It was a week before Hearth’s Warming, and Ponyville was covered in a thick layer of snow turning everything white. It also brought the familiar winter cold, and while I was used to it, Daddy wasn’t. He was curled up under a heavy blanket, his robe pulled tight around him, holding a cup of tea, and sitting right in front of the fireplace. I guess it was a dragon thing, though I would have thought a creature with an internal furnace would never have to worry about being cold.

Still, it meant I got to snuggle up against him, resting my head on his soft belly as I read a book. It was a nice way to pass the night, the sun having set a couple hours before. I could see some holiday lights on some of the other houses around us, but I hadn’t bothered to put them out this year. In fact, I hadn’t put up any decorations.

I was surprised when I heard somepony knocking at the door. It was a quick set of raps, quick but heavy. After a few seconds it came again, stronger this time.

“Tell them to go away,” Daddy told me.

“Yes sir,” I replied as I climbed up to my hooves and walked to the door. I glanced back towards him as I reached the door, making sure nopony would be able to see him from the outside.

I was expecting carolers, or maybe somepony looking for donations to the local charity, but not the three ponies who were standing at my door. One was an older stallion wearing a dress collar and tie, a bundle of papers in his magic. To one side of him Princess Twilight Sparkle with a sad look on her face. On his other was Silver Shield, the head of the Ponyville police.

My first thought was that they were here for Daddy, my stomach dropping to my hooves.

“Can I help you?” I asked, my voice cracking.

The three ponies looked at each other before the stallion spoke up. “Winter Quill?”

I nodded.

He passed the papers to me, I took them with my magic without a word, not even looking at them.

“You need to read it,” Twilight said, her voice soft and sad, her wings hanging against her sides as her ears sank down into her mane.

I turned the papers over and looked at the top one, my stomach falling right past my hooves and into the ground.

It was a notice of foreclosure. They had… I had… my… my…

“Do you understand what this means?” Silver asked, lifting her hoof to push the pages down so she could look me in the eye.

All I could do was nod; my mouth dry even as my mind tried to process what was happening.

The stallion spoke again. “You must vacate in three days, unless you can make a least a quarter payment on the overdue bits.”

I nodded again, starting to feel tears forming in the corner of my eyes.

“I’ll be here in three days to make sure you’ve left,” Silver stated.

“Okay,” I managed to whisper out.

Twilight looked at the two of them and nodded. “I’ll take it from here,” she said, which seemed to be enough for the other two as they both turned around and walked away, though not before Silver Shield giving me a critical look before she vanished around the corner.

“I’m sorry Winter Quill, I tried to convince them to wait until after the holidays…” the princess said as she took a step forward. It was only then that I noticed she was wearing her crown. “You can stay at my castle if you have no other place to go, I have enough room for you until you get back on your hooves.”

I just shook my head as I started to sob softly, sitting down in the doorway, not caring that I was in the snow.

She leaned down to give me a hug, but I pulled away. Reluctantly she stepped back, letting out a long sigh, using her magic to take off her crown. “Do you have anypony who can help?”

“I… I have a…” I struggled to find a term for my relationship with Daddy. It was complicated as it wasn’t the sort of relationship anypony would approve of. Finally, I settled on the most generic choice. “Boyfriend, I have a boyfriend.”

“I’m glad you have somepony to turn too, but don’t be afraid to ask for help. This isn’t the time to let your pride get in the way,” she said.

“Thank you,” I whispered, slumping down and finally breaking into sobs, my cheeks covered in my tears. My whole world was coming apart around me and I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know if there was anything that I could do. If I could get some bits in time, I could delay it a month, but I didn’t have any at all, and I doubted Daddy had anything either.

Twilight stood there, watching me for a few moments before slowly stepping away. She looked torn, like she wanted to rush to hug me while at the same time trying not to. It seemed like every step she took away was painful for her, but she forced herself to do so.

As she reached the street, she gave me one last look. “I’m so sorry,” she said before finally leaving.

I sat there, my body racked with sobs and the door wide open behind me, allowing the cold air to blow in from outside. After what felt like hours, I felt strong arms wrapping around my barrel and pulling me back inside, the door closing just after.

