades.

“This might burn a bit at first.” I said, picking up the hot towel and laying it across her shoulders.

She inhaled sharply and tensed; I prayed I hadn’t hurt her, I was deathly afraid of those sharp hooves of hers, to say nothing about her teeth. She relaxed, and I took that as a signal to lay another across her lower back. She sighed and I saw her muscles, tense as corded steel under her coat, relax. I nodded and set a wary hoof on her back, hoping she wasn’t like Rainbow Dash. I could scarcely touch any part of Rainbow without her complaining. Luckily for me her only response was to tuck her wings and let me continue. Soon I was massaging her without interruption, and she was comfortable enough to start talking again.

“I’m really surprised at myself, but I haven’t even told you my name yet.” She mused, her tone curious. “It’s pretty hard to pronounce to most ponies, but the name I let my friends use is just Magpie.”

“I heard it from the stallion out in the lobby.” I replied, smiling. Her name was fitting. “Mine’s Felt Feathers.”

We lapsed into silence for a few seconds, until eventually I reached her upper front legs. She pulled a face and looked up at the room around her, blinking. She seemed to be bothered by something, as if she was aware of something that I wasn’t. She looked over at the radio, which by some disaster had been left on all last night and most of today. I noticed that it was actually turned all the way down, as opposed to off. I realized quickly that she could probably hear whatever it was, being a bat pony. I took a break and trotted over to the counter, turning it off with a light click. When I turned around she was looking at me with something bordering on fascination, her eyes lighting on my wings and flanks. I returned to my position next to her, getting back to work giving her a massage. I knew from experience that the best thing to do was to ignore all distractions and get the massage done. Even if the client was giving you reasons to stop.

“So, how’d you get to be in this field, eh?” She asked, her voice slightly more sultry. There were hints of something I did my best to ignore in the question. “Just fall in here one day? Or did you always want to work here?”

“Always.” I mused, thinking back. “Aloe and Lotus always thought I had talent.”

There was a slight pause in our conversation, where she did little but breathe and occasionally move her wings. I noticed that she was getting progressively more fidgety. I began to feel strange, lightheaded, as if the back of my mind was dissolving into a warm, viscous slurry. It was the feeling I got when I was touching somepony whose thoughts were shifting over to something… unsavory. I knew what she was beginning to think about, and I cringed, my hooves leaving her soft gray coat. I prayed to Solaris that she wasn’t going to bring it up. Aloe and Lotus weren’t here to step in and save me if she began to get ideas. Nopony could help me if this descended into something I didn’t want to happen.

“So… there’s this service that I’ve been wondering about.” She said, turning her head to look at me out of the corner of her eye. “It’s pretty special, and I hear that maybe they offered it here.”

I winced, her wing grazing my hoof. I was inundated by stimulation, by her urges. She rolled over on the table, now facing me. Her wings spread, complimenting her sleek figure. I must admit to myself that she was genuinely beautiful, and if I were anypony else I would probably accepted her request. Much to her disappointment, I lifted my hoof from her wing and backed away, holding my upper foreleg as I shyly explained why what she was suggesting simply wasn’t possible.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think that Aloe and Lotus would want me to… that’d be really bad for our reputation if somepony found out. And I’m not really interested in m-mares.” I confessed, feeling vulnerable. She was first pony I’d told my secret to, and at that point I prayed that she would be the last.

“Oh!” She said, blinking. She looked more surprised than I was when I first discovered my gifts, looking around the room and attempting to find a foothold to continue talking from. “I didn’t know… sorry.” She apologized, embarrassed. “Let’s just… pretend that didn’t happen.” She finished, lying back down, unwilling or unable to face me after being rejected.

A very long, awkward lack of sound filled the room as I slowly, hesitantly resumed the massage. It was with great difficulty that she wound down, feeling slightly ashamed that she’d made such a sudden move. I’d seen it coming, but it still came as quite a bit of a shock. Some things along those lines had happened before, but Aloe and Lotus almost always stepped in and, in usual professional manner, asked the customer to leave. I was much too meek to tell a pony to get out once they’d already paid, not to mention that fact that I had issues of my own brought on by my unique nature. So I just continued in what I was doing, hoping that she’d never speak of this to anypony.

“So… uh, kid.” She said, hoping to break the extremely thick ice again. “Sorry about that. I… mistook you for the type of pony that would have agreed, but no hard feelings… I’m just kinda used to the ponies in Canterlot, where you can walk into just about any spa and get that… uh, special treatment I was referring to.”

I made a mental note to never go and work in Canterlot as I replied, with slight exasperation. “They really allow that there? Right in the city!”

“Yeah, actually. It’s not strictly speaking legal, but the ponies that know to ask usually are good friends with the ponies that are being asked. So the workers at the spas usually are the ones doing their friends favors. If a pony knows to ask, they won’t tell. They don’t ask, no harm done. Basically nopony’s complaining, since you have to be in on it.”

“Well, none of that here.” I said, making my way to her other upper foreleg. “The moment we start to do something like that is the moment we all get told on. No offense to anypony here in Ponyville, but there is scarcely a single mare or stallion that doesn’t have loose lips. Word gets around fast here, so we have to keep any personal information to ourselves.”

“I see. So, since word gets around, does anypony know you’re a coltcluddler?” She asked.

I stopped for a moment, thinking of how to respond. “You do.” I said, continuing my massage. “I’d like to keep it that way. Nopony needs to know, and there are other things about me I don’t want to tell you. I won’t tell you that because… the last time I told a pony about it something awful happened.”

“You don’t have to tell me…”

Another long pause ensued as I continued, thinking back to the one time I’d told somepony of my unique skill. I told them that I could see a pony’s wants, and then want to fulfill them. They took that fact and made me into a fool, had me laughed at in front of thousands. I still remember it. I was about to receive my degree, it was right there, when Miscrea reached on stage, tapped my hoof, and watched me faint in front of everypony. After, of course, I’d stumbled offstage like a drunkard, reaching out for something to catch my fall. I sighed and continued my work, shaking my head. That was a painful memory.

“So, read any good books lately?” Magpie asked as my hooves reached her central back.

“Well, I finally managed to read the classic book-” I began.

“Never mind.” She said, rolling her eyes. “I was talking about recent books. Only Lune and Solaris read that barf you call ‘classics’.”

“Lune reads classic novels?” I asked, curious.

“Yeah, tons. He always says that he’s attempting to better his knowledge of the present by understanding the books published during the time when he was exiled.” She droned, sounding as if she’d recited the same tired line more than a few times. “He never stops going on about how genius the writers during the twenties were, and all that other boring junk. I could care less about a pony that lived almost a hundred years ago.”

“Maybe, if you’re immortal like Lune, you care more about that past.” I inquired. “Because that’s actually in his lifetime, if you think about it. He’s a very old stallion, and he must have cared somewhat about that such things happened during the time he was gone. He must feel like he could have prevented it.”

“Look, the only thing that caused the collapse during the thirties was because we tried to make Equestria more like Griffonia. It just didn’t work.” She defended.

“Well, he must feel like he could have stopped us from doing that.” I said, moving onto her legs. I prayed she didn’t ask me again as my hooves lighted on her thigh.

“Woah there!” She shouted, shooting upwards and staring at me like I’d just slapped her. “That part is a little delicate, if you haven’t noticed.”

“It’s your thigh.” I stated simply. “You asked for a full-body massage, and you paid for one too. Unless you’d like me to skip it?”

She grumbled and laid back down, saying something about fancy prudes like me shouldn’t be doing such a loose pony’s work. I rolled my eyes and continued, ignoring the occasional tensing of the back as I pressed my hooves against her leg, searching for the numerous knots and bundles of tension that usually marred a pony’s thigh. She would occasionally look back at me accusingly, like I was somehow teasing her by doing my job. I continued, unfettered.

“What else do you do that’s all fancy like Lune?” She asked, trying to distract myself from my hooves pressing against her leg. “Lemme’ guess, you drink tea?”

“Correct.” I confirmed. “I like chamomile mostly, although English Breakfast is always good. I also like to read books, sometimes I like to do bestiary studies, and on occasion I go stargazing. Does that answer any further questions?”

“I’ve gotta introduce you to Lune. You two would get along better than steak and gravy.”

I finished her legs, sighing. It had been great, getting to know a strange, relatively random bat-pony and also have her make a promiscuous advance towards me. It was a load off my chest to tell somepony I was a coltcuddler, and also know that somepony else enjoyed tea and classic literature, but my day was done. I was ready to turn the sign to ‘closed’ and make my way home. Tonight was officially over for me as I threw the towels I’d used back in the heater and shut the lid. I left the room with her, switching the sign on the door to ‘vacant’ and trotted down the hall. She went to go get her friend while I returned to the lobby, counting her bits and making sure that they were all in the right part of the register. After I was done and she was at the door, ready to leave, I waved goodbye.

I honestly thought that would be the last time I talked to her, but before she left she looked at me from the doorway and said to me one very simple thing.

“Thanks, kid.”

For that reason, and that reason alone, I kept the spa open a little later than usual that night. Why I decided to do that… I don’t know. I know, however, that due to me working late that night, I no longer work as Aloe and Lotus’ spa. It is because of me staying open late that I no longer live in Ponyville, or even have my own house. It is because of that mare that strode out the door that night that I discovered that I didn’t need any of those things, and it is because of her that I realized that, deep down, I really did want to meet Lune. I also discovered a few more choice things about myself, things that are quite hard to admit to a pony that I don’t particularly know. It is much easier to show than to tell, as I learned much later. It is easier to simply perform an action than to explain it. Through this logic, I will do my best to explain myself, but I must say that it would make much more sense to show you how I reached these conclusions. So bear with me as I now tell you the story of how I met Prince Lune.

A Prince Trotted In

It was nearly seven at night and I was still sitting there, tapping my hooves against the counter and sighing. Frankly, at that moment it felt like a huge waste of time to have stayed open that evening. No customers were coming in, and even if they had I would have had a hard time focusing. Something kept distracting me, something the bat-mare had asked me. I knew that she hadn’t said it with any sort of malignant intent, but for some reason the words kept stinging at the back head, coming up over and again as I churned that afternoon’s events over in my head. It didn’t quite make sense to just ignore what she’d told me, the point she’d brought up.

‘Does anypony else know?’ She’d asked me.

I’d had to reply in the negative, of course. Nopony in Ponyville knew anything about me. Even in Cloudsdale the only ponies that were in on my secrets were my family, close relatives and one very trusted friend. Besides, ‘coltcuddler’ had such a negative connotation to it back then. I’d only ever heard the words used for insulting means, and had such anger behind it that I couldn’t help but feel as if it was something frowned upon. I can hardly recall the amount of times when somepony used coltcuddler as an insult, or some derogatory word that usually signaled that somepony was of lesser social standing than the one who said it. Although I knew that there were plenty of ponies that weren’t the most fascinated with mares, I did know at that point a few outspoken ponies that had no problem telling anypony who’d listen that they were, in fact, coltcuddlers. I surely didn’t share those select few stallions’ confidence, for a myriad of reasons. One of them is that, by my very nature, my personal life had to be kept as private as possible.

Something I’d learned throughout my entire time in Cloudsdale is that, if a pony like me, who has a great amount of empathy and understanding, becomes a good friend of somepony, that pony eventually ends up guessing the nature my secrets. A few ponies back in the city in the clouds managed to piece together my unique nature, and it only led to disaster. Excluding the aforementioned tragedy on the day of my graduation, there were a few things that happened leading up to that point. One of which ended up with me having to be sent to the hospital. Through some means, the same group of ponies that ruined my graduation ceremony got ahold of a pony with a terrible bout of mental illness. The moment that pony touched me, on my right shoulder if I remember correctly, I took on a strange semblance of their psychological sickness. I was in the hospital for weeks, unable to tell which way was up and or if I was living in reality of everything was just a dream.

As one can infer, I’ve grown… weary of telling ponies about myself. I’d love to have friends, close acquaintances even, but to this day the idea of having a best friend scares me. The last best friend I had betrayed me by giving out very precious information about my gift, and thus I suppose I’ve become jaded in that sense. Nothing scares me more than a pony knowing about me and my life, and to this day there is only a small, silent group of ponies that I truly trust to talk to about any aspect of myself outside of my professional career. Aloe and Lotus know my boundaries, talk to me about normal things like shopping and occasionally they will bring up my life outside work, but not to any great detail. They knew not to mention my social life, as I had none. Both of them at that point had both inferred me being a coltcuddler, which I had no problem with. The spa twins were more than trustworthy. I’d known both of them since I was old enough to fly down to Ponyville on weekends.

While I sat, engrossed in my thoughts, a pony trotted up to the door of the spa and knocked, snapping me out of the trance. I nodded to the pony, signaling that the door was open and I would be able to take them if they wanted. I habitually straightened the papers in front of me and hid the magazine I’d been reading under the register, as I knew Aloe and Lotus frowned on the practice of being distracted while behind the counter. I’d had the lights in the lobby dimmed slightly, in order to make looking into the spa easier and also a great deal easier on my eyes as night fell. This also made it easier to look out of the spa onto the brightly lit street, which allowed me to occupy myself with counting the number of ponies with scarves on. Such was the trivial games I occupied my time with. As the pony that knocked trotted in I dropped the pen I’d been holding between my teeth, ready to write down their name. I probably looked so shocked, most likely resembling a deer caught in headlights.

The pony that trotted in did indeed have a scarf, a subdued navy with stripes of silver, and indeed they were a stallion, a rare enough occurrence on its own. The stallion was tall, with my ears only reaching the tip of his nose, and had a bearing about him that was almost perfect. He seemed distracted, his bright blue eyes focused towards somewhere in the past instead of directly in the present. In the curves of his legs I didn’t see much muscle, but I knew that what was there was almost unnaturally strong by the way he trotted towards the counter, a glazed-over expression gracing the fathomless pools that were his eyes. Although focused, he wasn’t very attentive, as he almost didn’t stop as he reached the counter, blinking as if he’d had a sudden lapse of attention when he’d walked in the door. His blue coat and feathers were groomed to perfection, but a few errant tuffs of rebellious mane broke form and stuck out at odd angles. It was impressive that he looked as good as he did with the wind outside, to say nothing that he didn’t even blink when he’d strode over the ice outside the door.

Another stallion trotted in after him in a loose-fitting striped sweater, his lilac wings ruffled, mane disheveled and flying in almost every direction. This new stallion was shorter, and had something resembling the diligence of a scholar as he trotted up to the other, apparently annoyed. I noticed that he was almost equally as graceful as the stallion before him, not having missed a step on the ice outside and I swear that his hooves didn’t actually contact the snow. Then, like so many gears roaring to life in my head, I realized who these two were. Their identities clicked into place so perfectly that I nearly fell off my chair, struggling to address the two princes.

“So sorry, Prince Lune, Dusk Shine.” I said, standing up to fall into an immediate bow. “I almost didn’t recognize you for a second.”

“Please, don’t call me a prince.” Dusk Shine said with mild disdain at the title, turning to Lune. “What are you doing? We were heading to the bookstore and you just walked away from me at the intersection. What’s gotten into you, Lune?”

The other prince turned and shrugged, as if he had no other excuse. “I felt like going and experiencing a little more of the city. I’ve always wanted to know more about the ponies that live here, especially after Nightmare Night last year. Now… let me think.” He said, turning to the list of services the spa provided.

Dusk Shine rolled his eyes at the absentminded prince and sat down in one of the chairs, waiting for his friend to pick a course of action. I could still hardly believe that the royals were sitting in the lounge, one silently tolerating the other’s random antics. I couldn’t help but see a curious dynamic between the two, with Lune being the one who took the occasional random side-trip while Dusk Shine mostly stuck to his schedule. The former of the two, which was currently running his hoof along the list, muttering to himself about how nice it’d be to have a spa at the castle, seemed to enjoy living in the moment rather than planning his life out. Although I could see that Dusk Shine tolerated his behavior, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about a sudden excursion into someplace he’d already been a few dozen times.

“Dusk, what would you recommend for us?” Lune asked, using the royal form of ‘us’. As if he was trying to break a habit, the prince quickly corrected himself. “What would you recommend for me, I mean.”

“Hot towel, then massage, then hot tub.” Dusk Shine sighed, listing the things that he usually got. Aloe and Lotus told me about how they’d once had the privilege of having him there and could detail what he’d ordered from memory. “May I ask why you wanted to come here when you’ve never even been to a spa before? And up until three months ago you’ve never heard of one?”

“It interested me.” The stallion shrugged again. “I’d rather be here than on my way back to Canterlot.” The word Canterlot had an almost imperceptible undertone of resentment added to it, but I managed to catch it, though it was subtle. “You’ll know what I mean after a year or two in service to Equestria. You’ll get so tired of taxes and budgets you’ll want to burn the records reserve to the ground. I know I do.”

The stallion nodded and returned his attention to the counter, looking directly at me for the first time. Our eyes met in what I could only imagine was a thousand-yard stare of pure shock. I suddenly realized that I wasn’t breathing, and inhaled, but never took my eyes from his, my gray eyes reflected in his brilliant sapphire mirrors. It almost felt like he was looking for something, probing my mind for some strange curio that he’d thought long lost. He obviously found it, whatever he was searching for inside my shocked expression. He smiled, almost causing me to stop breathing again. I became almost frighteningly aware that my wings were trembling at my sides in unexpressed joy, all stemming from that fantastic smile of his. He began to place his order and I memorized it, took it all into memory as he spoke with that dated, yet charming manner of his. Dusk Shine looked at me with an expression of half curiosity, half alienation as I nodded numbly to the elder prince’s orders. He could most likely see how unabashedly ecstatic I was to be able to meet Lune.

“Y-yes, your highness.” I said, nodding. I got out of my chair and stumbled, almost tripping over my own hooves as I struggled to regain composure. “Right this way.”

I led them down the main foyer to the main spa, which was mainly a room consisting of chairs meant to accommodate mares who were getting their mane and hooves done. I was talking somehow, impossibly fast as I expressed my unrelenting excitement in the form of infinite, run-on sentences. To be quite honest I hardly think what I was saying made sense, and had something to do with how nice stars were on this particular night. I didn’t even know how I was supposed to service the two, my hooves and wings were shaking so madly I could barely put one hoof in front of the other. I turned left and directed the two towards the massage parlors. As the two followed me I saw them exchange a glance, the words between them were lost on me but I swear I saw Dusk Shine roll his eyes, expressing something bordering on irritation. I stopped talking, taking his cue to stop. I led the two down the hall to the largest room we had, a massively spacious chamber that had a number of features, including a hot tub and a shower, which we allowed the customers to use after any treatments involving hot wax.

I opened the door for them and followed the two inside, still in what felt akin to a stupor from how long I’d dreamt of this moment. Although I knew that Dusk Shine thought that I was something short of irksome, I knew that Lune and I had made much better first impressions with one another. I hurried about, turning the towel heater on and getting everything ready for the two princes.

“Um, I’ll take your scarf and sweater, if that’s okay, of course.” I chirped meekly, accepting their winter apparel and folding it fastidiously. Once I’d set it neatly under the counter I stood up and dusted off my hooves. “Would you like me to dim the lights? Or maybe you’d like to listen to the radio?”

Both of them agreed that the lights could be a little dimmer, and so I adjusted the lights accordingly. Once the room was at the luminosity of a mid-winter twilight I nodded, taking my hoof from the lightswitch and washing them in the sink before I started. I felt Lune staring at me as I did, his eyes examining me in that oddly calming way. I couldn’t help but wonder what it was about me that fascinated him. This was the second occasion in which he’d stared quite pointedly in my direction, searching for something that I neither I nor Dusk Shine could fathom. I worked through it, drying my hooves and opening the lid to the towel heater.

“These might be a bit hot at first.” I warned, praying as I always did that it didn’t’ cause him discomfort.

I laid one of the towels on Lune’s shoulders, slowly as to not shock him. The stallion tensed, then sighed as the steam drew the tension out of his shoulders. Ignoring my wings, which at that point were doing a madcap dance around my ribcage, I set another one of the towels on his lower back, just as I’d been taught. The prince spread his wings slightly, stretching them before he withdrew them back to his ribcage. I trotted over to Dusk Shine and set the towels on his back, but with much lot more trouble than the other prince had offered. He wasn’t quite as much a heat type of pony, and it took a long time for his back to adjust. I couldn’t help but feel as if I was increasing his agitation towards me as I trotted back over to Lune, ready to start the massage in earnest.

“So, what’s your name?” Lune asked me just before I set my hooves to his left shoulder.

“F-Felt feathers, your majesty.” I said almost impulsively. I cursed myself for stuttering.

The prince sighed, seemingly contented as I laid a hoof on his shoulder. I honestly didn’t know how to interpret the sensations that flooded me as my hoof took in his impulses, which wavered from getting up and taking a shower to slapping Dusk Shine with magic for being rude to me behind my back. Although all these didn’t seem to come in any rhyme or reason, they all revolved around me in some way shape or form. I snapped out of my initial trance and began to push my hooves into his shoulders, which seemed to get progressively looser as I ran my hooves over them, applying pressure in all the right places. Lune looked back at me with an expression of interest, making me hold my breath as I tediously worked at a particularly difficult knot. Although his posture might look amazing, I could tell that it put a lot of stress on neck. I looked at Lune, directly into his eyes.

“May I, um, see your neck for just a moment?” I asked hesitantly. I couldn’t help but feel as if I was overstepping my boundaries. It wasn’t part of the massage, really.

“Of course.” Lune replied, smiling back at me.

I gave him a shy smile and subconsciously tucked a lock of my mane behind my ear. He arched a brow at me questioningly, amused by the gesture. I turned a light shade of red under my coat and trailed my hooves over his shoulders to his neck, which was so fraught with tension I wondered how he even looked towards me from his sublevel position. I began to work my hooves into the multitude of rigid nerves, earning an immediate, tense inhale from the prince. I continued, and soon his slight expressions of pain dissolved into sighs and even what sounded like a low moan, which I blushed vividly at. I wondered if I should continue, but the signals I was getting from him weren’t even near telling me to stop. So In continued, making my way back to his shoulders. Although there was slight disappointment that I hadn’t lingered on his neck just a little longer, he accepted that I had to move on, and soon that disappointment dissolved as I got to his midsection.

I honestly don’t know how to explain what happened next. I don’t even think Lune could tell you if he wanted to. What he did the moment my hooves lighted on his waist area was so… unashamedly bold that I don’t really know how to describe it. The prince turned over, reversing onto his back and leaving my hooves to lie on his lower stomach. I turned a bright red, wondering how I could even respond to that sudden move. What happened after that was truly shocking. The prince, in all his regality, picked me up with his magic and set me directly on top of him.

“Lune what in Solaris’ name are you doing?” Dusk Shine asked, almost fearing the answer.

“You interest me.” Lune said, staring into my eyes while I struggled to hold completely still. I’d never been levitated before, and that had been quite a shock for me. Not to mention I’d never stood over a stallion’s chest before. “That, and this massage is going far too fast and is far too pleasant to be over so soon. I wanted to talk to you first, maybe get to know you better.”

I couldn’t say no at that point. There was no amount of sorcery in the world that could falsify the sheer attraction I felt towards him in that moment, how much I basked in how amazingly impulsive he could be around me. I nodded, still a little in shock from being moved so suddenly.

“Don’t mind Lune.” Dusk Shine apologized. “He gets like that around ponies sometimes. I guess he just forgets what century it is and that he can’t do whatever he wants.”

“I don’t mind.” I replied, much to Dusk’s surprise. “As a matter of fact… I think I like this better.”

Dusk Shine, who’d been doing his best to ignore the promiscuous undertone of the situation at hand, sighed and laid back down. He admittedly wasn’t the type of pony who did things like this, and if Lune wanted to make a foal out of himself he wasn’t about to stop him. I settled next to Lune with great care, grateful the massage tables in there were large enough to accommodate two. Once I was situated next to him he began.

“So, let’s just begin with why I came here tonight.” Lune started the conversation off. “One of my guards came to me and told me that she’d met a colt today, a very lonely colt who is afraid to be friends with anypony because he’s terrified by the possibility that they might turn on him. Her name was Magpie, and she told me to come see you because of two reasons. First, you give very good massages. Secondly, she wanted me to meet you. She told me you and I have a lot in common.”

“We had an almost forty-minute conversation about how I like the same type of tea you do.” I said, recalling her complaining about how she didn’t enjoy literature either. “She was quite sure that we’d be friends if we only met one another.”

“Well… we aren’t going to be great friends over a massage, now are we?” He sighed. “If only there was some way that I could possibly spend just a bit more time with you. Ever since I came back from the moon, everypony avoids me like I’m some sort of bomb waiting to go off. Although I can see why they’re afraid, I don’t know why they think that means I don’t have feelings. Conversations end when I walk into rooms a lot of the time.”

“That’s awfully rude.” I agreed, thinking back. “That happened with me quite a bit as well. I moved away to avoid it, since eventually it went too far.”

“Where did you live, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Cloudsdale.” I replied.

We lapsed into a long silence, each one waiting on the other to build another foundation for another conversation to stand upon. After a few minutes of this I heard Dusk Shine get up from his massage table, setting his towels in a neat pile.

“I’m quite sorry, but if you two are just going to be talking I’m going to enjoy a hot-tub.” He said, dismissing himself. “Get back to me when Lune’s done.”

That was perfectly fine with me, seeing as how Lune and I were the only two having a meaningful conversation anyways. Almost the moment he was out of the room Lune sighed and sat up on the massage table, propping himself up with his forelegs. He seemed melancholy, as if he didn’t want to stop talking, and the idea of ever leaving this place saddened him. For a moment he looked almost unequivocally tired, and I felt bad for feeling so full of excitement and life in his presence. He turned to me and recognized that I felt that same sadness, that same dreadful feeling at the notion of leaving one another. It was like meeting a person on a bench in the park and becoming great friends. You know that whenever you get up from that bench you’ll never see that person again, no matter how much you have in common or how much you liked that person.

“I could do it, you know.” Lune said, his voice hinting. “I could make it so that we could become the best of friends, and see each other day after day… it would require me to know just how much you’re willing to pay into this, though. Would you be willing to move to Canterlot?”

“Anything.” I said, astounding myself.

It had always been a dream of mine to run off to Canterlot and live in the castle, to get up every day and trot around the one place in Equestria where I could hardly be judged for my gifts when ponies a thousand times stranger walked the halls every day. I’d always dreamt of having one close pony that I could trust infinitely, and making the massive gamble of trusting that one pony with my life. So… here it was. The most risky, insipid, impulsive thing I’ve ever done. I figured right then that, if I couldn’t trust a prince, Lune at that, whom could I confide in? He looked at me for a moment, shocked that I’d even said such a thing. Then, with the utmost of control, he smiled a broad, ecstatic grin. I’d never seen him that happy until that point, and I couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that I’d given him a sense of value when everypony else saw him as something dangerous.

“Anything, you say?” He asked, that smile still gracing his immaculate face. “Care to put that to the test? You’ll be my personal masseuse, which means that you’re going to have to deal with me quite a bit. I’m going to need a test of your resolve.”

“I’m at your command, your majesty.” I said with a nod.

The prince spent a few seconds chewing the inside of his cheek and thinking, his eyes scanning my face and mane, tracing the lines of my ears in deep thought. After a few moments of pondering my test of resolve, he had a ‘eureka’ moment and smiled wide, that cunning, quirky smile that I was almost intoxicating to witness. I swear that in that moment I became hooked on that smile, and I’d do anything to see him happy again. Between his gloriously white teeth that had a small gap between the two fronts and the way that it barely moved any other part of his flawless expression, it was hard to resist not pining for that jovial grin. The smile turned to a devious smirk as he settled on the idea, one that I knew he thought would deter me for sure.

“I’d like you to preen my feathers.” He said, spreading his immaculate wings. “Properly.”

I immediately blushed, harder than any other time that evening. My face was red enough to mix with the light blue of my coat and make a bright lilac, and the heat in my cheeks was at a high enough centigrade to roast marshmallows. To any who are ignorant towards the source of my obvious embarrassment, the preening of another pegasi’s wings is reserved between best friends, and couples especially. What he was insinuating here is that he wants to forge a relationship with me, with me playing the role of the mare. In pegasi courtship rituals the mare grooms the stallion, then he judges her as a worthy enough mate depending on her performance. The implications of what he was saying meant that he was going to be judging me as a partner, not as a masseuse. The full extent of what he was saying in those few simple words shook me to my hollow bones, but I nodded numbly and smiled, up to the task even though my hooves were shaking.

The stallion rolled over onto his stomach and gestured for me to stand over him, so that I could properly preen him. If there was any more blood in my cheeks at that point the vessels would burst, so I obeyed and carefully positioned myself over his sizable frame. Despite the fact that he was much larger than me, his navel was thin enough for me to put my front legs over without much difficulty. Once my hooves were on either side of him he lifted his wings, the tips of his primaries brushing against my nose. I laughed coltishly as his feathers tickled my nostrils, my eyes locking on his.

“Properly.” He mouthed, making sure I understood. “According to the old ways.”

My wings strained to stay at my sides as I considered what he was telling me to do. Anypony who would list the most sensitive places on an alicorn’s body would say the obvious first choice of their nethers. A close second would be an alicorn’s horn, so full of delicate nerves and fragile bones. Directly after that is their wings, which to a pegasus is borderline sensual treatment to be groomed by another. The way that he wanted me to groom his wings was also very intimate, as the old ways dictated that I straighten his feathers without the help of my hooves. That left only one appendage nimble enough to properly groom him and still be accurate.

I fastened my lips around a single primary feather, moving it into place. All the while he kept his eyes on me, watching me occasionally break form and let the feather brush against my teeth. He didn’t mind, as he knew that I’d only ever groomed myself. He only smiled as I wet my lips and moved to another, this one much closer to his skin. The prince closed his eyes briefly and inhaled sharply, an inaudible waver in his breath spurring me to put more pressure on his wing as I moved on. He opened his eyes again, breath coming out in flutters. I was apparently doing quite a good job, and he even smiled as he nodded for me to continue. I did as I was told, eager to please my newfound leader. Lune kept a sharp eye on me as my wings opened, unashamedly displaying that I was enjoying this just as much as he was. A blush spread over his face, just as vivid in hue as mine was. Soon my lips were on the last feather on his left wing, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It hadn’t lasted nearly as long as I’d hoped. Just before I moved onto the next wing he said to me, in a voice so light that I had a hard time hearing him.

“You can stop… you’ve proven yourself.” He said, his breathe still coming in sporadic bursts. “I’ve never met anypony like you, Felt Feathers… willing to groom another for the sole sake of gaining a friend.”

I brushed my mane behind my ear, smiling. “Not just a friend, I’d hope… I’ve always wanted a pony I could trust myself to. You seem to be the best stallion I can trust. After all, if not the prince of Equestria, whom can I confide in? Not only that… but whenever I see you smile… it’s like a reward, a grand prize for making you happy. There is no other position I’d rather have than right next to you.”

“You think an awful lot of me.” Lune said, propping himself on his front legs, bringing his muzzle close to mine. “How are you so sure I’m the pony you can give yourself to? What makes me the pony?”

I leaned in just a bit, enough to smell his warm, calming breath that carried a strong scent of spearmint. “Because you’re willing to give me so much. To let me into your life. Very few stallions would do that for somepony they’ve known for years… much less somepony they just met. Since you let me in… I’ll let you into mine. As much as you want to know about me, I’ll tell you. However much of me you want, you can have it. I’ll serve it to you on a silver platter, fresh.”

I don’t know if he couldn’t control himself, or he wanted to know if I was telling the truth, but he pressed his lips to mine without any further hesitation. I submitted immediately, letting his lips draw over mine without any concern for what might befall me. Before I could react by putting a hoof on him he pulled me close, wrapping his wings around my smaller frame and pulling me down on top of him. I was about to make another move, to at least try and be proactive, but he separated, his voice cracking slightly from emotion. His voice was struggling to make itself heard as he told me, in a voice so full of happiness it was contagious.

“I haven’t had a pony trust me this much in… lifetimes. Hundreds of years have passed since the last pony told me that they were at their disposal, personally and physically. The servants at the castle are always so distant… scared, like they’re terrified of me. You want to be my… partner. That means the world to me, Fine Feathers. I’d be honored to have you as my personal assistant and private masseuse.”

He was obviously overwhelmed with emotion, with his eyes watering and hooves clutching my back so firmly that I couldn’t escape his grasp if I tried. The smile on his face was mirthful, and the way it radiated gratitude warmed my heart in a way I’d never experienced. He closed the distance between us again, locking his lips onto mine as I let his tongue brush over my own. Despite being a prince he had no problem being informal as he explored my mouth, making sure he marked every inch of my pallet. I couldn’t help but let out a small, effeminate gasp as we separated and met again, only pausing to take in a lungful of air and return to the task of sharing each other’s lips.

“Ahem.” Dusk Shine coughed.

We separate, a thin strand of saliva still connecting us. I hurriedly swatted the trail of liquid out of the air between me and the prince, wiping my mouth and extricating myself from his firm embrace. He did likewise, both of us slightly surprised that we’d gotten so lost. It was nearly midnight, and Dusk Shine was less than amused that we had been taking so long. Although I was doing my best to put distance between me and the royalty I’d been snogging for roughly ten minutes, the prince was doing his best to herd me back into his arms, putting a wing between me and the edge of the massage table. He leaned over and wrapped his forelegs around me again, pulling me close while I squeaked like a frightened rabbit. He set me in his lap and tucked my mane behind my ears, placing a kiss on each as he did. He did all this within plain view of Dusk, whose jaw dropped in shock. Lune was bold, but this was a whole new level of audacity as he rested his head on top of my own.

“I have a new assistant, Dusk.” Lune said, petting my wing with one hoof and containing me with the other, placed firmly on my chest. “He’s much less afraid of me than all the others… and we have a lot in common. He’s very polite, and the way he treats me is to die for. On top of all that, he’s superbly gifted in knowing how to spoil a prince. We just became best friends today and I already think that he’ll make a great pony to spend my time with.”

“What are you talking about, Lune?!” Dusk Shine said, massaging his jaw from having nearly dislocated it. “And were you two just… kissing?”

“Yes.” The prince replied casually, as if it was no big deal. “So, can I keep him?”

I couldn’t tell if I was demeaned by this behavior or I felt more valuable, but the way that he was treating me like a lost kitten he found was anything if not comical. I played along and widened my eyes, staring up at Dusk Shine in as pathetic a manner as possible, anything as long as he let Lune take me back to Canterlot. I’d rather spend the rest of my life as his friend than working here in Ponyville. I’d gotten a taste of how nice it was to have a partner, and I’d be lost if I didn’t have Lune at my side from that point on. The other prince looked from me to the much older prince, his expression one of shock and slight disdain as he pieced what had been happening together, and what we were both asking.

“You want to… keep him. As an assistant.” Dusk Shine stated blankly. “You just met, and you want this… random masseuse to be your personal servant.”

“Yes.” Lune replied, smiling. “I’ll give him his own room off of my quarters, and buy him whatever his little heart desires. He deserves it for spoiling me like he does. He regards me like any other stallion, like a normal pony would treat a best friend. He belongs at the castle, anyways. His tastes far supersede that of the ponies here, for he has a love of fine literature and teas. Not to mention that it would be a shame to give him a taste of the fine life…” He paused to put emphasis on what he’d said, chuckling to himself. “… merely to let him down by leaving him behind. He let me indulge myself in him by telling me about his life, and I feel that it would be rude to not let him into my own. It is only proper manners to reciprocate a show of trust in a pony, after all.”

Dusk Shine sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose with his hoof, sighing.

“Fine, you can have him as an assistant.” He said, before adding the stipulation of. “But promise me that you two will keep… what I walked in to behind closed doors. Solaris will have my head on a platter if he learns that I condoned this. You know how he feels about public appearances.”

All Good Things

The next four days after meeting Lune felt as if they’d never end. Although I genuinely did try to focus on work, and the mundane routine that I had before my encounter with the prince, my mind kept falling back to that moment we’d shared in the spa. Noting that I didn’t really have a social life at that point, let alone a romantic one, I can honestly blame my lack of viable interests for the melancholy that I felt shortly after parting with him. My days after our first encounter were quite honestly the dullest in my life. Nothing of note happened, and things quickly fell back into the same monotonous pattern I’d followed ever since I’d left Cloudsdale. This persisted for the entirety of that week, until at last Friday rolled around.

Although I’d oftentimes work through the weekends, this particular day was notable in the fact that, shortly before me and Lune had parted ways, he told me that he’d write to me that day. So, shortly after sending the letter to Aloe and Lotus explaining why I was leaving them, I sat in my house, eagerly awaiting a wax-sealed scroll to appear on my writing table. No such letter ever arrived that day. Strange things did begin to go bump in the night, though. That evening, rather depressed at having not received a letter from my suitor, I fell asleep with a deep seated sense of dread that I’d never see him again. I kept waking up that night to strange noises in my room, odd drafts of wind and objects moving to their own accord. Although these unto themselves weren’t the most alarming occurrences that spread themselves over the next several nights. Soon I swear I saw a bright green pair of eyes regarding me from my windowsill, and scratches sounding above me in the attic. I swore that I didn’t just lose my book on veterinary anatomy, or the ‘Calligrapher’s guide to Calligraphy’, either. Despite all this, I persistently wavered under the self-made delusion that everything was fine.

That ended on Sunday, with a sudden clatter of hooves directly next to my bed, where I kept rather personal items in my nightstand under lock and key. My eyes shot open to see a rather familiar bat-pony, picking the lock to my lowermost drawer.

“What is Discord’s name are you doing!?” I shrieked, pulling the blankets up over myself in a rush.

The knowledge that Magpie had been spying on me for the last several nights crashed over me in a tsunami of embarrassment, knowing that she’d probably been through everything I owned by this time. She gasped and jumped backwards, shocked that I’d actually woken up after she’d probably been making nightly trips to my house for three days. She narrowed her eyes at me and hissed, a high-pitched utterance of pure irritation. She still had the pin she’d been using to pick my locked door in her hoof, her wings spread at me like a frightened basilisk.

“Why are you in my house?!” I shouted, throwing the covers off myself and standing up to confront her. “Seriously, what the hay drove you to break in here and go through my things? I thought we were friends. I mean, we were, weren’t we?”

“I’m actually under orders.” She said, stepping towards the window. “It’s nothing personal, and we’re still friends. Just… uh, try not to let this stand between us. See kid, what I’m doing in your house isn’t up to me to tell you… matter a’ fact, I was told specifically to not give you any hints towards what I’m doin’ here. Despite that… I do feel sort of bad for violating your privacy, so I’ll tell you who sent me. I can’t tell you what I was doing, but I can tell you that Solaris demanded that I spy on you for a bit. I d’know why, so don’t ask.”

The mare strode over to my window and, before I could react, slipped out into the night. By the time I’d made it over she was gone, either hidden in the shadows cast by the streetlamps or having dashed off in the opposite direction over the roof. I really didn’t know what to make of what she’d told me, but at least I knew that she wasn’t planning anything malignant for me in the future, and she hadn’t truly enjoyed breaking into my home. I closed the window and locked it, making sure it was sealed tight. I went back to sleep that night wondering what Solaris wanted from me, and why he would possibly want my copy of ‘Among Strigaformes’. Perhaps he was curious about the pony that would be his younger brother’s servant, or he simply disliked another pony being close to Lune throughout the day.

The very next day I learned why the Prince of Light wanted me to be put under the microscope, as the colloquialism goes. I must warn you that, in light of the fact that some are indeed sensitive to such subjects, the following events will seem rather… uncouth. If such subjects aren’t within one’s range of comfort you can enhance the endurance of your patience and skip the rest of this specific chunk of narrative. If not, then I implore you to read the events of the following Monday, the one-week anniversary from meeting the Prince of the Night.

It was around nine in the morning when I woke, yawning and briefly enjoying the warmth of my comforter. For the briefest moment I wondered if, despite the fact that I technically didn’t work for them anymore, Aloe and Lotus would let me come in that day. I sighed and tossed the thoughts away, mulling over what was for breakfast that morning. Shortly after quitting my job as a masseuse I’d taken up a number of hobbies, including reading and cooking, in order to occupy myself during my wait. Lune still hadn’t gotten back to me, but he was a prince of Equestria and I honestly didn’t expect him to drop everything he was doing for me. I was sure that running the country was more important than ironing out my living arrangements in the castle. So as I rolled out of bed that chilly winter’s morning I was considering fried vegetables. That is, until I saw a very bright coat of white out of the corner of my eye.

