Chapter 5: Taking One's Breeder Mares For a Ride Into Town

I always woke up alone. This wasn’t a matter of lacking a partner for any given evening, I merely had never taken a mare to my own bed. Even before the arrival of the Caribou there had never once been a lover I’d taken to my personal bedchambers, let alone one I to sleep in my bed. The reason for this is simple; I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of having another pony nearby when I’m asleep. That is the time when I’m most vulnerable, at my most weakest and helpless. I have a hard time imagining I’d trust anypony enough to let them sleep at my side.

My bedchambers are also rather modest, given the size and extravagance of the rest of my estate. That’s mostly a matter of the comfort that comes from familiarity, as this room had been mine since I was young. It contained little more than my bed, a writing desk, and a number of bookshelves packed with my most treasured tomes. There was a decent sized armoire that had my more prefered outfits, and a fireplace along one wall opposite the door. The door that was currently being knocked on as I woke up.

Stretching awake I didn’t waste time dressing, just answering the door unclothed. I could tell it was Padlock knocking by the magical peephole that let me see through the door with a simple pulse of magic from my horn. My head guard looked agitated, a deep frown on his face.

“Good morning, Padlock,” I said, opening with a what I hoped was a calming smile, “What emergency is befalling us today?”

“Not funny, my lord,” he said, and I couldn't tell if he meant my words or my lack of clothes, “I have this for you.”

He held up a plain, rolled up scroll, its wax seal broken. The wax was a dark purple color, which told me it was one of Padlock’s security reports of the kind he received from any number of agents that worked for my family. I met his serious gaze and let out a small sigh, holding out my hand. Once he gave me the scroll I unrolled it and read over the words.

My own face creased into a frown as the words sunk in.

White Pawns advancing on Black Queen. Compass Rose is moving the pieces but has taken no Black Pawns, yet.

There was more, all in similar wording. It was code phrases that translated into the fact that the Caribou were investigating the disappearance of Chrysalis. ‘Compass Rose’ was a code phrase for a stallion I was familiar with; Prince Blueblood. No, he wasn’t actually royalty. Prince was his name. He was a very firm supporter of the Caribou regime and a member of the department of the new government in charge of handling keeping the female population in line, countering resistance movements, and discipling the few males who were mare-sympathizers.

The details of the report were sparse beyond the fact that an investigation was underway. That, while expected, was worrying.

“Blueblood doesn’t have anything on us yet,” I said, “But I suppose I can’t ignore this either, can I?”

“No, my lord, you can’t,” said Padlock, crossing his arms, “And could you put something on? I’m not having a conversation with you while your standing naked in the hallway.”

“Oh why not? We’ve had conversations while I’ve been rutting a mare senseless.”

“Yes, and it’s distracting.”

“Fine, fine, just a moment then,” I went and threw on a simple ensemble consisting of some loose black slacks, white lace-up shirt, and a maroon vest with gold buttons. Rejoining Padlock outside my room, locking the door behind me, I motioned for my head guard to walk with me.

“So, Blueblood is sniffing around, but I don’t see too much reason to get ourselves sweaty with fear quite yet,” I said, idly considering what I recalled of Prince Blueblood, “He’s not exactly the most competent of stallions I’ve met and there shouldn’t be many possible trails he could follow that’d lead to me.”

“I’d rather not assume anything,” Padlock grumbled, “There is still a lot we don’t know about the Caribou and the magic they can utilize. Its possible they could find leads we weren’t prepared to cover up.”

I couldn’t deny that Padlock did have a point. The Caribou had access to various unique magical powers. Powers which they guarded the secrets of quite firmly. While the agents who had performed the extraction of Queen Chrysalis had been very careful to use potent illusion magic to masquerade as a mare resistance force, and to remove any trail of where they’d taken the Changeling Queen, it wasn’t impossible that the Caribou would have a means to follow that trail despite all the precautions. My agents had not brought her straight to my manor, of course. From what I knew of the operation, which Padlock had actually been in charge of, the agents had taken her to several different safehouses, carefully erasing magical traces of their passage and moving her through a random series of locations before she’d been carted to my manor under heavy wards against magical detection.

Even so...

“Very well, Padlock, I’m putting you in charge of ensuring this investigation of Blueblood’s goes nowhere. Spare no expense. For now just observe, however. Too much provocative action from our agents at this juncture will just attract undue attention to ourselves.”

“Speaking of undue attention, my lord, perhaps you should reconsider your plans for today?” suggested Padlock as we neared the doors to the mare pens. I gave him a look of rolling eyes.

“I think it’d be even more suspicious if I didn’t appear in public sometimes. Besides the mares need some public exposure. The party is in less than a week and I need to test their skills in a public, around other stallions.”

“I thought you didn’t enjoy sharing, my lord.”

“I don’t. I have no desire to allow another stallions to casually touch my property. However, while Octavia and Lighting Dust are becoming accustomed to servicing me, there’s still the matter of how well they can behave at the party. I want to see how well they handle being out in public, being exposed to other stallions outside the estate. Better this be done now rather than they choke at the party itself. If they make a critical mistake today, as much as I will find it distasteful, I will see the disciplined, even if by the hand of another stallion.”

Padlock nodded, but his face was still set in a deep frown, “You’ll be taking some guards with you, of course.”

“You’ll nag me into submission if I don’t,” I replied with a wry smirk, “I swear I wonder sometimes which of us is actually in charge around here.”

Padlock bowed slightly, his expression betraying nothing, “I live but to serve, my lord.”

I rolled my eyes again, “Of course.”

“If I may ask, why take them to Ponyville?”

“Its something of a tourist attraction these days, but I do have a bit of personal business to conduct around town,” I said as we arrived at the mare pens, the place mostly empty as the majority of the serving maids would have been up well before myself to do their daily chores around the estate. I was somewhat surprised to hear the lovely, deep tone of a cello playing as the guards stationed outside opened the doors.

Inside I saw Octavia sitting on a chair in the center of the room, her voluptuous gray body mostly hidden behind the bulky form of her cello, which her legs were spread around. It was an oddly erotic pose, seeing her legs splayed around the instrument as her body rocked in rhythmic motion as she worked the bow on the cello’s strings. Her naked breasts swayed with her motions, almost as if they were dancing with the music, and it was clear she’d been playing for some time as her body was shiny with a light sheen of sweat.

Lighting Dust was lounging on one of the couches, hands propped up behind her head, one leg dangled over her other leg as she listened, one leg lightly bouncing in time with the music. Even her tail bounced with the tune, its colors making it look like flickering flames.

For a moment I just stood, taking a certain pleasure at the sight of my two mares seeming to enjoy each other’s company. For all the friction that had been between them at first it seemed Octavia and Lightning Dust had become accustomed to one another. I doubted they would ever truly be friends, but progress was progress.

Sadly Octavia’s playing petered out as she noticed Padlock and myself arriving, and she stood with the smooth grace and poise I found so enrapturing when I’d decided to make her mine. She gave a deep bow to me.

