Saddle Upped

"...after I licked it clean, I pushed it all the way back inside, and Spike overcame his inhibitions to eat it straight out of-"

"That's enough," Spike interrupted sharply, swiftly ending the kirin's vivid retelling of how they'd met. "I think that's far more detail than Mac wants to hear." The tall red earth pony to his side didn't react overmuch, save for the small upward tug of the corner of his mouth.

"As you wish, master," the kirin answered immediately. She didn't sound offended or embarassed at being told to be quiet, and continued walking beside the two males with a resting smile.

"Please just call me Spike," he told her, the title jarring him a little. His words came out as a grumble, more than he would've liked.

"As you wish, Spike." She smiled wider, and continued the walk in contented silence. They passed several more buildings before Mac restarted the conversation.

"What's your plan with her?" the earth pony asked, his question as casual as if he'd been discussing the weather. Spike glanced around at the kirin, then winced at his friend. "Don't worry, she won't take no offence or nothin'."

"None at all, mas- Spike."

"Well, I..." the drake began, stumbling over his words as they fumbled and faltered in his mouth, clashing with his swirling thoughts. "I mean, I guess I'll...we'll...we'll see."

"Might need to decide sooner rather than later."

"I can't decide right now."

"Why not? You've already bought her, most folks know what they want before they purchase a slave."

"She's not a slave!" Spike spat, scowling at the word. "She's free to live her own life now."

"You bought her, you own her," Mac reminded him. "Even if you want what's best for her, an' ah believe that you do, you still need a plan for her."

"It's up to her what she wants to do." It took a few seconds of silence before Spike turned his head and properly regarded the earth pony, realising that the latter was silently gesturing toward the object of their discussion. The kirin looked at the dragon with a chirpy, happy smile, her expression conveying that she had thoughts she was refraining from vocalising. Grousing a little at the situation in which he'd placed himself, Spike conceded the sense of simply following through, and asked, "Burning, what would you like to do? What's your life ambition, now that you're free?"

"I'd love to serve you, Spike," she answered immediately, as if the words had been sealed behind her lips like a resevoir held back by a dam. "I want to tend to your every need, to make you happy and be satisfied with a life of unerring servitude. If you don't want to call me a slave, you can call me something else, like a mistress, or a maid, or something nice and euphemistic."

"Why would I do that?" he responded, bewilderment and exasperation battling within him. "I don't want you to be a slave, and calling you something else won't fix that. I want you to choose your life, and I want you to be free. I didn't buy you just to get a household servant. Think about yourself, and not about me."

The kirin took several seconds to think before she posed a question, her tone steady and noticeably more straightforward than her usual bright amble, as she asked, "Can I speak freely? Can I say anything I want?"

"Yes," the dragon answered immediately and emphatically. "That's how you should be. Never be afraid to say what you're really thinking."

"I think that you're thinking about yourself, and not me." Her lips tightened at the words, the mare clearly uncomfortable with expressing herself so bluntly, but she powered on. "I've already told you that I want to serve you, and that's the truth. I want to give my life to you, utterly and wholly and singularly, however you'll have me. I want to do whatever you ask of me, and I don't want you to accept what I've done until it's perfect, and then I want to hear you tell me that it's perfect and you're pleased with it. That's what I'll get from this. You don't appreciate just how much that means to mares like me. You value freedom and autonomy and independence, and bridled females value service and discipline and hard work. I know you don't understand it the same way we do, but you can learn. When you tell me that my goals of being the best slave you'll ever know are not real goals, and that I need to strive for something that you'd want, that makes me feel uncomfortable. It makes me feel unappreciated. It makes me feel like there's something wrong with me. Have you ever faced judgement from people you care about, people you love?"

"Yes," Spike replied hesitantly, his surprise delaying his response.

"All that mares like me want is a place where we belong and fulfil our purpose," the kirin continued. "You hear 'slave' and you think of oppression and abuse, but to us, 'slave' is a standard, an enviable duty, and a desirable goal. Our purpose is servitude. It's always servitude. That's how our minds work, how our thoughts work, how our motivation and self-esteem works. If you tell me you don't want me as a slave, or a servant, or that you don't want me around, you're telling me that I'm a failure, that I'm not worthy."