“Did you sleep well?” Solaris asked courteously, flipping a page in a book that I couldn’t recall purchasing. “I know that I did. Lune asked me to do the honor of making you an honorary servant, if you’re wondering why I’m here.”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack.” I said, clutching my chest. Too many ponies were entering my home without my permission, and it was making me paranoid, not to mention forcing a spike in blood pressure. “And thank you… for a moment I thought you were here to banish me.”

“Whatever for?” The Prince asked, looking up from the book.

“I don’t know… guilty conscience I suppose.” I said, then hastily added. "Your Highness."

“Well, your guilty dispositions aside.” He continued, setting the book down on my writing desk. “I’m here to give you the whole spiel on rules and regulations, how you’re supposed to behave when in service to the crown, and have you sign quite a bit of paperwork relating to how we’re going to be paying you.”

“Could I, um, get dressed, your majesty?” I asked, looking down at myself and my knee-length, silver-azure and striped wool socks. “I’m not exactly… decent.”

“If it makes you more comfortable.” Solaris shrugged, picking up his book and trotting out of the room. “I’ll be downstairs when you’re more comfortable talking.”

I waited a few seconds before I stealthily slipped off my socks, shivering as the cold air met my bare skin, hardly protected by my blue coat. Although I was having a hard time accepting that yet another prince now knew my exact place of residence, I managed to settle my nerves and get out of bed. I brushed my mane hurriedly, shoving a gray turtleneck sweater over my head and checking my clock. It was nine fifteen in the morning, and already my day was escalating. It was quite a break from the usual routine that I’d fallen into a week before. Making sure that the sweater I was wearing didn’t have any outstanding wrinkles or creases, I left my bedroom and went downstairs.

Solaris was sitting on the couch, or to be more precise, laying on it. His head was resting on one armrest and his back hooves were laying on the other, his foreleg dangling over the edge of the cushions lazily. There were seven large stacks of papers on the table, with a few inkwells between each. The individual stacks of paper all had large labels on them, all printed in a strange curling font that I didn’t understand. The Prince noticed me and quickly regained his royal composure, sitting up on the couch and smoothing out his mane, which at the moment was a bright sky blue, almost as pale as my own coat. Shortly after he’d regained his princely masque of formality he cleared his throat, signaling that the conversation was to continue.

“Now, this stack of papers is payment procedures, which you may read through at your own pace.” He said, gesturing to the leftmost of them while turning all of the around with his magic. “This one…” He continued down the line. “Are the forms discussing your rights and that while under the contract certain ones will be waived, for purely security reasons…”

He continued as I trotted across the room, wondering I I’d ever get this done. He didn’t have to finish before I’d already plucked a feather from my wing and started to sign my name, my eyes seeking out the blank lines where my signature was to be inserted. Both of us fell silent as I settled onto the couch, picking up papers and signing them as fast I could without misspelling my name. The prince seemed to stare at me for a long time then, watching me meander over each and every page and meticulously fill in every small form. Solaris’ eyes soon began to wander away from my hooves and towards my face, tracing each and every eyelash I possessed with peculiar efficiency. If I didn’t know any better I’d say that he was memorizing my expression, how I was reacting to this. Most ponies, as I later learned, preferred to know just what they were signing. I on the other hoof was content knowing that, after I filled these papers out, I would officially have a place at Canterlot Castle.

“Care for some coffee?” Solaris asked, conjuring himself a steaming hot cup, adding sugar and creamer while he spoke. “I do realize that this might not be the most convenient time of the day for you, considering most ponies are asleep.”

“It’s fine.” I said, knowing that it was probably equally, if not slightly more difficult for him to find time to visit me. “And I prefer tea, thank you.”

The Prince nodded and summoned me hot mug of the caffeinated herbal drink, which by the smell was probably earl gray. Although it wasn’t the most beloved of flavors I took a cordial sip of it, nodding to my guest. It actually tasted decent, much to my surprise.

“Thank you.” I said, continuing my work.

I continued the paperwork until about ten thirty that morning, when I finally set my quill down in the inkwell, done at last. Solaris looked thoroughly impressed that I’d made such great time, and rewarded me with a refilling of my cup. Even though he made me instinctually uneasy, being a prince of vastly higher standing, I couldn’t help but feel more comfortable around him. He exuded a relaxed sense of confidence much the same way Lune did, although he lacked the aloof charm of his younger brother. The stallion smiled and stood, causing the stacks of paper to disappear in a flash of magic. I did likewise and was about to trot off to the kitchen for breakfast when I saw that he wasn’t particularly concerned with my facial features anymore. His eyes traced my wings, focusing in much the same way he’d been examining me before. His gaze met my flanks and I coughed lightly, seeing that his eyes linger for an unnecessarily long time on my Cutie Mark.

“What would you like for breakfast?” I asked, wrenching his attention away from my rear. “I was thinking pancakes. It’s not very complex, but they tend to fill a pony.”

As if he hadn’t even heard what I’d said, the prince trotted around me in a full circle, his eyes continuously lighting down on my Cutie Mark. I was getting uncomfortable, so I ruffled my wings in another attempt to recapture his attention.

“I’ve met ponies with that Cutie Mark before.” He mused, his gaze returning to meet my own. “Several, in fact. Most of them shared a trait… one very interesting skill. Tell me, do you have any particular talent that wouldn’t be deemed normal?”

My blood turned to ice in my veins, my heart a solid glacier of dread. The prince hadn’t been paying my rear attention for its curvature after all, his focus was on the one thing that I would trade my house away to keep a secret. My only question was… how had he known? Everypony I knew had a single, unique Cutie Mark, one that is never repeated. Sure, some foals have a pattern or the same general layout as their parents, but other than those fleeting similarities I didn’t know of one Mark that was repeated.

“How… I t-thought Cutie Marks are unique to everypony?” I stuttered.

The prince sat back down, conjuring a fresh meal of hay and salad sandwiches for us, as if he was deciding to forgo breakfast entirely. “I once did a rather large study on ponies with Marks that are inherited. Not through bloodlines, but rather through similarities in personality that made them eligible for that Mark. There were only a few… but that one on your flank I know is one of them, and it gives the owner of it the gift of being an empath. The ponies that I knew that had those marks all had an acute knowledge of how to read a pony’s immediate wants and emotions. They also felt the most peculiar need to satisfy those wants…” He trailed off, as if the prospect intrigued him.

“Yes… I do.” I said, nodding. It was no use lying to him when he already knew the truth. “I have those abilities. They cause me no end of discomfort, though. More a curse than a gift, if I can give my own opinion on it.”

“I see.” He said, tilting his head to the side endearingly. “Quite peculiar that you would be our assistant when you possess such a unique skill. We could hardly hope for a finer servant.”

It took me a moment to catch on why that sentence sounded wrong. “Excuse me your majesty, but did you just say ‘our assistant’?” I asked warily.

“Of course.” He chuckled, as if it should hardly surprise me. “In the contract you didn’t swear yourself to one single prince, Felt Feathers. You’re instead sworn to the service of all the royal alicorns, not just to Lune. That includes me, Cadenza, Lune and Dusk Shine. Lune might call you his and we all may accept that, but you are also subservient to rest of us. Make no mistake, it’s not as if we plan to tear you away from Lune, I assure you. I know you two have quite the emotional bond. Magpie told me as much.”

Magpie. Everything from the last couple of nights clicked into place, and suddenly I knew why the conniving mare had been going through my things. She was being rewarded by Solaris to go through my belongings, to learn everything about me so that he could better know his new servant. I paled beneath my coat, wondering just how much he knew about my life. By the way he was interpreting my expression of shock he seemed to know quite a bit, including that me and Lune weren’t in a strictly platonic relationship. I cursed Magpie silently, wondering how much of my life she’d handed over to Solaris, and possibly others. Who knew how many ponies she’d run her extremely loose lips to.

While I panicked internally the alicorn before me smiled and lay down on the couch, assuming a more lax position now that the deal was sealed between us. I’d signed the contract, and now I was officially his own personal assistant, as well as Cadenza and Dusk Shine’s. The hole of dread that had originally sat like a stone in my chest grew to a gaping pit as the prince sighed, assuming a relaxed pose on the couch.

“I hope this doesn’t make you uncomfortable, Felt Feathers.” He continued, a smirk of triumph adorning his flawless complexion. “You were quite the catch, after all. I’m sure you’ll make an amazing companion to all of us at the castle, considering your rather impressive skills.”

Solaris levitated his own hay and salad sandwich over and took a bite of it, savoring the taste. I pushed my plate away, suddenly not quite as hungry as I’d been. Something about being shared between this prince and the one that I’d originally wanted to serve made me uneasy, not to mention a little nauseous. The only reason I signed all those papers was because I thought that I’d be spending every waking moment with Lune, not passed back and forth between him and three other alicorns like I was something resembling a housekeeping service.

“Please cheer up.” Solaris encouraged, having finished his snack. “You’ll probably be much happier with this job. Besides, we only have one more thing to do before we can give you a room in the castle.”

“There’s more?” I groaned, wondering what more bad news I’d be made to endure.

The prince laying across from me chuckled again, his smile turning to a slight smirk. “Well, each prince has his own way of growing used to a new servant and getting to know them. You’ll probably be spending the next month growing accustomed to castle life, as well as our daily routines. Since I’m here… I suppose I’ll go through my own personal tests to see just how easily you and I will get along. A test of your obedience will give me all I need to know about how willing you are to serve. ”

If I had known what he was insinuating with that sentence, if I’d only guessed what he was foreshadowing with that phrase I would have gotten up and ran from the room as fast as my wings would carry me. Looking back I will eternally regret not demanding that he summon Lune at that very instant, because the events that followed will undoubtedly haunt me for the rest of my days.

The prince summoned a single box onto the coffee table between us, gift-wrapped and tied neatly with a bright white bow. He smiled at my confused expression and nodded towards the box, sitting up and waiting eagerly for me to pick it up.

“This is my gift to you.” He said, grinning broadly. “Go upstairs and make sure everything in that box is on properly before you return.”

I honestly should have seen what he had in store for me, but instead of questioning the scenario I simply picked up the box and flew back upstairs, wondering what he was hoping to accomplish with this. The moment that I was in my room I untied the bow on top of the box and removed the lid. My face went from confused to very disillusioned in a split-second, my face lighting up so brightly that the blood vessels in my cheeks strained under the sudden blush. The most confused rush of feelings stormed their way into my head, an odd medley of indecisiveness, panic and vulnerability inundating any sort of logic I would have conjured if I could think straight.

In the box was a simple maid’s outfit, complete with tight corset and mid-thigh skirt. I wondered honestly why he would be giving me this for a moment before my sense of self crept back in, instincts answering that question plainly as if it had been shouted into my ear with a bullhorn. Solaris wanted me to put this on, and he wanted me to walk out there so he could bask in the satisfaction of making a foal of me. To my absolute shame and revulsion, my hooves reached into the box and pulled out the outfit, blindly accepting my orders. I honestly didn’t question what I was doing in that moment, I only knew that, if I wanted to see Lune again, I had to obey Solaris. If that meant demeaning myself to catch the fancy of his askew sense of humor, then so be it.

I tightened the final string on the corset with a sense of visceral resolve, having shut out any sense of pride. In my mind, at that moment, pride would only earn me a one-way ticket back to being a masseuse, to living a dull life with nopony by my side. I’d rather listen to a prince laugh at me than live a life without a partner, or suffer every day always remembering a brief taste of the forbidden fruit that was a sense of belonging. I took a deep breath and hoped, prayed to Lune that he would forgive me. Deciding that he would probably overlook this, I trotted back downstairs.

I waited for Solaris to laugh at me, to guffaw and perhaps call me a name, just like all the other similar times in my life when I’d been forced to do something demeaning. I had my eyes clenched shut, waiting for something to happen. I heard his hooves brush against the carpet as he trotted towards me, and I winced with every step. After what felt like an eternity of standing there in the open, wearing what had to be the most shameful outfit in existence, I opened my eyes to stare directly into the prince’s. He wore a smile that bespoke approval, but the way he stood over me still made me afraid for my own sanctity.

“You look quite fanciful in that outfit, Felt Feathers.” He chortled, putting a hoof under my chin; the blush on my face deepened at his touch. “You’ve passed the first part of my test.”

I breathed for what felt like the first time in hours, letting the old air out and breathing in a new lungful. I felt a great sense of relief that he hadn’t laughed, and secretly I housed a sense of pride that I’d garnered a compliment from him. Realizing how ridiculous, not to mention how disloyal it was, that I was enjoying another stallion’s praise, I felt another roiling wash of shame flood me. This was so wrong, I was betraying Lune. I just kept telling myself that this was the only way I’d ever get to see him again. That Solaris would tell his brother that I’d refused to sign the contracts if I didn’t heed his every command.

The Prince of Light trotted towards the center of the room and stood, waiting for me to join him at his side. I trotted my way over to him, vastly smaller than his towering frame. He smiled and sat down on his hind legs, while I mirrored his movements obediently. I sat almost in his shadow, wondering what else he could possibly do to increase me sense of self-loathing. He answered me by kneeling down to my height, his eyes lowered to half-moons filled with malignant intentions. Once he was settled onto all four legs in a sitting position he leaned closer to me, waiting for me to interpret his actions correctly. I didn’t get it until he reached out with a hoof and physically pulled my head in closer, out lips locking.

I went limp in his grip, terrified. After a few moments of simply allowing him to grip me I pulled away from his hoof, shocked he’d been so brazen. It took me a second to catch my breath before I could say anything.

“You never said anything about this!” I protested, crossing my front legs vulnerably. “What if Lune could see me right now! What would he think?!”

“You don’t just serve Lune.” The eldest alicorn explained. “You serve all of us. If that means that each and every one of us want to treat you this way, we will. This is me telling you that you don’t owe your loyalty to just Lune anymore. Besides… it’s only kissing, that was all I wanted.”

I hesitantly drew closer to him again, just within his reach. He picked me up with magic and pulled me directly up to his face, staring into my eyes possessively. He put his hoof behind my head again, and I closed my eyes, doing my best to pretend that it was Lune who had his hoof pressing my lips to his. With no measurable amount of guilt I permitted his presence in my mouth, and soon the emotions that I felt churning in his head shift over to contempt. He was in contempt of me, of my servility. He was actively looking down on me as he explored every inch of my tongue, which I shamefully allowed to touch and even curl around his as he goaded me into responding to his affections. He ran a hoof over my cheek, which were still redder than raspberries at being used so.

He drew away, licking away the line of spittle that still connected us, all the while maintaining eye contact. I feared the way he looked at me, like I was a possession, something he could flaunt to other ponies if the occasion permitted it. I’d learned enough about how he felt about me through touching him to know that he would treat me more like a pet than his assistant in the future. Now that I no longer felt his presence in my head, that I no longer felt the urge to obey, I felt myself hovering on the verge of tears. The sheer amorality of the situation was crushing my will to continue, and I knew that he wasn’t going to stop anymore. He might have if I’d simply refused to be drawn back into his embrace, but I’d fallen for his ruse. Now the Prince would stop until he’d gotten the best of me.

Solaris stood up on his front hooves, giving him a major height advantage over me. He smiled down at me and I looked away, trying to hide my emotional distress from the sadistic royal. He grinned broadly, then seemingly calmed himself just enough to put a hoof under my chin, tilting my face towards his own. I stared up at him, begging for him to stop where he was and call it even. To simply say that I’d passed his little test and to show up at the castle tomorrow. No such miracle happened, though, and his hoof gradually trailed lower until it was at the hem of my skirt. I cringed and moved away as he found my flank, and he licked his lips. Through his touch I felt exactly what he wanted to do to me, how much he wanted to demean me. He wanted to bend me to his will, to let me know that I was no longer in control.

“I’ll offer you a choice.” He offered, believing that he was being generous. “Would you prefer to offer me your lips, or perhaps you’d prefer to gain my favor with your flanks.”

I shook my head, mouthing my opposition to what he was saying. I desperately wanted to be somewhere else, to be at the spa with Aloe and Lotus or sipping tea with Lune. His horn began to glow, signaling that he was about to decide for me. I bit my bottom lip, gesturing towards my mouth. Solaris nodded and his horn flashed; I felt a collar appear around my neck, a small bell chiming as I looked back up to him. He had a leather cord in his teeth, connected to my new neckwear. The bell chimed again as he pushed my head down towards his back legs, putting me a mere eyelash away from his loins. I looked back up at him, my eyes swimming with tears, one which escaped and fled down my cheek, breaking the floodgates. I truly didn’t want to see his stallionhood, I knew it would drive me over the edge and I would go into hysterics. Despite that, he put his hooves on my hips and I felt the unbelievable urge to take him into my mouth, to pleasure him.

Suddenly I realized why he’d shown such a marked interest in my gifts. He knew he could control me, to make me do whatever he wanted through my empathy. Solaris was an ancient being, with far more willpower than I could stand up to. One touch and he could force me into doing whatever pleased him, break past my mental objections and physically force me to obey. I began to cry pitifully as I kissed his sheathe, lathering the entrance of the skin before I plunged my tongue inwards and flicking it graciously over his crown. He exhaled and laughed at the same time, his satisfaction growing as my tongue coaxed his length out of his sheathe, filling my mouth as his crown flared, pushing itself towards the back of my throat.

I gasped in panic as he pushed my head down, preventing me from leaning back as his stallionhood choked me. I panicked, but the thoughts he was filling me with kept me from letting go of him, and I could only shake in terror as he pushed himself deeper into my throat with a practiced thrust of his hips. He seized my mane and forced my head to align with my neck, telling me to swallow with his thoughts. I obeyed, hating myself as I felt his length block my windpipe. It wasn’t until I felt his sack against my chin that he drew out again, no longer sitting but moreover crouching while he pinned me in place underneath him, inhaling ecstatically as my tongue struggled against his head. I sucked in air through my nose while I could, shortly before he pushed himself back into my throat again, the bell on my collar chiming daintily.

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe anymore, and mortal terror blocked out every other impulse in my mind. He gripped the length of the collar in his teeth, his eyes closed in satisfaction as cold truth set in. He slid his length out slowly, relishing the sensation of me choking, struggling to suck in air. The only thing he wanted was the intense suction that I provided as I screamed in terror, turning purple under my coat. At last, when his crown was flaring at the edge of my lips, he let his grip on my neck slacken. I gasped in precious oxygen, tears trailing down my cheeks. He thrust back in quickly, his pace quickening as he did the same thing again, barely allowing me time to pull in air.

At long last, after seven more times of being tortured, he stopped choking me and freely began to set his pace. He dropped the leash from his teeth and began to pant as he thrust harder, bruising the inside of my throat. Through my contact with him I felt my mind coalescing with his own, my entire existence being speared on his thick length. My mind faded as I submitted, ceased to exist. I stopped being an individual as he broke me, my pride being swallowed just as swiftly as he as forcing himself into me. I curled my tongue around his long shaft and sucked as hard as possible. I just wanted for him to stop, to end this mad torture and accept that he’d forced me into submission. Anything to pry my mind away from his. I was beginning to see myself as a slave, to view myself from his perspective. His paradigm on the situation was becoming my own, and all of the sudden I saw from his eyes. It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever experienced, and I never wanted to see myself in that light ever again.

All of the sudden he gave a final thrust down my throat and moaned, petting my mane and repeating my name under his breath. I felt something warm and sweet filling me, and I swallowed obediently, knowing he wouldn’t want me to spill his seed onto his perfectly groomed coat. After almost half a minute of emptying himself into my stomach he pulled himself out of me, smiling contentedly and laying down, his voice loving and kind as he basked in his afterglow. I laid my head down on his lower stomach, next to his length, panting and gazing into oblivion. Solaris petted my mane and called me no end of pet names, promising me things that I have no recollection of to this day. He spoke kindly of my performance, and promised me anything I could ever want in exchange for my continued servitude. My mind had ceased to function, and all I wanted to do was lay there and breathe. Inhale, and then exhale. Such a simple rhythm dictated my entire existence, and it was the only thing I could think about as my eyes fluttered shut and I passed out. The last thing I remember, right before I slipped into a stress-induced unconsciousness, was how ashamed Lune would be of me.

Rewritten Perceptions

I came to on the floor of my living room, feeling as if every breath I took was the equivalent of swallowing gravel. The insides of my throat produced a raw, gritty feeling as I swallowed, opening my mouth and taking the first deep breath of air since my esophagus had been so mercilessly abused. The sweet taste of seed reignited in my mouth the moment fresh air entered, and I nearly fainted again at the pungent odor. My senses tingled from how thick the musk was; it lingered in my mouth and nose, pushing any other stimulus away as there were still thin rivulets of it bridging the gap between my lips. I licked them away, shuddering at how good it tasted, marveling at how fast I’d grown accustomed to the thick coating of it on my tongue. I almost burst into tears again, realizing how much I hated the fact that I was enjoying this. The irrefutable truth of it was that, secretly, and as much as I hated it, Solaris had done more than taken advantage of me. He’d made me enjoy myself.

Almost the moment I thought of him he trotted into the room, the expression on his face infallible. He was carrying two cups of hot tea, the golden glow of his magic surrounding the drinks. The moment he saw me his face softened, as if he’d been thinking about me the whole time I’d been asleep. I winced and sat up, my limbs protesting from the stiff position I’d passed out in. His horn flashed and he picked me up by my wings, handling me gently as he levitated my delicately dressed frame onto the couch. I didn’t have the energy to protest, so I hung limply in his magical grip until he set me down among the cushions. I averted my gaze from him as he sat down on the other end of the couch, tucking his four long legs underneath him and sighing as if it had been just another long day.

“You should drink, Felt.” He insisted, holding the cup and saucer out to me. “It should help get the taste out of your mouth. Not to mention soothe your throat… I know I was none too gentle.”

I looked at him, more confused than ever. Here we were, in the aftermath of what I held to be the worst thing that ever happened to me, and he was acting as if we were two friends enjoying each other’s company. I took the cup and saucer with shaking hooves, now accustomed to listening to his commands, although with no end of self-loathing. I took a sip, not taking my eyes from him lest he make another movement in my direction, considering he held me to be, in all aspects, his property. I winced at the bitter taste of the drink, recognizing the sour flavour of green-tea leaves, with a trace of ginseng in the aftertaste. Although the beverage was undoubtedly bitter, there was no denying that it eradicated the sultry, lingering aroma of semen from my nostrils. My throat gave me a grateful confirmation that, indeed, the prince had done no small amount of damage to it with his lustful neglect. Although it hurt to swallow, I did so gratefully, if not with slight indignation that I was officially having tea with the very pony whom had dressed me in a maiden’s skirt and straddled my head a mere three hours before.

I attempted to speak after I’d finished taking a sip of my tea, but words wouldn’t come. My vocal cords refused to make a sound, and I realized that I probably would have trouble vocalizing for a few days after how badly they’d been crushed. Finally, after a few more sips, I managed to say, in a voice that hovered on the edge of a whisper.

“W-why are you being nice to m-me?” I breathed, feeling as if my neck was screaming in protest towards my speech. “You just… did those things to me and now we’re having tea together…”

The Prince of Light blinked at my question, as if he’d been hoping that I wouldn’t bring it up how peculiar it was. He appeared to have been secretly wanting to forget he event of three hours ago, to pretend as if they hadn’t happened. Or perhaps had played out in a slightly more consensual manner. Either way, he sighed and set his cup of tea down, opening his wings in a gesture for me to come closer. I stayed where I was, not wanting to accept any sort of affection from him until I had an answer. He’d violated me, and now I wanted to know why he was doing his best to overlook his own transgression. The prince folded his wings again, seemingly hurt by me not reciprocating his gesture.

“I… I apologize.” He said, his voice contorting around the word. I could tell that he hadn’t said that word in quite a long time. “There is… another reason that I sent Magpie to spy on you, as well as volunteer to come here today. I doubt you will understand, and I don’t expect you to after what I did, but… hear me out, if you have the will to.”

I sidled closer to him, sensing the heartbreak in his voice. I knew that he was about to get emotional, so I did my best to make sure I was in the best place to glean every ounce of reasoning from him. He put a wing around me and visibly relaxed as he touched me, smiling in a way one would expect a stallion to towards his mate.

“I suppose I did what I did out of… frustration. Jealousy played a factor as well. Somewhere in there was an ounce of lust and just maybe… a tiny grain of love.” He said, staring into my eyes. “I’d give you a long sob story about how I’ve been quite alone for the last hundred years, or that it is increasingly hard to find a pony with tastes related to my own nowadays, but I’ll let you decide. You were the one who had to suffer the results, after all.”

“The long story.” I said, wondering just what would have driven such a proud stallion to perform an act so depraved. “I want to hear it all.”

“How did I know you’d say that…” He sighed. “Since you insist. I suppose I’ll isolate the most base of my reasons. Simply put, I haven’t found a pony that has a suitable personality in a hundred years. That doesn’t seem like much since I’ve lived quite a long time, but keep in mind as well that I’ve forgotten almost everything from two-thousand years ago and everything beyond that is just one huge blur of events. I’m also a pony, despite what most would tell you, and I do have needs… ones that grow harder to satisfy each passing millennium. I don’t expect you to understand this, but back when I was a colt there were certain things that ponies expecting of their mates, male or female, that ponies today don’t seem to have, nor understand. One of those things is that a pony should have an immense amount of love for the pony that they are with, as well as be able to relate to one another with comparable attitudes and lifestyles. This makes finding a pony for a four-thousand seven-hundred and thirty-two year old stallion quite difficult, no matter how broad your choices of suitors are.”

He paused as if he was musing, then continued. “I’ve looked among many pools of sentient creatures for something that shared my pursuits, as well as my deep-seated love of complex matters such as calligraphy and science. I wanted a pony that had knowledge of these things… but lived simply. I searched amongst dragons and dragonesses, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies, griffons and once I even grew so desperate that I began to seek the company of Changelings. Nopony in this era had such traits… then, just when I think that my search was fruitless and that I should settle with some petty concubine that I had nothing in common with to satisfy myself, my brother’s guard comes strutting down the hall, gossiping with another mare about how Lune found a colt. A colt that reads books such as ‘Among Strigaformes’ and guides to veterinary science, and enjoys tea every morning. Yet this colt is satisfied with the life of a masseuse, living in a small house in a relatively ignored part of Equestria.”

The resentment in his voice was so easy to hear that I’m sure even the most clueless pony could tell that Solaris was upset merely at the prospect. I ran a hoof over his shoulder in an attempt to calm him, which it did to an extent. Although he still seemed quite annoyed as he continued.

“Here he is, my younger brother who has only been back on earth for a year as opposed to my record of over four-thousand, and he’s found a pony for himself that is, in essence, perfect for me. The way that Magpie described you made me furious to say the least, knowing my younger brother, who hadn’t even began to look for a suitable mate yet, stumbled across somepony for himself. A certain somepony named Felt Feathers, whom I have everything in common with, whom I’ve done my absolute best to alienate and disturb in the whole time I’ve known him…” He trailed off, obvious guilt sinking its teeth into him. “The way she made you sound was… quintessential. Untainted with the usual unattractive qualities that most young ponies have. I suppose… when I saw you sleeping there, in bed, I couldn’t help but want you to be mine. Even though I know that you were Lune’s.”

I struggled to interpret what he was saying, and make sense of it with my current image of Solaris in my head. From what I’d just heard he was only a heartbroken stallion who’d wanted somepony he wouldn’t be afraid to love and share his life with, but the pony that he’d put on display three hours ago was a domineering, cruelly intelligent and lustful stallion who would do anything to put me under his control. A small war waged in my head, trying to decide what to believe in the wake of this new information. Was he simply a sad, lovesick soul who became overzealous in his search or was he a masterfully deceiving, dominating pony who wouldn’t stop until he had me blindfolded and waiting for him to return to the bed I was tied to? My views of him slowly merged, and slowly a more complete picture unfolded. On one side of the coin he wasn’t afraid to be that cruel, carnally-driven pony, but on the other side that he showed far more often, he was a kind stallion who’d been left out in the cold, waiting for somepony he could love to arrive for far too long.

My hatred for him fell apart under his new knowledge, all inhibitions towards serving him dissipating. Suddenly his character was a lot less one-sided and I found it a lot harder to say that I was only Lune’s. What right did I have to reserve myself from him, who’s waited for a lifetime to meet somepony like me? I shook myself mentally, straining to keep myself loyal to Lune despite all that had happened. What was I supposed to do? Crush Solaris by telling him that I was already taken when he’d been so patient, and even unbent his monumental amount of pride to apologize for me? He was serving me tea, and doing his best to ask my forgiveness. I wished that it was as simple as turning him down, and have him tell me that it was okay. That there were plenty of fish in the sea. Sadly, for an alicorn, he didn’t have that option, and it didn’t matter how many fish there were in the sea when he was confined to a pond.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, reaching for an answer I didn’t want to find. “I can’t leave Lune… he’s the one I fell for. But you… you did all those things to me… and now I just don't know..."

He looked at me in shock, as if he’d hardly expected me to admit my feelings. At that point I had no more censor, I couldn’t just pin something relating to him inside anymore. He’d genuinely forced me to fall into a strange form of infatuation with him, in a vastly different way than Lune had, but now I felt much the same dependence on him that I did for the Prince of the Night. I felt like a turncoat, betraying Lune by confessing my emotional attachments to Solaris. Shame racked me as the next words parted his lips, bringing to light what I’d been dreading.

“I suppose you can only tell Lune and pray he smiles upon you favorably… unless of course you become my personal servant, and spend most of your time with me… but then you’d have to avoid him. Even then he would probably infer that I stole you away from him.”

“What do you suppose the chances of him looking at… um, what you did to me and being okay with it?” I asked, knowing the answer already.

“Slim, to none. A long shot. Some astronomical percentage. More phrases expressing extreme improbability.”

All of the sudden we both heard the sound of a fire roaring and, with a sudden spark of light, a letter appeared in front of us on the coffee table. I noticed the black and blue seal on the scroll and balked, knowing that it was my summons to Canterlot Castle, and it was probably written by the one stallion that I’d just spent the last half a day being disloyal towards. I reached for the scroll and picked it up, dreading facing Lune again after having betrayed him so brutally. I broke the wax seal and opened it, seeing that it was indeed from the Prince of the Night.

‘Dear Felt Feathers

Enclosed at the bottom of this letter is a simple enchantment that has the ability to teleport you to the front doors of my tower whenever you are prepared, as well as anything within your immediate vicinity. You can move out of your home in Ponyville whenever you feel you’re ready, and the rooms I’ve prepared for you are all furnished in a way that I hope will make it easier for you to adjust. I eagerly await your arrival, as do the other princes. Solaris has been away on business this afternoon, so I hope that you’ll excuse him if he isn’t here when you arrive.

I hope to see you again soon.

Lune’

I looked back to Solaris, unsure of what to do. I didn’t want to confront Lune about all of this, and I especially didn’t want to talk to him about my rooms off of his as if I hadn’t been guiltily partaking in a cup of post-coital tea with his brother a mere few hours beforehand.

“You’d better pack your things.” Solaris said to me, getting up from the couch , stretching his long legs as stood. “I’ll be there when you arrive, don’t think you have to go alone. I’ll explain what happened, if you’ll only forgive what I did.”

“I already forgave you.” I informed him. “It means a lot that you’ll help me, though.”

I stood in front of Lune’s tower doors four hours later, when the sun was setting on the horizon and a stark breeze was darting through the castle. I shivered, half discomforted by the brisk cold that penetrated the sweater I was wearing and half deathly afraid of what I was about to do. One is probably wondering why I simply didn’t lie to Lune at that point, as I was beyond the point of all retribution. It honestly crossed my mind right then, to blatantly shove my tongue in my cheek and say that I hadn’t met Solaris before. To be quite honest, though, I was very disillusioned towards the eldest alicorn by then. He and I hadn’t just forged a relationship that could be reignited at any given point in the future, with no contact in between now and then. Solaris had made it very clear that he wasn’t to be ignored, and that the day we’d shared back in Ponyville had truly meant something to him. He wanted to have days like that at least once a week, if not more. If I lied to Lune about that I would run the risk of Solaris simply coming out and saying it himself, making me look like the unfaithful harlot for keeping the truth concealed.

Solaris at the moment was looking down at me with an expression of mild amusement, as if the hardest thing I had to do in my life was a mere waif of a problem. I hesitantly held up a hoof and knocked at the massive, ornate oak door, knowing very well that Lune would be there and I would have to look at him with the knowledge that I’d let his brother indulge in me before he’d had the chance. I fixed my eyes on the large moon carved into the door as I waited for the prince to answer. The prince beside me laid a hoof on my shoulder encouragingly. Through his touch I knew what he was trying to tell me, and it went something along the lines of ‘what’s the worst that could happen’. I knew very well the worst that could happen, and it involved being banished to the celestial body of my choice for being a whorish, ungrateful colt who took the affections of an honest alicorn and tore them to pieces like they were tissue paper I’d used to kindle a bonfire.

After what felt like forever Lune answered the door, trotting out and picking me up with magic, wrapping me in a huge embrace. Despite my guilty conscience I returned the gesture, wrapping my hooves around the Night Prince in a hope that it would make the blow I was about to deliver so much easier. Lune let go of me and I fell back to my hooves, looking back at Solaris with a nod. He blinked to tell me that he’d gotten the signal, following me and Lune as we went into the castle. We’d worked it out that he should deliver my luggage to my room all at once with magic, then join me and Lune once I’d broken the unfortunate news. I tagged after Lune as he headed into the main chamber of the tower, a massive living room decorated with a thick azure carpet with traces of black along the edges. As I stepped farther into the chamber my eyes widened in awe as the blue carpet turned a bright white-pink where my hooves fell, then slowly faded back to navy as I left my hoofprints behind me. A chandelier lit the interior of the space far overhead and a collection of windows supplemented the light in the room, illuminating the darkly shaded slabs of stone that made the walls of the tower.

There was a large staircase behind the main floor of the living room that led upwards to his personal chambers, and there was a large hatch in the floor behind the couch over to my left that led to what I could only presume was the basement. The Night Prince smiled and sat down on one of the couches, which were arranged in a semi-circular pattern with the entrance of the hemisphere facing the doors of the tower. Solaris slinked off upstairs, his horn already glowing in preparation to move my things. I bit my bottom lip, preparing to do the hard part of this whole meeting. I sat down across from Lune, hoping he wouldn’t banish me on the spot for my infidelity.

“I hope your week away from me wasn’t too dull.” Lune began the conversation, smiling pleasantly. “I know I could hardly focus on anything that didn’t relate to you, especially after what happened in the spa…”

“Lune… what is your opinion on a pony not being dedicated to just one pony?” I asked, veering the discussion into a crash course with the news that I had to break. “Of a pony being with multiple ponies, or maybe sharing a relationship with two ponies at the same time?”

Lune blinked, pausing to reroute his train of thought to comply with what I’d just said. After a moment of reassembling his composure he asked, his voice both curious and also suspicious. “I suppose it is fine if all the ponies involved are in agreement… but why are you asking, if I may? I mean… that was quite the random question, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Because… I had to ask you since I… I mean, I really didn’t mean to let it happen, but it kind of did when…” I kept trying to restart my sentence, flinching every time I almost said it only to begin again. “See, he kind of made me…”

“He’s asking,” Solaris said, trotting up to sit in the center of the semi-circle of couches. “Because when I went to his house today in order to finish up his paperwork I grew a little… overzealous. One thing led to another, at least for me it did, and I ended up taking control of the situation in a way that… at the time he didn’t appreciate. Although he’s forgiven me for my transgression I may have done a little more than indulge in his overly obedient lips. He’s enamored with me now in the same way that he is with you, and now he’s emotionally conflicted on whose partner he is.”

Lune’s expression went from a smile to a look of pure alienation and disgust, then to one of pity and sadness as he turned towards me. The question he asked me with his eyes prompted me to nod, slowly raising my head and letting it fall again. I refused to meet his gaze as I sat there, shaking my head in just the right way to hide my face from view with a properly located lock of my mane. Lune looked back towards his brother, his expression going from pity to righteous fury in a millisecond. His horn gave off a spark, threatening to rip his older sibling’s wings off if he didn’t explain himself.

“You see, Lune.” Solaris said, putting an embarrassed hoof behind his head. Despite being thousands of years old, it was still hard to directly meet the gaze of his younger sibling, who was quite ready to bring the ceiling down on his head. “I’ve been looking for a partner for myself for a while, for the last hundred years in fact… you know yourself how hard it is to find a pony who shares our outlook on life. When I found that you’d met a pony who met just the criteria I hold to be the perfect pony, in the one measly year that you’ve been back here on earth, I was slightly… upset. Frustrated at my inability to find somepony for myself, I sort of… took advantage of Felt’s unique disposition.”

“What do you mean, ‘unique disposition’?!” Lune shouted, his horn giving off another irate jet of sanguine magic. “He’s just like any other pegasus!”

“I’m actually… not.” I confessed, drawing his anger away from Solaris. “I didn’t get the chance to tell you, but whenever I touch a pony I can see their immediate wants, and I automatically want to fulfill those wants, no matter what they are or how much I don’t want to. His will was so strong I couldn’t deny him, so when he started onto me I found it really hard to… say no… and I did whatever what he wanted of me.”

“And now… even though he took advantage of you… you like him in the same way you liked me?” Lune asked, his wings and ears falling in an expression of despair. “And you don’t like me in the same way anymore…”

“No!” I protested loudly, jumping up and crossing the semi-circle with a single flap of my wings. When I was directly in front of the stallion I’d originally fallen for I stared up at him, resolve steeling my nerves as I stood up to my full height, attempting to be brave even though I was still almost a whole head shorter than Lune. “I fell in love with you, and nothing else can change that now. But Solaris made me fall in love with him, too.”

I jumped up onto the couch between the alicorn brothers and planted a kiss on Lune’s cheek, then turned to Solaris and did likewise, causing both of them to blink in surprise. Both of them looked at me in their confusion, as if they’d honestly expected me to choose one of them and tell the other that it wouldn’t work. What I’d just done expressed my opinion on the situation quite clearly, and I prayed that they accepted my view of the circumstances we found ourselves in. I crossed my hooves indignantly. The brothers refused to look at each other, instead directing their questions towards me.

“Well you can’t be both of ours at the same time!” Both of them shouted at once, still trying to force me into making a decision. “You’re only one colt!”

“That isn’t fair!” I cried, staring at my hooves, unable to meet their flustered eyes. “Solaris made me fall in love with him by making me feel like the filly I am, deep down, and Lune made me believe that I was special in a way that bonded us in a way that can only be love. Both of you made me discover parts of me that I didn’t know existed, so both of you are on equal footing as far as my favor goes. I refuse to pick one of you over the other. Solaris said it himself, I signed up to be every alicorn royal’s servant, not just Lune’s. Why can’t you two just… let that be the case? Why can’t I belong to both of you?”

“Because we have vastly different opinions of how you should be treated.” Lune attempted to make me see what he believed was keeping them from reaching an agreement. “If you were with me I’d treat you like a prince, preen your wings every morning before you get out of bed, give you your own set of armor to make others respect you and kiss your lips before I leave the tower every morning.”

“I must protest on one facet.” Solaris said, biting his tongue directly after interrupting Lune. “We must keep the fact that Felt Feathers is more than an assistant to us a secret. Although I’m sure that nothing ill would befall us as a result, it would cause quite of a bit of support for us to wane if it was discovered that either one of us were in such a relationship with not only one of our servants, but also a member of our own gender.” The prince turned his gaze to me shortly afterwards, smiling in just the same way he had shortly after waking me up a few hours previous. “On the other hoof, I would make sure that you knew that you were my favorite, Felt. There would be no restraints towards what I could do with you in the privacy of my own quarters. Think about that for a moment, if you’d like. We would be free to experiment at my leisure. Maybe you could be a filly with the right potion. The options are limitless when magic is involved.”

My cheeks lit up like fresh embers as he brought it up that, indeed, I did have a pension for pretending to be a filly while nopony was looking. Probably another personal detail he’d managed to glean from Magpie, who’d sorted through my wardrobe more than a few times during her midnight visits. Although the thought more than piqued my interest it wasn’t the best to bring up around Lune, who had yet to have a slice of my proverbial pie. The Prince of the Night blinked and looked down at me, his nerves being plucked by the fact that his older brother knew more about how to turn me on than he did. The expression on his face told me that I as in for an overdue slap on my flanks whenever we got a moment alone. I gave him a nervous smile, and he returned the same unamused stare he’d been giving me for the last few minutes, an eye tic acting up in his left lid.

“So, who will it be?” Lune asked.

“Both.” I replied simply, turning away from him and staring up at the chandelier.

