Author's Note

Happy April Fool's day everybody!

To be honest, I don't really celebrate this holiday, but I figured that since my next chapter for either of my stories has been delayed for so long, I might as well release the other half of the biggest prank I've ever pulled (if you want to see it as that. I really don't).

This is the ending I presented to NCN in order for him to approve of me posting the finale of my story. It is a full chapter, most of it being an exact copy of part 6 of "The Worst Night Ever". As such, if you have never read the intended ending of the story, you could read this from start to finish right after reading part 5 and have the "official", NCN approved version of the BA Finale, unedited. If you have read the chapter before, then search for the words (“So be it,” Dainn said, giving a shrug,), and you will be right at the start of where the changes happened.

To be honest, I really don't enjoy this ending, even if I was the one who wrote and decided everything for it. For starters, I don't really believe in the direction of this "bad end". The entire story was written to be geared into the direction of the "good ending", and this ending conflicts with it completely. However, I put just as much effort into this ending as I did the real ending, cutting no corners that NCN didn't make me cut, and I stand behind it as a literary work as much as I would anything else I've ever written. So perhaps my readers will find some worth into this and enjoy it for what it is. Then again, I know this is the ending that some of you wanted, and if it is the case that you like this BECAUSE it follows the ever unchanging FoE status quo that I feel is entirely unwarranted and dull, then I will be happy that you found entertainment in it, regardless of my own distaste for it.

Anyways, I wish you all a pleasant day, and I hope to see you all soon.

BA alternate ending

The Grand Galloping Gala was finally coming to a close. After what felt like an endless night of equally endless lust, everything was coming to a halt. Most of the guests that had attended the event were far too tired from being active and enthusiastic participants of the celebration, having held back nothing so they could squeeze out every last drop of euphoria they could from what was supposed to be the biggest event of the year. The very few that continued on, despite having experienced this party to the fullest, had been reduced to a snail’s pace, their thrusts losing the impact and energy they had earlier in the night when they were fresh. Men and mares alike were going to sleep well once they got home, this night having taken everything they could give.

However, not every male at the party was showing the signs of their exertion. As Applejack was tugged by her wrist thought the banquet hall, she could feel the caribou pulling her along with every ounce of strength, making sure she could neither get proper footing nor attempt to resist his might. It was completely unnecessary, since AJ was making little effort to fight back in the first place, but the caribou wanted to make it absolutely clear to the farm mare that he was the dominant force in this and she had no possible means of going against his will even if she wanted to. He was the one who would decide how she would act and what she would do, which would settle a certain matter between the two once and for all.

“Lord Ivangir,” said AJ as she found a pace that allowed her to keep up without stumbling about, “Ya don’t have to guide me by the arm. Ah can follow ya just fine.”

The caribou jerked his arm forward, knocking AJ out of her step pattern before increasing speed to keep her unable to maintain proper balance. “You’ll be led by me because I wish it. Even if I didn’t question your ability to follow simple instructions, I can’t trust a cunt like you to be competent enough to not get distracted. I would hate for you to get lost.”

Ivangir was so dismissive of the earth pony that he didn’t even look back when he spoke to her. He was trying to make it sound like she was the problem when they both knew that he was just doing this because he could. Ivangir wore his feelings towards women openly, and trying to justify his actions just served to prove further how little he thought of AJ herself. If nothing else at least, being behind him gave her a rare chance to openly roll her eyes at his sexist remark without fear of reprisal.

Applejack didn’t argue though; if he wanted to assume she was stupid enough to believe him, she would let him believe it. She was long past the point of caring what he thought of her, being that Ivangir was a creature who lacked basic concepts like respect, dignity, or conscience. He was just looking for a reaction anyways, so silence denied him that while shortening the time they interacted with one another. Should he chose to perceive that as capitulation, which he probably did since he liked to assume everything went the way he wanted, then so be it. It only secured her image of being a red collar.

It wasn’t like she had to put up with this treatment for too long anyways, as she could tell where they were heading. Ivangir was taking her to the stage, the one that Dainn had made his perch as he surveyed his subjects. It was the best place to show off one’s domination over a woman, a spot in which everyone at the party could see what was going on. Before long, everyone would watch Ivangir as he did as he pleased with her, which knowing him was going to be something humiliating, brutal, and mercifully swift.

Whatever the caribou had planned for her, it appeared she wasn’t going to have to endure it alone. Most of the other members of the caribou council were heading to the stage as well, and with them were the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Pinkie was being guided by Anvari, Fluttershy by Hrathr, Nothri had Rarity in tow, and Durnir had collected Rainbow Dash from wherever the stallions from earlier had taken her.

Each mare was exhibiting varying levels of fatigue from their cum-covered bodies. Rarity and Fluttershy looked to be the worst of the bunch, near the same state of exhaustion that Twilight had earlier, emitting labored gasps for air as their tired forms struggled to keep them upright. While they might not have put everything they had into their tasks like Twilight did, they still did their best to provide pleasure to the males they serviced. By the looks of it, they didn’t have the same motivations for doing so though, and while Fluttershy’s wavering smile had the appearance of one pleased with her accomplishments, Rarity’s sorry appearance conveyed the opposite. The unicorn didn’t even bother to pretend that she was anything but miserable from the whole ordeal, with streams of dried up tears staining the fur around her cheeks and a jaded expression that announced to the world that she had nothing more to give that evening.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie looked much more lively than the others, Rainbow thrashing about in a ripped and tattered Wondersluts uniform, marks and bruises covering her from head to hoof, with as much force as much as she had at the start of the party. Dash always did have more endurance than the average pegasus, but AJ figured that this was more bravado than anything else. She might not have shown any signs of exhaustion, but no one could have gone through the things that had been done to her without it draining them.

As for Pinkie, she appeared to be more legitimately unaffected by her evening. Her beaming, white smile was only occasionally broken by a need to lick off the cum that was dripping down to her muzzle from higher up on her head, or to give one of the twitches she had been making all night, which had strengthened and come more frequently as the night went on. AJ wished she knew what Pinkie’s senses were telling her, as right now it could be anything from someone stubbing their hoof to the end of Equestria, and the anticipation of outcome was becoming an ever growing source of anxiety for her. She wished that whatever happened would happen, and that it would have no effect on her and those she held dear.

“Ah, looks like the main event’s about to start,” said Shining Armor as he looked down from the VIP booth, keeping a close eye on his sister as Throtr escorted her to the stage to join the others.

Mac was relieved to hear that he and Applejack would be able to leave soon. While he hardly interacted with anyone or anything at the gala, he couldn’t shake the feeling that his presence at the event was causing a stain on his soul that might never leave, and that each passing second was making that stain darker.

“Then Ah think I’m gonna head on back to mah sister,” said the clydesdale, getting up from his seat so he could go back to the main area of the banquet hall.

“Hey Big Macintosh,” Shining called out just before Mac made it to the steps, “You’ll think about what I said, won’t you?”

“Yeah, Ah will…” How could he not? If what Shining said was in any way true, then it meant that all this time he had been doing the wrong thing, making things harder for Applejack than they needed to be.

“Good,” Shining replied, “and one more thing. Just because you got a bunch of stupid ideas floating around in your head, doesn’t mean that you can’t be one of the guys from time to time. Let loose, live a little, indulge yourself in what this kingdom has to offer.”

The unicorn’s new bit of advice didn’t have as much sway as the last one did. While Mac was questioning AJs motives, he was still had a good grasp on his own. He still had no desire to take advantage of the perks that came with caribou’s way of life, since it meant directly taking advantage of another person. He gave Shining a nod, his country mannerisms telling him that it would not be polite if he completely ignored the suggestion, and left the stallion.

The guards at the bottom of the steps gave him no trouble this time, and Mac entered back into the main hall without issue, heading straight for the stage where Applejack was taken. He wished to be there for her when she was raped once again by Ivangir, since anyone could tell that was what would happen next. Whether or not she had given in to the changes that befell Equestria, he was certain that she still despised the caribou with all her heart. To be forced into a position where she would have to fuck one, willingly, without showing her disgust for the situation, would be one of the hardest things she would ever have to do, and she would need all the support she could get.

If he could, Mac would have stood right next to the stage to let his sister know that he was there, that someone that cared for her was close by, but a large formation of ponies and caribou had already amassed around it before he made his way out of the VIP box. Even more got to it as he made his went to join the crowd, and by the time he did, he was one of the last people to become a part of it. He made a few attempts to find a way deeper into the cluster of males and their slaves, but no one wanted to give up their spot to someone else. With a heavy sigh, he grumbled to himself about letting Shining Armor drag him so far away, and resigned himself to the back, hoping that AJ would still see him, so she knew she didn’t have to suffer through this alone.

The view wasn’t too bad from where he stood. He could easily see each of the six mares and the six caribou with them, his height letting him see over the sea of ponies and caribou in front of him. It wasn’t perfect though, as Mac couldn’t see farther towards the back of the structure, where Celestia’s cage and Dainn’s seat had been set, and because of that he wasn’t able to see the king himself until the caribou got up from the chair and approached the front of the stage.

Dainn looked over his guests, his people, with a pleased expression. The night must have gone as he had hoped, with everything falling into place as he had expected. Not a single incident, disturbance, or hiccup in what he had planned for this evening. For one such as Dainn, there must have been no better satisfaction than to see his kingdom running smoothly, incomparable to even the pleasures of the flesh.

“Gentlemen, scholars, soldiers of the Equestrian guard, esteemed caribou brethren, and honored guests,” he began, just as he had when introducing the Elements of Harmony to the celebration, “Before this evening comes to a close, my council of advisors, tacticians, and powerful warriors wish to give a final demonstration of male dominance over the submissive and ignorant females. These mares will now provide their bodies to six of the esteemed leaders of the kingdom of Equestria, submitting themselves to their every want in order to satisfy their sexual desires.” Dainn took a moment to turn his gaze slightly towards Rainbow Dash, who was ineffectually struggling to keep a rather frisky Durnir from fondling her breasts and plunging his fingers into her snatch, “Whether they like it or not.”

The king’s statement got a laugh out of the crowd at Rainbow’s expense, Mac believing that he was the only guy there not adding his voice to the pegasus’ ridicule. It wasn’t even a joke, so much as statement that had been driven into the dirt at this point, so even in context the humor was lost on the clydesdale.

“There you are,” Mac heard in a hushed tone as Dainn continued his explanation of the things to come, “I was wondering when you would rejoin us.”

“Hey Gunne,” said Mac casually. Gunne appearing when something important was about to happen had become such a common occurrence in Mac’s life that he hardly turned an eye his way. A somewhat predictable behavior that was both annoying and comforting at the same time. If anything, he could depend on the caribou to show up and make things a bit more awkward with his presence. “How did your talk with that griffon guy go?”

“Hmm? Oh, it went well enough,” Gunne said with little concern, “More importantly, how did your conversation with Shining Armor turn out? I noticed that you walked off with him shortly after I left your side.”

“It was fine, Ah suppose,” Mac said, not really wanting to go into detail.

“Come on, there is no reason to hide something like that from me. You didn’t insult with your usual political criticisms, did you?”

“Maybe a little,” Mac said honestly, figuring it was something Gunne would be able to find out about later if he really wanted.

“Typical…” said Gunne, “I leave you alone with another stallion and you immediately start tossing about accusations of them being mare-raping monsters with no sense of morality.”

Mac raised an eyebrow to the caribou, “Didn’t every black collar here get raped about a hundred times tonight?”

“Yes, but you putting a negative connotation on it is the problem.” Gunne replied, “Besides, they bring it on themselves. If they would just enjoy themselves and accept their roles, it wouldn’t be rape.”

Mac refused to justify that one with a response, and instead focused his attention back to the stage. It was good timing too, as it seemed like the king was about done with his speech.

“And so, with great pride I present my men and the false heroes of Equestria.” Having said everything that he wanted to, Dainn returned to his seat at the back of the stage with Celestia. It was going to be quite the show and he wanted to watch it from the comfort of his royal chair.

For a moment, AJ watched the caribou king as he sent his eyes over all the participants of the scene that was about to play out. The mildly satisfied expression he gave to the crowd vanished in an instant, and was replaced with what appeared to be cold, unfeeling indifference towards each of them. He had none of the evident joy or anticipation that the stallions or other stags had, and it felt like he was observing to the event for entirely different reasons altogether, taking it in as part of some grand calculation. What was actually going through the head of a man like Dainn would forever be a mystery to the farm mare, as she could never comprehend the thoughts of a person who could conquer nations, enslave people, force them to do the bidding of him and his people, and all for the abominable goal of turning the women of all races into sex slaves.

Dainn had caught her gazing at him though, and when he returned it she had to look away. No need to make this night any worse by giving the caribou king some vague excuse to punish her for staring impolitely or some nonsense like that. If this part went off without incident, she was home free, but of course that meant she’d have to do something she loathed.

Taking one final deep breath, doing what she could to bury every ounce of anger she had someplace where it wouldn’t surface, she turned to Ivangir and bowed her head so her eyes and muzzle pointed towards the part of the caribou’s anatomy that she was about to get reacquainted with.

“Lord Ivangir,” AJ spoke, trying her darndest to emulate the kind of respect she had only exhibited towards Princess Celestia in the past, “If it would please you, Ah would lo… lik…”

“Come on little dirt mare, spit it out,” Ivangir mocked, putting his hand atop her head and directing her face closer to his crotch, “And make sure that everyone can hear you so they know how much of a slut you are.”

How was it that of everyone in all of Equestria, Ivangir was the one that could piss AJ off with anything he said? Almost any other guy, save for maybe Dainn or one of the other council members, could have said the same thing and she would have brushed it off like it was nothing, but when it came from the mouth of her original rapist it sent her from calm to enraged in a matter of seconds. She couldn’t let that show though. She needed to remain composed and do as she was told, but Ivangir just made her want to scream.

“Can Ah please lick your dick, please!” she yelled loud enough that it echoed back to her ears. It got the point across, that was for sure, and fulfilled what the large caribou wanted from her.

The somewhat desperate sounding plea did get a smirk out of Ivangir at least, and without delay he reached down to remove his codpiece and revealed his meaty cock to all present to the event. It immediately made her feel intimidated, as while it was only semi-erect as it stuck out right in front of her, she still had to say that his dick was the largest one that she had ever encountered from a stag or a stallion, and it would soon be stretching her holes to their limits.

The entire night had been leading up to this inevitability for AJ, but she still wasn’t truly prepared for it. She couldn’t bypass her own inner qualms about sucking the very dick that had stolen her freedom. It couldn’t be held off much longer though, as the other red collars amongst her friends were already following the farm mare’s lead, offering their own bodies to the caribou that had brought them to the stage. With each additional penis released from the confines of the council members’ pants, greeted by the waiting lips of eager mares, the more conspicuous Applejack’s own reluctance became.

When every other red collar on stage had placed the rod of the respective caribou into their muzzle, with Pinkie being the first to gulp down the solid rod presented to her and Rarity being last as she primed her penis with an liberal message of her ample bosom, AJ relented and opened her own mouth as wide as possible to make way for the man she despised.

Just get him off as quick as ya can, AJ thought to herself, They might even congratulate ya for being the first one to finish. She instantly regretted adding on that extra bit, finding what was supposed to be motivating to have the exact opposite effect. If she was to be praised for anything, the last thing she would want it to be for was how well she fellated someone, especially if the one praising her was a stag.

However, this ill thought didn’t stop her from proceeding, and taking Ivangir’s dick in hand, she rubbed and caressed it until any softness it had vanished and all that was left was a rigid, throbbing shaft that pointed directly at her. The heat coming off it made her arms sweat, and radiated into her mouth as the farm mare strained to get her muzzle around the cock.

Before Applejack could close her lips around the rod, a massive hand fell upon her head. Giving a snort in response, she prepared for the soon to come push from Ivangir and the pressure that would come from having her throat completely stuffed. The caribou’s impatience was exasperating. He had always been this way, needing to feel that he was in control of the situation, never letting a mare go at her own pace. Of course, when it came to their interactions in the past, that was the only way he got anything out of her, but it was never any different with other reds either. There was never a time when a mare could just pleasure him without the caribou needing to push them beyond their limits. It was his routine to treat women more like sex dolls than living beings.

So when Ivangir pushed away instead of towards him, she was reasonably confused. “Not so fast, you stupid slut,” said Ivangir with a grin, “I’m not letting you put your filthy mouth on my dick. I’ve seen what you’ve been doing with it. Even I won’t fuck your throat after all that.”

Sonava-! This was bullshit, and AJ knew it. Ivangir was not the kind to refuse sex, no matter how ‘filthy’ the hole. He had casually sent Applejack into the hands of scores of other caribou, and had very easily joined in after watching them fuck her in every way imaginable. He had let her get so close, letting get to the point right before she actually started, and pulled her away at the last second so he could add another insult to her character.

“No, I kept your other holes off limits for a reason. Your country cunt and apple ass will have to be enough to satisfy me.” Ivangir gave another push, twisting his hand before releasing, spinning Applejack around on her hooves until her back was turned towards him. “Now be a good bitch and bend over.”

Applejack shot the caribou a sideways glare, but went on to do as she was told. “Like this?” she asked, placing her hands on her knees to balance herself as she bent forward as far as she could without falling over.

A firm, unrestrained smack across her ass was the reply she received for daring to confirm that her actions were according to his whims, “What kind of stupid question is that?” the stag shouted, adding insult to the burning sting on her flank. “Either you know how to bend over or you don’t.”

Ivangir circled the mare, his eyes closely and ruthlessly scrutinizing her exposed form. As far as he cared, it was just him and her on the stage. During the night he'd already had his merry and merciless way with each of the other mares up there in a variety of ways, but he had saved his favorite for last. This mare had dared to scorn him not once, but time and time again with her defiant attitude and seemingly unshakable resilience, never once showing the superior stag the respect he felt he deserved. Tonight would be different though. Tonight she would scream for him, beg him to leave her holes a sopping wet, cum filled mess, and everyone would watch as he put her in her place once and for all.

“Spread your legs,” he commanded sternly. The mare obeyed instantly, parting them as wide as she could while standing. This was rich; he had never gotten such instant results from Applejack in the past. Before now, the stag always needed to apply an ample amount of pain and other punishments to her to get the slightest bit of obedience from her, if he had gotten any at all. “Say you’re my cock warmer.”

“I’m your cock warmer,” she repeated, monotoned and parrot-like, yet still as convincing as she could muster.

Stopping at her flank, Ivangir grabbed her tail and lifted it to remove the only thing concealing her backside. “Shake your ass for me slut.” Again, the mare complied, wiggling her rump without a second thought. It was a perfect representation of female obedience; performing an action at a moment’s notice without any hint of refusal or reluctance. It was the sign of a true red collar: of a perfect sex slave, or of a very good liar. It didn't matter which to them. Not right now.

Ivangir gave one of his fingers a lick, moisting his index finger before pressing it tauntingly against the earth pony’s anus. It twitched reflexively as it felt the tip of the finger, anticipating its entry. “Has my little penis puppet developed a love for anal in her time away from her master?”

“No…” AJ replied, his absurd and degrading question evoking a tiny sneer from the mare. Ivangir always knew just how to grate on her nerves, and that didn’t appear to change even as she attempted to mindlessly follow commands.

With tail gripped firmly in one hand, the caribou drove his digit into her sphincter. A low and restrained moan slipped past her lips. It was music to the stag's ears. “You always were an avid liar. You love it when I stick things in here. You love it so much you lie just to get me to punish you with bigger and bigger things.” Ivangir curled his finger into a curve as it poked into the mare’s hole, and proceeded to pump her pucker with it, scraping the walls of her intestines with the point of his nail.

The sharp tip going against her fleshy insides incited a series of equally sharp gasps, her nerves shooting jolts of pain through her with each pass. The careless pokes and pushes of the caribou were difficult to resist, but Applejack gritted her teeth. “Ah do not” she managed to mumble out under her breath.

“But how about we bring your string of lies to an end?” Ivangir went on to assert coyly, hushing his tone slightly as he continued to slip his finger in and out of the mare, “Let’s let everyone know how much of a slut you are. I order you to announce to everyone here that you are a whore who likes getting it in your ass. Better yet, why don’t you tell them all that you're a pain slut who likes to get punished. Tell them all how paddles and whips excite you, and you can’t get off unless a guy gets rough with you.”

AJ didn’t respond to Ivangir’s ridiculous order. As much as she wanted to keep up appearances, she wasn’t stupid enough to mark herself as a masochist. If she did, everyone in Equestria would hear about it by the end of the week, and then there would be no end to the men who would use it as an excuse to hurt her. She had seen it far too many times before, stallions stringing up mares, exposing their sensitive spots, and striking them over and over to see if they could get a mare to climax from pain alone. It was not something she was willing to put herself through, nor Mac for that matter.

“What’s the matter?” Ivangir asked, pulling his finger out of the now lubricated o-ring so he could deliver another hard, stinging smack across her ass, “You were being so good before.”

“Nothin’,” AJ answered, her doing what she could to conceal her shimmering anger, “Ah just don’t like those things.”

A powerful tug on her braided mane was the response given for her backtalk, Ivangir yanking her whole body upright by her head, “And I still say you are a liar. You always gave your best reactions when I beat you. I can still remember how well you howled when I sent a crop across your pussy, or how you would moan as I twisted and tugged at your nipple rings.”

Applejack gripped her braid in attempt to ease the pain, the caribou testing the tolerance of her follicles with the way he pulled the strands of hair. Of course he use to get a reaction out of her when he did that to her. Being bound with your legs spread beyond their normal limits while your privates were assaulted or invaded with devices created for to sole purpose of inflicting pain would get a response from anyone. Then again, she had a good feeling that the caribou was being facetious, and that even he was aware that she derived no amount of satisfaction from their old torture sessions.

“Fine then,” Ivangir released the braid he held and instead wrapped his hand around Applejack’s collar, “If you don’t want to admit that you enjoyed our time together, perhaps we should talk about another one of your lies.”

“And what would that be?” AJ asked, expecting it to be something like how she didn’t praise his penis as much as she truly wanted to.