“Good morning, master,” she said with very little hint of discomfort in her deep violet eyes. Her tone was polite, still smooth with its cultured Canterlot accent, but she’d become far better at sounding demure without losing that faint edge of pride and self respect that still earned her that black collar around her dainty throat.

Lightning Dust craned her neck to look back at me, not even getting up from her couch, and she gave a half hearted wave, “‘Sup.”

Padlock sucked in a hissing breath, looking ready to reprimand the pegasus, but I held up a hand to forestall him. If I was going to wait for Padlock to berate Lighting Dust every time she was disrespectful neither he or I would get anything done today. Besides, I could think of more... interesting ways to punish my delectable athlete.

“I hope the two of you have gotten a good night’s sleep?” I said with a wide, inviting smile, hands held wide as I sauntered up to Octavia and took her into a firm embrace, not even caring about the cello that was held awkwardly still in one of her hands as I took a taste of her warm lips.

It pleased me still to see the adorable blush on her face, even from such a simple thing as a kiss. After the things we’d done and the things we were still to do one might think she’d lose some of that lady-like embarrassment, but I wouldn’t have it. I enjoyed that part of her, considering it part of her dignified allure. Running my fingers under her chin I cast a look over towards Lightning Dust, who was lazily sitting up on the couch and yawning.

“I intend a particular excursion this day, and the two of you shall accompany me,” I said, slowly stroking my fingers down Octavia’s mane as she put away her cello in its black leather case, “I expect both of you to be on your best behavior while we are out in public. Consider this part of your training.”

A ripple of tension ran across Octavia, her violet eyes taking on a glimmering shade of fear. I wasn’t surprised. She had not been out in public since I’d purchased her and no doubt she’d become accustomed to the relative ease of life inside my manor. Even my sexual needs of her were a far cry more gentle than some of the things she no doubt experienced at the hands of stallions and Caribou alike while she’d been owned by others. But then that was the point of taking her and Lightning Dust with me on this little errand. I wanted them to become reaquainted with the world outside the safety of my manor walls. They needed to see, remember, and understand the world as it was and what their place in it was expected to be. Forgetting that for an instant at a high social party for one of the Caribou’s top officials would lead to devastating punishment, whereas a slip up among the common public would be far more mild. I hoped both of them would grasp that.

After a second Octavia seemed to master her fear, standing and leaning into me, taking a deep breath as she steadied herself, “Shall I wear anything, master?”

Lighting Dust huffed out a sigh, crossing her arms under her breasts as she looked at us, “‘Shall I wear anything, master’?” she said in a mocking cultured tone in imitation of Octavia, “What’s the point? Modern clothes for us lady-types basically equates to highlighting tits and ass.”

Padlock made a sound that was somewhere between a choke and a growl, and I turned to him briefly, “Padlock, perhaps you would be so good as to prepare the carriage?”

Padlock, staring daggers at Lightning Dust bowed once, “Yes, my lord.”

After he strode out with steps so hard I was fairly certain he was imagining grinding his heels into Lightning Dust’s sensitive spots I turned a displeased, hard look towards the pegasus.

“Try not to test your luck so much, my dear. I won’t be protecting either of you today while we are out, at least not overly much. If you insult or fail to show proper respect to even the simplest store clerk or passer by I will let them have you for the afternoon to do whatever they want to you.”

Lightning Dust’s eyes flashed with anger, their orange depths like twin pools of fire that, I had to admit, made me want to delay departure for a good twenty minutes or so to take her right there. But we were on a schedule and were there any delays they’d have to come after we were already underway. The carriage ride to Ponyville would take an hour or so anyway... plenty of time to avail myself of my mares various charms. Lightning Dust looked away, grumbling, “Right, fine, I’ll be a ‘good girl’ or whatever. Where are we going anyway?”

“Ponyville, as it happens,” I said, then, reluctantly, took a step back from Octavia, “As for you my beautiful Octavia, I would find it most fetching if you wore the violet dress, the one with the matching boots. Lightning Dust, I think you’ll look best in one of our... yes... one of the maid uniforms. Take one a size or two smaller than proper.”

“What!? Why!?”

I smirked at her, “To better highlight your tits and ass.”

She glared at me, and muttering words that were probably better left unrepeated as she stalked off to go get changed. Octavia looked after her with a sympathetic expression softening her already lovely features, and I put my hands around her shoulder, hugging her to me and softly kissing her neck, “Go and get dressed, my dear. And don’t be scared. As long as you behave properly you have nothing to worry about.”

“It’s not that, Gilded,” she said, hesitating a second as she used my name instead of ‘master’, but I didn’t feel any need to reprimand her at the moment, “It’s... Ponyville. Somepony I knew lived there. She might still live there. I don’t know if I want to see her again, at least not like she was when I last saw her. She... was very much a red collar, the last time we were together.”

Ah, interesting. I often forgot that Octavia had a life before becoming my property, before the Caribou even arrived in Equestria. I supposed it might be distressing to her to meet old acquaintances under the new regime’s rules, especially if they fully embraced it while she still clung to as much of her personal dignity and identity as she could. I wondered if perhaps there would be an opportunity here? I didn’t think I needed much more leverage to keep Octavia under my control, but on the off chance she ever did become unruly, perhaps after the birth of our foal, it could help to have another pony around that could give her a reason to remain cooperative. I filed away the possibility for later consideration.

“I understand completely,” I told her, “Fortunately Ponyville has grown over the past year and it’s unlikely we’ll run across your friend randomly in the crowds. We only have a few stops in town to make before heading to the outskirts anyway. My business shouldn’t take more than the afternoon.”

Octavia looked at my with naked curiosity, “May I ask what your business is, exactly?”

I quirked my eyebrow at her and she only barely frowned as she added, “Master.”

“Better. Now, as to your question, I am taking care of some shopping, first off. Both for a proper gift for the Magistrate, but also for the outfits I'll have you both wearing at the party. After that I need to visit a certain... specialist who provides me with a number of important services. Her home is actually not in Ponyville, but the Everfree Forest-”

“The Everfree Forest!?” Octavia’s eyes widened slightly, “Isn’t that place rather dangerous, master?”

“Less so since the Caribou’s rise,” I said with a dismissive wave, “Do not fear, I know the route to this specialist's abode quite well, and its quite safe I can assure you. I’ve been there many times.” I grinned then, unable, nor wanting, to disguise my look of lecherous remembrance, “Many, many times. Now go, get dressed, my dear. We have a long day ahead of us.”

Just as Octavia nodded and turned to head for her room Lightning Dust returned from her own, a look of pure unadulterated venom plastered on her face as she glared at me. Octavia paused just long enough to look Lightning Dust over alongside me. The pegasus athlete was wearing one of the maid’s uniforms worn by the female servants of my estate. Long white stockings accentuated her legs, so thin that it did nothing to hide her toned curves. A skirt that was barely a suggestion than an actual garment, black and frilled, encircled her hips, but did nothing to hide her exposed pussy, the lips framed by a black lace set of panties that had a perfectly sized hole to leave access to her sex. The panties became little more than a string in back, leaving her ass quite bare. Elastic black bands attached to the skirt to the top blouse, which was little more than an open backed and open chested set of slim, frilly material that led to a set of fishnet sleeves. The black and white frilled head band completed the ensemble, and I couldn’t help but grin at the aggressive stance Lightning Dust took, one foot tapping, arms crossed under her pert breasts.