“That isn’t an option. One mare cannot have two stallions under her spell at the same time. It leads to… problems. Both of us know that, Felt Feathers.”

“I know that full well, Lune.” I replied, still refusing to meet his gaze. “If you two can’t reach an agreement over this issue, two thousand-plus year old, mature stallions with plenty of relationships under their belts with both genders, then I see it as a shame towards your sense of diplomacy. That’s what being a good diplomat is, isn’t it? Finding a peaceful solution?”

Both of them shuffled their hooves, chewing the inside of their lips and rolling their eyes. Despite feeling a little underhanded, me taking a jab at their political knowledge, I knew that this would probably be the best way to solve the problem. To get them to look at me, not as a colt that they were struggling to gain the fancy of, but as a resource that they could share. Eventually both of them met each other’s eyes and nodded, reaching an agreement. I knew my face lit up ecstatically as I got them to coexist, since both of them gave a half-smile towards one another.

“I’ll take him today and tomorrow.” Lune said, putting a wing possessively around me. “Seeing as how you’ve already had your fun for the week, Dusk Shine will get him, then Cadenza, then afterwards you can have him.”

“Fine with me.” Solaris smirked, if only to pluck his younger brother’s nerves. “Besides, I’ve already indulged in him more that I care to tell. So, have your fun tonight.”

Lune’s eyes narrowed to irritated half-moons and he shoved a hoof towards the door, annoyed at his brother all over again for bringing up the subject they’d conveniently managed to skirt around during their negotiations. The fact that Solaris had engaged in a not-quite consensual oral coitus session with me, while Lune had yet to even see touch my flank, had been avoided like a bomb waiting to go off throughout the discussion. Mostly to avoid a full-blown magical duel between the two. Now that Solaris had brought it up, Lune wasn’t about to talk about it in detail. The elder of the two brothers took that as the signal to leave and stood, showing himself out of the tower. Once he was gone Lune looked down at me, his face still betraying inherent annoyance.

“I really didn’t have a choice, it wasn’t consensual. He moreover held me down.” I defended.

His horn flashed and I heard the door lock with a loud clunk of metal gears. He stood up and trotted briskly over to the stairs, heading up them before I could react. Seeing that I wasn’t following him, he shouted down at me.

“If you do not haul your plot up these stairs, I’ll take you on the couch instead of the bed.”

I blinked, my eyes widening. That was the most direct command Lune had ever given me. I jumped up and fluttered over to the stairs excitedly, having no idea what was in store. What I did know was that Lune was the stallion to please, and he wouldn’t be the one to leave me hanging the same way that Solaris had. Hardly contained eagerness pushing me up the stairs on winged hooves, I followed Lune, elatedly pondering what sensual surprises might await me. And how I might return the favor for my prince.

Indentured

The morning after my first evening with Lune started with the hollow sensation below my tail. Strange to say, but I felt… strangely empty without him. It was almost as if he belonged down there, fitting inside me perfectly. As I opened my eyes I realized that he was indeed curled around me in a perfect spoon, his morning wood stiff against my back. I rolled my eyes and smiled, deciding that I could catch a few more minutes of sleep. Then again… I could always wake Lune up with a surprise. I looked back at him, seeing that he was still completely unconscious. I slipped my hoof under the blanket and pressed it to his head, that way he didn’t notice when I wasn’t against him anymore. With the utmost of gentleness I slid under the covers, licking my lips at the prospect of possibly getting him off without him even waking up. The whole idea stuck in my head, and I knew it must be tried.

I fastened my lips to his crown, swallowing his length from the side to keep my mane from brushing his stomach. I worked his shaft with my hooves, prompting him to moan and his breath to falter, but he returned to normal after a second. I grinned, my tongue flicking over his cleft, caused his back legs to spread along with his wings. I enjoyed my fun with him for another moment before the unthinkable happened.

A knock came at the door.

“LUNE!” An irate, yet very familiar voice shouted through the door. “You’re three hours late to open court!”

Lune opened his eyes, struggling to absorb everything that was going on. Dusk Shine was at the door, I was doing my best to pull my cock out of my throat and we were half a second away from the worst possible walk-in in Equestrian history. Quickly taking control of the situation, Lune gently extricated himself from my lips by pushing up on my chin with a hoof, until I finally surfaced from under the covers so that I could look him in the face. I glanced at the door in panic, not knowing what I could do. I was too excited to open the door, and Lune was obviously wasn’t either, seeing as how my back hoof was still brushing against his fully erect member.

“Dusk, do not come in here!” The Night Prince said frantically, looking around for something that could help us. “If you do there isn’t an amnesia potion in existence strong enough to erase what’s going on in here!”

After a brief silence Dusk Shine answered, in an extremely hesitant tone. “Look, if you summoned another one of those tentacle things on accident I could probably blindfold myself and put up a barrier. That might help! I remember last time it took you three days to escape, so I think it’s worth a shot.”

I glanced at Lune with confusion, and he shook his head as if to say ‘It’s a long story’.

“No, Dusk. I have a very special guest and we were having a moment together.” He said, putting a hoof on my shoulder. “Just stay out there until we’re presentable again.”

Both of us heard a groan from the other side of the door, as if Dusk couldn’t believe that was the reason for Lune’s tardiness. “Gosh, if I knew that having a significant other automatically entitled me to miss court duty I would have slept with a random pony much sooner. Hurry up! Solaris is gonna have a fit if he figures out that you’re slacking. Again! Not only that, but you’re lucky I covered for you, too! Sometimes I feel as if I make way too many exceptions for you!” The purple prince complained incessantly, ranting on and on about how he was always helping the lunar alicorn out.

After three minutes and a quick once-over with a towel, I had on a gray sweater and a brilliantly blue pendant in the shape of a dove, which hung to about my mid-chest. Nothing was more of a turn-off than the studious young alicorn grouching outside the bedroom door, as I soon learned. It was literally impossible to stay horny with him going on about the specific things that he did for Lune during his hour-long tardiness, including intricate details of which papers he’d signed for him. I threw open the door and stared up at the purple stallion, irritated beyond reason that my morning with Lune had been interrupted. His eyes widened in shock as he saw who Lune’s ‘very special guest’ was, and he frantically backpedaled, knowing the way he’d acted would probably earn him a long billing report courtesy of the lunar prince.

“Oh, it’s… you.” He said, searching desperately for my name. “Fine Feathers, right? Sorry about interrupting you two, really. I know Lune has quite the thing for you, as he’s told me a lot about you, and words cannot express how apologetic I am for barging into your time together.”

I glared up at him, being unable to stand up to his height. “The next time you know a pony is having a moment alone, the proper way to get their attention is to knock lightly on the door and ask for their presence. If they tell you to wait a bit, then you shut your yap and quietly wait a safe distance away for them to get done and get back to you.” I grated, my annoyance hardly contained. “And my name is Felt Feathers.”

Lune approached with his eyebrows raised, surprised that I had such spice. He then looked up at Dusk, who looked positively stunned at how venomous I could be. He’d obviously mistaken me for the pony to lay down and let a pony trod on my special moments, as well as my special someponies. A pony can use me as a doormat as much as they want, do as they please with me and throw me out in the cold as much as they want. The moment a pony disrespects somepony who I call my master, the line is drawn quite clearly. There isn’t a pony that could talk to Lune that way except maybe Solaris, and he was another pony I considered myself to bear fealty towards.

“Well… you’re wanted down in the courts whenever you’re in the mood.” Dusk said, turning to leave. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Lune extended a wing and lay it on my back, sharing his satisfaction with me, but also a slight warning. “I know that he was quite rude, but remember that he’s new to castle life. He doesn’t realize that nopony cares if I miss court duty, and they don’t dare tell on me to Solaris, for fear of their lives. Remember, everypony still thinks I’m some sort of volatile bomb waiting to go off. He’s just stressed from all the paperwork that comes with the first few months of princedom. Next time you see him try to clear the air, if you can.”

I nodded and sighed, knowing I’d probably behaved a bit out of turn. “Yes, Lune.”

“Do you want breakfast?” He asked, taking my mind off it in the one surefire way to take my mind off anything.

“Does a one legged duck swim in a circle?” I replied rhetorically.

His face contorted in an attempt not to laugh. “Yes?.... No? Maybe? What kind of question is that?!”

My good day ended the moment that I left the upper tower. When I walked downstairs, to the part of Lune’s home that wasn’t a labyrinth, sitting on the half-circle couch was Solaris, appearing quite pleased with himself. Lune trotted down the stairs after me and immediately felt the urge to pull me back up them; he knew that Solaris never just dropped by with good news, or to talk about his day. Unless he had some business there, the prince never stopped in his younger brother’s living room. Although I heard from Lune that he did sometimes raid his pantry, which caused him no end of annoyances. For some reason he always took the peanut butter and never returned it. It proved too late however, because the Prince of Light spotted me the moment I laid my hooves on the living room carpet. He smiled, and again I could see the marked differences between his brother. When Lune smiled he did so because he was enjoying himself, or he was happy for something. Whenever Solaris flashed his teeth to somepony it could mean any number of things; he could have something planned for you, he could be contemplating your demise, or he could be thinking of something totally unrelated. Quite simply, the stallion was impossible to read. So far, however, his wide smiles never boded well for my health.

“Felt!” He said, his horn flashing with magic. “The night felt like it lasted forever! How did you two get along? Well, I’d hope. I know I felt awfully cold sleeping alone.”

The alicorn picked me up by my wings; something that I was getting quite tired of at this point. It was as if everypony could perform magic except for me, and they reminded my constantly by levitating me places against my will. I tolerated his exuberance as he sat me down next to him, putting his hooves around me. I sighed and returned the embrace. Although he wasn’t my favorite pony, him and I had history behind us that couldn’t be unwritten, and besides that I’d probably be seeing him for the rest of my life. It was no use bearing animosity towards him when I knew that I’d be spending years with him. He leaned over and planted a kiss on between my ears, within plain view of Lune. I paled, knowing that after last night he would be a thousand times more likely to start something if he continued to be openly affectionate in front of him.

“What’s the matter Lune, can’t I hug my favorite assistant?” Solaris asked, tightening his grip on me and burying my muzzle into his chest. “You look as if you caught a cold in the night. Very red in the face, if I do say.”

I didn’t dare move to push away from Solaris, knowing that would increase the likelihood of Lune getting more agitated. I could hardly breathe with how tightly the Light Prince was holding me, so I pressed my hooves into his sides as a signal for him to let me out. He did, releasing me. I sat back on the couch, doing my best to act as if Lune wasn’t about to launch into a shouting match with his older brother. I sighed; I honestly wished that Solaris didn’t antagonize him, but I knew very well how the eldest alicorn felt as far as who’s assistant I was. He would only tell me that he was right because he’d been searching for me longer. Lune would tell him that I preferred him, and then the two would get into a huge fight over whose I was. Instead I did my best to dispel the tension.

“So Solaris… what’re you doing here, if I might ask?” I questioned.

The alicorn looked at me, almost disappointed that I hadn’t given him another chance to annoy his brother. “Well, I’d like to inform you that it is my day with him. You had him all last night,I should get him tonight. The best part is that, with today being Tuesday, I finished all my work! I get to spend every waking moment with Felt for the rest of the evening… isn’t that grand, Lune?”

Lune was well aware that his brother was trying to infuriate him when he replied. “That is truly wonderful, brother. While I’m working you get to have him. I want him returned at the end of the night, though. I hired him as my assistant, so he will be staying here in my tower. Also, no unwanted advances. He told me about your incident… he so much as says my name I will be there, and we will have problems.”

“I assure you he won’t have any reason to complain. Not a single word will pass his lips about me overstepping my bounds without his consent.”

“It had better.” Lune warned. “Now shoo. I have work to get to and I need to lock the tower door.”

A few moments later Solaris and I were standing outside the tower, watching Lune trot off down the hall. Solaris looked down at me, that unreadable smile on his face again. I couldn’t help but wonder how bad this day would get before it was over. I think that, had I known his intentions, I wouldn’t have been so eager to follow him as he set off down the corridor, in the opposite direction from where Lune was headed. The look of confusion must have been plain on my face, because he began to reply to my unanswered question.

“We’re headed to my tower for the night. It’s in the North part of the castle, and Dusk is living there with me for now. He’s in the process of having his own tower built but until it’s completed he insisted on staying keeping his hooves in charted territory, so the phrase goes. He also seemed to be moping about something… told me that somepony had told him off.”

“That might have been me.” I confessed guiltily. “He, er, woke me and Lune up rather… loudly, so I said my mind about how he should have gotten us up.”

“Well he seemed rather upset.” Solaris repeated, as if he didn’t want to give his opinion on the subject. I’d advise making it up to him somehow.”

“That’s what Lune said, too.”

“Obviously he’s correct, then, if he agrees with me. It isn’t often that either of us concurs on any subject, let alone one so subjective. Obviously you put Dusk in a tough spot by saying what you did. Despite what you thought you were doing, standing up for Lune, I do believe that you forgot Dusk Shine isn’t the most forgiving individual. He also doesn’t do a very good job with criticism, as he’s gone great lengths to avoid it throughout his life. He holds onto anything you say to him, Felt. He will keep it until you go back and remedy what you said, otherwise he won’t attempt to fix or alter it himself. He acts perfectly fine the next time you see him, but he secretly holds onto the last grievous comment you made towards him and modifies his own behaviour based on that. He does his best to make friends, to make himself likable, but it takes a toll on him, and his view of you will slowly degrade based on how much he has to change to be around you.”

“I’ll apologize the next time I see him.” I promise, nodding. “I didn’t realize he was so sensitive… he always struck me as distant and bristly… but we’d only met on two occasions before that. I guess I fell for what he put out there instead of what was really going on.”

“That’s surprising with that gift of yours.” Solaris observed. “You’d seem to be the pony to see right past to his cold, unfeeling intellectual ruse.”

“I never got the opportunity to so much as brush a feather against him. He’s… done too good a job of playing up the antisocial shutin.”

“Oh, that’s the truth though.” The Light Prince chuckled. “Do not mistake the fact that he does his best to hide his emotions for secretly being social. He simply isn’t that good at feeling and managing emotions. He truly is an antisocial shutin, always has been.”

We continued down the corridor until we reached a large rotunda, where the ceiling extended off into the sky and plants grew wildly up the marble pillars. I recognized this place from an artwork, it actually used to hang on my living room wall. This was the entrance to Solaris’ tower, with the gates to his personal abode resting ahead of us, nestled into the surrounded with green obsidian and glinting with linings of silver. I kept in stride with the long legged alicorn by speeding to a jog, almost winded by how fast he could walk sometimes. As we reached the doors he pulled out a key, his horn flashing as he unlocked the door both physically and magically. I followed him into the main chamber of the tower, not knowing what I could expect from the ancient leader. The room we walked into was shocking until I thought of how he’d behaved around Lune and me, and then things made a peculiar amount of sense.

The room around us looked as if it was a scene torn straight from a fairytale, and I couldn’t help but stop and stare at the majesty for at least a moment. The main hall of the stallion’s home was decorated with massive slabs, nay, boulders of marble, ancient stone that seemed to have been cracked and repaired thousands upon thousands of times. The walls were monumental slabs of sedimentary stones, bright red in color and but cut perfectly, as if with some sort of monolithic razor. As I set my hoof to one I reveled in how smooth it was, looking up to where the stone faded back into marble , but with a tinge of reddish pink in the rare metamorphic rock. In the center of the room was a statue, depicting Discord and him sitting at a table together, a myriad of papers between him and the draconequi. Many plants and creeping vines covered the work of art, and it looked as if it was older than many of the other things around the castle.

Solaris smiled down at me, glad I was impressed with his home so far. He herded me towards a door in the left side of the tower, which once we entered through I noticed didn’t seem to obey Euclidian physics any more so than Lune’s tower did. For some reason, no matter how a space looked on the outside the alicorns seemed to be able to expand it far beyond anything that should exist. The room he’d led me into was something akin to a warehouse of clothes, with factory lights running on unto the horizon. He looked at me and gestured with a hoof, as if to say that it was all mine if I wanted it. I gestured to myself; I couldn’t believe that he would go to such great lengths to simply welcome me into his home. Although I thought about how Lune would feel about me accepting gifts from his older brother, I couldn’t help but reach out and run my hoof down a sheet of fabric that was used to make up a larger gown. It was beautiful, and I wanted little more than to see how I looked it.

Before I could so much as take the garment off the rack I felt magic lifting me and pulling me back to Solaris’ side. I looked up at in confusion, secretly annoyed that he’d wave something in front of me like that just to pull me away. He summoned a single plain white box, setting it down in front of me with a grin. He looked ecstatic, as if he wanted nothing more than to see my face light up when I opened the gift. I humored him, knowing it would be rude to save it for later when he clearly looked so happy about the prospect of giving me whatever was inside.

“You can have anything in this tower for yourself, but you must first accept this gift from me.” He said, shifting his weight from one hoof to the other like a stallion asking out his first crush. “It’s not much, really. Merely a piece of me that I put into the form of something wearable.”

His anticipation was contagious as I smiled back, knowing it obviously meant the world to him that I accept whatever he’d made. With him holding his breath over me, I opened the box. My face fell from happiness to near anger in the fraction of a second it took for me to register what the ‘gift’ was. I felt myself saying the word in my head, as if to confirm that indeed this was the catch to the deal. I could have anything in the tower, so long as I wore a small, perfectly fitted leather collar, two sapphires fitted into the front of it beside a silver bell, gleaming lightly in the bright light. I looked back up at him, righteous fury burning in my eyes. I might be his servant, but I was nopony’s pet.

“You’re obviously expecting me to take this.” I stated venomously.

“Of course!” He said, levitating the collar up so that I could see it from all angles. I nearly bit right through my lip when I saw the buckle to it, which was a single brass plate with both Lune’s and Solaris’ Cutie Marks cast into it. As he opened it I noticed text on the inside of the buckle, reading ‘Property of Prince Solaris & Prince Lune’. “I made it especially for you. Both of the gems are enchanted, so they facilitate the sensation that we have physical contact even though we could be miles away. This way you’re constantly in tune to my needs. I was also a good brother and included Lune, giving him both space on the buckle and including him in the enchantments. This way both me and Lune won’t have to go through the hassle of telling you to do something when we can just will you to.”

I couldn’t tell what shocked me more; how bold he was, or the fact that he was masking the whole reason for the collar behind logic. A blind pony could see that he wanted nothing more than to force this collar on me and feel smug as he watched me do whatever he wished. Even more insulting was the fact that he wasn’t even being subtle about the fact that it had a bell. A hoof-sized silver bell on the front of it that chimed much like a cat’s whenever it moved. Anypony who saw me in it would get the point immediately, between the brass buckle and the fact that it was basically a pet collar. The whole point of it was printed on the back of the buckle. It stated that I was their property, and they owned me. Mind, body and soul. Lune himself would balk at the purpose for this bejeweled monstrosity. He would want me to be considered his partner, not another one of his possessions.

I took a while to formulate my response, but when I finally replied I simply pushed the collar away, shaking my head. “You mistake my servitude, my obedience towards you as permission to make me a slave. Lune considers me my partner before I’m his servant, and I still have dignity. There is a difference between pride and dignity, by the way. One is necessary; the other can be ignored sometimes. You either don’t understand that, or you truly consider me to be your property.”

Solaris only sighed, his shoulders slouching. “Firstly, I recognize you the way everypony else recognizes you first. That is, as a servant. Secondly, you signed any rights to dignity away the moment you filled out those forms. Thirdly, I do consider you to be one of my possessions, which is because of both reasons one and two. Finally, why can’t you be proud of the fact that you’re our property?”

“Because I know the moment that I put that collar on you’re going to do the same thing that you did to me on my living room floor.” I countered. “Plus, you aren’t too high on the ‘respect my body’ list. I can imagine you showing me off like some prized pedigree pet to somepony else.”

“What’s the matter with that?” He asked, seemingly hurt. “You openly admit that you enjoyed what I did to you that day, and secondly you know that I would never let anypony hurt you.”

“That wasn’t what I meant. You might not let somepony hurt me physically, but you’ll let them do whatever else they want to me. I’ve gotten to know you, Solaris.”

Solaris scowled. “Hardly.” Was all he said.

What happened next both appalled me and made me want to cry at the same time. The prince shook his head, the air being filled with the sounds of ‘tsk, tsk’ as his horn lit. I gasped as he seized me by my tail, hoisting me up in the air against my will. I have an instinctive fear of being levitated to this day because of what he did to me next. Invisible ropes fastened around my hooves and midsection, leaving me to struggle fruitlessly in midair. I hovered a mere few inches above the ground, unable to help myself as the prince, still somehow above me, looked down at me, smiling with intentions I could only infer at that point. Solaris tilted my head up to his with a hoof, leaning down until his perfectly shaped muzzle was barely an inch from me.

“You do not know me. A pony as young, as naïve as you will never guess why I do the things I do. Though things like this have simple short-term reasoning, think about this… this collar, the one I made just for you, serves another purpose. It heals you, every second of every day, as well as prevents magic from being used on you. This whole dilemma you’re in here, with me levitating you, could have been avoided.”

I got vertigo as he flipped me upside down, my ears scraping the floor as he stared pointedly down at me, his expression contemptuous. He turned his gaze to my flanks, smirking as his horn let out an additional flash. I nearly screamed for help as I felt my tail lifted, exposing me to anypony who could be watching, as well as his hungry eyes. I could only close my eyes ashamedly and try to pretend that what he was doing to me was no big deal. The prince knew, though, that this hurt me more than any other sort of punishment. He licked his lips, laying a hoof on my left flank and tracing small circles around my Cutie Mark. I did my best, exercised all my willpower to pretend that I wasn’t enjoying any of this. My body betrayed me, though. Almost as soon as his other hoof met the inside of my leg I felt myself blush vividly. I prayed to the gods above that the potion that I’d taken last night wasn’t still in effect, because I knew that I wouldn’t be able to control myself getting excited. He might not notice my stallionhood loving/hating his molestations, but me most definitely notice the clear lubrication leaking unnaturally from under my tail.

A slap echoed throughout the massive room and my yelp of pain followed shortly afterwards. Almost directly after he’d struck my flank he put his front legs around my waist, pulling my loins closer to his muzzle. I simpered miserably, hating that I was enjoying this on a carnal level but every other part of me was rioting in response to this treatment. A completely lewd sound escaped me as he traced his tongue along my taint, ending at my ring. He backed away from me and grinned as I grew wet, my anus flushing with moisture. I blinked and found myself to indeed be crying, a single tear running down my muzzle and falling to the floor. This was so wrong.

All of the sudden he flipped me rightside up and dropped me, watching with vague amusement as I missed and stumbled, my back legs shaking furiously from unspent sexual tension. Tears ran traitorously down my cheeks, though my facial expression was stubbornly willful as he regarded me once again, satisfied that his ministrations would have changed my mind to his fashion accessory of choice. His smile became a grin as I heard the soft plip of my own liquid dripping to the floor, running down my sack, creeping down my legs and filling the air with a mareish musk. I tried to remain defiant, standing my ground on all fours, my stance squared. While the prince was musing over how good I smelled, I couldn’t help but loath my own body at that moment. It told him whatever he wanted to hear, whatever made him happy with himself. Right now he was reading my excitement as a sign that I was weak, and unable to defend myself. I hate to admit that indeed, he was right in that respect. My entire body shivered, craving something touching me under my tail. I felt myself clenching and relaxing internally, the muscles inside me craving something to grip. It didn’t care what it was or who the generous donor would be, my body just wanted something to fill the empty space inside me.

“Are you going to permit me to help you?” He asked, licking his lips. “I assure you, it’d be so much easier if you simply agreed to what I say. If you’d only accept what I give you and trust that I am just in my actions. Then I can relieve you.”

“Blind obedience leads to slavery.” I grated, my body wanting nothing more than to be made a slave, to be dominated by him right there where anypony could see. “I won’t be another listless sheep, herded into whatever pasture you want.”

Solaris sighed, his smile fading. “You can only lead a horse to water, Felt. I’ve given you every opportunity to give up on this silly insistence that you still have free will. You don’t. You are a servant; you signed any right to privacy, free speech, dignity or personal space. Whereas Lune might lie to you and say that you do, and insist that you are his partner and not his servant, I cannot and will not lead you to believe something that isn’t true. You are mine and his, and Dusk’s and Cadenza’s. You are our collective, shared possession.”

Before I could protest how wrong he was I felt an invisible pair of shackles bind my front and back legs, locking me in place. I tried to lift my hooves in panic, but they were locked to the floor. The prince shook his head again, holding up the collar with his magic. I shook my head vehemently, rejecting the leather binding in its entirety even though I was physically incapable of denying him. I felt something close around my neck, holding it out in the open air, my soft nape exposed as he trotted up to me. I shook and shouted loudly, but no sooner did the first word part my lips did all sound cease to come from me. I attempted to yell for help, to alert somepony that I was there, but the cunning prince had prevented me from making any noise save for what I could without my vocal cords. He finished his approach, putting a hoof on my cheek as he levitated the collar up to my neck. I barred my teeth and fought to bite at his muzzle as he fastened the collar perfectly, clapping his hooves against the floor happily as he finally buckled it into place.

The bindings around my limbs fell away, and I felt Solaris’ will pressing against my own. Even with every single atom of my existence fighting against him, I was nothing compared to his infinite willpower. He smiled as he saw my furious expression give way to sorrow and acceptance, and I bowed my head, wishing Lune was there. All of the sudden it clicked in my head, and a lightbulb came on. I opened my mouth to shout the lunar prince’s name, to call for him and have him fix this mess I’d fell into. Just as I did I stopped, unable to perform the action. Solaris only admired me in the collar, but I knew what he was doing. He wasn’t going to let me do anything he didn’t want me to, and calling in his younger brother to see what he’d done to his most precious pony was the last thing he wanted to happen. I crumpled into a miserable heap, my legs giving up on holding my weight. I sat on my knees, wondering when I’d ever see my true prince again.

“You can help me now.” I said.

I roared in outrage as the words parted my lips, knowing they weren’t my own. Solaris only smiled and moved behind me, crouching down over me and whispering in my ear. I stopped listening to him, focusing only on how much I wanted to sink into the floor. That was, until I felt his pink member press against my already slick entrance. I gasped involuntarily, arching my back and pushing back on him. In my head he told me to submit, cease to be an individual as he pushed into me. I began to cry again as my mind did as it was told, throwing any reasons not to accept his warm, firm member inside me away. He moaned as my walls stretched to fit his larger stallionhood, and I prayed Lune wouldn’t notice when I came back to him. Soon his entire length was in and he was biting my ear, the nape of my neck. I behaved exactly how he told me to; I moaned his name, pushed back on him and made bestial noises as he violated my existence. In all honesty, I didn’t get to have any true enjoyment. He told me to act like he was giving me a good time, but nothing he was doing was enough to give me an orgasm solely from his admittedly frantic, hurried stimulation. He thrust into me with shallow gyrations of his hips, wet slaps echoing around the empty room.

He came inside of me and didn’t even bother pulling out, instead passing out, rolling over onto his side and pulling me with him. I couldn’t move, as I was still speared on his stallionhood and any movement would wake him up. I could only lay there, his front legs wrapped around me, bell on my collar jingling lightly, his heart beating in a completely different rhythm than mine, wondering where I’d gone so wrong.

Future Plans

I wandered the halls of Solaris’ tower, wondering how I could possibly have gotten lost when I’d only seen two rooms of the labyrinthine structure. Although I’d succeeded in slipping away from the Light Prince, his tower seemed to be conspiring towards a fate of wandering its halls endlessly. My hooves were already sore, and the echoes they struck across the walls seemed to be magnified a thousand-fold as I meandered hopelessly down the corridors. I didn’t even have a specific destination in mind anymore, I simply trotted in hopes that it took me closer to somepony that wouldn’t want to use me. Although I wanted to shout for Lune, I knew that seeing me in this state would cause nothing but an anxious breakdown and an inevitable fight between Solaris and his younger brother. I did so want him by my side, and I yearned for somepony who’d kiss me and tell me that this would never happen again. Unfortunately I’d adopted quite the realistic attitude, and I knew that simply wasn’t the case. The Light Prince, in all his majesty and cruel dominance, would continue expressing his twisted form of love for me until I no longer protested to his affections.

I continued on down the corridor, wondering if it would ever end. I’d done my best to get the collar off, but to no avail. The only thing that I’d succeeded in doing was make the bell jingle loudly, mocking me with every high, silvery note. It was sealed flush to my skin somehow, and despite the fact that I’d done my best to pry it off, the leather neither discomforted me nor released its stubborn grip on my neck. The buckle was enchanted to never let me go, to mark me for as long as Solaris wanted to keep me in this sad state. I knew that, when he awoke, he’d will me to come back to him, and probably even teleport me back to where he was instantly. I didn’t care so long as I got time away from him. I didn’t even know how I’d resist him anymore. I’d offered myself to him, let him inside after so much struggle. It felt shameful that I’d let him break me, but now I knew that he would allow no boundaries to stand between him and I when it came to my submission. I was, truly, his servant.

I looked back down the hall to see nothing but endless red carpet, the typical type of flooring in the prince’s tower. Almost on a whim I decided that, in order to get a slightly longer reprieve from him, I’d better go inside one of the many rooms that lined the halls. I had a hard time deciding which, but in the end I decided that one with a rather unremarkable appearance would do best. I turned towards the first plain wooden door I came across, trotting over to it and trying the handle. Seeing that it was unlocked, I opened it and went inside. Although I hadn’t meant to, I’d honestly forgotten that Dusk Shine had in fact been sharing an abode with Solaris. What came next was also as much of a miracle I could have hoped for.

The room that I’d wandered into was none other than Dusk Shine’s, the stallion lying on the bed, sleeping soundly through the night. I looked at the wall, seeing that it was slightly past two in the morning. I felt a ray of light come through the clouds; I could probably get Dusk to take me away from there, and possibly get the collar off of my neck. I trotted across the purple floor to the edge of his bed, wondering how I’d been so fortunate. I decided that I’d ask him about the purple and pink bedsheets later as I prodded his muzzle with a hoof, whispering.

“Dusk.” I said, doing my best to wake him gently. “Dusk Shine. It’s me, Felt Feathers.”

The Twilight Prince nearly jumped out of his own skin as he shot up in bed, holding the blankets over him as if he was somehow more indecent than I was at the moment. He calmed down as he saw that it was only me, and almost immediately after the questions started. Something I’d noticed about Dusk was that he never really stopped questioning things. That was great for some situations, but right now I honestly didn’t feel like giving out a play-by-play of what Solaris had just done to my extremely sore flanks.

“Felt, what the hay are you doing here?” The stallion grumbled, wrinkling his nose. “And what is the smell? Why are you wearing that collar?”

The bell around my neck jingled, turning me a shade of scarlet as I defended my dignity. “What does it smell like to you? Solaris decided I’d make a great pet. Not exactly with me being in agreement, either. I’m sure you can infer what happened to me, Dusk. You’re a smart stallion.”

The true source of the musk caused him to blink, shifting under the blankets uncomfortably. “So he… what? Made you his pet? That doesn’t explain why your whole back reeks like…. Oh….” It sunk in then, the true events of the past three hours being rendered in sudden clarity. “Did he… um, you know?”

“Without my permission.” I grated indignantly. “I need you to get this collar off of me. He used it to make me do things against my will, and I need it off before I have to leave in a few hours. If Lune sees it he’s going to wonder just what happened to me, and once he starts to wonder… he’ll figure out that I wasn’t the most faithful partner.”

“I thought you said that he did it against your will? How does that make you unfaithful?”

I suddenly realized that my eyes were watering at even mentioning Lune, and that I was physically ill at the prospect of telling him that I’d let myself become his older brother’s favourite new servant, and freshly broken housepet. I shook my head, sending the message loud and clear that I didn’t want to talk about it as well as sending loud rattles off from my bell. The thought of telling Lune that I’d submitted, practically given up on resisting him made it my fault. I was the one who’d told him it was okay, even though it wasn’t. The worst part was how I had… secretly enjoyed him standing over me, reaming me deeper and spreading me in a way Lune simply couldn’t. I bit the inside portion of my cheek, washing my taste buds with the flavour of rust. I couldn’t focus on that. If I did I risked falling for the same sensations that had seduced me the first time.

“Okay… I don’t think I should take that collar off, though. What if he’s even more upset that you took it off, and he does it again?” Dusk speculated. “Besides, disobeying him doesn’t sound like the best idea… shouldn’t you just wait until he returns you to Lune’s, and tell him and have him take it off of you? I’m sure he’ll understand, and confront Solaris about it so he never does it again.”

“You don’t understand.” I whimpered, fearing that I would land in the same situation I’d been in a few hours ago the moment the sleeping prince woke. “I submitted to him in the end. I let myself be used… if Lune figures that out… I won’t have anypony.” I cried.

“You had no choice, Felt.” Dusk Shine tried to reason with me.

“I did have a choice, and I chose to betray Lune.” I said, guilt eating me alive. “I practically spread my back legs and lifted my tail for Solaris. I moaned and said his name, pushed back on him, took every last inch inside…” I trailed off, feeling my knees shaking. “I enjoyed it. I let myself enjoy another stallion, when Lune loved me so much. He trusted me, and I threw that away when I gave up resisting. He… broke me.”

I suddenly realized the totality of the statement I’d just made. How very true it was that indeed, Solaris had broken me. I was now his most prized possession, and I belonged to him. I was no longer a person, more than I was a prized show pony that he could do as he wished with, show off and enjoy his power over. The part that filled me with the most disdain, shock, disgust and horror is that I secretly indulged in that. The fact that I longer had pride, nor dignity or even natural rights, that he could use me however he pleased whenever he had a whim to. The animal inside of me passionately embraced that terrible truth, without the slightest hint of hesitation or remorse over the loss of free will. Somehow that part of me rejoiced that I no longer had to make my own choices, feel guilt towards anything besides disobeying my masters or even sustaining my image as a pony. I served all those things up to Lune and Solaris, and they made me as they saw fit. They used me however made them happy, and somehow, despite the fact that I’d put my lives solely in the hooves of another… that strange, masochistic piece of my soul celebrated the passing of my freedom.

“I just want to get this thing off.” I whimpered pathetically, issuing immediate pity from Dusk. “I want to go back to Lune and pretend like this never happened.”

“It will happen again, you know?” Dusk warned. “If you don’t do something about it he won’t stop, no matter how much you beg him to.”

I almost broke into tears until I realized that the alicorn’s horn was glowing, and I felt the buckle on the back of my neck slacken. A few moments passed and suddenly I heard Dusk curse, as if he was having trouble with the enchanted piece of brass. He stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth, concentrating on working past the Light Prince’s sorcery. I brightened; for a moment I felt it loosen. As if to crush my extremely brief second of happiness the collar locked back into place around my neck, the bell rattling faintly as if to mock his attempts to remove it. Dusk tried three more times, all with similar results, until finally he huffed, any magic he’d been able to use spent on the brass lock that kept me bound to Solaris’ will.

“I honestly can’t break it off… the buckle feels like it’s been bound by magic I… honestly don’t know. And that’s kind of scary, for somepony who’s studied magic their entire life.” He mused, sounding shocked at his failure. “I’ve never failed to break the spell on something… maybe I’m out of practice. I’m really sorry, Felt, but I can’t help you… I really wish I could.

I just shook my head, holding up a hoof to signal that it hardly mattered at this point. I bowed my head and trotted over to a large chair that sat by a dainty fireplace, which was actually a lot more reminiscent to a woodstove. I leapt up onto the chair, sighing and pacing a few times before I settled into a comfortable position. I would just wait until Solaris found me here, or my time in the tower was up and I returned to Lune. Either way I was so far forsaken that I could only accept my fate. I would be exposed as the unfaithful colt I was and Solaris would be discovered as the pony that drove me to betray Lune. I’d be banished to the moon or the sun, and I wouldn’t have to worry about being abused ever again. I could sit up there in sweet solitude, which was if they gave me the materials to survive. If not… I’d meet a deserving fate as the one who was so unfaithful towards the prince who gave him his heart.

The clock struck five in the morning, and I hadn’t seen eye nor tail of Solaris. I suspiciously left Dusk’s quarters and almost immediately noticed that the gate, the front door of the Light Prince’s home, was directly across the hall. I knew immediately that he was toying with me, or the rooms shifted on their own. I trotted across the hall, eager to be rid of the prince’s abode once and for all. Before I could reach the other end of the vast red sea of carpet, Solaris himself stepped out of thin air and barred my way. I paled; he had a smile on his face again, that strange, infallible grin that I could neither read nor interpret his intentions from. I could feel his current mental state through the collar, though. His horn flashed and I winced, fearing another cruel spell would be aimed at me. Perhaps this time he would lock me in a gallow and take me then, when I couldn’t even look back and see him running his hooves over my wings triumphantly. No such thing happened, though, and instead he merely conjured a simple note he’d sealed with his royal crest. I opened my eyes and regarded the note warily, wondering if this was some sort of trick.

“I won’t tell Lune about you lifting your tail for me if you don’t tell him how I egged it on.” He explained, lifting my left wing and tucking it under the joint so that I could carry it. “That explains the collar and how to use it. How to add to the list of ponies you feel the wills of is also covered.”

I looked up at him, unable to tell if the emotions I was feeling was anger at how I was basically going to lie to Lune, or gratitude that he wasn’t revealing my infidelity to the younger prince. It met in a strange mixture of hate, thankfulness and odd intrigue. Why did he want me to keep the collar, anyways? Suddenly it hit me; he wanted to know if Lune agreed with the idea of the collar or not. If he did, then I’d be submitted to Lune’s and possibly more ponies’ whims almost every day, increasing my likelihood to have a more servile attitude towards him, as well as everypony I met. He was encouraging me to be more guiltless, to wear away at my sense of belonging towards Lune until all I wanted was to serve the ponies around me in any way I could, no matter how demeaning or shameless the actions I had to commit to satisfy them were. He was prompting me to feed the beast inside of me, to get rid of my sense of self until I was only a direct reflection of what the ponies around me wanted. The Light Prince was asking me not to muffle the deviant urges I sometimes got from those around me through my gift. He wanted me to listen to the voice instead, to indulge myself in the needs of others, even though what they wanted of me went against every moral I’d ever held myself to.

“Speak a word of what I did to you and I’ll tell him how you asked for it.” Solaris warned again before he opened the door to the tower, gesturing that I was free to leave.

I trotted past Solaris, wincing involuntarily when he reached out his hoof. He merely ran it over my wing, but I’d honestly been expecting him to strike me. Once I was outside and he’d bade me farewell I couldn’t help but feel a sense of self-loathing. The last time I’d walked across that rotunda had been when I was still faithful, with Lune having been the only stallion to have ever been beneath my tail. Now I felt tainted, filthy as I made my way through the hall of marble pillars. Solaris had taken my sense of purity along with my freedom, and that strange part of me that enjoyed the departure of the latter didn’t quite know how react towards my breach of trust. Lune had expected me to stay faithful to him, and although I felt guilty, I also felt glad that he needn’t know. Solaris, though he was a conniving stallion and breaker of lesser wills, which was to say all of them, wasn’t the type to go flaunting his trysts with others. Others that would tell, anyways. I was sure he’d tell his personal guards, and perhaps Dusk. At least I knew that Dusk already had the foresight to keep secrets.

I trailed through the halls until I reached Lune’s tower, unable to think of how my prince would react to this new collar. Would he think it was atrocious, and rip it off of me the moment he saw it around my neck, or would he indulge himself in his newfound power over me? I knew secretly that indeed, Solaris had made me a walking embodiment of temptation, since anypony could do whatever they wanted with me so long as they were added to the spell he had on the collar. I also knew that he was counting on the poison that was the temptation to take control of those around me. He was counting on them controlling me, and using it to fulfil their desires, further eliminating my hesitance towards lifting my tail for him whenever I had to stay in his tower. He wanted my will to utterly gone by the time I was back to him in a week’s time, and he was going to let the ponies around me do the work for him.

I knocked on Lune’s tower door, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I’d made sure to shower thoroughly before I’d left Dusk’s room, even though he’d protested me using his bathroom. He was a good stallion though, and after some convincing he finally allowed me to bathe myself that way I didn’t show up at the tower reeking of sex. Despite that I couldn’t help but dread when he got me in bed tonight. I surely wasn’t going to be the tightest that night, given the fact that I’d spent almost an hour with Solaris’ overbearingly large member inside of me. By no means did I care about how large a stallion was, but I knew basic anatomical facts, better than most since I was a masseuse. It took a while for anypony’s orifices to return to their original size one they were stretched, and no amount of hoping would return my admittedly hollow preferred source of stimulation to its former slick tightness any faster. All I could hope was that Lune either didn’t notice or opted for something different that night.

