Once, there were only two Princesses of Equestria. Then, two became three. One disappeared, another rose. Then three became four.

And now only one Princess was free. The others were trapped, imprisoned, slaves to collars that rendered them nothing more than property to either a caribou or a stallion. And one stallion owned two Princesses, in a mark of prestige to this new regime, but disgust and outage in any other.

What had driven Shining Armour to take not only his bride, but his sister to bed?

It was not something Luna wanted to think about, as she buried her face in her hands and rubbed her aching forehead. She had her horn restored, she could use her magic again, but the healing was taking a toll on her and she had the most tremendous migraine as her mind and her horn reconnected once more. But then again, was it the healing, or was it the overwhelming thought of saving the world that was causing her temples to throb?
"Where do I even begin ..."

"Perhaps some tea?" Crystal Clear offered an awkward smile, proffering the teacup and readying the pot with a few bags of Meadow Morning brewing inside. Luna paused, but nodded in agreement as the cup was placed in front of her and filled with the light blend, along with some sugar and cream. At least this drink, she knew, wouldn't be spiked with aphrodisiacs. The lesions in her stomach caused by the repeated doses were healing nicely, the stress of her situation lessened somewhat in that she was allowed to sleep, bathe and eat on her own terms. It took her a second to remember she could now levitate the cup, her hand twitching in reflex in case she accidentally dropped it.

"I need to get Celestia back" She decided to finally voice her worries, to her small but fiercely devoted audience, "I need to get her away from that beast. I need to try and bring her back round to the way she was ... and I need to try and reach Twilight and Cadance"

"Where IS Princess Twilight?" Silver Song voiced the question, though he was sure Luna had answered it before.
"She is in the Crystal Empire, along with Cadance. Both are owned by Shining Armour"
"... When you say 'owned' ..."
Luna merely looked at him. Horror dawned on his face.
"SURELY-"
"It doesn't matter they're siblings. It doesn't matter. When Celestia and I heard, we couldn't believe it. We refused to believe it. Twilight was a good pony, she was smart, she was talented, and she had a fierce understanding of right and wrong. Too fierce, sometimes, maybe. It is a shock to see someone you thought you knew turn to that, and for Celestia ... it broke her heart. She almost had to declare Twilight dead from her memory, it hurt her so much. She's not seen Twilight since; any letters that were about her, any news about her, the staff would give to me. It was so hard to believe, even when I saw pictures, even when I read her letters, even when I received her wing feathers ..."
"Why would Shining Armour do this?!"

"I don't KNOW" Luna ran her hands through her hair and brought them to rest on the sides of her neck, "He's not a pony that's ever expressed these feelings ... I mean, we would never expect to hear them, but he's never shown a side that wants to control or dominate. Why he would do such things to Cadance or Twilight ... The Caribou have done something terrible to him, it can't be just words. They were very interested in Cadance, they got their hooves on the Crystal Heart and corrupted it, but Shining Armour is, perhaps, the most corrupted stallion I've seen ... I've heard word that Cadance is pregnant, there is a painting of Shining Armour in uniform with a naked, very pregnant Cadance next to him, but I don't know how true that is ..."

That brought up a question, one that alarmed all three IlLUNAnati members at once.

"Where are the foals in this world?!"

"SAFE" The word came out as an exhaled snap, as much as she didn't mean it that way, "They're safe. Mothers who could see something terrible coming started to ship their children to members of the family in the countryside. Mass trains of foals, small and big, all heading away from the cities and towns. Some parents went with them, especially those without faraway relatives. Others stayed so they could fight the Caribou. The Apple family were a big help, their social connections via their family really aided the flight, we had trusted teachers and foalsitters and nurses take them all away and they are kept safe and guarded in secret locations. Seeing the foals being sent away alarmed the other creatures of Equestia; they ceased contact with us once we explained the Caribou were advancing. I haven't spoken to Queen Novo or Dragon Lord Ember in hundreds of moons. Probably for the best ..."

That, at least, was a relief. It was simply adult mares and stallions that needed to be rescued and reformed. It was such a big task ... the obvious answer for the ilLUNAnati was to start with Princess Luna, but where do they go from there?
"I can't go to the Crystal Empire. Not right now. I can't even fly. But I can reach Cadance and Twilight another way. Through their dreams ..."

-

Now that Luna had regained her horn and her magic, she should have been able to dreamwalk again. She daren't raise the moon and let the Caribou know so readily that she could use her magic, and she knew it was a risk trying to enter a red Princesses dream to communicate with her, but it was surely worth a try. After a warm bath, a glass of honeyed milk and filling her little enclave with fresh lavender, Princess Luna closed her eyes, and found her way in the world of dreams ...

