Author's Note

Warning: The following contains a scene of attempted sexual assault. This was one of the hardest things I've ever tried to write. I had to get help from my wife, who writes non-pony erotica and another writer here on the site.

Chapter 12 will follow in a few hours.

Chapter 11: Danger on the Trail

The alabaster unicorn woke to the sound and feel of a second lead being locked to her bridle.

“My beauty, tonight is the night where I finally get to finally taste your sweet honey.” It was Raarg and he was salivating over her rump. Valiente panicked. Where was Rarity? Why wasn’t she in charge? She could feel the diamond dog’s breath on her neck as his paw traced lines down her flank. Valiente jerked her head back and forth, trying to move, the bells in her mane jangling, but the two leads conspired to hold her in place.

“Master?” Her voice was just like Rarity's.

“Shut up, pony.” Raarg’s one firm paw drove Valiente’s shoulders down, forcing her plot up. She could feel him tracing the sinuous lines of her slit with his other paw. He was murmuring to her about how he had wanted to explore her depths and her body since he first saw her, and that now she was his prize and he was going to claim her as he had wanted to do since the very beginning.

Valiente finally found Rarity's presence within. A curled frozen ball of horror, Rarity had sought shelter from the nightmare by retreating deep inside. Valiente’s sex began to drip with want and need as Raarg manipulated her body to betray her desires. She had wanted to be helplessly taken for so long, but not like this, not with this beast. Raarg continued to stroke her, reveling in her heat and slickness. Valiente could feel his shaft rising along her inner thigh.

“RARITY! I NEED YOU!” Valiente screamed to the other presence within.

“V-V-Valiente?” Rarity’s voice was a tiny whisper that Valiente could barely hear. “What is going on, what is...”

“He is raping us.” Both mares said together in their head. Suddenly Valiente felt a great heat rise within her. A fire, a boiling fury. Valiente pulled away from the intensity of that fire, but Rarity embraced it. The heat grew, the fury doubling and then redoubling. Bound or not, cut off from magic or not, Rarity would NOT allow this to happen. An elegant hoof lashed back in a flash of motion. Her hoof connected, but didn't stop; Rarity drove her limb through the target, drawing an inhaled whoop of agony from Raarg.

As he staggered back from the blow Raarg screamed, “My bone!!! MY BONE! you broke my bone.” He pulled himself up in pained fury and charged forward to attack the defiant mare before him. Rarity calmly launched a double hoof buck that would have made Applejack proud, bouncing Raarg off the far wall of the pen and laying him stunned on the ground.

“I,” declared Rarity in a firm, loud voice, “am not your toy. I am not your slave. I am not a thing, here for your amusement. I am ME. I belong to myself and no other. And if I chose to give ownership of myself to another, it would not be to some spineless cur who needs chains to try to rape a mare half his size and weight. I’m certain the spirits of your parents must be so proud at how your actions honor their memory.”

A few moments later Rorg, Chopper, and Growf burst into the pen. What had almost happened was perfectly obvious to all. Particularly with Rarity being still tethered in place and the damage to Raarg’s groin being more than painfully obvious. Chopper took command of the situation.

“Get Raarg to infirmary,” he ordered to Rorg, who got a shoulder under Raarg and began to move him out of the pen. “Growf,” Chopper said next, “get Howl and put guards around pen.” Growf shot off like Cerberus himself was after him.

Rarity realized that for the moment that it was just her and Chopper in the pen despite the audible commotion from outside. She still had a pretty good head of steam but two realizations began to cool her rage. First, she was still securely tethered in place. Secondly, Chopper had his whip and knew how to trigger the bridle. He could have her down and screaming in seconds if he chose to.

So relief flowed through her as he said, “Easy pony, no one going to hurt you. For now, you stay so Howl can see for himself. Chopper sit now, where you see him not hurt you.” Putting actions to words he sat himself along one wall of the pen where Rarity could see him without having to twist around against the leads.

“Valiente, are you alright?” Rarity asked the submissive personality inside her.

