Justice Finally Served

"Look I'm sorry okay?" Fox shook his head, unsure of what else to do. "Look, we don't have to go through with this, please, I'll go through whatever friendship shit Celestia wants okay? I won't even tell anyone about the stuff they didn't want the public to know!"

"Now, now," assured Redheart. "There's no need to apologize to me for failing to maintain an erection. I'm your doctor, not your marefriend. That's a mare that dates you of her own volition, in case you aren't familiar with the concept. I know it might be hard for someone that never had one to understand."

First Redheart opened the bottle of pills. As she brought it closer, he could read the label: Aphrodite Touch. He recognized it as a prescription aphrodisiac. Her words were well chosen so that he'd definitely respond, because as soon as he opened his muzzle she poured no less than six pills into his muzzle.

Astraea didn't need to be told what to do when she came over. She grabbed his muzzle and held it shut as he gagged on the pills, forcing him to swallow the way one might force a dog to take medication. This whole time Redheart kept stroking him without so much as a moments hesitation.

"I'm sorry I killed that brat okay?!" Fox shrieked when he finally finished choking down the pills and Astraea released his muzzle. He felt tears welling up in his eyes. "Look, this is barbaric! Please!"

Even he recognized the irony in his words, and it wasn't like he was really sorry. But he'd reached the point where he recognized that this was the only chance of getting out of this. Some pretty major villains had been given a pass by apologizing after all. If he had a better singing voice, he'd probably have even tried a song.

"You really expect us to just forgive you?" Astraea arched one eyebrow as she stayed by the surgical table. With. That. Same. Fucking. Smile.

"Why not?" reasoned Fox. "I mean Discord and whats-her-face Glimmer got forgiven. I heard that bitch almost destroyed reality!"

"Do you really not comprehend the difference?" Redheart asked, calmly pouring more lubricant into the fleshlight, which slid down his moist length with more distracting coolness. She spoke as if fascinated by his mental state rather than making an actual argument against him.

"Let me explain the difference," Astraea chirped. "Discord didn't kill anypony, in fact he was really careful not to. Starlight didn't kill anypony on purpose, and none that stayed dead thanks to wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. But then there's villains like Tirek or Cozy Glow, that drained magic knowing that ponies would die because of it."

"Yes," sighed Redheart, momentarily more glum. "Hundreds died due to failures in magical equipment and medicine preservation. We even had structures fall through the clouds in the pegasi cities and some were unable to fly to save themselves. Entire cities would have fallen out of the sky within hours had it not been fixed."

"Exactly," explained Astraea. "Those villains knowingly took actions that killed ponies. And now they're in Tartarus, beyond forgiveness."

"So send me to fucking Tartarus!" Fox's voice quivered. "I mean you didn't scoop out their bits before sending them there, did you?"

"Their 'bits' weren't used as part of their crimes," Redheart stated. "They killed by not caring who died to fulfill their selfish goals, but you savored your murders like fine wine. DO you understand the difference?"

"No!" Fox answered honestly. "I really don't!"

"Do you think I want this?!" Redheart's efforts to remain medical floundered as a surge of emotion flooded into her voice. "Cutting someone open for what they've done is wrong, yes, I couldn't agree more. But so is raping and murdering a foal, so is killing pregnant mares ready to bring new life into the world. What you've done is BEYOND forgiveness, and that is why I am willing to follow orders that I would normally dismiss without question. The bottom like is that I cannot help you so for the love if my sanity, SHUT. UP!"

"OOOO! Should I gag him?" Astraea sounded more energetic.

"That would be appreciated, thank you," Redheart sighed. "He'll need something to bite down on anyway since I'm not allowed to use sedatives."

"W-what?" Fox had a lot to say, but the last bit about not having sedatives was definitely the thing that stood out.

Before he could protest further, Astraea pushed the ball gag he'd had on before back into his muzzle. He bit down on the rubber at just the thought of the whole thing. Holy crap, they were really going through with this.