“Let’s talk about this lie you’ve had wrapped around your neck for some time now,” The caribou’s finger went between the earth mare’s chin and collar, stroking the piece of leather repeatedly as he continued. “We both know you don’t deserve this.”

Applejack felt her heart skip a beat, Ivangir’s words hinting that he somehow knew her secret. He couldn’t actually know that though, she had accepted most of what had been done to her that night with little sign of apprehension. If anything, the only reason he would be able to say such a thing was the incident earlier that Mac had to step in for. That was hardly evidence that she was faking her collar, but perhaps the stag somehow knew more that she assumed. If he did have some sort of information on her, then she knew one way to figure out what it was.

“And why do ya say that, Lord Ivangir?” she asked plainly. There was no reason for Ivangir to withhold any information he had on her. In fact it was in the caribou’s favor to share it with her. Anything he knew could be used as blackmail to make her more compliant, and a mere bluff would be easy to see though if he didn’t give any details.

The stag’s smirk held, which in itself wasn’t a good sign. Whatever he had was solid enough to him that he had no worries about its validity. “You simple minded creature, so blind to the obvious,” with his one hand still wrapped tightly around her collar, and the other grasping her by leg, Ivangir lifted the farm mare off the ground, wrenching her leg upwards while bringing her ear level with his lips, using the proximity to whisper to her, “You’re not a red collar because I didn’t break you.”

“W-what?” AJ replied, both shocked from having the ground removed from beneath her and dumbfounded by Ivangir’s statement.

“I did everything I could to tear your stubborn will from you. Raped you, beat you, put you at the mercy of my best men, rubbed your face in the dirt, and nothing worked,” Ivangir’s disdain for the mare’s past transgressions filled his words, “And then I heard you somehow wormed your way into a red collar because you won some stupid contest. Do you know how offended I was that a liar like you got away with that?”

While Ivangir’s hold on her was contorting her body in an painful manner, what he had to say was comforting. The only thing pointing to her collar being false was his own ego. As far as her secret was concerned, she was safe. Her body, on the other hand, was still in for a bit of punishment, as Ivangir reminded her by rubbing his penis across her pussy.

“There is no way that a stallion could correct your defiant behavior when I couldn’t. The only reason I agreed to hand you off to him was because I knew you would end up back in my hands when it became clear that you couldn’t be taught.”

“So what ya are sayin’ is that you’re pissed that mah brother is mah master instead of you.” AJ said, happy to see Ivangir upset about not having things go the way he wanted for once. If his hands weren’t pre-occupied, she would have received a well deserved strike to the head, and would have been entirely satisfied with herself that it would have been his only response.

“It’s a shame, I’ve actually missed that impertinent attitude of yours. Used to get me all hot and bothered. It was a pleasant, if futile, difference from the other mares who become sobbing messes the moment I lay eyes on them. None of them are a real challenge like you.” Ivangir, clenching the earth mare’s leg, pulled it to the side and placed his massive rod at her vaginal entrance, “But I suppose all good things must come to an end, and tonight the challenge is over.”

“What do ya-” The next thing to come from AJ’s mouth was a powerful gasp as pain entered her consciousness. She had been given little warning as the caribou pushed down on her shoulders, and forced his shaft halfway into her unprepared tunnel. His cock was as large and invading as she remembered, filling her so much that it felt that her insides might tear if he so much as moved.

“Tonight, I’m gonna break you. Ravage your body, and leave you wishing that you were my fucktoy again. Every night when you finger yourself to sleep, you’ll think of how you’re stuck digging up soil on a farm in the middle of nowhere when you could be straddling my stiff dick. It is the perfect way to end the relationship we’ve built together.”

AJ felt another push downwards on her shoulders, along with a mighty thrust from the caribou’s hips. The meaty penis inside her traveled deeper through the passage of her pussy, her tight tunnels in no way preventing its journey towards her womb. If Ivangir was planning to make her crave his cock above all others, this was not the way to do so. There was no sense of pleasure in this, no elation or ecstasy. The burning of her muscles as they were stretched far beyond a point of comfort combined with the pressure of other internal organs having to move and shift to accommodate the stag was pure agony. Every nerve in her crotch felt ablaze with the sensation of suffering.

At least with a stallion it felt good. As much as it made her feel dirty and used, there was something there that could distract her if she wanted. But here there was nothing of the sort; only the pain and misery that she had come to expect every time she had to copulate with the cruel caribou. And yet, while she was panting for breath and tearing up from the sudden internal trauma, she had to admit that it wasn’t nearly as bad as she remembered.

It was torturous, but tolerable. Strenuous, but sufferable. Agonizing, but only to a degree that it was acceptable. As Ivangir rammed his way into her womb, it wasn’t even a thought on her mind that it could have been because he was taking it easy on her. The caribou didn’t know the word ‘restraint’ except as something applied to a woman to keep them still. Something had changed though, and if it wasn’t him, it was her.

With another punishing push, the bulbous bulk of Ivangir’s cock head pressing and grinding against the walls of her sexual organs, AJ came to a conclusion that disgusted her. It wasn’t that Ivangir was showing mercy or was giving his best attempt to bring her pleasure, it was that her body had grown used to the violation. All that time she spent pleasuring the stallions in Ponyville on a bi-weekly, and sometimes tri-weekly, basis had ‘paid off’ in some way. She could now bear the pain of this sexual torment, her vaginal muscles having adapted to its frequency. She still loathed it, perhap now more than ever since it had actually changed her in some way she never wanted, but thanks to this it seemed like she would be able to withstand whatever the caribou might do to her without being left a wreck afterwards.

Seeing that she was now properly impaled on his most sensitive of organs, Ivangir took his hand off of Applejack’s neck and shoulder and grabbed the leg opposite of the one he was holding, pulling it and her other leg upwards. With her thighs firmly cupped in his grasp, the mare’s back pressed against his muscular chest, her tail draping over and around his balls and what little of his penis that still remained outside of her penetrated pussy. What pleasure and pain she would experience was now, quite literally, in his hands.

It started with a gentle lift upwards, her body rising off the shaft inside her. AJ could feel her insides becomes void once again, each centimeter removed causing more terrible sensations as her muscles tried to constrict in order to get back to a normal size, only to find that the solid mass of male meat was still obstructing the way. The only relief she gained was when the caribou’s dick exited her womb, and allowed her cervix a brief chance to vainly clench closed.

This was not to last though, and the caribou slammed himself back inside with a force that allow him to barge right past the half tightened flesh ring and back into the depths of the mare’s vagina. The stress on such a small section of her innards sent searing sensations through her, and as much as she wanted to hold back, to give Ivangir nothing for his effort, the pain got to her. She let out a scream, brought short as she was lifted to be shoved down again. Each plunge started her howling anew, with the caribou quickly gathering speed as the entrance to her womb had less and less time to make an attempt shut out the thing constantly barraging it’s barrier.

Out of pure reflex, Applejack’s hands reached for something to clench around in order to help tone out the pain. The only thing within reach though was Ivangir himself, and thus they clamped onto his biceps.

“Hehe, you’re starting to like this already huh?” Invagir mocked, never relenting as her drove the mare he held on his dick again, mistaking her reaction to her torture as an act of participation, “I can feel the dampness of your dirt mare cunt as I take it. The contorting of your insides as they lovingly squeeze around me. You missed this as much as I did… No, you missed it even more. You just can’t admit it to yourself that I was the best thing you ever had, isn’t that right?”

The question came with another strong thrust that hit the back of her womb with the force of a fist, and elicited a loud moan from her throat. The caribou took the cry of pain as sign that he was right, and pushed his dick in a few more times at the same strength. With the way Ivangir was recklessly thrusting, her insides felt like they would become thoroughly bruised.

The other members of the caribou council on stage, noticing how far Ivangir had gotten with his own mare, pulled the mouths of the mares sucking on them away from their dicks. None of them wanted to be outdone by their associate, even though Ivangir was bigger and arguably the most powerful of the bunch, save for maybe Durnir.

“It’s about time you rode a real dick, you black collared cunt.” Durnir told Rainbow Dash as he slowly pulled out, cum leaking from the seam between the caribou’s cock and the mare’s mouth until it came out in one final burst, shooting out from the orifice as Dash refused to swallow any of it that wasn’t forced down her throat.

Durnir looked at the mess she made; his seed not only spilled on the floor, but covering the mare’s breasts and his own legs. “You’re gonna regret that.” he announced as he pulled the pegasus up by her rainbow mane. Not stopping at her getting her to her hooves, Durnir kept raising his arm up until the pegasus could no longer follow her close-cut hair of her own volition, her body only proceeding to do so because the strands were attached firmly to the mare’s scalp.

The distance between Rainbow’s hooves and the floor grew rapidly. Her first instinct was to flap her wings to remove the stress on on her follicles, but the slightest extension of her plucked appendages reminded her of the pointy, pain-inducing spurs that covered the inside of their encasement. Her next thought was to reach her for the ground with her hoof, but flailing for it with her legs proved fruitless. She had but one option left to stop her pain, and that was to get the caribou hurting her to stop.

With a twist of her body, Dash sent a hoof into Durnir’s side. What she made contact with was solid muscle, the abs of the caribou having no give to them. The caribou gave the lightest of grunts in reply to the swift strike, but that was enough for Rainbow to think she could get him to release her. She went for another kick to the same spot, and hit her mark with ease. However, Durnir wasn’t about to let her get in a third hit. His free hand clutched around Rainbow’s ankle before it could retreat again, having prepared for the second blow. “Gotcha, bitch,” he said before pulling the leg up, his strength and the pegasus mare’s limberness allowing him to keep going until his hands could join with one another.

Limber as the mare might have been, the stretching of leg tendons added to her agony, which greatly increased her desire to be free of the caribou man handling her. With her other leg, she continued her flails, but wasn’t allowed to keep it up for too long as Durnir removed his hold on her hair and wrapped his arm around her body. His massive strength allowed him to compress her body against his own, and pin her legs between their two torsos.

Thus trapped, Rainbow had little room left to struggle. It didn’t stop her from trying though, and with all of her remaining strength she did what she could to escape the fate Durnir had in store for her. With her arms bound, body held, and the stag’s erect dick, slick with her own saliva, pressed against her lower lips, all it took was a simple thrust to take away any chance that would happen. Lubricated as it was, the caribou’s cock slipped between her legs and inside Dash’s tight slit with ease, and with it shoved inside so easily, Dash could do nothing but let out a low, throaty moan at her defeat.

The others didn’t nearly give the same resistance that Rainbow Dash did, and the caribou saw no reason to put in the effort to use excessive force on women who would obey what they were told. Simple commands got the remaining mares into positions preferable to the men. Getting on all fours, moving to their back, straddling the hips of their caribou, or letting their legs wrap around the waist of the one who would take them, each of the red collars obeyed the instructions given to them, and one by one was penetrated by the men who craved the warmth of their willing pussies.

From Mac’s spot in the audience, the scene on stage was becoming one big mass of bodies pushing into one another. The group was too crowded to really see what was going on, but it didn’t take much imagination to figure out what was happening. The six mares, with the exception of AJ, had finished fellating the members in the council, so the next logical step was to stick it in their other holes. No gimmicks or odd sexual devices to aid them, just six mares getting fucked by six men who felt they had to press a point through the use of a carnal act.

In any normal circumstance, this is where Mac might have gone out for a breath of fresh air, since watching others having sex really didn’t appeal to him, and watching Applejack as she was violated appealed to him even less. This time just felt different though, and there were plenty of reasons why. He didn’t want to leave his sister alone while the person who raped her first proceeded to do so again, nor did he want Ivangir to hit Applejack like he had done earlier in his absence. Above everything else though, he wanted to watch his sister’s reactions to what was done to her, and gauge if she truly did take some form of enjoyment from it.

He wasn’t sure why, but something about what Shining Armor had said had stuck with him. The unicorn had made at least a little sense in his theory of why a mare would choose to suffer as a black collar. Peer pressure was a very powerful thing in the right hands, and could easily influence those of weak will. The issue with that was that he never considered Applejack to be a person of weak will, but for all he knew that could have changed the moment a caribou dick defiled her.

If AJ had any tells though, she wasn’t showing them as Ivangir slammed her down that very cock. Most of the time her teeth were gritted, her eyes wide in agony, and the sounds coming from her were labored and forced. Then again, with the way Ivangir was going at it, there was no wonder why AJ was doing so. Being a stallion who had seen his fair share of action, Mac had a general idea of what women liked, and Ivangir certainly wasn’t bothering to do any of it. It actually looked like he was doing his best to deny pleasure to Applejack; sadistically thrusting his penis inside her with reckless abandon while he squeezed her breasts until they looked like they were about to pop.

The only indication that she was enjoying her time with the caribou was the visible wetness of her pussy. She wasn’t gushing in the throes of climax, but Mac could see a thin layer of her sexual fluid coating Ivangir’s rod. That was normal, as she had always produced a bit when she had sex, but the presence of the substance bothered him with his new perspective on things. How many times had she told him it was just a natural reaction she couldn’t control? AJ couldn’t have been lying all this time about it, could she?

Mac shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Why was he even questioning if she was enjoying herself? Before he just wondered if she was being defiant because he motivated her. When did that lead to her actually wanting to be a sex slave? His imagination was getting away with him, taking him down a thought path that he didn’t wish to explore.

When the clydesdale gave his head a few shakes to remove the things appearing in his mind, the caribou standing right next to him quickly took notice. “Mac, is something the matter?” asked Gunne, noticing that the stallion’s complexion was looking a bit paler than usual, “You’re looking a bit ill. Is your stomach upset? If so, I’ll make sure that the mare that prepared the food for the gala receives a proper punishment for serving something unfit for consumption.”

“No,” Mac replied while giving his skull a few more shakes for good measure, “It’s not mah stomach bothering me.”

“Hmmm….” Gunne pondered aloud, not convinced that his compatriot was ok, “Then what’s the problem? You didn’t do anything tonight, so it’s not sexual fatigue. Well… unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Well unless you’ve been trying to suppress your desires all night. All those pent up urges aren’t good for a stallion, not even one such as yourself.”

“The problem isn’t that I’m not getting mah rocks off,” Mac said with a bit of anger at the assumption. Didn’t he understand that what the caribou council was doing up on that stage would turn the stomach of anyone who didn’t follow the caribou ideals?

The sickening sight of having those that had been so close to you that you could deem them family fucked before your eyes, the rhythmic thrusting of flesh into flesh, bodies conjoining in an act of pleasure. Mares who had once acted as Equestria’s protectors being used as sex slaves by the one group of villains they were unable to stop. Each, in Mac’s mind at least, either having been brainwashed into enjoying this treatment that an otherwise sane pony would despise, or being humiliated and tortured because they managed to resist the caribou’s mental conditioning. It was all very, very, taxing.

Then again, perhaps that really wasn’t the case for Mac, at least not anymore. He had seen enough of this kind of thing first hand over the past year that it almost didn’t faze him. After all, he wasn’t exactly averting his gaze as he tried to read Applejack’s body language, and if anything that bothered him most of all. The moment that this all became nothing to him, or even normal, was the moment he lost a part of himself.

Maybe it really was time he stepped out for some fresh air. He wasn’t helping his sister by just standing here, and this whole thing was filling him with thoughts that refused to be forced from his head. AJ would understand, if she even noticed at all. This was their usual pattern after all.

“I’m gonna go outside,” Mac said to Gunne as he turned for the door, “This is all too much for me right now.”

“Well if you want, I’ll come and get you after the council are done having their fun. Where will I be able to find you?”

“I’m just going out the front door. I’ll try not to get too far away from-” There had been many things in Mac’s life that had made the clydesdale cut short a sentence. The sound of a crashing apple cart, a flocking swarm of fruit bats, a surprise kiss from a mare who liked him. However, never before had one been trumped by a mere smile, at least until now.

He didn’t know how long she had been there, observing him from a safe distance as she waited to be noticed, but a pure white alicorn with hair of the many colors of an aurora in the night sky had been sitting on her knees, hands on the floor behind him for some time.

“Princess…” The word escaped his mouth, as if it were the most natural response one could ever have in the presence of this woman. Her image, even with her horn cut to a stump and her wings covered by those atrocious binders, was the very image of regality. Her body was, for lack of a better word, perfect, and almost seemed to cast a light in the dimly lit room.

“I didn’t catch that last part Mac, where did you say you would… be?” Gunne, turning to catch Mac before he had gotten too far, laid eyes on Celestia as well. Her presence there vexed him as much as the clydesdale, but for different reasons. “What are you doing here, mare? Why are you not seated at your master’s side like a proper pet?”

Celestia bowed her head, sliding her hands forward on the ground while bending her upper torso forward till her breasts pressed into the floor and her mane draped over her face. “I am here on behalf of my master,” she said, “He couldn’t help but notice that one of the attendees of his party was having a bad time, not joining in with any of the other stallions in conversation, or partaking of any of the many mares present tonight. With the night growing short, he didn’t want to let a guest leave the party unpleased, and so he sent me to ensure that your night didn’t end with you leaving unhappy.”

“And by that ya mean?” asked Mac, hoping that she didn’t mean what he thought she meant.

“If you wish it, sir, my body is yours to enjoy for the remainder of the night.” Celestia declared as she rose back up, that smile still on her muzzle, disturbing Mac by how innocent and, for lack of a better word, ‘real’ it looked.

It was like she didn’t understand what had been going on all night – that the mares of her kingdom had had their lives utterly decimated, that the stallions had been corrupted into fiendish creatures consumed by desire, that her own cherished sister was mere feet away and dangled in agony from her bonds. Red collar or no, it was impossible for the princess that he knew to ever be happy knowing that this was the destiny that her people had been forced into. How in Equestria could the wise and benevolent alicorn princess simply sit there and smile when so many were suffering?

But... as he actually stopped to take a look at the former ruler of Equestria, an explanation finally dawned on him. Somehow, he had failed to notice something that was different from his mental image of the alicorn aside from her severed horn, plucked wings, and a branding of black chains that overlapped her cutiemark. Her collar, which he assumed was red, was instead purple.

It was something so terrible that Mac had to take some time to process this new revelation. How could the caribou do such a thing, and when? When he walked into the the gala and saw Celestia at a distance, he could have sworn she was still wearing a red collar. Had it been a trick of the light, or of his own mind denying the possibility that of all ponies, Celestia, a pony older than any other, who had faced the trials and seen tribulations that spanned the entirety of pony history, could be so broken?

Only when faced directly with the truth did Mac have to accept it, and he knew that he was not mistaken since the large shrouds entrapping her wings were also of that same purple hue. The caribou had mentally destroyed the best ponykind had to offer, and if they could do that, they could do anything. He could feel another part of his heart chipping off as he stared into Celestia’s face, that smile of hers never wavering. The princess he knew was not here, she was miles away in what he hoped was a better place than the hell she had left behind.

At his side, he heard what sounded like suppressed snickering coming from his caribou associate. Mac had already been pushed to his limit several times that night, tested to see exactly how much he could take, and it appeared that Gunne wished to test that limit as well. This was one line crossed too many though, and Mac’s tolerance was low. Still, he restrained his urge to take Gunne by the armor to express the seriousness of the matter, and instead said to the stag, “What the heck do you find funny about this?”

“I’m sorry, Mac, but you must admit the situation is a bit humorous,” Gunne answered, doing what he could to wipe the smirk off his face for the sake of the stallion he considered his friend, “I mean you and I both know quite well why you’ve been avoiding things that any other man would jump at the opportunity to do, but your abstinence has been rewarded by the opportunity with one of the most sought after mares in Equestria.”

The caribou was, yet again, aggravatingly correct about the situation. Celestia, save for what the caribou had done to mar her, was the very image of beauty. Her voluptuous body haunted the hormone-filled minds of many a colt, and Mac would be lying if he said he never had an impure thought about the kind and beloved alicorn princess. With the former princess being nothing more than a sex slave, and stallions as open as they were with their perverted thoughts nowadays, there was no denying that most would trade in every mare they owned, and then some, just for a single night to do as they pleased with her heavenly body.

“So, Mac, I don’t suppose you’re actually going to take advantage of this rare situation, are you?” Gunne asked rhetorically, assuming that the stallion’s predictable moral qualms would rear their head once more.

A bit of worry appeared on Celestia’s face, “Does my body not please you?”

“It’s not like that.” Mac said in knee jerk reaction to the statement, “Ah think you’re a lovely woman, and that any stallion should feel lucky just being able to see you…” Mac gulped, taking in the every part of Celestia’s nude form, “As ya are.”

“Be careful Mac,” Gunne warned, “You don’t want to give this one a big head.”

“Can’t Ah even give a mare a compliment without ya-” For a second time, Celestia cut Mac off mid-sentence, but it wasn’t her smile that did it this time, it was her body.

Without warning, the alicorn rubbed up against the clydesdale while he was was distracted by his caribou companion, shoulder and ass raised as her back curved downward, starting with her face before running the entirety of her body had made one solid pass against Mac’s leg. That action felt similar to a cat seeking attention, with Celestia making a series of delighted sounds to further complete the connection. “Then I’ll be happy to fulfill your every desire, no matter how humiliating or strenuous it would be on my person. If it pleases you, I’ll take your cock into all my holes, no matter how much it stretches me. I’d love for you to spank me till my ass turns red, or you may tie me up and handle my vulnerable body as roughly as you see fit, if slapping my flank isn’t enough to sate your desires. My only wish is your enjoyment and happiness, and as a sex slave the only way I can provide it is through my body.”

Taking a second pass, the alicorn took a chance to press the side of her face against the crotch of Mac’s suit pants. Fight as he might, biology took over, and an uncomfortable erection took shape from this, with his penis and embarrassment rising at even rates. Watching his sister being violated was too much for him to stand by idly and watch, so seeing the mare he still mentally saw as the rightful ruler of Equestria, despite her current state of mind, acting in this less than flattering manner in the hopes that she would be bedded by him was in a whole different league. Celestia, regardless of what the caribou felt, represented the best aspects of ponies everywhere; and to Mac, seeing her turned into a purple collar and shaped into some kind of a sex pet in her mentally fragmented state felt like an insult.

