Your Loyal Subject

As Luna fell asleep yet again to resume her dream duties... she found herself in yet another distorted dreamscape. This time, she appeared to be in a closet with many shelves, and she was very small, probably only five centimeter high. The shelves also extended very high up, much higher than a normal closet.

"Is this... yet another of Avey's mental projections...?" she asked herself.

Yet again, she was unable to gain any lift on her wings by flapping, and she could not use her magic. So she had to resort to traversing up the closet on foot. She climbed a series of crude ramps composed of slanted, fallen shelves, some tipped boxes, and jumping across objects that gradually increased in height, like tin cans.

As she continued to ascend the enlarged closet, Luna began to see a beam of moonlight emerging through the opening at the top... but there was also the outline of a silhouette as well. She had to take a very unorthodox route of launching herself out of a toaster to reach a higher area, and throw some marbles at a vase supporting a shelf to knock it down, allowing her to climb it.

Eventually, Luna made it to the top, and readied herself to make the final jump to escape the closet. But as she passed into the moonlight... she was met with the sight of a jet-black pony emitting particles from its entire body, and ominous, glowing white eyes, sitting right outside the window.

"The shadow pony again..." Luna muttered under her breath, just before inducing her Royal Canterlot voice. "WHO GOES THERE?! BEGONE LEST THOU DESIRE PAIN AND HARM!"

The shadow pony did nothing, sitting and staring... but its eyes narrowed, as if in anger. Taking on a firm expression herself, Luna made the final jump, leaping toward the opening and the shadow pony, and the latter simply faded away as she got too close.

In any case, once Luna leaped through the open window into the night, the contorted dreamscape dissolved and she found herself back in the Dream Void. From here, she carried out her duties like normal... but she definitely had something fixated at the front of her mind as she absently took notes for the Archives of Subconsciousness.

"...I need to bring this up with Avey in the morning. Maybe he'll know what's going on... and what that shadow pony is..." she said to herself as she crossed the Void at a certain point.

In addition to having Blueblood serve him, Aversion had assigned him to do a full eight hours of charity work for one particular day. And it just so happened... he was signed up to be an entertainer for a colt's birthday party.

Reluctantly, the former prince trudged out of Aversion's house, having not gotten enough sleep and still tired. His breakfast was far from pleasant as well, being comprised of stale cornflakes and bland toast. As he begrudgingly made his way over to the address Aversion provided, a familiar draconequus happened to appear out of nowhere, landing right in front of the white unicorn stallion.

"Ah, good day, Blue-Blue! How are we on this fine morning?" Discord asked.

Blueblood bared his teeth. "...For the last, bucking time... MY NAME IS NOT 'BLUE-BLUE'! It's 'BLUEBLOOD'! And that's PRINCE Blueblood to you, you big mixed-breed mutt!"

"Ooooh..." Discord said, feigning awe. "...somepony's in a bad mood!"

"I already have far too much to be upset about without YOU so rudely intervening!" Blueblood claimed.

"Aw, what's wrong, Blue-Blue? You don't care about a bunch of sweet, innocent children? You don't want to let them have some fun?" Discord said.

"Grrr...!" Blueblood growled.

"Now, you best have some good manners for the children!" Discord said. "Aversion himself made it very clear to me that I must keep an eye on you, and ensure you are doing your job properly! And if you offend me and get my dear friend Fluttershy angry at you... oh, dear sweet Celestia, will she be coming for you! Heh heh heh!"

Eventually, the draconequus managed to escort Blueblood to the house where the colt's birthday party was being held. Discord was the one to ring the doorbell, while Blueblood stood, completely uninterested in what was to come, as indicated by his narrow eyes and deep frown.

"Ah, welcome-WELCOME!" Pinkie Pie said as she answered the door.

"And good day to you, Ms. Pie!" Discord responded with a bow.

Pinkie turned to the ever-unenthusiastic Blueblood.

"Now, are you ready to have the awesomest, funnest party you've been to in FOR-EV-ER?" Pinkie asked.

"NO!" Blueblood shouted. "Just get me the buck out of here!"

"Hey, language!" Pinkie scolded. "There's foals here!"

At that moment, Pipsqueak appeared in the doorway, right next to Pinkie. When he caught sight of Blueblood, his eyes went wide.

"Oh, Prince Blueblood...!" he said. "...S-so... he's the entertainer for my p-party...?"

"Don't you worry about a thing, Pip!" Pinkie said. "As long as Discord is here, Mr. Big-Royal-Meanie-Pants won't do anything to you or any of the guests!"

"Seal your yap!" Blueblood shouted. "You shall NEVER address yours truly in such a way!"

"Mind your manners, Blue-Blue!" Discord said.

Blueblood let out a hoarse sigh as he reluctantly made his way into the backyard, Pinkie leading the way. There was quite a good bit of activity happening, with many colts and fillies present, playing games and running around the backyard of the house.

"Your attention, everypony!" Pinkie announced. "The entertainment has arrived!"

"Now, are are you little youngsters ready to play some fun games?" Discord said.