“This thing rides up my crack like a certain prick I know,” Lightning Dust said flatly.

“It looks good on you,” I told her with a wink, “Perhaps I should assign you to my maid staff? I’m certain you could learn some valuable lessons from following their example.”

“Eat a dick,” she shot back with a snort, which caused me to smile at her with sharp eyes.

“Oh, that is part of the itinerary for you, my dear. I shall train you to tame that caustic tongue of yours and put it to more pleasant uses, at least when you are in the company of those who don’t appreciate it the way I do. Now come, both of you, we have a long coach ride to Ponyville... and I just thought of some delightful ways for us to pass the time while we are en route.”

The roads from Canterlot to Ponyville were well maintained, and fully cobbled to allow for a smooth passage from the mountainous capital city to its more rustic neighbor. I give credit to the Caribou where it is due, for all the cultural change they’d brought to Equestria they had worked hard to ensure the country’s infrastructure was kept intact and looked after. If anything the economy seemed stronger with all the stimulus it was getting from the new, booming sex industry.

Regardless, the state of the road lead to a smooth ride, ideal for my purposes.

Octavia was staring at me, violet eyes wide, face running to the most delightful of crimson shades. Lightning Dust had her face scrunched up in a sour look of irritation. I just grinned at them, sitting back in my plush velvet seat as they sat across from me. I had just told them what I wanted them to do, and was waiting to see how well my two mares would respond. Unsurprisingly Octavia spoke first, her tone dripping with cultured indignation as her Canterlot mare accent came out full force.

“I can’t just do that, Gilded!” she said, cross her arms and pursing her lips, “It... it wouldn’t be proper at all!”

“I rather think we’ve gone beyond proper at this point in our relationship,” I said with a dry chuckle, “Besides what I command of you is nothing all that unusual. In fact is rather commonplace. Almost every red collared mare does it as a matter of course. As much and more will be expected of you at the Magistrate’s party.”

Octavia’s lips quivered, “B-but to... to talk... like that... it would be so uncouth.”

“More uncouth than letting me burry myself to the hilt inside your dripping pussy?” I inquired with a sweet, innocent tone.

Hot indignation flashed in her eyes, “L-let!? You force yourself on me!”

“Oh, that hardly seemed the case recently. In fact I recall you rather getting into the spirit of things lately,” I replied calmly, recalling her sweet moans during our use of my Mirror Pool.

“That’s... different,” she said lamely, hanging her head, “I know fighting back is pointless, so I just... take the situation with as much dignity as I can muster. But that’s different than this! in those cases you’re still doing things to me, not me doing things to you and... and talking like some cheap, street walker!”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes, though she still had this sour, pinched look to her features, “Oh come off it, Tavi, he’s just doing this to fuck with us. Roll with it.”

Perhaps Lightning Dust missed it, but I caught a sharp flinch from Octavia when the pet name ‘Tavi’ was used. Perhaps she just didn’t like the shortened name? She was still a proper enough mare that such nicknames could annoy her, but the look on her face seemed more pain than annoyance. Interesting.

“But to talk like that during... during sex is just, it so degrading...” Octavia said in a soft voice.

“Yes,” I admitted, “But a needed skill, one that you both need to develop in order to pass as acceptably controlled females in our current society. While I don’t require this of you often while pleasing me in our abode, while in public you’ll have to do more to fulfill your role. That includes talking dirty. Consider this practice, Octavia. Like with your cello. The cello you are allowed to play due to my generosity.”

I pointedly left out that I could retract that generosity at my whim, but from the flinch that crossed her features it was clear Octavia understood that without me having to say it. Oddly, a small streak of unpleasant emotion rose in me at seeing that look. Guilt? Was I feeling... guilty? I shook off the notion, meeting Octavia’s gaze levelly.

With her chest heaving enticingly from a heavy sigh, Octavia’s face went still with the look of a person closing off inner doors, which caused yet another small spike of guilt in me that I brushed off like an irritating bug, and she said, “So be it. I will try my best, master. How shall we begin?”

I slowly unbuttoned my shirt and pants, letting my chest and stallionhood both be exposed as I casually relaxed in my seat and beckoned to Octavia and Lightning Dust with a gesture. “Come over, my dears. We’ll begin with something so simple that any mare could do it.”

Lightning Dust let out a small groan as she gave a tug on Octavia’s arm, “Let’s just get this done, Tavi. He won’t take your damned cello away if you just play along.”

Octavia gave her a sidelong look, but allowed herself to be tugged along so that soon both she and Lightning Dust were kneeling on the plush carriage floor in front of me, both mare’s nose height with my flopping shaft. I wasn’t erect yet, but the building excitement of seeing two scantily clad, beautiful mares in front of me, their exposed and framed breasts sitting side by side with one another, was certainly getting the blood flow started.

Octavia’s violet eyes were unsure, while Lightning Dust’s fiery orbs were alight with unreserved sass. I smiled, pleased at the sight of both mares awaiting my command.

“Dirty talk,” I started, “Is a matter of bluntness, crassness, and passion flowing freely from your mouth. Octavia, what do you see in front of you?”

Her already red cheeks went to a hotter crimson and her eyes flicked between my cock and my eyes, “I...it’s, your... um... p...penis.”

“Ah, such a bland term. I think you can use something with more, mmm, impact,” I said with a tone of honey coated encouragement.

Lightning Dust made a grumbling noise, “Its your fucking cock! Seriously, you want us to write a sonnet about it!?”

“Do you even know how to write a sonnet?” I asked, which caused Lightning Dust to huff and glare at me. I then turned to Octavia and placed a finger under her chin, stroking it. “Come now, describe it. If you can’t do that then how can you expect to say it during more passionate moments?”

Octavia gulped, and with shuddering words said, “I see your...cock.”

“Yes? Go on,” I said.

“Its... good sized?” her eyes trailed over it, her embarrassment coating every word, “I know its not too large, but well sized, and...t...th...thick...” she shut her eyes, “It fits me. Your c-cock is a good fit for me. A-a-and it gets very hot when...”

My eyes lit up, “Yes? When what?”

Octavia took a deep breath and managed to still herself as she said, “When you thrust it into my... my pussy.”

I reached up and stroked her mane gently, tracing my fingers through her silky dark strands with a pleased smile, “Very good. Now, Lightning Dust-”

“Yeah, yeah, its a nice, big, hard cock. Dick. Prick. Its plenty fuckcing thick when it shoves into my wet cunt. How’s that? Feel like I’m taking a grammar test.”

“Ah, but can you do that while putting that mouth to use?” I asked, reaching behind her head, gripping a wad of her fiery mane, and pulling her face closer to my already hardening dick, “Start licking. And describe, as you lick, my dear. It should come naturally for you, given your penchant for colorful language.”

