My Life on a Cassette Tape

The day was slowly ticking towards noon, and we were only just getting started with the day. Periwinkle was pouring us all coffees while Berry was off picking up some breakfast from the diner for the lot of us. I sat on the bed, while Raven, shying behind her hair, sat on a chair at her own request. We had spent the entirety of the previous evening having sex, a first for the bed, but now the morning was here, and there were things to talk about before we were inevitably kicked out for messing up the hotel room. I'd have to do my best to excuse that with my dad later, but maybe I wouldn't have to; the tape recorder still existed after all.

"Are you alright, Raven?" I asked, adjusting my position to try and see her face. She nodded slowly, her expression still hid behind her hair as she looked at the ground. I sighed, knowing that I had to get this over with. "Raven... last night you said you loved me. Was that what you feel?" Her head shot up, and I saw that she had been, and likely still was, crying.

"Yes!" She blurted out. Periwinkle looked to me, her expression troubled as I took the coffee from her with a grateful nod. Periwinkle knelt beside the chair and presented Raven the coffee with a smile and a soft shoulder rub.

"Don't be worried, he's just confirming with you. He wants you as happy as possible." She comforted. Periwinkle was definitely the right choice to stay as opposed to Berry. Berry would've said something more devious and less helpful, something including my dick in all likelihood. Periwinkle's words, though, had a visible effect on Raven's mood as she relaxed, taking the coffee. After taking a sip, she set it on the nightstand.

"Yes... I still love you, maybe even more now." She replied more fully. I nodded slowly, considering this.

"Last night you also said that you wanted to be what Periwinkle and Berry are to me. Knowing now that they are my... well, unintentional slaves, are you still wanting to be that?" I didn't want to entrap her in this. I didn't want to force her hand. I needed her to make this her choice, or to make another choice. I couldn't force yet another choice on this subject.

"Yes..." She replied softly, lowering her head. I was completely caught off guard, but I had a guess as to why she was so willing to accept slavery.

"You can be with me without being my slave. You can be free, Raven. There is nothing stopping you being free and with me at the same time." I stated. She'd of course would have to take this option. Who wouldn't?

"No. I want to be your... your slave." Raven was just full of surprises. I, however, predictably continued my streak of being completely dumbfounded. She looked up at me, wiping away her tears. "Cress... I want to be with you, and I also want to be a slave... I..." She stumbled a tad with her thoughts, returning her gaze to the floor as she thought. "Cress," She began once more, looking at me, "have you ever seen my house?" That... that was an odd question, a sentiment that Spry obviously shared based on the look on her face.

"No?" I actually had never been to any of the houses of any of the mares, or fillies really, I had been with. Usually we met in some other place so that neither of us got too much heat from anyone; with many of those times happening on school grounds.

"I live in a mansion. Cress, my family is stacked. I've grown up with every want and need fulfilled." She started, seeming to grow more confident as she continued, even leaning forward towards me, her pegasus wings gently twitching. "Cress, I've never had to worry, and I've had servants wait on me hand and foot. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of being better, no, I'm sick of being equal! Cress, make me your slave! Make me clean, make me cook, make me fuck you even when I don't want to! Cress, please, it's all I've ever wanted. Every night I'd m-" She cut herself off, but I guessed where her train of thought had just pulled the breaks, and it certainly made it a struggle to not blush or have my southern partner make an appearance from within my boxer shorts.

"And you're sure, Raven? I want you to be absolutely, positively sure that this," I motioned to Spry, who attended us in only her panties, "is what you want." She nodded vigorously.

"I want it, it's all I ever wanted! I want it, and so much more!" She was giddy, moving off her chair to kneel beside the bed I sat on, placing her hands on my lap, looking up at me with her eyes full of pleading need. "Make me your slave! Make me your bitch! Make me your cock hungry whore! Oh please, just don't make me go away... M-Master!" I was stunned.

I really had expected her to want to leave if she had to be a slave and only be this pleading towards staying with me while her freedom stayed with her. I suppose that this wasn't coming entirely out of the blue. Raven had always been shy, so knowing who she liked might've been difficult for the school gossips, but I had occasionally noticed through the years she'd look at my table during lunch wistfully - though I had always assumed that it was more at the Hoofball player Pigskin, a taken rather than given name, that sat next to me. Now, it seemed irrefutable, she wanted me. That was a concept on parallel with how the mares had wanted to stay my slaves as far as difficulty for my brain to wrap around.

"Ok," I said finally, "if that is what you want, then I'll use the... 'artifact'. After I do, you will be my slave and want to obey me, no, you'll be unable to disobey me."

"I... I actually don't want to be affected by the artifact, if that's alright." She said, catching me slightly off guard, leaving me waiting for an explanation. "I want to be your slave, and I'll obey you, now and forever, but I want it to be me that's obeying. I want to know it's me, and not an artifact pulling my strings." I blinked a few times, and then smiled. I was more than relieved to hear that. The prospect of having to use the tape recorder to alter her was less than... pleasant.

"Yes, that's quite alright, I'd like it better that way too." Silence hung in the air for a few seconds, nopony feeling the need to speak as the moment sank in. I placed a hand on Raven's head, and my smile returned, having lowered during the silence. "You are my slave now, and I... I will be your master. I promise that no matter what, I won't abandon you and will do my best to take care of you and your needs" She nestled into my hand, doubtlessly a flood of emotions coursing through her, though no tears showed.

It was at this moment the door to the hotel room opened and closed, and Berry walked in carrying two to-go bags, the scent of the various foods she had brought permeating the room.