"YEAH!" the party attendees all said in unison.

"Oh, dear..." Blueblood said, unamused.

"Now then..." Discord said, snapping his fingers.

In that instant, a dunk-tank rose up from out of the ground, and Blueblood was sitting on the seat above it. After overcoming his initial shock from the sudden change around him, he gasped as he saw he was directly above water... only it wasn't water. It was actually filled with fruit punch.

"Now, the rules are simple..." Discord said, snapping his fingers again, which conjured a red-and-white stripped button-up shirt, a boater hat with the same texture, and cane all appear on his person. "...all you have to do is throw a ball and hit the bullseye, and poor Blue-Blue here will be forced into the punch tank! So, step right up and try your luck!"

"N-no...!" Blueblood stammered. "...You wouldn't dare!"

Discord turned back toward the former monarch. "And to make sure you don't try anything..."

The draconequus snapped his fingers again, putting Blueblood into a straitjacket. This made the unicorn gasp yet again.

"Hey! This is utterly illegal! What if I were to DROWN?" Blueblood said.

"The tank is only a meter deep." Discord pointed out. "You will be capable of standing for breath should you fall in."

With that, he turned back to Pip and his friends.

"Now then..." Discord said, snapping his fingers and conjuring a tennis ball. "...we shall let the birthday boy get the first throw!"

"Awesome!" Pip said.

With that, he took the ball, and standing on his hind legs, wound up a foreleg to toss it. He did so, but it did not travel very far, hitting the ground short of the the target.

"Aww..." Pip groaned. "...well, guess we get to see who can actually dunk him!"

With that, all of the foals took turns throwing the ball. Some hit the target, others missed, but they still had yet to hit the actual bullseye. The suspense was absolutely killing the former Prince.

"STOP IT, YOU INSOLENT LITTLE DEMONS!" Blueblood thundered.

The filly who was about to throw the ball stopped in her tracks as her eyes went wide. Blueblood glared at her.

"You will place that ball on the ground and leave the premises, or I shall ensure that every waking moment of your worthelss life is dedicated to the most brutal and exerting labor imaginable until your natural death, which nopony shall ever memorialize!" he said.

The filly was tearing up as he said all this to her, and after he got done speaking, she started crying, dropping the ball and running off. All of the other foals looked back at Blueblood in utter shock.

"I thought Princes and Princesses were supposed to be nice to their subjects!"

"Why is he being so mean?"

"I guess this is why he's been sent here by Princess Celestia!"

Discord stepped forward, a rather unamused set of narrow eyes upon his face.

"Now, Blue-Blue... was that really called for?" he asked. "Are you proud of yourself for making a poor little girl cry?"

"I've had enough!" Blueblood shouted. "I demand to be released!"

"I believe you have had more than enough say on your part!" Discord said.

With a snap of his fingers, the draconequus conjured a diaper on Blueblood while he was still bound atop the tank platform. This made Blueblood become entirely dumbfounded for yet another time. Never did he imagine he could be shocked to such a degree so frequently.

"...Why the buck did you put this hideous foal-toilet on me?!" Blueblood shouted.

"Because," Discord explained. "if you're going to act like a baby, then we're going to treat you like a baby. And you best behave yourself, too! Because with a simple snap of my fingers, I can easily make you lose your urine into your lovely new garment!"

This, however, was really driving Blueblood up into the danger zone of his rage meter.

"You are deliberately taking advantage of me!" he shouted. "Wait until Auntie 'Tia learns of the excessive methods you have used against me!"

"Oh, well I just so happened to get in touch with your aunts, and they oh, so, happily agreed to let me punish you as they see fit, so long as you are not harmed in such a way that requires medical treatment." Discord explained.

"WHAT?!" Blueblood exclaimed. "Now you are taking advantage of my aunts, like that pathetic worm, Aversion?!" his eyes went narrow as he barred his teeth. "...Now you have really done it! I will ensure that you are punished under my faction of the Royal Guard!"

"As if! They can't do a single thing to contain me! And they wouldn't care! Your aunts would simply retract your requests to them!" Discord said.

"YOU WILL SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU AND THAT BLOODY PARASITIC EARTH PONY HAVE DONE TO ME!" Blueblood said.

"Don't backsass me!" Discord scolded.

"Deh-neh-neh-neh!" Blueblood taunted, sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes as he did so.

"What?!" Discord said.

Instead of responding, Blueblood simply blew a raspberry at Discord's face. This made the latter glare in fury at the pathetic former monarch.

"That's it, Mister! You just lost your bladder-control privileges!" Discord said, snapping his fingers.

Blueblood gasped as his face went red as his eyes slowly fell to his crotch region. A small yellow stain appeared on the front of the diaper, slowly growing in size.

"EWWWW...!" the foals cried in both amusement and surprise. "He's whizzing himself!"

"O-oh, dear..." Blueblood uttered. "...I'm wetting this cover upon me..."

He clenched his teeth and tensed his stomach.

"...No...! I-I can't stop it...!" Blueblood said in horror as the pee-stain saturated the entire front of the diaper.