She growled under her breath, but obeyed, leaning forward until the tip of her nose was nearly touching me. I could feel her rough breathing caressing my flesh, tingling the length of my shaft even before she opened her mouth and let her tongue give my cock a slow, long lick. The wet heat of her tongue gave me a small shiver of delight, which was only heightened as my four mouthed pegasus athlete spoke around her licking, her words slightly lisped, “Your cock’s got a pretty salty taste, and I can feel your blood pumping into it. Heh, already getting hard, huh? You like my slick tongue on your dick that much?”

Octavia was gulping, watching Lightning Dust, and I gave her an encouraging smile, “Do join her, my dear. Work together.”

It took a second for Octavia to muster her nerve, after which she bent forward, giving me a welcome view of the deep valley between her swaying gray mammaries, and she brought her face close to Lightning Dust’s. The two mares now had my cock flanked, and Lightning Dust’s lapping tongue had worked its way up towards my tip as I reached full mast. Octavia sat on her knees, hands raising slowly, hesitantly, as she flicked a questioning glance towards me. I nodded to her.

“Go ahead, you can use your hands as well. But remember, describe. This is about your words as much as your actions.”

“Mmmph, yuh, jus tulk boult ish duk ur whutuver,” Lightning Dust mouthed around the tip fo my dick as she began to suck upon it, the first few inches of my length enjoying the warm sauna of her lips. The vibrations of her speaking, or at least attempting to speak while blowing me, caused delightful little bursts of pleasure. “Mmm, ish guttin bugger.”

Octavia in the meantime had placed once of her delicate hands along the base of my shaft, leaned close, and closed her eyes as she gave me a small, experimental lick. Her tongue was a gentle, almost shy touch upon my cock as opposed to Lightning Dust’s rougher, harder lapping, but the cellist soon seemed to ease into the affair. Her mouth made small, earnest kisses upon my shaft, her lips brushing my skin in between small flicks of her tongue. But she wasn’t speaking. I sighed, brushing her cheek.

“Octavia, your lips are well suited to this task, but don’t forget the purpose of this exercise.”

Her flinch was small, but she gave the barest of nods, and said, “I’m not sure what to say. Your pe...c-cock has a somewhat salty taste, like Lightning Dust said. Its warm and firm on my tongue. I...umm, I don’t know, Gilded. What more can I say?”

“Hmm, does it taste good?”

“G-good!? It... its not supposed to...”

“Oh, but shouldn’t it?” I prompted, “ Shouldn’t you enjoy the taste of your master’s cock?”

A spark of anger flashed in her eyes, but she composed herself and leaned forward again, this time focusing a long, sucking kiss long the base of my shaft, not far from where it met the top of my proudly resting sack. I could feel her tongue’s tip working in small circles between her lips, making me let out a small satisfied grunt and taking me somewhat but surprise. For a mare who seemed to reluctant she had marvelous oral technique once she got into it. A suspicious part of my mind wondered why that was. When Octavia pulled her mouth away a small trail of saliva dripped between her lips and my cock.

“It does taste good,” she said with slow, clipped works, “That is what I have to say, yes? When I was first... broken in by the Caribou, they wanted to hear that too. That their dick’s tasted good, that their...cum, tasted good. I hate saying that... its so vulgar.”

There was a heady mix of emotions in her voice; doubt, loathing, passion, and confusion. Lightning Dust hadn’t ceased her ministrations of the tip of my cock and the area around it, never taking it fully into her throat, but now she pulled off it for a second, leaving me slick and shining with her drool, and she said, “You take this shit too seriously. You act like if you say it, you gotta mean it or something.”

Octavia pressed her lips tightly together, “But I do have to mean it! Don’t you understand? My words are important to me. I own every single thing I say. Letting Gilded have his way with my body, even... even if my body betrays me by feeling pleasure, sometimes, is different than using my words in such a degrading manner.”

“Believe it or not, I do understand, Octavia,” I told her, cupping her chin in the palm of my hand and tilting her face so we could meet each other’s eyes, “That is why I’m having you do this, here, with me, in a place none else can see or hear save your fellow breeding mare. Because I won’t be able to entirely protect you in public you must learn to do this. It is for your own safety. Both of you. Never forget that for all my wealth and power, all it would take is the snap of a Magistrate’s fingers for the Caribou to take you both from me. Do you want to go back to the way your lives were before? Especially considering that our unborn foals would share your fate, torn from you by the Caribou to be brainwashed and sold to market. You’d be lucky if you even got to hold your child before they were taken...”

From the trembling of her shoulders I could tell my words were hitting home with Octavia. Even Lightning Dust looked away for a second with apprehension, through I wondered if she was more fearful of losing the prospect of getting her wings back than any threat to her future progeny. I gave the two mares a moment further to absorb my words before I tapped a finger to my chin in consideration.

“Well, it seems you both understand. Lightning Dust, scoot aside a moment. I wish Octavia to finish me. You seem to know how to speak properly at any rate, so help your sister breeder relax as she takes care of me.”

Lightning Dust shrugged, “Suits me.” She adjusted where she was kneeling, and I gestured Octavia over so that she was no directly in front of my crotch, with Lightning Dust situated just behind Octavia. Lightning Dust required no prompting, and with a somewhat devilish little smile she straddled Octavia’s hips from behind, wrapping her arms almost possessively around the musician. Lightning Dust licked her lips and Octavia gave her a consternated glance.

“You’re far too engaged by this, Lightning Dust. I almost prefer it when you just disliked me,” Octavia said, but she soon let out an indignant moan as Lighting Dust aggressively reached down with one hand to start harshly stroking at Octavia’s puffy and moist pussy lips while her other hand roughly grapped Octavia’s left breast and squeezed down into the supple gray flesh.

“Hey, I’m a fast learner,” said Lightning Dust, eyes narrowing, “And I like pushing myself. Never had a taste for mares before, but I like making a prissy, uptight stick-up-her-ass mare like you moan and twitch. Hell, you’re soaked already, and you were just kissing Gilded’s dick for a minute or two. You try to act all high-society, but you're kind of a slut at heart aren’t you?”

Octavia’s teeth grit as she tried to hold back any further moans as Lightning Dust slipped a trio of fingers into her trembling, slick cunt, saying in a quavering voice, “I am not a s-slut! You are such a boorish mare! And...and your fingers don’t feel good at aaaaahh!”

I couldn’t help but laugh a bit at Octavia’s struggle to keep her voice in check, which let out a sweet, deep throated groan as resonant as the notes of her cello as she squeezed her eyes shut. Lightning Dust shook her head, chuckling darkly. I was tempted to tell her to lighten up somewhat, but the show was keeping me solid as stone, my shaft twitching with unreleased need.

“Octavia,” I said, “You must look to the needs of your master. This time, lets finish with your lovely breasts.”

That earned an incredulous look from her, “M-my breasts?”

“Yes, use your breasts and mouth to please me,” I told her firmly.

“You do got a nice set for a titjob, Tavi,” said Lightning Dust, frowning, “Almost too good. Kind of pisses me off you got such nicely shaped, perfectly sized tits.”