"I didn't mean to make you feel-"

"I'm not going to leave and do something 'more normal'," Burning continued, speaking through Spike's halting clarification. "If you really don't want me, and you don't want to make use of me, then I can't and won't force you. I won't stay. What I will do is I'll go and find someone else who needs a slave, and I'll submit my life to them. I can't not have a master. I don't have ambitions or goals like you do; I'm not built that way any more. Asking me to not be subservient is like asking me not to breathe. I know it's difficult to understand for creatures who aren't from Saddle Arabia, but please listen to me; if you don't want me to be a slave, if you want me to be treated well and live a good life, I'm begging you, let me be yours. Provide me with tasks to do for you, let me make you happy and let me pamper you. Use me any way you want. The happier you are, the happier I am. If you don't do that, then I'll have to find someone else who probably won't be as kind as you are, and even if they treat me worse, I'll be much more comfortable and much more happy than if I'm forced to stay with you, and you refuse to let me exist as I'm supposed to."

The dragon was left stunned as the kirin finished her speech, her visage one of glum acceptance. Glancing to Mac, he found the pony as stoic as ever, his face relaxed and his gaze imparting neither judgement nor support, indicating nothing about his thoughts on the matter. Objections rose in the dragon's head, natural concerns and reasons as to why the kirin was wrong, but his feelings met the spongy resistance of the bridled mare's input, and he found himself floundering for a proper response. She was sincere, that much was obvious, and she'd told him what would happen if he followed through with his own convictions. Could he condone that, or accept it as a justifiable outcome when faced with an unjustifiable course of action? He had no idea, and he'd need a lot more time to organise his thoughts and come to a decision, but he knew that he couldn't leave the situation hanging as it was.

"I'm sorry I made you feel that way," he spoke, his voice soft and apologetic. "I didn't know how you felt about serving others, and I didn't really ask how you saw yourself. I appreciate you telling me candidly your side. I didn't mean to make you feel inadequate, and I want you to know that you aren't a failure. I don't see you as a failure, and neither does Mac. You're an amazing mare, and I bought you because I wanted to give you the opportunity than a better life. We'll discuss what that means at a later date, but I'm not going to abandon you."

"Thank you," she answered, her positive aura returning to her swiftly. Her smile seemed fuller, like she'd received great news, and the dragon considered what she'd said about how she valued being told she'd performed well. Observing her, it was clear just how great an impact it had on her.

"It's not my call to make," he added, hastening to make their situation clear. "There's someone else who has to be okay with this, and...oh, man." A knot formed in his stomach, and a chill descended from his shoulders down his back. "Oh, man, I'm gonna have to explain this to Gabby. She's going to kill me when she finds out what I've done."

"Eenope," the stallion responded. "She'll take it in stride."

"Thanks for the moral support, but this isn't just an impulsive purchase." He pursed his lips at the thought, and sighed unhappily, exhaling heavily through his nose. "Well, I guess it is, but there's a world of difference between buying a piece of furniture and buying a living animal."

"Pets?"

"There's still a massive difference between impulse buying a pet and impulse buying a kirin."

"Not to the Saddle Arabians."

"To Gabby," Spike exclaimed, his exasperation beginning to bubble up once again. "She'll take one look at this and demand to know why I thought it was such a great idea to bring another mare home with us, and then I'll have to tell her that I actually paid for her and so she belongs to me forever."

"Ah think you're gettin' ahead of yourself a little," Mac said. "Gabby gave you the go-ahead to spend time in that brothel, knowin' full-well what you'd be gettin' up to, and she gave me a full rundown of what she expected to happen. Trust me, she's gonna roll with it."

"She's told you she expected me to purchase a prostitute as a permanent addition to our household?" He winced as he realised what he'd said, and glanced apologetically at the kirin. "Sorry, no offence."

"None taken," she responded with perfect ease and sincere honesty. As she did so, the drake noticed a look of familiarity cross her countenance, some sort of recognition, though he couldn't figure out what. He didn't get a chance to ponder it.

"She's an understandin' gal," the earth pony explained, bringing them to a halt in front of a small wooden door on a street corner. He raised his fist to knock, but hesitated, and chewed on the inside of his mouth. "After all you've seen today, you trust me?"

"Do I trust you?" Spike repeated. "Of course. It's strange, but that's what the world outside Equestria is, right? I don't know if I like it, but I know I'm new to Saddle Arabia too, so I'm going on your lead. If you say something's fine, I believe you. Why?"

The earth pony knocked and waited for the door to be opened from the inside before he answered. "Ah just don't want you gettin' the wrong idea. Like you said, this place can be mighty strange for newcomers, an' it's easy to misunderstand somethin', an' react rashly."

