Broken

Broken: Chapter 4

Ups and Downs

The night was damp, but at least it wasn't raining. The weather was temperate enough that the entourage of ponies had forgone jackets or coats, save one of them.

"But M-Lavender, I'm already so hot... Why do I have to wear this?" Lily complained, looking not unlike a filly wrapped up in one of Lavender's winter coats. A very large and whiny filly, but a filly nevertheless.

"Because," Lavender sighed as they rounded a corner, the city center of Trottingham coming to view before them. "When we get there, they might be looking for you. Think of it this way: you managed to run away from a pack of lions, and rather than run further, we're sending you straight back into one of their dens." He leveled a look at her over his flanks. "Wouldn't you rather not look like the prey that ran away?"

"He's right, you know." Silver called back to them. "I've got it on good faith that this is a premiere spot for the New Lunar Republic."

"Honestly," Lavender cut her off with a snort. "Who calls an underground sex slave ring a 'Republic?'"

"Oh I don't get it either." Silver rolled her eyes. "Chalk it up to crazies. But whatever the reason, this club is one of their fronts. They have another, more intimate club in the basement, and ponies like Lily get traded or sold there all the time."

"Did you bring the money?" Lavender asked, a little quieter now that they were moving towards the ever-present early-night buzz of Trottingham. Even now, on a Monday night, the bars and clubs were in full swing. A few wandering ponies, either going to or from the festivities, were passing by relatively close.

"I brought my two hundred." Silver nodded, falling back to walk alongside Lavender. "You?"

"My whole savings." Lavender grimaced. "Three hundred and some change."

"So we've got five. I think that ought to be about enough, don't you think?"

"Here's hoping. Knowing our luck, she'd probably be sold for like, ten thousand..." Lavender cast a look back to Lily, who was following along a little more slowly. Apparently mares in heat found it difficult to walk regularly, thanks to the quivering in their backsides. That little tidbit of information had come from Silver when Lavender had called attention to Lily's slow pace. "So," He nudged Silver gently. "Do we want to come up with a cover or something?"

"Just go with what feels natural." Silver shrugged him off. "I'm here to introduce you to my friend, nothing more. You do what you can to get on the inside of this little organization, got it?"

"Fine. Give me your share."

"All yours. And I expect it back." She glowered, shoveling a small pouch of bits to him. He peered inside the tiny thing, wondering how she could fit two hundred bits in there, when he saw them.

"What the buck are these?"

"The new ten-bit coins from the bank. Look, don't worry about them. Once I introduce you, I'm out. It's up to you to bargain for her, and get on their good graces." Silver leveled a serious look at him. "I'm assuming that's what our plan was, right? You get on the inside, and we get the scoop, right?"

"Right." Lavender nodded. "That was the plan ever since I called you in on this."

"You're sure?" Silver glowered at him. "You don't have any other reasons? No ulterior motives?"

"Silver! I'm shocked!" He drew back, his mouth agape. "Are you thinking I'd want to join up just so I can-?"

"Just because you've gone two days now doesn't mean you haven't thought about it." Silver cut him off seriously. "I expect you to treat Lily with all the respect she deserves. Even after you've 'bought' her. Understood?"

"Perfectly." Lavender flagged under the assertive mare's iron gaze. "I wasn't thinking of that anywa-"

"Ah huh." Silver turned forwards again, though she fell behind to go walk beside Lily. They engaged in a hushed conversation that Lavender couldn't hear, but he figured it'd be best to give them their time. Instead, he walked towards the section of Trottingham's downtown district that Silver had originally directed them to. Whatever the two were talking about behind him went unnoticed. He might have been a snoop and an eavesdropper when a story was on the table, but he was not so around somepony he admired.

