For most maids in the Crystal Palace, daily toil was tedious, exhausting, and thankless. For Lowly Servant, all of these were even more so. She was not the prettiest or most graceful of the palace’s maid staff, but for the simple reason of her quick obedience and near-constant lust, she was the most available, and it was this that caused her more missed deadlines and late working hours than anything else—her work day was routinely derailed into sexual services.

It didn’t end when her shift did, either. Though eight years had worn away the novelty of her completely submissive nature, other maids among the staff still took frequent advantage of Lowly. They had their own reasons—whether it was to feel a small measure of the power so lacking in their lives as maids, to vent the frustrations of an unfulfilling career and abusive servant hierarchy, or merely to slake the day’s lusts on another pony they perceived as willing—but most took her for granted, and none ever paused to consider her need for sleep.

And why would they? Lowly Servant always said yes, and normal ponies knew and respected their own limits; it wasn’t unreasonable for them to expect the same of her. They couldn’t know that powerful magic compelled her to obedience, no matter how tired. She couldn’t tell them, and she couldn’t say no; her very mind was held in bondage. So she worked, and she fucked, and in her fleeting spare moments, she prayed for the Princess of Love, the princess she loved, to finally notice and save her.

Because it hadn’t always been like this, the broken maid thought bitterly. Once, she’d had power. Once, she’d held esteem. Once, she’d had a family who… well, her family hadn’t been that great, had they? A drunk, violent mother and a drunk, absent father had left her to starve with her sister in the middle of a Manehattan slum. As a filly of eleven years, she’d tried to pimp herself out for a few scraps of food; it was by blind luck the pony she approached had completely misunderstood her advances and awkward, childish innuendos. She’d wound up cleaning floors at—

No, that was wrong. The grey mare shifted her legs uncomfortably atop her meager bedding. The spell’s influence was still getting worse. At first, it had been content to eat at her emotions and actions, turning her into the obedient, feminine, and borderline-neurotic laborer she was now. But it hadn’t stopped. The order, the compulsion to be Lowly Servant had moved on, wearing away more and more deeply at her mind, at the fabric of her identity, her goals, and even her very memories.

It wasn’t all take, take, take. When a letter from the real Lowly Servant’s sister had arrived, Lowly had gained a whole host of new memories and feelings about a wonderful little sister, one who had been her motivation and light in a depressing and fearful foalhood. Even as the spell and the deadly set of commands had first taken hold, it had given her everything her new role in life needed—skills in washing, in cleaning, in tidying, in dusting, in knowing just how to be out of ponies’ way as she worked, in taking proper care of herself as a mare.

If anything, all of this just made it worse. The skills she’d gained were real enough, but she had no way to test her memories, old or new—not without leaving the subtlest hints that she doubted them, that she’d ever been another pony. It all left her feeling… resigned.

Who she had been was gone—there was so little left that the pony she had become could summon no more than a token resistance; life probably wouldn’t hurt as much when she finally lost her grip on what little the spell and orders hadn’t yet overwritten. And that wasn’t even her foremost trouble—

“Servant!” Miss Martinette’s screeching bellow startled Lowly out of her weary reverie. Even thinking of the devil would summon her, it seemed.

“Y-yes, Miss Martinette—” Lowly started, rolling onto her belly and ducking to avoid banging her head against the bottom of the upper bunk. She would have stood up, but Martinette was blocking her way off the bed.

“Don’t you ever think of sassing me with what I’ve told you to say, Servant!” The bear of a mare bore a scowl that only grew with every word. “The Crystal Guard is looking for you! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

“W-what? Why?! Why are they—”

“That’s what you’re going to tell me, Servant! Right now!”

“I-I don’t—”

“I don’t care! If you don’t know—fat chance of that—you’ll get off your lazy flank and turn yourself in this moment!”

“Yes, Miss Martinette.” Lowly moved to get up. Obedience was no longer a drag on her; years of conditioning left her perfectly prepared to move in lock-step with her magical compulsions. And to her surprise, Martinette didn’t make a power game out of getting out of the way. “I’ll need to leave the b-barracks to find a guard, ma’am.”

“Unbelievable. Unbelievable!” the bear-mare raged. “Fine, Servant. I’ll unlock the door, but if I hear anything was even slightly out of order, I will have you fired! Do you understand me?!”

