Twilight was busy, really busy. She had three scrolls she was filling with notes all at once and had even given paper to both Muffins and Gel to get their ideas.

"Please Rainbow Dash, just… just write down what you did with the Dragon Lord while you were training her, it would be really helpful!" Twilight was down to begging.

"Look, cool as it was to train Ember, you know I can't do that egg-head stuff." Dash had become a minor celebrity among the locals, many had seen that if it hadn't been for Garble commanding Ember to fight him on the ground she would have easily worn him down in the air.

"What is this 'was'?" Ember herself landed beside the ponies. She hadn't changed her stature, but there was a new sense about the dragoness. She was the Dragon Lord.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash turned to the dragon. "You want to train more?"

"No, silly, I want a race." Ember's words lit a fire in the pegasus and she was suddenly flapping her wings and hovering in place. Excitement was plastered all over the mare's features.

"A race? Where to? That volcano and back? Let's-" Rainbow Dash felt the pull of adrenalin but also had a large be-taloned hand trying to stop her.

"Whoa, slow down, the race will be to the edge of the ocean and back and you need to wait for me to get in the air." Ember had caught Dash's enthusiasm, however, and with a small leap was in the air, her blue and black wings pumping. "Go-"

"They get on well." Gel watched as the two left in a blur of speed. "Nearly done with the anatomical reference. I didn't want to intrude on Ember too much during the fight, it would have been… counter-productive." The stallion leaned in and nuzzled Twilight's neck, getting a giggle from the alicorn. "When are we heading home?"

Twilight sighed. "I am stalling. Honestly, it is good to get away from things for a little bit. To be somewhere that ponies aren't always hanging on 'the words of a princess'." She leaned into the changeling, a part of her wishing he would flow over her and trap her so she could just relax.

"Do Celestia and Luna ever get away from the castle?" Gel brought out his notes and started writing in them.

The alicorn scoffed. "Them? As if they would ever be able to get away from who and what they are. Everywhere they go ponies would recognize them."

"Oh, not this ghastly place." Jet Set sneered at the little hotel. "I simply can't believe that anypony would be caught dead in these kinds of places."

Upper Crust practically trembled. "Oh dear, please, let's leave this street, why does the princess," and the mare only acknowledged Celestia as her princess, "allow this sort of thing to happen?"

Prince Blueblood liked being in the upper social circles. Being marked as a prince helped, but he had to work at it to keep 'friends' with these ponies. "Oh, yes, let's not have anything to do with such a horrid place." He turned to avoid even looking at it, but his memory brought back the previous night.

Prince Blueblood, wearing a long cloak to hide his distinctive self, slunk up to the front and, avoiding using his horn to not be recognized, slipped inside.

"Welcome to Cherry Tarts." The pegasus at the front desk always sounded so cheerful, so happy to see everypony. It burnt the prince's heart a little, a part of him wishing his 'friends' would act that way for just a moment. "I have some bad news, my prince."

Blueblood started a little at being acknowledged in this sordid place, but of course she knew who he was, she demanded the true names of every pony that entered her little establishment. "Master Clicks?"

"Has been called away on hive business. We do have a mare who could replace him, if you would like to try that? Of course, due to the inconvenience, it will be half price." Cherry Stripe hated offering such deals, particularly when she knew full well that this pony could pay any price she would demand.

Blueblood was in a quandary. He needed his fix, his hooves practically trembled with the need that this dirty little place had brought out in him. He thought about it, about if a mare could fill the role his Master had. "Please, I just… I need somepony…"

Cherry heard the real pain, the ache in the stallion's voice, she could see his great form almost bowed with a weight that the world bestowed upon him. "Prince, come this way."

The stallion looked down, felt the wing of the mare wrap over his shoulders and guide him forward. Was this what he had been reduced to? "Thank you." Blueblood had never meant those two words so much as now.

"You will see, Sliver is new to the hive, she was one of Vicious' drones and you have my word that she is discrete." Cherry knew a lot of ponies in this town would be upset if she ever opened her mouth at the wrong time, but that was part of why they paid so much.

Blueblood felt heartened by the mare's concern and felt a little strengthened by it. Spending all day, every day… and most terrible nights, being Prince Blueblood, was taxing. He had been driven to the edges of sanity by his aunt's will that he run in high society. Then the changelings came and he found himself straying to this little establishment, where he had met Clicks.

They stopped at a door and Cherry was reaching for the handle when a blue light lit it up just in front of her hoof. "No, allow me." It felt all kinds of wrong to be 'nice', but damn it, this mare's opinion actually mattered to him, unlike the insufferable bores of high society.

Cherry smiled up and gave the slightest of bows. One little act of kindness brightened up her day and had her feeling bubbly and happy. "Go in, she will be waiting for you."

The words were ominous, perfect for the ambiance. Blueblood strode in and heard the door close behind them, then lock. His heart was already beating faster, how could it not, he was locked in a room with a changeling, a predator of ponies.

"Your name?" The voice was deep, sultry. It felt like it came from a mare who wanted a lot more than just a name.

"Prince Blueblood." He stepped forward only to come up short. The mare in front of him was small, not foal-like, but just a few inches below the normal. She was just too unfashionably undersized to get a smile from Blueblood.

"A prince? No, not in here. In here you are just Blue." Sliver didn't smile, she didn't hint at all that demeaning the stallion's heritage or standing improved her mood at all. This was just something she required of him.