And yet, he didn’t simply push the brain-damaged princess aside so he could walk out of the banquet hall as he had intended. Amidst the atrocity of it all, there was a part of Mac that acknowledged the fantastical aspect of this situation. Celestia was on her hands and knees before him, all but pleading for him to allow her the privilege of pleasuring him. His repulsion was in contest with a shameful side that he thought he had put away in the light of the caribou invasion. A side of himself that actually did enjoy the absurd display happening before him.

Celestia was such a charming person in her rule that she could have had anyone if she wanted, yet seldom held a suitor for whatever reasons she had. The idea of being the one to reintroduce her to the pleasures of the flesh was an often thought of, but never spoken dream that entered the minds of all stallions, or perhaps even all ponies, from time to time. It was a thought that took many shapes; ranging from a simple romantic affair, to more ambitious fantasies of becoming king and ruling Equestria together, to more caribou-esque concepts of having the princess at one’s mercy to do with as one pleased, if only for a short time. Mac’s own imagination usually led him towards the former, since he enjoyed what his simple farm life was at one point and wasn’t really deep into the bondage stuff himself, only having ever done some very light rope play if his partner requested they do something outside the norm.

So, as much as he hated to admit it, he felt a slight temptation to act on Celestia’s offer, one akin with wanting to take a piece of candy from a store. What would it hurt if Mac took the Alicorn somewhere private and pleasured her like a mare should be? As a purpled mare, Celestia might not even remember it beyond that night, seeing him as just another stallion from the hundreds, maybe thousands, that she had already been made to fuck and would be made to fuck down the line. The only men that would know about this would be Gunne and the king, as everyone else was so fixated on what was happening on stage that they didn’t even notice the alicorn had left it herself, so he didn’t really think rumors would spread if he did decide to indulge himself for once.

Gunne would applaud him for coming out of his shell for once, but he didn’t seem the type to go out of his way to repeat another man’s business, especially if he felt it would offend the person. As for the king, while Mac had no clue on what he was really like, enough stallions and stags had done so much to his pet by this point that this wouldn’t mean anything to him, and thus wouldn’t even be worth talking about in the first place. So really, what would it mean if just this once Mac said ‘fuck it’ and took a moment to fulfil a personal fantasy? Like Gunne had said, this was a rare thing for a stallion like Mac, since the pleasure of screwing the former princess was a privilege usually reserved only for the highest members of Equestrian society and the loyal guardsmen of Canterlot. A farm pony like himself got only one shot at a body like hers, if they ever got a shot at all.

“Ah! Ugh! ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!!” Lamented sounds of a mare in the midst of an unwanted and unsatisfying climax hit his ears. He had heard this far too many times not to know it’s source, and his brotherly instincts took over. Immediately he turned away from the once-proud matriarch treating his leg like a rubbing post, sending his attention back towards the stage.

In the time that had passed since he last laid eyes on his sister, her position had changed dramatically. Instead of having Ivangir hold her up off the ground by her thighs, her hooves were now planted well on the ground, upper body bent forward into a near perfect right angle as Ivangir pummeled her ass from behind. It would have been hard for her keep balanced in such a position, but the caribou was helping her with that in characteristic fashion. He had taken her neatly braided mane and knotted it around her wrists, holding onto the end of it so he held up AJ’s weight using the roped length of hair and the arms they were tied to.

AJ assisted in the matter the best she could, pulling with her bound arms to keep her body from dipping down too low, but not doing much else except holler and struggle. From the moment this started, Ivangir had taken any control AJ could have had away from her, making his actions be what moved her body. As she was, even if she wanted to escape the caribou’s aggressive invasion of her ass, he would just pull her back painfully by her hair. With the way Applejack’s head was angled, her back curving in a sharp arc, it looked like Ivangir was doing that regardless, just so she would have the worst possible experience he could grant her.

It showed too, as AJ alternated from clenching everything in an attempt to ease or block out the agony she felt, to yelling at the top of her lungs wide eyed as she let her misery out. Of all the times Mac watched someone rape his sister, this was certainly the most brutal sexual assault he had seen yet, which was in its own way amazing seeing as the caribou was just using his body and not something like a whip or a crop or some other device created for the sheer purpose of inflicting pain. Each thrust of his hips pushed his Applejack’s whole body forward, making her breasts sway and her hooves nearly leave the ground from the force.

The reckless, uncaring treatment of his sister horrified Mac, but also gave him the perspective he needed. Witnessing AJ in what had to be one of the absolute worst moments in her life, he didn’t even know what he had been thinking just a few moments before. If he was to compromise his moral values by having sex with Celestia, it could end up leading to him looking at mares as the caribou did. It could start out as mere curiosity, and have all the good intentions in the world as he worked to give Celestia what the caribou conditioned her to want, but that was a slippery slope. One time where he reasoned to himself that ‘it would be okay to try’ could easily turn to him thinking ‘no one would stop me if I did’, and then where would he go from there?

That logic might have been an exaggeration, and perhaps for him it could have been a one and done, but why risk damning himself. If he could resist such thoughts further down the line, what would that mean? He would still have to live with the mistake he made, eating away at him as he attempted to keep it a secret from his loved ones. It was just not worth it.

His silent revelation didn’t stop temptation from giving it another try though, and soon her felt another rub against his thigh as Celestia once more gave him a show of affection. “Are you sure you don’t wish to use my eager and willing body? Yours would be the first real dick I’ve had all night, and I would make sure to satisfy you in every way imaginable. It would be something you would never forget.”

“Yeah… That’s what I’m afraid of...” Mac said, knowing that it wouldn’t be hard for the alicorn to back up her claim.

“But sir, I promise you that my cunt it the greatest in all of Equestria,” Celestia went on to say in the most sultry voice she could muster, not quite done trying to convince the stallion, “And if it is not what you desire, then my whorish ass would graciously accept your cum. Should it fail to entice, my skills with my mouth and tongue are sure to suffice, as well as my massive tits as I use them to stroke you to climax.”

Mac shook his head. He could swear that something in the universe was trying to test him, but he would not fail in this instance. Even so, he didn’t have it in him to lay a hand on Celestia, even to guide her away. However, Gunne had no qualms in doing that for him.

“You’ve overestimate your abilities of seduction,” said the stag as he snatched up her multicolored mane and directed her head away from Mac’s leg, “He said he didn’t want to fuck you.”

Celestia hardly flinched as she was torn away from the male she was sent to pleasure. In fact, she looked elated as her beautiful hair was painfully tugged at. “Yes sir, I understand. I was only trying to do as my master instructed me.”

“And you failed,” Gunne scolded her, though he knew well enough that the only reason she did was because Mac wasn’t interested. “Now be a good alicorn whore and return to the king. If he is feeling merciful he’ll give you another opportunity to redeem yourself later.”

“That is a wonderful thought,” the alicorn said showing delight, the continued tugs on her hair seeming to thrill her as her cheeks blushed and she let her tongue hang from her mouth in a lewd expression.

Gunne aimed Celestia around the crowd and back towards the steps of the stage so she could rejoin with her master. He sent her along her way with his hoof by giving her a firm push against her posterior, and when he felt he had made sure the purple mare knew where she was going he returned to Mac.

“Well that was something,” he said, “And I think it has let me learn just a little bit more about you.”

“What more could ya possibly know about me now that ya didn’t before?” Mac asked, believing that his nature wasn’t really that hard to read. He had been an open book about everything up to now, so what more was there for the caribou to read into.

“I’m beginning to think you might actually be incurable.” Gunne replied, though not with the kind of apprehension Mac would expect from such a statement when coming from a caribou. If anything, it looked like the idea amused Gunne.

“Ya get that just from me turning down an offer from sex from th- I mean from her?”

“Not exactly,” Gunne said, taking his place at the back of the crowd so he could continue watching the show on stage, “But one has to admit that the king’s pet one of the more attractive females of your race. Yet, you’ve built up this seemingly impervious wall in your mind that prevents you from acting on your natural urges, no matter how tempting. You simply refuse to succumb to it.”

“And that makes me mentally ill to you?” Mac was feeling like this was leading another one of Gunne’s unintentional insults.

“I think that it makes you a rather silly stallion,” Gunne said, doing all he could to refrain from smirking, “It will be interesting to see how long you latch to this ‘moral code’ you have formed from growing up in the terrible environment you did, and believe me when I say that I still don’t truly believe in such things as ‘incurable stallions’, but you might be the closest thing to the concept as there could be.”

“And what does that mean between us?” Perhaps the previous encounter with Shining Armor still had his nerves wound up too tightly, but he just wanted to make sure that he hadn’t crossed over some line that made Gunne perceive him as a threat.

“Nothing at all,” Gunne reassured, “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but you’re illness means nothing to me so long as you abide by the laws the king has set in place. As far as I’ve seen, you’ve done nothing wrong, and I could even say that you act more like a man should than all of the other mentally deficient males I have met. So unless you’re feeling guilty over something you’ve done, you should really stop worrying.”

“Ah guess you’re right…” Mac said, realizing that he had asked this same question, or variations of it, far too many times, “I’ll try not to bring that up again.”

“I would appreciate that. Now then, it looks like the counsel is almost done. It would be a wasted trip if you decided to leave now.”

Looking at the stage, it did appear that the council was coming to a climax, in more ways than one. Their faces were covered in signs of blissful pleasure, and they were thrusting into their selected mare with a lack of control as they rushed towards their own building orgasms. With the end coming so soon, there was no point in not sticking around and seeing what would happen.

He joined with the rest of the ponies watching, locking his eye on the horrid display on stage. It enveloped his attention so much that he didn’t feel the touch of two gentle hands setting down on his shoulders, nor did he sense the muzzle going up to his ear. He didn’t even realize anything odd was happening until he heard the words “I’m sorry Macintosh” whispered into his ear by the sweetest, most sympathetic voice he had ever heard.

He knew this voice, as he had just heard it not moments ago. It was Celestia’s, though it in no way reflected the tone the purple collared alicorn had before. She sounded less like a cock hungry whore, and more like the princess he remembered. It stunned him, more than anything else had in the past year, just to hear those three words spoken by that kind and caring voice.

He stood there for a moment, frozen in place, as the hands slipped off his shoulders. Mac suddenly felt very alone, the presence of the noises and people around him becoming very distant. All he could think about was those three words, and what Celestia could have been apologizing for. Was she just trained to be apologetic in general, and thus was saying sorry that she couldn’t satisfy him? Did she understand that he wasn’t like every other male at the party, and was giving her condolences for the way things had become? For all he knew, it could be an apology for something completely obscure, and unrelated to the fall or her duties as a slave all together.

He needed answers, but as he turned to see if the alicorn was still there, he caught only the glimpse of her tail disappearing behind the congregation of ponies and stags. With the question of what she meant burning in his thoughts, he of course gave chase, but by the time he got around the bend himself, Celestia had gotten to the steps of the stage. He knew well enough that going on the stage was a bad idea, and the two guards stationed at the step reinforced that notion. As much as it bothered him, it looked like he would never know the reason Celestia decided he deserved some sort of apology.

The world was a blur; a mixture of pain, misery, and a constant reminder that there was a person who was the cause of both. Applejack could feel Ivangir so far inside her ass that the first bend in her intestines had to reshape itself just to accommodate him. It felt like Ivangir was doing everything in his power to test the limits of her endurance, and unfortunately she was passing with flying colors. An average mare might’ve blacked out, unable to handle the intensity of the caribou’s lust, but the farm mare didn’t have such liberties.

“What’s the matter?” The caribou said as he pulled back on the braid he held, having tied it so loosely around her wrists that he could use it to yank her head backwards. “I heard you did this to yourself when you got that red collar of yours. You should be loving this.”

AJ didn’t know if Ivangir was legitimately asking her a question or whether he was just mocking her, but she didn’t really have the ability to care let alone answer. The violent thrusting was was making her head spin, filling her with a horrid concoction of sensations every time he shoved into her depths, as well as physically propelling her whole body so she couldn’t focus her vision on anything as her head was constantly bobbing up and down.

The only thing she could concentrate on was the damage that Ivangir had done to her. Her inner womanhood was essentially one giant cramp, strained to its limit when it was made to stretch around the massive fleshy rod that now inhabited her ass, still dripping out the thick, white batter that the caribou left behind when switching holes. There were plenty of bruises forming under her fur from where Ivangir would deliver the occasional slap or grope a spot far too roughly, and she was beginning to feel rope burn on her wrists from all the rubbing her braid was doing against it. There was nothing pleasant about this, as even when her biology took over and an orgasm came it only intensified the pain as tired muscles tried to perform a function they had already been pushed too far to accomplish.

As images whirled about her in blotches of brown surrounded by a sea of black, she occasionally spotted a blur of color in the mix. AJ knew that these splotches of pink, white, blue, yellow and purple were her friends, each only a few feet away from her and in a similar position as herself. When Ivangir decided he had spent enough time in what he considered foreplay, the others followed by his example and gathered to bring this night to a close. As they stood, the six caribou and six mares stood in pairs, forming a circle with their bodies. The council, each gripping their selected mare by either their arms or mane, were all faced inward so they could watch the others as they piston fucked the pony impaled on their penis, each doing everything in their power to outdo the others in an impromptu competition of masculinity.

Because of their positions, the six female ponies were likewise face to face, their heads bobbing in and out of the center of the circle as they were pounded, filling the space with moans, grunts and gasps. Rainbow Dash added her own enraged howls to this, as even now she struggled to fight a through a situation beyond her control, but no one outside of the circle could here them over the sounds of passionate lust, and Twilight’s own shameful declarations of being “The Pony Princess of Pussy” as she let herself blurt out whatever lewd thoughts would come to mind, which was answered by Pinkie locking lips with the alicorn in between thrusts.

There had already been a few times that AJ had to endure something like this, where she and her friends were brought together to serve as some sort of an example, to validate the supremacy of men and act as a symbol of female weakness. When they surrendered the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony, the caribou’s revised Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant, the Gala, it was all different ways of expressing the same point.

So as she was having her backside pounded by the guy she hated worst in the world, she couldn’t help but have her thoughts wander to the future that was ahead of her. She and Mac had followed Gunne’s plan to a T, acquired the red collar that he promised would make things better, but what did it really improve? Even if someday Mac was able to keep her on the farm and away from the men of Ponyville, as unlikely as that was, events like these would still be a constant problem in her life.

Days where she would be paraded like some prize before hundreds. Where she wouldn’t be under Ivangir’s “protection”, and would she would have to fuck any man or mare that came before her like a red collar was expected to do. She would have to fuck, suck, and slurp on her own accord, with each action adding another regret to the pile. What would that do to her over time, to her will, to her sense of self?

The blurred streaks of color around her showed many possible futures for the farm mare, many points where this lie could lead. She could end up like Rarity; a mare who seemed to only play her part out of sheer hopelessness; stripped of any power and standing she had as a free mare, cowed into a corner she had no ability of getting herself out of, and living day by day in a lie so she could pretend that she was living the life she wanted. It was a sad, underserved destiny for anyone who had what she could to put the wants and needs of others before her own.

She could become like Pinkie Pie; partially, or perhaps fully, succumbing to base lust and desire, her true self all but lost in an ocean of euphoria. It seemed less likely an outcome for AJ, since she wasn’t a brothel mare, but over time the despair and remorse of the life that was stolen from her could take it’s toll, and maybe that would be enough to break even her if she allowed it. How long would it be when the act stopped being an act? How long would it be until the persona she invented to get her through these situations took over, her anger and disgust buried beneath a facade.

Even if her personality persisted, she could turn out to be like Fluttershy. Submitting to the caribou, adhering to their ways, and becoming a mockery of what she really was. It was horrific to lose one’s self because of abuse or an onslaught of sex, but to lose all sense of will while your mind was still intact was a different, yet equally frightening, horror altogether. A shiver flowed over her as scenarios formed in her head. She could see herself doing some mundane task one day, something like delivering a cart of vegetables to Ponyville, and finding herself on her knees before a stallion because he told her to abandon her work to suck down his dick, simply because he told her to.

The unsettling thought of having another’s word dictate her actions blocked out the sensation of another orgasm being forced into her by Ivangir’s savage thrusts, her fear of such a life overpowering even biology. The fluids of her climax seeped out of her pussy and down her leg did remind her that there was one more option left however, that of Twilight. The others might have been transformed into something far from what they were in their lives before the caribou, the alicorn’s own changes were by far the most extreme. It still dumbfounded her how one of the nicest, smartest, and heroic mares she ever had the pleasure of being friends with could become approve of an evil concept such as slavery, and comply with the desires of villains who would casually destroy everything she use to stand for.

It begged the question ‘if a pony like Twilight could turn so easily, could the same happen to anyone else’? Could AJ one day become what she despised; a true red collar, tossing away all sense of morality, taking joy in her enslavement, defend it as the only destiny a woman could have in this caribou ruled world? Could she turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, or go as far as to join in? The earth pony had seen mares in the past gleefully entrap others struggling for freedom and escape in painfully tight bondage, the near crushing embrace of the rope and leather squeezing tears from their bodies as they screamed to deaf ears for mercy. She had watched women guide an unwilling mare’s mouth down on a dick to till they choked on the engorged stallionhood. She had experienced first hand how someone who she used to buy flowers from tried to betray ponies she was close to, with only the promise of more sex as a reward. What would it take for the farm mare to become like them, and was she already unknowingly walking down that road?

These were the four examples of what awaited her in her future as a red collar: loss of hope, loss of sanity, loss of will, loss of self. Each one of these fates were equally terrible, and led to an end that was against everything she stood for. She would rather die than turn out that way, where she could no longer even pretend that there would be a day where things would be better. Without that hope, she might as well just lay down, give up completely, and refuse to allow the caribou anymore satisfaction from her by becoming unresponsive to everything. Would be better to do that than to live a lie.

As those thoughts passed, a warm feeling became more and more noticeable to the mare. The feeling formed inside her, building in her core, accompanied with a certain familiar pressure. Ivangir’s elongated groan of pleasure, as well as his strengthened pull on her mane, let her know that the caribou had finally came. His jism was flooding her intestine, pouring out of Ivangir’s cock in such volume that she felt it might find its way to her stomach.

She gritted her teeth as her ravaged body was held in painful pose; legs together, ass spread wide from the cock in it, her body bent awkwardly with Ivangir pushing down at the bottom of her spine, while at the same time pulling her head back. Her back curved to it’s limit, while her chest pushed outward. The longer she was held there, the more her muscles cramped and stiffened, intensifying her agony. Ivangir, reaching the end of his climax, pulled out his cum covered cock out to near removal from the apple mare’s ass, and gave two finale powerful thrusts to finish his victim off.

The first one forced AJ to break what little composure she had retained, her muzzle unclenching as sparks in her body sent jolts through her, compelling her to let out one last moan as she was made to cum one final time against her will. The second jab into her innards cut her cry short though, as the caribou simultaneously pushed his rod in as hard as he could and pulled back oh her mane with the same intensity. For a small moment, Applejack’s body was lifted completely off the ground by the meat mast inside her. The narrowness of her irises, as well as her silence, expressing the combined horror and misery she felt, but even the mighty caribou dick couldn’t hold up a full sized earth pony body for long, and after a few brief moments of suspension, Ivangir released her hair and allowed her to slide off his still spurting sex organ.

AJ hit the wooden floor of the stage hard, the force of the impact staying with her as she felt the remaining wads of cum rained down on her from the caribou standing over her. The hot, white spunk felt like it was everywhere, covering both her insides and outsides. It was a nasty feeling, but one she had gone through countless times as a slave. Yet, somehow the caribou’s cum made it all the worse, like the substance was more filthy… grimier. She would rather be covered head to hoof in muck from a pig pen than to have a drop of caribou sperm on her, but right now half of her body was covered in the substance.

Still, through her disgust, embarrassment, and full body aches, she managed to make a smile. AJ had been violated in a way that no other male had ever done to her before on their own, but she had made her way through it all. It was reminiscent of pulling a triple shift in the fields, working herself till she had no energy left. Applejack would be feeling the effects of it for a few days after, but she had push herself through it all the same. She was done, having fulfilled the physical part of her obligations. Her muscles could now relax, she could at last put this night behind her. The feeling of her pain fading away was more enjoyable than any of the orgasms brought on by her rape, the relief more comforting that the undesired pleasure ever was.

“See,” she heard the caribou standing above her body announce, “This red collar bitch loves riding my cock! Look at how pleased she looks! Pushed past her limits, and still she grins like a stupid cunt getting a new sex toy!” The crowd gave a round of applause and cheers to Ivangir’s statement, and with their admiration, the caribou directed his attention back to AJ, “And now you can consider yourself a red collar. Be appreciative that I spent all this time to drill your true purpose into that thick skull of yours, as you won’t get the privilege of being impaled by my cock again. You were more interesting as a stupid and stubborn black collar, and as a red you’re just another dime-a-dicking dirt mare that’ll turn tricks for any guy who wants to stick it in you. Completely, and utterly, worthless.”

Ivangir made his way off stage, passing by Applejack to deliver one last small kick to her gut before leaving her to lay in a pool of his semen. AJ didn’t even bother to react to the hit, she was past the point of caring about both his petty attempts to insult her, and his physical abuse of her being. If what Ivangir said was the truth, then he would never be a problem for her ever again. He had achieved his glorious triumph in his mind, believing he had finally broken her. After that, she was no longer any fun. She was just another red collar in an ever increasing population of mares turning into cum sluts, and with no particularly interesting traits on top of that, she had become boring to the caribou who derived pleasure from taming those who resisted his will. For her, his disinterest was one of the greatest rewards her otherwise repugnant red collar could ever grant.

With the pain in her ass gone, and the soreness in her rear receding, Applejack took a moment to relax and allow the world around her to stop wobbling after the harsh thrusting her body been put through. The blurred colors were once more resembling her friends, and the brown backgrounds they were splashed against reshaped into the caribou fucking them. The other red collars certainly looked as if they were enjoying themselves more than she had, each being consumed in a constant string of orgasm. Fluttershy’s was wincing ever so slightly, the caribou pounding her pussy perhaps being too aggressive, but she was still going along with not so much as a ‘no’ to what was being done to her.