With a heavy sigh Octavia said, “F-fine! If it will satisfy you, Gilded.”

Lightning Dust stopped groping Octavia’s heaving chest so that she could situated the two perfect dark gray orbs of soft flesh around my hard, eagerly waiting cock. Even feeling the warm nest of her breast’s valley surrounding my throbbing dick was so pleasantly stimulating I could have blown then and there. It was so tempting, but I forced the urge aside, wanting to take my time with this moment. The wet, squishing noise of Lightning Dust’s fingers still vigorously working Octavia’s pussy filled the carriage, Octavia softly trying to choke back tiny moans as she awkwardly fiddled with her breasts, trying to figure out how to properly start.

I decided to help her, taking her hands in mind, gently almost. She blushed hard at the touch of my hands around hers, as if that gesture alone was somehow more intimate than any of the fucking we’d done since I’d first taken her. With smooth gestures I brought her hands to either side of her gleaming, sweating mounds, and showed her how to press against them.

“Like this, my dear. Keep the pressure firm, and rub them up and down as I thrust.”

“I-I understand,” she said, and pressed hard on her tits, forming a comfortable, hot pressure around my cock that was subtly different than being inside her pussy. Her breasts weren’t as slick or wet as her marehood, but carried with it a gliding softness that produced an altogether different sensation as I began to slowly buck my hips up and down, letting myself swim in the soft sensation of my Octavia's lovely gray flesh encasing me in warmth. With a content grin I let my hands also enjoy her plush, pliant breasts. Her body betrayed her excitement, the dark flesh of her nipples standing erect. I gave them a rough pinch, causing her to gasp., .

“Ah! W-will you stop that? You’re always being so rough with them,” Octavia said with a shaking voice.

“Given how wet your pussy is, it’s pretty clear you’re into it Tavi,” said Lightning Dust.

“S-stop calling me that.”

By now Lightning Dust was rubbing her chest on Octavia’s back, and through I couldn't see it I could hear some slick sounds coming from the pegasus’ own crotch as the hand she’d been using on Octavia’s breasts were now taking care of her own sopping marehood, “Stop calling you what? Tavi?”

“Yes!” It was unclear if Octavia was answering Lightning Dust, or just exclaiming her pleasure. Either way her face was utterly red by now and her eyes flickering between desire and indignance as she looked back at her fellow mare, “I-I aaah, I don’t like people using thaaaat name!”

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes, her breaths coming in short, lusty huffs now, working her own increasingly soaked marehood as much as Octavia’s, “Geez you’re sensitive. It’s just a nickname.”

I gave the pegasus a firm look, my own breaths starting to come faster as Octavia’s fabulous chest continued to be the perfect heated vise for my already throbbing cock. Tingles of pleasure were accompanying every giggling motion of her breasts and it made it hard to actually put a properly commanding look into my eyes as I said to Lightning Dust, “If she finds the name distressing, then do control your urge to use it.”

“Ugh, whatever, fine,” said Lightning Dust, scowling even as she began to let out pleasured small grunts as her fingers rapidly jammed in and out of both her dripping sex and Octavia’s.

We settled into an increasingly intense rhythm with each other. I even forgot to remind Octavia to try using her words to talk dirty during the affair, so much was the growing pleasure from feeling those perfect gelatin mounds rub and slickly pull at my shaft, the firm pressure unrelenting. Both mares seemed to utterly forget themselves as the thick scent of our sweat and the constant echo of moist flesh rubbing and smacking filled the carriage cabin, mixing with our moans, gasps, and grunts. Lightning Dust pressed in closer to Octavia, licking the other mare across the neck, ears, and even turning Octavia’s head to share a fierce kiss where I could see both mare’s tongues intertwining.

Feeling no need to prolong my desire for release I didn’t resist the growing pressure at the base of my shaft, reaching out a hand and turning Octavia’s head towards me as I said, “Your mouth, take it in. Now.”

My voice was firm, but not harsh. Octavia, violet eyes smokey and lidded, responded almost as if she was in a dreamy haze. Her lips parted and wrapped around the head of my cock, which was already flaring in preparation for what was about to happen. Lightning Dust’s fingers moved in a blur, flicking rapidly across her clit with one hand while plunging deep inside Octavia with the other. Both mares let out sudden, choking gasps, their bodies convulsing as both mares peaked nearly simultaneously. Octavia’s trembling body, her chest shaking right up against my shaft, sent me spilling over the edge and I allowed the floodgates of my pleasure to overtake me. With a firm grunt my cock thrust up between the sweat soaked mounds of Octavia’s tits and pressed deep into her mouth, nearly into her throat, and released its first thick spurts of my seed.

She made a soft, surprised noise, reflexively pulling back, my cock popping free of her mouth while still in mid-orgasm. I didn’t mind, as it afforded my the spectacular sight of rope after rope of my sticky, hot seed splattering across Octavia’s cute features. White lines dripped from her nose and chin, and even her silky dark mane, more of my virile stallion seed rocketed across her still heaving breasts. After several more spurts my pleasure finally played out, leaving the musician before me painted with my cum. There was a brief few moments of catching my breath that followed, simply enjoying the satisfied residual ache in my spent loins. I didn't even care that we had sort of left Octavia's verbal training by the wayside somewhere along the way. This had been most enjoyable.

Lightning Dust, who’d mostly been guarded from getting any of the stuff on her by hiding behind Octavia, let out a small giggle, “Holy shit, you look like a glazed doughnut.”

Octavia, panting slightly, catching her breath, managed to scrape together a semblance of composure, despite being covered in the same batter we’d used to make our foal, and rested back on her knees, hands folded in her lap with an air of dignity.

“Were you satisfied, Gilded?” she asked simply, looking at me with an unreadable look glinting in her eyes.

Resting back in my seat, I smiled, “Quite, my dear. I dare say you have a special talent for providing pleasure with your impressive assets. Hm, but we must get you cleaned up before we arrive in Ponyville... hmm... “ I tapped a finger to my chin, and then glanced at Lightning Dust, who was still chuckling at Octavia.

“Lighting Dust, do be a dear and clean up your sister breeder mare.”

Lightning Dust shrugged, and started looking around, “Sure, whatever. There a towel or something around here?”

I quirked an eyebrow at her.

“Who said anything about a towel?”

At the pegasus mare’s flat look at me I merely made a gesture at Octavia, and clarified with a thin smile, “I did tell you I’d train you in more pleasant uses for that tongue of yours, did I not?”

Ponyville. Once little more than a satellite village of a few hundred ponies clinging to the railways between Canterlot and the rest of Equestria, the town had grown to prominence with the return, and subsequent defeat, of not only Nightmare Moon, but the spirit of chaos himself, Discord. It was strange to think that such a humble, small settlement had been home to six of the recent age’s most well known heroes.