Lune opened the door a few minutes after I’d knocked, having apparently been occupied. He looked down at me and brightened at first, ecstatic that I’d finally been returned to him. His face fell from euphoric to livid almost the moment his gaze alighted on my neck, which I knew that it inevitably would. Before he could ask I opened my wing and withdrew the note Solaris had given me, handing it to him with a sense of dread. I didn’t know what was written on that piece of paper until that moment that Lune read it aloud, and when he did I swore I felt my stomach sink into my hooves.

“This collar I’ve given Felt Feathers is for the sole purpose of controlling him, as he proved to be quite unfocused and unwilling to organize the files in my desk when I asked him to.” Lune read. “After three times of drawing his attention back to the task at hoof I decided to enchant this to take advantage of the unique bond he shares with anypony he touches. The collar facilitates the same reaction as if he was physically touching us at all times, at a maximum distance of one mile. Since the distance across the palace and between our towers is slightly beyond that I highly doubt the poor colt will get confused between our wills, as it is extremely faint even at the edge of its functioning range. I included you in the enchantment so that you could enjoy the collar as well, while giving you the ability to appoint him tasks without physically speaking to him or being in the same room.

The list of things I included in the enchantments are as follows. His body returns to its natural shape, size and health level at a remarkable rate, he is immune to others’ magic through it, he possesses heightened resistance to injuries of all types, he ages more slowly, he has a heightened sense of stimulus stemming from the perfection achieved through the healing spell, so he will probably experience more pain if he should receive a wound, but it will heal faster. Finally, the collar’s bell will allow you to keep track of him no matter where he is, and will give an innate sense of where you can find him so long as it is ringing. He also experiences more taste, can hear better, and touch stimulation is almost doubled, making a brush over his wing seem heavenly (something I tested on myself before giving it to him). In all his physical being is vastly augmented, and taking it off is ill advised, so I will not include how to remove it here.”

Lune scowled at the line he’d just read before he finished the letter.

“In order to add a pony to the list of wills that he is in contact with you need only to have them cast a simple levitation spell, touch the buckle on the collar with their magic, and release it. This will allow him to feel their immediate wants and needs just as if he were touching them, activating his gift. Finally, in order to add a pony who is not a magic user, simply have them touch the buckle and say their name twice. I do hope that you continue to let him wear this collar, as he has grown to enjoy the benefits it offers, although he is loath to admit that.”

Lune looked down at me and I scuffed a hoof, the bell around my neck jingling slightly. He rolled his eyes and headed into the tower, willing for me to come along. I did as he told me, trotting obediently after him as he led me into the tower, sitting down on the semi-circular couch with a sigh. Although I hadn’t particularly seen anything from him telling me he’d liberate me of the jewelled curse around my neck, he did seem to have something on his mind, something quite important. Important enough to brush off the subject of the enchanted collar around my neck, anyways.

“Felt, I want you to be honest with me... do you feel like you and I aren’t equal? Like I outclass you, or that I’m better than you somehow?”

“Well, of course.” I responded. “You’re an alicorn. It wouldn’t be right if I were on the same level as you. I’m just your servant… a pegasus, at that. Not only do you have magic, you’re royalty, and you live forever.”

“I was about to get to that.” The prince said, smiling as if he was unveiling the product of hours upon hours of deep thinking and plotting. “It would be a shame for me to live forever, yet have you age as time went on. I was thinking of a few things that could possibly render you a little more long-lived than regular pegasi. See, there are a number of things that allow normal ponies to exist long after their marked expiration dates, and I was thinking of letting you use one. That way you’ll be able to enjoy my company, and I enjoy yours, for a more satisfying amount of time.”

I couldn’t help but feel as if there was a catch, and when I voiced my concern Lune only looked at the floor, biting his bottom lip. Of course, there were technicalities involved. Nothing that involved magical creatures is ever simple, especially immortal ones. Over time one grows to know that magic, no matter how instant the effect, is all about immediate gratification, but at a price. Most magicians decided that indeed, it was worth the toll they paid for their most powerful spells, but to us mortals the stakes often seem… unnaturally high.

Lune stretched out on the couch, looking pensive as he explained to me just what my options were. “You have a few choices, Felt.” He said simply. “I’ll let you choose, because unlike my brother I believe that indeed, you should have a choice in the way you want to live. One way of living forever involves becoming like us, an alicorn. You have to learn and master the Elements of Harmony for that to work. The second option is for you to become a creature that lives forever like an alicorn, such as a heavily fed Changeling or Aquastrian. There are other species like that, but those are the ones that I can think of the transformation spells for off the top of my head.”

I wrinkled my nose in revulsion at the Changeling idea, but I couldn’t help but wonder what the idea was behind the other strange species he’d mentioned. I almost immediately regretted asking, as he merely smiled deviously as he said, with slightly more allure in his voice.

“An Aquastrian is a pony consisting mainly of gelatinous material, possess no organs, live solely by absorbing liquids, and can change form rapidly and at will. The problem is that, although they live indefinitely, they are fragile creatures, and ponies oftentimes consider them to be disgusting due to their tendencies to leave hoof-prints of slime wherever they go. There are spells to fix these unattractive factors, but I highly doubt other ponies would be tolerant if you chose to take up such a form.”

“Are there any more?” I asked, marking that path as a last-ditch effort. Though it seemed uncomfortable, it didn’t seem too distressing so long as it allowed me to stay alive.

“Although I would prefer, and I’m sure you do as well, to take up the form of an immortal being, I do have one final idea. The last venue is to make a deal with Discord, and have him set your physical being permanently. The problem is that the terms of his negotiations are oftentimes… strange, and given your unique nature I’d like to reserve that for something to do if we simply can’t find any other viable options. He is oftentimes cruel in his dealings. After all he did once turn the entirety of Lake Metronome into lard, killing all the aquatic life there on a whimsy.”

“What were his terms in the past?” I asked, almost not wanting an answer.

“Eternal servitude, curses such as vampirism, becoming dependent on drinking only vinegar, getting papercuts under your hoof every single day for the rest of eternity, being unable to tolerate direct moonlight, direct sunlight, being unable to control yourself around those of the same species, leading to some rather uncomfortable, albeit arousing situations, feeding only on liquids brought on by sexual stimulation, having everything you touch turn to cheese, being unable to eat or drink anything but cheese, being in a state of permanent blindness, deafness, or muteness, not being able to feel emotions, and finally, the worst in my opinion, having no skin.”

I reeled from the intake of information, but eventually I regained my wits enough to respond with. “Why don’t I just head to him right now and see what his terms are, then decide whether I want to take the deal?”

“Because he has a curious way of making the worst things sound enticing.” Lune warned. “Besides, you owing your servitude to another when you already serve so many is dangerous. He will insist on his contract with you overruling all others. Considering his magic is stronger than all of ours’ put together, it probably will. Meaning that I will have no say on where you live, what you do or how he treats you. It would be best to avoid him until it is absolutely necessary if you’re to live forever.”

That morning he luckily fell asleep curled against me, having been too tired to truly enjoy a round or two in bed. I understood, and was actually grateful for his lethargy. Even though I knew that my plot was just as supple and tight as it was before Lune or Solaris had used me, due to the collar I still wore around my neck, I wasn’t too eager to have anything inside of me after my unwilling reaming I’d received from Prince of Light. The rest of the evening was spent discussing potential avenues we could explore in my eventual goal of immortality, although he didn’t seem eager to see me transform into anything other than a natural pony. In all he wanted me to try the Elements of Harmony first, then attempt to live as another species, and finally after all was lost I could possibly try and strike a deal with the spirit of chaos. Although he was trying to steer me away from it, I honestly was thinking of possibly becoming a dragon or dragoness. He wasn’t very eager to see me attempt that lifestyle, but he did know that indeed, dragons could live indefinitely, and some species were just the size I was in my current state. Another possibility was that of a phoenix, although both of us know that would have been quite awkward when it came to being romantic. We briefly touched on me becoming one of the half-pony creatures that often roamed the realm of Tartarus, but after a while the option become less and less attractive, considering most had socially crippling drawbacks that would prevent me from ever showing my face in public.

Once we woke that evening we had a brief discussion as we readied for our respective schedules, each of us knowing that we would be heading our separate ways until that morning, a whole thirteen hours without seeing one another. I was to head to Cadenza’s quarters in the southwest corner of the castle, near the dungeons that he presided over. One would think that a stallion as kind as Cadenza wouldn’t want to be around such dreadful places, but indeed that was where he’d set up his tower. His wife Shimmer Shield also worked in that wing, so it only made sense that he kept close. Although I would be heading to spend my evening with a happily married couple, I knew that I had to expect the unexpected. Cadenza was a good stallion, from what I’d heard of him, but I knew that Solaris had struck me as a nice stallion before the dreadful events of the past three days. I knew better than to trust anypony I hadn’t learned to confide in on my own.

I couldn’t help but feel slightly burdened as I carried a saddlebag full of one single book on my back, heading towards the southwest wing. The prison section of the castle was undoubtedly the most guarded, but as far as civilian ponies went they were few and far between. The only ponies I saw were guards, clad in their golden armour and always staring ahead of them with the same stoic expression. A few I saw stared back at me with interest, as if they’d heard of me and my role with Solaris and Lune. I did my best to ignore their gaze and trot ahead, eventually arriving at what I could only assume was Cadenza’s quarters. A massive oaken door, painted blue with splashes of yellow and pink, barred the way into the tower. I knocked, my knees aching at that point from carrying the many book Lune had wanted me to read all the way across the castle. The book was what he called ‘infinitely detailed’ and learned on its own what I wanted to read about by how long I spent on a page. It reset once I closed it, but if bookmarked it would save the page. The book was that of anatomy, and covered every known species of every race in existence. Lune wanted me to learn of my options by spending time in the ‘immortal/magical creatures’ section of the book.

A few moments after I’d knocked on the door a unicorn mare I’d never seen before answered it, her coat gleaming white in the glow of the sunset. She struck me incredibly groomed, her face and mane free of all blemishes save for a single freckle on her right cheek, which stood out on her pale complexioned face. Her hooves were blue, and her mane blazed an even more royal shade of navy than Lune’s as she stood there in the doorway, regarding me as if I were a stranger. After a second of wondering who I was it dawned on her who I must be, and she looked back into the tower excitedly, as if whomever was in there had just been talking all about me and my relations with the other two princes.

“You must be Felt Feathers!” She said, her horn flashing as she held the door open. “My name is Shimmer Shield. I’m Cadenza’s wife, but I’m sure Lune’s told you all about that. Anyways, come on in. Solaris was just talking about you.”

I trotted inside before I stopped, just as the door closed behind me. Solaris, the one pony I had been hoping, praying to avoid during all of this was there. Specifically, he’d been talking about me, to Cadenza and Shimmer Shield. I numbly followed the mare through the hall leading up to the living room, which was decorated in almost gaudy white, blue and pink colours that seemed to lace perfectly with one another even though one would think they would clash. I froze in the doorway as I saw Solaris, sitting on Cadenza’s couch, smiling and sipping tea while the other prince droned on about re-integrating prisoners into society. The conversation halted as I entered the room, and the Light Prince set down his cup of tea, his expression cunningly observant of the fact that I was petrified by the sight of him. I felt my tail tuck between my legs as I felt that, indeed, the collar around my neck was working as his will took precedence over my own. After I could feel every shift in his immediate wants, he began to puppeteer me into place.

‘Sit.’ Was all he commanded, nodding at an empty spot beside him.

I fearfully sulked over to the couch, my hooves dragging on the white carpet. My tail refused to come out from over my loins, as if it instinctively knew what Solaris had a habit of doing to me. I had to resist the urge to physically contact the prince, for laced under his general commands was the furious desire for me to lay my hooves on him in a display of affection. I felt nothing close to love for the stallion after last night, and now that I couldn’t move without his permission I almost actively loathed the sight of him. Despite the fact that I mentally rejected all feelings for him my body was giving my different signals, and I knew I was turned on by him when I felt my internal muscles flexing, as if awaiting the organ that it had become so accustomed to pleasuring. I even felt my own stallionhood grow slightly more sensitive in his presence, and there was nothing that I hated more than to admit that indeed, the Light Prince had turned my own body against me. As I settled down next to him the bell on the collar rang out, coaxing a curious glance from both Shimmer Shield and Cadenza.

“This is Felt Feathers.” Solaris said with a satirical grin. “He’s my most beloved assistant. He does whatever I command of him, and loves every second of serving me. Don’t you, Felt?”

“Yes.” I said, without him forcing me. “I’ll do whatever you ask of me, and adore any task you set me to. You’re… my master, and it’s a pleasure serving you in any way I can. As long as it makes you happy.”

Solaris looked overjoyed as he set a wing over me, pulling me close whispering into my ear, so that only I could hear him. “At last, you at least learn to go through the motions…” He paused to let his slighting praise sink in, to show me that he was proud of my obedience. “But simply saying that doesn’t convince me. You need to prove to me that you truly will do anything on command, and that you genuinely enjoy serving me, no matter what task I assign you. That’s why I came here today, Felt… because I might have you nodding along, but I want you to put your heart and soul into this.”

The Longest Chapter

My blood was as cold as ice as I sat there, unable to participate in the conversation. Solaris, shortly after having told me his motives behind visiting that night, had leaned back over and proceeded to resume his conversation with Cadenza, as if I wasn’t there. The whole dialogue floated over my head, and although Shimmer Shield and her husband both knew that I was there they did their very best to ignore me, as if noticing my existence would be some sort of grave insult to Solaris. After a while the mare across from me began to eye the collar around my neck, as well as the wing that my master kept perpetually draped over my smaller frame. Even then, her eyes rested on the collar, the binding around my neck that marked me as a servant, and not me as a whole. I felt as if I’d somehow disappeared, and the only thing that anypony in the room was physically capable of noticing was the light bell that gave out a ring whenever I turned my head to look at the pony who was speaking.

“Anyways.” Solaris continued, keeping me pressed to his side with his voluminous plumage. “I was thinking that indeed, we should take greater lengths to provide more comfort for the prisoners here. Although most of those that are housed here have committed major offenses, I think that they should be allowed to have possessions. It will give them incentive to work harder.”

“It would all depend on what we gave them.” Cadenza extrapolated. “Certain things should be kept off limits, not because the workers we take from the incarcerated population are dangerous, but because the phrase ‘if you give and inch, they take a mile’ gets called into question. They may want-”

“Ahem.” Shimmer Shield cleared her throat loudly, interrupting their admittedly dull dialogue. “I’d love to talk politics and regulations with you both, I really would.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “But I simply can’t keep myself from asking any longer. Just who is the strange colt sitting across from me, looking more awkward than a unicorn in an earth pony barroom?”

My eyes lit up visibly, a slight smile lifting the corners of my mouth. It felt good, to be reassured that indeed I wasn’t a ghost or that I’d become something unspeakable. She’d called me out from the center of a totally unrelated conversation, and that was enough comfort to me. Solaris, through his wing and the contact through my collar, bade me to keep my mouth shut as he answered her question for me. He looked pleasantly surprised that she would call attention to the thing he’d openly been sweeping under the carpet for the time being. Although he did seem amused by her curiosity.

“Well, Shimmer Shield.” He began, using a hoof to brush my mane behind my ears. “I already told you that he is my servant, but it would seem you’d like a little more context than that. This scrap of mane and feathers is originally from Ponyville, where he worked as a masseuse. Lune was the one who originally took a liking to him, but I am the one who truly took him under my wing. He accepted my authority and I treated him as he always wanted to be, and I even gave him this collar so that he could always be reminded of our bond. He likes it quite a bit, especially this little bell… if he gets used to the collar he can always enjoy the sweet sound it makes when he trots, moving his little hips the way he does.”

I turned scarlet, praying he wouldn’t expose me to them in that light. He continued, though, as if a tap had been turned on and the endless scandalous phrases that issued from his lips had no limit. He described my hips, the way my tail sometimes flicked to the side instinctively whenever he grazed my flank, how my neck and wings were the most sensitive locations and how he loved to nip at them when we were alone. I buried my face in the couch cushion, unable to look at them as he officially described me as a harlot, and by the looks on their faces they knew by now what Solaris enjoyed me for, and why he had that collar around my neck. Shimmer Shield, though, looked down at me with the utmost of pity, as if she knew what it was like to be embarrassed as I was. She gave me an understanding nod, knowing that I’d done nothing to deserve this humiliation.

“As nice as it is to know these things about him, I must say that it is hardly appropriate in this situation.” Cadenza coughed, hoping that Solaris would stop, seeing the distress on my face as my private matters were thrown to any whom would listen. “Unless there is some point behind describing him in such a manner, both me and my wife must implore you to stop.”

“Oh, come now.” Solaris grinned, keeping my pressed to his ribcage. “I want little more than for you to get to know him. It’s the best way, after all, to describe somepony’s manners when nopony’s looking, than to describe their behaviour in the public eye. He might seem quite the coy one now, but get him alone and behind a closed door, and Felt is like putty in your hooves.”

Cadenza seemed to blush vividly at the statement, and Shimmer Shield gave him a withering look, as if it had been something they had discussed many times and she had a cast iron opinion on. The stallion proceeded to stare at his hooves, but by the conflicted expression he wore I knew that Solaris was striking all the right places. Temptation is the alcohol of emotions, as the old saying goes. What the prince next to me was saying to Cadenza was bothering him more than he cared to admit, and even though his wife was doing her best to rein him in he was betraying his inner confliction rather spectacularly. In order to keep himself from looking too much on Solaris’ side he took a hasty sip of tea, hiding his face behind the cup for a rather long second. In that time his wife picked up the lull, seemingly perturbed by her guest’s usurping of her husband’s supposedly hidden tastes.

“I must say that I could have gone my whole life without knowing any of that about this poor foal.” She said, casting a glance down at me. We locked eyes briefly, and she saw the shame in my eyes that I wasn’t defending myself. She continued, hoping to move off the subject, and admittedly sorry she’d gotten Solaris onto it in the first place. “You can honestly go back to talking about prison regulations now, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, but look at poor Felt.” Solaris scolded, holding my chin up with a hoof. I prayed I didn’t look too accepting of his manipulations, because I wasn’t. “He’s just dying to tell you all about himself. He’s too shy to tell you all, though. I was merely acting as his voice, but since it is forbidden for a servant to speak unless directly addressed I supposed he must be punished, then?”

It took a moment for the statement to work itself out in our heads, but after we comprehended what he was saying I began to notice that his hoof was placed very firmly at the base of my wings. He traced it up and over the delicate tendons and nerves, causing an almost immediate, involuntary reaction. My wings twitched madly, the feathers rustling as my entire chest was set fire to. He knew that a pegasus was extremely delicate around where their wings connected below their shoulders, and he was toying with me right in front of the married couple. I bit my bottom lip quickly, praying the pain would distract me from the prince’s hoof sending shocks down my back legs and extremities, his teasing not lost on Shimmer Shield. She winced as I closed my eyes, trying desperately to pretend as if none of this was real.

“Solaris, stop what you’re doing or leave.” She stated, fully prepared to forcibly evict the alicorn if he didn’t do as she commanded. “This is my home, and I won’t have you torturing this foal in front of me. Why did you bring him here only to humiliate him?”

“It’s not humiliating him, dear.” He explained, still tracing circles around the base of my wings. “I’m attempting to get him to show his true colours. I assure you, any moment now he should break down and start to tell me how much he enjoys my attention. No matter how I give it to him.”

My wings shot into the air and I desperately kneaded at the couch cushion, the shocks from his touch becoming massive jolts of stimulation to everything below my waist. He grinned as my back legs shook and my tail twitched, recognizing that I was almost to the point where I would give up. He knew my threshold, where I ceased to insist on being a pony and gave myself to him as whatever he wanted me to be. It took every ounce of willpower I had to not grow wet under my tail from as his hoof glided back over my flank, his eyes flicking back to see how the two hosts were reacting to his display of power over me. I was on the verge of breaking when I suddenly felt him stop, his hooves disappearing from me and the only contact we had was through his wing. I was back to being his possession, and he was satisfied with his punishment.

“Now I get to the main point of my visit today.” He said, as if what he’d just done hadn’t even occurred. Shimmer Shield glared at him and gave me a glance filled with such benevolence that she resembled an angel, looking down at me and understanding every second of psychological pain. Solaris coughed, returning her attention to him. “Cadenza, you are extremely proficient in transformation magic, are you not?”

Cadenza, who had been doing his best to act as if he was studying the cup of tea he was enjoying, suddenly returned from wherever his mind had been wandering. I understood, in a way. If something so terrible were happening in front of me I would have done my best to shut it out.

“Yes, I received quite a few awards in it just a month ago.” He concurred, glancing at me suddenly. Both he and I knew where this was going, and neither of us liked it. “Why are you asking?”

“Because, in this… rather vulnerable form Felt Feathers is in, I can only enjoy his company for so long. You know the feeling, don’t you, Shimmer Shield?” He asked, suddenly calling into question the mortal problem of their relationship. Before Shimmer could roar at him for his insolence he continued, holding up a hoof as if to brush off anything she had planned on yelling at him. “I wish to have him in a state that is more durable. Conveniently enough, in his saddlebag is a book that should help him reach a decision on that subject. I’d like you to fulfil his wish, whatever it might be. Are we agreed?”

“Solaris, you act as if this is something that’s simple.” Cadenza breathed, stupefied that the elder alicorn would take something so life-changing in such a light tone, as if it was something that could be done over afternoon tea. “What you are asking for is a total altering of another’s physical being. Not only is it hard to do, it can cause serious psychological problems, especially if it’s against his better judgement. So far you say that you want this change, what about him?” He asked, gesturing at my stunned expression. “Does he truly want this? I mean, I’m sure he wants to live longer than a meagre hundred or so years, but does he have to make the decision right now?”

“I must insist that this decision is made as quickly as possible.” The alicorn badgered, pulling me closer to him. “He wants this, and I want this. I’d prefer something with a set of qualities that I’ve included in a piece of paper tucked in the cover of the book.”

“Please tell me that you simply aren’t serious.” Cadenza pleaded, seeing the pleading look on my face. “Anypony would advise against such a hasty decision, especially on a matter as important as-”

“Your advice is not what I came here for.” Solaris concluded suddenly, standing to leave. “Although it is not why I’m leaving, either. I am leaving because I have important business to attend to elsewhere, and despite the fact that Felt is very precious to me… I know that I must let others enjoy his company as well. I bid the ado.”

He trotted off almost as suddenly as he had entered, although in a much different standing with the loving couple he’d just alienated and left with his most precious servant. The two stared at the spot there he’d left the living room, and gradually I felt the force being exerted on me through the collar I wore fade. I could hardly believe the fact that he’d left me alone before I realized, with almost crushing certainty, that this was merely another clever endeavour on his part. He was wondering how others would react to me, and how much my very presence corrupted those around me. He’d already seen it cast a rift between Shimmer Shield and her husband in the brief time he’d been there, and the prospect of me spending an entire evening with them alone must have been too enticing for him to resist. The Light Prince knew I was trouble, and if I couldn’t find any my luck would do it for me.

After a few moments Shimmer Shield trotted over to me and took a seat one cushion over; giving me enough space to be comfortable, but close enough to me that I knew her goal in moving closer was of comforting the foal she saw sitting on her couch. Cadenza looked loath to move any closer to the pegasus he saw on the couch across from him, as if any emotional bonds with him would cause me to dislike him even more due to the charge Solaris had left him with. I personally felt no anger towards him, as I knew that Solaris was the one insisting on this change. The Light Prince had been the one to suggest it to Lune, and even give him the book, but Cadenza had the unfortunate job of being the proverbial executioner. I knew it was unfair to despise a pony based on them simply doing their job, so I could personally hold no grudge against him. Shimmer Shield brightened almost as much as I did as Solaris’ presence finally cleared out of the room, disappearing with the light breeze that blew through the living room.

“So, what’s your real story?” She asked, wanting to hear me speak for myself.

I cleared my throat, knowing that not speaking had rendered me quite hoarse. “It’s not all that eventful… I grew up in Cloudsdale, I moved to Ponyville when I realized I had skill as a masseuse. I wanted a nice, private, peaceful life, and I had one until Lune found me. We kind of fell in love, and now Solaris and him desperately try to express that they can’t live without me. One… much more differently than the other.”

“I want you to tell me if he did anything awful.” Shimmer Shield nodded. “I know he has a history of not being the best pony as far as personal space goes.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I whispered, just so that she could hear me, not her husband. “What he did… he doesn’t realize how much it hurt. This collar heals me faster than he can damage me, so he doesn’t realize how much my throat hurts when he… or my tail whenever he pushes in at all those terrible angles. I’m sure it feels great for him but… it’s agony.”

The mare merely put her hoof on mine and nodded understandingly. “I’ve had a few stallions before I met that great one over there that didn’t know how to treat their partners. He might not have the most sense in the world, but that’s where I come in. I might not be the most book smart mare in the world, but that’s where he helps me. We’re a team, in a way.”

“I wish that Solaris saw it that way.” I sighed. “I’m more his prized possession than his partner. Lune loves me as his other half, and he’s the most romantic stallion in the world when he wants to be, but he’s blinded by his older brother’s lies. Lune doesn’t know how his brother treats me, and Solaris doesn’t care how others see him. He only wants ponies to know that I’m his.”

We lapsed into a momentary lull, until it was broke by none other than Cadenza, who picked up the teakettle on the coffee table and poured himself another cup. He seemed inherently guilty as he glanced over at me, as if he was my executioner and I was the one he was to put down. The stallion sighed and tapped his hoof against the table before he spoke directly to me for the first time.

“I must ask that you forgive me.” He said, placing a hoof on the bridge of his nose. “You are so young, and what Solaris is asking me to do goes against every rule and moral code I hold myself to. Sadly, I have no choice in the matter, so either way it will happen. Frankly I believe that if I were to refuse then Solaris would attempt to do these complex spells himself, and thus remove any input on your part. Simply put, he won’t let you choose your body if he is the one doing the transforming. At least with me and Shimmer doing this there will be some sort of compliance… no matter how trivial the consensus is.”

“I was going to have to eventually.” I said, hoping it would relieve some stress he was under. “Lune wanted me to read the book in my saddlebag anyways, since we were thinking of a few creatures that I might do well as.”

Cadenza seized hold of my saddlebag and picked it up off the floor by the door, where I’d hastily discarded it when I’d arrived. He seemed to have no trouble lifting it whereas I’d struggled to merely get it off the ground. The stallion levitated it over to the coffee table and unbuckled the left bag, pulling the tome housed inside out so we could all see. He moved the tea set over as he set the book down, tracing a hoof over the cover. Something that I will never get over is how much alicorns appreciate books, and education in general. Knowledge was as to alicorns as nicotine was to chain smokers. The alicorn prince’s eyes lit up brilliantly as he opened the front covers, the leathers spine creaking as he did.

“This was written by StarSwirl the Bearded, you know?” The prince mused. “Quite the choice as far as anatomy books go. When he was young he wanted to be a doctor, and he made diagram/journals like this. Caught a lot of harsh glances since he had to dissect quite a few creatures. It was all solely for medical interest, but nopony thought medicine was an actual science back then.”

The stallion pulled a slip of paper that was neatly folded between the first page and front cover, opening the note that we all already knew was from Solaris. He read the whole thing, his eyes tracing over the lines until his expression sank from one of excitement to once of solemn acceptance. He threw the note behind him, where it caught fire and was consumed almost instantly. I blinked; whatever Solaris had wrote on that paper was obviously not what Cadenza had wanted to hear. He simply shook his head, hanging his head. Something was obviously weighing on his heart again.

“What did the note say?” I asked, fearing that answer. I found myself doing that quite often.

“There is a list of things he wants you to be transformed into.” Cadenza grumbled. “First and foremost he wants your choice of dragon species. Secondly, he’d like any creature from the third realm of Tartarus. Then he’d like a Changeling, and finally an Aquastrian. He doesn’t care about the order, but whatever Felt wants first. ‘Anything to make him more comfortable with the changes’ he wrote.”

“What’s the third realm of Tartarus? “ I asked, seeing Shimmer Shield blanche at the mention of the accursed place, often synonymous with damnation.

“It is where those judged to have committed crimes against the heart are sentenced, and are transformed into creatures according to their sentence. All of them are equally unpleasant.” Cadenza explained. “There are a few of note, though. The most pony-like of them are succubae, which I’m sure you know of. They feed on attention, specifically that of the sexual type. Then there are fleshsnappers, easily the least pony-like of them all. They are a strange type of creature made of mostly vines. They are the less attractive alternative to a succubus. All of the creatures in the third realm are similar in that they revolve around lust. The first realm is that of betrayers, and second being that of sloth. I hardly expected any different from Solaris to choose the third.”

Okay then… what about the dragons? Are there any my size?” I asked, praying that I could at least keep my bearings as far as height went.

“Of course.” Shimmer Shield answered, looking surprised that I’d even ask. “There are species of dragon that don’t grow any taller than a meter stick. Most of them are the long, thin variety, with body types akin to Discord’s. There are a few others that aren’t of that variety as well.”

We spent a long time talking about which would be the easiest to adapt to, and eventually we settled onto two options. Succubae, and dragons. Dragons were extremely easy to adapt to as they had all the same general anatomical features as a pony, unlike Changelings and Aquastrians. A succubus had many things different from a pony but mainly of the mental variety. A few of the differences revolved around the fact that they felt sexual tension, and fed off of it in much the same way a Changeling did off of love. Some had scales and tails, and others didn’t. Some had slitted pupils and others were indistinguishable from a normal equestrian. One disadvantage would be that I would undoubtedly be subject to a terrible amount of stress brought on by not only feeling the urges of others, but their innermost desires at all times.

At last we settled on an idea, but we decided that it could wait until later that evening, seeing as how I was already feeling sick to my stomach over how sudden this all was. I sat in an empty bathroom later that night, looking at myself in the mirror. My eyes had thick purple rings around them, not from lack of sleep, but the sheer stress Solaris had been putting me through. My feathers looked unkempt and shaggy, as if I didn’t have the energy to groom them. It saddened me to know that I, who used to take such pride in how groomed I kept myself, now looked like I couldn’t give a flying feather less about my appearance. I looked around, checking to see that the bathroom door was locked. Seeing that I was relatively safe, I turned back to gain a more detailed view of the bathing chamber.

The entire room was tiled with polished granite, a bright red-pink hue that blended well with the walls. Resting a hoof against the similarly lacquered wall I realized that everything in there was designed to avoid condensation that often resulted from extremely hot showers. It made sense, and as I leaned back against the bathtub I realized quickly that though this place was meant to be luxurious, it was also practical. I turned on the tap in the tub, running my hoof under the water until it was nearly scalding, then adjusting the temperature to something more comfortable. I wanted peace, time to come to terms with what was going on. I needed a place to meditate on this new body that I would be forced into, and that by the end of the night I would most likely be a dragon or succubus. Although it made me feel good that I’d be with Lune for much longer than my allotted hundred years, I knew that it would cause me no end of misery. That was all that ever resulted from anything that Solaris had a hoof in, and since I was his servant for life, and my life could last forever from this night onwards, I would have to serve the Light Prince for the rest of eternity.

I tried not to think of that, instead I slipped down into the water, letting out a held breath as the hot water met my hooves, then my coat as my legs went under. The porcelain tub was large enough that I could fill it to the top and have the water be up to my neck, and fit three full grown ponies easily. My delicate frame fit inside the space easily, and it didn’t take long for the water to reach my muzzle when I was laying down, head up at attention. I turned the faucet and let myself sink down into the water, until only my nose and ears were still exposed to open air. The entire bathroom was filled with a cloud of steam from how swelteringly hot I’d made my bath, and I felt myself drifting off as my senses melted away into the water. This was what I needed. A nice, relaxing moment to myself to collect my composure, groom myself, preen my own feathers again and think about what my next move was. Although I knew that Solaris would be livid, I could always sneak out of the happy couple’s apartment and go back to Lune’s chambers. The lock on the door recognized me already, and knew to let me in by the enchantment Lune had placed on it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. I know it sounds almost petty, in the wake of everything that’s befallen me, but I was still grateful that the ponies that I called my superiors allowed me moments like these. In a way I was grateful to Cadenza for letting me use his bath, and even more grateful to Shimmer Shield for defending my dignity in front of Solaris. She was a good mare, and although I knew that she wasn’t morally correct; nopony in Canterlot was, she at least knew the borders of plain decency and where it fades into debauchery. I lay there on my side under the water, my cheek resting against the cool porcelain and breath creating holes in the mist that clouded the bathroom. I wanted to lay there forever, where my muscles didn’t have to struggle, and my mind didn’t have to rebel against the pony that I called my master. There it was. I’d actually admitted that Solaris was my master. Lune was as well. Both of them owned me.

I winced at that. Indeed they did own me the same way one owns a pet, but how did I deal with that, now that I accepted those facts? Did I continue to rebel against Solaris, because his demands of me were what fit under my purview of ‘wrong’? Was I supposed to sacrifice my self-respect, my body and heart to him like I was expected? I’d resisted so far, and all it had given me was misery. Would I be happier if I gave in? All these questions flooded into my head, all in the wake of me finally coming to terms with the fact that Solaris, even though I hated it, was my master. He was my owner, one of four, and I owed everything I called my own to him, according to the definition of ‘servant’. Everything that I called my own was something of theirs that they had given to me, or that I’d carried over from my previous life. Even then, they allowed it to exist in their castle. Crushing truth told me that indeed, I should give up. The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous my frivolous will seemed.

As my mind came to terms with this it became clear where I sat on the hierarchy, and the prospect of surrendering at last seemed tempting. I simmered in that thought, the thought that maybe I could play Solaris’ game instead of reading the rules and looking for loopholes. His game always ended with him on top, and I beneath him, but that didn’t bother me as much as it did when I refused to accept that he was my master. I could actually think about that without cringing anymore. Solaris, Lune, Dusk Shine and Cadenza were all my masters. Come what may.

A knock dislodged me from my thoughts of catharsis, ringing around the bathroom loudly. I didn’t have time to open my mouth and shout before Sunset Shimmer unlocked the door with magic. It was all I could do to conceal most of my figure with a wing, my cheeks turning a bright scarlet. The mare blinked as if she couldn’t believe her eyes, her eyes tracing over my wings and chest before her horn lit up, closing the door behind her.

“Solaris is back again… he wants to know if we’ve transformed you yet.”

“So allow me to ask, as if my eyes do not function.” Solaris said, his voice laced with impatience. “In the few hours I left him here with you, you couldn’t even get him ready for the transformation?”

I looked down at my hooves, praying that I hadn’t landed Shimmer Shield in hot water. I was currently standing next to Solaris, who glared at Cadenza as he drew lines of runes on the floor. He had his wing over me, pressing me firmly to his ribcage as he watched the two work. Shimmer was drawing the straight lines with the help of measuring tape while her husband handled the more complex work, placing symbols where needed and arranging equal distributions of sulphur, ruby shards, incense and drops of what I could only think was some sort of acid, as it smoked and evaporated as it was exposed to open air. Thanks to Solaris’ return, I was no longer going to be a dragon. Instead he had chosen for me, and he’d favoured a certain creature from the third realm of Tartarus more than the scaled denizens of the mountains.

“I was the one who wanted to bathe before they changed me, don’t be mad at them.” I asked, speaking to him for the first time that evening.

He arched a brow at me, surprised that I had stuck my neck out for the couple. “… fine then.” He chuckled. “You two may work at your own paces, but he is still going to be a succubus. It’s part of a lesson I’d like to teach him about work ethic. Whose orders matter more, as well.”

“What are you hoping to accomplish with this?” Shimmer Shield asked, rolling up the measuring tape. “Why not a dragon, or a Changeling at least? An Aquastrian for Discord’s sake?”

“Because the punishment he is to receive for not obeying my demands immediately won’t work if he becomes any of those lesser creatures.” Solaris said, his horn flashing.

I felt something akin to the tip of a feather run down my loins, and I blushed intensely. Shimmer Shield realized that his glowing horn wasn’t for anything practical, and narrowed her eyes. He merely grinned at her as if to ask her what she could possibly do about it, the invisible touch I felt on my nethers becoming a stroke. I closed my back legs, but the sensation persisted. I looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to simply turn away to spare me the shame. She nodded at me and furiously turned, snapping her tail an inch from his muzzle. The light Prince shrugged and looked to me, his expression growing loving as he eyed my small frame, shivering as he stimulated me against my will.

“This is only a taste of what’s to come.” He whispered, kneeling to kiss me.

I allowed his lips to fasten around mine for a moment, which drug on into ten as he wrestled my tongue out of my own mouth, tracing his own over my tonsils. He separated and I gasped in air, the sensation of being stroked between my legs disappearing. He was either very eager to get me in the mood, or he was making an example of me in front of Shimmer Shield.

“We’re done setting up.” Cadenza informed, looking up at Solaris, then down at me. “Whenever you’re ready, go and stand in the centre of the design.”

I felt myself picked up and I yelped in fright, my instinctual fear of being levitated coming into full play as Solaris dropped me in the centre of the intricate circle Cadenza had constructed. Every single one of the points led to the circle where I stood, small ovals drawn where I should have placed my hooves. I arranged myself correctly, wondering why such things would be necessary for summoning a succubus if everything that I’d heard of them was fine. After all, no creature in good standing was affiliated with sulphur and acid. Before I could ask Solaris lit his horn, and I suddenly couldn’t feel my hooves anymore. I panicked internally, my pupils shrinking to pinpricks as pins and needles flooded my ankles, slowly creeping up my legs.

“Hold perfectly still, and don’s struggle. Please.” Cadenza asked of me, the look in his eyes haunted. Something told me that he’d done this before. “The transformation shouldn’t hurt, but remember that this might come as a shock at first, seeing yourself turning into something you’re not used to. Focus on my voice and remember that I did my best to keep your new body at least close to this one.”

“Thanks.” Was all I could manage to say without my voice cracking.

I honestly didn’t know what I expected, but the very first thing that I felt aside from pinpricks was something akin to silk being run over my skin. I blinked as my coat suddenly took on a strange, almost cloudy appearance, my legs remaining almost completely unchanged as the feeling passed. The only source of alarm that I felt came from the way my hooves were suddenly perfectly smooth, polished to an unnatural shine with the coat fading to a quintessential sky blue, softer than the imaginary silk being drawn over my body. I shivered involuntary, feeling my chest contorting in strange ways and ribcage shrink, shoulders reforming to a shallower slope. I wanted to scream as I realized that the one truly major difference was in my wings. The feathers were becoming a bright white, bright as clouded crystals. Something in my gut shifted and it suddenly felt as if my innards were disappearing, and my entire lower stomach suddenly felt hollow. The sensation of silk being drawn over me reached my loins at the same time it did my face, and all of the sudden my vision swam.

I couldn’t see for a split-second, but when I blinked my grey eyes I felt them constrict, adjusting to the amount of light in the room by narrowing to thin slits. My knees buckled, giving me no time to adjust to my new vision. I moaned loudly as I felt everything below my waist change, my stallionhood unsheathing and changing from a pink to a crystalline white, the same chalky pallor as my wings. I suddenly noticed that the same had happened with my hooves, as well as the tips of my ears, a tuft of fur on my chest, and at last the very end of my muzzle. My extremities were all fading from colour, and just when I thought it was over my tail began to change. I felt my ring tighten instinctively as it became something else entirely, every strand of hair coalescing to form a long, thin whip-like appendage that I could feel every inch of. I nearly fainted as the new limb moved as if to its own accord, waving left and right as if in direct tie to my whims. It was the same pale blue as my coat, and at the very end of the whip it faded to the same colour as chalk, mimicking what had occurred everywhere else on my body. The tail had no fur, but instead had almost indiscernibly small scales, the same frosty sapphire as my coat.

I blinked as I looked at my new body, ready to faint at how abrupt the metamorphosis had been. Solaris looked thoroughly amused at how shocked I seemed, and his eyes prowled my new form with hunger. I knew from that look that he was more than ready to explore this new body, even though I still couldn’t figure out how my tail worked. I shook from head to tail; taking inventory of everything I called a part of myself. I shifted my wings, feeling returning to them, my tail becoming almost painfully sensitive as I brushed it against the floor. It only took me a few moments to realize that it was almost as long as I was, and that I could possibly curl it around my own chest twice if I had a mind to. It was almost disturbingly agile, sleek and smooth as I twisted it around my back leg, getting used to the new limb. It didn’t reflect light very well, and didn’t have the glossy look that most scales possessed, but had the same way of moving, as if it was simply liquid flesh with no bones restricting its range of motion. While I occupied myself with finding my bearings with my new tail Cadenza looked to Shimmer Shield, nodding.