Rarity seemed to have changed her tune as well from her earlier attitude, with nothing but lustful moans escaping her exhuasted lungs. Her head was so clouded with pleasure that she had trouble controlling her body, having to be supported by the one taking her from behind, the cruel caribou holding the top half of the unicorn’s body up by her once lovely mane alone, while keeping the back half upright with her tail. The parts of her body that could, that being her arms and jaw, hung limply as her pupils tried their best to vanish behind her upper eyelids. Her tongue popped out on occasion from the rhythmic pumping of her pussy, and its retreat back into her muzzle was the only sign that she wasn’t completely out of it. Rarity would certainly sleep soundly once the gala was over, that was unless Shining Armor felt that she somehow didn’t deserve it after all she was put through.

AJ watched the other reds for only a short time as she caught her breath, catching a second wind right as she heard the remaining council members reach their own limits. One by one, they sounded off their last grunts and poured what little cum they managed to preserve throughout the gala’s festivities into their respective mare. Each of the girls announced their acknowledgement that they pleased the caribou inside them, heralding the arrival of their sperm with a few final sounds of shock, excitement or, in Rainbow’s case, outrage and dismay before being released and allowed to join the apple mare on the floor. The group became a quivering, gasping mass of cum spewing bodies, on the verge of passing out from the physical stress they had received over the course of the night, with Applejack, being the only one to avoid the gauntlet of sexual activities, the only one who still felt capable of moving of her own accord. All the others were devastated, writhing on the ground in punishing pleasure that resonated through their beings. Twitches, shuddered gasps, and small squeaks were all any of the other ponies could create after such an exasperating ordeal.

For a while, the caribou surveyed the six mares they destroyed with their dicks, basking in their own masculine glory as they listened to the cheers directed towards them from the other guests of the gala. The council members had little doubt that they were amongst the most virile of the men there, and no one there would deny it seeing how they had outlasted everyone else. However, even the best the caribou had to offer had its limits, and for the first time in a long time each one of them could say that they were spent, but in the end they still were not satisfied. They knew they could obtain gratification through means other than sexual dominance, and that they could show these mares where they stood without the use of their emptied dicks.

“Get your stupid cunts in gear,” Hrathr said, bending over so he could place a finger into the rings of both Applejack and Fluttershy’s collars. Feeling a tug, the two mares looked inside for whatever reserves they managed to hold onto during their intense session of climaxes. They allowed Hrathr to lead them, as a pet would allow its master, and were brought to the edge of the stage. The other council member brought the other four over as well, exerting their power over the mares through their exhaustion to line them all up side by side, fronts forward to the audience so they could get a good long look at their sweat-covered bodies, their breasts that tremored with every labored breath, and gaping, violated holes, stretched by the council members’ dicks till one could easily see the inner walls of their vaginas if not for all the jism held within.

With most of them almost too tired to hold themselves upright, the caribou assisted them by gripping the back of their collars. The six former elements of harmony, put on display as their cum-filled orifices spilled their contents all over the floor, showed just exactly how thoroughly a caribou could devastate a woman with their dicks. The way they struggled to keep from succumbing to their weariness, or slipping into euphoric bliss after countless orgasms, reinforced the notion that no man could quite match up to the sexual prowess of the caribou council. Everything about these mares made that more than clear, from their cum drowned, spasming pussies, to their glazed over eyes, to their messy manes and the smiling, but drained expressions. AJ herself joined in on flashing her pearly whites, not wanting to be the only red not to be showing her expected enthusiasm, having reason to smile now that she assumed that she had completely her womanly duties, at least for the night.

With the council’s masculinity firmly established, all that was left was to clean up after the mess that was these mares. A wave of beckoning from one of the their ranks was all that was needed, and a group of pony guardsmen made their way on stage carrying several large buckets. Encircling the tired mares, they unceremoniously dumped the contents out, and the weary women suddenly found a new source of energy as gallons over ice cold water poured over them. Not one was spared the terrible, yet exhilarating, sensation of frigid fluids passing over their hot skin, cleaning them of spunk as their body temperatures rapidly lowered a few degrees. Shrill shrieks and shivers were shared by all, and when the guards were done it was only Twilight who had any ability of keeping a pleasant appearance plastered on her face.

Applejack made no effort to restrain the sour look that had grown on her face, angered at not only her own irritation, but the discomfort of her friends as well. It probably would have been picked up easily by the guards, but a clear view was obscured by the head of a certain pink pony as she latched onto the farm mare for warmth. The suddering and squeezing, accompanied by incidental rubbing of body parts, as Pinkie’s pointed nipples pressed into AJ’s fur, didn’t make her feel any warmer, nor made the elated laughter of the guards any more tolerable, but it did keep her from expressing her distaste for such treatment in a way that surely would not be appreciated.

“That’s enough,” said an unmistakably imposing voice. The pony guards, along with the caribou council, made way for their king. Dainn seemed very pleased, or at least that was what Applejack took from that half smirk of his, and seeing how his party had gone off without a hitch there was no reason for him to be upset. Perhaps his only disappointment was that it had to end.

“Return these two back to their masters,” said the king, pointing to Rainbow Dash and Rarity, “After such a hard day of service, I’m certain that they long for the comforting embrace of their rightful owners.”

“Yes, my king,” replied one of the guards as he took a leash from his belt and clipped it to the ring on Rainbow’s collar. Another guard went to Rarity, this one not bothering to get the leash on his own belt or grab her by the collar, but instead showed a particular interest in treating her as cruelly as possible as he went right for her mane to wrench her up to her hooves. Rarity, either out of exhaustion, fear, or willing capitulation, didn’t fight against this ill-spirited method of directing her to her next destination, and did her best to follow where her head was being yanked. Every time she matched the force applied to her though, the guard just increased his pull that much harder till she couldn’t keep up anymore.

“As for these two,” Dainn went on to say, pointing to Pinkie and Fluttershy as he looked to his council, “Do what you will with them until the closing ceremonies are finished.”

“With pleasure, my king,” replied Anvari as he and Hrathr collected the ponies they had picked to be their personal cock sleeves. Anvari had to practically pry the pink mare off of AJ, her grip on her friend as tight as a vice, but with a bit of effort he managed to remove the two mares from one another. Pinkie, once she realized that she had made the caribou exert himself in order to retrieve her, gave a worried giggle through a series of nervous twitches. Hrathr expressed that he was not amused by her antics, giving a cold glare back to her, before pointing her to the stage’s steps.

Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity were each escorted off stage, each being taken to the back of the room, heading to the VIP box where they would be handed back to their owners, or utilized by the caribou they had been given to. None of the drenched mares were even allowed to say goodbye to the two they were leaving behind, and could only give one last parting glance to both AJ and Twilight as they left the platform, some of the looks given less pleasant than others. The caribou council members remaining on stage soon followed, heading to the same destination as the four mares. They wished to end this night in their private seats, surveying the last portions of the gala from their perch as they amused themselves with the prizes they had claimed long ago for what little time remained for them.

“And what of these two?” a unicorn guardsman asked, inquiring about the farm mare and the former alicorn princess.

“The dirt mare has one more duty to her kingdom to fulfill,” said Dainn, “So she will stay here. As for the alicorn, she has done an… adequate job fulfilling her role, so she may take a place at my side with her former mentor for the remainder of the gala.”

AJ had never seen such joy as the kind that appeared on Twilight’s face upon hearing what the reward for her efforts were. The way she showed off her pearly whites rivaled any smile Pinkie had ever produced, and Applejack couldn’t help but see a twinkle in the eyes of fallen heroine right before she leapt forward and hugged the leg of the caribou king.

“Oh thank you my king!” the alicorn said in earnest, before noticing what she had done in her excitement. She hastily removed herself from Dainn’s person, and bowed her head to the floor. “I mean, Thank you my king. You honor me with your kind words.”

Dainn didn’t seem to be put off by Twilight’s actions. If anything, her fanatical behavior was welcomed. Women were suppose to enjoy a life of sexual slavery after all, and praise was amongst the greatest rewards one could hope to receive, and to get it from the king no less. Her reaction was warranted, if not demanded.

Dainn tapped his upper thigh a few times, and like a good pet Twilight answered his silent command by crawling over to that side. When Dainn turned back to his throne, Twilight scurried on her hands and knees to make sure she stayed close to the spot she had earned, paying close attention to the movements of the king so she didn’t stray too far. Many a caribou would have exploited such behavior, seeing how far they could manipulate the alicorn for sport, going back and forth in seemingly indecisive movements until she tripped over her own appendages. Dainn did not play such games with his prized pony though, more concerned with returning to his chair than pointlessly testing a mare who had already proved herself to be loyal, obedient, and subservient.

Returning to his sitting area, where Celestia awaited locked in her decorative cage, the pair left Applejack where she sat on the floor. “There will be a brief intermission,” Dainn declared while easing back into his luxurious chair, “After which we will begin the closing ceremonies, and will be entertained by a speech given by a most humble dirt mare who, after much time in denial, has come to understand that she had always been meant for a life of servitude under men.”

At those words, the pony guardsmen left to attend to setting up the room for the final activities of the night. The room was being hastily rearranged to allow the guests to be seated in the center, instead of near the walls, and all objects were removed to make way for rows of folding chairs spaced far enough apart that each guest could have a slave mare sit aside them for a bit of last minute entertainment. The only thing left behind in all this was the party’s centerpiece, Luna, still held suspended above the ground and barely conscious after everything she was put through, jism seeping out of every orifice from her near constant violation over the course of the gala. Whichever lucky stallions or stags that claimed the seats placed under her would have quite a sight dangling above them, and perhaps the chance to make the poor princess’s night a little bit worse with their attentions, though they would have to watch out for the cum she had collected over the course of the night dripping onto their expensive party outfits.

During this short moment of reprieve, AJ was at a loss at what she was supposed to do. She wasn’t exactly told to wait there until she was needed, but she wasn’t given permission to relax. All the guards, the council members and the audience had left, and she felt almost alone despite the banquet hall still being packed well beyond the recommended capacity. So far no one had come over to correct her for just sitting there, but from the moment Dainn sat down he locked his eyes on her, and didn’t look away as he started to stroke Twilight’s hair like she was a common animal.

That could have meant anything though, or nothing at all, so AJ ignored the glare and decided that as long as she wasn’t being bothered, taking the time to recuperate from the brutal fucking Ivangir gave her wasn’t a problem. Still, she didn’t go so far as to lay down for this, as she had a good inclination that the moment she tried something would happen to prevent her from doing so, since that seemed to be an ongoing theme for her during the gala. Her expectations were not disappointed either, as mere seconds after choosing to do nothing, she felt something take hold of her tail and give it a few light tugs.

Applejack, checking who was trying to get her attention, found that her tail was held within a magical aura. Someone was using their telekinetic magic, and that meant all she had to do to figure out who was bothering was look for a glowing horn. She couldn’t find a glowing horn though, at least not one within normal range for an average unicorn to be able to grab her. What she did find though was a pair of glowing antlers at the edge of the stage.

At first she was infuriated that there was a caribou that still wanted to mess with her, but that frustration dissipated slightly when she figured out that the caribou in question was Gunne. He was trying to get her attention, and her brother was standing next to him. Seeing Mac alone was enough to make her much better, a friendly face doing her wonders.

Gunne beckoned the mare over, AJ finding this to be the first order she was given by the stag that she was happy to abide. She crawled over, hoping that she and Macintosh could have a moment to speak with one another, no matter how brief, and while the situation might not have warranted it, she gave the clydesdale a powerful hug the moment she got close enough.

“Well… ummm… it’s nice to see ya too.” Applejack knew that Macintosh wasn’t exactly comfortable with the way she was hugging him, with her having to bend down from her elevated position to wrap her arms around his neck, her breasts draping down on his chest.

For once though, Applejack didn’t care. She needed some sort of emotional connection after the pain, disgrace and humiliation brought to her by the man who she could have called her greatest enemy. She could hold back tears, she bite her tongue and keep her opinions locked inside, but she couldn’t stop herself from embracing the last person she felt she could still trust completely.

“Excuse me,” said Gunne, having no problem ruining the moment, “But we don’t have time for this.”

“Gunne….” Mac said, returning his sister’s embrace, “Give her a minute.”

At the clydesdale's request, the caribou backed off for a minute to allow AJ a little respite. Mac brought up his arms to embrace his sister, as awkward as their hug was from his angle, and rocked his sister slowly back and forth to calm her nerves. AJ, enjoying this tender exchange, wished that she could stay in this moment forever. However, Gunne knew that time was of the essence, and if they missed this window of opportunity then it would cause problems that the caribou rather avoid. “I hate to pull punctuality, but your minute is up. Mac give her the speech I had you hold onto earlier.”

Mac reached into the pocket of his tux, and pulled out the folded up piece of paper. The mare, knowing that Gunne was right, removed herself from Mac and put out her hand so Mac could place in it the words she would have to say in front of everyone.

“Don’t lose that,” Gunne said as if to a child, not trusting her competence though she would be giving the speech in mere minutes, “I don’t have a replacement if you do.”

AJ scoffed, but gripped the paper tightly in her hand. If she could agree with Gunne on one thing, it was the importance that she keep hold of what the caribou had written.

“Now, get back into place and do what you're supposed to,” Gunne grabbed Mac by the arm, and started leading him away from the stage, hoping that what the two ponies had done was only seen as an affectionate display between slave and master.

“Wait!” AJ called out, much to Gunne’s disapproval, “Where are you two going?”

“If you need to be told, your master and I will be doing our best to reserve seats at the front as soon as they are set up. The other participants are busy getting some last minute refreshments, so that will give us a little time to claim a good spot.”

Mac looked back to his sibling with reassurance reflecting in his eyes, “Don’t worry AJ, I’ll be close if ya need me.”

Applejack’s lips went tightly shut, and her face crinkled a bit. She didn’t want to part with Mac so soon, but she understood he couldn’t stick around and disrupt the closing ceremonies by standing at the edge of the stage. She was reluctant, but with her pre-written speech in hand she crawled back to where she had been before being lured over by Gunne. She would just have to be patient, and have the courage to get through the speech without Mac by her side.

Time passed, and before long everything was in its proper place. A pedestal of glass had been brought up to the stage, made with the line of sight between the guests and any mare up there in mind. The stages and stallions were also seated with that as a priority, the larger caribou sitting in the back rows while allowing the ponies to sit up front, with a few of the males deciding that the sitting near the walls was still the best choice of seating arrangement.

Then of course there was the VIP box, which occupied the entirety of the caribou council, the runemasters, important ponies such as Soarin, Fancy Pants, Shining Armor, the commandeered members of the Elements of Harmony, and whatever personal female slaves and pets they had decided to bring that night. Soarin himself was enjoying his gaggle of girls, having placed Spitfire on his lap, her legs going over and being spread apart by his own, his dick stuck inside her vagina as his two other pegasi, Dash and Lightning Dust, knelt on either side of him. They were given the task of licking his sack and what parts of his cock were left outside the former Wonderbolts captain’s cunt as he thus pumped his penis inside her, Dash of course having to have her face pushed into the stallion’s crotch, while her red collar compatriot had the liberty of pleasuring the pony unbound and at her own pace while caressing her womanly features.

Very few alterations were made to the stage itself. A few cum-covered maid mares, which AJ recognized as the ones that had helped her earlier that night, had come to mop up the various fluids that had spilled over its wooden surface during the orgy. They had to do so several times since the fluids that covered them would drip off as they worked, but now the stage floor was spotless, and a pedestal of glass stood upon it.

Dainn, finding everything to his liking, rose from his seat, and approached the pedestal. “And so, in this late hour, we bring this glorious event to a close,” he announced loudly, his voice booming throughout the silent banquet hall, “We will return to our domiciles, every man fully confirmed in their dominance over their domain and every woman having a reinforced idea of what their proper place in the world is, with memories of the festivities of this night to act as a reminder of both of these things for all who attended.”

A round of loud claps arose from the king’s words, but the caribou king was quick to lift his hand and lower it slowly to silence the sounds of approval, “But before you go, we have a mare who wishes to say a few words of her own. To show her gratitude for all we men have done to guide her in the past year, and how much happier she is following the order brought by the caribou, made possible by the hard work of the men of this great nation of Equestria.” Dainn looked over to AJ, and that was all she needed to know it was time. Giving herself one more silent gulp, she went to face her fate.

Each step was like walking a mile, knowing that everyone in the room was now watching her, scrutinizing her every movement, or perhaps just fantasizing about her toned and endowed body. It was like their gazes had weight, bogging her down. Friends, relatives, the former leaders of the nation, red collars, black collars, the richest and most powerful stallions Equestria had to offer, the collection of rapists that destroyed her world, and of course the man who ruled of them all that she going towards.

Applejack didn’t waver though. She didn’t show so much as a quiver of her lip as she took her place standing behind that podium, keeping her head bowed while walking past Dainn. Her heart pounded in her chest, but any visible signs of her fear were near unnoticeable, with only a deep breath to calm her nerves taking precedence over the unfolding of the pre-written speech.

“Ah-he-hem,” she said, clearing her throat as she spread out the piece of paper across the smooth glass. She reviewed what Gunne had written, and looking to memorize a bit on the fly so she could try to keep a steady flow of speech without pausing or tripping over her own words. She hardly got off the first sentence when the paper was torn away from her, lifted off from the pedestal by an act of telekinesis.

“What do we have here?” said Dainn, having floated the piece of paper to himself. His eyes roamed over the paper, skimming to get a quick understanding of what the mare had kept on her person.

“It’s the speech I’m gonna to give,” AJ answered, being direct.

“Did your master give you this?” Dainn questioned, finding what he read to be far above what he believed a mare of Applejack’s background would be capable of. AJ gave him a nod in response. With his personal prejudices about her confirmed, the earth pony assumed that she would be handed back the speech so she could continue, but to her shock the king crumpled it up and tossed it aside. “It was very well written, and would have been a joy to hear, but I think that it would be better if you told us how you felt about your new life with your own words.”

“But…”

“Is there a problem with that?”

There were plenty. She could give a speech on the fly if need be, having done so on several occasions in Ponyville when asked, but what the king wanted to hear from her was not her forte. Even as she frantically tried to recall what was on the speech from what she had read earlier that night, she was having extreme difficulty piecing together the words that would have declared that she found the enforced servitude, along with the ceaseless sexual, and physical and verbal abuse to be some great honor to suffer through. The worst part of all was that whatever she said at this point would be an outright lie that she would have to fabricate herself.

Dainn smirked, seeing the how immediately unnerved the mare was without her cheat sheet. “Don’t worry, we aren’t expecting much from a pony like you, just that you put in your best effort to amuse us with you most humble and self-abasing words. If they come out poorly without the aid of your master, then that is just the nature of a mare.”

Dainn placed his hand on her shoulder, and turned her back towards the waiting crowd. Whatever she was going to say, she was going to need to say it soon, as she doubted that Dainn was as patient or understanding a person as he was making himself out to be, and she knew that many of the men looking at her didn’t even pretend to carry such virtuous traits.

“Umm… Well… hello y’all… Nice party we’re having, isn’t it.” The earth pony fumbled for things to say, feeling a nervous sweat form on her brow. She could already hear the snickering of some of her observers, their faith in her dropping drastically with each hesitated word.

“Ah am here before you a cha… a changed… mare. Mah master has taught me so many-”

“Play with your tits!” called out a random stallion from the sea of judging eyes, their tolerance for this poor display already wearing thin.

“He has taught me a lot since I’ve become a slave and…” There was little more that AJ could think to say, her introduction being from the small part of Gunne’s speech she managed to read to before it was taken from her. She was put on the spot, and drawing a blank. She really hadn’t learned anything about being a red collar, a ‘proper slave’. All she really had learned was how to hide her feelings, and not very well if she had to be truthful. She was in over her head, up the creek, and every other metaphor that meant that she was in a situation she couldn’t handle.

Looking for any kind of help, she looked for her brother amongst the crowd. She needed his support, or at least his presence, to help her through this. As he had promised, he had found himself a seat in the first row, one at the very end of the row, seated close to the stage steps. Gunne was seated directly aside him, his palm covering his face at how terribly Applejack messed up something that should have been simple.

However, Mac didn’t seem to share Gunne’s aggravation. As AJ was embarrassing herself with her silence, he was patiently waiting and watching for her to continue. Where everyone else in the room was already disregarding AJ as a ignorant dirt mare who had no business on the stage as anything more than eye candy, Mac didn’t show a single sign of doubt in her. No expressions of embarrassment, or attempt to slink away sheepishly to leave Applejack to whatever punishments she would receive for her failure. He just sat there, his attention directed only to her in wait for her to get her act together. He had complete faith in her, knowing that she could accomplish nearly anything if she put her mind to it.

AJ couldn’t help but smile at the thought, and calmed her nerves as she focused on the one thing that she felt she had learned from this terrible situation. Though perhaps learned was too strong a word, for what she had in mind she had always known.

“Ahem!” she said loudly, getting her previously meek voice to a volume loud enough to regain the attention of the dismissive crowd. “Ah know that all of you think that ah have nothing important to say. Ah bet that most of y’all feel that mah lips are put to better use wrapped around your privates than up here talking about something as unimportant as why Ah accepted being a sex slave. You’ve already heard the same stories hundreds of times before. A red collar was broken by their master, or they were sent on a trip to a training facility and set straight, or just maybe just gave in when presented with no other options or the ability to screw as much as they wanted to. Well, in mah case it was a bit different.”

Little by little, the interest of the males listening to her began to peak, and soon there were few that were ignoring her completely. They wanted to know what this supposedly unique reason for a mare to become a red collar was, and perhaps if they could use it in the future to tame their own stubborn black collars.

“After I was collared, and shown how Ah would be treated as a woman, Ah felt had a strong resentment towards every man Ah saw. Ah thought that all any guy would want of me from then on was to make mah life miserable. That was until Ah was handed over to the stallion that would be mah master. He helped me see that Ah could still be happy, that there was still a way that Ah could live in Equestria and do mah part, and not hate everything that Ah was being forced to do. We took everything one day at a time, and every time Ah came back with drenched in cum, threatening to break out in tears, he would do everything he could to make me feel good again. There were still times that Ah lashed out at stallions, and he was sure to tan mah hide when Ah went too far, but Ah always understood that he did it with the best of intentions, that he was just trying to keep me out of trouble. Ah would wish that every mare could have a master like mine, one that gets more respect from the women he is in charge of than any other man in all of Equestria. If not for such a stallion, Ah would not be up here now, wearing this red collar around mah neck.”