"Breakfast is on. Hey, Master, want a quick suck under the table?" I face palmed.

The ill used road was more than a little bumpy. It was designed for stagecoaches or small carts that traveled at a moderate speed, not the rapid movement of the magically propelled Arcano-Wagon. After eating breakfast, where Berry continued to not disappoint - or maybe she was disappointing me - by offering various sexual acts over or under the table; and dictating the room's sudden cleanliness into the recorder, I had gone to my father. I told him that during our stay I had arranged for an apartment and a promising job interview, and that I would be heading out. In actuality, I had arranged to move into Berry's house in the small town of Ponyville and would have some coin coming from Raven, who had told her parents weeks ago she intended to go out on her own, and so was receiving the continued flow of bits from her late grandfather's trust directly to her as opposed to her parents.

The depth of Raven's wish to be with me was only starting to become clear to me. She had told her parent's this as soon as she had heard that my family and I were moving. She had sleuthed her way into knowing which room I'd be in, and had reserved the one below it, which explained how she had heard us the morning prior, though only to a point that might require me making some further questions to her. She was well and truly on her own, because she wanted to be with me, a loser beyond the pale.

Her trust money wasn't exorbitant, but it was substantial. She could easily support us, now that Periwinkle had, with help from knowing her Master would take care of her - something I would've advised against - closed the old secondhand shop, stating it was slowly dying, and that she had been fighting to keep it open. Selling off all the items in the store to random interests for nibs on the bit, as well as the building to a contracting company - something like Filth n' Flab - who had been aching for it, she had made a decent amount of money, which now were the solid basis for us being able to both pay back my father for the hotel and help with hospital expenses, and moving all of Periwinkle's things over while her apartment's lease ran out.

Moving into Berry's place was a matter of convenience as far as things went. I needed a place where no one knew me and where I could go about doing what I would; while we needed a place where we could all live without breaking one contract or another. Fortunately for us, Berry had bought the house, and though she would've been still paying for it, due to a technicality involving the house having been destroyed during Princess Twilight's battle with Tirek and a particular piece of legislation mandating the nullification of all previous debts of ponies whose houses and lives had been reduced to ash by the brawl, the house was free of attached expenses beyond property taxes and utilities. The house that had replaced the old one had 'suffered' an error in construction, resulting in what was something between a large family home and a small mansion when it should've been a smaller cottage.

Taking the turn off from the Everfree Bypass, we crested a hill, and found ourselves overlooking the quaint town of Ponyville, home of the Elements of Harmony and the Castle of Friendship. I had been told that the castle sprouted from a magical seed, and based on its appearance, I could believe it - looking as if a sculptor had made a tree castle out of crystals. It was...something to be sure.

Pulling up in front of Berry's house, we began the process of unloading all of our things. Spry's things were still going to be arriving with some movers, but beyond that, most of us had been able to fit all our things on the Arcano-Wagon - though I still would have to wait for my miscellaneous items that were coming with my movers to pass by my parents before reaching me; but I could see those things go up in flames and only feel a tad bit sorry for the loss.

The large place was quite the sight for the small town, set off a tad bit from the main hustle and bustle. Despite being a recent and larger than normal construction, it looked as if someone had only made minor alterations to one of the many other houses we had passed while driving through the small town. I liked the rustic look, though I hoped it had indoor plumbing and better insulation than the exterior betrayed. Suddenly, a pink blur zipped up to me and the others.

"Hiya, ponies! I'm Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's Pink Party Pony! Pleased to meet you and you and you, and you to Berry, though I already know you! I know every pony in Ponyville! Are you all moving in? Are you going to stay? Oh, I bet you are! Oh, but that means I'll need to get a party ready for you! I'll send you the invites! See you later!" With that the pink blur of a pony was gone, having only arrived less than ten second earlier, leaving all of us but Berry in a daze, though her lack of a daze was more simply leaving her in a state of surprise mixed with acceptance.

"Well, as she said, that was Pinkie Pie." Berry Punch said, a lot of her usual energy seeming to be missing from her voice, making me wonder if the pink blur had sapped it from her somehow. "And it seems you all will be getting a party from her, so look forward to that." I stared after the cloud of dust that trailed the ridiculously fast pony.

"What kind of party are we talking about here?" I asked, still very much not sure how I was supposed to react to suddenly being assaulted by the mental pink haze.

"Oh, her parties are great!" Berry said, her energy returning to her in a small measure. "Though I hope she doesn't invite the fillies and colts this time. I'd like to not have to pass off my stash at the door." I eyed her.

"Stash?" To that, Berry pulled a bottle of something that I had to guess was alcoholic.

"I'm always packing the grownup juice." She said, confirming my suspicion, before unscrewing the lid and taking a long series of gulps from it. She smacked her lips, wiggled from head to toe, and stowed the bottle away. "That's the stuff!" She said, her energy seeming to return to her. It troubled me to think that maybe she was buzzed, or even drunk, when we first met, but then I recalled the distinct lack of the scent of alcohol that now hit my nose, even when standing a good distance from her. "Let's get all your things in before she-"

"Here's your invites!" Pinkie burst back in before ducking away, leaving a nice card in each of our hands.

"Does that..." Berry Punch trailed off, opening the card. Looking it over, the front said, in big crayon written letters, 'Welcome to Ponyville Party!'. Opening it up, I saw the date was set for later the same evening. "What do you think, Kressle, my boy, can we make it around our schedule?" I shrugged, looking out to the setting sun.

"As long as we can get our things in before then, there won't be a problem as far as I'm concerned; and I doubt it'll take that long to get these things in the house." This would be interesting, to say the least.