“That went much better than the last pony I used that spell on.” He observed, nodding. “I can safely say that you’re calmer under pressure than a trained guard.”

I smiled and moved to trot over to them, but my hooves refused to separate from the wooden floor. Solaris walked over to me, running his wing down my new body and breathing deep, a shudder visibly racking his frame. He wanted me, at that very instant. The collar around my neck erupted, demanding that I lift my new tail for him. I obeyed, looking at Cadenza and Shimmer Shield desperately. Cadenza avoided my eyes, but Shimmer Shield moved to help, taking a step forward before Solaris’ horn flashed, forming a barrier between us and her. I was powerless to help myself as he ran a hoof down my flank, admiring my new loins and how hairless they were, smooth skin meeting his hoof as he drew it down my sheath, licking his lips.

“Bend over.” He whispered into my ear. “Muzzle to the floor.”

I accepted his commands without thinking, my mind lapsing into survival mode. I was painfully aware of Shimmer Shield staring at me from the other side of the room, yelling her protests even though I couldn’t hear her. I decided that it wasn’t worth resisting, and as I offered my newly shaped flanks to Solaris I let myself breathe for once, my cheeks flushing at the thought of his massive member being crushed by my walls. I refused to think of my position, who was looking at me. I was only a servant, obeying my master’s orders. The Light Prince smiled and moved around in front of me, wanting foreplay before he bit my new tail, held it up over my head as he reamed me. He commanded me to crouch, so that he could stand over me. I obeyed, and he took two steps forwards, squaring his stance over my smaller stature.

I saw his stallionhood, slightly erect in its sheath. I felt every ounce of pent-up sexual tension in him, and I felt myself growing wet merely by laying my eyes on the semi-hard member. I wanted him, and he didn’t even have to pressure me before I laid my lips to his head, my tongue tracing over his crown, wanting nothing more than to hear him moan. Solaris grinned and pulled his entire member out of my mouth, displaying it plainly to Shimmer Shield, who gasped from the other side of the barrier in shock. He smiled at the whole scene, me prostrated beneath him in worship of his stallionhood, Shimmer Shield unable to look away from the two of us, Cadenza having left the room. He wanted her to see me, how much control he had over me.

I closed my lips over his member again, both wanting to hide it from Shimmer and also wanting to secretly see if I could take the whole thing without discomfort. To my content I was able to, and I could even breathe despite every inch of my throat being filled to the brim with his stallionhood. I began to learn from that point on that the body of a succubus was made for one single thing, and that was sex. Sadly for myself Solaris pushed himself inside me and came, petting my mane with a hoof. I moaned contentedly, wondering what else he would do with me. Once he was almost flaccid I released him, making sure that he was already in his sheath. I panted and blinked for more attention, wanting more from him.

Much to my disappointment he trotted away from me, leaving me quite desperate for more attention. His horn flashed and he left the room, leaving me there, crouching, now free but desperate for sexual release. I wanted something, anything between my legs. I was about to learn another harsh lesson about the anatomy of a succubus. Once a succubus was excited they had to be satisfied, or they were stuck in a state of permanent arousal. I reached down to stroke myself, but my smooth hoof provided almost nothing as far as friction went. My diminutive member simply slid across the polished surface, teasing me but promising nothing as far as release. I felt my eyes water as it consumed my mind, every instinct that I had burnt up in the flames of lust. I collapsed, attempting to garner stimulation by drawing my member over the floor. I almost shouted at how coarse the wood felt on my delicate skin, having burnt my crown as if it was made of hot coals. I needed a living being, something alive to stimulate me. To my horror Solaris’ will had ceased to come to me through my collar, and Shimmer Shield was no longer there. I whimpered, wrapping my tail around my ignored stallionhood and stroking it, providing me with the same stimulation that my hoof had provided. Whatever I used to treat myself wasn’t enough, but everything else hurt me. I burst into tears as my back legs shook, wet under my tail and desperate for relief.

I honestly don’t know how long I stood there, ashamedly facing the wall, unable to look over my shoulder for fear that Shimmer Shield or Cadenza would be there. I’d made a foal of myself in front of them. Besides that I was still shaking, my limbs refusing to be still even though Solaris had left what felt like hours ago. This was his punishment, for not obeying his orders as fast possible. He’d left me there, wanting more and unable to attain any relief. I’d tried everything, even using the smooth pillar that ran through the far side of the guest bedroom. Nothing pleasured me besides other living beings, and no amount of using my own hoof would give me any sort of release from this hell. I moaned again and sunk to the floor, my wings spread in an eternal display of excitement. I craved any sort of touch, no matter who it might have come from. Dusk Shine could have trotted into the room at that point and I would have tackled him, stroked him and taken him into me right there on Cadenza’s hardwood floor. The thought of that made me whimper; anything sounded amazing at the moment. I couldn’t care less if I had to make love to a Changeling; I needed sex like a wilted plant needed water.

The worst part was the burning in under my tail. Whereas it was bearable when I’d been a pony, it now felt as if an inferno raged inside me, scorching my taint and pulsing in my stallionhood. I couldn’t help but cry a bit, a single tear slipping down my cheek. This wasn’t just punishment, this was torture to a degree that it could be considered inhumane. Every inch of me was on fire, and I wanted nothing more than for somepony to save me from the nerves that bombarded me with pain every time my skin contacted something that wasn’t alive. Hung in limbo, I decided to try something else. I had enough control over my tail at that point to bend it in just the right places, so I tried something that I heard lonely dragonesses sometimes did with themselves. I curled my tail halfway down its length and turned it back towards me, pushing its limits as I fit the end of it to my delicate ring. I moaned as it pushed inside of me, falling on my back against the wall. It wasn’t the same as a real phallus, and it wasn’t large enough to get me off, but I could already feel my nerves firing less as I pressed it as deep as it would go, pain shooting through my waist to confirm that it was in as far as it could. I winced as I flexed it, feeling it moved inside my lower stomach. Although it wasn’t the perfect solution, it prevented me from grinding myself against anything softer than a pillow.

I’d been so occupied with my task of relieving myself that I hadn’t realized that Shimmer Shield ad entered the room. I closed my eyes and twisted my tail , flicking the end of it against my prostate in an attempt to get off that way. It didn’t work, but it made me feel better. I exhaled slowly as I set my tail to that task, glad I had some sort of relief. Shimmer Shield stared at me, both pitying the succubus on the floor in front of her and disgusted. It was her slight arousal that pulled me away from my task, and I suddenly realized that I wasn’t at all alone. I yelped, closed my legs and pulling my tail out as fast as I could. Every instinct in my body told me to jump up and ask her for relief, to beg on hooves and knees to let me at least borrow her hooves for a moment. I didn’t have to as she began talking.

“I know that you’re in a lot of pain right now, and that it’s taking you every ounce of will you have to not jump up and ask me for sex.” She said. “But I want you to know that… in light of what happened, I want to help.”

I abruptly became aware of a sweet smell in the air, magnified a thousand times by my succubus mind. It was her arousal, the slight odour of her wetness that I could detect. I fell forward onto my hooves, my chin almost grazing the floor and my flanks reaching skyward in a bow of obedience. The scent was hypnotic, and I found my mind clouding as it filled my senses. I wanted anything from her, so long as she would get rid of the pain and arousal that I alone couldn’t rid myself of. Another thing about her gripped me in her sway as well. I felt her tension, that she hadn’t had anything in a while. That struck me as strange, after all she did have a husband to take care of her needs as a mare. All those thoughts once again fell away as she sat her back legs down, turning her head away as she spread her stance just enough for me to catch a glimpse at her marehood.

“It’s fine, you have held yourself. Really.” She assured, although she was having difficulty unbending her pride in order to offer herself.

I shook my head, looking down at shameful excuse for a member. “I’m not even close to big enough… Cadenza’s probably three times my size. There’s no way I’d be able to give you turnaround… and you looked like you’re regretting this. I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to.”

“Well then…” She said, seeing my stallionhood for the first time as I exposed myself to her, spreading my back legs as I leaned my back against the wall. “I could always use my mouth, then. Have you ever pleasured a mare that way?”

I shook my head and she once again looked crestfallen. Something had to change here if this was going to work. I couldn’t in my right mind use her and not give her anything in return, that would make me just as much a monster as Solaris. I couldn’t stimulate her with my mouth because… I admittedly didn’t know much about the mare anatomy. Although I knew that the clitoris was the most sensitive part, I hadn’t the foggiest how to touch her, nor how to work up to it. After a few moments of thinking I heard a knock at the door, even though it was already open. I closed my back legs yet again as I saw Cadenza standing there, looking from me to his wife with an amused expression.

“Taking up my offer on the ‘get out of jail free’ pass?” He asked, winking at her. “It’s okay, I came in here for just the same reason. We haven’t been able to look at each other since I told you about that secret thing I prefer during, so I’m just as desperate. It would also seem that our friend here needs help as well, so it only makes sense that we come to an agreement.”

I almost had a heart attack, thinking that he was going to send me to Tartarus where I belonged. My blood pressure returned to normal as I relaxed, wondering just how he was planning to reach an agreement. I was desperate for either of them to touch me, and I felt myself almost soaking the floorboards behind me with how wet my ring was getting. He apparently noticed the smell of both of us, as he blushed lightly before he continued.

“I have an idea. Since he doesn’t know how to pleasure a mare, or much about mares in general, I vote that it should be set up to where he only gets relief for pleasuring my dear Shimmer Shield. We can get a round in, and the lad can learn about how he should treat a lady if he ever has occasion to.”

I nearly melted as something akin to an accent crept into his voice, making it seem more sultry than it already was. My back legs shook as I stood, stopping a moment to gather my bearings before trotting over to him. I buried my face in his chest, glad that he’d solved the problem, but eager to move onto the whole point of his visit. He merely smiled and his horn flashed, lifting up on the back of my collar ever so slightly. I gasped as his own will met the iron wall that was the succubus’ lust inside of me. Something immovable contacting something unstoppable. I knelt before him, shaking, just as he’d instructed me with his mind. I smiled and he ordered me to stand in the centre of the room, which I hastened over to faster than I’d even thought my hooves could carry me. Shimmer Shield smiled at how good her husband was at taking charge, and summoned a long-legged, high-backed chair for herself just as I stopped in front of her. Cadenza closed the door and locked it before he trotted over to us, the mare in front of me taking a seat while he eyed my flanks.

“I know you’re used to pleasuring a stallion as a pony, but remember that you are a succubus now.” Cadenza instructed as he ran a hoof down my flank comfortingly. “You can and most likely will hurt me if you aren’t careful. Your walls aren’t the same way they were when you were a pony. First and foremost is the fact that you don’t need to eat anymore, and anything you do eat is simply turned into energy for you. That means you must snack sparingly. That leads me to the fact that your digestive system is little more than two one-way passages. Since there is no waste left over when you eat, you needn’t use the area under your tail for anything other than sexual pleasure. The problem here is that you are now just as delicate if not more so than most mares and stallions, one under your tail and the other quite obvious. Do you understand me so far?”

Despite the fact that I was begging to be rutted, I absorbed the information, nodding my head. Leave it to an alicorn to make learning the more sensual thing possible. He grinned at my eagerness and slid his hoof underneath me, giving me a firm stroke for my obedience. I gave an effeminate gasp and lifted my tail, wondering if there was ever anything so amazing as his hoof sliding over my member, which twitched from the fleeting stimulation. He continued, obviously enjoying doing two of his favourite things at once.

“Moving on, the muscles inside of you are more than capable of hurting me by crushing my phallus, something you don’t want to happen if you want me to keep myself inside of you. Every time my wife gives me a nod I’ll thrust into you at a slightly faster pace, and I’ll do my best to his all the right spots.”

On cue Shimmer Shield spread her legs, revealing herself in plain view. I wet my lips, wondering how I would ever be able to pleasure something so foreign. If there was anypony I was willing to learn for it was Cadenza, so I merely nodded and she lit her horn. In the brief flash of light I saw that her labia was perfectly azure, the thick folds slick with her pre and glistening in the light cast from the instant of magic. The chandelier above us lit up with thousands of flickering flames, illuminating us in brilliant relief. I bowed my head down to her waist level, which wasn’t even stooping due to my already short stature. She nodded for me to continue, putting a gentle hoof on the back of my head. She petted my mane as I brought my tongue cautiously to her lips, wondering if I was doing something wrong when she didn’t respond. When I looked up at her for words of encouragement she had her eyes on Cadenza, smiling and biting her bottom lip.

I took her cue to continue until I felt Cadenza’s bright pink member touch the base of my tail, causing me to gasp and let my tongue slip past her lips, into her vulva. She inhaled sharply but merely nodded for me to continue, her eyes leaving her husband’s to pet my mane encouragingly, putting a little strength behind her hoof to pull my tongue upwards. I headed her commands and licked upwards, towards her clitoris. The mare gasped and I felt Cadenza part my ring, issuing a sharp gasp from me. I was prepared this time, and didn’t waver as much.

“Push with your lips as well.” She moaned, her breathing laboured. “It helps whenever you kiss the folds while your tongue does the work inside.”

Cadenza pushed himself inside me slowly, and much to my fascination did I not feel the slightest bit of pain. When I was a pony the first thrust was always the worst, but here I was, member already leaking a small rivulet of precum onto the floor as he pushed inside of me. I moaned and pushed my hips back on him, earning me a deep-throated moan from the stallion. I felt amazing as my wings spread open, my tail curling around his hind leg lovingly. I doubled my efforts at Shimmer Shield, sucking at her lips with my own while my tongue rolled over her clit, earning me her high-pitched squeaks and gasps of approval. Cadenza began to push back into me as I gained a rhythm, her clit beginning to wink at me as I diverted my tongue towards the base of her marehood, aiming to catch the thick lines of her pre with my mouth before they could slither down to the base of her tail. She seemed confused at first, but took it in stride as I ran my tongue over her labia, catching the last of the drops with my lips. Cadenza was thrusting into me at a steady pace, and I was beginning to whimper like a filly during her first time.

“Oh, Cadenza.” I moaned, shocked at how skilled he was drawing his crown and mid-ring over my prostate. “I’m so glad I have such great masters… especially you and Lune.”

With the last of my sentence I pushed myself back onto him, cementing his sack to my taint and coaxing a moan out of the larger stallion, a small jet of his pre leaking inside of me. I nearly fell to my knees but his horn was already flashing, keeping my legs held upright as his member glided over my smooth, rubbery walls, every point of contact like a hundred electric shocks to our loins. I couldn’t help but tighten as I returned my attention to Shimmer Shield’s clitoris, and I heard Cadenza exhale as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him.

“You’re such a good filly.” He grunted, his loins meeting my flanks with a wet slap.

I quickened my pace at his wife, not wanting to disappoint the stallion who was doing such a good job of pleasuring me. Shimmer Shield gasped as I used my bottom lip to part her fold, taking a hold of her clit and suckling at it gently, even letting it graze my teeth. She let out an airy gasp as I did, pushing my head into her loins with as much strength as she could muster. She nodded again, but Cadenza was already going as fast as his hips would allow him to. I could feel my own muscles tensing for an orgasm, but I knew that it hardly mattered what I wanted. This was their show, and I didn’t want to ruin their moment. I endured Cadenza’s rutting longer than I probably could have as a pony, sucking at Shimmer’s clit and using my chin to stimulate the lower region of her marehood, which she replied to me with even more strained gasps. I felt her clit winking frantically and folds clenching, the prelude to what I could only assume was her orgasm.

Cadenza finished with a few final, strong thrusts and moaned as he filled me to the brim, a stream of his seed leaking out of me and pooling onto the floor beneath us. As he finished he drew out and in, just enough to coax every drop of his load out. I wasn’t quite done yet, but all I had to do was reach up and touch myself once before I felt my walls clench around the alicorn inside me. Both Shimmer Shield and I let out a high-pitched whimper of joy as we came, thick helpings of her love coating my entire muzzle while my own love fell beneath me and coated my front hooves, even a small amount getting on my chest as I panted airily, wondering why this moment ever had to stop. Sadly, it did, and I felt myself growing flaccid again as Cadenza pulled out of me, soaking the entire floor around us with both my lubrication and entire ropes of his seed. I felt hollow all of the sudden, but extremely warm from the hot semen that still rested inside of me.

Cadenza’s horn flashed and the mess around us disappeared, conjuring a towel. He allowed me to wipe my flanks and muzzle with it, and I thanked him repeatedly for pleasuring me. Shimmer Shield insisted that she would be taking a shower, and trotted off in the direction of the bathroom. That left me and the stallion, who only regarded me with intense curiosity.

“You should be getting back to Lune.” He observed, noting that I didn’t move at his comment. “Perhaps you’re feeling even more conflicted than you already were, now that you’ve been pleasured by not two but three ponies besides the one you’re the partner of?”

I looked to the floor, nodding. He placed a wing over me, nodding as if he knew the feeling. “When I was a young colt I had just such a feeling with a number of mares. As it turns out, they knew about each other, and it was fine by their standards for me to pleasure them, so long as I did it dutifully and loved each of them equally.”

I mulled that over as I stealthily made my way back to Lune’s tower, wondering how I would falsify my latest excuse for my strange conditions of return. Or perhaps I wouldn’t even bother lying this time. Maybe it was time for the truth to come out. Of course it might have just been the afterglow, but I didn’t feel the need to lie to Lune anymore. I was the servant and part-time lover of three stallions and a mare, and for some reason that didn’t bother me anymore. If anything it made me want to tell him even more, to let him know that even though I had all those ponies I still loved him just a bit more than the others, although I would never admit it to them. I made up my mind as I stood at his door. I’d tell him why I wore this collar, and why I was now a succubus. It wasn’t worth betraying his trust any longer.

Foreboding

‘Dear Felt Feathers, I know that it is very short notice, as you have only been here for a week, but I find myself in a rather unsavoury situation convincing Griffonia that I am no longer a threat to them after my transformation into Nightmare Moon those many years ago. They still have an unofficial holiday to shun my name, so I must go there and prove that I am diplomatically worthy by being amiable in their presence. Dusk Shine and Cadenza should take good care of you while I’m away, and I have a feeling that Solaris and I need to have a talk about you and your terms of service. I will go over all of that in two days when I return, but remember that you needn’t do anything you don’t feel comfortable with to please anypony. You might be a servant, but you are a servant to the noblest beings in existence, and you still have dignity, no matter what anypony might say. If you feel the need to have a few hours by yourself, you have my full permission to enter the tower of your own accord.

With my love,

Lune’

I set the note back on the knocker where I’d found it, wondering what I would do. I’d prepared a long speech to Lune about how he needn’t rip his brother in half for his misdeeds, and explain how Cadenza and Shimmer Shield had helped me in my hour of need. Now everything I’d been thinking about on the trot across the castle was wasted, and I would be forced to wait another few days before I spent the night with Lune again. Although the thought of being without the stallion left me with a sour taste in my mouth and a hole in my heart, I knew that Dusk and Cadenza were more than capable of occupying me in his absence. Dusk would probably have me help him reshelf his library and Cadenza would most likely give me some task relating to his job as warden of the Canterlot dungeons. If anything he’d have me doing release forms and other paperwork. I could ask if either of them had a vacant bedroom I could set up in for Lune’s impromptu vacation.

I turned to see a guard, who’d stopped while I’d been reading to stare at the creature he’d found. He regarded me with slight fear, his bright green eyes locking onto my own grey, cat-like ones. His gaze flitted to my tail and my unnaturally smooth coat, my mane that hung down to my mid-knee. I looked like something out of a fairy tale in his eyes, and by the way that he took a step back, I most likely didn’t strike him as anything to let trot around the castle unmonitored. Right before he turned and ran he caught sight of my collar, the shining brass buckle that rested on the back of my neck. The moment he saw the two prince’s Cutie Marks that spanned the bridge from my neck, he relaxed. Apparently if I had the official royal seal of approval I needn’t worry about guards, because without a word he turned and trotted calmly down the hall, as if I was no more than another royal pony.

I blinked and turned in the direction of Solaris’ tower. I wanted to know if Dusk had space to spare. He and I had gotten off on the wrong hoof before, and I didn’t want him to think of me as too dependent, seeing as how he’d only ever seen me in the presence of Lune or Solaris. His impression of me was probably that of any other moonstruck colt, incapable of having a spine around those he was enamoured with. In all honesty I wanted to know if that was the case, seeing as how he’d only ever seen me with one of the other alicorns. I could imagine no worse a mark on my pride than to be held as somepony who couldn’t act independently. Not only that, but I’d gravely insulted Dusk on both the times that we’d met. First I’d told him off in front of Lune, and on the other I came to him with an enchantment that he couldn’t hope to break. The stallion probably associated me with trouble by then. Every time I’d spoken to the antisocial alicorn had been because I had to, and never merely to enjoy his presence. The only times I’d ever gone to the prince had been because I had to, and never merely to enjoy his presence. In no way did I want Dusk to see me as needy, nor did I want him to think that we couldn’t be friends.

I knocked on the door to Solaris’ tower, knowing that I would be in for an almost inescapable row with the elder prince. He would know the moment he opened the door and I wasn’t on my hooves and knees, begging him to rut me to sleep, that somepony else had generously assisted me in my succubus-esque troubles. His punishment for not fulfilling his orders immediately had been cruel, but nonetheless effective, and now I had little choice but to accept his advances. Just thinking about it made me weak in the knees, and my tail shifted to the left almost involuntarily at the prospect of offering myself to one of my masters. I shook my head, hoping to dislodge the thought from my head. I couldn’t get aroused anymore, otherwise I’d have no choice but to seek out somepony to satisfy them. It was a strange, servile need that grew in my chest every time I thought about another. I always thought of how I could please them, be it with simple company or the urges of the flesh. I kicked my hoof against the solid obsidian doorframe, almost cracking the glasslike rock. If I had been a pony, it would have chipped my hoof. Luckily for me the brief jab of pain was enough to take my mind off of the thoughts crowding for attention in my newly formed mind.

Although in the half a day I’d been a succubus hadn’t given me much time to adjust, I was beginning to notice things about my new body that weren’t very apparent at first. Besides the obvious physical changes, there was the fact that I no longer felt any semblance of hunger, nor did any other urge for sustenance cross my mind. All I needed was others; other ponies seemed to satisfy a part of me that I previously hadn’t even known to exist, all through simply noticing me and through their thoughts. Strangely enough I felt more nourished and healthy at that moment than the whole week before. I was brimming with energy from Cadenza and Shimmer Shield’s generosity back at their home, and admittedly the idea of feeding on emotions of adoration and affection didn’t appal me as much as I thought they would. It was almost as if simply being appreciated kept me alive and well, and although sexual release was the most delectable, gracious delicacy, I knew that I could exist solely by knowing that a number of ponies loved me.

Another strange facet of myself is that I felt… peculiarly aware of myself. Sometimes I felt as if I could see myself from a few feet away, as if I could trot a few steps back from my body and get a better view of how I truly looked in this situation. Besides this, I was almost constantly noting how absurdly delicate the transformation had rendered my body. I knew that I was technically sturdier than before, being a supernatural creature whose hooves were almost as hard as stone, but it was as if every single follicle of fur on my coat had nerves that were always firing. The wind on that particular day was absurdly light, and any normal pony wouldn’t even notice the draft. I on the other hoof felt every single displaced hair on my mane, and the breeze seemed to caress my wings delicately, as if urging me to take a moment for myself and stretch them by flitting about the rotunda. On a more embarrassing note I felt every light shift in my loins, even the smallest sway of my tail rubbed my ring in a way that made my breath quicken.

As I mused over all of these things I heard a pair of hooves approach the other side of the door, grumbling about not ordering anything and wishing to be left alone. It wasn’t Solaris’ voice, and there was only one other pony that had open access to the prince’s tower. I composed myself, brushing my mane behind my ears and arranging my wings against my ribs before the door opened, revealing Dusk Shine. He looked as if he’d just rolled out of bed, with a bright purple nightcap on his head and slippers on his hooves. His expression changed from annoyed to puzzled almost immediately, seeing the strange creature that looked queerly familiar on his doorstep.

“It’s me, Felt… Lune’s away, so I came to see you and Solaris. I was wondering if maybe you had some room for me?” I asked, blinking up at him hopefully.

He looked me over, then shook his head. At first I thought he’d turn me away but he opened the door wider before saying. “I know better than to ask. It’s like every time I see you there’s something else you’ve managed to get yourself into, anyways.”

I pondered the accuracy of that statement as I trotted in, wondering briefly why he’d be asleep before I realized that he was new as an alicorn. Most alicorns, after a number of years, simply never slept as they didn’t feel the compulsive need to. Dusk on the other hoof was still rather used to sleeping a solid eight hours a night, and seeing as how it was nearly six in the morning, it made sense that he was still in bed.

“Solaris is in his study, by the way.” Dusk added as he closed the door and fell into stride beside me. “He gets… lost sometimes. Mumbling to himself and making potions for no other reason than to test his skill. He told me not to let anypony in to see him, so if you could just leave him be...”

I nodded, signalling that he needn’t explain. Solaris had his own problems, that much was apparent. If he needed a few moments, or hours, to himself he needn’t explain. I knew better than to pry into the immortal’s affairs at that point. Dusk led me down a hall and into a large library, fastidiously arranged in order across thousands of shelves. A moss green carpet offset the maroon walls as Dusk took a seat at the desk, pulling out a pencil and opening a book to a marked page. I admired the differences between Solaris’ library and Lune’s, with one being organized by subject and with neatness being negligible, but with another valuing neatness as a virtue and being organized strictly by decimal system. I turned my attention back to Dusk, who looked annoyed as he gnawed at the pencil’s eraser. His brow furrowed for another moment before he quickly wrote down a word, then returned to staring pointedly at the seemingly normal page.

“So Dusk, what’re you reading?” I asked, trotting up on the other side of the desk.

“It’s a book written in Tartarian.” He grumbled. “See, the letters are constantly in flux, just the same way draconequi language works. It’s meant to only be read by those who embrace madness, but a sane pony can always pick out a word or two if they’re diligent. You just have to wait for them to slip up and align.”

“The page looks perfectly normal to me.”

He looked at me as if I’d just said the sky was green. “Truly? That would mean you’re either mad, or you’re from Tartarus. Which one?”

“Long story short… Solaris had me turned into a succubus.” I confessed, scuffing a hoof against the carpet. “I was going to be a dragon but he got a little impatient, and so… yeah.”

“So you can read this, then!” The scholar clapped his hooves jubilantly. “That’s great! Well, not for you, since you’re… well, a creature from Tartarus, but that bodes very well for this research. Speaking of which, Solaris assigned me to do this for him and… it’s about succubae. I supposed that isn’t a coincidence, huh?”

“Most likely not.” I said, sighing. Of course Solaris would have his student learn everything he could about my species. It didn’t fit in the eldest prince’s mind to not know everything about me and my new anatomy.

“Well… just read aloud, and I’ll copy whatever you say down.” Dusk said, opening a drawer and retrieving a few more inkwells and quills. “It’s actually a good thing that you happened along when you did. I was about to give up on this whole thing. That was the whole reason I’d gone to bed, to get away from this. Solaris came home last night saying nonsense under his breath, but I managed to catch him saying something about how he needed to make sure you stayed here forever. I don’t know why Lune and Solaris think of you as so valuable… but just remember that he has his reasons.”

“I know he has reasons, he simply has yet to explain them.” I scoffed, turning the book towards myself. “If he could do that at any point now it would be great. Not that I’m upset at him, but it would put my mind at rest to know that turning me into his supernatural pet dependent on everypony else’s attention to keep myself alive had some good justification.”

“I could explain it to you, actually.” Dusk elucidated. “After you read this section, though. I’ve been working on this for two days, just staring at the page. Do me this favour and I’ll tell you whatever you need to know about Solaris.”

I took a deep breath before I started reading, stumbling a bit over the strange red font. “The succubus is one of the trademark creatures from the third realm of Tartarus, due to its intrinsic association with carnal activities. Many cults revolving around these creatures exist, worshipping them and some even choose to become members of this odd species. At first glance it may be hard to understand why one might want to become one of these odd beings, but one needs only to do a few moments of research to realize how these creatures may just be the most curious in all Tartarus. For a start, one can see the simple differences between a normal pony and a succubus, seen in example ‘a’ to the left of this paragraph. Apart from these easy to spot abnormalities, a succubus has many internal features that make them different from mortal ponies.

To start, succubae do not have any sort of digestive system short of an extremely advanced stomach capable of extracting sustenance from almost any edible substance. Due to the fact that they can consume very nearly anything for energy, with no leftover by-products, this negates the need to have an excretory tract. In both genders of succubae the anus leads to a body cavity that is surrounded by strong bands of muscle and erogenous tissue, since this opening is rendered relatively purposeless except during certain forms of intercourse, which is what gives succubae energy in its most satisfying form. In both genders the reproductive organs are always extremely smooth, hairless and tend to be brilliantly coloured compared to the rest of their bodies. Females are known to be able to grip a mortal pony’s phallus with extreme strength during intercourse, in order to keep their prey from escaping. Males are gifted with similar traits due to their repurposed digestive tract, as listed above.”

Dusk Shine had a brilliant blush on his face as he wrote, and I wondered immediately if I should stop. I myself was struggling to keep my composure as the book was getting into more detail. The stallion in front of me shook his head and waved a hoof, signalling that I should continue. I sighed and wondered why I had to be the only one who could read something so unabashedly uncensored.

“A strange chemical reaction occurs during intercourse with any flavour of succubae, which has a number of effects. Upon contact with the bare skin of a mortal pony, any liquid excreted from a succubus will cause a number of symptoms to manifest. Firstly, the liquid acts as a potent aphrodisiac that can render a pony lucid in half a minute, lowering inhibitions and in some cases causing problems with coherent thought processes. There are no side effects to taking too much of this odd chemical, and isn’t believed to consist of elements that have yet to mark a place on the periodic table. It is habit-forming on a psychological level, as the equine body has yet to display the ability to physiologically graft it into its chemical makeup. Despite this the most extreme caution must be exercised around the chemical as it had been known to form psychological dependency from first contact.

Another characteristic that makes a succubus a successful hunter is an odd herding instinct is forces on anypony it engages with. Through means unknown, it affects those around it in a way that promotes teamwork in order to protect the creature. This can not only allow a succubus to have more than one partner at a time, but get them to coexist with one another for its welfare. This has been observed in both male succubae and females, though the female had a harder time getting her prey subjects to agree amongst each other. Thought not observed at this time, a succubus can believably have relations with other species other than ponies with the same effect. The one exception will probably be griffons, due to their natural immunity to magical influences. There was once an incidence of a succubus having relations with twenty different dragons, but had been unable to escape them with disastrous results. Due to the obvious differences between the size and strength of a pony and a dragon, the succubus was taken away due to extreme risks to its physical well-being.”

Dusk set his quill down as I finished the page, turning the book around to face him. “I can’t keep doing this. If I get any more… intrigued I won’t be able to calm down again. Can we keep reading later?”

“I think so.” The alicorn nodded, closing the book. “I supposed you’d like to know about Solaris now?”

“Of course.”

“Well, before I get into my whole theory as to why Solaris did this to you, I have to say that this is only best guess. It is all merely conjecture on my part. With that said, I do believe that he doesn’t want to have to say goodbye to you the same way he had to with Matinee, who died almost a hundred years ago. She was the mother of Cadenza, and he loved her quite dearly.”

I winced as the stallion’s logic crashed over me, washing away the previous subject like a sandcastle in a tidal wave. His theory vastly contrasted with the research he was just doing, and it felt like a cold bucket of water had been dumped over me. It had never occurred to me that Solaris had faced the death of somepony he’d most likely held to be his soul mate, or that he would hold me in the same light.

“Now, before you say the obvious, allow me to flesh out this theory.” Dusk extrapolated. “Firstly, magic wasn’t where it is now back then, and the only way he could have kept her alive longer than her body permitted her to was to take her soul from her and put it into something else. She morally rejected that, and accepted her fate as a mortal, seeing a how all mortal things die. He on the other hoof, didn’t. He wanted to keep her alive as long as possible, until the magic was at his disposal to change her into something truly immortal. He desired to be with her forever. After all, she sired his foal and loved him dearly for her whole life. He watched her slowly age while he stayed healthy, young. Cadenza had to watch this as well, and Solaris kept their immortal qualities from him until he could no longer lie to his son. Matinee would die, and there was nothing that they could do to help her without her rejecting them. He respected her too much to go against her wishes, so… as he sat by her deathbed she told him to move on. She passed, and he was left alone.

Now we can jump back to the present. Half the reason that he lost Matinee was because he didn’t have the will to go against his mate, seeing as how she had moral quarrels over his solution. This time he’s going to make his lover, you, become immortal, with or without your permission. He wants what he wants, and he won’t make the same mistake again. He treasures you in the same way he treasured Matinee, you have her eyes by the old paintings I’ve seen of her. You have all the characteristics of her, the same thought process, the same odd Cutie Mark. This time… he isn’t going to let you slip through his grasp. A pony that meets all of his expectations comes along only once every thousand years, and he wants you to stay. If he’s forcing obedience on you it’s most likely because he wants to keep you safe. This might seem ridiculous, but those who don’t know to listen to those in control oftentimes meet terrible fates. He probably wants to get you used to obeying him because he needs to keep you loyal, close and most importantly happy with your position as his servant. Those who are unhappy wander, and the lamb that strays is most susceptible to be picked off by the wolves.

To finish it off, I just have to say that he treasures you in the same way any other pony treasures any indulgence. He keeps you hidden away from other ponies he doesn’t trust, and keeps you from straying into unsafe territory by doing what he thinks will keep you happy in the long run. If you’re content you won’t feel the need to go out into the places he thinks may ultimately spell the same ending to this story as Matinee’s. He’s already lost a soul-mate, and he’ll keep you in a box to keep from losing another. In his opinion this part of the castle isn’t a cage to keep you in; it’s a bastion to keep you safe in his realm, where time itself can’t hurt you. He’s doing his best to make you a constant amongst all these variables in his life. Do you understand?”

I nodded numbly. I’d never bothered to see it that way, and although it scared me that he was trying to micromanage almost every facet of me and my life, it was all strangely… romantic. I suddenly had another filter peeled away from my image of Solaris, and I could see him just a bit more clearly. He was doing his best to prolong my existence, by separating me and putting me in an environment that he knew would be safe for me. He secretly trusted Lune and Cadenza, otherwise he wouldn’t allow them near me. He hadn’t wanted me to be miserable, that was merely a small, temporary factor in all of this. I’d grown to like his odd way of expressing his love, and although it bothered me, I accepted that he was merely doing his best to keep me away from anything that had even the smallest possibility of harming me. It was all about control over my surroundings, not my own person. If he intervened with my free will it was to practice for the occasion that would inevitably arise later in which I forced his hoof. He would act in the interest of my continued existence, whether I liked it or not. Anything else was malefactor. He wanted me to know that he could, and that I should trust his judgement if he ever did commandeer my freedom of choice.

“Thanks… I suppose.” I muttered, leaping down from my seat. “I want to talk to him now.”

“He doesn’t want to be bothered!” Dusk called after me, only just getting up as I was almost halfway to the door. “Besides, the door to his study is locked.”

“He’ll answer.” I stated, opening the door. “Besides, I’m sure I can use some of my lovely persuasions on him. He hasn’t been able to resist them yet.”

I closed the door behind me and trotted down the hall, hooking a left. I used my collar as a strange sort of dowsing rod, sensing when his will was stronger at points throughout the tower. Eventually I tracked the room down and approached the door, a rich redwood façade with a golden doorhandle. I was about to knock before I heard voices from within, speaking in troubled mutterings and reassuring consolations. I pressed my ear to the door, suddenly glad for my far-improved hearing. I heard Solaris speaking first, in a tone that suggested sorrow.

“These punishments I’ve been issuing to Felt… they are doing a good job of convincing him of my supremacy, but it is doing nothing for the other ponies. Not only that, but I’m still his least preferred alicorn by far. He accepts my authority, but he doesn’t trust me. I can’t keep him here if he ceases to love me altogether, and if he neither loves me nor trusts me than I simply can’t in good conscience keep him here against his will.”

Another voice met my ears, unnaturally smooth and oddly soothing. It spoke of eternal wisdom and understanding. It also had a satirically amused tone to it, as if laughing in irony.

“Look Solaris, you came to me under the agreement that we both couldn’t allow him to end up like your last mate. Thusly, we came to an understanding that he should not only love you, but trust you in all things. He doesn’t trust you, but you know he does love you in the same away a servant loves all his masters. So… all you need to do is switch your approach now that we have the main enemy vanquished. Time will no longer be a burden, and I think with the latest punishment you’ve successfully demonstrated your ownership over him to Cadenza and Shimmer Shield. All you need to do is convince Lune to coexist as mutual joint owner of Felt Feathers, and then you are free to take this cold, unfeeling mask you wear off. Once he understands your true motives towards maximizing his longevity, and thus your time to love him as you truly want to, he will understand, and then he’ll come to you. You needn’t worry about the loss of another good mate, and then you can live happily ever after with him. After due compensation for me, of course.”

“Discord… I’ve trusted you thus far, I even let you enchant that collar I gave him… but what is it that you want from me? So far you’ve only given me vague hints and cryptic clues towards what it is that you’re helping me for. I need to know if I’m to fulfil your demands.”

“If I told you now you’d think I was lying.”

I backed away from the door, struggling to keep my hooves silent. My mind struggled to fathom why he would partner with the spirit, of all the ponies that he could have trusted. I knew that Discord was more than capable of understanding and sympathizing with Solaris, but why help him? They were supposedly enemies, each one being the other’s antithesis. I pressed my ear to the door again, eager to know just what would prompt the draconequis to help his paradoxical partner.

“I want something very simple, Solaris.” Discord muttered, in a manner that allowed me to imagine him, floating and wringing his claws worriedly. “You say Felt, this colt, can understand and empathize with anypony he touches… I’d simply like to know if he understands my wants.

I sat in Dusk’s chambers a few hours later, curling my tail around my back leg. No matter how many times I grazed the smooth scales of my tail over myself I never could get used to the texture. It was a vague attempt to quiet the thoughts running through my head, in the same way normal ponies would twirl their manes or drum their hooves. The conversations I’d overheard that morning still echoed vaguely in my head. I repeated Solaris confessing that he didn’t feel comfortable punishing me so harshly over and over, piecing together that perhaps all of the ideas for reforming me into the perfect servant hadn’t come from him. The idea that Discord had a claw in this odd mental renaissance of mine shifted the paradigm again, away from the prince and onto the spirit. What was the full extent of his influence, and how much did they trust each other?

I couldn’t help but feel as if Solaris was keeping something from me, hiding some essential facet of himself that he, for some reason, was keeping a secret. There were still holes in the narrative, complications that had yet to be resolved. When did Solaris seek the help of Discord? Was it even before when we first met a week ago, when me and him had our first encounter? Or was this extremely recent, and his plans were only now taking the form of something he could justify? I didn’t know, nor did Dusk. When I asked him he merely shrugged, saying.

“If you tell an unruly foal not to wander off, then what does it want to do?” The alicorn had stated rhetorically. “He views you as young and unlearned, like an older stallion would view a colt. Instead of just telling you ‘don’t wander off’ he’s psychologically reinforcing it in your head to listen to him and his judgement. I know that sounds a bit base, but it is what he’s doing, all things aside.”

Now I sat on his couch, wondering if I could possibly approach Solaris with my theories. I needed to know the truth behind his reasoning. There couldn’t be this ambiguity and these grey areas where the details and lines between right and wrong were skewed. It bothered me in a way that led me to believe that there was a method to his madness, a strange, perhaps corrupt pattern to all of this. Dusk knew that he was doing this for the sole sake keeping me protected, and to reinforce his word as justified. I wanted to hear it from the stallion himself, though, as he was the one that my current situation pivoted around. The one pony that was causing problems was him. Without Solaris’ disquieted outlook on my tendencies to wander where I wasn’t bidden, all would be quiet in the royal wing of the castle. I would go about my day as the servant of the royal alicorns, and I would be free to be happy in the walls that I called both my new home and proverbial cage. I couldn’t leave here without another alicorn, otherwise I would be in for punishment I could scarcely imagine from Solaris.