Silver, for all her brash behavior, was somepony he admired. She was callous and rude, but she was immune to his schmoozing and smooth-talk. Before her, Lavender had smooth-talked, backstabbed, blackmailed, exploited, and out-performed his way up the ladder of journalism, but he found her to be a veritable brick wall. There was no taking Silver's position in the newspaper, and he had tried. The memory of her hoof making less-than-friendly contact with his genitals was a fresh one, and made him cringe.

Despite their differences in morals (she vehemently disliked his methodology,) he had found a trustworthy friend in Silver. She was always straightforward with him, and at times, downright forthcoming. While they never really spent much of their time together outside of work, they often went on lunch dates (of minimal import) and went out afterwards for drinks with the rest of the writers and editors. Silver, when drunk, was truly a spectacle to behold.

Lavender mentally shook himself. Thinking of those things would do him no good this evening. He had a quest; an objective, and he was determined to fulfill it. Before now, Silver's web of informants had been limited to the goings-on outside of this relatively new 'cult' that had cropped up in the absence of Nightmare Moon and Luna from Equestria. The New Lunar Republic, as they had taken to calling themselves, was a not-so-unknown underground movement that openly sympathized with Nightmare Moon's eternal night. As far as he knew, they were largely outnumbered by the rest of Equestria, but their existence was no secret to anypony with their hooves in the social goings-on of the world.

Lavender himself had only heard of them in passing, but there were several members of the social clique that he had interviewed in his earlier years of journalism that were suspected members. Whether they were or not remained to be seen, but that sort of gossip was what fueled half of the newspaper's readers. He himself had been accused of being part of the N.L.R., and he found the idea a fanciful, of tragically outdated one.

Before, the New Lunar Republic had been a group of crazies and cultists; ponies hell-bent on bringing back the darkest of Equestria's times. Now, he realized, the only reason they sympathized with Nightmare Moon was because they thought they could get away with some truly sick and depraved things.

Things like slavery.

In retrospect, they were probably right. Following Nightmare Moon's banishment, Equestria lost half of its diarchy. Celestia and the guard were alone now, and without Luna's guidance, were overwhelmed with the sheer amount of jurisdictions that needed to be watched. Cities like Trottingham and Baltimare had flown under the radar, their already-weak guard presence further lessened by the loss of Luna's watchful eye. Now, the New Lunar Republic could operate much easier without the shadowy princess keeping tabs on their movements in the dark.

Now, nighttime had become a truly fearful thing in Equestria without its warden.

As that nighttime fully descended, the last shades of purple fading from the Western horizon to paint the sky in twinkling, beautiful stars, Lavender and his accompaniment made their way towards the warmly-lit exterior of one of Trottingham's premiere strip clubs.

"We're looking for a pink mare with a white mane; her cutie mark is a fiddle."

"You mean Candy Note?" Lavender blinked at Silver. "The printer?"

"I didn't know you knew her. Well, yeah. She's a stripper on her nights, to help pay rent, she says. She'll never admit it's because she loves the attention and the dancing. Not to mention the cute stallions she can lure home with just a wink after her performance."

"Huh." Lavender had never pegged the energetic, bouncy pink mare that worked on the second floor of the newspaper as familiar with the Trottingham underground. Then again, if she were a stripper here, she'd probably know what went down in the basement. He scanned the crowd in front of the strip club intensely, looking for her familiar frame.

"There she is." He spotted her, standing against the wall with a watchful eye out over the heads of ponies coming and going. Silver lifted a hoof to flag the mare down, and the three of them made their way towards the stripper.

"Heya Lavender!" She beamed at him. "I never expected you'd be the one Silver was talking about. So you're not as much of a closet pervert as everypony else thinks you are!" Lavender stared at the mare with his mouth agape.

"I'm not a closet per-"

"Silver, love, so good to see you again!" Candy Note beamed at the editor-in-chief, wrapping her in a warm hug.

"You saw me just this afternoon, silly."

