Author's Note

Sorry this took so long, life has been annoying but I’ll hopefully be back to a semi-regular schedule. Because of the odd timing, this chapter kinda started to meander a bit and I think I just turned it into an exposition dump towards the end. I’ll polish up my writing in subsequent chapters. Cheers!

Tunes of Tribulation

Luna had never been a morning pony; the only being who knew that better than herself was Celestia. Luna knew that her sister knew this, which only made the fact that the alabaster alicorn was currently attempting to shake her away all the more annoying.

“Luna! We’re going to be late!” Celestia nagged at her little sister as she opened the curtains on the bedroom windows allowing rays of sunlight to stream in. Luna groaned and rolled over to block out the light from her eyes forcing Celestia to continue to shake her. Finally the younger alicorn relented and dragged herself out of her bed and over to her wardrobe where she dragged out a glittering black dress. “I can’t believe you were content with being late to your first international summit.” complained the solar diarch.

Still groggy, Luna was quickly getting tired of her sister’s nagging. “You know politics are not my forte. You have Twilight to advise you and Cadence as an extra international voice.”

Celestia walked to Luna and hugged her from behind as she was organizing her ethereal mane. “You know I don’t want you there for political help sister; I could outmaneuver any attendee of that assembly. I want you there because I love you and I love spending time with you.”

Luna smiled. “I love you too, sister.”

“I know you do. Besides, that Saddle-Arabian prince will be there, Saladin was it? Celestia teased.

Luna knew she was blushing but kept her composure through all the practice she had acquired as a princess. “I have no idea what you mean, Tia.”

“Oh yes you do! I saw how you looked at him.”

“Is it wrong for a mare to consider the physique of a stallion?”

Celestia laughed, “Admit it, Lulu, you found him to your liking.”

“He was certainly attractive.” she mused

“And you want to worship his cock.”

Luna’s pleasant train of thought was abruptly halted by the sudden comment. She turned around asking a confused “what?” but when she turned her surroundings suddenly changed. She was now standing in an open field that stretched as far as her eyes could see and was suddenly naked as the day she was born. Under her hooves grew pitchblack grass that smelt of sulfur and not a star shone in the endless void of dark night sky above her. She called out to her sister, “Tia?” but couldn’t see her anywhere.

The voice of Luna’s sister returned from the direction she had just been looking in to where Luna immediately turned to see Celestia bent over on her hands and knees as a male form - the form of a faceless caribou stag whose head was obscured by black smoke - thrusted his cock into her. When she spoke her voice was cracking and popping, as if it was being played off an old worn record and she moaned and squeaked in orgasmic pleasure through every word, “Luna… you want him to take you. You want him to just use you, to, rutt you from behind like an animal because that’s all you are to them, to our masters. We are pets, only meant to exist for them to exert their will onto us. SUBMIT!”

The last command was shouted with the voices of a thousand beings and instantly the two figures before Luna transformed into a thick black smoke that expanded into a gargantuan wall of twisting darkness. Luna stared at the seemingly endless black as faces began to shift in and out yelling unintelligible curses. Finally the words became understandable as the wall began to move towards her, swallowing the very ground Luna stood on. “RUN!” It shouted and she complied. She ran harder than she ever had, as the wall of liquid black gained on her, faces escaping the mass to yell at her.

“YOU CAN RUN ALL DAY!”

“AND RUN ALL NIGHT!”

“YOU CAN’T KEEP YOUR TRUE FEELINGS DEEP INSIDE!”

“WHEN WE CATCH YOU WE’LL COLLAR YOU TO US FOREVER!”

Eventually one voice rose above the others, one hated voice, deep, masculine and commanding. Luna looked back for a second to see the gigantic head of Dainn form from the mist to yell to her soul. “MASTER OF YOU MARES, I’M CRUSHING YOUR DREAMS! I’M PULLING YOUR LEASH AND MAKING YOU SCREAM!” COLLARED BY ME YOU’LL NEVER BE FREE! YOU KNOW MY NAME AND KNOW WHAT IT MEANS!” The other voices returned to accompany Dainn’s booms.

“MASTER! MASTER! MASTER! MASTER!”