The speech was not at all elegant, or what she would call ‘good’, but it got the point she was trying to make across. Macintosh, her brother, the stallion she was forced to call master when he would rather she not, was the greatest stallion, no, greatest man she knew. He had done so much for her and the other girls on the farm, suffered the mental stress of a normal stallion having to live in an abnormal world, and all for the sake of those he cared for. If there was ever a man that deserved praise, admiration and devotion, it was him. He earned the respect he was given, through his compassion and good nature, where others had to demand it because they had power over those with no ability to fight back. Neither of the two farm ponies truly believed that Mac owned Applejack, but if she had to have a master then she couldn’t ask for a better one.

Those listening were not so impressed though, their groans announcing their overall disappointment. The stallions and stags were expecting some grand secret of how to turn any mare they wanted into a cock-hungry slut, and instead they got that. It was already a known strategy to torment a woman to their lowest point and then feign some sense of compassion for them, and it didn’t even work all the time. Now it just seemed like her master got lucky with his approach, which was good for him but did nothing for them.

As for the women who sat through the speech, their enjoyment of it was a bit more varied. There were some who took her words to heart. While not well spoken, the way she spoke sounded sincere, and made them think that if they truly had masters that cared about them as Applejack’s did for her, then perhaps their own enslavement wouldn’t be so terrible. Still, others felt it was all just a ruse. There were a ton of reasons that a mare would take the stand and propose what benefits there were to submitting. Blackmail, brainwashing, threats of torture. To mares whose suspicion were high, the pure and honest declarations were nothing but lies that couldn’t be trusted.

“Ah guess all Ah trying to say is that mah master is what makes this all worthwhile.” Applejack added, trying to leave off on a note that had some sort of message, even if it only really applied to her. “And as long as you can find something that can keep ya going, nothing else matters.”

There was little more AJ could say that was positive about being a slave. She had come to equating the feeling of climax to feeling sick, and everyone she knew outside of the shelter of Sweet Apple Acres was changed for the worse, with those who refused to change being treated like prisoners in their own bodies. What more could she really talk about when only the terrible parts were left.

After a brief moment of silence, the audience took the hint. Her words were hardly worth their time in this late hour, but they did show that she was properly indoctrinated into the caribou way of life. Such obedience and dedication to her master meant that if he commanded it, she would do it, and that meant they could get her to do anything if they could talk the stallion who owned her into it. That thought, and the want to head home and rest after a long nice of sexual exertion, allowed the males to give a half hearted clap to wrap things up.

“That could have been better,” said Dainn from behind the farm mare, not sharing even the mild enthusiasm for AJ’s attempt, “You could have put more effort into explaining why women are inherently inferior, or done something to provide us with a bit of visual stimulation.”

“Well beg your pardon King Dainn,” AJ said with a grin, somewhat enjoying the tyrant’s annoyance with her, “Ah suppose Ah just wasn’t thinking. Can ya forgive me for making my marely mistakes.”

“Indeed...” Dainn said giving the mare a glare of mild tolerance, “We can’t expect a mare to think for herself, and perhaps my instructions were too vague for you to understand. Still, you did as you were told and showed you are worthy of the comfortable collar around your neck, and that does deserve some sort of a reward.”

“A… reward?” Applejack asked with caution. There was never anything rewarding about a gift given by a caribou.

The king didn’t respond to her, instead turning to his loyal subjects. “This mare, while showing an aptitude with words expected of her kind, has shown how far she has progressed from the arrogant, uppity and self-centered creature she once was. She no longer focuses on what is best for herself, but instead what is best for her owner. She understands that when he lashes a whip across her back, it is only to teach her the folly of her poor decisions, and that when he instructs her to give into her inherent and insatiable lust, it is to let her allow herself a chance at true happiness. She might be far away from an ‘ideal woman’, but she has made steps towards that end. So I, King Dainn, liberator of men, conqueror of female falsehoods, and rightful ruler of Equestria, have decided to grant this mare one of the greatest rewards that a woman could ever strive for.”

Reaching down beneath the chestplate covering his upper torso, the large caribou undid the front of his pants, and sent his hand inside. A distinct numbness grew over Applejack’s body, starting from her core before spreading out over the entirety of her body. She was unsure why she thought that all it would take was speech to allow her to go home, take a long snooze in her warm bed, and push this night to the darkest recesses of her mind. How did she ever believe that this night wouldn’t end at the end of dick?

The king took the time to carefully remove the entirety of his genitals from the protection of his pants, exposing his light brown, white splotched cock and scrotum for all to see in an almost ceremonial unveiling. The size of the organ gave the farm mare pause, the shaft already in a state of half erection, slowly growing and becoming rigid as it exited the confines of the fabric that kept it hidden. A series of throbs gave the meat rod an ever increasing girth, until finally it was at a size that would make the most session slut reconsider accepting Dainn’s offer. His sack alone, tightly wrapped around the two testicles it was guarding inside, appeared to be half the size of her head, which made her believe that such an dick entering her body in any way would only lead to agony and an unwelcome tearing of flesh.

“Are you intimidated?” Dainn asked the mare calmly, questioning her hesitation, “Fear not, you have earned an opportunity given to few of your kind. Now do your duty, and get to work.”

The solid rod of meat seemed weighed down by its own mass, as even at full mast it hung at a diagonal angle that pointed the head of it in the direction of her face, like it was declaring its intended destination. Her mouth was the only reasonable place it could go, though the size of it would make it impossible for it to go anywhere past her lips without grazing sensitive skin against hard, pointy teeth. She was going to have to lick the caribou to climax, since she didn’t believe giving him a firm handjob was going to cut it with a person who had as high expectations from women as Dainn.

Applejack took a step forward, closing the small gap between the sex organ and herself. This was unavoidable. It wasn't like this was an offer that she could just turn down. Doing that would be seen as an insult to his masculinity, and a faux pas like that, especially at an event like the gala, would not go unpunished. Best to take her licks and walk away with as little conflict as possible.

She opened her muzzle, and one last time she let out her tongue in order to do as a man told her to. The earth mare hadn’t really been paying that much attention to the king that night, but she believed that he hadn’t taken the time to relieve any of the pressure that undoubtedly had built up in his sack as he watched his subjects go at it. She hoped that would make this short, but with no assumptions that it would be sweet.

Tilting her head sideways, AJ looked out to the audience, wanting to put her focus on anything that would take her mind off the vile task ahead of her, with the scent wafting off the caribou king’s not giving her the best expectations of what awaited her tongue. At first, she directed her gaze to Mac, her port in the storm, the person she most found comfort in. He didn’t seem any more pleased with this sudden change of plans than she did, but he remained steadfast, refusing to turn his head away, no matter what disgusting things were being done. Ever the dependable and protective sibling, his presence alone gave her a feeling of strength that could carry her through this.

However, before the earth mare could place even one of her taste buds against the soft skin of the awaiting appendage, something else caught her eye. Movement, lots of it, coming from the VIP box at the other side of the room. She tried to ignore it, but whatever it was was disruptive, persistent, demanding her attention even more so than the giant penis about to poke her in the face.

The disturbance, to Applejack’s partial surprise, was Pinkie Pie. Her fidgeting was starting to get the better of her, with her body moving about with enough intensity that Anvari had to hold her down. The Apple mare hadn’t seen her fellow earth pony’s ominous twitches this bad since the time they faced off with a hydra in Foggy Bottom Bog. Whatever those wiggles and shudders were predicting, they were coming up fast. The last time something like this happened, it was for something as simple as Twilight’s opinion about something changing. With the sporadic and unpredictable nature of Pinkie’s ‘Pinkie Sense’ though, this could mean literally anything.

She did her best to push the thought out of her mind, to avoid thinking about what it could be, and if it had any implications on her, but that just caused her to notice the rest of her close friends up in that balcony. From one side to the other, they were all up there, kneeling next to their owners, or the council member that appropriated them for the small time that remained for the gala.

The first one in line was Prince Shining Armor, with his two red collar slave mares, Rarity and Cadance, doing their own rendition of AJ’s own upcoming performance. The enthusiasm of the fallen pink princess was noticeable, even at that far distance, by how fast and furiously her head pointed upwards and tilted downward, her tongue tracing the length of her beloved master’s dick while slurping away at it with each motion. Rarity did what she could to emulate her superior in servitude, but the slower movements of the white unicorn suggested she didn’t have near as much motivation as the alicorn.

Next down the row was Vestri and Ivangir, with Vestri’s own unicorn pet sitting between the two of them, followed by Pinkie and Anvari, and then Hrathr, who had placed Fluttershy on his lap so he could give her a good stroking as reward for her obedience, both on her mane and in between her legs. Finally, after skimming over Nothri, Throtr, and Durnir, as well as ignoring the going ons of the caribou and stallions seated behind the front row, AJ landed on Rainbow Dash.

The multi-colored mare had found a moment where she could pull away from her master, and chose to utilize it by watching the stage. Applejack could tell, even with the distance that separated them, that Dash was peering into her with the same level of resentment as the pegasus had shown to her when they joined in the main hall. The intensity of that stare, boring into her, condemning the earth pony for daring to assume the name of one of her friends while preparing to wrap her lips around the cock of their most hated enemy. The amount of guilt AJ felt from those damning eyes added to the immense sense of self loathing she already had. It made her feel sick, her stomach turning from the rush of terrible emotions, combined with the salty flavor now floating in the air around the phallus in front of her.

“I understand that you might want to savor this moment,” said Dainn, his patience wearing thin, “But the time to perform your duty is now.”

AJ looked up to the caribou king. She was stalling. Though she knew what was expected from her, she was finding it hard to allow herself to take that final plunge. She had been a mere centimeter away from licking Dainn’s dick for a half a minute now, but so many things inside her were holding her back. It wasn’t the act itself that was the problem. At this point she had gulped down enough penis to put the most whorish of pre-fall sluts to shame. In fact, the idea of sexual shame wasn’t even present. What bothered her was what this all represented.

Should she cross this threshold now, at this moment, this would be it. Pinkie had warned her of this long ago. “If you give in, you can’t go back. You’ll be their plaything for the rest of your life, and eventually you’ll regret it.” The second she touched her tongue against the turgent caribou rod, she would be all but abandoning her old life. Word of how she ended the gala would spread like wildfire, and she would be committing herself to this facade.

The act itself would come to define her, become a part of who she was, no different than the terrible tattoos she had seen engraved on the bodies of the buffalo by the caribou. “It is a reminder… of my eternal shame.” The words Strongheart once spoke when to referring to the time she gave in to the caribou emerged, warning her of the fate that awaited her should she do the same.”

AJ tried to push these thoughts from her head, none of them any use for her in her current predicament. She had other things to worry about. Her brother, the mares at the farm; they all relied on her pretending to be an obedient sex slave to have a somewhat normal life. When she was rewarded, their lives likewise became easier, so it went without saying that if she were to be punished, they would likewise suffer. It would be that way for as long as the caribou were watching her movements, and they had bestowed upon her such importance as a mare that she might always be under scrutiny.

“But some things are just too important.” Another rebellious thought came to the surface, with Fiddly now being a reminder as to why she shouldn’t adhere to caribou demands. Why was everything so difficult all of a sudden? Why hadn’t Dainn made a move and ended this already? Take his satisfaction from her like every other male she had come across and rid her of the burden of forcing herself to do something she didn’t want to, of essentially being the instrument of her own rape.

“Come on and suck him off already!” One of the caribou in the back rows called out, the lack of action getting to him.

“What are you waiting for!?” Another added.

“She thinks the king’s dick is too much for her,” a stallion closer to the stage chimed in, “Stupid dirt bitch doesn’t have what it takes to be a red.”

“Get on with it!”

“Yes, get on with it!”

The crowd was becoming restless, the mare holding this up for far too long. They were telling her to just accept it, that she was a woman and this was her fate. They were all singing the same tiresome refrain that she had come to know well. Let lust take you, be a red collar, give up, doing anything else was foolishness. Those voices overwhelmed the others by sheer number, but their negative words were still being drowned out by the ones that told her they were wrong.

Through it all, she was becoming more and more curious as to why Dainn was still waiting for her to make a move while everyone else was demanding that the mare’s face be pressed against his dick. It would have been easy for him to place his hand on her head and press it forward, and she wouldn’t even stop him if he did. That didn’t seem the point for the king though. This was supposed to be his complete victory over her, where she would give him the one thing that he couldn’t take from her. She had to willingly hand over her submission, just as mares deemed greater than herself had done before her.

He was forcing her to be the one to do this perverse act. Showing her that there were no options in this matter. That she was a red collar, and as one she had to act as one would act. Perhaps he had noticed how she pussy footed around the issue, let the men take charge and never really pursued her carnal desires desires as she was expected to. Now she had to pony up, and display how loyal she was to the caribou she really was. To do otherwise would prove that she was not the mare she made herself out to be, and to the caribou not being worthy of a red collar meant you were deserving of a black one. She had always feared that it would come down to something like this, something that in a split second could ruin everything, in either one way or the other. A point where she would have to choose between herself, what she wanted her live to be, or for those she cared about, and their safety. As much as she hated the thought of it, perhaps it was time she accepted her fate.

The crowd quieted themselves as the farm mare made her move. She placed her hand on the massive meat rod in front of her, grasping it firmly in her palm, before pushing away from her face as she backed off from Dainn.

“A-Ah can’t…” she said, choking out the two words.

“Excuse me?” Dainn said, though the evenness of his voice suggested he just wanted the mare to clarify what she was saying for the audience’s sake.

AJ clenched her fist, trembling, before finding the resolve to lift her head up and look the caribou king in the eye. “Ah won’t do it!”

The room filled with noise instantly. A combination of mutters, boos, and laughter at the stupid mare who had the audacity to tell the king, of all people, no. The noise would have no doubt went into rioting, if not for Dainn himself lifting his hand and lowering it to settle them down. As he stood, towering over AJ, with unflinching eyes, he spoke in an unimpressed tone as he addressed the insolent mare. “And why is it that you ‘won’t do it’? Has your worthless female pride finally gotten the better of you?”

The reasons why Applejack refused where not so petty as the caribou king made them out to be. While pride, or at least a sense of self worth, might have been a factor, she was doing this for those she loved.

If the earth pony were to do as she was told now and simply gave up, then nothing good would come from it. She had seen far too many times what happened to mares like herself that accepted a red collar. Sure, they would be treated fine for a while, led to believe that their lives could be ‘tolerable’ so long as they obeyed, but that only ever lasted so long. They would always be tested, pushed to their limits, and even when they fulfilled every requirement given, some reason would be created just to make them start over at square one. Rarity was a testament to that kind of treatment, having time and time again struggled to climb up the caribou’s ladder, only to be pushed off it at their fickle whim.

Even putting caribou treachery aside, AJ had to think of those still struggling to make it through each day experiencing another nightmare brought on by their oppressors. Women who had lives and purpose before the caribou, who watched it all turned to ash, and were clinging onto what little hope they had left in this world. Though she had never intended it, the caribou had made her into a symbol of that hope. ‘The most stubborn mare in Equestria’, always fighting against the monsters who had enslaved her, in spirit at least, if not in the literal sense. She had a nagging sense of responsibility towards those who looked to mares like her and Rainbow as a source of strength, one she had been trying, and failing, to ignore since she earned her red collar, for the most selfish reason that she had ever done anything.

Applejack was afraid of leaving Sweet Apple Acres. Afraid of being handed off to Ivangir, or someone just as terrible. She told herself that she had become a red collar for Mac, for the others on the farm, but deep down she always knew that was a lie. When Mac told her there was a possibility she would be taken away, she covered up that fear with anger, and clung to the only thing she could to keep that from happening. In doing so though, she put Mac through more pain than she ever thought she could. Leaving scars on his heart each time he watch her go down on a cock, or begged to have her pussy stuffed to amuse some asshole. By trying to keep herself away from harm, she had hurt Mac more times than she could count. Seeing that it was never going to stop, AJ couldn’t continue putting her brother through that time and time again.

The earth pony gave the VIP box one more glance. As she assumed, Pinkie’s twitches were going full force. By this time, she had a good idea of what they were trying to predict, and if she was right then there was no avoiding it. Pinkie’s senses were never wrong.

“You know exactly why Ah won’t do it,” Applejack declared to the caribou king, summoning up all the courage she could to overcome the sense of fright trying to tell her that it wasn’t too late to turn back, “Ah won’t do it because it’s wrong. I’m not gonna let you just push me around because ya are bigger an’ stronger than me, and I’m not gonna lick your dick just because ya say so neither.”

“Is that so?” Dainn said plainly as he crossed his arms, not yet making any attempt to stop the mare from continuing.

“You’re darn tootin ‘that’s so’,” AJ responded, “I’m tired of doin’ what ya want me too just because you want it to be that way. Ya come into Equestria, rape everyone in sight, brainwash the stallions into thinking the way you do, and just expect everyone to fall in line the way you want things. Ya even got mah brother’s head all muddled up with your nonsense. Ah hate how he goes along with everything ya tell him to do. Just thinking about how a member of mah own family makes me and the other mares fuck, how he even broke one of them by doing so, disgusts me.”

While AJ might have been willing to toss herself into the fires, she was not going to do the same to anyone else. She needed to make sure that sure that Mac couldn’t be implicated in this, and make it seem like he had control over the other mares in his care. If there was ever a lie worth telling, this was it. It probably hurt him to hear this coming from her mouth, with all the guilt he had been feeling as of late, and it would hurt him worse when she was taken from him, but in time Mac would get over this. He would move on, find happiness in rescuing those he could from their family, and be much better off doing so without her. She had been his burden far too long.

“So ‘your majesty’,” she said in the most arrogant tone she could fake, now going full swing into her defiant act, pacing about slightly and sashaying her hips in as she taunted the caribou king, “If ya want your dick sucked, Ah think ya better look somewhere else, cause you're not getting it from me.”

She had to admit, it felt good to be able to mock the person who ruined the world she lived in, to see him just stand there and take it. It reminded her a bit of the days where she fought creatures like him directly. When she and the rest of her friends stood triumphantly against any challenge that stood in their way. Of course, this wasn’t the same situation, and she in no way felt she would could out of this without severe punishment, but the feeling inside her matched, and maybe even overtook, anything she had ever felt during her time as the “Element of Honesty”. It might have been pure, unfounded bravado, but it gave her the courage she needed to let the fear slowly fade from her.

Dainn’s eyes traced the insolent mare’s movements; AJ was sure that he was going to aggressively express his disapproval any moment. However, he seemed to have more restraint than she assumed a caribou was capable of, as he didn’t just snatch her up so he could make an example of her. He instead looked over to the seat he had been using all night, and the purple alicorn sitting in wait next to it.

Twilight, unlike the king, appeared perturbed at the behavior of the farm mare. Her eyes were wide, irises narrowed, and with the king now looking her way it was clear the alicorn felt she would be held responsible for the behavior of her friend. Instead, Dainn beckoned her over, rushing over on hand and knee to join the king at his side.

“Twilight,” said Dainn, returning his gaze to the defiant earth mare, “Since this one has turned down the reward I have so graciously offered her, why don’t you take it instead.”

“A-are you sure my king?” Twilight asked nervously, unsure if this was a test of some sort. The alicorn relished the mere notion that she could taste the salty and savory flavor of the king’s cock, but now didn’t seem like a good time to do so. Not when there was a mare blatantly questioning the king’s authority a foot away.

“This dirt pony should see the gift that she refused to accept. It will make it much easier for her to understand exactly what she lost when she is being punished for her insubordination.”

The added reasoning the king gave Twilight removed the small amount of doubt she had in following his command, and she allowed herself to partake of the privilege presented before her. Her motions were subdued at first, rising up from her crawling state, sitting on her knees so she could reach her lord’s still firm stallion-like cock with her muzzle.

Twilight gave nary another word as she began, placing her soft lips on Dainn’s dick, kissing it tenderly as one would lover. Slowly she traveled from the base of the caribou’s shaft up to the engorged head sitting atop it, showing her worship of the monstrous phallus by trailing its length with her affection, and once she made it to her destination she let loose her tongue from her muzzle so she could run it along the path she just travelled as she returned to her starting position at the bottom of the king’s cock.

With her oral organ released, she proceeded to pleasure Dainn with the utmost of care, lapping at every inch of exposed meat, making sure to hit every part of its surface, covering it with saliva while making sounds of elation akin to those one would make if they were being pleasured themselves. There was no doubt that the alicorn was enjoying herself, enraptured that she could serve one greater than herself, that alone being all she needed to create a flooding of sexual fluids from between her legs. The way her chest pushed out as she took in a breath, and with it the scent of the masculinity that emanated from the caribou king. The stiffness of her nipples as they poked out from her fur, the way the ends of her lips curved upwards, her eyes focused on object of her desire. She was completely absorbed in her task in a way seldom seen in other mares, with perhaps the former princess of love being the only mare to show equal devotion to affection being displayed.

As Twilight licked and rubbed her face against the penis, spreading the fluids she slathered across it back onto her person in a show of lewd, animalistic lust, the king paid her attention little mind. As he received the kind of stimulating attention that would have distracted the most focused of stallions, his eyes never strayed from the earth pony in front of him, his composure never wavered, with only the occasional twitch of his dick indicating that he acknowledged Twilight’s touches.

The scene repulsed Applejack, the disturbing image of one of her best friends adhering to the whims of a person so cruel and evil as Dainn, rubbing his cock across her face as she used only her muzzle to pleasure him, being more than a little unsettling. It did not deter her from what she was doing though, and actually gave her another idea altogether. The entire night she had been trying to reach Twilight, get some sign that she was still the mare she knew and maybe even get her to snap out of whatever turned her into the slutty, subservient mare that knelt before the caribou. If there was ever a time she was going to have a chance to do that, it was now.