"You know, I think he really doesn't understand why we're doing this," Redheart pondered after she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I wish I could study this. It's a pity I didn't get more time to open up that head and check inside... figuratively I mean."

"She means the upper head," specified Astraea, as if she thought Fox might have trouble telling his brains from his balls.

As much as he tried, the pills were starting to have their effects. He felt a surge of need push through him as his shaft throbbed harder than he'd ever felt it before. The amount of Touch he'd been given made him painfully hard, a toothache-like pain spreading upwards through him, yet he couldn't keep himself from tumbling towards orgasm.

Fox arched his back and groaned against the gag in not-bliss as his stinging climax pushed up through his clenched shaft. Redheart's face twitched with disgust, angling the fleshlight back away from her and clenching the other end shut to make sure none of his spunk splurted out and touched her. She waited patiently for his moans and squeaks to stop and his body to stop shivering as the tube was filled, then slowly pulled it back.

Squeezing the base as she pulled it free, she made sure nothing spilled onto her work area. He shivered again, the sensitivity of his bits dialed up to eleven now that he'd came, the lightest sensation driving his mind wild.

"Place this in the biohazard bin please," Redheart stated calmly as she hooved the fleshlight over to Astraea.

Astraea took it carefully, trying not to get gooey in the process, but then smirked slightly. She moved to Fox's head, tugging his gag free without warning. When he predictably opened his muzzle to bargain for his balls some more, Astraea pushed the toy hole he'd fucked to his muzzle. She squeezed it from end to end like a stubborn tube of toothpaste, squirting his own sperm along with two additional pills into his muzzle.

“Pill of immortality and pill of everlasting sanity, A gift from an ex-test subject,” whispered Astraea.

...test subject? No wonder why she looked so familiar! She was an early failed test subject from the Belltower for him to work on his poison! Fox looked at Astraea with newfound terror.

As he choked on the new knowledge and cum, she tossed the tube into the actual biohazard bin and pulled the gag into place again.He'd licked his own cum out of comatose or corpse cunt plenty of times, but it never tasted so nasty. The prison food must have done a number on him as the bitter flavor felt like gargling sewage. It took several swallowing attempts to keep it down.

"That was not the biohazard bin," commented Redheart with a hint of annoyance at the improvisation of her guard.

"Close enough," shrugged Astraea.

Redheart didn't care enough to get onto Astraea further. Instead poked Fox's still throbbing shaft lightly with a hoof, stroking down to his balls and cupping them. The touch sent another blast of shivers through his body as he arched his back, straining against his restraints and clenching his teeth around the gag to keep from moaning too loud.

"Please minimize your movements," Redheart requested. Her words were calm and medical. "It will reduce the possibility of mistakes. Astraea, please keep an eye on his face and tell me if he turns blue or appears to have trouble breathing."

"Gotcha" Astraea called out, half way back to the door of the room to guard there, but turned back around to stand next to Fox's head. "This is gonna be FUN! I can already tell."

"I apologize," Redheart said to Astraea mistaking her tone as sarcasm. "I know this isn't an easy job."

"Least I'm not a stallion," Astraea commented. "Well not anymore at least…"

Redheart flicked a latch on the bottom of the table, raising the upper half. She then went to the corner of the room, moving a high mirror over to the table and adjusting it above him. He realized with no small annoyance that she was positioning him so that he could get a good look at what was going on down there through the mirror. The nurse even moved to strap his head in such a way that he couldn't turn away.

He could try to look away or close his eyes, but a side effect of overdosing on the aphrodisiac appeared to be that he had trouble closing or moving his eyes. His vision fogged with his own tears as he screamed into the muzzle, wanting to be heard.

"He wants to beg more I think," Astraea said, sounding both amused and condescending. "How many of your victims begged? How did you respond, hmmm?"

"Is that irony or coincidence?" Redheart asked thoughtfully.

"Buck if I know," shrugged Astraea. "I'll call it justice finally served."