“OBEY YOUR MASTER!”

The wall gained speed, catching up to Luna and encompassing her as she ran. Faster and faster she forced her legs to carry her but she couldn’t outrun the living horror that now spoke in all its voices at once. “Nobody loves you, no one will save you, they’re all now against you, you’re alone.” Luna could push herself no longer. Collapsing onto the ground she began to wail as the voices berated her with everything she didn’t want to hear.

The voice of her sister returned, but now it was mocking and hateful, “You are weak; you are nothing compared to the might of your MASTERS!”

Luna felt a collar form around her neck and she was yanked back towards the unseeable void. Summoning every vestige of strength left in her body, Luna pulled herself forward along the ground as the voices continued their barrage.

“Give up!”

“Submit!”

Accept that your freedom will DIE!”

“DIE!”

“BY OUR HANDS!”

“WE CREEP ACROSS THE LAND!”

“ENDING YOUR LIFE’S PLANS!”

Luna was about to give in to their words. She felt her will to go on drain away, but then she felt something call to her, she heard nothing but felt the essence of her name pulling her forward accompanied by a feeling of comforting warmth. She crawled forward towards that warmth, it began calling her name now, a masculine voice that she couldn’t place but felt she knew. “Luna! Luna!” it cried out frantically. Then the darkness grabbed her and dragged her screaming into its shadowy mass.

Luna jolted awake kicking and screaming, the horrors she had experienced sending her mind into a frenzy. She felt two strong arms nestle her body into a warm chest and though she tried to kick and punch out of it they held her close till she began calming herself. She lay there silently sobbing as a large hand caressed her face. “Good girl, you’re ok, you’re ok…”

Upon hearing that final voice from her dream Luna’s senses returned to her like a lightning striking a tree. She pushed away from the body of Alseric and turned to him in a rage. “DON'T touch me!” she shouted.

For his part, the caribou was genuinely confused as he tried to stammer out a reply, “I’m sorry… you looked like you were having a terrible dream, you were screaming and-“

“Shut up!” Luna yelled again, backing away against a wall as she continued to leak tears from her eyes. “Don’t try to comfort me, don’t try to be kind to me! I hate you! This is your fault, all of your kind! You did this to me!” Luna gripped the stub of her broken horn with one hand, “You have no idea what it's like every night to be tormented by something you used to control; you’ve stolen from me what made me who I am and now you attempt to feign kindness? I hate you!”

Luna couldn’t discern the look Alseric wore in reaction. If she didn’t know better the nature of caribou she would have assumed it was sympathetic, but she was convinced that this hated race of conquerors was incapable of such a pure feeling. He just sat next to the pet bed she had spent half of the night in and for a few minutes they just stared at each other as Luna failed to hold back tears. Alseric was the one to finally break the silence, “This happens every night?” he asked.

“Thanks to your kind, every night. Some worse than others, this was one of the worst.” she answered.

“I’m sorry.” was all he said

“No you’re not” she replied, “if you were sorry you’d take this damned collar off me and let me leave.”

“And then what? You’d just be captured again, probably given to some council member. The only silver lining being that Dainn is so tired of Ivangir that he’s the only one excluded from that possibility but I guarantee you it wouldn’t be as pleasant as this.”

“This is anything pleasant. You seem to pride yourself on some kind of disillusioned kindness but to you I’m still a slave and nothing more; you force me to sleep like an animal, I’ve been fed the most disgusting things I wouldn’t give to my worst enemies and I haven’t been permitted to even cover myself.”

“If you had spoken like that to any other caribou what would he have done? We have ways of doing things that are that way because they work, I’ve told you I don’t want to hurt you and even that is stepping on the line of what Dainn will allow me if he knew, yet I still do. I am offering you a chance of living without the constant threat of a whip hanging over your head; why can’t you cooperate with that at least?”

Luna didn’t budge, “I am a princess of Equestria, I’d rather die standing than live kneeling.”

Alseric stood up and began to don his ceremonial armor, a set similar to ones Luna had seen caribou nobles wear. “I know, Luna, that’s why you’re here.”

“What does that mean?”