I sighed and rested my head on one of the pillows Dusk had generously let me use. It smelled strongly of the shampoos he used on a daily basis, and a slight trace of something else. I couldn’t put my hoof on it at first, so I merely buried my muzzle in the silky comforter, hoping to sleep off the rest of the day. Unluckily for me I’d have no such luck. The sweet aroma that I’d been unable to realize at first suddenly grew more potent as I breathed into the stuffing through the pillowcase, and my tail whipped sharply against the cushion of the couch. The marvellous scent I was picking up through the case was that of the stallion’s lonely nights in bed. I blinked and pulled my head away from it, not wanting to invade his privacy further. Before I could think rationally I threw the pillow across the room onto the other couch, my ears flattened like an upset feline. My entire body bristled at the scent; every instinct rebelled against the thought of Dusk feeling so alone that the only company he could seek was his own. It both appalled and saddened me that such a smart, insightful and thoughtful stallion would ever feel neglected. I seized another pillow from the other end of the couch and breathed deep its scent, wanting my senses purged of the smell.

Luckily this one, looking almost like an exact clone of the other, didn’t have the faintest trace of the liquids my body was so attuned towards. The whiff I’d gotten off of the other comforter could have been from weeks ago, when he first came to the castle. That made it easy to block out, but there was something else about it I found troubling other than its age. Dusk Shine, as far as I knew, was a perfectly cool, collected individual that had no outstanding preferences when it came to relationships. Why would he be so desperate when he was not only a prince, but perfectly likable and attractive? It puzzled me until I realized that something must be off. Perhaps it was somepony else’s, or a mixture of his own and somepony else that he’d let sleep there. I knew that wasn’t the case, though. Dusk as far as I could tell gave me no signs that he was attracted, even remotely, to males. I also knew well the scent of femininity, as I myself produced it during my more carnal activities, and I’d also bathed my tongue in it a mere sixteen or so hours previous thanks to Shimmer Shield’s generosity. With both of those observations I could conclude that the first option was unlikely, and the idea that it was a mare’s love was nearly impossible.

So it was his. Which led back to the question of why Dusk couldn’t find a suitable partner. Something was obviously amiss with the stallion, and by my experience with alicorns their problems weren’t always as easily understood as they seemed. I stood and trotted down the hall to his bedroom, where the fireplace sat, the only source of heat in his chambers. The purple carpet cushioned my hooves as I shut the door, not wanting him to come back and see me snooping. Admittedly I felt bad for it, but I knew secretly that I would most likely come to figure private things out about him anyways. After all I’d be spending eternity with the stallion. I turned and started with the most obvious place, his closet. I turned on the light to find little but formal attire, with the occasional winter sweater. I nodded and shut the light out, moving quickly to his desk. I didn’t notice anything to be amiss until I found a small notebook tucked away in the back of the table, behind a few inkwells and quills. I picked it up and flipped to the first page, wondering what could possibly be in store. I read a few lines before I knew for sure that it was merely a journal, and thus had no real merit in my inquiry.

One long search of his room later, I was coming back out blank. He had something inside that was keeping him from getting a suitable partner. I felt that it my hollow bones. Yet somehow in all his notebooks, journals, papers and essays he didn’t betray anything that would mark him as any different from any other pony. Something was peculiarly off about him, and it bothered me that I couldn’t understand the stallion any better. I was left with one final solution. Luckily, just as I laid back down on the couch, he trotted in. He had a few books and some celery sticks he was munching on as a snack, levitating them onto the table before looking over at me. I did my best to look innocent. Admittedly, it wasn’t very hard to fool him as almost immediately his expression softened at my round grey eyes.

“So, what did you do while I was gone?” He asked, taking out a celery stick and enjoying a bite.

“Not much.” I muttered, shrugging. “Can I ask you something personal, Dusk?”

“What would that be?” He asked wearily.

“Well, I couldn’t help but notice that nopony else really comes through here. I mean, you’re a perfectly amazing, brilliant stallion and somehow you don’t have anypony who visits you or comes by simply to say hello. I can’t pick up the scent of anypony else but you throughout your entire chamber. Why is that?”

His brow furrowed as if I’d hit a nerve. “That’s a bit personal, don’t you think?” He retorted.

I blinked and did my best to shrink into the couch, slouching my shoulders and pressing my wings to my sides. I’d known it would be a delicate subject, but I’d needed something to take my mind off of Solaris and Discord. I tapped my hooves together, wondering how I could possibly regain his favour.

“I just wanted to know because I always kind of thought you were nice.” I said meekly. “And all the other alicorns have a certain special somepony. Even Solaris and Lune share me, after all. I wanted to know if… you had somepony. You’re always sort of antisocial and lonely, and I know we didn’t get the best first impression from one another, but you’ve come through for me more than once. So, naturally seeing that nopony visits you, I wanted to ask.”

“You’re asking if I have a partner?” Dusk Shine asked.

“In a roundabout way, yes.”

He bit his bottom lip before he sighed, shaking his head in a negative. “No. For a lot of reasons that I’d really rather not talk about. You have your answer, now leave it.”

He turned and picked his things up, trotting off down the hallway. I jumped up and followed him, my curiosity not quite sated. He saw me and turned around quickly, throwing his things onto his bed and hurrying to shut his door. I slipped in as he closed it, smiling and curling my tail around my hooves like a cat. I knew he was irritated, but I had to know why. Something about him being alone upset me in that rare way that struck me as naturally wrong. He blinked and stared down at me, his eyes burning holes into my own as he willed me to disappear. I simply stayed put, pressuring him for an answer. In retrospect I probably struck him as quite stubborn.

“I have… tastes. Which can’t be satisfied by most.” Dusk conceded, turning to avoid my gaze. “It’s more a… a fantasy, really.”

I jumped in front of him, smiling eagerly with the tip of my tail twitching like a feline ready to pounce on its prey. “Go on.” I implored encouragingly. “No need to keep it a secret from somepony you’ll be seeing the rest of your life.”

He scratched a portion of the carpet with his hoof as he struggled to keep his composure. “Well, I prefer certain traits that aren’t found very often in ponies. Only a few possess these, and I find them very attractive. It’s merely a factor of limited options, I assure you.”

“What sort of traits?” I asked.

“Well… I like…” He coughed, blushing. “I can’t really say.”

“Oh, come on Dusk.” I begged. “I’ll give you anything you want if you’ll just tell me.”

“… I like a very effeminate pony, that looks exactly like you do, but… who I know wouldn’t be disgusted with me if I told them about this fantasy I have. You’re already obligated to Lune and Solaris, and it involves some… implications, that will most likely be detrimental to keeping the whole thing a secret unless you didn’t have to move around for… at least a day or so. It’s really embarrassing, Felt. Not to mention that most ponies would think it’s… nauseating.”

“I swear if you only tell me, I won’t breathe a word to anypony. I’d sacrifice my new tail before I told another soul.” I swore, wary of the answer by then but too committed to finding the truth to back out.

“Well… are you familiar with a Cockatrice’s reproductive cycle?” He asked, staring pointedly into my eyes to gauge my reaction.

I blinked, wondering what in the world he would be asking that for. He smiled at my dumbstruck expression and tapped a hoof on the desk, his wings shifting excitedly at the thoughts I’d pulled forth from him. I’d awoken something inside of him, an admiration that bordered on obsession. I knew immediately that the question that I’d put to him had an answer that I really shouldn’t have pressured him for. It was too late, however, as he was already on the subject thanks to my meddling. I braced myself, knowing this would be equally revolting and disgustingly intriguing.

“It’s the most beautiful, trusting thing, Cockatrice reproduction.” He started, trotting over to a chalkboard I’d previously not noticed in the far corner of the room. “The beauty of it is that there are no male or female Cockatrices. They consist only of one gender since their entire species relies on ponies to complete their reproductive cycles, see?”

I began to draw a very detailed anatomical diagram of a Cockatrice with its wings spread, both from the side and facing the viewer. He also included an extremely close portrait of its reproductive organs, which I felt my skin crawl at, but my body secretly express its intrigue by shifting my tail slightly. The entire thing consisted of a large cavity which held small, leathery eggs roughly the size of golf-balls inside its lower stomach. It had a long, clear appendage that greatly resembled a pony’s phallus, but almost two feet long and by the footnote Dusk included it was highly flexible. He included that its eyes, apart from having extremely potent petrification effects, also allowed it to make a pony go mostly limp at a glance. The more that I thought about it the more terrifying the creature seemed, but Dusk seemed to glorify the creature almost to the point of worship as he finished his sketch.

“It all starts with a Cockatrice finding its prey, a hapless pony lost in the woods, per se. It petrifies the pony’s legs, then proceeds to lull the pony into a stupor with its eyes, calming them and giving them time to accept their fate. Then it had been known to lay its eggs inside its prey, its lover. That pony very oftentimes struggles, but the creatures have been known to be very tolerant of resistance, and have even allowed their subjects to almost escape a few times before finally courting them. The whole thing isn’t very intricate, but the intimacy is… unfathomable. They have been known to pet a pony’s mane and even preen their wings during the process, to make them feel comfortable while its eggs fill their helpless prey. Finally, in order to encourage them to return, it will often do its best to stimulate the pony into an orgasm as it finishes, followed by filling the pony with a thick, viscous seed to fertilize the eggs. Its seed also acts in almost the same way a succubus’ does, with its addicting properties affecting them for almost a month afterwards, long past the time of delivering the Cockatrice’s young. If the pony returns it scarcely takes other victims besides that specific pony, becoming emotionally attached with its prey just the same way its victim did with it.”

I shivered, half horrified by what he was describing but secretly curious as to what it felt like, to be the victim. He’d compared me, as a succubus, to a Cockatrice in his description. That scared me, and made me unbearably keen on knowing why in Discord’s name some deeply perverse part of me found this all… sickeningly arousing. In the same way certain disgusting things could be associated with sexual pleasure, this held such romantic merit on one hoof but on the other it was brutal brainwashing, not to mention non-consensual impregnation. My emotions felt sickened, yet curious, albeit intrigued, although my body screamed its excitement as my wings did a madcap, twitching dance over my sides. Dusk threw the chalk down, smiling longingly and shrugging, as if in acceptance that it was merely a mirage, a dream that he could only fruitlessly aspire to.

“But alas, it’s only a fantasy of mine.” He said, sighing. “I’m going to bed now, Felt. I have to ask you to leave.” The alicorn mused, clearing the chalkboard as he watched me exit the room. “You can have the blanket in the closet on the left, down the hall.”

I lay on the couch later that night, unable to get the image of the Cockatrice out of my head. It was so disturbing it stuck in my head, more so than even than Solaris and Discord’s conversation I’d overheard in the study. I’d been in over my head, looking for a distraction that turned out to simply replace the thoughts occupying my attention. I’d wanted something to take my mind off of the elder prince and his spirit accomplice, not to give me another thing to keep me awake at night. I blinked and uncovered myself, deciding that I’d be getting up. I needed to take a walk. My morality, dignity and body were in a three-way battle, with the lattermost prevailing as the champion. As they say, morality is rewritten by the psychological victor.

I left Dusk’s chambers and trotted out into the halls, yawning and heading for what I hoped was the kitchen. A pattern I’d noticed in the towers was that the higher the ceiling, coupled with more extravagant furnishings, meant that a location was one of the main rooms. I wandered aimlessly through the halls, turning randomly and heading straight on a whimsy. Finally I found the kitchen, at the corner of a large four-way hallway. I hurried over to the cupboards. I pulled a pre-made sandwich from the pantry and closed it, taking a quick bite. I winced at the taste of meat, but continued chewing. Somehow my new succubus tastes preferred meat to vegetables, and I wasn’t an herbivore anymore. I shrugged and moved to leave, wondering if Solaris was awake. Talking to him was just the thing I wanted to take my mind off of Dusk’s admittedly uncomfortable fetish.

I set off in the direction of the eldest alicorn’s study, blinking sleep away. This was important, and I knew that if I’d have gone back to sleep I would have only woken a few minutes later due to another daydream about something related to a Cockatrice, or Discord. I sighed and scanned the halls, wondering if there were any clues towards which direction the alicorn’s study was. I turned a corner and blinked blankly, feeling something akin to goosebumps leap up my spine. My wings pressed close to my body and I continued at a much less jovial pace, feeling as if something was watching me. The dark halls shone with the full light of the moon, until they faded to near blackness, the inky smog only broken by bright, ghostly white candles that hovered inches from their sconces on the walls. Something was amiss there, at least during the night. Solaris was the ruler of the day, but something else was roaming around in his absence. His sun didn’t comfort me with the privilege of sight, making the long shadows cast by the candles the possible home for any number of unsavoury creatures.

I continued my search in vain until I passed a clock reading half past two in the morning. I decided there, in the dim, pasty white glow of the candles that it would be best to head back to Dusk’s chambers. I turned around and moved to return the way I came, but before I could take another step I caught sight of a pair of eyes regarding me from the rafters. A shiver shot down my neck and wings like lightning, and all of the sudden I felt the urge to run for my life. I tried to lift my hooves, but before I could think the candles went out, leaving me alone with the glowing pair of malignant eyes, which only stared down at me, the expression behind them invisible in the darkness. I turned tail and took off, flying down the hall as fast as my body could manage. I nearly crashed a number of times in the pitch black halls, until I came to a spot where the candles were once again lit. I landed and caught my breath, wondering just what I’d seen back there.

That was, of course, before I felt a pair of talons seize me by my wings and pull me to the ground. The lights went out, and all of the sudden I found myself face to face with the glowing eyes, which stared directly into my own through the darkness.

Itinerary

I came to my senses in a bed I didn’t recognize, a pristinely white blanket laid over me. I couldn’t feel my ear as I sat up, having slept on it the entire night. It took me a moment to recall just what had happened to me shortly before blacking out, but I remembered vaguely a pair of bright eyes in the dark, and an oddly familiar voice coming from the person I couldn’t see. Although I tried I couldn’t remember quite what had been said to me, and after a few minutes I gave up on it. The room I was in was perfectly round, a simple tower suite with a bed on one side, opposite the steps leading downstairs. I slipped out from under the covers, letting my hooves touch the polished marble floor. My eyes hurt trying to adjust to the bright white walls and curtains, the marble floor and large windows letting in more light than my eyes could handle. My condition as being sensitive to light had apparently carried over into my succubus body, as I almost felt as if my eyes were burning as I trotted quickly over to the steps, praying it would be dimmer downstairs.

It didn’t take particularly long for me to recognize the place I was in, even though I hadn’t been in that particular part of the tower yet. It was Solaris’ chambers, and as I trotted down I saw his study in a bright relief as the sun dipped below the horizon. The prince himself sat behind a vividly coloured redwood desk, his eyes focused on his work. The floor in there looked akin to his library, being a dull, mossy green with maroon walls. I took note of the similarity and continued down the stairs, wondering what had happened to me last night. He hadn’t taken very long to deduce what I was thinking, for while still looking down at his papers he spoke.

“Discord grew… overly curious about your gift, and decided to force you to empathize with him. I think the shock of being exposed to his will was what made you pass out. You slept for almost an entire day, Felt. The sun’s going down and you fell asleep last night sometime around two… don’t worry, I checked you for damage as well. He didn’t hurt you while you were unconscious.”

I breathed, relieved that nothing terrible had befallen me. I was about to trot over to him, maybe ask him what Discord had been hoping to accomplish by that, but before I did he spoke again, his voice softer now that official business was out of the way.

“Felt… I know you were eavesdropping last night.” He said, setting his quill down. “Discord didn’t know, but I’d know the sound of the bell on your collar anywhere. I live to hear its chime around your neck.”

My emotions went from relieved to fawning in an instant, afraid of what he’d do to me for my disobedience. He wasn’t the one to forgive something so rude, and I fell into a bow, hoping beyond measure that he wouldn’t punish me. My whole body shook like a leaf in the late winter wind at the thought of another situation like the one I’d suffered through at Cadenza and Shimmer Shield’s home. I was terrified that he’d put in that hellish limbo, tease me without the hope of ever being satisfied. I bowed my head to where my muzzle almost touched the floor, desperately trying to convince him not to discipline me through my subservience. I was praying that maybe if I showed how submissive I was, he’d forgive me.

“I’m s-sorry, Solaris.” I said quickly, dread creeping into my voice. “I was outside the door and… well, I heard Discord’s voice and got curious…”

He chuckled lightly and waved a hoof, the will I felt through the collar telling me I had permission to stand. I did and found his stance to have changed, his hooves beneath his chin and elbows on the meticulously lacquered desk as if observing me. He was smiling lightly, as if he’d finally managed to teach me a very important lesson. I crossed my front hooves and looked at the large cup to his left on the desk, unable to meet his eyes. I felt grateful that he wasn’t using my disposition as a succubus against me, and that he’d forgiven me even though every other time I’d misbehaved he’d punished me quite harshly. The fact that he wasn’t pushing my head to the floor with my tail raised was miracle enough, as this was more than I could have hoped from the usually strict stallion.

“You’ve made… amazing progress, Felt.” Solaris sighed contentedly. “You’re finally learning how to behave as you should. That’s exactly what I was hoping, that one of these days you’d finally learn how to act properly around your masters. Now that we have that out of the way, I can finally talk to you comfortably. Since you heard my conversation with Discord, you know that most of my ‘punishments’ have been a ruse to train your mind in obedience. Now that you’re trained… we can begin anew. There is a bit of business I’d like to attend to first, though.”

My tail flicked lightly at his praise and I cast my eyes to my hooves, not knowing why his compliments made my body react as if he’d physically touched me. I felt another command of me through the collar, and the bell rung out lightly as I let his will direct my movements. I reached over and picked up a stack of papers, an awfully familiar set of forms that still bore my writing. As I lifted them from the table I knew that indeed, this was the contract of my servitude. I blinked and wondered just what he’d be doing with them, flying over to him with a few flaps of my wings and setting them before his majesty. I made a quick bow and retreated a few steps, giving him as much space as he needed. His smile grew broader as he watched me obey him almost effortlessly, drawing great pleasure from my compliance.

“As you know, these are your forms declaring that you’re living at the castle, you’re willingly giving up your rights, et cetera. What I’d like to know now is... after this first week, do you still want me to put these into the archive? Once they’re stored, it is final, and the magical contract will come into effect. You won’t be able to back out anymore… so after all that’s happened I’m concerned that you aren’t happy anymore, and you may want to give up on being our servant.”

My entire head echoed with his words, unable to fathom the gravity of what he was telling me. He was offering me a way out, a second chance to go back to Ponyville forever and live on my own with no duties to fulfil or princes to cater towards. He was putting the option before me to leave the castle, him, Cadenza and Shimmer Shield, even Dusk Shine behind. My entire soul was racked with mixed emotions, not knowing why he’d offer me this. He was the one who’d purposefully misled me about the forms, and only later told me what being a royal servant entailed. Now he, my master, my prince was asking me what I wanted. I felt my entire psyche rip itself to pieces in a few seconds in the face of this unanswerable question.

“If you decide to leave now, know that we don’t have time to message you or even visit you in Ponyville.” Solaris warned. “Lune himself will only visit you perhaps once every few years at best, and you’ll never see any of us other princes again. “

He pulled a paper off the top of the stack and pushed it towards me, setting a quill next to it. I blanched; it was a form of resignation, with a line at the bottom ready for my signature. My knees shook; the proud part of me, the part I’d buried a week ago the moment Solaris had kissed me against my will screamed for me to pick up the quill and sign it, to leave and never come back. This hidden part of me was outside of my personality now, though. It was who I used to be, before Solaris had changed me so much, trained me in what it meant to be servile. This part of me warned of the fate others with my Cutie Mark had met, and told me that I would live the same life. The part of me that was prevalent, the personality that I now possessed, told me to rip the form to pieces. Now that Solaris was done training me, and I was ready to be his servant, it held the promise of a new beginning. Now that I was finally obeying him I felt as if he and I could have the same thing he’d wanted all along. The part of me that I’d suppressed all my life, the submissive part of me, loved this new relationship. It relished every chance to serve him, and the more beautifully taboo the command he gave me, the more joy it took in carrying it out. If he wanted to make me act like his pet in public, I would do so gladly. I could just imagine laying beneath a tree in a park and having his hoof wrap around my waist, implying he wanted me then and there. I shuddered to think of it.

He watched me the entire time the war raged in my head, tapping his hooves on the desk, his expression implacable. I wanted desperately to be Lune’s lover, and to be Solaris’ servant and concubine. At the same time the part of me that I let go out of necessity was roaring for me to sign the form, to leave with at least a trace of dignity left to my name. I shook visibly, my wings pressed to my sides so tightly I thought my ribs would crack. I wanted to live with the ponies I loved, but I wanted to be my own person. There was no hope of ever being completely independent with my current position, it was part of my obligation to my masters to keep at least one of them company at all hours. If I ever wanted to go anywhere on my own I would need permission. Despite this I couldn’t see myself being happy without the two princes, no matter how strangely they expressed their infatuation with me.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“Whatever you want to do.” Solaris answered simply.

I felt something hot run down my cheek, and much to my shock it was tears. I was tearing myself apart on the inside to the point where I was outright crying, the emotional and mental strain too much to keep contained. Something inside of me had to break; there couldn’t be duality, any schism between the independent part of my personality and the one that I’d ignored for so long, the piece of me that I was now familiar with. The part of me I’d gotten to know since I met Lune was insatiable, always hungering for the approval of my masters. The other, the one I’d left behind, required I grow to be a lonely, unhappy pony without anypony to call their own.

“I don’t know what I want.” I whimpered, another tear falling. “I don’t want to leave you… and the life I led was so lonely. I never had anypony… but I was satisfied on my own. I survived…” I bit my bottom lip until a fresh drop of blood ran down to my chin; I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to make a decision.

I’d tasted the forbidden fruit, and now I couldn’t survive without its sweet nectar, though its sustenance was so fleeting. I lifted my hoof to the desk and pulled the form down, shaking my head. I crumpled the paper and threw it in the wastebin, unable to stand the sickening feeling of indecision any longer. I felt the pony I used to be die the moment the paper passed my hoof.

Solaris smiled warmly at my decision, nodding. “I’ll do my best to honour your decision, Felt. You needn’t worry about anything, short of serving your masters. If you need something for yourself, I’d be more than glad to provide it for you."

I trotted around his desk and stood before him, my eyes still watering. He let out a hardly audible sigh and I sat down on my hind legs, unable to determine if I’d made the right choice. I was waiting for him to prove me right, to say anything that confirmed sacrificing the pride I used to possess had been a worthy decision. Another command met me through my collar and I stood, not knowing if what he was telling me to do was the answer I’d been looking for. He stood, towering over me with his long legs. He looked infinite and vast over me, and as I stood in his shadow I couldn’t help but feel helpless. He urged me to follow him with a single flick of his will, and I fell in behind him obediently. He led me out of the main library through a side door, into a large storeroom that looked eerily familiar. The room was the room he’d given me my collar in, with the infinite rows of fine clothes hung in preservative plastic. I blinked and he smiled, stopping to nod towards it as if to say that it was all mine if I wanted it.

“Anything you desire.” He repeated, gauging my reaction.

I looked at the floor, no longer desiring anything. I felt as if my entire life before my servitude had just vanished in the sands of time. No amount of materialistic gifts could comfort me. He saw my melancholy expression and bit his bottom lip, wanting nothing more than for this day to be perfect. I’d finally accepted his position as my master, and even rejected an offer to return to life as a masseuse. To him it was the perfect day, but looking down at me he felt nothing more than guilt. He nodded, his smile returning as inspiration came to him.

“I have an idea, Felt. Since you seem a little dishevelled by that recent affair with the forms… go out and find anything you desire, and I’ll take it to your room.” He promised, his voice smooth and honeyed.

I shook my head and mumbled, too conflicted to choose anything. “I’m really not in the mood, Solaris… do you have anything to take my mind off what… off of what I just did?”

He tapped his hooves against the floor, biting lightly at the inside of his cheek in thought. “I know of something that could ease your burden.”

He put a wing over me and led me out through the same door we’d entered through, but emerged into the hallway in the main part of the castle instead of returning to his study. I blinked, disconcerted by the unbearably dreamlike element the entire tower possessed. Before I could recover from the shift in locale the prince continued to lead me down the hall, knowing that the more time he allowed me to gather my wits the farther I’d delve into my mental conflict. He led me through another door, grinning as I struggled to adapt to the rapidly changing settings. He guided me through several more rooms before at last we emerged into what appeared to be my room in Lune’s tower. I blinked as I looked around at the room his brother had given to me. His horn flashed and a large trunk appeared beside my bed, a thick lock keeping anypony from opening it. Clothes appeared in my dresser, and the chandelier above me lit with bright red and yellow flames.

Before I could ask what he was doing his will came to me through the collar, telling me to trot over to the dresser. I simply did as I was told, walking over to the large mirror that made up the top portion of the wardrobe. I opened one of the drawers and blinked; he’d taken hundreds of garments from his storage room and given them to me, in accordance of type. The first drawer I opened was thick woollen sweaters, turtlenecks just the way I liked them, with tightly stitched openings for my wings. The next was thin lace and lingerie, which would barely conceal an inch of my skin if I’d had a mind to wear them. At the third was dresses and skirts of all types, with accompanying shirts that matched in almost uniform-type style. I even recognized a maiden’s outfit he’d put me in the first time we’d met.

He steered me towards the chest next, which opened as I approached. He opened it to me, exposing its contents. There were easily twenty very small vials containing unknown potions, each one of them labelled with tags tied to their stoppers. Below those were a myriad of things I could only imagine were specifically designed for me. There were bands for me to put on my tail, rings for my ankles and even a tiara. I was extremely flattered by his gestures so far but it was what I saw lying next to a golden-coloured potion that made me nearly gasp. It was a thin golden rope, a single small link on it that matched the one on my collar perfectly. It looked almost ten feet long, but I knew that if Solaris ever had a mind to he’d be more than happy to get inventive with that rope.

“Do you like it?” Solaris asked, already knowing the answer.

“O-of course I do.” I stuttered. “It’s just all so… unexpected.”

He trotted up behind me, his eyes scanning my face for anything saying the contrary. When he found only surprise and gratitude he smiled, glad to be able to move on. “Good. Now, I have one more thing to ask you before I retire for the night. Would you like to stay as a succubus a bit longer, or would you like me to go to Cadenza and have you changed into something else?”

I stared up at him in disbelief. Where was all of this sudden generosity coming from? Just a day ago he’d been making a foal out of me in front of Shimmer Shield and Cadenza and now he was offering to have me transformed back into the creature of my choice? I didn’t understand why he was doing any of this for me, and with that phrase he’d honestly convinced me that it had all been a ruse. He’d simply been wearing the mask of a cold-hearted, manipulative stallion to teach me to obey my masters, no matter how bad they might get at times. In that moment I felt as if he was truly a kind prince, and he’d only dawned the garb of a sadist to teach me tolerance and obedience over anything I was asked. I blinked up at him and smiled, glad that he’d asked.

“I always kind of fancied the idea of being a dragon.” I said dolefully, my tail curled around my back leg nervously. “With their smooth scales and all…”

“That can be done.” He replied casually. “For now, though… would you like to go out on the balcony? Canterlot is quite beautiful on these winter days.”

I nodded, glad that I finally got to see this side of Solaris. I knew I’d made the right decision in tossing away that resignation form, and now I got to see the part of the prince that he’d been concealing from me, and the one that I’d only glimpsed a few times in my entire history with him. He led the way out onto the balcony, which thanks to an awning was devoid of snow. He smiled and looked out over the rural mountainside, the one that overlooked little but a small, extremely private sector of Canterlot almost a mile below where mostly the wealthy lived. Past that were only plain fields of snow for as far as the eye could see until finally the prairie gave way to mountains far to the north. I trotted out and took a place by his side, admiring the view.

After a few minutes of ruminating over the fantastical winter beauty the prince put a wing over me, pulling me close to him with a brisk tug of his plumage. I allowed myself to be pulled in closer, breathing deep the prince’s scent and appreciating his warmth, his shelter from the freezing cold breeze that bit at my nose. He smiled and lifted his right hoof, running it down my shoulder, then my wing and finally meeting my flank before he stopped. I blushed brightly as he felt my Cutie Mark, shocked that he’d be so brazen as to court me outside the room that his brother owned. He merely closed his eyes and let his hoof run small circles in my soft coat for a few minutes, enjoying the texture of the smooth fur. I let my tail make its way up to his hoof and curl around his forelimb, letting him know that he had my permission to touch me as he wished. I would deny him nothing, as I was truly is servant, just as he was my master.

He backed up a bit and used his wing to push me in front of him, to where I sat in between his forelegs while his wings enclosed me in a protective embrace. I sat there beneath his chest, wondering if I could get more comfortable outside on a cold winter’s day. As an alicorn I knew he didn’t feel the cold breeze as I did, and if asked he would say it was practically balmy out there. I backed into his makeshift cocoon of comfort, wanting to feel his warmth. He closed his stance, bringing his front legs farther in towards me as to radiate more heat directly to my smaller, easily frostbitten body. He leaned down and kissed each of my ears, coaxing a coltish giggle from me. Why had it taken so long for me to see this side of Solaris? I used my tail to snake around his front foreleg, smiling contently as I enjoyed the time I was sharing with my newly gracious prince.

It didn’t take long for me to grow comfortable in his embrace, and soon I was doing little but leaning up against his chest, dozing absentmindedly. A few minutes passed, then a half an hour as we simply stood there, staring out at the kingdom. I blinked awake when I felt a pressure on my right flank, something warm and moist pressing against my Cutie Mark, followed by a light, moist sound filling the air around me. I blinked and realized that Solaris had been standing there for well over thirty minutes with my flank and tail pressed firmly to his loins. I blushed brightly and looked up at him, not knowing what he wanted me to do. My master merely smiled down at me and gave a small twitch of his hips, pressing his love up against me. I felt his heartbeat through the organ, and inside his embrace it smelled heavily of his unspoken desires. The musk was overwhelming, fogging my already acute senses with its pungent scent as I struggled to formulate a plan. He wanted it of me, but I wasn’t excited yet.

The prince saw the mild conundrum plain on my face and grinned, knowing just the solution to the problem. Solaris ordered me silently to raise my tail. I obeyed, though with some apprehension as I was still quite dry. He nodded and made a small adjustment to his position over me before he brought himself up against my ring, gently prodding at me, but not putting enough force onto my entrance to slip past the strong band of elastic flesh. A few more times of this and I felt a small amount of pre coat the area under my tail, much to my surprise. Usually he was quite difficult to get off, but it seemed that he had a secret talent for being only as sensitive as he needed to be. I curled my tail around his shaft eagerly, coaxing his precum out of his already swollen member. He moaned as the smooth scales worked at him, and I did my best to replicate the sucking sensation that I gave him whenever I made love to him. It tightened my grip on him and lifted his head to my entrance, surprised at how versatile my prehensile tail was. I was wet and ready, the smell of my own lubrication filling the space he’d created now. I winced at the shock of pulling him inside of me; it was always hard to take his stallionhood in, especially given how large it was.

My tail released him as the first few inches of his member slid into me, stretching me to my limit as I panted, unable to stand beneath him anymore. I braced myself against the banister, placing hooves on either side of me and looking out over Canterlot, biting my bottom lip as he pushed deeper inside, my walls clenching and fighting him the entire way. His slick pre, coupled with my own, gave him just the right amount of leverage, allowing him to eventually sheath his entire love inside of me, sack pushed firmly to my taint. I let out a high-pitched, effeminate gasp as he pulled out, a wet dripping sound echoing around us as my own seed leaked out of my member and fell to the floor. I pushed back against him the moment he was about to thrust, forcing his entire length into me in less than a second. I revelled in his size, his girth as I met him again, a tempo being built as loud, moist smacks filled the balcony space. I panted like a filly in her first heat as he reamed me, unable to stand on my own anymore and relying solely on the neck-high wall for support. He mercilessly emptied me and filled me again, repeating the cycle of leaving my entire body hollow and suddenly forcing his love inside with all the force of a battering ram. I swore if I hadn’t had the collar on I’d be bruising heavily, but since I did the bell jingled merrily in rhythm with his thrusts, his carnal gasps and my own heated exhalations.

He wanted more, though. I could feel through my collar a part of him that wanted something more stimulating him, something else for to grip his member as tightly and desperately as my walls. Without thinking I folded my tail in half, just as I’d done to satisfy myself previously at Cadenza’s house. I pushed the thin tendril of scales inside of myself, stretching my ring to the limit. I screamed loudly as I did, pain erupting from my femininity as I was pushed beyond anything I’d ever done before. My master looked confused until I regained my composure, curling my tail around his member while he was inside of me. His mouth opened in a bestial pant, pushing my ears forward as he struggled to regain his breath, acting as if I’d knocked the wind out of him. The two differing textures he was thrusting into were driving him past what he could handle, and his grip on his composure was slipping. The smooth, wet scales of my tail and the fleshy, slick walls of my love both worked at him, earning me kisses on my head and playful nips on my neck, all the while he gasped and panted lovingly, stroking my mane with his hoof as he felt himself draw near to climax.

I flexed my tail around his shaft and head, giving him enough suction to slow his frenzied pace to a series of laboured thrusts, his entire body trembling over me as he struggled to contain his lust. I pushed myself back and forth on his stallionhood, using the tip of my own tail to guide him against all my most sensitive spots. I whimpered, attempting to wait until he was done, but he was drawing it out far longer than it needed to be. I knew with a few more strokes of his member that my master would finally fill me with his seed, so with a great amount of care I pushed myself back on him, cementing his head against the very far end of my walls and his sack against my own, loose and ready for release. I worked my tail around him, coaxing his climax from him as he tried to hold out just a bit longer, exercising his endurance to no avail. He bit my ear uncontrollably, as if he didn’t want to see the end of me teasing the cleft of his head with my tail, all the while the rest of my scales shifted up and down inside of me, pulling him out with steady thrusts of my hips. I pushed his smooth, wet shaft inside of me one last time and screamed his name, feeling long strings of my love shoot out onto the balcony floor. It wasn’t my own pleasure that I wanted to experience, though.

The stallion over me breathed my name, unable to move as a climax shook him from his hooves to the tips of his wings. His stallionhood swelled inside of me and began to twitch, struggling to break the grip I had on it with my tail. I urged him into cumming with it, just gently running my scales over his sensitive shaft as the first few drops of his load erupted inside of me. The spike in pressure made a few more drops of my own seed spurt out as he filled my entire body with the thick liquid. I felt my midsection fill with his love, and long trails of it run down my taint and sack until finally they fell to the floor in sticky globs, leftover from our wild abandon. He panted in my ear as he continued to fill me, unable to stop as he emptied every last drop of his seed into my lower stomach. I felt my walls stretch momentarily, then expel the long rivulets down my flanks and legs, my now flaccid member and sack dripping with his hot love that felt like liquid fire on the cold winter day. We both stood there, shaking in our afterglow. I didn’t want him to pull out, but it was almost the moment my own stallionhood was back in its sheath that he separated from me, sending more of his seed out of my ring to trail down my flanks. With a flash of his horn the mess coating both of us was gone, and he motioned with a wing for me to come with him inside.

I could barely walk as I followed him to bed, legs shaking from the amount of energy I’d spent making love to the stallion. He smiled and lifted me by the base of my wings, horn flashing again as he set me down next to him. I didn’t have the energy to protest him as he spooned me perfectly into his lap, his somehow still erect stallionhood pushed between my legs and against my own diminutive masculinity. I closed my eyes and dozed off almost immediately, unable to keep them open for a second longer. Just as I was drifting off he smiled and whispered to me, as if a final command before I fell asleep in his arms.

“From now on, you are to refer to me and the other princes as ‘master’. Do you understand?”

I nodded, accepting the kiss he planted on my lips before replying. “… I’ll always be your servant… master.”

Facing Forwards

I woke in a post-coital haze of soreness and satisfaction, my wings flexing and tail curling around my back leg in an attempt to go back to my well-earned sleep. I found myself unable to fade off again, and settled for unravelling my new appendage and trying to wrap it around my partner, who I fully expected to be behind me as I reached out with my scaled comforter. When my master wasn’t there I rolled over in confusion, unable to think of why he would leave. The last thing I remembered before passing out was him demanding that I call him, and all the other princes, master. I blushed as I whispered the honorific under my breath, basking in the knowledge of what that made me if I was the one calling my master. Being the loyal servant I was, I disentangled myself from the bedsheets and got out of bed, wondering just where Solaris was. Perhaps Lune had come back and he’d gone to see him, or he’d had business to attend to. I shook my head as I trailed my hooves over to the bathroom, knowing that it was Saturday and thus this was the one day where the prince didn’t do much of anything related to his royal duties.

I showered quickly and scrubbed every inch of myself, knowing well that if Lune was back he wouldn’t want me reeking of his brother’s seed. I made sure to get under my tail, and even polished the glimmering scales that made up the top portion of my ring, knowing that if either one of them wanted me they wouldn’t accept anything less than perfection. Something I was beginning to notice with my new body was how strangely flexible it was, and although my legs were still sore somehow from bearing Solaris’ weight from the previous day I found the energy to lift my back leg and bend, with unnatural ease, down to where I could touch my muzzle to the innermost part of my thigh. I blinked and thought of the possibilities this opened up for me, how many positions I could be taken from and still look back at my prince. With an almost unerring steadiness I drew my tongue over my sheath, rolled my sack over my lips and bathed every inch of my loins much in the same way a cat would. The hot water ran over me as the stimulation did nothing, as I was a succubus and no part of my body provided any sort of satisfaction. Not even when I flicked my tongue over my cleft did I feel so much as a faint, dulled moment of sensitivity. It was once I was done cleaning my innermost organelles did I bathe in earnest, cleaning my fur and mane until both were as soft as freshly woven silk.

I left the shower and looked over at my dresser, wondering if it would be appropriate to dress up in front of Lune, when all of my clothes were from Solaris. After a brief moment of debating with myself I decided that I would wear something from the Light Prince, to show my respect for his gifts he’d given me, but limit it to something that wouldn’t offend Lune. I trotted over to the chest and opened it, retrieving the tail ring I’d received the previous day. I slipped it on until it was snug to the scales, only a fourth of the way up the appendage before it was firmly fitted. I nodded and left the bedroom, knowing just how I’d find the princes. As with last time I’d had to find Solaris, my collar picked up on his will whenever he was near. Upon leaving my room I felt it, and proceeded to head in the direction in which it was stronger. Down the halls I wandered, wondering what I could possibly ask of him for breakfast. Of course he knew the only thing that satisfied my sense of hunger, and would be more than happy to oblige.

Those thoughts faded as I felt another presence in my head, something different than Solaris’ iron will pressing up against my own mind. I recognized Lune immediately, by the way his thoughts seemed to flow and slip around mine, while still retaining their sense of self and purpose. Whereas his older brother’s mind was nothing but constants and variables, the Night Prince’s psyche was always changing, thinking and modifying his perceptions on things. I blanched and continued to head towards the two, knowing in my heart that they would be in the same place. Both of them seemed agitated by what I could glean through my blurred contact with them both, and secretly I knew it was all over me. It took me only a few minutes to pinpoint the room they were in, and just as I’d suspected they were both in Lune’s library. I opened the door, not knowing what I’d find inside until my eyes settled on the two.

The eldest of the two princes was sitting down, lounging comfortably in the chair across from Lune, who was standing on the other side of a desk and looked relatively annoyed that I’d just barged in without knocking. I secretly cursed at myself for overlooking that courtesy. Solaris shot me a glance and demanded I bow in his presence. Lune told me through my collar that I needn’t bow to anypony. The result of the conflicting commands was a shaky curtsy on my part, followed by me shutting the door by swatting it with my tail. Lune sighed and sat back down, glaring at his brother but waiting until I was seated in another chair, an arm’s length from Solaris and across the desk from the Night Prince.

Lune’s eyes searched my figure with something bordering on begrudging fascination as he began. “I walked in on you two this evening. I’d just gotten back from my trip, and I intended to surprise you by slipping into your bed. Little did I know that Solaris was there as well.” He said, almost shockingly calm. “Me and him have been… talking.”

Solaris picked up the lull, rolling his eyes. “He called me out of bed, then broke my nose like a savage the moment I was out of earshot.” He said, gesturing to the two red marks under his lips where blood had obviously flowed at one point. “We… had a bit of a… skirmish after that, which led to us magically repairing most of the South Corridor. After all of that and our aggression towards each other was spent, we healed up and came back here.”