“Twilight…” she said, a tinge of sadness in her voice as she spoke directly to the alicorn, “Don’tcha understand what’s going on here? Ya can’t be so out of touch that ya can’t see that what the caribou are doing is wrong.”

The alicorn ignored Applejack’s words, content to slurp her lips upon the king’s massive rod. The only response she appeared to give the farm mare was an increasingly loudening series of moans and other sexual sounds that were unnecessary for oral sex. No one could be getting that much of a rise out of an act that granted no physical pleasure.

“Answer me!” AJ finally yelled at Twilight in frustration, “Ah want to know if this is really how ya want things to be!”

“Go ahead and tell her,” said Dainn, patting the dutiful mare’s head, “I’m sure that we all would enjoy what you have to say.”

Twilight, at Dainn’s instruction, stopped her task and addressed AJ’s question. “Of course this is how I want things to be. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be wearing this.“ The alicorn raised a hand to her collar, lightly touching it, grazing its surface with the tips of her fingers. “You might not have understood this when you were given your own red collar, but when you bear this it means that you’ve accepted everything that it means to be a mare. That you are nothing but what your master thinks you are, and that your body and mind only exist to serve them. In return, you are to expect nothing, and anything that your master gives to you is to be seen as a gift. This is the only fulfilling life that a mare… No, a woman can ever live.”

The words that Twilight gave sounded like it was spoken directly out of a book, and guessing on the amount of similar tripe that had been fed to the alicorn since becoming a red collar, AJ had no doubt that it was. These couldn’t be Twilight’s thoughts, and Applejack refused to believe otherwise.

“Ah don’t want your textbook response. Ah want to know how you really feel about… THIS!” AJ spread her arms out wide and looked around the room, not directing her attention to anything in particular, but more to everything on the whole. “Equestria is a mess!” she said, not having the vocabulary to express how thoroughly ruined things had become, “We didn’t accept any of this, we were forced into it. You’re masters have turned us into slaves, raping and beating acceptance into anyone who tries to refuse. I don’t know if you understand this, but those black collars aren’t just some ‘symbol of reluctance’. They hurt, all the time. When one of ya red collars are laughing it up at ‘how stupid’ a black collar is for not liking sex, they are making fun of a suffering girl who hates being fucked because all they can relate it to is pain, which is drilled into their heads even more when they get punished for feeling the way they were essentially made to feel.”

AJ had to take a few deep breaths, her emotions starting to get the better of her. It was hard to tell if any of this was sinking in, as while Twilight was taken aback by all this, she didn’t yet show any real remorse at this confrontation. The farm mare had to keep going though. If there was any hope for her friend left, she would find it here.

“And while you're sitting there in that collar ya love so much, let me tell ya that being a red ain’t all clear skies and sunshine nether. Gettin’ to be one was a real pain in the keister to begin with, since they want to make it hard as all get out to let a black collar change even when they want to. Ever since then it never let up. Ah have to do so much work just to please a bunch of caribou… jerks!” AJ was doing what she could to hold off from spouting obscenities, for her own sake. She never did so before the caribou, and it was one of the few things that they actually changed in her with their influence. “Ah come home so worn out that ah can’t so much as lift a hoe, let alone get any real work done. It’s ridiculous!”

“Well if-”

“But ya know what!?” AJ cut Twilight off before she could try to reason out all she said with some caribou nonsense. She wasn’t about to let her say something like ‘she should be trying harder’ or ‘that was her problem’, not when it was very likely that she’d never be allowed to say so much as a word ever again after this. “Even if Ah believed that Ah could be happy living a life where all Ah do is screw mah brains out day in, day out, there is no way Ah’d be able to do it when Ah think about how many mares cry themselves to sleep each night! Or how many ponies have been fucked so silly that they can’t act like normal ponies anymore! Ah live in a world where Ah got to worry that a member of mah family could be blanked just because they wanted a better life for themselves, or worse, that they become like you and give up everything they ever hoped for!”

That last part was a bit harsh, but it had to be said. If Twilight was to understand the severity of the situation, then she had to see that she was part of the problem. It looked like it worked too, as Twilight finally stopped licking Dainn, and appeared to be genuinely stunned by this revelation. It might not mean anything in the long run, since the caribou still had a powerful stranglehold on Equestria whether Twilight had a change of heart or not, but perhaps this could open a long-closed door for the alicorn.

However, as Twilight’s shock subsided, what replaced it wasn’t sorrow, guilt, or even despair at what she had help the caribou do with her capitulation. It was loathing. The way that Twilight sneered and creased her brow towards the farm mare matched the fiercest look that any black collar ever gave a rapist stallion or misogynistic caribou tyrant. The alicorn was glaring at her like she was some sort of revolting thing, like she was disgusted just having to share the same room with her. It was an expression AJ had never seen Twilight make before to anyone, and it hurt to know it was directed at her.

“Applejack, I can’t believe you,” the alicorn started, readily prepared to give her counter argument, “I had thought that after all this time you had learned something. That you were ready to accept your destiny and stop living the lie Celestia created to keep men from their rightful place as our masters. I had my doubts too, but then I learned what it was like doing things the way nature intended and I’ve never been happier. In fact, except for you, I’ve never met a red collar who didn’t feel the same way.”

If AJ ever needed indication that Twilight was trapped within her own delusions, that was it. It might not have shown on the surface, but Applejack’s experiences with both Pinkie and Rarity told a different story. They weren’t happy at all, they were downright miserable, and were just better at hiding it than AJ could ever accomplish, no matter how hard she tried. Their acts were good, but this was the sort of things close friends should be able to see through.

“As for the rest of what you said,” Twilight continued, going for hilt into a full blown rant, “Black collars bring their punishment on themselves. They are told endlessly that if they just do as they are told, and they accept their roles as mares, then they will be treated well. I’m sorry that you feel that your responsibilities are such a burden, but there are plenty of others who can handle things twice as hard as anything you’ve ever done. The purple collars? That’s not even a problem. Stallions have made a spell that cures them by removing the memories that made them that way, and I should know, my father has used it on his slave about a dozen times now. And the ponies that get blanked? They are dangerous AJ. They have gone out of their way to hurt people because they’ve been tricked into believing the same lies you do, and are willing to stop at nothing to keep them going. They get what they deserve, and I’m not going to be guilted over ponies being given a merciful punishment for their crimes. I’m not the problem here Applejack, it’s ponies like you.” With that, the mare returned to fellating Dain’s cock, finding that she had nothing more to say.

So that was it. That was how she felt about the suffering going on in and outside of Equestria. That everyone who went against the caribou’s will were to blame, and that she was not accountable for the consequences of her actions, or lack thereof. Applejack was beginning to understand how Dash could feel the way she did. If the mare in front of her was Twilight Sparkle, there was nothing that supported that claim save for her appearance. The Twilight she knew could never be so callous, and had a heightened sense of responsibility. A pony who always went out of her way to help people when she could, and felt deep remorse during the times that she made even the most minor of mistakes. Twilight could never be ‘happy’ knowing that so many were miserable.

If not for being an alicorn, Applejack would have denied completely that this was ever the mare she had called friend, but even that didn’t hold water when compared to the gross alterations in the mare’s personality. As far as she was concerned, this wasn’t Twilight. It was just some pale imitation, and thus, no longer worth AJ’s attempts to redeem her.

Whoever this mare was, imposter or fallen heroine, AJ had no more sympathy for her, and was so furious with herself for having any in the first place. She wanted to say something, something to sever any ties that they possibly had with one another, but the words wouldn’t come. Then she looked to Dainn, knowing that he was the one responsible for what had happened to Twilight, that he was the one that put those spiteful and uncaring words into her friend’s mouth. Twilight was his puppet, a mouthpiece for his thoughts. She could blame the caribou on the whole for the alicorn’s corruption, but the truth was that Dainn was solely responsible for Twilight’s behavior, just as he was responsible for what had become of the rest of Equestria.

Shaking with rage, lips curling downward, and having to wipe the start of tears from her eyes before they went into full flow, Applejack allowed the words she’d wanted to say to Dainn for some time to escape from her mouth.. “Ah don’t know how… Ah don’t know when… but one day you’re gonna get what’s comin’ to ya.” Those words were comforting, but didn’t appear to faze the caribou king one bit. For all Applejack’s bravado, there was nothing she could do to back her words. Even if she was the Element of Honesty, she didn’t have the ability to know if what she said would ever come true.

Another round of boos arose, the men watching getting to a point where they could no longer sit quietly as they watched the willful mare defy the king. Some resorted to tossing at the mare whatever small bits of trash or leftover food they had on hand, but she made little reaction as it made contact, shrugging off any that made connected with her body, anger seemingly making her oblivious to it all.

And sitting within the chaos, slinking down in his seat as much as a man of his stature could, was Mac. Applejack’s sudden and extensive outburst was a bit embarrassing for the clydesdale, seeing as he was supposed to be the one responsible for her. What she said was completely right, but no one here was going to see it that way. The king had the support of every man here, aside from Mac himself, and thus her words were just turning everyone against her. It didn’t matter if what Twilight said made little sense or was factually wrong, as long as she danced to the tune that the caribou played, she was ‘right’.

Even Gunne knew that the jig was up, and was currently placing his face into his own hand. All that time he spent to give Applejack a proper image in the eyes of his peers was put to waste in a matter of seconds. The caribou gave a low groan, one of several he had given since AJ had started mouthing off to Dainn. “I’m sorry Mac. I didn’t realize that your sister was this stupid.”

“It will be okay, right?” Mac said, trying to be as optimistic as the situation would allow him, “Ah mean she’s going back to a black collar for sure, but Ah can still be responsible for her, right? Ya can still vouch for me being a good master and being capable of keeping her in check, right?”

Gunne shook his head, lifting his head up out of his palm to give the stallion a look of sympathy. “I can vouch for you Mac, and trust me when I say that if any inquiry on your part comes I will, but what your sister has done is inexcusable.”

“What do ya mean?” Mac asked calmly, still looking to reason things out, “She’s lipped off to guys before, and we’ve fixed it with an appropriate punishment. Can’t we work out a public spanking session or some sort of community service?”

“It’s not the action, but who she’s done it to,” Gunne explained, trying to get Mac to understand the problem, “She has disrespected the king, in his castle, in front of many respected guests. That sort of thing doesn’t get a woman a slap on the wrist like I’ve been allowing. It demands intense reeducation methods, to assure that things like this never happen again.”

“Then what’s gonna…” Mac stopped himself, not wanting to know the answer. He had a good idea of how far caribou punishment could go, and it didn’t stop at her simply being removed from her home.

“Looks like the ‘most stubborn mare in Equestria’ is back in action,” Mac heard muttered behind him, “And looks like that stupid dirt slut is in trouble now.”

“Do you think the king’s gonna make her into his personal whipping girl?”

“Why give her the honor? I bet he’ll put her ass out on the streets of Canterlot and let anyone have a go at her.”

“I hope so. I would love to see that girl broken by some real stallions.”

“Maybe she will go purple, that would be wonderful.”

“Or maybe the king will order her to be blanked for her insolence and put her on the market. Think a used cunt like that would be cheap?”

The comments on Applejack’s potential fate kept coming, each one worse than the one before it. Yet, each one plausible. If left alone with these kind of monsters, or with King Dainn himself, AJ would never last. She’d either be worn down physically, or destroyed mentally. Raped, tortured, and never given a moment's rest until nothing of the wonderful woman he knew was left. It was something that Mac couldn’t abide by. He couldn’t let that happen to his little sister.

Mac had only one idea that could save her, and little time to implement it. If he was to do anything, he had to do it now. Zipping his eyes over to the steps leading to the stage, he saw that the only thing standing in his path were two stallion guards, and they, like everyone else in the room, were too distracted by what was happening on the stage to pay attention to anything else. The clydesdale steeled his nerves, figuring that there would be backlash for what he was about to do, but did so while he got up from his from his seat. He didn’t have any time to stall or think things through, only time to act.

It happened so suddenly that Gunne couldn’t react, his eyes also glued to the farm mare and his king. He did notice that the stallion had risen from his seat, but from his peripherals he assumed that Mac was leaving the banquet hall to avoid seeing what was about to happen to Applejack. It was only when he torn his eyes away for a moment to make sure the stallion would be okay that he saw that Mac was making a beeline to the stage steps, and that he didn’t seem to care who or what was between him and his destination.

“Mac! Don’t!” Gunne said in hushed panic. He didn’t know what was going through the head of his companion, but if he could stop Mac, he wanted to do so without bringing attention to the clydesdale’s actions. If the stallion heard him at all, then he showed no signs of it as he pushed the distracted guardsmen to the floor, ascending the stairs to intervene with the events that were about to unfold.

Mac’s determination was unlike anything Gunne had seen in him before, and it stunned the seasoned caribou soldier to see how much effort the usually reserved stallion was putting into the wellbeing of one mare. Frozen to his seat from his shock, he could only hope that Mac knew exactly what he was doing, and that he would not try anything foolish in a vain attempt to save a doomed woman from her fate.

Back on the stage, AJ stood on spot as she was pelted with whatever garbage the crowd below decided to toss her way. She wasn’t concerned about that though, her attention was on Dainn, who had yet to move from where he stood as well, content to let Twilight finish the task she was giving before taking any action. The farm mare watched in silence as the image of her friend slurped his shaft, still having a million things to say about how the caribou ran Equestria, but seeing that they would only fall on deaf ears.

That alone didn’t deter her from speaking, but what did was the conclusions she had come to with the caribou king, and why he was willing to let her prattle on for as long as he did. Dainn wanted to see how deep a hole she would dig herself into, how many excuses she was willing to give him to punish her. Applejack was not going to play into his game.

She had gotten her main point across, said what she needed to say, and learned what she needed to know about Twilight. Nothing else mattered. After that, all that she had to look forward to was what would happen to her once Dainn decided he had enough. It certainly wouldn’t be pretty, but AJ swore to herself that whatever he would do to her body, she would never let him, or anyone else, break her. If only to spite those who followed the ideals of the caribou, she would stay resolute, and be a mare that would never bend to their will.

The only other thought going through her mind as she waited for her punishment, having already come to term with her thoughts about Mac and the farm, was how Rainbow was taking all this. That she wasn’t the last one of their group to retain a sense of independence and dignity. It had to be reassuring for her to know she was not alone, that at least one of her friends was still willing to stand up for themselves. Applejack hoped that sentiment would keep the pegasus’ own will intact for some time. It was unlikely that the farm mare would be able to give her any comforting words directly for a while, but if Rainbow lasted this long alone, then she should be fine on her own for a little longer at least.

Applejack had to push that to the back of her mind for now, as she knew that her time to dwell on anything but her own predicament had passed when Dainn finally released the white, hot contents of balls, a blast of semen erupting from his shaft. Twilight, being the target of the cum shot, hardly fliched as it met its mark, splashing a mess of viscous goop that covered her face, breasts, and collar to turn all visible parts of those bits a creamy white. The alicorn wiped her eyes and licked around her mouth, more than pleased that she could bring Dainn to such an amazing climax.

Noticing that there was a string of ropey sperm attaching the king’s cock to the rest of the white mass, Twilight moved in to clean what remained, but the caribou ignored her advance and allowed the cum cord to snap of its own accord as he stepped away. “Stay there and wait for my return,” he said to the alicorn. It was not going to be Twilight’s duty to clean out his shaft, that chore was being left up to the defiant mare before him.

“You have caused quite a commotion with this act of rebellion,” Dainn stated, looking down at the mare turning her face away from the cum filled cock that aimed towards it, “But that doesn’t remove you from your responsibilities. You will service me, either by choice, or by force. Which will it be?”

Applejack didn’t respond, didn’t want to give Dainn the satisfaction. She just waited, preparing for the moment he made a move. She didn’t intend to make this easy, ready to put up as much a fight as she could against a person who defeated Celestia in a one-on-one battle. In the end she was sure she would not win out, but she would make him remember well the earth pony he picked a fight with this night.

“So be it,” Dainn said, giving a shrug, “Don’t let it be said that I didn’t give you a chance to redeem yourself.” Dainn lifted a hand from his side, the tension making it seem like time was slowing to a crawl for the mare, it was time to face the consequences of her actions, whatever that may be. “But now it is time you were put back in your pl-”

“Shut your mouth you bitch!”

Dainn’s advance on Applejack was brought to a halt as loud, angry words came to his ears. A large red blur zipped past his peripherals, and delivered a well-deserved backhand to the insolent mare who had openly defied his will. The strike was heavy, and created a noise so loud that it had mares as far back as the opposite side of the gala hall cringing from the impact.

Applejack herself reeled back, having to catch her balance to keep from falling on her ass. She didn’t get a good look at who had hit her, but whoever it knew how give a smack. The whole right side of her face had a stinging imprint of knuckles and fingers. However, she managed to stay on her hooves, allowing her to one more chance to defy a male who wished to silence and suppress her. Until the caribou forced her down with an overwhelming show of power that even she would have to succumb to, she intended to show any the misogynistic males that came for her exactly how strong a mare could be in the face of adversity, and whoever this was would be no different. That was just how the farm mare felt, that was until she lifted her face back up to confront the man who assaulted her, and saw that her own brother was standing between her and the caribou king.

Mac had to watch as AJ’s expressions changed rapidly from determined, to confusion, to that of a person who had just been betrayed. It hurt him to see that, to be the cause of that, but he stood his ground, and glared at his sister with a stern gaze. He couldn’t show any weakness, not in front of this audience, as the only thing he knew the only thing that would get them both out of this situation that Applejack had caused was to rely on a trick he had come up with himself without Gunne’s aid. In order to save the mare he loved, he was going to have to personally punish her for her actions, do to her something that showed that he could handle her just as good as anyone else. He wasn’t even sure if it would work at this point, but it was the only chance they had.

He already believed he had given it a good start, as he had managed to crack Applejack’s lip open with that one shot, blood streaming down her jaw from the wound he had caused. He hadn’t intend to strike her that hard, but this served to aid his objective. If this was going to work, he had to make it look good, and unfortunately for AJ that meant he couldn’t pull any punches.

Mac wanted to make sure that this was going to be ok though. For all he knew, he had just made a huge faux pas by interrupting the king’s own punishment of the mare. So he turned back towards Dainn, and said, “Forgive me King Dainn. Ah know how upset ya must be that this mare has ruined your plans for the party, and that is partially mah fault. Ah thought Ah had gotten through to her, ah should have disciplined her more, but that isn’t any reason you should dirty your hands on a woman as worthless as she is. Iffin’ ya will, please let me correct that mistake. Ah am the one responsible for her.”

The king gave the clydesdale’s request some consideration, and agreed that it would more appropriate if the mare’s master punished her for her misdeeds. It would also be an opportunity to see just how well the rehabilitation program for mentally deficient stallons was going along. “Very well, a woman’s master has the responsibility to discipline them when they act up.” He said, stepping back to Twilight with his cock in hand, “Just be sure that she learns her lesson.”

“Oh Ah will,” Mac promised while approaching AJ for that very task.

AJ couldn’t believe what she was seeing as her brother came towards her with bearing an expression strikingly close to anger. He couldn’t seriously be mad at her for what she was trying to do, could he? Perhaps she was being selfish, outing herself just because she felt that she could no longer uphold the charade, but she had only good intentions in doing so. Even if he was pissed off at her, AJ wanted to believe that Mac wasn’t the type to express his anger with violence, except she knew that wasn’t true. He had already proven that when he took Roseluck to the barn and gave her so many lashes that she couldn’t move on her own afterwards. Surely she could trust Mac not to release his temper on her in that way though, but the imposing visage she was being given by him made her question the validity of that thought.

Mac was angry, furious even, but not entirely at Applejack. She was part of it, there was no denying that. AJ had casually tossed aside any and all protection her red collar had given her for what appeared to be a foolish act of pride, and that felt like a slap in the face after all Mac had put himself through to get it for her in the first place, but there were many other things fueling his rage. He was angry at the caribou for making him have to punish Applejack, he was angry at Gunne for meddling in his affairs and leading him to this terrible outcome, mostly though he was angry at himself. He was about to hurt his little sister in ways that he was certainly going to regret later, and leave a lasting mental scar of the event in her memories because of it. Any man who did that to a member of his family deserved all of Mac’s anger, and none of his sympathy, no matter who it was or the reasons as to why.

When he got to his sister, there was a short moment when he just stood there, looking down at the mare. AJ looked back meekly, like a foal who knew she had done something wrong, filling Mac with even more guilt over what he had to do. Eventually though, the stallion moved, lifting his hand high up into the air. AJ flinched, expecting another backhand from her brother, but what she got instead was a firm hand laid softly atop her head. Her muscles relaxed, the touch comforting, giving her a slight reprieve from the tension of the moment. That was until he whispered two ominous words to her, “I’m sorry…”

Immediately after, the hand resting on Applejack’s mane gripped it tightly. In the blink of an eye, the clydesdale went from being incredibly gentle to excessively harsh, yanking Applejack’s head back by her hair with a force that pulled her right up off the ground for a split second. “How dare you embarrass me in public like this?!” he yelled, allowing her hooves to touch the floor once more before granting her another slap across the face, allowing himself enough restraint to keep the damage done to light bruising this time.

Mac’s self control went unnoticed by the farm mare, who could only perceive the impact as another undeserved strike from the most unlikely of sources. She had seen her brother’s temper get the better of him, but this was the first time that he had taken it out against her. She struggled mentally to make sense of the situation, but having one of her closest relatives assault her was making that very difficult. “Stop! Please! Ma-!” Applejack felt her muzzle forced shut, Mac’s powerful hand encircling it and squeezing it so tightly that she found herself biting down on her own tongue, it having been caught between a row of her molars as she was trying to speak.

“No ya don’t,” Mac said, making the gap between his fingers smaller as he made sure his sister couldn’t utter the word she was about to say, completely unaware that the reason her eyes were watering was not because of the hits she took from before. “You don’t have the privilege to call me master after pulling a stunt like this!” The stallion didn’t really believe that AJ was going to address him that way, if anything she was going to call him by his name, and that would have complicated matters. He wanted to appear to the caribou as a dominant male who could tame even the fiercest of mares, and having a mare that had been in his care for as long as AJ had call him by his name instead of his title would be a blemish against that image.