"I know! And I was so shocked when you told me Lavender here was into... Well, you know." Candy threw a cautious glance around them, her eyes lingering for a moment longer on Lily than they probably should have. She moved up next to Lavender, throwing a hoof over his shoulders. "Don't you worry, big guy, I'll put you in touch with Hocus Focus."

"Eer, you mean Hocus Pocus?" Lavender arched an eyebrow at her.

"What? No! Hocus Focus is the New Lunar Republic's representative in this place." She winked at him. "He'll get you set up. Silver, I'll catch you later!"

"Thank you, darling!" Silver waved at them as she retreated, flapping her wings to take off into the sky, leaving Lavender and Lily alone with Candy Note. For half a moment, Lavender felt panicked, like his last anchor of sanity was fleeing him. One look at Lily, though, stopped him. Her wide blue eyes bore straight into his own, and he remembered the hurt and desperation in those eyes the night she had collapsed on his front porch.

Determination filled him then, as Candy led them off of the street and into the strip club.

'This was a terrible idea.' Hindsight is twenty-twenty, so they say, and Lavender had never realized that more than at this very moment. With Lily's lingering scent still chasing him from that evening, Lavender found it more and more difficult to focus on the task at-hoof. He had elected to not take Silver's advice and relieve himself before coming here. That, too, was coming back to bite him in the flank.

Literally.

"Master!" Lily whispered quietly after he had pried her teeth from his cutie mark. "These mares! They're just like me!"

"Oh Lily," Lavender sighed, his eyes wandering over the three mares on stage. "If only you knew. And for the love of- actually." A thought struck him. He had just been about to tell her not to call him master once more, but given their current situation, they might actually benefit from not giving out his name. "Do me a favor?" He pulled Lily close, catching yet another whiff of her current... predicament.

"Anything!" She beamed, pressing warmly against him. Thankful that the coat was between them, Lavender whispered quietly into her ear.

"I know I wanted you to call me by name, but when we're down there, I want you to call me Master. Okay?"

"I... Okay, Master!" Lily beamed at him for half a moment, but her expression quickly turned dark. "Are... Are you going to sell me back to my old masters?"

"No." Lavender frowned at her. "With any luck, Lily, I'm going to buy you from them, so that you'll never have to be with them again." A look washed over Lily in that moment, and it was one that he had seen on her once before. It was the look she had given him the moment he had told her to pick her own name. Somehow, Lavender knew that nopony had ever shown her this measure of kindness in the past.

Whether that broke his heart or mended the jaded portions that had already been broken, Lavender couldn't tell.

"Alright, lovers." Candy had led them through the strip club rather briskly, giving them hardly a few moments to look at the provocative displays of mares dancing to hooting and clapping stallions. She went straight towards the bar, angling towards the back wall just to the right of it instead. Hidden there behind a dark curtain was a doorway, and Candy held the drape aside for them. "Just down there will be Hocus. If you tell him Candy sent you, they won't blast you."

"Blast us?" Lavender seemed taken aback. "You can't seriously mean they'd-"

"Oh hon." She crooned, reaching out to stroke his cheek tenderly. "Why do you think Silver asked me to introduce you? Oh, and here, you'll need this." Lavender hadn't realized it previously, thanks to their color, but Candy wore several elastic bracelets on her foreleg. She slid one of them off, passing it to Lavender with a wink. "Think of it as a pass. Only we employees can send ponies down there."

"R-right..." Lavender took the bracelet and carefully wound it around his hoof, keeping it from cutting into his coat higher up his leg. He slipped cautiously past Candy, though he got a teasing swat to his flank on the way by. Growling inwardly but trying to shoot her a playful smile, Lavender opened the door to what looked like a dimly-lit concrete stairway leading down. "Like it's straight out of a bad book," Lavender sighed, ushering Lily to follow him closely. Down the stairwell and at the bottom was another door, and it was through this that Lavender led them.