Not that those six mares were anything more than any other mare at this point, though they still bore their Elements of Harmony and had even been called to use them (or forced in the case of the more stubborn among the six) to pacify some trouble in the Everfree forest. I wasn’t privy to the details. Regardless, I had extensively researched the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony even before the arrival of the Caribou. And why not? They were extraordinary examples of the female form. As a prominent noble I’d been considering options for a mate before the Caribou had arrived and had no reason not to have those six on my list of potentials. I’d been especially interested in Twilight Sparkle herself…

…Alas, some dreams are out of my reach. The alicorn ex-Princess still called Ponyville home, officially owned by her former assistant, the dragon Spike. She was a red collar, among the first to fall to the Caribou’s teachings, and was quite the educator to less… enlightened mares, last I’d heard. I knew that the other Element Bearers also resided in Ponyville, except for the Element of Generosity. Last I’d heard of the one called Rarity she’d earned the ire of King Dainin himself over some issue of tailoring. Her current whereabouts after that weren’t known to me… though I’d put a few agents on discovering just where the seamstress might have ended up. If she’d been discarded by the Caribou there was a possible acquisition there.

My studies of the Element Bearers also meant I was quite familiar with Ponyville itself. I’d slummed here more than a few times, both before and after the Fall, and I was no stranger to its streets. Where once the town may have bustled with the common activities of a farming community, with mare and stallion alike going about shopping or chores, now Ponyville was the center of the growing sex trade. Oh, it was still a farming community as well, though the model for farms may have changed towards more forced labor of the mares and more stallions… doing what stallions do when there’s little restriction on sexual activity.

In short, you couldn’t turn a street corner in Ponyville without sex being on display, sold, or just offered up like hour'derves at a dinner party.

This was why I’d brought Octavia and Lightning Dust with me on my errands. Ponyville was a good dry fun for the Magistrate’s party. Thus far they were… behaving.

Octavia could not entirely hide her distaste for the sight of several mares nakedly lined up outside of one household, tied to posts planted in the ground. The pair were covered in black markings declaring such elegant slogans as “Public cum dumpster for the day!” or “Bad slut needs discipline; fuck her straight!”. Apparently some stallion thought his mares needed punishment and had set them out for public use. There was a small line already, both mares bearing red collars which explained their eager moaning as they serviced a few stallions with their mouths, lips making puckered sucking noises I could hear from across the street.

There were of course more sex shops than there had ever been in the past, displaying their goods openly. In just the short walk from where our carriage had stopped on the outskirts of town to the town square I saw countless varieties of dildos, bead strings, and assorted leatherworks from whips to bondage straps. Some of it was of exceptional quality, but I wasn’t here to shop for common goods. No, I had special items in mind, and a particular pair of stops to make.

Aside from Octavia and Lightning Dust, following behind me with long black leather leashes attached to their collars which I held loosely in one hand, I also had a pair of my house guard with me. Padlock had insisted. Personally I thought that he was being overprotective, as usual, but I couldn’t deny that having the pair of well muscled armsmen trailing behind me and my mares did lend a certain air of security to our walk. I didn’t expect any stallion in Ponyville would be stupid enough to try and mug a noble, but I’d been wrong in the past. That and in case any stallions got… ideas in their heads about my mares it’d be usual to have a pair o guards to dissuade such notions. At least not without my permission. If either Octavia or Lightning Dust made a serious breach in proper behavior I might well give them over to a local stallion to discipline in the town square, if only to get my point across that they needed to behave.

While Octavia had this faint look of distain curling her nose, as if she smelled something foul and couldn’t quite keep it from wrinkling, Lightning Dust’s expression was pure stone. I’d have expected more of a scowl from her, but the pegasus was keeping herself remarkably stoic as I lead her along by the leash. Her movements were stiff, yes, and there was none of the casual, horny smiles about either of my mares that the many red collared mares walking about wore, but at least they weren’t cringing away from the sights of open sex.

What did make Octavia cringe was when we reached the town square and there was an auction taking place.

Three mares, two earth ponies, and one unicorn, were set up on a tall wood platform, naked as they day they were born, with chains keeping them firm to the platform. A tall Caribou wearing a silk tunic and pants of a dark red color stood with a ledger in one hand and a cudgel in the other. He was speaking in a loud, authorative tone to the gathered crowd of wickedly grinning stallions.

“We have three freshly caught bitches just out of processing, ready to start initial bidding! First up, this unicorn slut!”

The unicorn in question caught my attention, even if Octavia hadn’t started bristling at the sight of the auction. She wasn’t particularly tall, or notably endowed. Her breasts were well shaped but hardly large, with deep orange nipples, perked up from the cool breeze that was rushing through the town square. Her coat was short and fine, orange as a sunset, and spoke of grooming even if the Caribou didn’t do their best to clean up mares before auction. Her mane was… enticing. Red and yellow, blended together in a long, wavy curtain that fell past her shoulders like a waterfall. Her horn was gone, of course, but its stump was still clear to see. Her eyes, bright teal, were filled with equal parts fear and righteous anger. No wonder there was a black collar around her throat. She looked ready to murder. The rest of her body was shapely enough, though hardly athletic. More lean, almost painfully thin, actually.

As another Caribou, a guard in leather armor and bearing a shock baton, dragged the mare forward, she let out a harsh shout.

“Let me go you bastards! I don’t know how this happened to Equestria, but you won’t get away with this! Stop it! You can’t do this to me!”

“Shut your mouth, whore,” said the Caribou guard, almost sounding bored, as he gave the mare a rough smack on her ass and kicked her in the back of her knees, dropping her to the floor of the platform. He roughly gripped her by her hair and hauled her head up as she struggled and flailed against him.

“Grra! If I had my magic I’d teach you just what happens when you do this to a student of Celest-“

The guard cut her off with a rough smack across the face. The auctioneer cleared his throat and began the bidding process, but I was instead focused on the mare and thinking over what I’d heard her say. The guard may have cut her off but I knew what I’d heard… a student of Celestia? I didn’t know any other than Twilight Sparkle. Was the mare simply crazy? I tried to recall if the former Princess had had any other students. I seemed to recall that perhaps she had, but it wasn’t as if I’d kept specific tabs on Princess Celestia back then.

“Gilded, master… can we please go?” asked Octavia, unable to keep the loathing out of her voice as she watched the stallions start to bid upon the orange unicorn mare.

Lightning Dust stepped a bit closer to Octavia and whispered, “Tavi, you got to get used to this shit.”

Octavia’s hands gripped into tight fists and she seemed to work to control her breathing, violet eyes swimming with tears she was holding back, “Do we have to be reminded of this? Do I have to watch them be sold like meat at market?”

“You think I like this either?” asked Lightning Dust, her former stoic look twisting into a small grimace. I turned to them both, making sure that nopony was watching or close enough to listen. Fortunately almost everypony and caribou in the town square was focused on the auction, not on us.

“Bear with it, my dears. I… may have an interest in this one.”

Octavia blinked at me, and Lightning Dust rolled her eyes, “For the sake of Celestia’s cum covered plot, are you serious, man? You want another fuck mare to put a kid in?”