"Brother dear, why can't I come in bed tonight?" Twilight whined, looking up at Shining Armour with pitiful eyes as she rested on her knees, hoping to change his mind as Cadance finished preparing herself for her husband's pleasure.
"Because it's Candy's time, tonight" Shining Armour smirked, "I can't just take my fill of you all the time, Twiley, I need to make my wife perform. You understand, right?"
"I guess ..." She looked down, pouting with her ears low. Shining Armour chuckled at this filly-ish display of disappointment.
"Come on now, Twiley. I'll take you out by the Crystal Cock tomorrow, put on a show for the people. You'd like that, right?"
"You mean it?!" Her head snapped up, eyes sparkling as he ran a thumb over her lower lip.
"Only if you're good. Off to bed now. I've got ... other things to do"
"Yes, Sir!" She bounded off to her 'bed', nothing more than a repurposed and enlarged dog bed, proudly adorned with her name and filled with an assortment of books and silk pillows. You could put a red collar on the mare, but you couldn't fuck the bookworm out of her, apparently. Curling up in the confined space, she smiled as she listened to her sister-in-law service her brother, hoping to dream that was her ...

Her dreams were not that twisted. At first, it was mere memories of the past couple of days being filtered into her subconscious, followed by older memories of a time before the Caribou. Before she moved from Ponyville to the Crystal Empire to serve her Master. When she would reshelve the Golden Oak library, finding forgotten comics that Spike had secreted away to be read later then forgotten about ...
"Honestly, Spike, don't dragons have just one big hoard?" She shook her head with a smile, pulling out a copy of ZAPP! and quickly flicking through the pages. Another arc about fighting the SuperCell Sisters, the Tornado Trio and the Waterspout Witch as a supervillain team-up, something Twilight was not interested in but had heard Spike talk about when ranting about fighting more than one tornadic-themed villain.

A light laugh in the background caused Twilight to drop the comic. She didn't even need to turn to know who it was; Princess Celestia was standing in her library. Tall, regal, adorned in a long white dress with a golden sun brooch on her hip, she smiled down at Twilight as a massive smile bloomed on Twilight's face in return.
"Princess Celestia!" She ran forward to hug her mentor, burying her cheek in the silk of her dress as she only reached the other pony's shoulder, "What brings you here?!"
"I don't need an excuse to see my favourite student, do I?" Celestia asked with a light air as Twilight let go of her.
"Well, I mean, no ... Do you want a friendship report in-person? Or I could give you a tour of the library?" She gestured around at the half-shelved space, "I mean, it's in the middle of sorting, but I have some new, exciting books that just arrived from Manehattan, and I-"
"Twilight" The Princess of Friendship had been distracted by pointing to the shelves, and when she turned her head around again, she was startled to see Princess Luna standing in place of Princess Celestia. A dark blue satin dress instead of a white silk one, and a silver moon brooch on the opposite hip to her sister. Twilight's eyes darted left and right as she tried to deduce what was going on.
"P-Princess Luna? W-What brings you here?" She put on a nervous smile, trying not to insult the midnight ruler, but unable to conceal her unease at the sudden change, even within a dream.
"What brings you back here?" Luna looked around the library, "I thought you were happy where you were"
"Where ... I was?" Twilight blinked, "In Canterlot?"
"In the Crystal Empire"
".... In-" She almost blurted out she had never heard of it, but the name suddenly came to her, and her eyes went wide, "I'm in the Crystal Empire?! Is something wrong?"
Luna lowered her gaze to her, her eyes almost piercing. Twilight visibly shrunk where she stood under the Princesses' gaze.
"Twilight, you're in the Crystal Empire, with Cadance and Shining Armour. You don't remember?"
"No ..." But her tone betrayed that she did. She DID remember. But maybe she didn't want to ...

This was interesting to Luna. Twilight Sparkle was on the cover of this month's Radiantly Red. She was an eager sex slave, competing with her sister-in-law for her brother's attention. She was wing-bound and hornless, nothing more than a toy ... but here, she was a librarian. Just a librarian. Her horn was intact, but Luna noted it was the same length as a regular Unicorn horn and not lengthened by her ascension. She also noted that Twilight's wings were either folded away behind her back or simply not there, depending on the moment, as though her mind couldn't decide if she wanted to marry the idea she was an Alicorn with her position as librarian.

"Twilight, listen to me" Luna reached out and tilted Twilight's chin up to face her, "You are Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of Friendship. Wielder of the Element of Magic. You remember, don't you? You lived in Ponyville, you were a student of Celestia"
"Yes ..." But her voice was weak, and tears were building up in her eyes, unable to cope with what the Princess was telling her. Even if it was just something so simple as her name, title and duties. Luna's expression softened.
"You haven't forgotten any of that ... but you're not allowed to show it. You're frightened"
"I'm not" Twilight protested, but her protests were as a weak as a day-old bird.
"It's a scary world, I know. But here, in dreams, you are free. Explore your dreams, Twilight. Let them take you back ..."

She let go of Twilight's chin, and seemingly dissolved into nothingness, leaving Twilight stunned and shaken as her dreamworld rattled on it's foundations.

In the waking world, Twilight Sparkle's hind hoof kicked a little, and a tear rolled down her cheek ...

Author's Note

I've heard different things about the placement of Princess Amore in the grand scheme of things, but I'm going to mark her as a third Princess at the time of Luna and Celestia, and when she was 'killed' the throne was empty before the ascension of Cadance.

Also, yeah, I don't see a way to bring Shining Armour back. It was the shock of seeing fanart of Trixie being abused, looking in the tags and finding the art of Twilight being a willing pet for her brother that caused much of the outrage against the story for me when I first heard of it.

Note: Foals and foalcon are BANNED from this story. Keep that even sicker shit away from me.