Lowly shuddered, blurting out a “Yes, ma’am!” faster than she could think. Firing was the ultimate threat. Something in her took even the emptiest threat of losing her maiding career as seriously as the most credible threat of murder, and she wasn’t sure it was wrong. As she followed Miss Martinette to the locked door that separated the Servants’ Quarters from the rest of the Crystal Palace, the grey mare did her best to let the irritable glares from the other maids—who had probably been sleeping just fine until she did something to upset their overseer—distract her from thoughts of the consequences of a mare in her peculiar position losing her job.

It didn’t take long for Lowly to find a member of the guard patrolling the palace with a partner, get fucked from both ends at once in an open hallway thanks to the night’s inactivity and her reputation, do a quick but acceptable job of cleaning herself and the floor, and be marched straight to the royal quarters—the bedchambers of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, rulers of the Crystal Empire, themselves.

“We’ve brought her,” one of the guards announced at the door. After a few moments, the door responded by opening in a shimmering aura of pale blue magic. Lowly uttered her routine servile offering and dropped to grovel on the floor before she could even register that the face of the pony behind the door was none other than the beautiful Princess Cadance herself.

“Oh, wonderful!” The voice of the Princess in such close proximity was music to Lowly’s ears. Finally, finally! “You two have certainly… taken your time with her, so leave us. The night won’t be young much longer.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the guards said in stiff unison before turning and marching away. Once they were gone, Lowly suddenly found her downcast vision filled with soft pink hooves.

“And you don’t have to bow to me like that, dear,” Cadance said, her voice turning tender. “Stand and come in! We have a lot to talk about.”

Lowly’s heart, having dwelt so long in the icy pit of her stomach, leapt into her chest for joy. She knew. She knew! The Princess had found out what had happened and she was going to fix everything at last! The little grey mare bounced to her hooves and dashed into the room behind her Cadance. Finally, things would be set right!

The twin doors shut with a hollow, dooming slam. Cadance turned back to her maid and spoke.

“So, how have you enjoyed your vacation, my love?”

Lowly’s mouth opened. Her heart quavered in its new position. She sat down hard. After a few tries, she managed to stammer a single, incredulous word to encourage repetition, to prove it wasn’t what it sounded like the first time.

“What?”

A touch of concern found its way onto Cadance’s muzzle. “I asked how you’ve been enjoying your vacation.”

No.

“Of course I want you to have your fun, but I’ve missed the real you, Shiny.”

This wasn’t happening.

“It’s been a few years, if you lost track. I know how time flies when you’re having fun…”

No… No, it wasn’t happening.

“But I need you back now. I need my Shiny,” Cadance said. She added, in a low and sultry purr, “And I need you inside of me, love. Your stand-in is good, but he just doesn’t touch me quite the same way you did.”

Of course it wasn’t happening; it couldn’t be. Lowly smiled weakly.

“That’s—it’s very funny, milady,” the maid said, though her tone held as much humor as it usually did, which was none. She wasn’t allowed to make jokes. “B-but if you don’t need anything cleaned, or have any other orders, I have to go. Miss Martinette is going to have my head if she thinks I’m trying to short myself on sleep so I can shirk my duties tomorrow.”

“That spell,” Cadance muttered. “I’ll have to counter it later. I appreciate your attempt to maintain character, but you are not afraid to speak freely now.”

The words barely registered over the pounding blood in her ears and the growing screams of denial in Lowly’s head, and she missed the rustling of sheets in the royal bed. “Maintaining character” wasn’t her choice, wasn’t a choice; she couldn’t stop thinking of herself as the depressed whore of a maid called Lowly Servant, or even bring to mind the name of the pony she had been before. There was nopony else she could be, not without His Lordship’s intervention. And this was supposed to be a vacation?

“N-no…” Lowly whispered.

“What was that?”

“No,” she answered, automatically. No! Princess Cadance couldn’t have done this; the Princess loved her, even if she was just a maid! This had to be a bad—

The powerful vibrator spell enchanted into Lowly’s sex kicked on without warning, pulsing intense thrills of pleasure through her pussy and forcing an involuntary cry past her lips before she could bite them shut. Even years after its casting, there was no getting used to the magical stimulation. It was as powerful, irresistible, and nearly-overwhelming as ever. Silently, with what of her mind wasn’t occupied with the intensity of the sudden sensations in her snatch, Lowly was grateful. What had once felt like an inconvenience at all the wrong times had become the only thing keeping her distracted from some of her worst moments.

Still, she couldn’t afford to completely forget herself. She had standards, or maybe it was orders. Her memories weren’t entirely clear on that, but she knew she didn’t want to go moaning and squealing like a whore in front of the Princess, even if she was a whore in all but pay. She shut her mouth firmly, though she couldn’t force the heat and color in her muzzle back down.