Even if he could beg, It was no use. Redheart just saw him as a part of a task she'd been told to perform. She was just too detached, more like a wood carver cutting on wood than a surgeon. It was so disturbing that anypony could do things like this and not experience any emotion at all from the act. Couldn't she at least have the decency to get off on his suffering?

First Redheart lifted the electric sheers from the table. She carefully lifted his balls with one hoof, showing neither disgust nor desire. She did however hold her breath as she took the sheers in her muzzle and began to carefully shave the fur from his groin.

The touch of the buzzing razor made him squeal the same as if she'd just dumped a bucket of ice on his balls. His restrained legs tried to kick wildly and shook the table in the process, but the nurse remained steady. She seemed used to working on convulsing bodies and somehow managed to continue the process even as his body struggled on its own.

"Please keep movements to a minimum," said Redheart, pulling away to take a breath. "I'd hate to nick you." As if that mattered when she was about to cut it off.

Fox twitched hard, a spurt of cum oozing from his tip from the vibrations of the razor. Redheart sighed the same way she might at a colt that spilled his juice, using a sterile cloth to wipe it away before continuing. It seemed to take forever from his point of view, but eventually she was done and wiped away the loose fur from the table. She then grabbed a safety razor from the drawn to give him a touch up and make sure the skin was smooth. It was debatable if she had to be so careful to keep something clean that was about to be hacked off anyway, but she was nothing if not meticulous in her steps.

"This is where I would normally apply anesthetic," Redheart stated, inclined to say the step even if ordered to skip it. "Again I do apologize, I'm told the concern is that the behavioral modification will not be as extreme if you are numb."

So that was what this was about. Torture was illegal, but behavioral modification wasn't, so they were stretching the definition. If he wasn't scared shitless, he might have stopped to admire how they raped the legal system to come to that conclusion.

Redheart took hold of his balls with both hooves, eyeing them like fruits at the grocery store. She squeezed them firmly as if to exactly identify the location of the testes inside his sack. Given her expression, she wasn't trying to squeeze too hard, but the drugs coursing through him made it feel like vice-grip.

He cried out and shuddered, but Redheart showed no new sign of being disturbed, not so much as an ear twitch. She did glance at Astraea, who got the idea and tightened the gag so that he couldn't cry out so fiercely.

"He's finally getting what he deserves but, seriously" Astraea commented. "What a drama queen... well not a queen yet."

"This is a castration, not a gender reassignment," Redheart calmly corrected her.

The nurse concentrated on tugging the loose flesh on the back of his ball sack. She pulled it tight, and if felt like if she tugged any harder it would rip off like wet paper. When his body arched and rump lifted off the table, she pulled it back down by the skin of his balls. He tried to cry out again, but was too muffled to make much of a racket now. All he could do was sob in panic.

"I've identified the median raphe and am going to make two incisions on either side along the lower scrotum," Redheart spoke aloud, concentrating on the procedure to keep her mind clear.

"I'd say to try not to sob like me when it was me on your table" Astraea muttered to Fox with glee. "But I guess you already are. How pathetic."

Fox tried to close his eyes, but they just wouldn't cooperate. He found himself staring at the mirror, and Redheart seemed careful not to block his view. He looked on in terrified interest, if for no other reason than to try to anticipate and not overreact to the inevitable agony. Somehow it felt like his pride was still important even though he'd really already tossed it away.

Redheart's eyes locked onto his balls like a sniper on her target, holding the blade between her teeth and holding his sack steady with her hooves. She motioned her tail for Astraea, and the guard reluctantly moved closer to the lower end of the bed. The soldier placed both hooves on his belly, pressing down harder than she needed to to hold him steady.

Unlike Redheart, Astraea looked down at his face with a sick smile as if to say 'Having fun?'. He wasn't sure, but so far it seemed surprisingly not ‘fun’. Fox didn't get a real trial, no spectacle, and the family of his most prominent victim would never know he existed. This wasn't what he expected at all. He didn't feel regret like a normal pony would, but he there was no small amount of rage boiling up beneath his terror at this unfairness.