Immediately inside was what appeared to be an antechamber, and two burly unicorn guards looking down at him. Lavender paused as their horns leapt to life, the scintillating sound of spells filling the room almost immediately. Lavender gasped and lifted his hoof, half out of instinct, and half to show them the bracelet.

"C-Candy sent us!" He managed to stutter. The energy died away almost immediately, and the two unicorns slammed the door shut, shoving Lily into the room with them in the process.

"Git goin'." The one on the right jerked his head back to the opposite end of the antechamber. Lavender tried his best to reign in his thundering heartbeat before leading Lily across the concrete floor.

Past that room was a place Lavender just as soon would never have visited.

If the strip club upstairs had been a test of restraint, this would be the final. A wide, low-ceilinged lounge stretched out before them, interspersed with low lounges that looked to be made of some sort of faux leather. In those lounges were ponies of all shapes and sizes, though most of them appeared to be well-to-do socialites. On the other half of the coin were scantily-clad or otherwise dressed mares (and even a stray stallion or two) standing on the tables in the midst of the low seating. While the well-dressed ponies lounged lazily, they were treated to a show on a completely different level of the one upstairs. Lavender watched as one mare carefully positioned an almost comically-large dildo on the table, straddled the head, and took the whole thing in one smooth motion.

Her cry preceded another, louder one from a mare just two tables away. Lavender hadn't seen what made her scream so loudly, but he cringed as it became clear. A rawhide whip lashed through the air, licking along her flank, raising an angry red mark and another hellish scream from the poor mare.

"Master." Lily whispered closely, pressing against his side again. "I've been here before."

"I don't doubt it." Lavender whispered to himself, looking out over the various acts of sexual depravity going on. A low, smoky haze hung to the ceiling, product of numerous pipes, intricate hookahs, cigars and cigarettes being smoked by the patrons of this deviously twisted little club. Silver had been expecting something akin to this, but seeing it laid bare before his eyes, so prevalent and open, was shocking to say the least.

"Move it." One of the gruff unicorns from earlier had followed them, and nudged Lavender's flanks.

"S-sorry?" Lavender stumbled a little, moving at the unicorn's insistence.

"You said Candy sent you, right? Means you haven't been introduced yet. Come on, Hocus is waiting." The unicorn nudged him again, making Lavender stumble close to one of the dens housing a leather-clad mare suspended from the ceiling by an intricate array of ropes. Lavender thanked the heavens for his pigmentation once again and moved towards the far end of the room, guessing where to go from the Unicorn's guiding pokes and prods.

He tried not to let his gaze wander. He really did. But between Lily's proximity (and the accompanying scent) alongside the suggestive and sometimes pained moans of ponies all around them, he couldn't help it. He wasn't the only one, it seemed. Along the wall was another series of low-slung benches bedecked in luscious-looking black leather that housed another sort of pony. These appeared to be lookers-on, ponies that either let their gazes wander over the various displays of debauchery, or shamelessly clopped to one in particular. This bench was broken by a fully-stocked bar to the left of the door Lavender and Lily had entered from, and a set of double doors towards which their unicorn escort led them.

"Inside." The unicorn grunted, ushering Lavender through the door with a less-than-friendly shove. Lavender stumbled, about to confront the brute, when Lily gave a soft gasp. Rather than face their escort, Lavender focused on the pony before them.

"Well, well, well..." The slimy voice slid through Lavender's ears like an oiled snake, nearly making him cringe. "Look who came crawling back." Lavender froze as the new party rose from another lush lounge, much like the ones outside, but this one a little more well-appointed, and bedecked with three gorgeous mares who had been fawning over the unicorn. He was a greasy pony, with long locks of hair hanging down over his face and neck. His coat was an off-white, looking all the more garish for the shiny black strands of his mane. Lavender couldn't see his cutie mark, but the quick glimpse he had seen suggested a looking glass, or maybe a detective's magnifying glass. A thick cigar hung out of the corner of one mouth, curling sickly-green smoke up towards the similarly-laden ceiling.