Cadance’s lips curled in a smirk. “Oh, you naughty little thing. You tempt me, you really do.” Her horn flashed as she settled comfortably atop her sheets, and the vibrations abruptly stopped, leaving Lowly panting lightly. The Princess allowed the maid to get her breath back before speaking again. “Now, I know you’ve been enjoying your vacation…” The Princess left the words hanging, and fixed Lowly with an intent stare.

Lowly swallowed.

“I-I don’t understand,” the grey mare said. She blinked at herself in surprise; the words came more easily than she’d feared, though her nervous stammer remained by habit. “Please, Princess. Please t-tell me you don’t mean that.”

“What?” It was Cadance’s turn to blink. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Lowly caught herself instinctively shifting on the carpet, dragging her wetness across it for just a little more stimulation, and forced herself to stop, stand up, and position her tail to prevent any dripping or trickling. She’d have to clean that spot soon, before it dried. “I n-need permission to go and get a towel for the floor.”

“No,” Cadance said firmly. “Stay, and tell me what’s the matter.”

Lowly Servant swallowed again as her hooves seemed to root themselves to the floor. It was an order. She couldn’t evade, or hesitate, or resist orders. She opened her mouth.

“I-I’ve lived out every day for the past eight years without faltering n-not just because I had to, but because I could hold onto the hope that you didn’t know how bad things were, a-and you’d figure it out and fix everything,” she said, hanging her head to avoid the Princess’s reaction. Her Highness was going to be so disappointed! “M-more than anything else, that hope is what’s carried me through each day. Is… is it true?”

There was no immediate reply. After a few moments, Lowly dared to look up, and found Princess Cadance staring down from her bed, her mouth half-open and eyes wide.

“But—” the Princess squeaked. Then she took a long breath, and her eyes shifted from shock to pleading. “But it was the perfect fantasy! It was a mistake at first, but you enjoyed it—” Lowly flinched “—I know you did! The entire palace knows how freely you’ve indulged! Not that they know it was you, but you were having fun!”

By now, the sensation was familiar. Things in the maid’s head began to shift, and as her mouth opened again, the words that came out weren’t quite her own.

“I—Yes, Princess, I-I won’t deny it could be fun, but—” But you enjoyed it. Lowly shuddered. All the pain, and the fear, and the nightmares, and the backbreaking work, and the sexual torment, and what had started as rape before she gave up trying to think of ways to stop it—and looking back, you enjoyed it. She hung her head and choked on the shame, and on the sob she had to suppress. This wasn’t what she had hoped for. It wasn’t supposed to go like—like this! “P-please, Your Highness, I j-just want to go back to work.”

“Honey?” That was a different voice. It was one Lowly had grown to love and fear at once.

“Oh, finally!” Cadance said, lowering her head to nuzzle her husband’s where it lay amidst the pillows. Lowly didn’t speak up—royalty was talking now. “I thought you were going to sleep through this whole thing, Shining.”

“I’ve been awake.” There was a rustling and a creak as Prince Shining Armor sat up in bed next to his wife. In comparison to the Princess’s, the nuzzle he returned to Cadance was efficient and mechanical, though she didn’t seem to notice. His eyes briefly flicked towards Lowly as he did so, but his expression was unreadable. “Honey, I know eight years isn’t much for you, but it sounds like this was your perfect fantasy.”

While Her Highness sputtered and fumbled for words, Lowly brought herself to look at her master, her Lord Shining Armor—to truly look at him. She hadn’t seen much of His Highness and Hers together. He’d usually called on her when he had time and privacy to continue his affair, to continue to dominate and violate her and remind her just how wretched she had become—a doppleganger’s fuck toy. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed it—she hadn’t—oh Celestia, she had!—but it had left her little time to see just how he was around the wife she’d come to accept was his.

He was more than alert. He was tense—rigid, even. His eyes and ears worked together to follow everything at once. Lowly knew the sort—many of the Royal Guard had become so in the weeks following the Changeling attack on Canterlot. They’d reported nightmares and a tendency to flee from sudden noises and the sounds of insects. Sometime in the past few years her master had been hurt, and only in the presence of Her Highness did it show. There had been no great enough disaster to justify it any other way.

The maid’s heart fell back to the chill in her belly. She had known that Her Highness had attempted to recreate Shining Armor—his lordship had told her so himself—but somewhere along the line, something had gone wrong. And whatever else he may have gained for the Princess’s efforts, he must not have had Lowly’s raw ability to endure.