Daddy carried me back into the living room, cuddling me up to his chest. I buried my face against it, my horn resting against his neck, as I just went from sobbing to bawling. He held me there as the fire slowly burning down to embers. Even after I couldn’t cry anymore, even after I was just gasping out my sobs, he held me, rocking me gently in his arms, not saying anything, just being there for me.

How could this have happened? How I could I have let this happen? I should have gotten a new job the moment I lost my last one. I should have figured out how to balance my sex life and my real life. That first notice should have been a wakeup call, it should have forced my horn to get me to fix things. Yet I didn’t do anything! Instead I let Daddy handle it, let him decide what mail I got while he said he would take care of it. But he didn’t, he didn’t do anything at all. He just… let it happen.

“Why didn’t you do something?” I asked, my voice cracking as I spoke, my tongue feeling thick in my muzzle and my throat ripped in pain. “You said you would take care of it, you said I didn’t have to worry, but you didn’t,” I lifting my head from his chest, trying to glare up at him in the dim light, but glasses hanging partly off my face and the lenses smeared from my tears. “Why?”

He had the good graces to look ashamed, his face falling into a frown as he looked away. “I didn’t know how,” he admitted in a near whisper. “I don’t have any bits, and I didn’t know how to get any.”

“Then you should have made me get a job!” I snapped, pushing my hooves against his fat gut, wiggling out of his grip. “You… you could have told me to fix it! Now I can’t! I have no money left, no job, and no way to get enough before it’s too late. I have three days to come up with thousands of bits, and even if I sold everything I own I doubt I could get half of what I need.”

“There has to be something we can do, there’s always something.”

Grinding my teeth, I glared at Sludge, looked at that infernal dragon who I let crash on my couch months ago and who had taken over everything. “You ruined my fucking life!” I yelled at him, my voice cracking again. “You just show up and… destroyed everything I had. You destroyed everything and left me with nothing but a sore ass. Is this what you wanted when you first came here? To find some pony who was just trying to be nice and ruin them?”

He closed his eyes, turning away from me. I could see tears running down the size of his muzzle. “No,” he finally said, slumping down, his chin dropping to rest against his thick neck. “I just wanted a soft bed, and you were nice. I didn’t mean to stay so long, but it was nice, you were nice. Things just started happening, and it all felt right. Every time I push, you gave in, and we both seemed to be enjoying it. I want you to be safe and happy, Winter Quill. I just don’t know how to do that here.”

I dropped down onto the floor, trying not to look at him. “I should have kicked you out the first time you spanked me, but I couldn’t, because your right, I was enjoying it. It’s too late now, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Twilight offered me a place in her castle, but I don’t know if I should take it.”

Sludge reached out and placed a hand on the center of my back, just a light touch, enough to let me know he was there. “Why shouldn’t you?”

Letting out a sigh I let myself fall to the floor. “Because you don’t like Twilight, and Twilight doesn’t like you. You can’t come with me,” I admitted, feeling some of my anger start to bubble away. “I don’t want to let you go, as much as I want to hate you for what you’ve done to me, for how you ruined me, I still love you. I just… I just don’t know what to do.”

He bent down, draping his robe over my back as he hugged me tightly to his side. “Is there any way we can come up with the bits in time? Anything at all? I don’t care if you have to tell Twilight and her friends everything. I don’t care what happens to me, you’re more important.”

“No,” I replied, turning my head to nuzzle gently at his neck. “If Twilight could have done anything, she would have. She’s really the only pony I could even think of turning to, I don’t really have friends here, I never did. I could try to sell some things, but I don’t have anything of value that I can sell fast enough and the bank won’t take an IOU.”

Sludge kissed the top of my head. “I’m so sorry Winter Quill, this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.”

That was the understatement of bucking the century. “I know Sludge, I know. I just don’t know what I can do now. It’s over, I’ve lost everything.”

“You could come with me, back to the dragon lands,” he said, running his fingers down the back of my neck. “I don’t have much of a cave, or a hoard, but I know how to take care of you there, without worrying about all these pony things. We can bring something soft for you to sleep on, though food might be a challenge. Lots of gems, but not much in the way of pony food.”

My mind suddenly went back to the spell book that Pinkie Pie had given me, the one that would allow me to eat things that were normally indigestible. I would still have to supplement it with normal food, but I could live off of the same gems as Daddy.

If I did that, I would be giving up everything, everything but him.