He thought maybe he was at his limit, but the sting from the blade slicing into his scrotum somehow climbed on top of that mount of pain and taught him what real agony was. They probably couldn't have anticipated it being so severe, but his over-sensitive nerves made it feel like the single cut was a thousand angry hornets all stinging his balls at once.

Redheart's movements were precise and efficient, slicing through all layers of skin in a single pass. She cut the sack open, then proceeded to slice open each testicle in turn. He instinctively thrashed, but Astraea leaned in to hold him steady, tightening the straps around his legs to keep him from kicking as much. He could barely breathe with her leaning into him like that, but breathing hurt anyway.

"Good," Redheart said, more a compliment of her own skill than how he was acting about it. "I'm going to pop these out through the incision like squeezing a grape out of its skin."

Fox wished he was ungagged so he could scream at her to stop talking about it.

His squeals jumped in pitch before devolving in a fit of choking as Redheart's skilled hooves did just as she said, squeezing him so that his testicles slide free from his sack. Why was she doing this so properly? Why not just lop the damn thing off and be done with it? That probably would have been acceptable to Celestia, but this damned bitch nurse had to do everything by the book.

"I'm making an incision at the proximal end to make holding it easier," Redheart raised her voice to be heard above the screams. Even if her voice was even and face showed no emotion, he had trouble believing she wasn't enjoying his suffering just a little.

Redheart cut the other incision, and Fox did his best to remain still to try and make things no worse than they were. She stopped for a moment to wipe away the blood, though there was surprisingly little due to the surgical skill of her hooves and muzzle.

"I'm placing the bronchial clamp on the strand still connecting your testicles to your body," Redheart stated.

The pinch of the clamp shouldn't have been anything beneath what he'd already suffered, but somehow sent new waves of torture through him.

At this point, Fox was certain this whole thing was hurting much more than they thought it would. He supposed they'd never tested giving Touch to someone before surgery before, but he was certain that this level of pain wasn't natural even with what was occurring to him.

He tried to scream less when she picked up the emasculator from the table, but only because he was so exhausted. All he could do was shiver and stare at his brutally maimed stallionhood in the mirror. She moved the frightening tool to his sack.

"Thank you," said Redheart as if he stopped screaming of his own free will. "I'm facing the nuts of the emasculator up, nut to nut."

Astraea chuckled a bit at that wording, even if she looked ill at the whole process.

"Maturity please," Redheart reminded her assistant. "I'm placing the emasculator jaws around the cord."

The clamps latched around the testicles, but she took far too long lining it up precisely.

Damn it! Would she just cut it already! He would have rather had it removed with a hacksaw than this drawn out bullshit!

"I'm releasing the cord tension to improve the quality of the crush," Redheart advised. Did she HAVE to word it like that?

"Are you sure you're not saying funny things on purpose?" Astraea narrowed her eyes but didn't look back at Redheart.

"Quite sure, yes," Redheart said with a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

At the very least the next stab of pain meant that she'd finally cut it free, but it did feel like she'd literally crushed it prior to yanking it off. Well at least that part was... fuck! She still had the other one!

She didn't hurry. She very carefully lined the other up, and the longer this went on the slower it felt for everything. His hearing was going in and out, and he didn't catch everything said, and the tears pooling in his eyes saved him from seeing it clearly, but he definitely felt the next clamp and slice just as intensely.

He thought removing part of it would deaden the pain, but it didn't. It was like he had two ghost testicles being eternally crushed in his mind.

"Make sure he hasn't bitten his tongue or anything," ordered Redheart. "It would be embarrassing if he choked to death on his own blood."

"Nah, he's fine," Astraea said, tugged the gag about to make sure he wasn't bleeding between the clenched teeth. "This gag has had it though."

“So have I to be honest...” she muttered more to herself than to fox.

"If he vomits, remove the gag and tilt his head so he doesn't choke on that either," advised Redheart. "I'm slicing off the excess flesh since I'm supposed to completely remove it."

