“How dare you claim to be mine when you wear this… this abomination,” roared Luna, now transformed by her dark desires into the dread alicorn beauty that was Mistress Moon. “Remove thy belt! At once!”

“Sorry, but I can’t do that,” replied Consent, lowering her eyes deferentially and curving her body so that her enforced chastity was on particular display.

“Can’t,” demanded Mistress Moon, dragging the harnessed mare to her by main force applied to the dark gold and blue collar around the throat of her newest Element of Ecstacy, “or won’t?”

“Can’t,” came from the gasping throat of the mare who had been Twilight Sparkle. “Bound by conditions of your magic.”

“What conditions?” growled the midnight mare, releasing Consent to collapse onto the ground at her hooves. “Thou had best not make an attempt to lie to your Mistress.”

“Of course not,” responded Consent, taking a moment to rub her throat above and below her close fitting collar. “As the Element of Consent my marehood is bound and sealed away until you ask for and obtain my consent to the things you want to do to me.”

There was a long moment of silence as the words, delivered in the humblest of tones, rode defiantly into the alicorn’s mind.

“Until you consent?” roared the outraged alicorn, “I am thy Owner and I neither need nor require the consent of one who is owned! I shall tear this offending metal from thy loins and show thee thy place.”

“All you’ll do is make the belt stronger,” Consent advised, as she felt her owner’s power begin to wrench and pull at the enchanted silver that was curved around her hips. “And even if you do manage to break it and pull it off of me, all you’ll wind up doing is killing me.”

“How would removing this impediment slay thee?” asked Mistress Moon, pausing in her efforts and pulling the target of her lust back to her hooves. “Speak… Consent. In what manner would the removal of this belt slay thee?”

“When you filled Twilight Sparkle with your power, she was able to guide some of what was done to her, “ Consent explained, laying her head against the night black chest of her owner in a gesture of submission. “And the largest part of that was she empowered this belt with her- our- own lifeforce and the root of our magic. Break the belt and you literally break me as well.”

“Was Twilight so willing to deny me that she would rather die than accept my touch?” Mistress Moon asked, grimacing as angry tears began to form.

“No, Mistress,” countered Consent. “She was willing to die rather than let herself be taken against her will.”

“Then why do you stand at my breast, still breathing?” asked the older mare, anger held for the moment. “I took Twilight, captured and conquered her.”

“And she chose to let you do those things to her. She gave her consent,” responded the pony of the name, nibbling delicately at ebon alicorn floof. “Because she loved you, and her friends. Although not maybe in quite the same way.”

“Ah; then I have found the way in which to have what I want,” declared Mistress Moon, a fanged smile gracing her mouth as she looked down at the lovely lavender features of the pony at her breast.

“Euphoria,” called the Mistress, and the pink pony appeared as if teleported. “Glue thy sister’s hooves to the ground. Wanton, bridle her and rein her so that she cannot move her head.”

“Yeehaw! You be wantin’ a regular bit, or one of the special ones?” asked the orange pony, pulling out a mass of straps and buckles, even as Euphoria gummed down Consent’s hooves.

“No bit for now,” declared Mistress Moon, pulling out a long whip. “I want to hear her scream in ecstatic agony as she begs for me to take her. Oh yes, she will give me her consent by the time we are done, and then we will see how many times we need to remake a pony until she comes out the way she is supposed to.”

“Forced consent isn’t consent,” cautioned Consent, nosing her way into the bridle in order to help Wanton sit the piece of tack into its proper place. “If you try to make me give permission, all you’ll do is make the belt all that much stronger.”

“And what if all I want to do is make you scream? To punish you for your insolence at defying the one who holds your reins?” asked the mistress, flicking out the whip experimentally to get used to its weight and feel.

“Mistress,” began Consent, trying to move her head and failing as Wanton took up the slack in the check reins. “You’ve captured, collared and conquered me. You've forced me to submit to you and bound me to your will. You can kill me, rape me as I lay dying, beat and blind me. I can't stop you and I won't try. But if you want to have me in all the ways that matter... If you want me as your pet and not some piece of meat to use and discard, then you need to have me agree to it. You need my Consent. Only then will you get what you really want, Mistress Moon."

“And what do I really want?” Moon asked, waving away Wanton and Euphoria.

“You want what you’ve always wanted, what you once became Nightmare Moon to try to have, and what has driven you to become Mistress Moon now,” Consent explained, still trying and failing to move her head against the bridle’s restraint. “You want to be loved and adored, just like any other pony does.”

“I deserve the adoration of my subjects. It is mine by right,” Mistress Moon stated, punctuating her words with a snap of her whip that was close enough to make Consent flinch. “And four of your friends have already given me their love, with Rarity and Valiente soon to join them. Followed by yourself. Or have you forgotten on whose leash you dance?”

“I’ve forgotten less than you have, Mistress,” the restrained alicorn responded, eyes tracking the curl of whip before her. “You’ve forgotten that these four ponies aren’t my friends. They’re what you turned my friends into. You don’t have love, you have the slavish obedience of mind controlled slaves.”

