Servile

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.”

HR

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.