Was it just like how wrong things went for her? Had her master even had a choice? Had the Princess known what he had done? She had to. Keeping him so close, the Princess had to know what Lord Shining Armor had done—and probably commanded it, too. Which meant…

“Milady?” the maid said.

“I-I…” Cadance started. Then, she slipped gracefully off the royal bed and took a deep breath, placing her right forehoof against her chest, then holding it straight ahead. After that, she set it back down, and gave Lowly a calm smile. “Please, whatever it is, enough with the formality. I want you to call me by name again.”

“Yes, C-Cadance.” Lowly shuffled her hooves uncomfortably, trying not to choke on the word. Addressing Her Highness in such a familiar manner was simply wrong, and she had to take a moment to breathe, herself. “I-if milord may speak freely?”

“What?” Both of Their Highnesses were looking at Lowly now, though it took only a moment for her master’s inquisitive look to turn to gratitude, then to neutral as he looked up from the bed at Princess Cadance, whose eyes widened slightly before nodding to him. “Of—Of course. It’s almost time, anyway. You can say and do as you see fit, within reason.”

“Really?” Shining Armor said. His voice was suddenly unfamiliar, almost alien to the one Lowly knew. Then again, he wasn’t yelling at her to suck cock. “I mean, thank you. Forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” Cadance started, as Shining’s horn flared bright magenta, lighting up the room far brighter than its enchanted crystals from the effort of a spell. “Forgive—What are you—” The Princess’s mouth continued for a few moments as the built-up magic struck her. Her voice, however, did not.

“You’ve got a habit of saying things that change us as normal conversation, Cady love,” Shining said, rubbing his forehead. “I’ll lift the spell as soon as I’m done, I promise. Please, sit down.”

As Cadance complied, her husband climbed out of bed and shook his mane straight. Lowly looked up to him, and he gave her a brief smile before walking around the bed to his wife.

“I love you, Cady,” he said. His tone was still alien, but gentle. “I really do. My heart, my love, my life—all of it revolves around you. I care for you, and I trust you, and ideally, I’d spend the rest of my life with you, though I understand that’s not going to happen.”

He paused to give the Princess a nuzzle. She returned the gesture, but cautiously. Lowly understood; she couldn’t tell what her master was getting at either.

“I think our little maid here loves you just the same, in spite of all that’s happened. And that’s the problem, honey.” Shining began pacing back and forth across the floor. “I like the privileges I’ve enjoyed as Shining Armor. I like where I stand in our relationship and I love all your crazy ideas. I even appreciate what you’ve done for me.”

Abruptly, he stopped in front of Cadance, looking down at her. Lowly could see her swallow.

“I could deal with that. I wasn’t anypony important and I understand my place. But just now, you did the same to her,” he said, gesturing back at the maid with his right forehoof. Cadance’s ears suddenly drooped, and she mouthed something short that ended in no. “For me, it’s a bit like living in a gilded cage, Cady love. I don’t mind; it’s good enough. It’s certainly better than working in the scullery. You’re helpful, caring, sexy, not too demanding, and so much better than dealing with Miss Martinette every day.”

Shining Armor sat down in front of the Princess, and Lowly took that as a sign to seat herself as well—on her tail, this time. But even on it, she squirmed. Where was he taking this?

Cadance seemed to know something Lowly didn’t, though, as she hung her head and mouthed… something, her wings slumping away from her sides.

“But love, when were you going to ask us to love you? You may be long-lived, and you may have the example of Aunt—Princess Celestia’s own time off, but how many years were you going to wait before asking what we wanted, or at least what she did?”

Cadance’s mouth opened, then closed. Then she opened it again before, hanging her head further, shutting her mouth again and turning away. She closed her eyes, unable to meet anypony else’s, and Shining Armor’s gentle tone saddened.

“You… you really didn’t consider that?” he said.

There was a flurry of pink motion, then a brilliant flash of aquamarine magic, and Lowly was forced to look away and cover her eyes with her right foreleg.

“Shit! Cady!” Shining said. “Damn it!”

When the bright afterimages faded from Lowly’s vision, she saw a much gentler magenta glow radiating from the Prince’s horn.

“Teleported. Blast, why couldn’t it just be invisibility?” he muttered, terminating his spell. Then he turned sharply towards her. “You, stay right there. Tell anypony who asks that I said so.”

Like clockwork, Lowly Servant stirred at two minutes before six o’clock. Eight years of practice meant not having to worry that there was no window in the barracks to show her the Crystal Empire’s late pre-dawn light; her body was in motion, rolling her off the simple bed she slept in, before she was even awake enough to realize it.