"Hocus Focus, I presume?" Lavender managed to find his voice, though his confidence still cowered somewhere in the vicinity of his gut.

"The one and only." The unicorn's horn lit in a silvery glow not unlike his own, pulling the cigar from his mouth to flick a thick chunk of ash onto the floor, which Lavender noted was similarly stained with who-knew-what. "And you're Lavender Sky. A columnist for the Trottingham Observer."

"I- yes." Lavender blinked, caught all the more by surprise. "How did you know?"

"Oh I'm what you'd call a fan." The pony chuckled, tucking the cigar back into his mouth. "I read your column every day. Some really insightful stuff you've got in there, Lavender." His eyes flickered from Lavender to Lily, who cowered from him visibly. "Which raises so many questions... Why is a newspaper columnist renown for gossip and rumor standing in my club with one of my own personal slaves?"

A chill passed over Lavender, and he looked towards Lily with wide eyes. So many thoughts and questions flew through his mind, all of them muddled together to form one incoherent, jumbled mess of anger, rage, and he had to admit, pity for Lily's situation. Out of all of them, though, only one course of action came to him.

"You little bitch!" Lavender's hoof whipped around, catching Lily across the cheek. A brief panic filled him as he had hoped the blow would look real enough to fool Hocus. Thanks probably largely to shock, Lily cried out and cringed away from him, her entire body reacting to the unexpected blow. A quick glance betrayed that Hocus was equally shocked. (His cigar had fallen from his open mouth.)

"You didn't tell me Hocus was the master you ran away from!"

"I'm sorry, Master! You never asked!" Lily offered weakly. He wasn't sure if the glimmer in her eyes was thanks to tears, or that she had caught on to his plan.

"Enough!" Lavender aimed a quick kick at her flank, and she reacted wondrously, cringing away and into a little ball on the filthy floor. "No matter, Hocus. You see," Lavender gestured towards Lily empathetically. "I saw this cute little thing lost on the street. So I brought her home. Well, once I saw what had happened to her horn, I knew." A grin spread across his lips, and judging by Hocus' dumbfounded expression, he had bought it. "She belonged to the New Lunar Republic."

"I... I, uuh... Wow." Hocus blinked, looking not unlike a greasy willow tree with an owl's eyes. "So... Why'd you bring her here?"

"Well isn't it obvious?" Lavender scoffed. "She's valuable property. At least, if the good times she's been showing me the past two days are any indication. I figured you might want her back."

"Well that's awfully generous of you." Hocus seemed to not mind that Lavender had been sampling the goods the past two days. If anything, he looked relieved. "If that's all, I guess I'll just be takin-"

"I want her." Lavender cut the stallion off. Hocus froze mid-step, his wide eyes returning in a heartbeat, and his cigar returning to the floor at his hooves.

"You... You what?"

"I want to buy her." Lavender met the stallion's wide eyes with a stone-like gaze of his own. "She's been a lot of fun the past two days, and as you can tell, she's only going to get better as her heat ramps up." Half of that had been a bluff. The other half was Lavender's own anxious fear at what the next few days meant for him and his impromptu houseguest. His eyes flickered towards the lounge that Hocus had risen from and the three mares watching the exchange disinterestedly. He made the sickening realization that a slave (probably one of their own) being punished was a not uncommon occurrence. "You look like you've got your hooves full, anyways..."

"I... Huh." Hocus grunted, lifting his cigar once more. He made a show of surveying the damaged ember on the end before pushing it back into his mouth. "How much?"

"Well, that's where you've got me." Lavender chuckled, looking to Lily. "I've been to a few places like this here and there, but I've never been in the market for one to call my own before now... Tell me, what's a fair price for one like her?"