“I-I’m sorry Rarity,” wept Valiente, “I’ve wanted to be touched for so long and it felt so good when he started, but then he...he.”

“Shh, it’s okay dear,” comforted Rarity. “You dealt with the situation as best you could and you shook me out of my hiding place. You have nothing to apologize for. I thought it was a nightmare and not reality so I tried to hide from it. I’m just glad you were there to handle things.”

Some minutes later Howl came bustling in. He nodded to Chopper. “Pony, what happened?” he asked brusquely. Rarity explained how she woke to Raarg tethering her and then attempting to rape her. He asked a few more questions and then stepped back for a moment.

“Valiente, under our laws you are a possession, a slave, property,” began the Den Leader. “But you are a precious commodity and a valuable property. Which Raarg tried to damage. As such, he is going to be severely punished. However, you damaged him as well and wrong as he was, you defied him.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Rarity, fear creeping into her voice.

“You have to be punished as well,” said Howl in a matter of fact tone. “I will give you a choice. Either I will use your original name in a manner to further drive the bridle's conditioning on you three times," he paused, "or I will allow you to say your original name once only. I will see this done before I leave. What is your choice?”

Rarity thought for a moment. Valiente was silent as Rarity considered her choices. The bridle was excruciating and made Valiente ever stronger each time it was triggered. Raarg saying her name twice had reduced her to a pleading, desperate ruin. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Howl sounding her name three times would be like. On the other hoof, when Rarity triggered the bridle herself it's effect on her mental landscape was profound. In fact, it was rather disturbing that Valiente had been in control when she, Rarity, had awakened. It meant that Valiente was indeed strong enough to take over, if she wanted to. But making it her choice was Rarity's best way to control the situation.

“Commander Howl, I’ve made my decision. Let me be the one to trigger the bridle,” said Rarity.

Howl sighed, “Valiant, you are in truth. I would expect no less from one with your fire and spirit. May I approach you?”

“Why?”

“I will release you from the leads,” said Howl, “and then catch you when you fall.”

“Thank you for that, Master” replied Rarity with some thanks. “Go ahead.”

Howl circled around so that Rarity could see him the entire time and careful unlocked first one, then the other lead from the bridle. “For what it is worth, Valiente, I am sorry. Other than your performance for the Alpha during the day tomorrow you will have nothing you need to do until the day after tomorrow.” He paused, “When you are ready, brave one.”

Rarity nodded, took a breath and enunciated, “I. Am. Rarity.” Once again, the bridle ignited with lambent lightning. Once again, Rarity's perception of the world dissolved in agonizing fire. Howl caught her as she fell. Aftershocks from the bridle’s fire ran up his own arms, but he held on to her.

“Thank you for that, sir,” said Rarity from his arms.

“Compassion is occasionally a good thing,” said Howl. “I have a proposal for you.”

“Considering how my week has been going with your people, I think I can guess what kind of proposal,” said Rarity as she began to struggle in Howl’s arms, jangling the bells in her mane and tail. He let her get up but remained sitting himself. Chopper watched impassively from the far side of the pen. Saying nothing but simply watching the situation.

“By now, Valiente is an active part of you, pony,” Howl said as Rarity looked at him in shock. “Of course I know,” he said to her astonished face. “I am Den Leader here and you are not the first pony I’ve watched go though this.” He paused, “The important thing is that even if I took the bridle off you right now, the Valiente persona it has caused to be, would stay. But only as it is now.”

“So, she isn’t real?” Rarity asked, feeling a little hollow about that.

“Of course she is real,” replied Howl. “The bridle cannot create something that is not there. Valiente has always been a part of you. But within the next three days, five if you are particularly strong willed, you will become a part of Valiente. Instead of her being a part of you.” The pronouncement sent a chill through Rarity and she sent an inward query.

“Is he telling the truth?” she asked toward Valiente. “Am I going to become part of you, no matter what?”

“I’m not sure,” came Valiente’s response. “I’ve told you before, I don’t want to be in charge, but the bridle keeps pushing...”

“All right...Master Howl, other than to scare me, why tell me this?” Rarity asked the den leader.

