"Eeyup."

Applejack couldn't help but smile, watching his big… big sister, walking from the room. It grounded him, it reminded him of watching the sturdy stallion marching tirelessly before the plow. The smells of his farm wafted to AJ then. He closed his eyes and was there, bucking down apples, watering the trees.

"Harder, pet!" Molestia's command broke Applejack out of his daydream. Eyes narrowing, he saw his friend, Twilight, acting as the Princess' "pet". At that moment, it almost looked like Twilight was trying to climb into the white alicorn. "Oh Bodyguard?" Molly's eyes rolled over to Applejack and he straightened a little at the hungry look in them. "We need to get some things very straight… yes, firm and straight and hard." Each word elicited a slight raising of Molestia's eyebrows. The Princess made a "come hither" gesture with a hoof.

Putting one hoof before the other, Applejack marched up before the horrible ruler. He didn't speak, but the scent coming from both the mares were having an effect, and he knew that Molly knew it.

"Let's start with the basics, that body is about as perfect as a stallion could be, I expect you to keep it that way. You will guard me, and service my every need. If I want you to bounce, you will bounce." Molly lowered a hoof to Twilight's head, gripping the smaller mare's horn and using it to guide her. "I have so wanted a stallion of my own to play with for a while, you understand I would have just picked a random guard, but knowing it is you… it makes using you so much better."

"Nnope." Applejack smiled, the horribly delicious scents were doing what the Princess intended, he was at half mast and growing harder, but his mind was more clear. "Ah agreed to be a guard. If'n you wanted a sex slave, ya should have asked." He cocked a grin. "Or just put this damn armor on Twi." Twilight's head was pushed back as Molestia leaned forward, glaring at the defiant "alicorn" guard.

Molly's rage at the defiance quickly cooled, but from white hot to simmering was still not "cool". "Very well, I will hold you to that. You will do all the training the other guards do, however." Her horn lit and she activated parts of the armor on Applejack that the new stallion would likely come to dread. "Go, spend the afternoon marching, see to it. Return before dark, Bodyguard."

Nothing made AJ happier than hearing that. He gave a bow and turned, taking a step. The big hoof wobbled as it slammed down, a sensation of squeezing accompanying the mere action of stepping. Oh, this is her game, is it? He took another step, panting now, then another, and another. Walking had him at full mast, there was no way a stallion could deal with this kind of attention and not be hard as a rock.

"Hey, newbie?" the new voice registered in AJ's ears and caused him to give a loud wuff of expanded air. "Yeah, you. I heard the order, come on and I will teach you to march." Applejack was sweating and he had only crossed the throne-room floor. Following the other stallion, he tried not to think of Molestia, tried to work his mind onto anything else at all. "Never seen armor like that before, doing anything odd to… to…"

Bright Sunshine saw the huge shaft under the new stallion's belly. His mouth went dry. "What's the matter?" Applejack's voice was deep, betraying the physical size of him.

"Uh… we normally try to hide… uh… that." Bright blushed a little. "My name is Bright Sunshine, by the way."

"Well, Bright, the problem is this armor is… special. Right now every step feels like somepony is rubbing me." Applejack was still flicking his hooves as he lifted them. "I don't think she wants me to be able to hide."

Bright was more than a little shocked at the sight. He gulped. "Okay then, so you were told to learn marching." The two walked out into the main square where the guards trained. "Always lead with the right forehoof. Always stop after stepping with the left rear." He took a few marched paces forward and then halted, just as he had explained it. "Turning is trickier, let's get just straight marching right first." Applejack nodded, this was "work", even if it wasn't the work he was used to. "Forward, march."

Leading with his right forehoof, Applejack started to walk. He glimpsed other guard doing similar things and caught on quick. Each step, was agonizing bliss. Marching seemed to encourage the armor to be even more familiar with his body, Applejack marched the full length of the training area, then was told to turn and then started the march back. A slight daze set in, AJ's mind wandered, images of mares coming to him. What jolted him from his daydream was that one was his sister, Mac, spreading her wings and… "Sir!"

"What is it, cadet?" Bright had been keeping pace, actually finding just marching one edge of the quad as fairly relaxing.