When her legs found firm fuzziness instead of empty space to fall into, Lowly lifted her head, forcing her eyes open and trying to blink away her grogginess. An inquisitive feeling surfaced, too primitive and unawake to form a word. After a few seconds of staring, the looming threat of Miss Martinette pulled her together and up on her hooves.

This… this was not her bed in the maids’ barracks. As she looked around, Lowly found she was lying on the carpet in the royal quarters. She finally gave voice to her confusion.

“What?” It didn’t take her long to remember, though. His Highness had left and not returned after the Princess teleported away, and Lowly wasn’t sure what she had expected. She couldn’t go anywhere, though—not so much as a step away from her spot. She’d been told to stay right there, and she was going to stay right there until she starved if she had to. The spells and orders wouldn’t likely let her do otherwise.

She had grown hungry, and she was already tired after her usual hard day of work and hard night of giving pleasure to the other maids. When she realized her master wasn’t going to return any time soon, she had given in to her weariness, set her uniform aside in a neatly-folded pile, and slept. That didn’t interfere with her orders, though she was sure Miss Martinette would shout at her to sleep only in her chosen bed in the barracks once she found out. Thinking about it, she hadn’t had the opportunity to sleep anywhere else in years.

It was another three days before her Master returned, and Lowly’s excuse seemed adequate for the maid assigned to the royal bedchamber to leave her undisturbed in that time. She even provided Lowly a small ration of water and oatmeal, along with a fresh uniform, during cleaning on the second and third day. She also—unofficially—exacted sexual payments from Lowly for her trouble, but that was preferable to a more equitable experience. Having to pretend she could get off on any mare’s efforts was one of the parts of mutual service the grey maid found most irritating.

When Shining Armor did return, Lowly could tell immediately; the falls of his hoofsteps were nothing like those of the other maids, who always knew how to walk as quietly and unobtrusively as was practical. Lowly was instantly up on her hooves, curtseying towards the door with her head bowed low.

“It would be my pleasure to serve you, milord!” The customary, servile greeting popped out of her mouth without a thought.

Shining Armor surrounded the chamber doors in the telekinetic aura of his magic and swung them shut. Then, with a sigh, he slumped into an exhausted, slouching posture.

“I—Also, milord, I apologize,” Lowly continued, shifting her posture from grovelling to attentive as she spoke. Her Master’s face was full of weary bags and lined with irritation. Oh, this wouldn’t go over well. “I d-disobeyed you. I was forced to abandon the spot you ordered me to s-stay on when you left.”

“Daily necessities, I presume. Don’t answer.” Shining Armor still didn’t sound quite himself, the maid thought; he reminded her more of a very tired Miss Martinette. As he trotted around the bed, he added, “Lie down with me.”

Oh! Oh thank goodness! Lowly sprang free of her spot on the carpet, fighting to keep her eagerness restrained to a dignified trot. Days of unfulfilled torment from her vibration enchantment leapt to the fore, but she slipped into bed with care. Her attempt to burrow under the sheet and bring her muzzle between her Master’s hind legs found a swift, blocking knee instead.

“No,” Shining said gently. With hooves and weak levitation, he turned his maid around and pulled her into a close, spooning hug. “I haven’t slept. Hold still and let me rest.”

Lowly Servant suppressed a whine. With how closely she was pulled into her Master’s body, she could feel how his cock was completely flaccid, tucked neatly inside its sheath. It took everything in her to obey, to hold still instead of wiggling her rump between Shining’s hind legs and coaxing him out, teasing him into wanting her again—

The maid couldn’t go on thinking like this, but it was just too good. His Lordship never turned down her sexual advances before, and coming from not a spell but a living, breathing, sexual pony who knew exactly what she needed, the denial only stoked the growing fire in her face and hindquarters. As Lowly’s breaths grew short and ragged, though, her Master just buried his muzzle in her mane, and his own breathing turned to the slow steadiness of sleep in mere minutes.

The grey mare finally managed to fall asleep some time after nightfall, when her inner clock knew Miss Martinette would haul her to bed if needed. She was going to get in so much trouble for sleeping in her uniform, but it couldn’t be helped; His Lordship’s orders came before all others.

“Wake up.”

At the sound of Shining Armor’s voice, Lowly Servant sat upright with a gasp, struggling to come around all at once.