Alseric, now fully dressed headed towards the door, “I’ll tell you another time. I’m going to be late for a meeting with the council, Dainn will be even less pleased that I’m not bringing you with me.”

Luna called out to him, confused, “Why aren’t you?”

“You woke up screaming a few minutes ago and you haven’t stopped crying. I don’t think it would be a good idea, do you?”

Luna immediately began wiping the tears from her eyes to stop them from flowing. But didn’t respond, just stared at him wondering what went on in his head.

“Yeah I didn’t think so. I don’t know when I’ll be back, don’t try anything stupid.”

Alseric stepped out into the hallway and headed towards the throne room. His head swam with thoughts of his present situation. Blaming Luna for your attitude would be idiotic, he knew that, but he wished she could see reason. He doubted she would, she would most likely rage against caribou domination for as long as she lived, after all, that’s why he chose her, he thought to himself. His thoughts carried him faster than his legs and he reached Dainn’s throne room in no time. Acknowledging his newfound rank, the guards opened the door to allow him inside.

Even with the massive interior of the throne room, Dainn’s presence dominated its space. He sat on his throne surrounded by the rest of the council, projecting an aura of power to all who entered. As Alseric approached the throne the council members all looked upon him with varying levels of appreciation, admiration and general amiability, all except for Ivangir, who’s eyes almost shouted incredible hatred at the younger stag.

Alseric knelt before his king and went through the proper formalities, “Your highness, thank you for the chance to speak with you. What is it that you require of me?”

Dainn answered him. “Alseric, you’ve proven yourself to be one of my greatest generals; it would be almost impossible to repay you.”

“My king, I’ve only done what any true caribou in my position would do for his nation.” Alseric’s pride swelled at being complimented so heavily by his monarch.

“No you haven’t, you’ve gone beyond what so many would dream of. I’ve decided to award you a triumph.”

Alseric’s heart skipped a beat. A triumph… the greatest of honors for a warrior… he couldn’t believe it. Apparently neither could the council members, Ivangir in particular looked as though we were about to burst a blood vessel. Before anything else could be said he spoke. “My lord, if I may speak.” Dainn’s face immediately betrayed a hint of annoyance but as Ivangir was behind him and couldn’t see the emotion displayed on his face, he remained hopeful. Dainn relented and raised his hand to permit Ivangir to speak. “My lord I couldn’t help but notice that despite your explicit request, our young champion has not appeared before us with his prize.”

Dainn looked at Alseric with slightly irate boredom. Rolling his eyes at the obviously desperate accusation, the king of the caribou reluctantly questioned his champion. “Alseric, where is the whore you were given as a prize?”

Alseric was slightly worried, but it was apparent that Dainn didn’t really care about his answer and only inquired to keep up appearances after Ivangir’s questioning. “My King it was my intention to bring her with me, but due to events that transpired during the night she is incredibly distressed. I concluded that it would be detrimental to bring her before Your Excellency in such a state.”

Dainn smiled slightly and shook his head as he sighed. “Completely understandable, black collars tend to react terribly to the fulfillment of their purpose.”

Ivangir’s voice rang out again.

“My Lord, if I may-“

“You may not” was the annoyed reply of the king.

“But Your Highness he never revealed to us the reason for her supposed distress, it is onl-“

“Shut up, Ivangir.” Dainn’s bluntness shocked Ivangir, Alseric and the rest of the council, but when he turned to face the caribou warrior he was so tired of, the rage on his face explained everything. “Ivangir you are tedious. You have enjoyed a position of power on this council due to your status at birth, and for so many years I have considered you a trusted compatriot, yet after one, terrible, disastrous failure you suddenly become the most insecure stag I’ve ever met! Your failure has been punished, and if it were not for you incessantly reminding me of it through your complaints, it would be forgotten. Alseric succeeded miraculously where you failed completely, and his reward is due to him; why do you insist on attempting to conjure up some illogical casus belli with something as mundane as his treatment of a cunt?” Dainn’s tirade left the room silent; not a single caribou dared speak. Indigent rage barely contained, Ivangir rose from his seat and stormed out the throne room. Dainn watched him completely leave before turning once more to Alseric. “I apologize, Ivangir is a proud, jealous stag, but you deserve all you will be given. I’m scheduling the triumph for 3 days from now, till then do what you will, you are responsible for much of the wealth that now flows into the city.”