She trailed the blade around his sack, tugging the flesh tightly with her hooves as she pushed the blade through the flesh. At least she was able to work more quickly now that he was too tired to do more than struggle and whimper pathetically. The dragging of the blade through his sensitive flesh felt like she was gutting him though; everything was magnified to ridiculous level.

His body lurched, and Astraea must have thought he was going to vomit, because she loosened his gag and pushed his head to the side. He didn't, but that put his eyes facing where his testicles lay there on the table next to the bloody cloth. The glob of flesh that she sliced off from the rest of his sack made a sickening squish as it was casually placed next to it. The stallion couldn't take his eyes off it, but he didn't have the energy to vomit or scream.

Redheart squeezed out some ointment onto the wound where his balls had been. It may have helped stop bleeding an infection, but it definitely wasn't made to ease pain. His whole body stung like he'd been dropped into a pit full of vinegar soaked needles; every time he thought he knew every definition of torment, this bitch showed him another.

"Interesting that he's still hard," Redheart poked at his erect shaft again with a hoof as if to test it. "That must be quite an effective aphrodisiac. I think I'll prescribe it to my next date."

It was hard to tell if that was a joke with her dead-pan way of saying it. But the slight touch felt like she was stomping it as hard as she could.

"We don't normally remove the penis as well," continued Redheart. "But we've been ordered to do so. At the very least, this procedure isn't likely to hurt as much."

She placed the blood emasculator next to what was left of his balls and picked up the elastrator instead. Astraea pulled his head forward and tightened his gag again as she did so.

"Good, good," said Redheart as she picked up one of the green bands and slowly stretched it around the four prongs at the end of the device. "Her Majesty wanted you to specifically watch this part, so do keep your eyes forward. If you need to vomit or look away, I'll pause and wait for you to finish. I can be very patient, but again I suggest you not delay things more than necessary. You'll only be hurting yourself by dragging it out."

At this point, Fox didn't want it delayed either. He doubted he'd ever get a boner again without drugs even if she left it, and right now he wanted nothing more than to be done with this. He'd never been more humiliated in his entire life.

But Redheart was in no hurry, and he had to wonder if she'd been ordered to take this part as slow as possible. Or if she just wanted to take it slow for cruelty sake. At least he'd understand that, but she kept a neutral expression even as she took four attempts to get the band properly stretched over the device.

When she did get it stretched, she held it in her muzzle and brought it closer to his shaft. The cold metal touched the still throbbing flesh and sent further shivers through him, still as sensitive as ever. She moved the open band to his tip with unneeded carefulness, adjusting the jaws to close ever so slightly before sliding it over.

The adjustment allowed him to feel the band sliding down his slick member on all sides, otherwise she probably could have threaded it without touching him. Her eyes locked onto his own weak expression as if making sure that he didn't look away and she moved the tool gradually downward.

As with everything about the experience, each slight touch from band was torment. Yet he was too broken to even cry at this point. He wished he wasn't, since at least the tears would somewhat blur his vision. But no, he could see every inch of glistening pulsing flesh with crystal clarity, and didn't dare look away for fear that she'd prolong it even more.

Redheart finally fit the tool against his groin, bringing it snug against his flesh. The base pressed firmly against the wound where his balls had once been, sending another stabbing pain through him, but it barely made a difference in the ocean of torment where he currently drowned.

"I have to pull it tight enough to cut off all circulation," warned Redheart around the tool. More unnecessary speaking to drag things out. "As underwhelming as your stallionhood is, I'm sure it's capable of a geyser of blood that I don't want to clean up. "

Seeing that he wasn't capable of more than shivering, Astraea eased up on her holding of him, allowing him to take deeper breathes. She steadied his head, making sure he faced correctly, so easing up was less kind and more to make sure his vision was fully unobstructed.

Redheart's eyes locked onto his again and she began to release the handle so that the bands tightened around the very base of his shaft. He pleaded for her to hurry with his gaze, but she released the handle so slowly that sometimes he wondered if her jaw was moving at all.