However, standing there with AJ’s muzzle clasped shut in his hand didn’t make for an visually stimulating display of this alleged authority, so he soon released her to resume her punishment. “Ah just don’t get it.” Mac said, turning AJ around hair, presenting her rump to the stags and stallions acting as spectators to Mac’s discipline of the earth mare, “Ah thought we were past all this stupid shit!” With a raise of his hand, he dropped it down hard on her behind, creating a loud clap of skin connecting with skin, “But ya just had to go and mouth off to the king of all people!”

Mac gave his sister another spank of her flank, making Applejack yell in pain as she moved her legs to get away from her brother’s anger guided hand. Held as she was though, she couldn’t get far enough away to avoid receiving blow after blow as her brother scolded her for standing up for herself.

“Wasn’t Ah nice to ya?!” “Slap!” “Didn’t ah let ya fuck as much as ya wanted!?” “Slap!!” “Don’t ya understand that Ah did everything for your sake?!” “Slap!!!” “Do ya even care!? Or are ya so got dang stubborn that you’re determined to sabotage all the progress we made just to satisfy your little ego?!” “SLAP!!!!”

Mac spouted off line after line of what he felt the men attending the gala would like to hear, with perhaps just a little bit of his own feelings mixed in. How could she have thought that badmouthing the king could have a positive outcome? Was she so stupid as to think that she could get away with it? What could possess her to so casually treat the hard work they had done to get this far like it was nothing? These thoughts rushed around in Mac’s mind while he turned AJ’s backside into a shade of red that was gradually matching his own fur color. Now he knew how Granny Smith felt when she gave them similar punishments when they acted out of line as foals, for as pissed as he was, having to hurt AJ just to get a point across was hurting him more than he could ever imagine.

It wasn’t helped that the onlookers had to toss in their own thoughts on the matter, telling him to “Make her apple ass shudder” or to “Spank her flank until it’s pink”. Some, or even most, went for lewder requests, suggesting he stick his fingers inside her asshole, or that he grope her breasts and suck them till they had a shade of dark red on them as well. These monsters probably wouldn’t have been satisfied unless Mac ended up sticking his dick inside Applejack, but he wasn’t about to go to that length just for their amusement. If he did, it would completely destroy and trust that AJ had in him, as well as any he had in himself, and would render this attempt getting the king to spare her moot. Discipline should be enough, showing that she could be bent to his will would prove the point.

Mac wrapped up his sister’s spanking by using her hops to guide her back to Dainn. The caribou was watching both the ponies closely as he allowed Twilight the pleasure to once more taste of his penis, taking in all the details of Applejack’s punishment, evaluating how well Mac taking control of his slave compared to how she was reacting to his command. It was hard to tell if he was pleased or not, his expressions not wavering in the slightest, but he hadn’t tried to interrupt what he was doing yet. That had to be a positive sign, or at least he hoped it was.

“Tell the king you’re sorry.” said Mac sternly, knowing an apology was in order. AJ wasn’t in a proper mindset to give one though, she was still trying to make sense of all that was happening to her. She hesitated, stumbled with her words, not even sure she wanted to give Dainn an apology. Under the circumstances, this was not something that Mac could let go. “Ah said apologize!” he yelled in her ear as loud as he could.

“Ah’m sorry!” Applejack said instinctively, fear of what might happen if she dared to test Big Mac while he was like this guiding her words.

“On your knees,” Mac said, applying a bit of pressure down on her head, “Do it right so he knows you’re really sorry.”

AJ could have attempted to resist her brother like she did Ivangir, but after the flank beating she received she found it painful to try. So she submitted to her brother’s demand, and bent her knee in order to fall down on her shins, and when she did as she was told she found her mane being released.

“Now what do we say?” asked Mac, playing up a condescending tone for the sake of the crowd.

Applejack, knowing that she had yet again been pushed into a corner, allowed her head to hang as limply as it could in the confines of her collar. She felt defeated, all the buck she had within her had been taken away, and by someone she cared about and thought cared about her. She wouldn’t cause any more trouble for her brother than she already did. She would behave, so not to bring out the side of him that chilled her to the bone.

“Ah’m sorry.” She said, the passion and energy from before gone, Ah really don’t know what got into me. Ah didn’t mean all those things ah said before. They were all lies.” The farm mare could feel a small bit of herself die inside when having to deny the truth, the act crushing her spirit more than anything the caribou had ever done to her. Fear gave way to despair, having one of her major moral qualities turned against her in such a way.

“Is that all?” replied Dainn, not impressed by AJ’s display, “You caused a scene like that and all you can give is a halfhearted apology like that? I’m sure you can do better.”

Mac wasn’t as certain that she could, as the look in AJ’s eyes made it seem that what little will she had to go on was petering to an end. Physically, she was mostly fine, but mentally she was at the end of rope. The way she glared at the floor, apologizing in near monotone, made him believe that she was trying to distance herself from what was happening in the only way she thought she could. If she would have to collapse on the spot, he couldn’t have blamed her,

But as much as he would have understood, he could not allow it to happen. The king was not pleased, and his approval is what his plan hinged on. The clydesdale needed to press the issue to Applejack of making the apology seem as sincere as possible, So against his every moral qualm, he placed a hoof in between her shoulder blades, and pushed her torso forward till her face was nearly pushed against the floor.

This provoked AJ’s deadening fear back to life, as she simultaneously refused to believe that Mac would ever degrade her in such a manner, but he had to be the one doing it. “What do ya want from me?!” she asked in desperation, wishing that this would all end. That it could just be a nightmare and she could wake up at home.

“Give the king the apology he deserves from…” Mac stopped for a second, in no delusions about what AJ was going through. She wasn’t simply playing along like he was, to her this was all terribly real. Everything that he did was leaving a mark on her that would not easily heal, no matter how many ‘I’m sorry’s he gave. The only thing that pushed him to continue was the fact that the caribou would do worse still if she were taken away from him, so with a heart filled with regret, he finished his sentence, “Give him an apology he deserves from a cum-sucking slut like you.”

Applejack’s irises narrowed. In all her life, she had never heard Mac resort to vulgarities when he spoke. She had always thought he considered the use of obscenities beneath him, and to her this confirmed one thing that she had worried about for a while. The fall had changed her brother; made him more irritable, made him resort to violence to solve his problems, made him more like the other stallions. She didn’t want to believe it, but the proof was pressing down on her spine, and the only way to remove it was to comply with what Mac commanded of her.

“Ah’m sorry Ah was being such a stupid bitch,” she said through soft sobs, “Ah should have been grateful for the chance to taste your dick. Ah let mah… mah pride to get the better of me, and Ah’m being rightfully punished for it. Please forgive this mare for disrespecting ya.”

She gave the her apology with as much false sincerity as she could muster, using mannerisms with her words that she knew the caribou enjoyed hearing from women. She even went so far as to lift her rear up as much as she could, exposing it to everyone so they could watch her send a pair of fingers to the lips of her pussy so she could rub them vigorously. Anything to make Mac remove his hoof from her body. When that failed to give immediate results, she drove her said fingers deep inside, while proceeding with her pleas.

“Give me another chance to prove mahself,” being mere inches away, AJ moved her face forward and gave the king’s hoof a kiss as a sign of submission, “Ah can obey. Ah can be the kind of cunt slut ya want me to be, Just… just...”

She was cut off by a scoffing sound, an arrogant noise of “I told you so” that came from the alicorn suckling the king’s cock head. The sound silenced Applejack, reminding her of what she already knew. There was no way out of this situation. She could pretend to be the horniest whore that ever lived, but that would grant her no mercy for what she had done. This was her punishment for rejecting Dainn, to have her brother pitted against her, and fray the bonds they had forged over the course of another life. She would have been able to bear any kind of torment the caribou would have given her for her defiance, save for this. The weight of her sorrow, assuming that Mac was no longer the stallion he once was, was more than any amount of pressure her brother could physically apply to her body, and it crushed her courageous spirit under its mass.

The king looked at the broken mare on the floor, and then raised his eyes to the pony male that acted as her master, impressed of some degree of his control over a mare that proved difficult to even his most skilled men. His investment in the stallion’s rehabilitation appeared to be a success, and one that he found much greater than his expectations from the experiment.

The king’s attention didn’t go unnoticed by Mac, who had been making sure his every move met the caribou’s approval. With a hint of respect showing, Mac saw this as the time to make his own plea. Not for AJ’s forgiveness though, but for his own right to keep his sister under his care where she belonged.

“King Dainn,” he said, starting off as formally as knew how, “Ah am aware that this stubborn bitch has ruined what’cha had planned, and I agree that she deserves to be punished for it, but… please don’t take her away from me. Ah’m the only man that know how to handle her. She listens to me, does what ah say, and knows not to give me any sass while doing so. If ya do, Ah promise that she’ll straighten up and fly right.”

Dainn considered the proposal. The earth mare did seem more receptive to this stallion. Under his guidance, she hard made it through most of the gala without so much as neigh to all the things done to her. If he did remove her from her handler, who would he hand her off to who could make the same kind of progress? Ivangir? He had tried that before, and the mare left his care in with the same attitude she had going into it. In fact, it seemed that the only time the mare caused problems was after she was around his third in command, which could mean that Ivangir had a negative effect on her re-education.

“I have no intentions of taking a woman away from a man who has done nothing wrong,” said the king, flooding Mac with a sense of relief unlike any other he had ever felt before, “However…”

“However?” Mac answered, having just removed his hoof from his sister’s back.

“This woman still needs to be properly punished for refusing my gift to her.” stated the king, “You did say yourself that she deserves it.”

“She does,” Mac said, knowing he couldn’t go back on what he said, “And Ah guarantee that once we get back home I’ll tan her ass so badly that she won’t be able to sit for months without feeling the sting.”

“That’s all well and good, but that isn’t what I had in mind.”

“Right, right, she’ll need a sexual punishment as well. I’ll stake her out front of mah farm and force her mouth open with a gag, head facing the sky so stallions can shot sperm in there. I’ll even make her hold it in there and spank her more if she swallows without permission.”

“Delightful, but I believe what she really needs is a proper punishment before she leaves the castle.”

Mac couldn’t say that he didn’t see this coming, as much as he tried to sidestep the issue. At home he could have faked the punishment, or at the very least shown some kind of leniency that the king would not. The king wasn’t having it though. Mac could have sat there and listed off a million different punishments, and Dainn still would have wanted to add one more to the lot simply because he could.

“Well Ah’d love to release her to the other men so they could fuck her brains out, but…” Mac bent down to take Applejack by her collar, pulling her back up to her knees for the king’s sake while he stalled for excuses, “It’s really late, everyone is tired, and Ah got a really busy schedule tomorrow, with this one is doing most of the work.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can come up with something that won’t take long,” Dainn assured as he took AJ’s collar in his own hands, pulling at it until Mac relinquished his hold on her to the king, “Something that will leave a lasting impression on the girl.”

Despite what the king had promised, it did take some time to get everything set up for this impromptu main event. With the Gala already going on late into the night, daybreak was showing just over the horizon.

The party had been taken outside, out to the castle courtyard and into the cool morning air. A small brazier was placed within the encirclement of men and women, providing warmth for those who who needed it while it heated up several metal rods within it. When the king said “we” when referring to coming up with a suitable punishment for Applejack, he hardly gave Mac any say in the matter, and instead went to his council to come up with something they felt would send a message to both her and any mare who ever had thoughts of acting out against their superiors ever again. What they decided on was a branding, a permanent marking that would act as a reminder to the bearer, and those who looked upon it, that she was a slave and would never rise to be anything else.

Of course Applejack didn’t take well to the news of her fate, but she had not the will to put up a decent struggle against the council as they dragged her to the castle gates and strapped her down to await her brand. Using what they had on hand, which was a lot seeing how the slaves of Canterlot Castle were often, the caribou had the palace guards bring out something they called a ‘bondage block’ to bind the mare. The object was visually simplistic in design; a heavy block of wood with portions of it carved out and lined with padding to perfectly fit the form of a shapely woman when bent over it. The chiseled out curves hugged tightly against the body of a normal mare, and even tighter against AJ’s muscular form.

To keep an unwilling mare from simply removing herself contours of the block, two large cylinders were cut out from the top of it, lined with the same padded material as the rest, but with an added trick to it. A thick strand of fabric stuck out from a bit of the exposed padding at the entrance of these holes, one that was woven into its inner lining, traveling through its entirety, crossing with itself several dozen times in the process. Applejack’s arms had been placed roughly three quarters of their length inside, and with a tug and buckling of the strap, the appendaged were encased in tight tubes of leather and fluff, making them impossible to retrieve from their holdings until someone undid the tie that bound her.

For a pony of Applejack’s strength, that might not have been a problem. She could have lifted the block off the ground with the power of her lower body alone. Those were also dealt with though, as the block had slots for them as well, indents in its side that cradled her legs and spread them apart to form an upside-down V. Her legs were kept this way with leather straps that went over her upper and lower thighs, preventing them from moving together or even bending at the knee, which made them completely unusable for any attempt of escape.

Lastly, her upper torso was kept pressed against the top half of the wood with its own heavy leather strap that dug into the fur on her back, right above where the crack of her round bottom ended. All of these precautions prevented her from shifting around too much, and had little means of obscuring the clear view of her chest from the front, or that of her ass and pussy from the back. If anyone wanted to use her body to pleasure themselves, they would receive much objection from the earth mare, but little resistance.

Unfortunately for her, worse things were in store for her than being raped, and unfortunately for Big Macintosh, he had to bear witness to what was to come. “This feels… a bit excessive…” he declared to the king as Ivangir took grabbed the branding iron out of the pot, placing it back in after seeing that end of it wasn’t yet hot enough for his liking.

“Sometimes ‘excessive’ becomes necessary when a mare steps too far out of line,” Dainn answer, watching the preparations with Celestia at his side, “Isn’t that right my pet?”

“Yes master,” Celestia answered, pushing the side of her head into Dainn’s hand, wagging her own branded rump happily at its mention.

Dainn stroked her multicolored mane, his eyes not straying from Applejack, “For some mares, it takes a liberal dose of both humiliation, discipline, and pain for them to understand their place. Then, they can become the proper females they were destined to be.”

Or they end up going crazy. Mac though to himself, recognizing that the pony the king was petting, who likewise had been branded, was a purple collar.

Ivangir drew out another of the irons from the brazier, and found that its end had a lovely light red glow to it. “Pot’s done!” He announced, strutting over into Applejack’s line of sight. “See what we have here bitch?” He presented the heated part of the rod to the mare, putting it dangerously close to her face, “It’s a pair of chains crossing to form an X. This is going over each of those apples on that stupid pony mark of yours.”

Having a heat of that intensity so close to her, easily able to hit her in the face should the caribou make one mistaken movement, filled the mare with terror. She recoiled away from it best she could given her predicament, and gave a short string of small screams from behind a bit gag they had placed in her mouth. Any morale she had while berating Dainn and Twilight was gone, and she understood that this wasn’t mere threat. She was completely at the caribou’s mercy, and they were going to give her none.

Ivangir was glad to see his former cum dump in this rare form. That he was the one who brought out this fear bolstered his ego, and appeased his sadistic nature. He was going to take great joy from torturing this woman and breaking her once and for all. “Just try not to pass out too quickly. I want to enjoy your suffering.” With that, he strolled to the side of the trapped mare, slapping her ass as he took his position.

“King Dainn…. Ah have a request…” Mac said, seeing that the branding was about to begin, “Can Ah… be at mah sister’s side during this?”

The caribou king raised an eyebrow, unaware that the mare’s handler was her brother. There was nothing wrong with that, but it was just a detail that had flew under his radar. “As your sister’s keeper, you have the right to do as you please with her. If you wish to provide her a bit of comfort during this, then you don’t need my permission to do so.”

The king said that, but Mac felt that if he would have walked over without permission he would have been stopped. Nevertheless, with permission granted he went to Applejack and stood on the opposite side of her from Ivangir.

“Well, if it isn’t the cunt’s second rate handler,” Invangir said in revulsion of his presence, “Here to coddle the bitch again?”

“Just shut up and do what you’re gonna do.” Mac couldn’t stop Ivangir, but he didn’t have to put up with his gloating.

“Touch a nerve did I?” Ivangir said, amused by Mac’s irritation. “Then just hold the bitch tight and I’ll make this short and sweet.”

Mac ignored the caribou, and gave his attention instead to his sister. Here AJ was, being watched like she was some sort of animal on display, about to be scarred for life, with anyone else present that she could call a friend forced to stand at the sidelines. Having to take on this horrific experience alone, his sister’s body was shaking like a leaf in the middle of a tornado, and her breathing had become rapid and uncontrollable, trying to keep pace with the demand for oxygen her pounding heart needed. She deserved for someone to be with her when it the man she despised pressed that hot iron against her cutiemark, defiling the thing that represented everything she was.

As well intended his considerations were, Mac was the last person Applejack wanted to see during her branding. While she most likely would have ended up even worse had he not interfered earlier, the way he hurt her was still fresh in her mind. Of all the people to betray her, he had been last on the list, and now that he had the sight of the stallion filled her with dark feelings. She would rather she be left alone with Ivangir than have him patronizing her with reassuring words her that everything was going to be fine, as she knew well that it wasn’t going to be.

She glared at the stallion to get him to go away, made grunts through her gag, and shook her head in objection to him staying near her. Mac didn’t take the hint though, seeing everything she did as a fright-filled reaction to what was going on. It added frustration on top of feelings of betrayal, and made her hate Mac even more for not taking a hint. She just wanted to yell at him, or lash out at him physically, but she couldn’t, and that just pissed her off more. Her hatred was building inside her like a raging fire, and was only suppressed when a much more real fire came into her reality.

An animalistic howl came from the farm pony as searing metal touched her flank, her eyes instantly going bloodshot from a pain unlike anything else she had ever felt. The burning was like the sensation of nicking her arm against the inside of a hot oven, but sustained and increased tenfold. She wanted nothing more than to get it to stop, so she thrusted her hips forward to do so, unintentionally curving her back and sticking out her breasts in a sexually appealing manner in her attempt.

Since her waist already pressed up against the block her upper half rested upon, her motions didn’t move her rump far, nor did it prevent Ivangir from keeping his implement of burning torment in constant contact with its mark. For many an agonizing second, Applejack had to endure the heat, experiencing in vivid feeling of flesh sizzling, until the nerves in that spot of her backside cauterized, creating a sensation of intense cold that joined with the phantom of fire burned into her memory.

The whole ordeal exhausted the mare more than a full days work in the fields. With her mind and body weak and weary, she slumped forward, collapsing her upright torso as much as her bonds would allow. The humiliation and degradation of the moment no longer mattered, all that did was the pain, which she believed would never leave her. In a way, she was right, as when Ivangir removed the brand a charred black pair of chains embraced one of the once pristine apples that made up her cutiemark.

“See, didn’t hurt one bit, now did it?” Ivangir mocked, the marred mare unable to respond while she took deep, shuddering gasps of air around the bit in her mouth, strings of spittle seeping out of the corner of her lips as she tried to stay coherent. The caribou chuckled at the sight of it. He should have done this a long time ago, and then he might not have had so much trouble with Applejack in the first place. Filled with sadistic glee, he gave the farm mare a reminder of his progress, “One down, five more to go.”

The caribou felt light on his hooves and he made his way back to the brazier, jamming his used brand into the burning coals within the pot, while taking a fresh duplicate of the object to act in its stead. He was so swift that he gave Applejack little time to notice his absence, though she became very aware of his return once he started work on the next red piece of fruit featured on her orange flank.

Once more, Applejack screeched out noises that curdled the blood of those not sadistic or masochistic enough to enjoy the earth pony’s suffering. She had managed to hold back her tears the first time, but a second go opened the floodgates wide. Drop after drop of salty tears fell from her face, tapping the bondage box before erupting into hundreds of little droplets and scattering to the winds.

The mare could no longer stand to hold still, her instincts telling her to run away. She couldn’t move much, but she used what little room she was given to trash about. This made it increasingly difficult for the caribou to keep the brand in place, forcing him to remove it every time she made a violent jerk, and carefully put it back in place it back to keep the brand untarnished.

This became an annoying factor in the process, and when Ivangir became too impatient to wait for the mare to settle down again, he grabbed her by the mane with his free hand. “You had better hold that ass of yours still, you stupid bitch.” he threatened, his words not truly reaching the mare as she wriggled and writhed, “I would hate to have to heal your ass and start over just because you made me fuck up your pretty chains.”

Mac didn’t like that Ivangir felt he could just lay his hands on AJ whenever he wanted, but what he disliked even more was the implication that his sister’s punishment could be started over from scratch if she didn’t co-operate. It wasn’t like she could just stop reacting to being burnt, that kind of thing would have all but the most resilient of wills try to escape it with all their might. He didn’t doubt for one second that Ivangir wouldn’t back up the threat either, and make Applejack go through this as many times as it took for her to be still enough to allow him to get the branding perfect.

Seeing no other recourse, Mac laid his own hands upon AJ’s body, placing them down on her butt and back. “Here,” he said, being no more pleased by what he was doing than AJ would have been knowing that he was doing it. For now though, she appeared too far out of it to realize that her brother was using her flank as a hand hold. “I’ll hold her down, just do what ya need to and be done with it.”

Ivangir, while not appreciative of the stallion’s tone, didn’t mind that the problem that hindered him had been solved. While he would have been more than happy to start over if need be, he had better things things to do than rebrand a woman half a dozen times in this early hour. “Don’t move your hand,” spoke the caribou, resuming his sadistic activity, “We don’t want any accidents to happen.”

“Are ya gonna stand there and yap, or are we doing this?”

“You ungrateful piece of shit…” Ivangir, took his position once more, and carefully aligned the brand with the mark her was working on. It still wasn’t the right shade of charcoal black to match up with the the first one, and it wouldn’t look right if he left it unfinished.