“You are excused from all your cleaning duties today, and for the past five as well,” her Master continued. “Wash up, place your uniform with the rest of the laundry, eat breakfast with the other maids, and meet me at the royal study in an hour.”

“Yes, milord,” Lowly slurred, still groggy. Her legs swung together off the side of the bed on automatic, and she trotted towards the door.

“We really must talk, ‘Lowly Servant,’ ” Shining said, still standing over the bed. His voice had slipped again to the unfamiliar, but not unpleasant, tone that the maid was struggling to get used to.

“Yes, milord. It was my p-pleasure to serve you.”

“You did what?!”

“I—I sat on the floor, right where His Highness said, and waited f-for him to come back, M-Miss Martinette,” Lowly said.

“For how long?!” the bear-mare screeched again.

“A-almost four days. Ma’am.” Lowly Servant gulped. Having a royal order on her side was turning out to be less helpful than she had hoped, but at least between the order and some decent rest, she had more of her composure than usual.

“Are you an idiot?!” Martinette’s voice was just below a scream now, and other maids had cleared out, leaving their co-worker to fend for herself against their supervisor.

“Yes, ma’am,” Lowly said. And also under magical compulsion, but she couldn’t say so, and spending the entire time just sitting around and waiting looked either stupid or lazy to anypony else. Lazy meant being fired. She shuddered.

“You are demoted back to the lowest of the lower servants, and you’re working three extra hours every day for a full moon to make up for this! Do you understand me?!” Martinette roared, breaking through Lowly’s composure to flatten her ears against the sides of her head.

“Y-yes, Miss Martinette,” Lowly said. It wasn’t as bad as she might have feared, at least. The extra work was welcome; to her, longer shifts only meant the other maids had less time to bother her for sex after work. And after so much practice with both, real cleaning work was often less strenuous than what was demanded of her in bed.

“Good. Go dress, eat, and do as His Highness ordered.”

“Yes, Miss Martinette.”

Lowly was to have no respite; perhaps the past few days had depleted her cosmic allowance. As she sat down at the long, shared table with her oatmeal and Feather Whisk—the maid who had attended the royal bed chamber and brought food and water while Shining Armor was away—scooted over and leaned in, keeping a low, conspiratorial tone and nudging Lowly with her right wing.

“So, how is he?”

Lowly sputtered on her first bite of oatmeal. “W-what?!”

“The Prince! Don’t tell me you didn’t. Everypony suspected, and now everypony knows,” Feather said. A few nearby ears perked towards the pair. “You were in their room for days, and another one after he came back. That’s a huge privilege, and a huge, uh, what’s the expression?”

“The fire behind the smoke of rumors?” Lowly suggested, keeping her voice low. She grimaced when she got a nod in response. “That’s not how it is. And you can’t just say these things about His Lordship!”

“Not out in public, no!” Feather giggled giddily. “Never with a royal affair! But we’re not really in public here. So spill!”

Lowly opened her mouth. Shuddering, she realized that her too-recent demotion meant Feather was unquestionably her superior. Fortunately, His Highness had made it quite clear to whom the final word, the highest authority, belonged. Lowly silenced herself by tucking into her thin oatmeal, and relished the opportunity to ignore repeated orders to tell all while she ate.

When her bowl was empty, she gave the still-insistent Feather a nervous smile, hoping not to upset the newer maid who was now above her.

“N-nothing happened last night. I’m sure it would be an—” the next word stuck in her throat for a moment “—honor and pleasure if it had.” While she pondered what else to say, Lowly picked up her bowl and stacked it with a few other empty ones to make clearing the table just a little quicker for whoever had that duty this morning. “But it’s n-not appropriate for a pony like me to even think about His Lordship like that.”

“But—But—What?!” Lowly Servant struggled to hold her breathing in check. No no no no no! What had she done so wrong? She wasn’t late. She wasn’t dirty. Her uniform was on straight, and she was fed, groomed, and energized for the day. Was it somehow her fault the Princess wasn’t back yet? Had she done something wrong in bed last night? How had it come to this?!

“I said you’re fired, Lowly Servant,” Shining Armor said. His tone was gentle, and as he spoke, he wrote something with a quill pen at his desk. “During the next, oh, three hours, you cannot panic over the consequences of this. Instead, whenever you begin to panic, you will feel calm and collected. Now, take a deep breath.”

The spell’s compulsion washed over the ex-maid. Her breathing slowed. She drew in a long, heavy breath. Things seemed… clear. Obviously, His Highness would not fire her on a whim. Or maybe he would, but then why bother doing so in person? There had to be something more going on.