Blueblood bowed his head once. "And what would be your name?" Cherry had told him her name, of course, but it slipped his mind now, besides, he was really asking what she wanted him to call her.

"I am Mistress Sliv, your owner and the mare who will rebuild you into something much more useful to her." Sliver licked a fang, she could easily push this stallion to the edges of sanity with her magic, her own power that her former queen and mother had given all her drones. She watched tension seem to pour from the stallion and he stood straighter.

"Mistress Sliv." Blueblood liked the name, liked what he had seen so far. She had proclaimed him as hers but he really wanted her to make him feel it. "Please Mistress…"

Sliver waited but the stallion didn't go on. "What are you here for, Blue? Take off that disguise, I wish to know all of you."

Blueblood shivered, taking off the cloak and the big hat he wore, showing himself to the small changeling. He didn't speak, he didn't dare to.

"You look tasty, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating." Sliver stepped around the male, reaching out with her hooves, giving various muscles a pinch, lifting his tail, weighing his balls in one hoof while gently rubbing them. The stallion was shivering a little under her fine scrutiny. "No, sorry, this will not work. You are not good enough. Cherry!"

Panic set in, Blueblood felt terror and alarm rise up as the mare headed to the door. "Please, Mistress please!"

She stopped, Sliver turned her head slightly, not quite enough that her eye would see him. "What is it Blue? Do you have something to say? To offer?"

"Mistress Sliv, I need to be your… your pet, your toy." Blueblood was flushed, the words were ones he hadn't even said to his previous Master, but this mare was so perfect and he needed her so very badly.

"Pet, or toy? Each have very different connotations." Sliver tilted a touch more, her blue eye catching sight of the pony who was lying down, his nose pressed to the floor. "A pet is groomed, looked after, cared for. A toy is just owned, used, and cleaned when done."

Blueblood hadn't been questioned in this way before, his Master hadn't given him the choice. "I… I want… I want to be your pet, Mistress Sliv." The demeaning nature of his words sunk in, the weight that was always on him shifted and some fell away.

"A pet, I have need of a pet. Very well, you give yourself to me, you are my little pet, Blue." Sliver turned fully and strode over to the stallion. Blueblood felt something levitated to his neck, wrapping around it and buckling up. A collar. "You will wear this, pet, you will wear it ALL the time. When you wear it, you will remember my hooves," Sliver made sure one was right by the stallion's nose, "and you will remember who owns you."

Blueblood trembled, his mind raced at how he was going to cover up the fact he would be wearing a collar. A changeling mare's collar. The weight slid from him, all of it. The collar was snug and each time he drew a breath there was the slightest pull of it at his neck. "Yes Mistress Sliv."

"Good boy, Blue." Slivers hole-filled hoof raised a fraction to pet gently down Blueblood's snout, eliciting little sighs with each stroke. "Cherry mentioned you had little time tonight, to spare your owner. This is perfectly fine, but you will be back to me before the end of the week, and I will be checking on you, to make sure you wear your collar. A changeling can always find these things out. So tomorrow you will go back to your high life, you will be the prince again, but remember, always remember, you are my pet."

Blueblood closed his eyes, not even knowing how long he laid there, the mare's soft little hoof stroking his face like a pet. He was her pet.

It had been last night that she had given him his collar and despite that, when Blueblood saw Sliver walking down the road toward Cherry's establishment he froze. The collar he was wearing was hidden well under the high-necked, stylish jacket with a very frilly silk shirt under it, but he was wearing it.

"My Prince." Sliver gave the slightest of bows as she walked past him, and the stallion felt a tremble at if she would reveal him, or worse, demand he serve her. He would, he promised himself he would. It would be the end of his social life, but as those blue eyes seemed to scan over every inch of him, they looked away and the mare passed them by.

"Ugh, I can't believe she would let those things in the city!" Jet Set's voice set Blueblood's teeth on edge, but he couldn't say anything, his Mistress had told him he must be the prince. There was no weight on Blueblood's shoulders, the collar made sure of that.

Starlight sat in the dining room long after the three other mares had departed, she was planning, trying to work out how best to make her 'entrance'. She had the special scroll tucked away, ready to unleash the strange magics on it.

A small pang of uneasiness rose within the unicorn, she needed to do this, Twilight had destroyed any hope she had of keeping her blissful little town together. They had kicked her out. But did she really deserve this? Of course she did, it wasn't like she wouldn't get together with her friends eventually anyway, this would just give her a little taste of how Starlight had been treated.

"Whatcha got there Starlight?" The voice was familiar and the unicorn jumped at the pink mare who was looking over her shoulder at the scroll.

"What? Oh, nothing!" Starlight was shocked at Pinkie Pie, it was one of Twilight's close friends, one of the mares who had messed up EVERYTHING. "I was just… bringing a new spell for Twilight to see."

"Oh goodie, if there is one thing Twilight loves more than her friends, it's spells!" Pinkie hopped around on all fours in a little circle. "So, no hard feelings about the town, right? I felt really bad about that and I wanted to say I was sorry."

The words were some that Starlight had been aching to hear, needed to hear, since she was a filly. But this was the wrong pony to be saying them. "Oh, that's okay, I am sure something new will come up for me to spend my energy on."

Author's Note

There, we have Prince Blueblood showing his softer side. No actual sex for once but I don't think he needed that so much as to feel owned and be told to be a good pony.

Starlight is clearly up to something, I wonder what she has planned with that scroll?

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