“Maybe…” I said. “I need to think about it.”

“Okay boy, you think about it,” he said, slipping his arms around my barrel and lifting me up, holding me against him as he walked back into the bedroom. He carefully set me down on the bed and then crawled up next to me, pulling me tight against him. “And I love you too.”

I nuzzled up against him, his familiar scent comforting me as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

“Are you sure this is what you really want to do?” Daddy asked, watching me as I pulled the belt on my saddle as tight as it could go.

I wasn’t just relying on magic to do it, I had bend over so I could grab the belt with my teeth and pull it even tighter. It dug into my belly and pulled the bags tight across my hips. It would make hard to gallop, but that was fine. When I was sure it was completely secure, I turned my attention back to him. He had given up his robe and briefs, leaving him in just his scales.

The fact was, I really wasn’t sure of my decision, and once it was done there would be no going back. There was a very slim chance that I could raise the money in the day I had left, but it was a real long shot. I couldn’t let myself think about that, I had to just keep moving forward, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to move at all.

“I’m going with you, and that’s final,” I said, opening my bag to double check that I had everything, which wasn’t much of anything at all. I had the spell book, a few blankets and a couple of personal items. It was hardly much, but it was all I could take with me.

Daddy nodded, a pensive look on his face. “Okay, boy. Let’s get going,” he declared, walking up to the front door and pulling it open. It was almost midnight, and the clouds were hiding the moon, leaving the Ponyville almost black. There were some holiday lights shining on the snow, the distance I could see the castle, a few lights still burning, but otherwise it was dark. There was no sign of any pony at all.

I turned off the last light before stepping out into the snow, feeling my hooves sink down into it. Daddy followed a few moments later, closing the door. Using my magic, I pulled the key out of my bag, locked the door and slid it back through the mail slot.

Sludge came up behind me, bending down to wrap his arms around me body and pulled me up to his belly. “Ready, boy?”

“Ready, Daddy,” I replied.

He nodded, his small wings fanning out and flapping, easily lifting the both of us up into the sky. It felt weird to have the ground fall out from under my hooves, but I knew I wouldn’t fall. I knew I was safe in his arms, and that he would never let me go. I looked down as my old home fell away into the darkness. Everything that made up my life, everything that made me Winter Quill was being left behind. I didn’t even leave a note, no pony would ever know what had happened to me, I would just be a pony who vanished into the darkness.

It would take a couple weeks to reach the dragon lands, where my Daddy would take care of me. Where I would just be his boy, and only his boy. I was going to live the rest of my life with him and the dragons. As Ponyville vanished into the gloom of the night, I closed my eyes, knowing that I would never see another pony again.

Author's Note

So…. Why in the world did a write a clop story staring Sludge of all characters, let alone have it feature my personal self-insert OC? Not to mention the rather dark themes of the story and all the bad things that happen to Winter Quill.

First off, I can understand why people don’t like Sludge. He’s an unlikeable character, but he’s unlikeable because he’s well written. He acts like an ass, causes trouble for everyone and can’t think about anything past the end of his tail. It’s not surprising to find that he’s not exactly a popular character for adult art or stories (I’m pretty sure this is the first clop story featuring him, so yay me?). On the other hand, he’s got a hot dad bod, and seems really confident with it. That scene with Twilight walking in on him really sells that (the fact that it’s animated like he’s completely nude doesn’t hurt). That being said, he is not a nice person, and is more then happy to take advantage of anyone he can.

As you might guess, I have a bit of a masochistic streak, and the idea of finding myself in this sort of one-sided abusive relationship is a common fantasy of mine (though only as a fantasy, this is not something I would put up with in RL). I mostly just started playing around with this idea using Winter Quill, I wasn’t planning for it to grow into a full story, but… well things got a little out of hand and it kept just growing.

Luckily, I had TheVClaw to talk with when it came to this plot, and he was really supportive of both the story and the events that happen during it. He also provided me some of the best lines in the story! I probably wouldn’t have finished the story, let alone post it, without his encouragement.

At the moment, I don’t have any plans for a sequel story featuring the further adventures of Winter Quill and Sludge in the dragon lands, mostly because there is nothing else left to take from Winter Quill. Though you never know, I’m a little bit twisted and might be able to come up with something to do to him.