"A runner? " Hocus pulled the cigar from his mouth and spat. "She ain't worth the dirt on my hooves no more, not after I reported her missing. You seem new to this whole thing, so I'll tell you now." Hocus threw a hoof over Lavender's shoulders. "A slave is only as good as the pleasure they can give... A slave who runs off, can't give no pleasure. You see, when a slave is labeled as a 'runner,' they lose a lot of their wealth. The only ponies that can keep them from escaping have to have a lot of equipment and specialized chambers to keep them from escaping. That, and once they realize there's freedom out there, they tend to become... rebellious. So they have to be broken again." Hocus released Lavender and padded back over to his lounge with the mares readily accepting him. He flopped onto his back, looking up to Lavender and Lily while the three mares set to kissing and fawning over him, all of him.

"Then again..." He grinned. "She did cost me a fair amount." The cigar rolled from one side of his mouth to the other, and his eyes twinkled behind the curtain of greasy hair. "She's one of the best-trained on the market. Knows her way around a pony, if you get my meaning... I think you do, right?" He guffawed, a sickening sound that nearly made Lavender cringe. Instead, Lavender gave Hocus a devious grin, nudging Lily with his hoof roughly.

"Do I ever."

"Well," Hocus sighed, pulling on the cigar and letting another sick green cloud erupt from his mouth. "The N.L.R. knows she's a runner now... I've got plenty of other good mares who won't run off like her, so I guess you could say I'm willing to part with her. But she was a good little thing, and I enjoyed my time with her. I'm sad to see her go." He pulled on the cigar once more, flicking ash directly onto the leather lounge.

"Two hundred bits."

"Done." Lavender didn't even have to think about it. He levitated the pouch Silver had given him and tossed it to Hocus. The unicorn caught it deftly, opening the drawstring to peer inside.

"Huh. How about that. I never woulda pegged you for the rich sort." Hocus finished counting and pulled the pouch closed once more. "You sure you can handle a runner?" He asked, gesturing towards Lily once more with his cigar.

"I've got an enchantment." Lavender waved a hoof. "Keeps her from leaving the bedroom as long as I'm not in there with her."

"That's handy."

"Tell me about it. My guide taught it to me." Lavender turned to leave the lounge, his heart thundering in his ears. He had done it! He was home free now! Just had to get out-

"Hey, Lavender Sky." Hocus' voice gave him pause. Lavender looked back at him curiously.

"Yes?"

"If you're going to own one of our slaves, you've got to register with the New Lunar Republic." Hocus sat up, one of the mares that had been intent on fellatio falling off of him. "Name, cutie mark, address, occupation, all known relatives... It all goes on file." He jabbed a hoof at them, as if driving home a point. "You had best seek out Master Ignatus and set up an interview. The way I hear it, he was the pony responsible for that pretty little thing's training. He's going to want to meet you , and Master Ignatus ain't the type of pony you want to keep waiting." Hocus' eyes peered out between the sodden locks of his mane.

"Ponies lose horns if they keep Master Ignatus waiting."

The walk home was a sobering affair. Between Hocus’ final words and the harrowing realization that he had just ’purchased a bucking sex-slave!’ Lavender was having a difficult time breathing, let alone focusing. Thankfully enough, his hooves carried him home without incident. Lily, however, was incorrigible. She waited until they were out of the major flow of hoof-bound traffic before bombarding him with questions.

“Are you my new master, now? Why did you strike me back there? Will you be like my other masters? Does this mean we can sleep together? Will I be able to service you?” And on and on. Lavender’s patience was wearing thin by the time he pushed through the front door.

“Lily,” He started quietly.

“Yes, master?”

“You can stop calling me master now. Call me Lavender again.”

“Oh. Okay.” If anything, Lily seemed to flag at that. Lavender frowned when she appeared downtrodden at not being able to call him by an old handle. She was such an enigma, this pony who had showed up at his doorstep. He found himself mystified by her. How she could be so carefree and happy at one moment, and then grim and dour the next. The triggers for those melancholy spells were even more worrying than anything else, and he found himself looking at her once more. Not just staring at her in shocked disbelief or open and unabashed lusty desire, but studying her. Scrutinizing her.