Normally, he had a shy bladder, and couldn't bring himself to pee if others were present in the same washroom as him... but now, he could not hold back his urine, no matter how hard he tried to snap it. It did not matter that there were others right in front of him.

"Now then... let us continue the game... but with some added... substance..." Discord said.

When he snapped his fingers yet again, the punch in the dunk tank was replaced with a murky, brown substance. Blueblood, utterly defeated by being bound in a straitjacket, having urinated himself in front of everyone, and into a diaper, no less, was now very fearful of what was to come.

"Wh-what is this stuff...?" the unicorn asked.

"See," Discord said. "I spoke with Applejack of Sweet Apple Acres about possibly borrowing the top layer of muck from each of the pigpens on their property, to which she delightfully agreed after hearing what I intended to do with it."

"Pigpens...?!" Blueblood asked, looking into the muck pool below him. "...N-no... please... do not allow this to come to fruition...!"

"And just why should I not?" Discord asked.

Blueblood bit his lip again as his eyebrows came down hard. "...Because I will go out of my way to make a big, filthy mutt such as yourself—!"

"AHP-AHP-AHP!" Discord stopped Blueblood. "Behave yourself! Want me to make you spill your bowels into your baby-trousers as well?!"

"Ooooooh...!" the foals all said in unison again.

Blueblood went silent, realizing that all he could do was pray that the bullseye would not be hit by anyone.

The game continued, with the foals trying to hit the bullseye and dunk Blueblood, but none of them were really successful. There were a few close calls, but nothing more. Blueblood was on edge the entire time, both mentally and literally. Eventually, the party attendees all gave up.

"Hmmm... what a shame." Discord said. "Nopony seems to have hit. Well, not to worry, children! I can fix that right away!"

Once he said this, the seat holding up Blueblood gave out from under him, causing him to shriek briefly before he was submerged completely under the pen muck. All of the children immediately began to laugh.

"Oh, wow!" a filly said. "That was awesome! He sunk like a rock into that dirty mud!"

"This has been my best birthday party ever!" Pip said. "I think Blueblood should do this every year!"

Blueblood slowly emerged from the pigpen muck, gasping the tainted air for breath, and suffering paralysis from his shock that he was now covered head-to-hoof in a disgusting substance. It was far worse than the fertilizer incident on his first day of work under Aversion.

It was then that he made desperate eyes at Discord.

"...C-could you... please... turn this muck... into w-water...? With soap...?" he asked.

Discord narrowed his eyes. "You act all rude and righteous... you make a little filly cry... and then you have the gall to beg for something in return?! You can stay in there for all I care!"

"YAAAAAY!" the party members all cheered.

Apparently, all you needed to entertain a child at a party was a rotten stallion being covered in something as putrid as his ego.

As this was all happening... something was happening deep inside Blueblood's mind... there was a small flame that had ignited... rapidly spreading... consuming his psyche...

Blueblood's eyelid twitched, as did the side of his neck, making his head jolt subtly...

Anypony who even bothered to look at him could tell he was losing his mind...

"A shadow pony?" Aversion said, rubbing his chin. "...No, doesn't ring any bells."

"No visions, no nightmares... nothing you can recall about it?" Luna asked.

Aversion shook his head. "And also... what exactly are these 'distorted dreamscapes' you've been mentioning concerning this supposed 'shadow pony'?"

Luna hung her head. "A supermarket... a school... a closet... that is what I have encountered thus far. Do they mean anything to you?"

"Hmmm..." Aversion said, shuffling his hooves a bit. "...well, I've always been... kinda nervous about those places. There were some... things... that happened long ago with them."

"Really?" Luna asked.

"Yeah." Aversion said.

"Well, I won't press you on the matter if you don't feel comfortable, Avey." Luna said. "I'm just trying to understand what has been happening lately. Thank you for telling me what you have, though."

"You're welcome, Lulu." Aversion said.

"And also, Avey..." Luna began. "...is there anypony else aside from your boss who has been giving you a hard time, or going out of their way to make your life miserable?"

"Well... there is one." Aversion said.

"Who would that be?" Luna asked.

Aversion made nervous hoof motions again, hesitating to speak. "...Well... he's an earth pony by the name of 'Brawn Brutus'... and I haven't told anypony about him... because I'm afraid of what he could do to me for snitching..."

"Avey!" Luna said. "When somepony threatens you, you tell an authority figure immediately! You don't have to be worried! They'll take care of it!"

"W-well..." Aversion stammered.

"In fact..." Luna said, standing from her seat. "...what do you say I take care of him for you?"

Aversion's eye went wide. "A-are you sure, Lulu...? What if he..."

"There's no need to worry about me. As I can use magic, he shall be incapable of harming me." Luna said.

Aversion trusted that Luna would be willing to do the right thing, and get Brutus to stop antagonizing him. He wanted it to stop for such a long time... and as always, Luna ended any discussion of his emotional turmoil on a positive note:

"...things will get better, Avey. Trust me." Luna said.