“At which point we began to negotiate terms.” Lune continued. “See, as brothers me and him have fought on more than one occasion and we have… a sort of process to these things. Most of the time we fight, get it over with and never speak of it again. Since you are here forever, we have to think of something a bit more long term if we want to keep from clawing each other’s eyes out over you. We’ve been messaging Dusk and Cadenza, and we’ve been able to come up with a few rules that should prevent us from devolving into violence again.”

“The key word there is ‘should’.” Solaris, said, massaging his muzzle with a hoof. By the look on his face Lune had been the winner of their ‘skirmish’. “We all know how you love to be barbaric.”

“We’re done casting insults at each other.” Lune grated. “Besides that, brother, you’ve done little more than teach Felt to lift his tail whenever you want. I didn’t even have to train him to do that, and I must congratulate you on training him to do something on a level of common housepets. I could teach dogs to do more complex tricks than that. Honestly, Felt has so much more potential than just as… as your pet! He’s already expressed a fascination with alchemy, and I think that if he were to learn the basics he could be quite a potions expert. He is above what you’re teaching him, Solaris!”

“No matter how complex you make yourself to be there are always the basic needs of a pony to worry about.” The prince countered. “If you can’t satisfy those how do you expect him to learn anything so complex? When he doesn’t know something as base as how to please his mate?”

Lune took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if calming himself to avoid another long argument. “Anyways, we’ve constructed a list of things you should and shouldn’t do that not only you have to obey, Felt, but we princes do as well. Here is what we have so far.”

The prince cleared his throat before he began to speak, pulling a rather long piece of parchment onto his desk as he started reading. “Rule One: Felt Feathers’ schedule is to be as follows. Lune on Saturday, Solaris on Sunday, Dusk on Monday, Cadenza on Tuesday, and he may choose which prince(s) he wishes over the course of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Should any one of the princes be absent on their day of ownership, that day becomes Felt’s choice amongst us. Do you understand?”

I nodded, hoping this would solve the problem of me getting tossed back and forth between princes seemingly at random. Not only that, but it solved the problem that came up when one of them took a sudden trip.

Lune continued. “Rule Two: Whenever Felt is asked to do anything that will alter his basic anatomical makeup, the one prince must tell the others before he goes through with the transformation, as well as acquire the consent of the other princes. If all of them vote on his change as agreeable, then they may change Felt as they see fit. If one prince is not in attendance for that vote, Shimmer Shield will take on the missing pony’s voting status.”

Solaris looked annoyed at that one, but I could see why Lune had put it in. Cadenza hadn’t wanted to change me but had been coerced into doing so, and Dusk had no idea along with Lune. This made it so that nopony was left out of the loop, and one prince couldn’t just arbitrarily turn me into a toad, with the affects being irreversible.

“Rule Three: While in possession of Felt Feathers, nopony is to venture into the domain of another prince unless they send a letter saying that they are doing so, and receive a reply that it is okay for them to be entering.”

I obviously knew why he was including that rule, seeing as how he’d walked into my room to find Solaris in my bed just that morning.

“Rule Four: Anypony who would like to take Felt Feathers outside of the castle is to have a number of cloaking charms put over themselves, as well as a disguise. If Felt is not in a form that is deemed acceptable to display in public without receiving overdue attention he may go out as he is. If he isn’t he must be disguised as a normal pony just as the prince who is taking him outside the castle should.

Finally, Rule Five: Anypony who is guilty of violating any one of these rules is excluded from having Felt Feathers until those not guilty, as well as uninvolved in the situation, deem it acceptable to allow that prince to have him again. This will be called on majority vote, excluding the guilty.

Solaris rolled his eyes as his brother finished, but didn’t say anything. Lune nodded his head to me, hoping this new set of rules would help to accommodate me in the future, as well as prevent any undue decisions on Solaris’ part. This also meant that the rules didn’t only apply to Solaris, either. In the list he’d been quite vague with the word ‘prince’, and thus the rules could be pinned towards any of my masters who violated them. They were meant to keep me safe, but also allow them to do as they wished with me at the same time. It kept things as they were before, simply imposing limitations towards things that could potentially send awry the authority of the other princes, as well as make me miserable.

“This should keep Solaris from doing anything like changing you into a succubus again.” Lune said, glancing at his brother. “I’d like you to follow me, as I’ve prepared something for you.”

I glanced at Solaris before Lune rose, pushing in his chair before he beckoned for me to follow. I hurried after him, leaving a brooding Light Prince alone as we weaved through long passages created by the tunnel-like bookshelves. Eventually we reached a large, circular opening in all the shelves were they all ended, a massive design on the floor that I recognized as a transformation ritual. Above us the light of the noon sun flooded down through an opaque, plated glass dome. He trotted over to me and put his wing over my back, almost shaking with the effort that it took him to speak.

“Look, Felt… I don’t mind that you and my brother are together as well. I truly don’t. But when you drag him back here, you push the limits of my tolerance. In the future, that is a rule. Never bring him here without notifying me first. Also, thanks to the rules he now acknowledges, he can’t change you into anything you don’t want anymore. This ritual design here is a base sketch, and I can turn you into anything you wish with it. Simply say the word.”

I blinked at how emotional he was, as if he’d somehow failed to protect me. I could see why he would think that, as in the end I’d been transformed into a succubus against my will, but I knew it was wrong to let him believe such a thing. I nuzzled against his chest, curling my tail around his back leg in an effort to assure him that he’d only done what he could have. Solaris had done his best to keep his abuse a secret from his younger brother, and thus he could hardly be blamed for not knowing.

“Lune, you’ll always be the one I fell in love with first.” I whispered. “I will always love you more than Solaris, and Dusk and Cadenza. You’re kind and understanding, and you believe in me as more than a servant. That sets you above everypony in my eyes…” I paused for a moment to think, wondering if it would be appropriate to ask something like that of him. “I’d like to be transformed into a… well… I want to be a…”

“What is it, Felt?” Lune asked, planting a kiss on my forehead. “Anything you want, I’ll give you.”

“What do you want, Lune?” I asked, unable to decide for myself. “I know that Solaris made me into a succubus, and that makes you a little unhappy, but you haven’t gotten to take me while I’m in this form, so it seems unfair. I want to become a dragon, at the same time… what should I do, then?”

Lune was silent for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll keep you like this, if only because I’m curious about how you’ll function with that tail of yours. In a few days I’ll change you into a dragon, and we’ll see how things go from there….”

Lune paused, as if there was something that he desperately wanted to tell me, but was too afraid to. I blinked up at him, knowing that look better than any. He cast his eyes at the floor as he said, in a tone that spoke of eternal gratitude.

“I was ready to shut myself away before you came along, you know.” He confessed. “For a while I was convinced that everything had changed so much, that I was so outdated mentally that I would never be able to enjoy myself again. Nightmare Moon… he was coaxing me into simply locking the doors to my tower and enjoying the company of nopony by myself. Maybe start a small ring of servants I didn’t truly care for to act as my friends and have one in particular that I could torture with my intimate desires. Then… I found you, and you saved me from becoming that monster… for that you have my thanks.”

The rest of the day drug on as one would expect it to. Solaris left shortly after Lune and I returned to the study, and soon we set about wondering towards our infinite future. Me and him couldn’t help but wonder how things would be now that Solaris was appeased by me, and he was now back safely at the castle. We speculated and hypothesized towards what would happen now that we were all back, down to earth and used to my presence in our lives. Dusk visited early in the evening, and eventually Lune and I had a bout in bed before we fell asleep. Again I was astounded by Lune’s skilled motions, and he left me very tired afterwards. I couldn’t help but feel satisfied as I lay there, half-asleep. Eventually I drifted off, until finally the next day dawned, and I got out of bed, preparing to go to Solaris’ tower.

For some reason or another I didn’t end up going to Solaris’ tower, though. For on my way there, as if on a strange coincidence, I saw somepony I’d never seen before trotting up and down the corridors. Amongst the vast arches and brilliantly decorated banners of the castle trotted a mare that by some astronomical probability happened to have a brilliant red and yellow mane. I approached her, wondering just what anypony was doing in a private portion of the palace. She seemed lost in thought as she paced, a saddlebag on her back with what looked like a pattern of fire embroidered into it. I did my best to look unthreatening as I approached, but understandably her eyes widened as she caught sight of such a strange creature. Honestly, a month before, if I’d have caught a glimpse of a succubus in my peripheral vision I would be understandably alarmed.

She lit her horn as if preparing to combat me, but I merely fell into a hasty bow to show that I meant no harm. She blinked, unwittingly caught off guard by a succubus bowing to her so courteously. Her horn extinguished itself and she regarded me as one might regard a stray dog one found on the side of the road. I stood from my bow and looked up at her, slightly in awe of her countenance. She seemed to exude a sense of awareness, as if she understood everything that was doing on about her.

“They must be fairly desperate if they’re bringing in demons as janitors here.” She said, extending a hoof. “My name is Sunset Shimmer, what do they call you?”

I stuttered a bit, having not talked to anypony except princes for almost a month, but eventually managed to say. “My name is Felt, Felt Feathers. I’m the princes’ personal servant.”

Her eyes flashed with some sort of unspoken pity, then returned her gaze to the stained glass window before she replied. “I was once Solaris’ protégé.” She scoffed. “He said that I had ‘traits he’d thought innate in equines ever since Lune had been banished’. He underestimated me, and I learned things he didn’t want me to learn. Being a control freak, he banished me.”

I blinked, struggling to absorb the information she’d just given me. “From my experience with him, I would say that whatever he didn’t want you to learn is probably best left unknown. If it is that dangerous, then he was probably working to protect you. Or those around you.”

“Perhaps.” She said, reaching up to feel her foreleg, like a maimed pony feeling a scar. “His wisdom sometimes disguises itself as folly. Especially when he refuses to tell me why such knowledge is forbidden. I’d prepare yourself, though. I once saw a pony compete to be his ‘personal assistant’. They didn’t last a year until they quit. They complained of ‘nothing ever being the same’ and ‘having been ruined’. I pray you don’t end up like that poor soul.”

“There were others before me? In the last hundred years?” I asked, cautiously curious.

“Of course.” She shrugged, smiling at my inquisitiveness. “There have been dozens who did their best to wrap their heads around his reasoning, but none have succeeded. He hides his morality with amorality, and it makes everypony think that he’s making arbitrary decisions. That’s why I came here today, to give something back to him.”

“I could take it to him, if you’d like.” I said, glad to be of service to somepony Solaris knew so well.

She broke out in a wide grin. “Oh, I wouldn’t trust anypony in the world with such a gift. Especially a demon. I know you used to be a pony, but in order to better serve your masters you’ve let them turn you into that. A succubus by the looks of it. They must think something of you, at least. Was it Dusk Shine who drug you into the castle’s pet program, or perhaps Cadenza?”

I suddenly realized that she was eyeing my collar, and I blushed intensely at the word ‘pet’. “Lune was the one who caught my eye, and he took me back here once he figured I could be trusted. Since the only way for me to officially be here was to have me on as a servant, Solaris did the papers and now I serve all the princes. I am nopony’s pet, though.”

“Oh, you have papers now?” She said, smiling. “See, just like a pet. I even see that you have the marks of your owners on the back of that collar. They truly own you. Tell me, if Lune was right here and asked you to bend over and lift your tail, in front of everypony, would you do it?”

I blushed intensely, but didn’t say anything as she continued to mock me.

“Exactly.” She brayed, smiling as she picked my pride to pieces. “You don’t realize how far this will go before they’re satisfied. Solaris wants complete obedience, and he will keep pushing it farther and farther until finally you won’t be able to take it anymore. There isn’t a creature he won’t turn you into, not a pony he won’t have you go sleep with, not a single act of public domination that he won’t perform until he knows that you will obey him, heedless of in front of whom, what, when he has you do it, where he orders it or why. Don’t think he’ll just stop, because he will push until you can’t bear to stand it anymore and you finally cease to be yourself around him. You’ll turn into his puppet, or you’ll quit. Either way, you were lost the moment you came in the door.”

“Why are you saying these things?” I protested. “How do you know he’d be so cruel?”

“Because I watched it happen. He would bring in ponies who didn’t have a purpose in life, test them, and one after another they dropped out and quit, unable to tolerate the tasks he was asking of them. Ninety percent quit after he asked them to be intimate with him. Another five after he transformed them. Another four percent all left after he demanded of them his more depraved acts. Finally, the last one percent all left after his supposed ‘final test’, which is always different. Always disgustingly immoral, though. He’ll get you to that point, eventually. Once there was this young colt that passed all the other tasks, and when he got the final task he left. He’d wanted the poor thing to act as a… erm, present for a diplomat.”

“That doesn’t seem that bad.” I blinked, wondering what was so wrong.

She countered, scowling. “I heard that it’s mortal agony. Not to mention that Chrysalis leaves most of her victims infertile. I can scarcely imagine what her loins look like… some sort of monstrosity with claspers and a needle for her male victims. With some sort of retractable thing resembling a stallion to lay her eggs in the mares she forces to house her young.”

I shuddered, not wanting the conversation to continue in that direction. “So… he’d really make me do that… to prove myself.” I asked.

“Of course he will.” She sighed, tapping a hoof on the windowsill. “He wants your complete compliance, and that’s what it takes to gain his trust. Sick as it is.”

I turned and trotted away, not knowing what I should do. Should I go and tell Lune about this, that way he could do something about this before it ever happened? Or should I confront Solaris face to face, in order to confirm these admittedly outlandish accusations?

“Wait, kid.” Sunset said, trotting over to me. “Sorry about what I said… I’m just trying to scare you by telling you the truth. Here.” She said, withdrawing a gift-wrapped package from her saddlebag. “Give this to Solaris, and don’t tell him who it’s from. Say ‘Happy Hearth’s Warming’. He’ll know who I am.”

I stood in front of Solaris’ study door, my hoof wavering an inch from the knocker. I held the gift that Sunset Shimmer had given me under my wing, not knowing what to do. Did I tell him, or did I just give him the present and not mention anything of my encounter with the mare? I steeled my resolve and knocked.

“Come in.” Solaris said from the other side of the door. “You’re late, by the way.”

I entered to see his typical study, papers fastidiously aligned on desks and bound in binders, books neatly arranged in decimal order, with the occasional pen lying next to a legal document. Solaris looked up from something he’d been reading and smiled brightly, his wings extending invitingly as he stood. I trotted over to him and fell into his embrace, letting him wrap a hoof around me before I took a few steps back again, recalling the reason I was there.

“Solaris… I met a mare today, a mare that told me some things about how you treated your past servants… she told me about how you once asked a pony to give himself to Chrysalis… and-”

“If this mare happens to be Sunset Shimmer, then don’t listen to her.” He said, his expression falling from loving to irritated in an instant. “If you are really wondering whether she’s telling the truth, then allow me to ask you this; are you going to listen to a dejected, extremely spiteful former student of mine, who is likely to be biased in almost every way, or will you listen to me when I say that I have had a few servants come to me for a position. I tested them, none so as I did you, and none of them so much as passed my first test. None of them so much as signed the forms. You’ve come farther than any of them. Also, no, that story with Chrysalis is downright fabrication. The worst I’ve ever asked of my servants is to clean out the guard barracks.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, smiling. “Well… then, she also told me to give you something. I don’t know what it is, since she didn’t tell me, but it’s in this box.”

I reached under my wing and held out the present, wondering what a god with everything that he could possibly ever want would receive as a present. He took it, holding it as far away from himself as he could as he unwrapped the box. The moment it was free of the wrapping he was greeted with the sight of a small redwood box. He cautiously opened it and saw a note, laid over something with a rather well-polished metal handle. He pulled the note out and began to read, but only a second later did his eyes widen and his breaths stutter, as if in shock at what he’d just read. He threw the note in the box, only briefly glancing at the knife that lay in the elaborately decorated silk padding.

“Take this and throw it somewhere.” He said, his voice hollow and distant. “I don’t care where, as I don’t want to know, but ideally somewhere where not even the most determined will find it. Encasing it in cement would be the most ideal approach. Never bring it in here again, and stay the rest of the day with Dusk Shine.”

I shrunk at his sudden coldness; the shift in tone that betrayed his secret anger. “B-but Solaris it’s your day with me… I was hoping we could maybe have some tea, or read a book together-”

“Felt.” He grated, his voice under immeasurable strain. “Please, leave me be. If… if I calm down enough by the end of the day then please come find me. Otherwise… please, leave me be. Nothing panics a royal more than this weapon.”

Dusk Shine glanced from the box, to the knife, to the note. He looked thoughtful, but extremely scared as he handled the blade, afraid it would harm him even with the magic he was using to hold it at a distance.

“This is Meredith’s Sting, Felt.” Dusk explained. “This blade has stabbed seven separate rulers in the back of their spine. It’s believed to be cursed. Also, every person who has wielded this knife to kill has used it as a crime of passion. The only reason that Sunset Shimmer would give this to you is in the hopes that you will do her a favour and end his life in his sleep. It is enchanted with a charm, as you can see right here, it says right on the hilt. In Draconequi is says ‘Sic Semper Tyranis’, or ‘Death to Tyrants’ if you loosely translate it. Since Draconequi turns anything written it to fact, it will kill any leader so long as the wielder believes them to be a despot. Did you tell Sunset Shimmer that you were Solaris’ lover?”

“She already knew when I told him that I was his assistant.” I said, casting a look down at my hooves. “Look, I didn’t know what it was, I just gave it to Solaris.”

“Well you inadvertently delivered a death threat.” Dusk said, setting the knife in its case. “You also mentioned something about her bringing up Solaris’ past assistants?”

“She was just telling me things to try and drive a wedge between me and Solaris.” I reassured myself, not knowing if what I said was necessarily true. “Like how he’s had dozens of servants before me, and how he continued to abuse them long after they were one bended knee for him. Just a bunch of lines to cast dispersions between us. She’s probably still angry about Solaris not letting her learn dark magic.”

“She is indeed quite bitter about what was said to her all those years ago.” Dusk sighed, putting a binding charm on the box so nopony could open it except for him. “I’ll send this to the far side of Tartarus later, but for now I’m putting it back in my safe.”

With a flash the box disappeared, leaving nothing but air in its place. I hadn’t been able to decipher the note and neither had Dusk, but by the way Solaris had reacted to it whatever Sunset Shimmer had written was obviously nothing the prince had been expecting. I shook my head and settled onto the couch, wondering what the rest of the day would bring. So far it had proven quite disquieting, but the remainder of it might have the hope of being better. After all I was now with the prince I found the most relatable, not to mention the only one I hadn’t had sexual relations with so far. I privately wondered what the prince would have me do, considering his strange quirks. Admittedly he’d been a bit of a random draw the last time I’d spent any sort of time with him, and since I would be staying with him the whole day and the one after, I was curious as to how he’d pass the time with me.

“Felt, can you come with to the North Wing of the palace? I’m supposed to go to a meeting with Solaris there, but since he won’t be there I need another pony by my side. I think you’d do best, as we do need a conscientious mediator, or a pony with no previously formed opinions on the subject of the meeting. It’s mostly boring stuff but there might be interesting tidbits in there every now and again. If you really don’t want to you can stay here.”

I jumped up off the couch eagerly, wanting little more than to finally be around other ponies besides spiteful ex-students and constantly busy royals. I couldn’t help but wonder whom I would be seeing there, and if I’d even recognize anypony. If all of them were complete strangers than I had no problem being around them with my collar on, but if it was Magpie the bat-mare, I knew inside that I would shrink into a ball at what she would say. I could already feel her jeers of contempt tearing at what little pride I had as I trotted off towards the Northern Wing, praying to myself that I wouldn’t see a familiar face.

We arrived in what seemed to be an extremely well-guarded corridor only a bit later that morning, and soon I began to see what the Northern Wing of the castle served as. It mostly served as barracks for guards, as by the looks of things there were doors almost every ten feet, each leading to a small apartment for one or two of the guardsponies to live in. A few of the day guards were trotting about without their armour on, neither on duty nor thinking about their normal jobs as they talked and bantered over trivial, everyday things. I slunk as low to the floor as I could, doing my best to hide my rather obvious tail between my legs, as well as disregard the feelings I was getting from almost every one of them. My succubus instincts were acting up again, and with it I could feel that most every single guard I passed was sick of there not being enough mares to go around in the castle. Most were either taken, had no standards or were simply unattainable, judging by the way the guards spoke of their female comrades. I couldn’t help but wonder why, if they were so desperate, they simply didn’t turn to each other for comfort. I had to remind myself that not all ponies were as accepting towards both genders as I was, and slowly trailed after Dusk Shine.

At first it was easy for me to blend in; I simply stood in Dusk’s shadow as I made my way towards our destination. Soon, though, the bystanders began to notice my eyes, and how I had my tail curled around my back leg in an attempt to comfort my usually shy self. Some whispered to each other that I was some sort of demon; others outright told any who would listen that I was the most attractive pony they’d ever seen. I was sure that most of them would reconsider that statement after figuring out I was a male, but it was an understandable mistake considering my narrow shoulders, dainty frame and doleful composure. I simply followed Dusk until he turned, leaving the corridor behind as we entered a large meeting room, with almost its entirety taken up by a large, well-polished oaken table. Seated around it were two ponies so far, including the one pony I’d been hoping to avoid.

“’Sup, kid?” Magpie said mockingly as I entered the room. “You might have everypony else fooled with those eyes of yours but I know you when I see you. I watched you sleep for almost a week, after all.”

I did my best to ignore her as I looked to Dusk, wondering if I should take a seat or not. He nodded and pulled out the chair next to me, signalling that I had full permission to be amongst them. Once I was seated Magpie’s jeering questions began in earnest.

“Where’d you get that collar, kid?” She asked, grinning satirically. “Your masters give it to you after they put you over a counter and made a mare out of you? I always knew you were the type, first moment I laid my night-guard eyes on you. I guess you serve as their pet pretty well, you even have a little bell on there and everything. I bet they changed you that way they could enjoy you a little longer, huh? With them being immortal and all?”

I sunk down as low in the chair as possible, not wanting to exist in her presence. Her very voice seemed to demean me, in front of the other guardspony, who I didn’t even know. The random other attendee simply sat there and looked from me to Magpie, wondering what he should do. He was too cowardly to speak out, so I sat there and continued to accept her contemptuous statements.

“Say, are you a mare now too? Do they like to call you names when they enjoy you, or are they really respectful? I wonder.” She said, sitting back and basking in how easily she was insulting me. “Oh, and do they make you meow and stuff, like a little kitty? Oh, that would be so cute! Seeing you all dressed up with little cat ears, meowing and nuzzling your master, wanting sex because you don’t really have anything else to do with yourself. Say, do you ever like give it or are you too much of a wuss and can only take it?”

I was ready to burst into tears from shame before Dusk Slammed the flat of his hooves against the table, sitting up. He could sit back and tolerate a lot, and I could too, but these questions were beyond his ability to ignore.

“First of all, why the hay are you asking Felt these questions? How in Discord’s name is it even any of your business what me and the other princes do to him?!” Dusk shouted across the table, the neutral guardspony wincing at the prince’s unnaturally loud roar.

“It’s just so funny.” The mare giggled, unable to stop her glee, even as I buried my face in my wing to hide my embarrassment. “He had such a sense of purity, so many standards just a week and a half ago, and now here he is sitting here with a pet collar on, his little bell ringing out the fact that he’s just another little slave of passion. It’s ironic to the point where I want to laugh just by how ashamed he is of himself over there, knowing how far he’s fallen in just a few days.”

Dusk had an eye tic acting up as he said, in an almost dangerously calm voice. “I'll see you fired if you so much as mention him again. The poor colt is in shambles. Don’t you see what you’re doing to him?”

“Yeah. It feels good, knowing that he’s getting the ‘royal treatment’ when I have to train my flank off every day.” She snickered, resentment creeping into her voice towards the end.

“Then quit, go have a life somewhere else.” Dusk said, sitting back in his seat, signalling the discussion as at its end. “Because he can’t.”

Before Magpie could think of a witty retort, Shimmer Shield trotted in, which caused both Magpie and the other guard to stand and salute her on cue. I did my best to compose myself again as the room fell quiet, stifling my slight sobs behind my feathers. It took me a few minutes, but eventually I wiped my eyes and pulled myself together. Everything the mare across from me said had been a low blow, and every single one had met its mark. I knew how I must look, how ridiculous I must seem to these ponies. As they began to talk amongst themselves the neutral guardspony looked over at me several times, as if in pity. I didn’t want his pity, I wanted him to understand what it was like. For once in my life I didn’t want to know how somepony else felt, because I already knew. I wanted them to know how much it hurt me inside, to know how ignorant these ponies were of my situation, and how things truly were. I wanted to shatter their assumptions by giving them an earful of what I’d been through, and the love that I’d slowly grown to be unable to live without. If only they knew the things I’d been promised, the undeniable affection both Lune and Solaris had shown me to get me to wear that collar. I wanted them to see through my eyes, to know the lust that my princes had treated me with to get me into this state. The carnal moments I’d shared with both of them…

Then perhaps they’d understand why I wore that collar, and why I called them my masters.

But Head Over Hooves

I’d always wondered what it was like to be invisible. The whole time that I sat there during that meeting I wanted little more than to fade into transparency as I’d always hoped, as both Magpie and the other stranger guard kept glancing at me as if I was some sort of exotic animal that Dusk had brought in on a leash. Nothing bothered me more than to be talked around, especially after the events that led to me being a succubus, with both Solaris and Cadenza ignoring me as if I wasn’t there. Now Shimmer Shield, the head of the guard, was doing her best not to so much as glance in my direction. I knew why she was doing it, mostly in order to keep me out of the meeting for my own sake. If I was dragged in Magpie would have torn me to pieces, for as the discussions drug on she didn’t so much as bat an eye at her fellows. The bat-mare debated her points with a precision that could rival Dusk Shine’s as he fought to overturn her rather base suggestions. If it had been up to the night guard we would sentence most of our prisoners to a swift death, or sell them to Changelings for a profit. I personally began to loathe the unprincipled, cowardly mare the more she talked. It was as if her points made every bit of sense, but they ignored or otherwise skimmed over the moral part of every discussion. She never looked at it from the perspective of a pony, only at cold facts.

Dusk managed to argue around and bury almost all of her moves, but soon even he began to get irritated. Her demeanour was tactless and straightforward, with no sort of cushioning or restrictions on her speech. She didn’t bother to censor the total goals of her proposed policies, which in most debates was good, but her final goals were downright atrocious. She put a spotlight on the easy, quick disposal of the prisoners in Canterlot instead of rehabilitating them, or perhaps legalizing the main source of their incarceration. She ceased to look at them as ponies with lives that were being taken away from their families and jobs and took the perspective of them being criminals, each and every one, with all cruel motivations and thus they should all be treated the same. I did little but blink and wince every now and again if one of them raised their voice over the other; mostly Shimmer Shield to talk down Magpie’s heartless approach to her circle of jurisdiction. Dusk only turned up his volume once during the meeting, and that was the protest the bat-mare’s proposal of selling the prisoners to Changelings. It took him a long time to calm down from that, and even longer to get him to not consider firing her on the spot.

At long last the meeting was over, but not even a moment after I stood up to leave did I hear a small cough echo through the mostly empty room. Magpie had left, thankfully saving me from another vocal flogging, and as I turned to see who was trying to get my attention I saw only the bystander guard, the one that had remained stoically silent throughout the entire meeting. Dusk stood next to me, waiting for me to leave, but I turned and trotted over to the strange stallion, wondering what a guard would want with a young succubus colt such as I. I stopped short of him and glanced upwards, into the pale-coated pegasi’s eyes. He seemed sympathetic as he began, a rather understanding tone lent to his already smooth voice.

“You might not know me, but I’m the manager of the guard’s quarters… I basically supervise everything that goes on in the barracks. Magpie mentioned that you were a servant, yes?”

I nodded. “To the princes… why?”

“I needed a spare pair of hooves to clean out the guard’s rooms tonight.” He shrugged. “I’d pay you, if you’d like. See, the guards aren’t the most hygienic, so we need to clean out their rooms and go through inspections and such. If you’d like I could just walk you through it, take you through a room or two and let you go on your own. After than just report anything to me and clean up. Nothing big.”

“Actually.” Dusk Shine said, trotting up beside me and putting a wing across my back. “He has other things to be doing. Like studying potions, just as Lune wanted him to be.”

The prince aimed to steer me away from the guard, but the stallion stepped in front of Dusk, reacting faster than the scholar could. He gave the prince a withering look and glanced down at me, as if in disdain of my lack of will.

“Can’t you let the kid make her own decisions?” The guard inquired.

“I-I’m a colt.” I stuttered.

“I have orders.” Dusk said, keeping me tucked under his wing protectively. “Tell him what happened to the last pony you invited to ‘clean out the guard’s rooms’, why don’t you? See if Felt wants anything to do with you after that.”

The stallion scowled, looking down at me covetously. “That was an accident, and I had nothing to do with any of that nonsense. It was just a few of my best who’d had a little too much to drink.”

“And then proceeded to invited a pony to clean out the guard’s quarters with them, construct an elaborate scheme to convince him to test the locks on a pair of shackles, and then they watched as their little prank devolved into something terrible? I wouldn’t call that an accident, I’d call that premeditated. Just because I don’t want Felt falling for anything like that, you’re being bitter.”

The guard stepped out of the way, grumbling something about the royals ruining all of their fun. I looked back at the guard and wondered why a pony would be tempted to do such things, why a good stallion would want affection so badly then as to take some vague, twisted form of it and call it ‘fun’. Dusk herded me out of the room, not wanting to spend any more time in the North Wing. Magpie smiled at me and waved a hoof from across the wide corridor, whispering something to a stallion before pointing at me and mouthing a derogatory word. I wondered how these ponies weren’t locked up, how they weren’t deemed criminals. Dusk saw the look on my face and pulled me a bit closer, leaning down slightly to whisper an explanation.

“That guard back there is only one rank above a novice, and he’s only been here for a year. The incident we mentioned happened with a bunch of first-year guards, drunk as skunks and suffering from withdrawal from their opposite gender. So, being a bunch of moral-less hedonists, they tempted a new recruit into their quarters, bound him and did some rather… unsavoury things. Mostly we only ever experience problems of such gravity with the new guards, but… Magpie is a senior officer, untouchable due to her experience. She didn’t pose any problems until right after we gave her tenure, and we couldn’t be rid of her. Now she causes no end of trouble, including wandering off during important festivals, getting massages from the locals, asking them for sex, partying, etc. Which led to Lune finding you, of course, since it was during his festival that she slacked off and proceeded to do the first two in order.”

I blinked, wondering how such a well-trained individual could have changed, with the world in her hooves and a higher purpose to serve. How could she have just turned her back on her morals?

As if he’d read my mind, Dusk replied. “She’s jealous, you know. As with most ponies of her unfortunate disposition, she will constantly pine for a position in life she can’t receive. She wanted to be our servant before you, but Solaris, Cadenza and Lune all turned her down. She’s always been spiteful, and she still harbours that against us. Hence her extremely cold outlook on life. We even told her that we could give her a nice position high up on the ladder simply arranging housing for guardsponies, and she turned it down. She told us that it was beneath her, and that she deserved to serve us directly. She even went after me begging to be let in as a maid. Solaris told me of her recent track record, and I knew that I’d probably have to worry about money missing from my wallet. Thus, I turned her down as well. She hasn’t gotten over it to this day.”

I shook my head, sighing. It seemed that more than a few ponies either wanted the position I held as a servant or thought I was a foal for agreeing to take it. I’d met two very differing opinions in the last few hours, and in all I wanted little more than to curl up into a ball and sleep. I’d almost been lured into a trap with a guard captain, and Dusk had been forced to escort me from the room. All told I was stressed, and wanted little more than to lay down. Dusk saw the look on my face and continued to talk as we made a beeline towards the Southern Wing.

“You know Solaris might want you, now that he’s calmed down.” He stated, glancing down the corridor that led to his tower. “After all, he’s bound to have something for you to do. I’d recommend apologizing first, though, seeing as how you kind of delivered him a weapon earlier.”

“You really think so?” I asked, wondering just what I would be doing if I spent the rest of the evening with the scholar, instead of my usual master. “What’re you doing tonight, if I may?”

“Mostly reading.” The scholar said nonchalantly. “Nothing you’d be interested in. Just things about upkeep when binding creatures from other planes of existence to this one. “

I blinked pointedly and turned my attention to my hooves, not knowing whether to confirm his suspicions or not. He seemed to get the point and chuckled, gesturing off in the direction of Solaris’ corridor. I nodded and bid him farewell before I trotted off, en route to Solaris’ tower, wondering just what Lune was doing at the moment. I knew that he was most likely doing paperwork, as usual, but in a way I wished that I was there, keeping him company. I pondered that as I made my way across the rotunda to my master’s chambers, curious as to whether he’d forgiven me for my previous transgression. I opened the door to the tower with ease, the spell on the massive redwood doors recognizing me from my many times of entering and leaving. I hadn’t taken more than a few steps before I’d reconsidered, wondering just how furious Solaris would be if I visited him, despite the fact that he’d specifically told me to leave him be.

I made sure to avoid Solaris’ study and instead veered off towards the part of the tower that held the library. I’d find Dusk there again and I could tell him how Solaris turned me away politely, as to avoid telling him that I’d been too scared to so much as knock on his study door. Before I’d made it a few steps a nagging itch came across the back of my neck, and I turned to see what it was.

Certain ponies can say that they almost had a heart attack at one point in their lives, out of pure shock. Most of those who say ‘you almost gave me a heart attack’ are simply exaggerating, because not many have ever experienced true terror. Turning around and seeing a draconequis floating but an inch behind your head, his breath brushing the hairs on the back of your neck, is a genuine reason to scream, run, and generally almost go into cardiac arrest. Before I could, however, Discord had me levitating a few inches off the ground, flailing helplessly.

“Not the most respectful way to react in the presence of your master’s friend.” The spirit said, regarding me coolly with those constantly quizzical, mismatched eyes of his. “I didn’t mean you any harm last time we met, but seeing as how you ran like a filly from a scary monster she found under her bed, I had little choice but to give chase.”

“You left me on the floor unconscious!” I protested, just before he held a single talon over my lips. I blushed at how demeaning he was being, unable to move anything but my lips, and not even those anymore as he held me in mid-air.

“I know, but did you expect me to deliver your body to Solaris saying ‘Here, friend! I know you’re hopelessly infatuated with this young girl of a colt, but I knocked him out on accident, so I was just hoping you could take care of it. Thanks a lot, see you next Tuesday!’?!” He droned, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Well…” I reached for a comeback. “I guess it makes sense when you put it like that…”

“I know, don’t remind me of how I’ve been… ‘reformed’.” He shuddered. “I’ve been making sense more than I care to lately. Now, I’m giving you prior warning this time, so brace yourself.”

The draconequis extended a claw, reaching to place it directly on my foreleg. I cringed and waited for his contact, unable to know just what was coming. His claw contacted me, and I swore it was almost like looking through a kaleidoscope. Trying to interpret what the draconequis was thinking was akin to attempting to map every firing neuron in a pony’s head, thousands of thoughts exploding into existence, then dying, just to be replaced by more than there were originally. It was strange; his mind didn’t dedicate itself to one specific thought process, instead divided his attention amongst hundreds of thousands at a time, none particularly related. It was hardly a wonder why everypony thought he was mad; nothing he thought was even remotely connected, without the tiniest strand of relativity between once thought to the next. I shrugged away from his claw, not wanting any more of it. The brief second of contact had left with a terrible headache, manifesting itself directly behind my eyes. I could hardly wonder just what would have happened if I’d stayed in contact any longer, if I’d have been knocked out or perhaps my mind would begin to function something like his, I couldn’t know.

“Well, you didn’t faint this time.” He acknowledged, setting me down while stroking his beard. “Curious how you can grow and adapt to fit the needs of different psyches… it makes me wonder if you never truly had a choice in all of this.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the spirit.

“Let’s stop and think for a moment, shall we?” He grinned, summoning a lounge chair, which hovered midair as he took as seat, beginning his lecture. “If you look back at this chain of events that led to you serving Lune, you must begin to look at, not yourself, but others around you and their effects on your mind. Let’s begin with this; the mare that set everything in motion, Magpie. She comes into the spa that day, and you touch her whilst massaging her. Your mind begins to acclimate to hers, leaving you with a heightened sense of dependency and loyalty on those of higher standing. Not even hours later Lune comes in, and since his will is much stronger and he wants you to be more servile, but loyal to him, your mind begins to meld a bond with him the moment you make contact. That explains how hard it was for you to separate and become Solaris’ servant as well. Then, Solaris melds your mind into an extremely loose, all-obedient creature that will do anything for him. Then you contact Cadenza and Shimmer Shield, righting your sense of morality. Then, Solaris is appeased, thus you become appeased when you contact him next, and your mental well-being is once again in order, though he still forces his lust upon you, leading to him taking you in the bedroom Lune gave to you.

The more you think about it, the less it would seem you influenced the events around you, and the more it seems like you just mentally adapted to be the most suitable pony for your current master, doesn’t it? Of course, though it’s just a theory… once that seems to make perfect sense, but a hypothesis at best.”

“I know better than to listen to you.” I said, taking a step backwards, almost unable to bear what he was telling me. “You’re a liar.”

“Of course I am… well, was. Now I can’t lie. I can tell you what I believe though, and I think that, based on the facts presented through the timeline of cause and effect, that you are simply constantly becoming whatever anypony wants to be, with no sense of core self. That… perhaps before Lune discovered you, you did your best to optimize your abilities to serve the pony who you knew, deep down, would one day come along and steal what you thought was your sense of ‘self’. In a nutshell, I don’t believe that the pony gifted with that Cutie Mark there,” He gestured at my flank. “ will ever be able to possess themselves as an individual, because they aren’t an individual at all. Think about it, Felt. When Solaris asked you if you wanted to return to your life, what was your initial reaction? Because if I recall correctly, you asked him what he thought you should do, instead of taking it from your own will. You couldn’t even imagine making a decision that gave you free will, because you never truly had one. You were always waiting for a pony with enough power to control you, to herd you like a sheep, and like a sheep you are content to sacrifice your sense of self and be whatever your owner dresses you as, so long as you don’t have to do the one thing that scares you the most. So long as you mustn’t choose.”

“That is…” I didn’t want to say what it truly was, because it came startlingly close to correctness. “… that isn’t really what I was thinking…”

“But it was.” The spirit chuckled, turning to leave. “You were afraid of wandering, of having no purpose because you were unable to devise one for yourself. You never had a goal in life because you couldn’t find one, so you let the goals of others be yours, and you learned of their wants through your gift. You can’t have a want of your own; instead you must steal them from others, constantly unable to think of yourself because that’s how it has been since you were a foal. You have never had to formulate what to do for yourself, so you are incapable of doing so now. You never had free will, little colt. You’ve only ever thought of what others want of you. Without another pony to rely upon, you are nothing.”

He snapped his fingers with a resounding click, and disappeared.

I sat on the floor of my bedroom, unable to think. What had I’d just been told? Discord had rattled my entire worldview, and now I couldn’t see through my own eyes without thinking that perhaps somepony was manipulating me. Was that all my life had been up until then, a constant cycle of me receiving everypony’s expectations of me, and I trying to fulfil them? Had I ever had an independent thought? Even moving to Ponyville had been a suggestion from Aloe and Lotus, who’d offered me a job there almost the moment I graduated. Had I truly just sleepwalked through life until that point, unaware of the fact that I was quite literally unable to make my own choices? The more I picked through my head the more it made sense, and the more horrifyingly aware of my dependence on others I became. The books I bought and filled my shelves with were all textbooks that had been from the reading list for my college syllabus, and my clothes were all those that I’d seen other mares wearing, some of which I’d given massages to and others still I’d simply bumped into on the street.

The sad truth came over me like a tidal wave, and I sank the floor in a miserable heap. I truly hadn’t made my own decisions up until then. Even my plan to change into a dragon after a succubus was based upon Lune’s suggestions. The tattoo I’d wanted as a young colt was merely a conglomerate of two drawings I’d seen in an art exhibit, and the carpet and wallpaper I’d selected for my room had been the same ones that had adorned my college dorm room. Nothing in my life had been original, only borrowed, altered or taken from somepony else. My idea of becoming a masseuse had been given to me by Aloe one day while I was in the Ponyville spa with my mother, and my choice of going to the castle was entirely taken from Lune. It made me question myself more than I ever had, and then one thought hit me that made me want to cry; that perhaps my love for Lune hadn’t been real.