“This is how it begins, isn’t it?” Lavender mused weakly.

“Lavender?” Lily lifted her eyes to look at him.

“This is how somepony becomes a slaver, isn’t it?” Lavender wiped a hoof across his face. “It starts by chance. Maybe they see a mare in a club like the one we were just in. Maybe their friend introduces them. They get interested. Maybe the sample the goods. Then they buy one. Then they use one. Then they…” He leaned against the wall in the foyer, his head hitting the plaster with an audible ‘thump.’

“Then they become a slave-owner.”

Silence prevailed for a few long moments. Lavender, wallowing in his anger and pity, barely even noticed it as Lily leaned up against his side.

“For what it’s worth, Lavender.” She kissed his cheek sweetly. “You’re the nicest slaver I’ve met.”

Coffee. Sweet, blissful, luxurious coffee. Lavender lost himself in the aroma and the taste of his personal favorite blend. A strong mix from the quaint hills of Baltimare, halfway across Equestria. It was strong and bold, with a flavor that lingered on the tongue longer than the minute burns if one drank it too quickly. It was exceedingly rare and relatively expensive, but Lavender needed it that morning. He replayed the events just fifteen minutes prior once again, and some small part of him wondered if he’d ever get them out of his head.

”Lily?”

“Yes, Ma-Lavender?”

“Mind telling me why you’re sucking my cock?”

He shuddered and took another gulp, groaning as the warmth flooded him.

“Lavender?” Lily’s voice came to him, and he turned to glare at her over his withers. “S-sorry, I just… Mistress Silver is here…?”

“Fuck me with the moon.” Lavender groaned, dumping the dregs of his second mug into the sink. “Don’t call her Mistress. Just ‘Silver,’ if you could.”

“Of course, Mast-Lavender.” Lily bowed her head as he swept past, going to answer the front door. He hadn’t even heard her knock. Opening it, he ushered Silver inside, who shot him a glare.

“I know a mare’s heat lasts a few days, but seriously does it always smell like a whorehouse in here?”

“Good morning to you, too, Silver Bolt. What? Oh, no, I didn’t have a near-death experience last night, thank you.” He rolled his eyes, shutting and locking the door behind her. “What are you doing over here on a Tuesday morning?” He asked, leveling a glare at her. Silver puffed up, looking like she was about to wallop him with a wing before Lily emerged bashfully from the kitchen.

“Good morning, Mist- eer, Silver.”

“Good morning to you too, Lily!” Silver beamed and turned to the mare, giving her an affectionate nuzzle. “Did you sleep well last night?”

“No, I didn’t.” Lily admitted, almost all too cheerily. Lavender face-hoofed.

“Oh you didn’t? Why was that?”

“I… I was very hot, and I…”

“Go on…” Silver urged her, staring daggers at Lavender.

“I watched master sleep-“

“Lavender. Call me Lavender.” His weak protest fell on deaf ears.

“And I touched myself-“

“Ugh.”

“And I decided to wake master up with a blowjob-“

“Lavender!”

“WHAT?!” Lavender snapped at Silver, rushing to his hooves with fire in his eyes. “She’s incorrigible! I was dead asleep and she snuck into my room, and sucked me off!”

“… Did you finish?”

“RRGH!” He stormed away, stomping up the stairs angrily.

“Hey, you have work in like, a half an hour!”

“Taking a day!” Lavender slammed the door to his bedroom shut, anger at his situation filling his senses completely. He stood on the inside of his door, seeing red and trying his hardest to avoid breaking something. Only the sound of a soft set of hooves approaching his door snapped him out of it.

“Lav, come on, open up.” Silver’s voice was gentle, if not compassionate. Lavender had almost never heard her sound like this. Cautiously, he opened the door, meeting Silver face-to-face. She smiled at him, an odd gesture for the brash Pegasus. “Do you love her?”