After counting to five, Lowly let her breath back out.

“Yes, milord.”

Shining Armor nodded. “You’re a good m—a good pony. I want to give you better options than continuing to live under Miss Martinette’s hoof. We’re going to talk. All orders Cadance gave you are suspended, and all orders I have given you except for the following are also suspended.

“Your order to never try to harm yourself or myself is not suspended. Your order to remain discreet and keep what has happened between us secret is not suspended. Your orders to remain calm and to obey my orders above all others are not suspended.

“Additionally, everything that anypony has said in the past eight years and two months that was not explicitly an order, but which you had to take as an order, is suspended.” The Prince paused to take a heavy breath, letting it out in a sigh. “I’m sorry. I can’t just let you jump out a window, blab, or start following somepony else’s orders while I’m trying to talk to you.”

Lowly gulped. “I… I understand, milord.” No, she didn’t. She truly didn’t. How was firing her good? How else could she continue to exist within the relative safety of the castle without her job? She couldn’t just become a freeloader; this was the home, court, and fortress of the rulers of the Crystal Empire! And beyond that, one thing in all of this stood out to simply baffle her. “M-milord? Why are you being n-nice to me?”

“Because you deserve it, I’ve wanted to, and now I can. But I suspended the order regarding how you are to address me.” Shining Armor set down his quill and looked up for the first time since Lowly had entered the room. In the instant before she deferentially looked down and away, Lowly was struck by how weary his eyes were.

“So, just who are you?” he asked her.

Lowly opened her mouth to answer. But… no. His Lordship knew her name, and he—perhaps better than anypony else—knew her occupation and habits. He knew her, because he had done much to make her the pony she was now. So what was he asking?

“I d-don’t understand the question, milord.” She shrank back in her seat. It was… strange, answering like this. She wasn’t compelled to say anything; the words had to be her own, and she had to push them out herself. It had been most of a decade since she’d had to do this in speaking to anypony but a lower-ranking maid, of which there had been precious few, and the feeling it left behind sat poorly in her chest.

“I’m not sure how to make it clearer,” Shining Armor said, levitating his quill back off his desk. “Maybe I can explain a little. A pony is something more than just their experiences and job and cutie mark and feelings and achievements, and from how she instructed me, I’m not sure Cadance knew—no, no. Nevermind.” The stallion sighed. “There’s something at the core of who you are that makes you you. That’s what I want to know about.”

Lowly bowed her head, letting herself stare deep into the opaque crystal floor and ignoring the grey reflection that stared back. A tiny part of her still wanted to lift her head in defiance, glare into her Master’s eyes, and declare that she was Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire.

That part of her tripped over remembering not His Lordship’s sister, but her own, her loving little Humble Pie, the filly she would give up anything for. She didn’t remember Shining Armor’s life and schooling; she remembered getting her cutie mark while working in the Royal Guard Training Barracks where he slept, with his cutie mark within hers—on the bucket, specifically—entwining their destinies. She remembered her sister’s tears when she said her application to work at Shining Armor’s new post in the Crystal Empire was finally accepted, but it meant she would be going away for a long time.

Lowly looked up. “Milord? Is my family real?”

Shining Armor raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean?”

“I… remember things, milord," the grey mare said. "I have a little sister named Humble P-Pie, who worked at a dry-cleaner in Canterlot last I knew. On my eighth birthday, my m-mother just gave me a beer, said it was precious a-and I was lucky she d-didn’t hit me with it, and I spent the rest of the day throwing it up.”

Lowly Servant began pacing. It didn’t ease her nerves, but she kept it up anyway. “My p-parents are Spit Take and Chamber Pot, and when—when they abandoned us for good I provided for myself and my sister by cleaning floors. Later on, I hid my b-blank flank, lied about my age, and got work tidying the Royal Guard Training Barracks outside F-Fillydelphia. I saw you for the first time there, m-my cutie mark appeared shortly afterwards, a-and my excitement over it nearly got me caught and fired.”

She paused to swallow a knot. “I… I just want to know if any of that is true.”

Shining Armor opened his mouth, then shut it again. He hung his head. “It was the order to be Lowly Servant, wasn’t it,” he said.

“Y-yes, milord.” Lowly shifted uneasily on her hooves, waiting for her answer. Pushing was possible for once, but it wouldn’t be like her, and it would probably be uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to do that to you, but once I had time to think...” Shining Armor could no longer meet the maid’s slightly-averted eyes. “I only had to help Cadance with her little fantasy, and I used the wrong words and… I’m sorry. I—Do you remember being Shining Armor at all?”