"I'm working on it," the drake grumbled, following the red male down the compact stone steps of the cramped stairway. "I'm not sold on the idea of this social subservience, but like you told me, it's not as clear cut as I first thought. I'm not going to start a slave revolt or anything."

"You're a good dragon, an' you have a good heart, so it makes sense you'll want to jump in an' save folk who look like they're bein' mistreated. Just remember, they chose to do this. They ain't been stolen away an' forced into slavery under some tyrant or warlord. They chose it because it opened opportunities for them."

The downward passageway was just about the right size for ponies, meaning that Mac and Spike had to stoop to avoid dragging their head against the ceiling. Burning's descent was apparently much easier, and she followed politely behind them, matching their pace in silence. At the bottom of the dim stairway, Mac knocked again on a wooden door, which was opened after a few brief moments, giving Mac the chance to glance back at the dragon. Spike swore that the pony looked anxious, his mouth tighter than it normally was and his eyes flicking up and down Spike's face, but before he could dwell on it or get a clearer view in the low light, the noise from the room filtered out, and the earth pony moved inside, giving Spike no choice but to follow.

The blizzard of noise and sights stunned him, and it took his brain several seconds to properly register what was happening. Through the sensual moans and whimpers, the writhing of two naked bodies, and what looked like a cross between a ritual and an erotic dance, the dragon tried to clutch at information, to arrange it into a shape that he could interpret and process. It was like trying to catch puzzle pieces being flung around in a tempest, but he managed it, and when he did, when he recognised the creatures, and what was happening to them, cold shock shot through his body, freezing him to his core and halting him in place, only for that ice to melt as his rage flared up.

"Spike, remember what ah said," Mac spoke, raising a hand with his palm facing towards the dragon's inflating chest. "They chose this. Ah told them what it would entail, ah gave 'em full disclosure, an' they both insisted that they wanted to go through with it."

"You knew," Spike growled, his eyes narrowed at the attendants dutifully rubbing and dabbing the females. "You...you knew? This entire time, you knew what was happening to her, and you didn't tell me?" His deep, bassy growl was underlaid with hurt, an audible sense of betrayal. "And...and you knew too, didn't you?!" He spun around, snarling at the kirin, who raised her hands in supplication and took a step back, hitting the wall behind her. For the first time since they'd met, genuine fear spread across her face.

"I figured it out a few minutes ago," she told him, her voice steady, even as her hands trembled lightly, her eyes marginally wider. "I picked up on it from the way you and Mister McIntosh were speaking! I didn't mean to keep the truth from you, I'm sorry master!"

"I saw that look on your face," he spat, hissing at her and taking a step towards the smaller female, his form towering over her defenceless figure and his eyes blazing with enraged indignity. Smoke poured from his nose as he exhaled angrily. "How long have you really known? What else have you lied to me about so far?"

"That's enough," Mac intoned, authoritatively . "She ain't done nothin' wrong. If you've got a problem, you don't take it out on a slave, an' specially not one who ain't had nothin' to do with what you're angry about." He held the drake's gaze as the latter turned around, sap green meeting pistachio, neither wavering. "Ah didn't suggest this to her, an' ah tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted. She wrote that note for ya, an' she gave all the confirmations you needed to know that was her passin' on her message."

"Why didn't you wait?" the dragon asked, his frustration parting around his words as he addressed the pony. "Why wasn't it something she came to me about? Why did you get to decide when she'd given enough thought to it?"

"If she'd come to you, what would've happened then?" the stallion asked. "You'd try an' talk her out of it, wouldn't you? You'd try an' stop her from followin' her own path."

"I would've let her have more time to think it through! There's no way-"

"She was adamant," the earth poy pressed. "Ah tried everythin' ah could think to turn her away, an' ah know stubborn when ah see it. Even if you'd waited a year, two years, ten years, she would've insisted. She had the best possible sources to draw from, an' she concluded she wanted it. She didn't start down this road on a whim. Don't you think there's a reason she wanted you to try Saddle Arabian hospitality?" He gave Spike time to answer, but the dragon said nothing, his eyes twitching minutely as he recalled the note he'd been handed by Mac in the brothel. "Ah know when a mare has her mind made up, an' ah know when a mare wants somethin' badly. Trust me on that."