“LIES!” shrieked the Lunar Mistress, and this time the whip lashed out with intent, slashing a path of fire across Consent’s chest from left shoulder down to her right foreknee. “Wanton, bind her tail to her bridle. Make it tight.”

“Of course, Mistress. I love doin’ what ya tell me to,” replied the orange pony, busying herself with the task. “Y’all should just do what our Mistress tells ya to. Better that way.”

“Applejack… Wanton, do you love your Mistress or do you love her because she tells you—urk tells you to?” Consent couldn’t help but give out a gasp as her tail was bent back over body, and with the help of a rope tied off to the back of her bridle, forcing her spine to bend in a downwards bow.

“Both Ah reckon,” Wanton answered, taking a moment to plunder Consent’s mouth with a swift, but deep, kiss. “Ah love her cause Ah’ve always liked her, and cause she tells me to. Jes’ like Ah’ve always wanted to see you like this.”

“Choose your next words carefully, Consent,” cautioned Mistress Moon, readying her whip for another strike. “While I do not exactly enjoy whipping you, I will confess to a certain thrill in hearing you cry out.”

“Wanton loves you because you tell her to,” Consent said, swiftly adding as her owner drew back the whip for a fresh strike, “she liked you before, she respected you before. The only reason she loves you now is because you made her that way.”

“And that is love, which means you are wrong,” the dread alicorn responded, and the whip’s second strike across Consent’s chest made her cry out in pain. “Submit, and cast off the chastity belt.”

“Submit,” demanded the pony who had been Fluttershy, her power battering against Consent’s mind before being drained into the erotic armor around lavender hips, croup and dock.

“It’s not real love and you know it!” Consent cried out, closing her eyes against the Stare of Submission. “It’s no more real than the love of a doll or a stuffed toy. You want real love. True love. Like what Rarity gave you the other night.”

“What?” Mistress Moon asked, dropping the whip in surprise.

“Rarity and Valiente came to you. They gave themselves to you,” Consent replied, trying to use her eyes to look where her unicorn friend still remained, tethered by her own collar off to one side, still trapped in a seemingly endless debate with her sister of the mind. “Do you remember what happened when you tried to push her away?”

“She… she had collared herself, leashed herself to my bed so that I could not cast her away,” Moon replied, unsure of herself for the first time. “She told me to do what I willed with her, and I did.”

“And it was wonderful, wasn’t it?” Consent asked, as gently as she could in her strained position.

“It was, and I wanted more, which is why I embraced the dark desires in my heart and made you, her friends, into suitable concubines. To be her sisters in bondage,” Mistress Moon stated, before closing the space between her and Consent, so that she could look the captive mare in the eyes. “And all of them have willingly embraced their new destiny, except for you.”

“But their love, the love that you’ve forced on them, it doesn’t feel as good as the love Rarity gave you. Or what Valiente gave you, or what Twilight gave you. Does it?” Consent gently asked.

“No, it does not,” Moon answered, turning her head away. “It is bitter somehow.”

“Submission is a gift given, not a prize won, or a deed demanded,” quoted Consent. “You can force obedience, you can demand respect, but love can only be given freely. If you want further proof, why don’t you ask Rarity and Valiente what they’re arguing about?”

All eyes turned to the white unicorn tethered to one side of Mistress Moon’s impromptu throne. Slowly and with surprising care, the sensual and terrible ruler drew forth the only pony in the room who had not transformed.

“Rarity,” began Mistress Moon, her voice gentle. “You who were the first to give yourself to me. Why is there discord between the halves that make thy whole? You art mine, given freely, to do as I wished with thee. Where is thy conflict?”

“But I am yours,” passionately declared the alabaster unicorn . “I am your eternal slave, and you can keep me, kill me, or do any one of a thousand terrible and wonderful things to me. There isn’t any conflict at all!”

“Valiente,” replied the Mistress, recognizing the voice and body language of the mare in her hooves. “It is good to hear thy declaration. Is Rarity of the same mind?”

“Of course she is,” purred Valiente, nuzzling the ebony fur of the chest before her.

“Then why is not Rarity speaking those words, as opposed to thee?” Moon asked, a small growl underscoring her question.

“Rarity… is a little tied up at the moment,” chuckled the submissive mare, dodging the question.

“Valiente,” growled Mistress Moon, no longer amused. “Release thy soul sister and allow her to speak her own words.”

“But—” began the mare, pausing at the feel of a very firm grasp on her collar.

“Now.”

“As you command,” Valiente responded, features going slack for a mere heartbeat before the unicorn’s body posture stiffened and a familiar voice spoke once more. “Hello Princess, thank you.”

“I thought I was thy Mistress as much as thy Princess?” Moon asked, recognizing that Rarity was once again in control of her shared body.

“I do believe I’ve more than adequately demonstrated the difference between kneeling to you as my princess, and my mistress,” Rarity explained, with a coquettish smile. “Just like I’m two mares in one body, so are you. Just a little more metaphorically, of course.”

“Of course,” allowed Moon, arching an eyebrow. “Now, explain the conflict that exists between thy halves.”