Alseric looked at his king in shock for seconds before snapping out of his frozen state and responding. “Th-thank you my King, I don’t know how I could ever repay you for such an honor.”

Dainn slapped him on the shoulder and turned him towards the door. “You don’t need to repay me, just continue doing what is best for the Empire.”

Alseric walked out of that room with the pride of a thousand stags flowing through his head.

Luna hated to be alone.
To be fair she also hated being around the caribou, but at least then she had pressing matters to think on. Now that she was alone however, she was cursed with the opportunity to reflect on her situation, and she despised it. Luna’s major flaw was that she was so easily influenced by her emotions, but when they were pushed to the back of her mind she was actually an impressive logical thinker. And now that she was thinking, the most logical truth disgusted her.

Despite the low bar to compare him to, Alseric was the best thing to happen to Luna’s life since the fall of Equestria and he was completely right; if he wasn’t there she’d just be given to another caribou who would have made use of her body a dozen times by now. The strongest part of her subconscious told her that it didn't matter, the weakest part told her to submit to him and embrace that truth, but the logical part concluded that both were wrong and right. Alseric was a boon, but she was still a princess, and princesses had dignity if nothing else. The fact that she was currently without a horn or feathers on her wings, naked, collared and metaphorically chained to a “master’s” bed didn’t help that conclusion.

Luna continued to contemplate every answer to this dilemma for what seemed like hours until the door slammed open to reveal Alseric wearing the dumb grin of a foal to whom Heartswarming came early. His eyes locked onto her and with a joyful shout of “LUNA!” he charged her, picked the startled mare up in a strong bear hug, twirled her around and unceremoniously tossed her onto the bed.

Between Alseric’s whooping and yelling, Luna managed to voice a questioning “What happened to you?”

Turning to her with that stupid grin still plastered onto his face, Alseric revealed his good news. “Luna my dear, His Excellency Dainn, Kaiser der Welt, King of the Caribou, Emperor of Equestria, Imperator of Griffonia, Lord of Dragons, Shahanshah of Purrsia, Sultan of Saddle-Arabia, Great Khaan of Yakyakistan, Vasiliás of Minos, Negus of Zebrica, Grand Merchant of the Reptile Tribes-“

“OK!” Luna interrupted, “I get it.”

“Great! He replied, “I was getting tired of that. Anyway, he has seen fit to my efforts with a triumph!”

Luna’s pupils turned to pinpricks. That word - “triumph” - sent fear throughout her body. She knew it well. An ancient Griffonian tradition, the Triumph was a grand ceremony held for one who expanded the territorial boundaries of the nation. The captured ruler of the enemy nation would be paraded through the streets of the capitol and then executed at the end of the event.

The caribou changed in important detail when they adopted the practice. Memories of being chained on her knees next to her sister as caribou nobles and generals used her as a communal cum dumpster in front of thousands of her oppressors and former subjects shot through Luna’s mind. She gazed up at Alseric’s face as he continued to ramble about his excitement before catching a glimpse of her pained face.

“Are you ok? he asked.

Luna’s mouth moved for a few seconds before sound came out “A triumph… for what?”

“For my conquest of Zebrica and the ending of the rebellion in the Everfree, why?” He responded, now more confused than ever.

“You’re going to rape Twilight Sparkle.” Said Luna calmly, fully aware of the traditions of the triumph.

“What? Oh no, I… yeah no. Dainn has your friend strictly off-limits to everyone, I don’t know why. The subject of the triumph is the former queen of the Zebras.”

Luna’s expression didn’t change. “You’re not making that sound any better.”

“Look, I know that doesn’t sound great on paper, but at least ponies thought they were happy under female rule, the zebra queen was a tyrant-“

“Like Dainn?”

“No, not like Dainn. Dainn is bringing prosperity to the lands under his rule, the zebra queen treated her subjects with pure malevolence, she deserves punishment.”