His erection wobbled comically, but the feel of the band against his base was anything but. He felt it dig in slowly, at first merely snug, which might have been comfortable if he weren't drugged up enough for it to be otherwise. Slowly though it went from snug to digging into his flesh. The constriction intensified, squeezing one last bit of cum from his tip as it cut off all circulation, blood or otherwise.

Fox shivered harder as he watched his cock tied off at the base, looking not unlike a long balloon as it wobbled about. Redheart released the tool fully, pulling away its prongs one by one to leave him banded. She put the elastrator on the table and moved a hoof to massage her jaws a little bit. She'd really strained to release it as slowly as possible.

It didn't end there. She pulled the tool back and fitted it with a second band before repeating the process. She took it so just as slowly this time, mainly because he was not losing feeling in his shaft yet due to the pills. A second band was clenched tightly around his base, a fraction above the other, tying off his dick like a balloon, She could now cut between the two bands without spilling a great deal of blood.

He thought she'd slice it off right then and it'd be over, but she didn't. Instead she paused the procedure to go about cleaning up the operating table. She took time to rewash her hooves after massaging her jaw, taking even longer than the first time. She meticulously used sanitary clothes to clean the blood from around him, dabbing on disinfectant to his wound to ensure that it didn't get infected, adding another stinging pain for him in the process.

All of this he saw from the corner of his eye, since he was afraid to take his stare from his dying rod. If he did, she might find a way to extend things even longer. He watched as his swollen member turned slowly blue and purple then finally black from lack of circulation. He wondered if the rubber bands weren't enchanted somehow, because the whole thing looked outright gangrene, like a rotting salami. If he hadn't watched the whole process, he might not have believed that such a thing could ever have been his dick.

He whimpered, begging her to hurry her other duties to finish him off, but stopped when he realized that any response from him only slowed the nurse's progress. Even Astraea looked slightly impatient by the time Redheart finished and returned to the table, freshly gloved and masked and reaching for the surgical knife.

"Ungag him," Redheart sighed towards Astraea.

Astraea unlatched the gag, but had to tug hard to get it out. It took a moment for Fox to realize that was because he was clenching his teeth so hard. It took everything he had to unclench them. He said nothing as the gag was finally tugged free, only making the slightest hint of a whimper.

"Now," Redheart said. Her voice remained calm, but there was no way these words weren't meant vindictively, even if ordered to say them. "One more time. Say 'I'm so sorry.'."

He didn't want to, but he knew this cunt wouldn't let it end until he did. She seemed like the patient type, the type that would sit here staring at him for hours if he made her wait.

"I'm... sorry..." he forced the words out, barely able to form them.

"For what?" asked Redheart, her cold eyes remaining on him.

"For killing?" Fox wasn't sure what she wanted from him. "For everything!"

"Probably not," sighed Redheart. "But not to worry. You'll have a very long time for that regret to become sincere."

With that, she moved the blade to his dead dick. She pulled his length straight up with her hoof to keep it steady and the dragged the blade through his flesh. slicing off the layer of skin around the shaft. Her blade slit through first the skin then the inner fat, then the erectile tissues, then the nerves and urethra. With a few more slow cuts, the shaft was free from Fox’s body, leaving no traces of a dick behind save for the band.

The razor sharp blade sliced through like wet cardboard, and the sound wasn't any different than that. Separated, the nurse let go of the tied off shaft and let it gently smack onto fox’s stomach, then it rolled from his belly and smacked against the table.

It hurt less than he thought it would, either from numbness or just because his brain was already maxed out on agony. That only made it more disturbing though. He watched her pick up the dick in her mouth no differently than she did the toy before, tossing it to slap onto the surgical tray next to the rest of his former glory.

"We're done here, relatively," Redheart said as she pulled the tool away. "Thank Celestia that's over, but I think she does want another word with him before he's off my hooves."

"I'll fetch Her Majesty," sighed Astraea, seeming slightly disappointed that it was done as well. She tapped her helmet as if to activate a communication spell and spoke. "Princess? We're done here as you ordered."