"Sir… this armor it…" Applejack swallowed. "Is there something I can do while we march, to keep distracted from what it is doing?"

It only took a slight glance and Bright saw the "problem". He took a deep breath. "Yeah, we can start with rules and regulations." Bright saw the bigger stallion smile. "You can use these, you know. They were made before Princess Molestia's time, she has to obey them as we do. And don't call me sir. 'Lieutenant' is my rank."

"Lieutenant Sunshine… thanks." Applejack already felt a little better; the prospect of not getting lost in lusty thoughts was a good one.

"First rule of the guard, we are the shields. Forward march. We are the armor that stands between Equestria and its enemies." Bright stepped forward once more, his legs matched in perfect sync by Applejack's.

AJ braced against the onslaught as he began to walk again, but the words of the Lieutenant held his attention. He floated along, legs in perfect beat, until he felt the massage push him right to the edge. His hooves faltered and everything stopped. "Cadet, are you okay?" Bright suspected the problem, not understanding quite how insidious the armor was.

"No, not really…" Applejack still couldn't lie, not even about this. "But Ah can probably move again in a little."

Again and again the pleasure rose and then cut off. Applejack was treated to the worst torture he had ever felt, and it was all the worse simply because of how good it felt. It was late evening and he had marched up and down, then in little squiggly lines—once he had learned to turn—even the rest of the guard seemed to be packing things away. "That's marching. You are welcome to come and practice anytime, I am in charge of drilling new recruits and, at least so long as she doesn't have her hooks completely in you, that is what you are."

Applejack stopped as his lieutenant did, halting exactly as he was supposed to. "Thanks… Liu… Liute…" He couldn't get his words out, he was panting hard and it wasn't from the work. Need burned in Applejack, he felt the flashing images of mares threatening to come back.

"Cold shower, right now Recruit. Keep the armor on, I doubt either of us could get it off at the moment anyhow." Bright reached out one of his wings and gave Applejack's back a buffet. Then he realized the bigger stallion wouldn't know the way. "Uh, come on, this way."

AJ followed on autopilot. Each step wasn't an agony anymore, it was torment. It was need. It was an ache that he couldn't stop. His brain didn't quite work right until the stinging, icy-cold water hit him. "Oh…" The sound was like the deep hiss of a fire doused, Applejack closed his eyes and trembled as the fire inside him was quenched not with what his body wanted, but what his mind needed.

"You're always welcome here, recruit." Bright had his own, warmer shower; although the pegasus took his sans armor. "If you need to, slip away, come down and ask for me. Honestly, though, nearly any of the guard will help you out. The Royal Guard stand together." Applejack could finally think again and looked over to the stallion. Blue mane half crowded his vision, but the farming pony nodded.

"Thank ya kindly." Part of Applejack didn't want to move, didn't want the icy stream to end. Duty, however, won out. "I gotta head back, she ordered me." He reached up with a hoof and yanked on the chain to disengage the shower. Turning, he took the first step and felt that slow stroking start again.

Drying had been simple, step over a spell-enchanted mark and boom, feathers, fur, and armor all on one blast. Applejack missed the cool water already. Marching back towards the main part of the castle, he realized his legs kept the constant rhythm now, automatically. He realized, almost despite the machinations of Molestia, Applejack had enjoyed himself.

Reaching the throne-room again, Applejack just took up a position, quietly, beside the door. The Princess was alone now, apparently Twilight did get some time to herself still. Holding absolutely still, AJ just gazed ahead, now realizing why the guards took that pose. Are they all trying to avoid her?

A loud thumping woke AJ from his daze. Staring ahead, he heard the big doors open and a strong, unfamiliar scent hit his nose. When Luna walked right past him, Applejack felt a little put out. I really am just part of the furniture. "Howdy, little brother." Mac's voice stole all the composure and focus AJ had retained, he turned his head with a big smile on it.

"Mac." Applejack instinctively reached a wing out and wrapped it around the sleek and compact—well, compared to him—mare. His head snapped up to check that the two princesses were busy before he continued. "How has it been?"

Blushing a little, remembering the bath, her words, Mac leaned into the big stallion a little. "You wouldn't believe. As soon as we got back to Princess Luna's quarters, we…" Mac blushed a little. "Well, I might be a little nocturnal. The moment it was a little dark in there, and she yawned, I couldn't stop."