AJ’s body tried to recoil away, but Mac was there this time to make sure it stayed in spot. As strong as Applejack was, there was no denying that Mac was much stronger. It took very little of his effort to prevent her squirming, and the only difficulty to it all was having to feel her muscles tense up and uselessly struggle against him.

“That’s two,” Ivangir declared as he went to replace his iron once more, leaving the siblings alone for a brief moment.

“It’s ok,” Mac said softly, unable to come up with any other way to console Applejack. “It’s going to be fine. Once this is done you’ll be able to go back to Sweet Apple Acres. We’ll be able to go back to the way things were, and this will all blow over.” The clydesdale wished that was true, but he could see what the future was really going to bring. More requests for Applejack’s use, more stringent rules on how he was suppose to keep her in check, and a return to him being mandated to treat her less like a pony and more like an animal.

A normal, unindoctrinated stallion would have broke down under the weight of it all, but Mac didn't have the luxury to do so, not when AJ was already bawling like a filly. He could hear her mutter something through both the tears and the bit in her muzzle, something that she was repeating in a trance-like pattern. The slurred words came out as "Nu ma", but make could tell that she was begging anyone who would listen "No more."

"Just a little more," Mac whispered into her ear, petting her head a few times, "Then ya can have all the apple cider you can drink. Ya won't have to work for a week, and we can go on a trip someplace nice to get away from all this mess." He was lying. The caribou would never allow him to spoil a woman as disobedient as she was like that, but he wanted so much to make Applejack find some kind of security in him that there was nothing that he wouldn't resort to.

"Nu ma..." she said again, shaking her head in refusal. What he was offering did not remotely compare to the pain she'd have to endure for it. Maybe she even understood the falsehood behind it, and knew that his promises were just an empty fantasy. Whichever it was, Mac felt AJ weakly push against him once more, hoping against hope that she could manage the impossible and avoid another kiss from a red hot piece of metal.

Of course, that was not to be. Either Mac or the bondage block would have been enough to hold her by themselves, and together they became an immovable object. One that kept AJ in place for Ivangir's inevitable return, and continued to do so as he pressed a third brand into the flesh of the mare.

"STTTAAAAAA!!!" yelled Applejack, new life entering her body as a fresh patch of skin felt the agony of being brunt. Mac used all the power in his upper body to pin his sister down, to prevent her from moving or harming herself with her violent jerks. It was a wonderfully tragic metaphor for what he had always done since the start of the fall, enabling others to hurt his sister while trying his best to guard her from hurting herself.

It was something that he was unfortunately good at though, so with his assistance Ivangir had no problem completing the branding procedure. Removing the iron, he stepped away, and allowed everyone to that the three apples of her cutiemark were now wrapping tightly in confining chains, just like the former princess of Equestria’s own sun cutiemark. It was an interesting sight to behold, as these types of brandings were not ones used excessively even amongst the caribou, but it was met with less fanfare as many of the other activities that happened beforehand.

It couldn’t be helped really. Most of the guests, as well as their servile escorts and unwilling slaves, were tired. They had been up all night, worn out from exploring the many, many perverse experiences that a the Gala gave them access to. As exciting as a public branding might have been, they literally didn’t have the energy for it. Most only stuck around for it because they felt obligated to the king, being his invited guests, but there were a few who were heading for their carriages despite that.

It was time to bring this to a close, but there was still another side of Applejack’s ass to mark with symbols of enslavement. Ivangir himself was beginning to lose interest in this, the initial thrill having lost its spark when repetition and lack of difficulty became factors in it. “Okay, I’m bored,” he said, sticking his brand back into the pot, “Anyone else want to take a crack at this?”

None of the males volunteered for the task, not only because they were exhausted, but because the caribou had just made it should like more of a chore than something entertaining. There were people whose nature was to perform chores that men didn’t want to do, and sensing that this was the case, one such person stepped up.

“Can I give it a try?” asked a purple alicorn who had been watching the entire spectacle with great satisfaction. “I would be proud to help give a slut mare like her the punishment she deserves.”

As the mare stepped out into the clearing, she was meet by more than a caribou patiently waiting next to the burning brazier, as two mares spoke up at the same time to question her actions.

“Twilight, you can’t be serious!”

“She’s your friend!”

The mares speaking out of turn were Rarity and Pinkie respectively. The two red collars could not stand idly by while one member of their group of friends was about the add to the misery of another.

“Excuse me?” Shining Armor questioned, his slave’s outspokenness going against the training he had given her. “Does one of my bitches feel she has something to say?”

Understanding that her words were not amongst those approved by her owner, and that she had gone against his wishes in public. The unicorn, in fear of what he might do if displeased, amended herself on the spot. “W-what I meant to say was that this is a delicate procedure… A-and a stupid mare like Twilight would probably mess it- URP!”

Shining clamped down on Rarity’s muzzle, “We’ll be having a talk about this disruption when we get home.” Rarity, knowing that her master prefered to ‘talk’ with a whip, gave a low whine, which in return received a smirk from her master and a mischievous giggle from Cadance, who assumed she would be a part of the their servants remedial lesson in how to hold one’s tongue.

Rarity might have been easily cowed into backpedaling her statements, but Pinkie, or at least a more resilient part of her, would not be deterred. Those more closely familiar with the pink mare could identify that her physical features had changed to that of her less stable half, with her fur pigment darkening, her mane losing all poof, and her red collar turned purple, “How could you even think of hurting Applejack?! Doesn’t your friendship together mean anything to you anymore?!” The pink mare was visibly unhinged, giving full body spasms as she approached Twilight with malicious intent.

This did not go unnoticed, and before the crazed purple could get close enough to harm one of their prized alicorn red collars, a pair of stags were upon her. They took her by the arms, wrenched them behind her back, and then kicked her legs out from under her to send her face first into the dirt, pinning her to the ground.

That didn’t stop her from speaking what came to her broken mind. Almost like she didn’t comprehend that she was being assaulted, she spat more venomous words at Twilight this time, “You’re suppose to be the fucking princess of friendship, but you don’t give a shit about any of us! If you did, you’d see that none of us want you to do this!”

Twilight gave a quick glance to the other red collars in her band of friends. While Rarity had stepped back from her earlier objection, she didn’t seem too pleased with this the alicorn’s willingness to serve in this instance. Fluttershy had refrained vocally expressing and disapproval, but her weak constitution had forced her to hide away in the arms of the closest stag she could find, burying her face into his muscle while covering her ears and muttering comforting words to herself to drown out and sounds that were unpleasing to her.

“You’re just a tool for the caribou, you filthy cu-!”

After positioning himself so his knee was on Pinkie’s spine, one of the stags slammed his hand down on her muzzle to prevent anymore slanderous speech from her. The words of a purple collar were only slightly more valid than that of a black collar, so then had no problem silencing her ramblings as not to bring further disruption.

This left an opening for Twilight, who felt a need to correct and clarify Pinkie’s assumptions. “You’re right Pinkie, I am a tool for my masters.” She said as she took a hot iron from the burning pot, “And I would want it no other way. They have shown me pleasure and purpose more than I could have ever had as a ‘princess’, and for that I have given them my everything. Things like friendship don’t matter when it comes to their will. Nothing matters to me more than the will of my masters. If it ever came to a decision between your friendship and their command, then there would be no choice at all. I would cast you all aside without a second thought.”

“Spoken like a true red collar slut.” Ivangir said while guiding the alicorn over to the bound farm mare. “And speaking of, I think it’s time this liar stopped wearing colors unfit for her.”

Ushering the purple alicorn to AJ’s rear, Ivangir halted at her front, remembering that Applejack needed her collar swapped out for one that was more fitting. With his horns aglow, he took hold of the red one, and disabled the runes that made the collar one seamless mass. Once undone, he tossed the piece of leather and metal to the ground, then moved to grab a black replacement from his belt.

Applejack’s head hung from her shoulders, the collar she was wearing the only thing that was providing her neck any support, but didn’t have to wait long for a new collar she could rest her chin upon. The familiar sting of the black collar once more came to her senses, only she could swear that it was more painful and irritating than the first time she bore such an item. It might have been that she had become use to the more pleasurable feeling of the red collar, but she didn’t put it past the caribou to make her suffering worse for having defied their leader.

“Let it be known!” Ivagir announced while sealing the mare’s collar, “That from this moment forward, this mare is a black collar! By decree of the king, she is never to rise to the ranks of a red collar, and will live out the rest of her days feeling the pain deserving of those who do not follow the laws set in place to protect mares from their own stupidity! This is the price for any mare who can’t overcome their arrogance and pride.”

So this was the caribou’s final judgement on her. For refusing Dainn and trying to point out the problems she saw in their regime, she was to never be allowed a chance at a red collar again. That was fine with her, as she never intended to try again anyways, but now she knew that her life would never be anything more than misery. The best she could hope for is that this example the caribou were trying to set had the opposite effect than what they wanted, that her agony would not go on in vain, that others would stand up to fight against this mistreatment, lest they suffer the same. That might of been asking too much from mares who would see this as a good reason to comply with the orders given to them, but hope was all the mare had to cling to anymore.

“Lord Ivangir, could you show me how to position this brand?” Twilight asked, ready to do her part in showing AJ the errors of her ways. “I don’t want to make a mistake, and as a mare I’m prone to doing so.”

With Applejack’s collar in place, the large caribou joined with the mare, happy to educate her in how to torture another dumb cunt like herself. AJ felt her brother’s heavy hands brace her down, and with another sound of sizzling flesh, fire became her world once more.

Time passed, and in the end Applejack had brands on both sides of her rump. By the end of it, she no longer had any energy left in her, and all she could do was whimper as her cutiemark’s alterations were finished. Now she was being removed from the block, having blacked out immediately after the last part of her punishments were given.

Mac watched a close distance away, ready to take AJ away from the castle as soon as the caribou released her to him. He had already had someone fetch his carriage, and he was glad that he would be able to leave this nightmare behind him.

“It’s good that your mare slipped up when she did,” The king said, coming aside the clydesdale to watch AJ’s unbinding, “I can see on your face that you see this as a personal failure, but you shouldn’t. She is the one who decided to regress, and she is the one who had to accept the consequences for her actions.”

The king was trying to comfort Mac, but all the stallion heard was the standard caribou propaganda. Men can’t be wrong. If they could be considered wrong there was probably a woman who could be blamed for it. Women are the cause of not only their own problems, but all problems that arise. It was shit, but shit that Mac had to agree with for the sake of convenience. He gave the king a nod, letting the king know that he wasn’t going to disagree with him, but nothing more.

“I’m glad you understand this,” the king went on to say, “It further increases my confidence that I am putting the care of this mare in the right hands. Take her, and make her obey you like the slave she is.”

“Thank you.” Mac said, being given the permission he needed. He wasted no time going to his unconscious sister, so he could pick her up and take her away from this foul place.

He headed straight for his ride, having to wait in line as it made its way to the courtyard through a swarm of other carriages, but eventually he was able to secure Applejack inside, foregoing the cart in hitched to the back of it that she was suppose to ride in, so he could keep a close eye on her.

“Mac!” he heard as he laid his sister across a seat. After a long period of separation, Gunne had finally decided to rejoin the stallion. Mac didn’t know what he had been doing all this time, and frankly he didn’t care. Right now his only priority was getting Applejack home where she belong. “Oh good, I’m glad I caught you before you left.”

“Ah wasn’t going to leave without ya,” Mac partially lied, not having intent to leave without Gunne, only that the stag’s very existence had slipped his mind with the more pressing matters at hand.

“I didn’t mean to imply that. It just seemed like you might need someone to talk to after what you had to do. I know it couldn’t have been easy for you.”

Leave it to Gunne to be the one guy to even remotely understand what Mac was going through. Instead of telling him that he shouldn’t feel bad, or that AJ brought this upon herself, he could see that this was a problem for the stallion, and that it needed to be addressed.

“Thanks,” he said, making sure AJ was strapped into the stage couch’s seat before turning to face the stag, “I really could use someone to talk this-”

Mac had expected that only Gunne would be behind him, but the stag had others with him. The three mares that they had delivered to the gala; Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight, each standing behind Gunne with a leash leading from their collars to his hand. He knew why they were there of course, being that they needed transportation back to Ponyville, but looking at them set him off more than anything else that night.

It wasn’t the whole group that irritated him. Pinkie had stood up for his sister, and because of her objections now was fitted with a harness that bound her arms behind her, shackles on her ankles to keep her from running, and had a muzzle wrapped around her mouth to prevent her from saying anything else that the caribou found harmful. It was actually a bit relieving to see that there was still a line that Pinkie refused to cross, and she had all the gratitude Mac had to offer for standing up for Applejack when he could not.

Fluttershy didn’t bother him either. Though she didn’t do anything to try and stop AJ’s punishment, she didn’t go to leaps and bounds to make it worse. She didn’t even appear to agree with it to some extent, and there were streaks under her eyes that showed that she had been crying. While being too timid to help AJ, she at least had complications understanding why the caribou had to go this far.

No, the only person there that was pissing him off was the alicorn standing right behind Gunne. While the other two expressed anger or sadness over the branding, she was wearing the most pleasant smile a mare could ever give. She felt no guilt from her actions, no pity for his sister, no empathy for how her friends felt. In her mind she was justified, and that made Mac madder that he had been in some time. He could see himself wringing her neck for what she did, if not for that collar she wore that prevented it, and he wasn’t going to tolerate her presence any further.

“Pinkie, Fluttershy,” he said, managing to speak calmly despite his rage, “Get in back.”

For whatever reason, neither mare had any issue following Mac’s command, and both went to their cart without so much as a word, Gunne releasing their leashes so they could go unhindered.

“And what about me?” Twilight asked, blissfully unaware of Mac’s hate, “Are you wanting to reward me with a ride in the carriage? Will I be given the honor of pleasuring you on the ride home? Speaking of which, forgive me for questioning you, but is it a good idea to let her sit up front too? A bad mare like her should be tied up front with the warb-”

“She’s not coming with us,” Mac said plainly.

This caught the alicorn off guard, not quite sure what she had done to get such a response. Gunne, however, was not so ignorant as to why Mac was refusing to let the mare ride with them. “Mac, I know you can’t be happy about what this mare did to your sister, but she needs to be returned to the dragon.”

“Then let her walk for all Ah care,” Mac said, crossing his arms, “if she starts now she could make it in a few hours.”

“I can’t make a female travel that far by herself. There are far too many things in the wild that could snatch her and turn her into a broodmare.”

“Like she wouldn’t enjoy that.” Mac rebutted.

“It’s not about what she would enjoy, it’s about me being responsible and getting her back to her master when I said I would. You’re being unreasonable.”

“I’m being unreasonable!?” Gunne’s claim would have be laughable if it wasn’t so insulting. Gunne’s entire culture was based on slavery and misogyny, never straying from that ideology no matter how many times they were shown their were other ways, better ways, and he was the one being unreasonable. “What’s wrong Gunne? I’m trying to punish a mare for her actions, and all of a sudden you’re saying Ah can’t!”

Gunne let loose a sigh, really not wanting to have this argument with the irate stallion. He also didn’t want Mac to cause a scene, not after showing to the king that he could be an upstanding citizen of Equestria. “Fine, I’ll figure out another means of getting the alicorn where she belongs. Just give me some time to make arrangements.”

Mac stood there as the stag took Twilight by the arm, the alicorn confused as to what she could have done to make Mac mad at her, so he could lead her back inside the castle. Mac was glad that he wasn’t going to have to put up with Twilight on the ride back, and if he had any say in it he would never have anything to do with her ever again, but as the purple mare walked away he couldn’t help but hear a bit of grumbling come from his caribou companion.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked with a heavy layer of sarcasm.

“It’s nothing,” Gunne replied, “Just drop it.”

“Now that doesn’t sound like nothing to me.” Mac taunted, not caring in the slightest if his goading set the stag off. “If ya got somethin that ya want to get off your chest, the feel free to tell me.”

Gunne thought about it for a moment, and then faced the stallion. “Okay then… I just find it a bit aggravating that my duty as magistrate has to be put aside for someone who I see as my friend, who should understand that there are things I have to do regardless if it's uncomfortable.”

“Oh right, cause if there is anything we don’t want to do, it’s make a man feel uncomfortable.”

“That’s not what I’m saying Mac. Look, I’m sorry your sister was an idiot about all this, but that doesn’t mean you have to turn into a complete jackass over something she could have easily avoided.”

Mac didn’t reply to that, how could he really. Gunne was right, this whole thing could have been avoided, and that probably pissed him off more than anything. None of this was necessary, and was all the results of overreacting and the inability to adapt from all sides. It was an endless cycle of push and shove where the one who pushed the hardest was right, and while Applejack didn’t want to concede in this contest, her opposition looked to be the clear victor. Mac could see this, but unfortunately that didn’t matter to him. When it came down to it, he would rather stand with AJ, and be wrong, than to compromise his morals, and be right.

“Gunne, Ah have to go. Applejack need her rest, and Ah… Ah can’t stand to be here anymore.”

Hearing what Mac was saying, and the way he was saying it, Gunne knew that if he went inside the castle, there would be no carriage for him when he returned. That might have been for the best. They were both in a foul mood, and a long cart ride together would only serve to exacerbate their contempt for one another at the moment.

“Then I suppose it can’t be helped…” Gunne relented, “I’ll stay here to make sure the alicorn returns to Ponyville safely, and we can take some time apart to cool both our heads.”

“Ah think that would be a good idea,” Mac agreed, stepping into the carriage, adding “I’m gonna need a few days at least to sort all this stuff out,”

“That’s fine… I understand… but since you’ll be returning to Ponyville first could you do me a few favors?”

Mac was about to close the door and buckle in, but pissed as he was, he couldn’t deny Gunne his requests. “Okay… what do ya need?”

Gunne saw the carriage off with Twilight at his side, Mac having promised he would drop Pinkie Pie off at the bordello, return Fluttershy at to her farm on the way home, and to take care of Ginna until Gunne could retrieve her. The stallion was going to have a lot to think about on the trip back, and he hoped that Mac would finally see that he needed to tighten his grip on Applejack’s leash, both metaphorically and literally, if he was to prevent her from causing problems in the future. The earth mare had already ruined her chances at a peaceful life, and Gunne hated to think that the mare his pony friend so desperately clung to would only bring his stress.

Still, he believed in Mac, and had faith that he would do the right thing. As stubborn as he might be, Gunne had faith in the clydesdale, and believed that one day he would understand that mares like AJ needed a firm hand and a stern voice to keep them from bringing harm to themselves. If there was any incurable stallion that showed promise, it was him.

But his belief in Mac’s ability to change and consideration towards his confused emotions didn’t come without personal cost. While Mac got his alone time, Gunne was stuck in Canterlot. Not so much stranded, but he was going to suffer a substantial delay as he procured a new means of transportation, and that meant...

“What’s the matter, cursed one?” Gunne heard in a mocking, Lord Ivangir’s disdain for him all too familiar, “Did you get abandoned again? Guess that stallion isn’t completely stupid if he knows good enough to ditch you before you wreck his life like everything else you touch.”

Gunne deadened his emotions. Dainn, being the wise caribou he was, had taught him well to ignore the taunts and ridicule of his brethren, as they came from a long standing cultural misunderstanding about curses and their existence. With such a hollow and uneducated source, the words were not worth the effort it would take to give a rebuttal. Besides, there was one stag in Canterlot abide by such prejudice and superstition.

“Ivangir,” Dainn uttered from behind his advisor, “Don’t you have more important things to do?”

“Not right now.” Ivangir stated without pause, having no duties on his mental agenda except pestering a stag he felt was inferior to himself.

“Then perhaps you could make arrangements for the purple alicorn’s return to Ponyville.” Dainn said, pushing to the mare over to the large caribou. “Her master is waiting on her swift return, and I expect you to find her transport immediately.”

“That’s the abomination’s job.” Ivangir argued, getting a cold, dominating glare in return from the king that shook even the sadistic stag to his core. Ivangir didn’t like the idea of having Gunne’s dirty work pawned off on him, but an order from the king was something he couldn’t refuse. ”Come on fuck slut, let’s find some pegasi to hand you off to.” To the alicorn’s glee, she was snatched away from Gunne by her leash, and dragged inside the castle by the massive caribou, high expectations in her mind as to what would happen before he found her transportation.

Ivangir left, dragging Twilight off by the arm. Gunne couldn’t help but be amused that in some way, Mac was probably going to get his wish for Twilight to be punished after all, since Ivangir was certain to take a bit of his aggression out on the mare once out of sight.

“Now that he is out of the way,” Dainn said, getting close to Gunne so their conversation could be private, “I saw what happened between you and your guest. Are there any problems?”

“None that I can’t handle,” Gunne assured, “The stallion was just overstimulated is all. An event like the one this past night might be a too much excitement for an incurable to tolerate in one go.”

“Nonetheless, I think progress was made. You’re doing fine work in managing that quaint town, and the ponies that inhabit it.”

“Thank you my king. Your approval is welcomed in amongst the slander and detestment of the others.”

“Think nothing of it. You are an admirable officer and citizen of my kingdom, and you deserve acknowledgement for your deeds. In fact, I would like give you another task that would be suited for you, seeing that you have the most contact with those ‘Elements of Harmony’ than any other of my men.”

“Anything to help our people, King Dainn.” Gunne said without hesitation, his duty to his king having no bounds.

“Then let's go to my chambers, and I’ll tell you all about your new assignment,” as the two caribou headed up the castle steps, Dainn revealed an object he had been holding, “I have made a discovery that might aid us in fully mastering this new land, and if you play a major role in achieving it, then our brethren could no longer claim that you are cursed.”

Excited by the idea of no longer having a stigma held over him, Gunne looked at what Dainn wished to show him. At first he was confused, as all he held was a red collar, one exactly the same as any other the caribou had produced. Then a realization dawned on him that this must have been Applejack’s red collar.

“I don’t understand, how will this-?”

“Just be silent… and watch.”

Gunne turned his head back to the piece of leather, staring at it with unflinching diligence. For quite a while nothing happened, but his patience was eventually rewarded when he saw for a split second something flash across the item. It was hard to make out, but unless he was mistaken, he could swear that what he saw was the slight glimpse of a dim rainbow.