I suppressed a chuckle, “Were it my means I’d have dozens, if they were all unique enough for the purpose. In this case, I still need a unicorn to complete the set, as it were, and… well this mare said something that intrigues me.”

I motioned my guards forward and gave the pair stern looks, “Look after these two for a moment, men. I have a purchase to make.”

The two guards exchanged looks, grinned at each other, likely guessing at my intent, and both saluted with a matched answer of, “M’lord!”

I released the leashes on Octavia and Lightning Dust to my guards and with bold, confident strides I went and joined the crowd at auction. The bidding on the orange mare had not been too fierce so far, few stallions in Ponyville apparently liking the idea of an irate black collared unicorn to tame. The highest bid thus far was no more than a hundred bits. Paltry. It was still rising, though, mostly between a brown earth pony in a rich looking blue suit and slicked back black and white mane, and a pair of younger stallions who seemed to have pooled their resources to bid; one short, fat, and blue, the other tall, lanky, and almost as orange as the mare they were bidding on.

“One twenty!” shouted the short, fat blue fellow in a scratchy voice as he glared at his rival bidder, “C’mon Filthy! You don’t need another damned maid! Let us have this one!”

The earth pony in the blue suit laughed, “Oh come now Snips, Snails, aren’t you satisfied with your little blue magician whore? You were both so proud when you first got her, parading her around for all to see with that wagon wheel around her neck. Bored with your ‘great and powerful’ fuck toy already, boys? For shame, you should learn to appreciate what you have. One fifty, sir auctioneer!”

The Caribou smiled, nodded, and repeated the bid. The two younger stallions, Snips and Snails apparently, glanced at each other and exchanged some whispers. Then the fat one, I wasn’t sure which he actually was called, said, “TWO HUNDRED! Please, Filthy Rich? Let us have her! We like breaking in these mouthy magic sluts who think they’re so much better than everypony else. You can get any mare you want, but it’s tough sharing the blue bitch between me and Snails. It’d be nice for us to have two to fuck at once so we don’t have to share and it took forever to get some money up for this.”

The other stallion, Filthy Rich, hold a hoof to his chin as if considering, but I recognized the feigned gesture for what it was. He was merely toying with the other two, having fun with them. I suppose that in a society in which playing and toying with our females was the norm, it also wasn’t such a large stretch to do the same with our fellow males, if we happened to be n a position of power to do so. Filthy Rich looked like the kind of stallion who cared little for the wants of others, and his smile was malicious when he said, “Sorry boys, but she’s caught my eye! Five hundred bits!”

By the crestfallen looks on Snips and Snails’ faces that was well beyond their capacity to compete with. In fact I was willing to bet no stallion in the crowd could outbid this fellow in the blue suit. Local money, no doubt the richest stallion in town. I seemed to vaguely recall the name of the Rich family trickle into Canterlot once or twice. They weren’t nobility, but were wealthy enough to pretend. Most of Canterlot’s upper crust found the notion pretentious. I hadn’t bothered to do more than faintly recall the idle gossip.

Well, I was hardly going to let a mare that’d caught my eye go to another stallion. I decided to wait for the appropriately dramatic moment, letting the caribou auctioneer get go through the motions of looking for other bids, and nearly declaring the sale, before I raised my hand.

“I bid one thousand bits upon that mare.”

Eyes turned to me, the sharpest among them belonging to Filthy Rich himself. The Caribou auctioneer peered at me, more curious than bothered by my interruption, and simply shrugged, accepting the bid on his ledger. As for the mare herself, she’d been wearing a look of increasing rage with each bid that’d been made, and now all of that ire was directly squarely at me. To say I found those smoldering flames inside her eyes… rather enticing would have been an understatement. I think I’d found an excellent companion for my other two black collar mares. I could imagine this one getting together with Lightning Dust to make for a very physically active evening. Of course I wasn’t blind to the potential dangers. Unlike Octavia and Lightning Dust, I had no leverage yet on this one’s good behavior, but that could be fixed with time. Best to get her in my estate as soon as possible and worry about the details of breaking her in later.

Hmm, Padlock was likely to throw a fit. Then again, his wife… yes, Midnight was useful in her way, and when it came to the arena of discipline there wasn’t likely another mare under the Caribou’s regime besides perhaps Twilight Sparkle herself who would be better suited to educating a problem mare like this one.

As plans whirled in my head I still had the presence of mind to give Filthy Rich an apologetic bow that was about as genuine as a his smile at Snips and Snails had been.

“I apologize for stepping in so rudely, my good man, but like you that female caught my attention and I could hardly pass up the opportunity to make a bd. Perhaps you intend to bid higher? I am as ready as you to let our coin purses fight it out for the enjoyment of the crowd.”

The scowl on Filthy Rich’s face was at once both delicious and a tad troubling. I doubted he could cause me any serious issues, but I had to mentally kick myself a bit. Making enemies was not the reason I’d come to Ponyville. It was also a bad idea to underestimate Filthy Rich so casually. Anypony, pushed the wrong way, could be dangerous.

“And just who are you, if I may ask?” Filthy Rich’s tone was a few octaves short of outright hatred. My oh my was this a stallion not used to getting his way. Ha, not that I had much room to talk, in that regard. I favored him with a slightly more genuine smile as I gave a short, formal bow; little more than an incline of my head the way any proper noble acknowledges the existence of a lower class pony.

“Of course you may, my good stallion. I am Lord Gilded Cage, of the Canterlot Cages. I won’t fault you if you are unfamiliar with us, for I am the last of my line and my family has often kept to its own devices in Canterlot these many years.”

Of course he’d have heard of us, if he had any passing interest in Canterlot society at all. The Cage family’s wealth was second perhaps only to the royal lines, and our influence was nestled in every crevice of business from Fillydelphia to Manehattan. Even with my parents long gone and most the extended family… grounded elsewhere, I didn’t doubt Filthy Rich knew exactly who I was the moment my name passed my lips. The slight widened of his eyes and the way he pulled at his suit collar with one idle hand told me he recognized my family name indeed. His scowl hadn’t gone anywhere, however, so worried or not I don’t think he was intimidated enough by my name alone to not bear a grudge.

“I see. What a pleasure that one of such stature has graced our fair township,” he said, smiling nastily, “I’m rather shocked such… common stock as that bitch could be worth the price you just bid.”

I raised an eyebrow, “You were willing to pay a high price as well, I note. Perhaps such ‘common stock’ is more appealing to a pony of your means and status?”

That earned a piercing glare, but only for an instant as he made a off hand gesture as if to brush off my comment, “A passing whimsy, nothing more. You’re welcome to her, Lord Gilded. She seems more trouble than she’s worth.”

I said no more, allowing the stallion to save some face. When it became clear that no more bids were about to be made the auctioneer raised his hand and chopped it down in a firm motion, declaring, “Sold! To the Lord Gilded Cage for one thousand bits!”

The transfer of coin took a few minutes, mainly because I needed to send one of my guards to go fetch one of the purses from the carriage. I hadn’t planned on spending so much this trip, but spare coin was always carried for emergencies. Octavia and Lightning Dust awkwardly stood to the side, their leashes back in my own hand, as we’d waited for my guard to return with the payment. The auctioneer looked my two mares up and down with a critical eye.