“What?” The question legitimately took Lavender by surprise. He recoiled, mostly out of shock.

“Do you love her.” Silver stated it this time, stepping towards him.

“I… I… I can’t answer that! I’ve known her three days!”

“But do you care for her?” Silver countered.

“Of course I care for her-“

“Do you want to help her?”

“O-of course I-“

“Then it’s okay.” Silver laid her hooves on Lavender’s shoulders, smiling at him kindly. “Look, I might needle you about it, but here’s a fun fact: mares go crazy during heat. Yeah, she’s kind of acting strangely, and yeah, she’s hungry for your cock more than anything else right now. But take it from a mare with experience, these lusting feelings she has for you are just an amplified version of what she actually feels for you. If she hated you, or didn’t want it, she wouldn’t be waking you up with a beej.” Silver stroked the coat on his shoulders before backing away a little.

“If you really care about her, and you really, honestly, truthfully want to help her, then make her heat a little more bearable. Plow her once or twice. Heavens know you could use the stress relief as well.” She chuckled as he flushed bright enough to be seen. “I know you won’t feel right, given her history-“

“How could I?!”

“Shut up. Listen to me.” Silver glowered at the interruption. “But it’s what she knows. It’s all she’s good at. And she seems to certainly like you. Maybe that’s because she’s in heat, maybe it’s because you and I are the first nice and decent ponies she’s come across. But whatever the reason, Lav, she cares for you. Yeah, she needs help, and we’re gonna get it for her.” Silver glanced over her shoulder, and Lily who stood at the head of the stairs, looking at the conversation with teary eyes.

“But there’s nothing saying you can’t enjoy yourself in the meantime. If you want it and she wants it, I don’t see any problem with it.” Silver rose to her hooves and plodded towards the stairs, leaning in to give Lily a passing nuzzle. “I might give you shit about it, but hey, that’s what friends do, isn’t it?” She turned to face him at the head of the stairs, looking over Lily’s head with a smile. “And I kind of need you in to work today.”

“Wh- hey! That’s not fair!”

“You’ve got a whole morning to blow steam off! Ta ta!” Silver fluttered down his stairs and out of sight. Lavender heard the front door open and close, leaving him alone with an all too eager-looking Lily. A war took place inside of him, one half begging for sweet, intimate release, and the other struggling to find some morally wrong reason, something completely and totally wrong with the whole situation that would turn him off of the idea.

“You know,” Lily said quietly. Lavender looked her in the eyes, and she smiled faintly at him. “I know there’s something wrong with me.” The sudden self-realization that Lily was exposing to him made Lavender freeze.

“I know I’ve been abused and hurt… Before Hocus, I’d never have imagined I would have run form one of my masters… But I came to a realization with him, when I realized what was happening to me was wrong.” She sat on her haunches, hugging her breast with her forelegs. “I know that the urges I feel around other ponies aren’t right. And I know that I shouldn’t be calling anypony ‘master’ or ‘mistress…’ But…” She looked up at him with teary eyes.

“You’re not like any of them. You’re kind, and sweet, and you don’t hit me… Well, except to make a show of it for Hocus to believe you…” She gave a faint laugh. “But, in a way, I kind of liked it… If it were you hitting me, that is.” She sniffled, a tear rolling down her face. “I… I think this is what they call ‘Love,’ isn’t it?”

Lavender sighed, hanging his head as he slowly approached Lily. He nuzzled into her mane, pressing them together in a tender hug.

“Lily, you’re going to realize that I might not be any better than any of your other masters.”

“Why is that?” Lily asked, tensing up slightly. Lavender pulled away to look her in the eyes, and said the words that he’d been dying to say since the first time he laid eyes on her.

“Because I’m going to take you into my bedroom and buck you so hard you won’t be able to walk straight.”