“Well, you’ve just summed it up,” replied the mare, arching her own eyebrow in unconscious mimicry.

“Explain… further,” Moon commanded, taking a deep, calming breath between the words.

“Sometimes you are my princess. Luna, the Lunar Alicorn and one-half of the Diarchy that I obey as a loyal Equestrian,” Rarity responded, before reaching up and drawing a hoof slowly over the curved metal at her throat. “And sometimes you are my mistress, who puts me through both exquisite agony and the most wonderful ecstasy as I strive to obey your commands.”

“But I am both!” stated Mistress Moon, stomping a hoof. “I am thy sovereign and thy mistress.”

“But not at the same time,” Rarity interjected, and the revelation was as profound as a bucket of water to the face.

“Yes, there are times when I would gladly crawl on my belly just for the privilege of kissing your hoof. But there are also times when I need to stand before my sovereign and tell her, ‘No’,” Rarity continued, as Mistress Moon’s eyes and ears widened in shock at the words coming from her mare. “There are times when I want a stern and loving owner, but there are also times when I have to stand tall and command the respect of a fellow pony.”

“You wear my collar, by your own choice,” Moon argued, confusion writ large on her face. “You have given your agency and power to me, and as such I will decide when you are these things.”

“You can’t,” Consent chimed in, and both Rarity and Moon looked over to where the bound lavender alicorn stood. “Not unless you follow her around all day, every day. You can’t always be there to make those choices. Rarity and Valiente have to make those choices for themselves if for no other reason than that they will be the ones who know the situation and how best to respond.”

“And that’s what Valiente and I have been fighting about,” Rarity added. “I do want to be with you, but I want it to be as the mare who gave herself to you. Not as somepony who was forced into the role. I want to be somepony special to you, not just another piece of meat to use, abuse and forget.”

“I would never—” Moon retorted, before Rarity’s gentle words cut her off.

“That is what I’ll become if you take away my right to choose,” Rarity sadly said, going to her knees and bowing her head until her nose touched the floor, mane falling to one side to expose the rear of her collar and the vulnerable neck it encircled. “Not today, not tomorrow, maybe not next week or even next month, but eventually… Eventually I will become just another thing. No more or less important to you than anything else.”

“Don’t listen to that hooie, Mistress!” exhorted Desire. “It’s awesome that you make all the decisions for us. Rarity’s just a big ‘fraidy cat.”

“I… I… “ Moon stuttered, looking at her four… five Elements in confusion rather than self-congratulation, realizing the caricatures she had made of some of her best friends.

“Before all this happened, do you know that Twilight had spent weeks researching the best way to ask you out on a date?” Consent asked.

“Twilight loves Celestia,” Mistress Moon fired back instantly, the energy of the response seeming to stabilize her. “She always has.”

“Yes, as a mother figure,” Consent volleyed. “Celestia practically raised Twilight from the moment she entered the School for Gifted Unicorns. So, of course Twilight loves her. But not romantically, cause that would be… just… ew.”

“I never knew,” whispered Mistress Moon, her fur lightening slightly and shifting to a very dark midnight blue.

“Twilight found you attractive on multiple levels,” Consent continued, ticking items off a very Twilight-like list. “You have access to an entire realm of magic she would love to learn about. You are more vulnerable and more approachable than your sister. You are closer to her in size and stature. You fought back to back in the Badlands, and above all else, she trusted you.”

“Found. Trusted,” Moon replied, ears flattening. “Those are words that speak of the past.”

“Well, you unmade Twilight. She doesn’t really exist anymore,” Consent calmly reminded the ruling alicorn, whose eyes grew wide with horrified memory. “She was able to guide what you did to her, into making me, but almost all of her is gone.”

“Almost, you say,” Mistress Moon said, seizing on the word and Consent at the same time. “Twilight can be restored?”

“As can the others,” Consent confirmed, nodding. “But only if you allow it to be. Only if you give the ponies who love you the right to choose what they want to be, when they want to be it.”

“And what of my wishes? What of my rights?” Moon demanded, rallying her confidence as her fur returned to the purest shades of black. “I rule. I have mastery and dominion over this land and over you.”

“Luna… Mistress Moon,” Rarity asked, head still bowed in supplication. “Would you rather I kneel before you because I wanted it just as much as you do, or because you forced me to? Do you want my body freely offered on a platter, or dragged to the chopping block after having fought every step of the way?”

“I... “ Moon began, again unsure of herself.

“Please, like there’s a difference,” declared a mocking voice, from beyond the sundered walls of the castle. A moment later, Celestia, Princess of the Dawn flew in through the hole in the wall with Chrysalis astride her back.

“The strong rule, and the weak serve,” Chrysalis stated firmly in control of her mount as she touched down several paces away from the group. “You’re like me. We know what we want and we take it. You’ve taken Equestria, and I’ve taken Celestia. Let’s take the world together.”

Author's Note

My apologies for the shortness of this chapter but an unknown food reaction struck and it was all I could do to get to this point of the story. Next chapter will be the confrontation between Mistress Moon, Chrysalis and her Toy. Should be interesting...

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