“I see you see to favor black collars, my Lord Gilded,” the caribou said with a neutral tone barely hiding a hint of scorn, “Are they properly… trained?”

I gave the Caribou a winning smile, “I’ve gone through great lengths to teach them proper public behavior, my good auctioneer.”

“Yet their collars remain black. They have not accepted their role properly,” the Caribou said in a less-than-approving voice, looking at the two mares with clear mistrust and irritation. I could practically see the plans forming in the Caribou's mind on how he'd go about punishing my two mares if they showed so much as a hint of disrespect.

“Only because I enjoy resistance,” I said in an assuring tone, “Its like… spice upon food, for me. A matter of taste. There is a difference between a mare in a black collar who resists, and a dangerous rebel who wears no collar at all, after all.”

The Caribou gave a small nod, acknowledging the point. There were no shortage o black collar mares in Equestria, and the Caribou tolerated them as long as they remained under the control of a proper male who could handle them. Since Octavia and Lightning Dust were both quietly standing by my side, not giving any immediate resistance, it would seem to the Caribou’s eyes that however they might behave in bed with their master, they at least acted properly in public. I was rather proud. Octavia was clearly trying hard to keep herself contained, meekly looking at the ground. The Caribou auctioneer wouldn’t recognize the subtle tells I’d come to know in the musician, the way her hands still clenched tight, or the slight scrunching of her muzzle. Nor would he recognize that Lightning Dust’s near stone like stance was a sign of just how furious the pegasus was underneath.

I made a mental note to reward them both for doing so well thus far.

As for the other mare, she was still chained up until paid for, and was glaring at me fiercely. I gave her a wide smile, which only seemed to infuriate her more, her mane risking like hackles on a wolf. It was fetching on her.

Soon enough my guard returned with the coin and I paid the auctioneer. In short order the mare was unchained, and her collar attached to a length of rope that was handled to me. I handed the rope in turn off to my guards, who held it fast as almost instantly the unicorn mare tried to bolt.

“Ah ah ah,” I said as my guards restrained her, “That kind of behavior won’t do at all, my dear.”

“Drop dead!” she shouted, “Who are you to buy me! Do you know who I am!?”

“No, but I’m most curious to find out. Later. For now I think it’s best you’re kept under strict lock and key. Guards, take her back to the carriage and keep watch on her there until I finish my business in town.”

“My lord? You do not want an escort?” one of my guards asked nervously. No doubt worried about a chewing out from Padlock. I gave the guards a reassuring grin.

“Fear not, I think I can handle myself in town. Its far more important to guard my latest investment and ensure she doesn’t… go anywhere. Fear not, I shall inform Padlock that this was a direct order from me. He’ll understand.”

Probably, I added silently.

The guards reluctantly obeyed, hauling the mare away, or at least starting to, but I held up a hand, “Hold a moment. Before you take her away, I am most curious my dear, just what is your name?”

The caribou auctioneer raised an eyebrow, as rarely did stallions care about the names of the mares they owned, but I didn’t mind. It wasn’t against Caribou law to let a mare have her name, black collar or not. The unicorn’s eyes burned into my own, and she held herself up proudly, as if her pride alone could shatter the collar around her neck and bring all the world to its knees around her.

“My name is Sunset Shimmer! Former student of Princess Celestia! And I am not a mare to cross, or be owned!”

“I’ll keep that in mind, my dear Sunset. Now then, do be a good girl and don’t give my guards too much trouble. I’d hate for them to have to use undue force to restrain you,” I gave the guards a pointed look, “But they are authorized to use whatever means they feel appropriate to ensure you remain at the carriage until my return.”

The guards saluted, and dragged of the struggling Sunset Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer… hmm, did that name sound familiar? I just couldn’t recall, but something about the name did ring with an echo of memory, but it was so lacking in solidarity that I felt like I was chasing smoke in my mind in trying to remember it. After the guards and my latest acquisition were out of sight I bid the auctioneer a fond farewell and led Octavia and Lightning Dust away towards the far end of the town square.

When we were out of earshot by anypony else Octavia said in a low tone, “I don’t know why I ever expect anything better out of you, Gilded. She clearly doesn’t know anything about what the Caribou are doing to Equestria, and you just purchased her like she was just another treasure to add to your stock.”

I ran a hand through my mane, giving Octavia a firm look, “Would you rather she’d gone to that Filthy Rich cretin? Can you imagine what he might have had in store for her?”

Octavia paused, looking unsure, then bit her lip, “I… I just wish thing weren’t like this.”

“And yet, they are. If you are feeling guilty, Octavia, assuage that guilt with the knowledge that Sunset Shimmer now has you and Lightning Dust as confidants to see to it she adjusts to her new role with as much emotional support as any mare is likely to get in this world of ours. You know well by now that I won’t mistreat her, at least not overly much by the standards of some, and that she’ll be given more than she could rightly expect as the property of any other stallion. Besides, aren’t you also curious?”

“About what?” asked Octavia.

“About just why that mare didn’t seem to know anything about the Caribou or their arrival in Equestria,” I said, eyes glinting, “I, for one, find it very odd that a supposed student of Princess Celestia would wind up captured by the Caribou about a year after the nation has fallen to their rule, and yet seems to know nothing of what has transpired. Quite the oddity, isn’t it?”

Lightning Dust’s face screwed up, “Hey, yeah, that’s… that’s kind of fucking weird, ain’t it? Could she have just been, like, away for awhile in some other country?”

“And she returned to Equestria without hearing word of events here first?” I inquired and the pegasus gave me a shrug. Octavia looked thoughtful, now also mulling over the mystery.

“At any rate,” I went on, “We can learn more of our newest family member soon enough, but back to business. Our first stop is just around the corner!”

We rounded a corner just off the town square and found ourselves on a broad street that played home to a large and impressive building that had a number of stallions waiting in a line outside it. The building in question looked akin to a combination of a foal’s ginger bread house and a lewd homage to sexual innuendo. Circular doughnut designs were being penetrated by thick baguettes. Mare shaped edifices forged from baked goods were being gang-banged by lengths of tentacle-like licorices, and one sizable ginger bread mare just above the door was gargling a fountain of whipped cream from a well endowed chocolate caribou. The house made one both hungry and horny all at once, and it always brought a smile to my face when I cast my eyes upon it.

Octavia actually looked speechless, her jaw hanging open slightly. Lightning Dust had a more frank look of bemusement.

“What the fuck is that?” the athlete asked bluntly.

I laughed, “That, my dears, is Pinkie Pie’s House of Delicious Decadence.”

Author's Note

Well it certainly has been a long time, hasn't it? Longer than I'd intended, at any rate. Can't claim much reason for the delay other than plenty of RL distractions assaulting me from all directions. At any rate, I do hope you folks enjoy this chapter. Next time, fun with Pinkie Pie, and a visit to the Everfree Forest... two guesses at who Gilded is visiting there. 'Till next time.