Luna stared at him in disbelief. “Nopony, or zebra, deserves to be raped.”

Alseric sat down next to her on the edge of the bed. “Luna, this has to happen, it’s the way things must be.” He tried to wrap an arm around the alicorn but she shoved it away and scooted further from him. “I’m sorry for everything that’s happened, but I’m trying to make it as pleasant as possible for you.” He tried to convince her.

Luna whispered a quiet “Why?” under her breath.

“Why what?”

She turned back to him, less aggressive were her eyes that now showed a sorrowful plea “Why do you not do what you all do? Why do you try to show kindness to me? Why do you not do with my body what I know you want to?”

The caribou warrior stared at the wall seemingly lost in thought. “It’s a long story”

“It’s not as though I can go anywhere.” She retorted.

Alseric chuckled “True, true I guess we do have time.”
He looked at her for a long moment before turning back to the wall. “My people were at war with the Imperium Griffonia for as long as anyone can remember. They considered us to be barbarians, tried to subjugate us. We showed them that barbarism has its benefits in every battle we fought. We would raid their towns and cities, either by land or from the decks of our longships, plundering their riches, weapons and most importantly: their females.
Griffon hens were a status symbol. Every stag with a hint of status had to have one, and no matter how superior the griffon weapons and tactics were, we would use every tool in our mind’s arsenal to capture them.
In my youth I would explore the forests of the caribou lands pretending to be a warrior like my father, though I had no idea of the ways to wage war or its horrors, or anything else about it really. All I knew about war was that the stags went to do it, and they gained glory from it. It was on one of these adventures that I finally learned of a consequence of war.
When I was a child I was waving my best stick around in the air pretending to be a great warrior when I caught a fleeting glimpse of something moving out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look, but it was gone and when calling out returned no results I assumed it was some animal.
I continued my imaginary adventure until I got hungry and brought my lunch out. That’s when she finally made herself known: a young griffon hen, older than I was but not by many years and she seemed to be barely into adulthood. The fact that she was naked didn’t bother me as much as it seemed to affect her, no female I had ever seen had ever been clothed. Her eyes showed pure fear as she approached me but her emaciated appearance betrayed exactly the reason she was here. I’ll never forget the pain and terror in her voice as she asked a child from a race that had enslaved her for food. Thankfully for her, I had no clue about the implications of caribou society. My father had always taught me that we were to protect and care for our females just as they served us because they were incapable of caring for themselves so I offered her some bread. As we ate together her fear slowly abated and she told me of her life.
She gave me her name: Gracilia, and told me about her family in a border town. She told me how she was captured in a raid and managed to escape but only after she was transferred to our lands. She told me many things but the one that stuck with me was the last thing she said. After realizing that I had no idea of the reasons for female submission, she told me she feared being recaptured, what would happen to her, and she feared that any attempt to get back to her home would bring her closer to caribou warriors and that terrible fate.”

Luna interrupted his monologue. “So what did you do to her?”

“To her? Nothing. I told her that no one ever came to this area of the woods, that if she was hungry I could bring her food, and we established a sort of relationship. Every day I’d make the trek to the small shelter we built together with food for both of us and we’d talk for hours about our lives and our people.
This went on for years, and after hearing of the barbarity of my race against griffon females, I began to despise the notion of it. I was a young adult, rebellion was in my blood, she was probably excited to be close with a stag who didn’t see her as just a cock warmer.”

Alseric leaned back till he lay on the bed with only his legs hanging off the edge. Luna did the same and scooted closer to him as he sighed out his next sentences.