"You slept?" Applejack stared at Mac, caught her nod. "All afternoon?" Another nod. "And now what, yer gonna be workin' all night?" He already knew the answer, Mac was Luna's guard, Luna watched the night and needed guardians that did that too. "Well, Ah guess it's fair enough then." He squeezed the mare a little tighter and got a whiff of "her".

"So what has Princess Fussyflank done with you?" Mac honestly didn't care if Molestia heard her, she felt Night within her head, practically giggling at her and egging her on. She caught the oddest stare from her brother. "AJ?"

"Sorry, Mac. You have changed so much…" Applejack lifted one huge hoof up and thumped it into his forehead. "Ah don't mean physically… although you have that. Ah mean, listen to you, you sound totally different."

"Night…" Mac's eyes went wide and she reached for the mare who, until the last few moments, had seemed so happy and relaxed. "Night what's wrong?" You, McIntosh. Your brother is keen and clever, he sees this," Mac felt Night in her head, felt her slipping out into "Mac", "I am a full package. Ponies can wear soul-bonded armor, and never feel more than a hint of the original wearer. "But Ah don't." No, you accepted me, you welcomed my thoughts. You are more alert, you can practically tell what somepony is going to do before they do, but you get "me" with it. I don't want to change you, Mac.

"Who're ya talkin' to?" Applejack looked at his sister. "Are you okay, Mac?" The image of a presenting mare was shattered in AJ's mind, family values, protecting kin, blew away any hope of Molestia's magic binding the siblings in that way.

"Night Reign." Mac smiled at the thought of her name. "Night, come back… a little. Ah need ta talk more clearly." Are you sure? Night could feel her wearer's assent, and slid back a little more. "AJ, Night Reign was the first mare to wear this armor. She… she is still in it, maybe just an echo." Mac smiled a little at the thought that the long-gone mare still lived.

Applejack blinked at the odd information. "An why's that make you talk so much?"

"She is… she is more there than anypony else would think. Even Luna doesn't realize how much of her is…" Mac was having trouble explaining everything, even with all the vocabulary that Night was lending, or the loosening of her tongue. "Her instincts for guarding, her readiness for danger," Mac ruffled her leathery wings a little, "a little of her love for flight. It all seeps into me, helping me adjust better. But there is more of her than that, and she… I fit well with her."

Waiting for his sister to add more, Applejack realized that Mac still had that within her. "But you get more from her. She a talkative filly?" Mac nodded, trying to hide the cutest grin AJ had ever seen. "Expressive too. Ye're lucky, this-here armor is a mite… trying." Applejack shifted a little. "Princess Slutty-butt had me marching all afternoon, an each step Ah took… Ah felt like somethin' was rubbin' me."

A dark wing reached under the big feathered one, Mac drawing the big stallion closer. "It was bad." Both of them knew it wasn't a question.

"Yeah, one o' the guard helped. Had me marching around mindlessly, reading me rules and regulations." AJ felt a little glow of warmth when he thought back to Bright. Then an odd thing happened and he thought of the lieutenant as a mare. AJ jerked up straight, his brain quickly trying to reorient and stop such crazy thoughts. The windows of the room were dark and as he gazed over to the two princesses, he could see Luna flicking gazes back to the two guards.

"You okay, AJ?" Mac gave another little squeeze with her wing before drawing it back.

"Ah got this. You worry about yer own problems, Mac." Applejack, too, drew his wing back from the other. Luna gave a tiny nod.

Mac looked up at her brother. "Eeyup."

Author's Note

Sitting on her throne, delivering a smouldering look, Molly grinned at the small crowd. "Well, adorable little morsels today, you are here to be whipped, yes?" A small army of flogs, paddles, and crops advanced out from behind her throne, held in glowing gold magic. "Of course you are, now bend over and let me see those plots. And what is this? A question for me?" As the first sound of a paddle hitting an audience-member's plot sounded, Molly continued talking. "Princess Prissy-pants is Lulu, of course. Then we have the Bondage Hussy from up north. Oh, and darling Prince Blueballs. Did you know I had him in chastity gear for nearly two years? I completely forgot about him!"

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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