The drake's eyes fell to the second creature undergoing the foreign ritual, her pale olive coat darkened and slickened with oil. At first, the sight of both females bound and writhing infuriated him, made him want to do terrible, vicious things to everyone in the room, but as Mac calmed him and spoke the uncomfortable truth, he begrudgingly realised what her presence meant. This wasn't neglect; if the stoic stallion's own flesh and blood were here, his own sister, then this was truly something beyond Mac's own interest, or lack of interest.

"Why?" Spike asked, his fury bleeding from his tone.

"You'll need to ask your griffon for her reason," the pony replied. "Ain't my reason to tell. But ah can tell you why my sister wanted it so badly. She saw how happy Applejack was, an' she wanted the same opportunity, the same path to fulfilment. Gabby got curious, an' asked Apple Bloom what it was all about. That's why we're here now. Both of them wanted somethin' they didn't have, an' now, both of them can have it. If, of course, you'll take them."

"Take...them?"

"Eeyup," Mac confirmed, nodding. "Ah know you an' Bloom had a thing goin' when you were younger, and in truth, she ain't ever moved on from it. She figured she'd be stuck on the farm, wastin' her life away, until she learned about the bridles, and the change. Given everything that's happened here, it seems like it's time for a change of plans."

"What are you saying?"

"Ah'm sayin' that you were always perfect for my sister, an' now she's perfect for you. If Saddle Arabia's taught you anything, ah hope it's that you don't have to be bound by Equestria's idea of relationships and norms. There ain't no reason you can't have more than one mare - or creature - as your doting, loving girl. If you'll take her, Apple Bloom is yours to care for, to love, an' to be loved in turn."

"Spike..."

The whimper drew the dragon's attention before he could respond to the pony's proposition. Gabby was gazing at him imploringly, her eyes wide and bright and brimming with unfilfilled need. He took a step towards her, hesitated, and ran his eyes over her body. She was glistening with oil, trembling as unknown sensations ran through her, and she seemed different, though every time he thought he recognised why, she seemed to adjust, and he wondered if that had been part of his imagination. Beside her, Apple Bloom was in an identical position, her own gamboge orbs staring pleadingly, ocassionally fluttering as she endured whatever was being done to her.

"Gabby?"

"Please...take us both," the griffoness whined. "I want to be yours, and I want you to have Apple Bloom too. Make us both yours."

"Ah'll be good," the pony added, her voice still carrying its southern drawl, but her tone more feminine, meeker than he'd usually heard her. "Ah'll be real good to you. Ah'll give you whatever you want, an' ah'll never leave your side."

"Just think how many children we can give you," Gabby added, purring in delight, her thighs rubbing together. "Get us both pregnant, Spike, make us mothers..."

That was apparently too much for Apple Bloom, who shuddered and writhed, groaning and moaning in sudden, inexorable bliss, her thighs squeezing together as she strained against her binds. Gabby cooed at the sight, and purred even louder.

"Oh, Spike, imagine how great that will feel around your fat dragon dick..."

"W-Want it," Apple Bloom babbled. "N-Need you...p-please..."

The hand on his shoulder would've startled the dragon under any other circumstance, but he was transfixed with the bawdy, gaudy display of the two transformed females, and he didn't react as Mac came to stand beside him.

"Ah know it's a lot to take in," the earth pony said. "You said you'd make a decision later, and it'd be nice if you had more time, but realistically, y'ain't gonna have a better time to think about it. This is how they are now, an' if you're gonna take care of them, you need to be ready for when they're done."

"You won't need to do it alone," another female voice added, the kirin stepping beside the dragon and softly taking his hand. He didn't stop her. "I've already been through this, and I know exactly what they'll need to get used to their new lives. Let me help you."

This was it, the dragon realised. All eyes were on him now, from his loving girlfriend, his childhood romance, his firmest friend, and the slave he'd bought to try and rescue. All of them were waiting on his choice, and none of them could leave until he'd made that decision. There was no one else to pawn this off to, no higher authority he could approach for a ruling or even guidance. It was all down to him, and he felt the slow weight of that responsibility squeezing him, pushing down until it began to squash him. With one hand on his shoulder, and another pressed against his palm, he focused himself, concentrating his swirling, chaotic thoughts and banishing any unnecessary feelings.

"Okay," he spoke, giving the kirin's hand a light squeeze. Gabby and Apple Bloom looked at him with wide, waiting eyes, impatient to hear the words they absolutely needed to hear. "Here's what's going to happen..."