“Because you are beautiful. You are sleek and well formed. Your movements elegant. Your mind and spirit magnify your beauty into something truly magnificent. Do you know that your walk to the practice studio caused fights to break out along your path? Both ways?” Howl chuckled, “I am told bribes are being passed fast and furiously to be guards at your practice in the morning. Just so they can watch you dance.”

Howl shook himself, “To break that spirit, to dampen that fire. It would be a great tragedy. So, my proposal is this: You swear, before witnesses, that you submit yourself, body, mind and soul to me, as my personal slave,” Howl waited for Rarity's predictable response.

“And, in exchange?” she asked.

“In exchange, I remove that bridle from you. You and Valiente stay as you are now. Balanced,” said Howl, smoothly. “I would, naturally, replace the enchanted bridle with one of my own, marking you as my personal property. I can promise you a life of ease and comfort. You would be well cared for, treasured even. As property of my pack you would never fear random molestation again. More importantly, you would remain you.”

Rarity could scarcely believe her ears. She could parse Howl’s offer perfectly well. Here she was, not even an hour after an attempted rape and this, this thing was asking her to willingly submit to being violated by him and his for probably the rest of her life. Had she not had Long Strider’s promise of a rescue attempt, she might have been desperate enough to blindly accept Howl’s proposal. It was only then, with the benefit of a mind clear of panic and desperation, that she saw the breadth of the trap Howl had laid out for her to fall into.

While Howl could certainly claim her, there was no way he would be allowed to keep her. Not if anything she had been told about why the dogs were enslaving ponies was even remotely true. Her supposed value lay in her sale price, not in being the personal chattel of the den leader. She could swear herself to him, and he would take her. He had made no bones on that. And a day, maybe two, after he had his way with her, his claim would be overridden by his political masters.

What’s more, he could even claim to have kept his word but had been “regretfully” forced to obey higher authority. She would have degraded herself to no end. The audacity, the sheer cold blooded calculation of it. She could scarcely believe it. In that moment she recognized Howl for what he was. A scavenger. Howl sought out weakness as opportunity and took it for himself. He was trying to take by treachery and stealth what Raarg had sought by main force. Fury again boiled within her, but she schooled her features to give no sign of her anger. To show anger would show Howl that she had seen the trap. If she could have Howl underestimate her, so much the better for her escape.

“With respect, Master Howl,” said Rarity with every ounce of diplomacy she could muster, “I must decline your...generous proposal. While I appreciate the offer, I must stand or fall on my own hooves.”

“I understand Valiente,” said Howl getting up, and showing no sign that he realized Rarity had seen through his gambit. “I had hoped for a different answer but I respect your response.” He then addressed the other dog in the pen, “Chopper, until further notice you have command of the pack. I would...suggest you place a guard on our mare here to make sure she receives no more unscheduled visitors.”

“No need,” said Yowl-E, at the door to the pen. “I will guard my student.”

“This is not your place, Dance Master,” said Howl, visibly bristling at Yowl-E.

“You want guard, she my student,” replied the aged dog with complete calm. “If I guard you have more dogs for other jobs.”

“Fine,” grumbled Howl, who beckoned Chopper to follow him as he left. Rarity could hear the den leader shouting commands as he left and she could hear things begin to calm down outside. She looked over at her dance teacher who hadn’t moved since he entered the pen.

“Unicorn,” Yowl-E addressed her, “I am going to sit, back against door so no one can come that way. You hold onto this tonight.” He then moved carefully forward, and stretching out his whole length, he placed a dagger on the ground a foot from Rarity. “Keep for now. Kill anyone who tries anything until morning. Including me.”

Rarity was touched. She knew Yowl-E had probably just broken a dozen rules by letting her have a weapon but he had known what she would need to feel safe for the rest of the night. She nodded her thanks, scooped up the blade and settled herself into a corner of the pen with a wall behind her and to her off side. Slowly, with several fits and starts, Rarity returned to sleep. Able to rest with the old dog watching over her and a blade ready to hoof.