“It was my name. My…” Lowly swallowed. “My n-name was Shining Armor. I was… you?” She blinked several times. She could say that. She could finally say that, except now, it felt weird. “I was you. Except, I d-don’t know very much about you. You’re the Prince of the Crystal Empire, a-and your sister is Princess Twilight Sparkle. That… I… I remember a few other things like a stupid birthday prank a-and getting very drunk once, but I don’t know any more, milord.”

“Then…” Shining tapped a hind hoof against the floor. “Who are you?”

“W-well, milord, if Lowly Servant is a real p-pony, that’s probably who I am.” Lowly sighed, feeling a part of herself uncoil, letting go of something. “If not, I—I don’t know, but I am not Shining Armor.”

Shining Armor took a deep breath, then sighed. “Very well. Be Lowly Servant, then. That makes things a little simpler.” He straightened in his seat and met Lowly’s eyes again; the grey mare averted hers further. “Lowly Servant was a real pony. She was scheduled to begin work the day that you did instead, and the records I found show that she was related to a Humble Pie, Spit Take, and Chamber Pot.”

Lowly’s heart did not soar. Instead, it cautiously looked up, then began climbing steadily towards her chest.

“I don’t know if any of the details are true. I… that’s not how things worked for me.” Shining sighed again and levitated his quill back over his papers. “Cadance’s spells did something terrible. Or, I think they did. I’m not even sure which one caused it, but when they made you, they… I think they made sure there was only one.” He swallowed. “Lowly Servant’s train to the Crystal Empire derailed and was destroyed during the night before I became Prince.”

“Did… did I live?” Lowly wasn’t sure what to hope for.

“Officially? You’re a very lucky pony.” Shining looked away again. “But… probably not. There wasn’t enough left of anything to be sure.”

Lowly Servant sat down sharply on the floor. This wasn’t what she had expected to learn. She had hoped she really had a life, a family—or a wonderful sister, anyway. The cost? Somepony had died. On a long, open stretch of track through the icy countryside around the Crystal Empire, she had woken to a jolt, a thud, and then everything had gone everywhere and she—

Oh merciful Celestia.

“I… I remember it. W-why—How can I remember that? I—I—I...” She gulped, and continued in a tiny voice just above a whisper, “I remember dying.”

At least it had been quick, and then… she had woken up, confused, at the center of a weird sex game in the Crystal Palace. She’d barely remembered her own name, but had somehow stumbled through the night and her introduction to the palace staff. Her work ethic and compulsion to obey had made up for how unprepared she was for such a heavy workload and such a different dormitory; she kept her new job.

And then, for more than eight years, she had always been too busy, too tired, or too afraid to write home, even when she received the occasional letter from her sister. She would have to set that right as soon as this was over.

Shining Armor lowered his head, his ears drooping. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what’s been done to you, and I’m especially sorry for what I’ve done to you. None of this should have happened.” He straightened again. “And it won’t happen again. The following two statements will take effect as soon as I have finished speaking both of them, and until I have made them, you will stand still and be silent.”

Lowly gulped. She could only listen while His Highness talked.

“First: you will always have the free will to obey or disobey future orders, unless the order begins with ‘Cady commands,’ in which case you will obey without resistance or hesitation,” Shining said. He gave the former maid a weary smile before continuing. “Second: your identity and personality cannot be magically changed by any statement or order, and the order to ‘be Lowly Servant’ cannot by any means be terminated, modified, suspended, or overridden.”

The Prince took a deep breath, levitated all the papers off his desk, and set them back down in a neat stack. “Hopefully I will only have to worry about one of us, now,” he muttered, and Lowly barely caught it. Returning to his normal tone, Shining Armor continued. “If you don’t have any questions, you’re dismissed. You’ll be staying in the guest room my sister uses when she comes over. I think you know the one, but if not, ask a servant to show you the way. I will have an offer for you tomorrow.”

Lowly Servant bowed. “Yes, milord.” She hesitated. Things could have gone better, but at least she was almost her own mare now. Though the cost was her job, she owed her Prince her gratitude. “And… thank you. I h-haven’t had the opportunity to say that enough.”

At the door, the mare added her usual curtsey. “It was my pleasure to serve you, milord.” For once, it was true.

Author's Note

Epilogue coming soon.

Special thanks to TwistedSpectrum for inspiration and pre-reading, Canary in the Coal Mine for months of brainstorming, Damaged for editing, and Lise Eclaire for moral support. Check out their work!