Had I truly loved Lune before I’d laid my hooves on him the first time? Such a question was difficult to answer, as I could scarcely recollect that night almost two weeks ago. I might have been in awe of him, yes. Perhaps overwhelmed by his presence or at least mildly attracted to him as any sane stallion would? Absolutely. But in love… it scared me to think that perhaps my mind had simply adapted into what Lune wanted of me, and he’d wanted infatuation, adoration and a mutual partner. I’d become his mutual partner, until Solaris gotten a hold of me. The first time he lay his hooves on me and I became his servant as well, my mind molding into the selfless, mindless slave that he’d wanted until he was done being carnally driven, then he wanted a simple servant. I’d become right again when I’d been exposed to Cadenza and Shimmer Shield, and all of the sudden I couldn’t feel my hooves.

“Who am I?” I simpered, burying my face in the carpet miserably.

The more I thought the more it hurt; it pained me to know that perhaps nothing I’d ever done was truly of my own volition. Nothing is more agonizing than knowing that you weren’t original, just a frankenstein-like chimera consisting of sown-together pieces of personality, borrowed from others. I had Lune’s loyalty and trust, the lustful obedience Solaris had instilled me with, the moral conscience and sense of morality I’d gained from Cadenza and Shimmer Shield, and finally the little pieces of myself, which weren’t truly me, but sown-together shards of hundreds of ponies whom I’d met before I came to the castle. I felt like a hideous creature, unable to think of anything original, only take things in like some sort of leech bent upon being a sycophant, if only to compensate for the fact that I was nothing but hollow inside. A disgusting, pieced-together mind that was made of spare parts, only stolen from other ponies against their wills.

I looked over at my dresser and began to sob uncontrollably, curling my tail around my back leg in the depths of my self-loathing. So it was true, that none of this had truly been of my own making. I’d been guilty of nothing more than existing, and that in and of itself was a sin in my eyes. I wasn’t supposed to exist, by all standards. Ponies were individuals; true they called upon their past experiences for things, but they could make random, heat of the moment decisions that characterized free will. They possessed true sentience. Whereas I was incapable of such feats, just like when Solaris had asked me if I’d wanted to leave. I was incapable of throwing myself against probability and my past experiences, and thus it could truly be said that I wasn’t fully animate. I was a horrible, mentally deformed creature, devoid of free will and to be scorned, pitied. I wasn’t a pony more than I was a parasite, some sort of awful accident that had spawned forth from an unfortunate alignment of all the wrong stars.

I continued to weep until I noticed a box, a most familiar redwood box laying down on the edge of my dresser. I crouched and slunk over to it, my head bowed to the floor like the beast I was, taking the box off of the dresser and setting on the floor where I belonged. I opened it and my eyes cleared for the first time in almost an hour; it was Meredith’s Sting, the blade Sunset Shimmer had given to me for delivery to Solaris. I shut the lid, shaking my head. At first I thought to myself how good and sweet death sounded, if only it meant that I didn’t steal the traits of another pony. I shook my head, however, pushing the box away before slinking over to the edge of my bed, curling into a singularity of pure agony. Simply knowing that I existed hurt, as if I was an insult to all living beings. I dug my sharp hooves into my back leg, jabbing my tail into my side at the same time, trying to feel the pain I deserved. Nothing happened, and I suddenly became aware that a succubus couldn’t truly feel pain.

I cried anew, wondering what sort of hell I was in. I continued to sob into my wing until I caught a glimpse of my Cutie Mark through my blurred vision, my eyes clouded with tears. I began to dejectedly loathe every part of my body, until finally my gaze and mind settle on the Mark together. That was the source of my misery, of my inability to think for myself. This thing was the whole reason that I was a parasite, a sickening monstrosity incapable of acting on my own. This was the tyrant that had ruled my entire life, forced me into offer my heart to anypony who wanted it. I glared at the Mark I called my own; a simple heart, with a little bow tied around it, a present to any who wanted my affection. I loathed that mark as much as I loathed my own being, and in that moment I couldn’t help but think of it as a tyrant.

All of the sudden the word clicked in my head. ‘Tyrant.’ It echoed through my ears and I looked over to the knife in the box, my eyes widening in wonderment. Perhaps, just maybe the knife wasn’t just enchanted to stab the tyrants of the literal sort. I pulled the box closer with my tail, opening it and fumbling with the sharp, tempered metal handle until it was firmly in my grasp. I eyed my Cutie Mark, my hoof shaking as I thought of being free of my gift. I wanted to be free so badly, to be my own pony and make my own decisions. I wanted to be able to take chances, and stand up for myself as an individual. I would pursue that dream even if I had to carve the source of my handicap right out of my living flesh. I brought the knife to my flank, smiling as I ran the cold steel over my skin, even scraping away a few pieces of fur with the razor-sharp edge of the blade. I raised it, ready to plunge it into myself and finally take out the piece of me that had never belonged.

Just before I brought my hoof down to meet my flank I saw a flash of blue, and suddenly the blade was gone. I looked at my empty hoof for a moment in shock, then turned to see Lune in the doorway, his eyes wide, holding the knife with his magic a few inches away. I leapt up and sped across the room as fast as I could, wanting little more than to seize the knife from him and finish what I’d just been starting. The knife disappeared and he levitated me in place, his eyes wide in shock as I roared at him, screamed profanities I don’t remember in my blind rage. I called him so many things, an abuser and a rapist, a cruel stallion who’d taken advantage of me. He carried me over to the bed, still unable to comprehend what I’d been doing.

“Felt, what happened?” He asked in a gentle voice, setting me down on the mattress as if I was more fragile than glass. “You’re not making any sense, dear. Just explain to me why you’re upset, and I can help.”

He continued to talk to me in that calming voice until I gave up struggling, collapsing back into a pillow and weeping like a lost foal. I sobbed, but didn’t answer him as he leaned over me, petting my mane to comfort me as he kissed my ears, cooing and comforting me with his graces.

“Just tell me what happened, love.” He whispered soothingly.

I hiccupped, unable to form words for a few more minutes before I finally said. “My whole life has been a lie… all I ever do is borrow ideas and personalities from other ponies to please them, to make me more like-” I hiccupped in the middle of my sentence. “- them so they’ll like me. And if I can’t become like them I aim to please them, to make up for the fact that I’m nopony. I’ve never thought for myself, so I’ve never made my own decisions… I don’t even have free will. I’m worse than a dog, some sort of disgusting abomination, and when you came in I had Meredith’s Sting, and I was hoping that maybe I could cut out the tyrant that’s been ruling my life since I was born…”

Lune blinked, absorbing and thinking over every bit of information as I’d given him before he replied, in as low a voice as he could manage. “Everypony is a product of their past, Felt. You just a bit more so than others, and you were born with this gift for a reason. I don’t think that knife will have cured you of your empathy for others, or helped you gain free will. Nothing can change that now, dear… but I can tell you that you aren’t an abomination. You don’t make others miserable, and you most certainly aren’t incapable of making decisions. You might be a product of those around you, but you choose which facet you listen to. You choose whose personality to channel, and that in and of itself is a choice. I personally think that if you were incapable of choosing who you were, Solaris would have turned you into a beast by now.”

“B-but I can’t be on my own, Lune.” I turned to him, tears streaking my face. “I can never exist without another pony to know, otherwise I have nothing.”

“Oh, Felt.” The prince sighed, planting a kiss on my muzzle before continuing. “You just described so many normal ponies, who don’t even have your gift. Trying to be as others are is simply a natural occurrence, magnified by your skills. In no way does that make you something apart from the rest of us.”

I blinked, wondering how he was doing this. I’d been so sure, so set on sinking that knife into my skin before he’d come along, before he’d injected the voice of reason into me.

“No matter how many times I see you like this, Felt, I’ll always kiss every inch of you until you feel beautiful again.” Lune said, putting a hoof on my cheek. “You’re my partner, you’re my servant, my lover and conscience. You saved me from myself once, and it is the least I can do to save you from yourself.”

I curled myself into a ball and he wrapped his hooves around me, pulling me into his embrace.

“This is why I’ll always love you the most.” I whispered, wiping the last of my tears away.

An Evening to Ourselves

Lune’s chambers had the same majesty as the night sky, and as I trotted upstairs the lights downstairs extinguished themselves as if on cue. My hooves clacked loudly on the polished marble floor, which had a light layer of mist hanging over it as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. The only sources of light were the stars that adorned the walls and, far above my head, a gigantic replica of the moon in the height of its current lunar cycle. My eyes had barely acclimated to the dim interior of his entrance hall when I heard a light clop, like somepony clapping their hooves, and suddenly lights sprang into existence as if from nowhere. I hadn’t the foggiest how such magic worked, but as I regained my bearings there were indents in the walls, which housed small, perfectly shaped orbs of bright white light. I blinked and looked around, my sense of perception hurrying to adjust to the space I found myself in.

Although the space downstairs was exactly the circumference of the tower, through magic couldn’t even fathom this space managed to be three times the size inside then it appeared to be on the outside. There were marble pillars winding the main hall, and to my right, left and directly in front of me I saw that three expansive halls stretched almost to the horizon. I shook my head, sighing. Leave it to an alicorn to enchant their entire home. Directly behind me stood a massive stained glass window depicting both Lune and Nightmare Moon, each one standing symmetrically on either side of silver beam that separated them. In the center was the moon, in each one of its shapes in which it appeared in the night sky. I scarcely had time to take in the scenery when I heard his voice beside me.

“Are you coming?” He asked.

I almost jumped out of my skin; for some reason that escaped me alicorns didn’t make noise when they walked, and it was as much a mystery as it was an inconvenience. I could never tell if he was standing next to me or not, or even if he as in the same room. I nodded, my heart still hammering in my chest as I followed him down the central hallway until we arrived at a silver and blue door, hemmed in black obsidian on the frame. Lune stopped and gestured for me to go ahead inside, smiling. The expression he wore was suspenseful, as if he couldn’t wait to see my reaction to the room he’d prepared for me. I pulled the handle down and opened the door, not knowing what to expect. What my suitor had given me, however, was rather humble compared to what I had presumed. I’d thought he’d shower me with large pools and expensive draperies, a room that had every wall as a mirror, or worse, a massive closet full of more clothes that I could wear in a lifetime.

The room, contrary to all those scenarios I’d honestly been dreading, was quite to my content. It consisted of a large dresser to my right, far across the long main room to my bed, which was at my left. The dresser was redwood, with the frame of the mirror being aspen, and the bed was a curtained queen-sized, stuffed with what I assumed would be goose feathers. Other than these accommodations, the room was mostly bare, save the gray carpet and walls, which blazed a deep sapphire. A massive window, which made up the whole wall facing the outside of the tower, lay directly in front of me and even opened up to a balcony through the use of a sliding glass door, which seemed to disappear when shut. I had a perfect view of the clouds and surrounding landscape, including Ponyville, miles below.

“I know it isn’t much, but I knew that you probably wouldn’t want me to shower you with gifts the moment you walked in the door.” Lune said nervously, worried that I wouldn’t like it. “After all the way you told me your house looked back in Ponyville made it seem like you like the bare necessities.”

I turned around and stood on the tips of my hooves, planting a light kiss on his cheek. He scuffed a hoof as I turned around, seeing that my things were already delivered and stashed in the closet. I had a huge, rather ridiculous smile on my face from how surreal all of this was. Only a week ago I’d been sitting in Ponyville, content with my lonely life working every day of the week as a masseuse. Now, I was lodging in the same tower as a prince. In a way I felt bad, knowing how many ponies would probably want to be where I was at that moment, but in another I could hardly stop smiling.

“It’s perfect!” I crowed, jumping onto the bed and settling in. “Nothing else in the world could make me happier, Lune!”

“Nothing?” He asked, smiling. “I wouldn’t be so quick to say that, dear.”

Dear. The words rang in my ears like a faint echo, a shadow of something that had happened in a time when I’d barely been conscious. Quite suddenly I remembered where I’d been called that before. Solaris had called me dear, right after he laid my head on his chest and my eyes shut, directly after he’d petted my mane and made me develop a rather acute memory of how his seed tasted. He’d said the word with all the love in the world, and here Lune was calling me the same pet name. I blinked and blushed brilliantly, my cheeks suddenly resembling a spring rose in bloom. Not only because of the sensual connotations behind what he was saying, but also the memories that the name dredged up.

“Of course… there’s that.” I said, crossing my front hooves and looking at the bedsheets timidly. “I am already in bed, if you want.” I offered, shocked at my own words.

At that moment I couldn’t help but take a step back and looked at how much Solaris had changed me in the brief time I’d known him. Before I’d met him the thought of offering sex to a pony, no matter how intimate we were, made me bashfully bow my head and ask how I could possibly work up to something so carnal. Now that Solaris had so effortlessly broken my sense of pride I felt almost no resistance as I blinked hopefully up at Lune, who coughed on his own words as he said, his voice carrying surprise.

“My, you are eager.” He smiled, biting his bottom lip as he thought. He was obviously wondering whether he should take me now or later on, when both of us were bound to be more in the mood. He tapped his hoof against the carpeted floor as he reached a conclusion. “I know that, after what Solaris had you do, you’re probably more than happy to replace the memory of his lewd actions with my own more loving ones. It would seem that neither of us is particularly up for it at the moment though. So, how about we talk a bit, see where the evening takes us, and then we can settle into our bedroom activities?”

I nodded, preferring a long, romantic evening together with him by far to a short, lust-fueled foray that would most likely end rather anticlimactically. I jumped back out of bed and trotted over to him, running my wing along his side and eventually his flank as I left to room. Once again I reprimanded myself for how brazen I was being. He blinked again in surprise as he fell into step beside me, not knowing whether he liked this strange new pony or not.

“I want you to tell me when you got so… suggestive.” He said as we walked towards what I assumed would be his kitchen. “You sure weren’t this way when I left you a week ago.”

“Solaris.” I muttered, wondering if there was a pony I could possibly love or hate more in the universe. “When he… when he had his fun, he told me a lot of things afterwards… things that I’m just now remembering. Some of them are… ridiculous. Others couldn’t be more correct. I’m doing my best to forget them, but the way he told me and when makes it really hard to ignore.”

Lune paused for a moment, his face unreadable. “What did he do to you?”

“He dressed me in a maiden’s skirt and corset.” I said, feeling both filthy and relieved that I was finally telling somepony about this. “And… let’s just say I know how he tastes almost as well as I know how he looks.”

“So you… I mean he, had you use your mouth to…” He asked, doing his best not to pry but still have clarity.

“Yes.” I shivered. “That’s why I’m being suggestive. Because these thoughts that he filled my head with are… really hard to explain, and the best way to distract myself from them is you. I guess you can say that Solaris fills my head with these things, and you help me to sort them and bring order into the big picture. Whereas he just throws what he expects of me out there, you kind of… cushion things, soften the blow, go at a slightly more comfortable pace if you know what I mean. You allow me to accept the things that happen to me, even though they’re hard to live with.”

“Well, I’m glad I can be here.” He said, laying a wing over me as we entered through an arched doorway into the kitchen. “Anything to help you out. I know that things like that can really hit ponies like you hard, so if you need to talk about it I’m here.”

“Ponies like me?” I asked, wondering what he’d meant.

“Normal-ish ponies.” He chuckled. “Ponies that aren’t immortal and haven’t seen it all yet.”

“Ah, I see...” Was all I could think to say in response.

I paused as I looked around Lune’s kitchen, noticing a trend in the layout of his tower rooms. Despite the fact that he’d made the inside of his personal chambers gigantic, every place I’d visited so far had an extremely open floor plan, with an almost ridiculous amount of empty space. This room shared the same layout, with a counter running the entire length of the space and a long granite island sitting a few feet away from it. Besides that and a large table set slightly beyond that the tiled floor was empty, and it seemed almost eerily vacant as the prince trotted in ahead of me.

“Would you like me to cook?” He asked over his shoulder.

“I could help.” I said, rushing to join him before he held up a hoof.

He rolled his eyes and pointed at a chair, pulling it out with his magic. “You are a guest in my home; I insist that I be the one to cook for you. How does cooked vegetables and tofu sound?”

I blinked as the foreign word met my ears. I tilted my head to the side curiously. “What’s tofu?” I asked, surprised that there was a food I hadn’t heard of.

“It’s a special blend of plant extracts meant to taste like meat, but it’s still digestible to us equines. I must say I’ve developed quite a taste for the stuff, and it opens up a lot of options as far as meals go. I’ve made it the main course of a few meals recently. I think you’d like it.”

“If you say so.” I said, not quite sure. I trusted him enough to know what I’d like, though.

As he started to take out a pan and heat up the cooktop I took a seat at the table. He regarded me curiously as he started to make the meal, his eyes swimming with something he’d yet to say. Although I had a feeling that I knew what it was, I kept quiet and tapped my hooves on the oaken tabletop. Lune became more absorbed in his work as he began to cut peppers and the heads off of broccoli, throwing them onto the pan with almost unnatural skill. I supposed that, having cooked in that kitchen before so many times, he was probably used to being able to move so deftly. Although he let his magic do most of the precision work, he physically retrieved each of the ingredients before he trusted his arcane skills to handle them. As everything settled and he tossed the last of the dish on the pan to cook he leaned onto the granite counter, gazing at me.

“I know you’re going to think that I’m just butting into your business… but what did Solaris tell you? You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to, but I know when a pony has something they want to get off their chest. You’re definitely being bothered by whatever it was.”

I inhaled slowly, wondering if it would only cause more tension between Lune and Solaris if I told him. As I exhaled I nodded, arranging my wings against my sides as to be more comfortable. Although this would undoubtedly ruin the prince’s good mood, I knew it had to be said.

“Solaris told me that my Cutie Mark, and my gift, are only ordained to certain ponies with similar personalities throughout history.” I explained. “He told me that before he lost control and did those things to me. In the aftermath, he told me the type of personality that the ponies before me had. He told me the history of those who had this gift in the past.”

“What exactly did he say?”

I sighed and put my head in my hooves. “Every single pony that had this Mark, and this gift, before me has been at the side of a great and powerful pony or ponies. He had a pony with this Cutie Mark as a servant three thousand years ago, but he never learned of her unique nature until she was long gone. Another curious thing is that they were all mares. The servant of Lady Dracken, Empress of the third great Griffonian Empire, was a pony who had the gift I do. Chrysalis had a pony that had the gift at her side, once upon a time. Sombra, Discord, all of the greatest leaders and creatures, and all the worst, have had a pony they called their assistant, and for some reason the only ponies in recorded history that have my gift always find their way into the servitude for a great and powerful leader.”

“What about that is cause for alarm?” Lune asked.

“Because the trust and love that ponies like me devote to our masters always ends up poisoning their perceptions of us. Another fact about those who had my gift is that… every one of them was greatly neglected by one of the ponies they served.”

“So you’re concerned that you’ll be abused... more than you already have been.” Lune blinked, eying me with equal amounts of pity and sympathy. “What a terrible thing for such a young colt to have to fret over. When I was your age the only thing I had to worry about was mastering conjuring spells. Here you are, a handsome young lad at just the same age and you’re worrying that one of your princes will take advantage of you, and that there might not be anything you can do about it.”

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.” I nodded, my hooves shaking. “I’m deathly afraid that it’s my fate to be subject to a prince’s whims, and maybe more than one with the way things have been going. I’ve already made myself fairly exploitable in Solaris’ eyes… who knows how Cadenza will react to me. I think me and Dusk will get to be friends eventually, but… Solaris. I don’t think that he sees me in the right light after what happened.”

Lune picked up the pan and scraped the contents onto two plates for us, then turned the stove off with an experienced flick of his magic. He trotted over and laid the plate the front of me, setting a fork beside the plate and seating himself across from me. As we began to eat both of us fell into a tense silence, both of us letting the previous topic of discussion blow over. Although it was clear that Lune was concerned for me, he knew that any further conversation revolving around the subject would probably only serve to strip my already raw nerves further. As I took the first bite of my food I blinked; it was undoubtedly the strangest thing I’d ever tasted. The only way that I could describe it is to equate it to seeing a new color for the first time; one couldn’t even imagine what it might look like until they see it, and then it suddenly becomes as natural as any other. I found myself doing the same thing here, questioning how I could have ever lived without knowing what meat tasted like, even if what I was eating was only a vague facsimile of what it truly was.

“This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted!” I said, eating the meal in front of me as quickly as possible, as if somehow I could enhance the flavor of it by cramming more into my mouth. “How the heck does nopony know about this stuff?”

“Ponies are herbivores, and we’re herbivores.” He shrugged. “Ponies either just don’t like it, or they have moral qualms about it. They think that it’s not natural. In my opinion, as long as it doesn’t actually involve real animals being harvested for meat, it’s fine.”

We nodded to each other and finished off the rest of our meal, leaving me with a full stomach and questioning how we would be spending the remainder of the evening. As I did I was reminded of what we’d been talking about, and I fell silent yet again. It had been a good distraction from what had been claiming my attention for most of the day, but it still didn’t help much. My mind slowly trailed back to the fact that my fate may be forever written in stone, and I was immediately back in the same slump that I’d started in. Lune saw my expression shift towards melancholy and picked up my plate, cleaning it swiftly to rejoin me at the table. He didn’t retake his seat, though, instead he pushed it in and gestured for me to follow him.

I got up and tailed after him, wondering what he was thinking of doing next. As we strode down the corridor I looked up at him, and he draped a wing over me knowingly. Through our contact I knew that he was planning on taking my mind off of it, but I couldn’t discern how. Lune smiled as my expression changed to one of curiosity, eager to know just what he had in store for me. We continued down the hall until we arrived at a pair of two intricately carved double-doors, which he opened with a single flash of his sapphire horn. For a moment I didn’t understand, but when I did get a grasp of what he was trying to hint towards I couldn’t help but give him a nervous glance. The room he’d led me to was his personal study and Arcananium, by the many symbols and geometric patterns that littered the floor. Although his brother might hold the title for the strongest magic, his knowledge and understanding of sorcery could hardly be matched amongst mortal creatures, as I later learned. He openly confessed that Discord could outdo him in most anything, but the type of magic the reality-bending spirit used was one that even the Night Prince dared not use.

We trotted into the study and immediately a hush fell over us. There was no breeze, which normally permeated one’s passing through any part of the castle, only silence and a sense of stillness that made one feel as if all was at peace. Lune lit his horn and a myriad of crystals hung from the ceiling lit up, producing their own lights through enchantments I couldn’t fathom. Although I was a pegasus, even I had an appreciation of how wondrous the place was, and how much time he’d spent perfecting it. The prince probably spent the majority of his time in there, judging by the sheer volume of books and papers that were littered on desks scattered around the edges of the floor. The center of the space was left vacant, but there were two floors of nothing but books, dusty old tomes covering every available centimeter of wall space. The floor in there was a silvery gray, which made the bright white symbols he’d embroidered, drawn and burnt into the floor in some places much more difficult to see. The space smelled vaguely of woodsmoke and burnt paper, but overall the study was downright cozy.

“I’d ask before you touch anything in here.” He warned me, nodding to the floor. “Nothing I’ve put on the floor is dangerous, though. It’s just leftovers of old summoning spells before I was banished. Except that one.” He said, motioning towards a line of patterns that looked quite recent. “That was shortly after I came back and tried to see how malleable the fabric of this reality is. I later learned that ours truly is quite soft, but the one that I tried to make a gate to… not so much. Ended up having an archway to get through over here and an opening the size of an apple over there. I managed to collect samples, but I later decided to abandon the pursuit. Frankly it wore on my health for a while afterwards.” He said, feeling his left foreleg, as if remembering something. “Anyways, feel free to look through the desks though. I don’t keep anything in there that isn’t already locked up.”

I began to get lost amongst the shelves, until I suddenly realized that I hadn’t the foggiest how the books were organized. He didn’t use a decimal system or even go in alphabetical order, most were actually in languages I didn’t know. I recognized a few that I’d studied over the course of my school years, which were two rather distinct languages other than Equestrian. I had a working knowledge of both griffonian and the strange, long-dead language of the unicorns. After that I didn’t even know, as some of the letters seemed to writhe about on their covers as if rejecting any sort of order, even if only to stop and make sense for a moment. Some of the letters printed on the spines actively smoldered, producing the strong, reeking odor of sulfur. I didn’t need to be told that the tomes were printed in the language used in Tartarus, amongst the many dark denizens of that dwelt there. I could only assume that the letters that refused to stay in order on the pages was the language of the Draconequi, seeing as how they refused to make sense except to those who were willing to embrace madness.

As I perused the shelves a bit more I stumbled finally into the section written in Equestrian, with a few books written in the arcane tongue of the unicorns dotted about the shelf. Seeing one about alchemy, a pursuit that even a non-magic user like me could take up, I pulled it off the shelf and hurried back to Lune, who was sitting at a desk, signing some sort of bill written in griffonian. I managed to piece together that it was something to do with tariffs before he filed it away, eying the book that I had tucked under my hooves. He chuckled a bit as he saw what it was about, and motioned for me to set it on the desk. The moment I did he opened it, flicking to page three-hundred and ninety-four more quickly than I thought possible. He turned the book towards me and my wings shot straight up in the air as I looked down at the subject matter he wanted me to read about.

The entire page was depicting the anatomical structure of a stallion, but under the effects of a potion that altered the basic shape and proportions of it in any way the drinker of the potion wanted. This led to interestingly detailed artistry of phalli with small bumps and ridges covering the shaft, strange additions to the crown or shape of the head and a multitude of other things that inevitably made my wings stiffer than the wooden desk Lune was sitting at. He smiled and his horn flashed, teleporting the book back to its place on the shelf as he grinned ever the more deviously.

“I have a particular book I want you to read about.” He teased, eyeing my wings with delight. “Tonight, before we go to bed, I want you to mark a page in it and leave it by my door. Whatever you mark in this book, I will do for you. Are we understood?”

I nodded, wondering what could be more fantastically lewd than what I’d just seen. I apparently knew very little about magic and how much it could alter a pony, because the book that Lune set down in front of me next almost made me faint. The very first page he turned to was a simple potion to transform a pony into any species, with options and variations if one wanted to only transform parts of their body. On the next there was a potion that allowed one to switch bodies with a pony, and as he flipped the page I saw a bright blue liquid that basically eliminated the need to stop between rounds in bed. Every single one of the potions opened up so many options it was ridiculous, and that was only the potions section of the book! In the index I’d seen spells to transform a pony into a succubus, give them a mandible tail, allow them to breathe through their nostrils even though they were swallowing, grant them venom that functioned as a sexual stimulant, and possess the genitals of both genders at a time. I was flat-out overwhelmed by how many options there were in there, and he was asking me to pick one measly option out of thousands.

“I have to pick only one?” I whimpered, knowing that I would go on a binge if I had the option.

“Keep in mind that it’s a lot harder to undo those spells than to cast them.” He cautioned me, closing the book and pushing it across the desk. “I look forward to seeing you when the sun rises… but right now I have a bit of work I need to get done before then. Enjoy the tower as you see fit, and make sure that you don’t get lost. If you do just look for a main hall and follow it until you reach the entrance again. You should be able to make it back to here or your room from there, shouldn’t you?”

“I’m good with directions.” I said, tucking the book under my wing. “I guess I’ll see you at sunrise then.”

“I’m confused, Felt.” Lune said as he trotted into my room, holding a glowing golden potion in front of him. “You left the instructions on how to make the potion but you never told me what it does.”

I jumped up and flew over to him with a single flap of my wings, grinning ear to ear and snatching the potion away from him. With another downstroke I launched myself into bed, gazing at the bottle with equal amounts of fascination and anticipation. Lune walked over to me and eyed me questioningly.

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” I teased him, putting a hoof on his cheek to ease his nervousness. “It’s not fun if you already know what’s gonna happen.”

He let out a held breath, smiling down at me as I sat amongst the sheets. “You do know you concern me sometimes, right? You go too far out of your way to please, especially when you don’t tell me things.”

“It’s okay not to tell you some things.” I said, flicking his nose with the end of my hoof. “I always tell you the important things. But sometimes it’s nice to not know things until they happen. After all, if everything was predictable nothing would be fun.”

He rolled his eyes as if he was trying to disregard how right I was, sitting on the edge of the bed. He seemed tired, and I decided that it wouldn’t do to keep him waiting. I looked at him and put a hoof on top of the stopper, asking him if he was ready. He nodded, biting his bottom lip as I opened the bottle with a hollow pop. I eyed the liquid for a moment, then tilted it back slowly, letting only a few drops meet my lips. Lune hung on the edge of his seat, nervously chewing the inside of his cheek. I tasted the potion, which contained a strange blend of flavors. Pomegranates, bananas and something citrusy met my taste buds, and I nodded before I drank the rest of the potion.

Lune sat there, looking like he was about to call a doctor as I waited for the potion’s effects to make themselves clear. I yelped lightly as I felt the changes start, beginning with a slight feeling of numbness in my sides. My prince bit his bottom lip, but trusted me to tell him if something was wrong. I calmly waited for the potion to do its work, biting my bottom lip as slightly more uncomfortable sensations began to fill me, including a strange feeling as if my insides were being reshaped. After a few moments of resisting the urge to shudder, I felt my body settle again. I nodded and Lune relaxed immediately, letting out an exhale that sounded as if he’d held his breath for the entire time.

“Well?” He asked, leaning closer to me. “Do you feel any different?”

I shrugged as I sidled across the mattress to him, until I could place my hoof on his. “As I said, I want it to be a surprise. So let’s get started, and we can unwrap that present when we get there, okay?”

He smiled and lifted his hoof away from mine, if only to put it on my cheek. “You’re really enjoying keeping this whole thing a mystery, huh?”

“Of course I am.” I said, dodging away from him. “It makes me feel at least a little better if I hold at least one of the cards here. After all, you’ve got magic and immortality, you’re a prince, everything here is yours… I have to have something vague and mysterious about me, if only for a bit.”

I fell onto my back, letting my wings open and legs curl inwards towards my body, to keep Lune’s already wandering eyes off of my flanks. I flicked my tail over my loins, tucking it between my legs so that he couldn’t have a sneak at me. It was important to keep pace, and I knew by the way his eyes were tracing up my waist that he would give anything to see me at my most vulnerable. He slid over to sit next to my head, sitting up on his front legs so that his hooves were directly next to my ears. He smiled down at me as I rolled over, now lying on my stomach with my legs tucked under me. Lune put a hoof under my chin and I returned his smile, wondering what he’d have me do first. Unlike Solaris, I wanted to serve Lune as best I could. As if in response he widened his stance, flicking his eyes downwards towards his now exposed loins. My eyes locked immediately on his semi-hard length, and I felt myself almost hypnotized by the dark navy crown.

I traced my eyes over his sack, over each of his perfectly spherical jewels and felt myself getting excited. More than a bit, by the way my entire mouth was wet at the thought of running my tongue from the base of his tail to his tip. I licked my lips and felt my back legs trembling, imagining all the things that he would do to me if I let him. I looked up at him and he leaned back into the mound of pillows I’d prepared for him, taking his hoof away from my face and using it to coax even more of his length out of his sheathe, stroking himself not even an inch away from my muzzle. I whimpered, awaiting his permission to touch him as I felt my own diminutive stallionhood pushing against the sheets under me. I wasn’t concerned with myself at the moment, but the way he was caressing his sack, massaging the base of his long shaft was enough to make me nearly bite through my bottom lip. Still I waited, knowing that I needed his word before I could so much as breathe on his perfectly smooth love.

“You have our permission.” Lune said after what felt like an eternity.

I arched a brow as I reached out a tentative hoof and set it on the very base of his length, making small circles with the tip of my hoof as I flattened my ears and tilted my head to the side, curious as to why he’d chosen such words. He whispered my name and petted my mane as my other hoof found his crown, tracing circles around the smooth, almost rubbery flare. The prince shook and bucked against my hooves slightly, leading me to conclude that he hadn’t had it in a very long time. Before I put my lips to work, though, I had a question.

“Why do you sometimes refer to yourself in the plural?” I mused.

As he was about to answer I wet my lips and fit them around a single one of his jewels, rolling it around with my tongue and ushering a gasp from him instead of a reply. I did the same with the other, knowing he wouldn’t like unequal treatment between the two. All the while my hooves continued to work at his base and head, keeping pressure off his shaft so that things didn’t end too fast.

“Well.” He replied, panting. “When I was on the moon I was quite lonely, and I didn’t have anypony around. So… I named my hooves. I also named… umm… well, you’re kissing her.”

“Her?” I giggled, taking my lips off of his base. “You called it a mare?”

He blushed and his wings opened in a vastly delayed display of excitement. “Her name is Nyra… I hope that doesn’t make you think of my any different.”

I shook my head, running my hoof along his shaft. “No, love… I think it’s cute. I’d be happy to give Nyra some well-deserved attention.”

Lune put one of his hooves behind my head and pressed my tongue to his girth lovingly, moaning loudly. I obliged to his demands with a smile, running my lips up his shaft and planting a kiss on his crown, earning me another animalistic exaltation from my lover. I stroked him enthusiastically, doting on his head with my mouth while my hooves served the rest of his stallionhood with firm strokes. I felt him twitch in my grip and a small spurt of pre coated my tongue. I pulled my mouth away from him and licked my lips, memorizing his taste. His seed, even the precum, had a light flavor of bell papers, which mingled perfectly with the inherent saltiness of semen. I closed my eyes and leaned towards him again, ready to continue foreplay until he said to stop. I was stopped by a flash of magic as he picked me up, holding me in the air above him and gently setting me down on my back, exposing my loins.

I yelped and crossed my back legs, flicking my tail over my miniscule member. He arched a brow and arranged himself over me, his magic taking a gentle, but forceful hold of my back ankles and slowly parting my legs. I bit my bottom lip as he caught site of my light blue stallionhood, which appeared absolutely shameful compared to his royal blue length. I blushed again and turned away from him, ashamed of myself. He blinked with concern, using his hoof to reestablish eye contact with me. He set a loving hoof on my cheek and made me face him, his eyes worried.

“What’s the matter, Felt?” He asked, lowering himself down until his own sapphire girth sat against my own pitiful excuse for a member. “You’re acting like you don’t want me to see you.”

I bit my bottom lip, hardly able to look at him. “I know, it’s small… no need to bring it up.”

The stallion shook his head and sighed, giving a light twitch of his stallionhood against mine. I whimpered, trying to disregard the fact that the rather sore subject had come up. I’d done my best to avoid having him look directly at my loins so far, but now that it was out in the open I had to tell him.

“Look, so… I’m really… really not all that big.” I confessed. “I can’t do much with what I have, so… I hope that you didn’t want me to one day be top because… I probably won’t be able to give you much pleasure.” I felt my cheeks catch fire as I squeezed my eyes shut miserably, fearing his reaction.

“Oh, come on now.” He said, rotating his hips and drawing his shaft down me. “You’re perfect for me… besides, with the skills you have, you don’t need it. Your lips can get me off faster than I can get out of my sheathe, love. Besides that, I’m about to discover just how succulent your flanks are… I’m sure those more than make up for something so silly.”

I gasped and nodded, ripples of erotic pleasure racking my entire frame. My hooves shook as I wrapped then around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. He shifted his position over me, maintaining the kiss while he lowered the tip of his stallionhood down my length, over my sack and finally meeting the base of my tail. He broke the kiss the moment his member touched the edge of my entrance, his eyes widening. I smiled, glad that he’d been surprised.

“Y-you’re… wet.” He exalted, blinking away his shock. “I mean, you’re absolutely soaked… like a mare does when she’s excited.”

I nodded. “So tell me, do you like the potion I chose?”

He nodded, still recovering from the unexpected sensation on his member. He reached down and put a hoof on his crown, which had a slight coating of my pre on it. He lifted it to eye level, awed by the clear lubricant. The prince in all his days couldn’t have imagined something so clever, and I knew immediately that I’d done a great job as his servant, and his lover. He lowered his mouth to my ear and his crown to my tail, bracing me against him by putting his hooves on the base of my wings. I closed my eyes and relaxed, knowing that this wouldn’t be very pleasurable at first, especially with how big he was.

“This is going to hurt at first, love.” He cautioned, petting my mane.

“I know… can I tell you a secret?”

“Anything.”

“You’re the first pony to… touch me there.” I whispered into his ear, wondering if this moment would ever end.

“Oh, I love you.” He breathed. “That means so much to me… that you’d trust me with something so sacred. Do you want me to go fast, or ease it in?”

“Slow, please.”

I opened my mouth in a silent scream, shocked by how easily his massive tip slipped inside of me. He bit my ear, moaning heavily and breathing as if it took all his will to not push himself the rest of the way in. The amount of force he’d actually put into the thrust was minimal, but by how he’d reacted I was clamping down on him full-force. I gave him a knowing smile and nodded for him to continue spreading my extremely reluctant walls. He gave another small twitch of his hips, sending another inch of himself plunging into me. I had to resist the urge to cry at how thick he was, and this was only the first few inches. I sighed and took deep breaths, slowly getting used to his pulse beating alongside my own. I could feel him getting close to that spot inside me, the one that I knew would send me into heat the moment he touched it. I just hoped I was ready for the rest of him.

I nodded to him again, but what happened nearly made me scream outright. He sent the rest of his shaft inside me, taint and all until his sack rested against the base of my tail. Tears blurred my vision as he looked down at me lovingly, brushing a stray lock of my mane out from in front of my face. I sat there shaking for easily three minutes, just feeling his entire member sheathed inside of me, pulsing with every beat of his heart. His breath went along with the rhythm of my heart, and I mimicked him, wondering how we could possibly continue after that. He again pushed the bounds of my imagination by drawing out of me, a wet, slick sound filling the room alongside his moan of pleasure. I made the most effeminate noise I’d ever heard, clutching his neck and panting as my walls instinctively attempted to prevent him from leaving me. I nearly fainted from overstimulation as I felt every thick ripple of his stallionhood draw over my prostate, finally letting out a loud, high-pitched utterance that drove Lune mad as his crown brushed that special place inside me. Just when I thought he’d run out of length to draw out of me somehow he continued, until finally his flaring tip was just inside my ring.

I don’t know how long we just sat there panting, but both of us knew that in two more thrusts like that we’d both be at our breaking point. So we merely sat there, him occasionally moving in a small swirling motion, just to keep both of us excited. Eventually I grew tired of his teasing, and tightened as hard as I could on his head. He gasped and I began to shift up and down, teasing him in return. I smiled and lavished his crown in small, unsatisfying thrusts. He eventually got the point and pushed all the way in, prompting me to muffle my scream by pressing my lips to his. My prince moaned and drew out, establishing an even rhythm as we explore each other’s tongues. The entire room echoed with a moist smack as his base met my tail again, and I urged him to continue by nipping lightly at his neck.

His horn lit and his pace quickened after a few minutes of his continued tempo, biting his bottom lip and placing his hooves on my wings to better grip me. I howled my pleasure to the world as he quickened, biting the nape of my neck in wild abandon. I knew he was beyond reason at that point, and any attempts to get him to slow down would go ignored, so I began to push back on him with each thrust, causing my normally composed stallion to pant loudly, his eyes never shifting from mine. His thrusts grew faster and more shallow, focusing his taint on my prostate and his crown somewhere deep inside me. I didn’t know how long he was exactly but it felt like he was reaming my entire chest as he moaned desperately. I lovingly kept his rhythm, tensing as he pulled out and relaxing with every thrust, putting pressure on him when he needed it and melting like butter underneath him when he didn’t.

My hooves began to tingle as he began to twist his hips with every thrust, corkscrewing against my walls as he panted, relishing the sound of me whispering his name with ever repeated thrust of his long shaft. The volume of my exaltations grew as I felt a flood of coolness wash over my loins, with the only source of heat being his firm member inside me. Two more thrusts passed and I was screaming his name, until at last he gave one final push and moaned, filling my cold body with hot strings of seed as my own shot out across my chest, coating my entire stomach in cum. Lune breathed deeply, relishing the smell of sex and love while he basked in his afterglow. My eyes slowly drifted shut, feeling so full, so warm that I couldn’t stay conscious. He noticed what I was doing and sighed, smiling knowingly. He too was tired after so much, and as he pulled out he summoned a towel, mopping up the pools of love I’d left covering me. I shot back into the realm of the living when he touched the towel to my ring, which was so delicate that it sent shockwaves throughout my body at the smallest stimulation. I squeaked, tired and sore from being pinned beneath him for so long. He chuckled, picking me up with magic and cleaning up the rest of the mess before he set me down on a pillow.

“So, how did I do?” He asked me smugly, already knowing the answer.

“If I had the choice to do that every day for the rest of my life, I would.” I breathed, exhausted. “It’s too bad I can’t… I have other princes to serve….”

Lune smiled and kissed my forehead as my eyes fluttered shut. “As long as you remember me fondly, it doesn’t matter how far you wander from me. So long as you come back.”