“This would have probably all been fine had I not made the mistake of making my opinions known to my father. The idea of a young stag going against male supremacy immediately raised his suspicions and it wasn’t long before he used his experience in combat to follow me to Gracilia’s little hut without me knowing.
We were discussing what we ideally wanted to do with our lives when the flimsy door was kicked down and my father charged in followed by three of his friends. Gracilia panicked as my father grabbed her, I tried to stop them but I couldn’t fight off three hardened warriors. Before long she was collared and the two of us were being dragged through the woods back to the village. Gricilia seemed shocked, poor girl didn’t speak or even move on the entire journey, I didn’t ever stop struggling. At one point my father remarked that in any other situation he’d be proud of the resistance I was putting up.
When we got to the village the two of us were temporarily separated. My father took me on a walk so that everyone could see as he yelled at me for hours, calling me an idiot for treating a female as an equal, but eventually he relented that I was a stag, and a stag needed to be shown his true place in the world. He endeavored to accomplish this by breaking my view of females, and to do that he brought me back to our house and to my room.
There was Gracilia, still naked and now collared and tied to my bed. My father pushed me inside, shut the door, and barred it from the other side. My first instinct was to free my friend. I frantically tried to untie the masterfully constructed knots, ranting to her about desperate delusions of the two of us escaping to live amongst her people. Gracilia was more calm and collected, presumably from having waited there for hours. She told me that I was being foolish, that she was relieved I was the one that had been sent in with her, that even if I did free her she’d just be rerecaptured and given to another caribou, that this had to happen eventually and she was glad it was me. She told me she wanted it.
So I gave it to her.
I didn’t fuck her, I didn’t rape her, we made love. For what felt to us like forever we enjoyed each other and then after that as I removed the rope from her arms we talked about the situation we found ourselves in.
I came out of my room with her on a leash, and as far as my father knew, that was the end of that. Honestly my father was no one, just a faceless warrior in caribou society. The fact that I was allowed to keep such a stunning beauty of a griffon female was astonishing but I didn’t care about the status of it - I just cared about her. In public, in front of my father I was her master and she was my cock-hungry slut, but in private we were more like husband and wife. We spent hours together just talking about everything we could, and of course enjoying the pleasure we could give and take. I loved her.”

Alseric stared up at the ceiling, lost in the echoes of a distant time that came willowing across the sands.

“What happened to her?” Luna asked

It took Alseric to snap out of his thoughts. “Huh? Oh. Honestly, I don’t know. She just… changed. It started small, we’d be talking about how we could change the status quo to something better and Gracilia would start saying that she didn’t want to, that being owned by me was the best thing to ever happen to her. I don’t know what it was, it could have been seeing every other member of her sex being used and raped, maybe it was even how well I treated her, but eventually she started to care only about the next rut. She stopped referring to me as anything but master, she stopped being the griffon I cared about so much.
By the time Dainn rose to power none of her was left. I couldn’t bear to do anything more with that sex-crazed husk. I left her with a friend and that was that, she gets what she wants and the new her doesn’t care about who she gets it from. For a while I kept the delusions of saving females alive in my head but those are the fantasies of a child. If anything my life has shown me that females do need male guidance, male superiority, but it doesn’t have to be cruel. Anyway, I’m no longer deluded; the child has grown, the dream is gone, and after living this life I’ve just become comfortably numb to everything.”

The two of them lay there for a while, the story Alseric had given weighed on Luna’s mind. She decided to rouse him from his sorrowful contemplation with what she thought was the point of his story. “So you’re doing this because you want that feeling again?” she asked.

He took a moment then turned to her. The naked form of the lunar alicorn was much closer than he thought she would be comfortable with. He took this as a sign that she was hopefully warming up to him. “I’m doing this because with my whole heart I believe that the caribou way is the correct way, but you’ll never see that because of who you are. If you won’t bend to our pressure, then I’ll at least offer you a chance to shield yourself from most of the pain. I hate to see females who won’t accept their place and are punished for it, so at least accept this alternate fate so that you don’t suffer for what you are.”

Luna wasn’t convinced. “You’re still just asking me to accept a life of slavery.” She replied

“Only if you see it as one.”

“What I see it as doesn’t change what it is.”

Alseric knew she wouldn’t relent so he ended the dialogue, “Whatever, just consider what I said. It’s getting late and I’m tired.

Luna glanced at the pet bed she’d lain in the night before. “Do I at least get something proper to sleep in?”

Alseric gestured towards the object of Luna’s ire, “You already have a bed.” he succinctly stated.

She stared at him indignantly as he flicked the lights off. “You are the most contradictory being I have ever come across.”

A short “Goodnight my pet.” was all that came from the caribou as he lay down to sleep.