Fox took a while to comprehend that the Princess was on her way. He was too busy staring down at the bloody nub where his favorite part had once been. The other band was still tightly tied around the tip, holding it in well so there was surprisingly little blood. He couldn't imagine that his next attempt at pissing was going to feel very good.

Redheart squeezed out more of the ointment onto the stub, and his whole body tensed up again as the stinging pain flowed through him again. Yet he didn't so much as twitch, far more used to it than he wished.

He did jerk though when Princess Celestia appeared into the room with a flash however. Redheart bowed low and then stood as Celestia nodded.

Fox thought he'd have something snide to say when he saw Celestia again. He had a hundred sarcastic remarks to spit at her, but nothing came out. His muzzle and mind were dry; all he could do was blush with shame as her eyes focused on the stub where his stallionhood used to be.

"Thank you for your service, Nurse Redheart," Celestia said to her first. "As always. I will make sure you are paid well for your discretion."

"It is my honor to serve, Princess," Redheart nodded again.

"And you," Celestia's horn glowed as she looked at Fox.

For a moment she didn't speak. His black shaft, laying limply on the table, was lifted with her magic, along with the scraps that were once his proud ball sack. She hovered them in front of his face for a moment before they ignited in her magic, burning up in front of him in a burst of energy.

The flesh was reduced to ashes in front of his wide eyes, and a swift gust of magic blew them into his face. He gasped as they stung at his eyes,some even managing to go into his mouth finally managing to close them only after the hot embers burned into his head. All he could do was scream as he felt heat sting into his eye sockets.

He wasn't sure how long he spat and yelled, but when he came to and opened them again, he could no longer see anything but the darkest blackness. He felt the blood oozing down his face and realized that he'd been blinded.

"Should I treat that, Princess?" Redheart asked with a small amount of nervousness in her voice.

"Yes," Celestia answered. "But only enough that he doesn't die."

Astraea let out a small chuckle.

"A-am I going back to my cell?" Fox panted, wanting nothing more than to curl up alone.

"No," Princess Celestia answered. "You will not bother my guards or my other prisoners any longer. The only one you'll be flirting with from here on is Cerberus and the beasts he guards. To everyone else, you may as well have never existed."

His vision never returned. He was masked in darkness now forever, but that felt like the least of his losses.

He was taken directly from the hospital room through a portal to a place that felt cold and damp like a leaky old basement. It smelled of untended beasts, groans and whimpers around him as he was marched through it. They led him by a leash, not slowing down when he tripped and fell, which was often in his current condition.

Then a very feminine voice whispered to him “It’s too bad really, I’d wish we have more time to catch up, I’d love to tell you how I went from being a slave on the brink of death in the deep pits of Belltower to an army lieutenant serving justice to BTS scum like you.”

Finally, he was tossed into a small cramp iron enclosure, and he heard the clang of rusty metal bars closing behind him.

"Tirek, Cozy," said Astraea as if she'd been in here before. Wait, was she putting him next to them? "Have fun with this one. I'd go into specifics about his crimes, but when you realize what we've done to him, it will probably be obvious. Have fun you two."

"Oh look," a deep, annoyed voice said, who he assumed was Tirek. He sounded like he was from the cage next to him. "Another pony." A word said as if it were the most disgusting thing imaginable. "So, brat, why don't you annoy this one and leave me alone for a few months."

"Sure neighbor!" a cutesy voice said from the other side. Fox assumed that was the pint-sized psychopath that had recently been dumped here. "Hey new guy, wanna be friends too?"

"I think the word 'guy' might be debatable from the angle I'm looking at," Tirek said, a smirk audible in his voice.

In the distance, Fox heard the portal close as Astraea left him alone with these two.

"Ew," Cozy's kindness faltered as she came to a realization. "Is THAT what you're in here for? We're definitely not taking you when we bust out."

"Sure, when we bust out," Tirek's eye roll was audible. "But now we have someone to torment, so it won't be completely uninteresting in here."

Oh dear Celestia, this was not going to be fun.