Survival Through Resignation

It was a brand-new day. The clock on the wall said as much. Applejack had been scrubbed yesterday, and while the zebra had promised to feed her, he hadn't yet done so. It was yet another broken promise made by the zebras.

The door clicked shut, making her realize that the door opening is what had woken her. After a few steps were heard approaching, the mare from yesterday walked in front of her, carrying two baskets. One had a large jug in it with a rag, the other had apples and an extension grabber.

As Applejack tried to put the thought of the apples out of her mind, a difficult task with how much her stomach was rumbling, the mare secured a single apple to the end of the extension arm. A moment later, it was being held up to Applejack's face.

"You tryin' ta bribe me?" growled Applejack. "How do Ah know these ain't full of some cockamaimy love poison?"

"You don't," answered the mare.

"Ah know they're full a' somethin'," replied Applejack. "If you won't touch 'em yourself."

The mare picked one up and held it in her hand for Applejack to see. "I don't expect you to believe me, but they're regular apples."

"Bite into it," barked Applejack. "Prove it."

The mare hung her head and looked away. "I can't."

"What's the deal with puttin' it on a stick, anyway?"

The mare looked up. "You bit one of the guards' thumbs off," she answered. "They wanted me to feed you before I rub you down with the rose oil, and they don't want me bleeding all over you. I would also like to keep my thumbs, if I can."

"Yeah, well, he deserved it. An' so do you, the way ya' been treatin' me."

"Regardless, I have to hold this up until you say you're done."

"Then Ah'm done," grunted Applejack, having not taken a single bite.

The mare nodded and drew back the apple, placing it in the basket. With Applejack done eating, she pushed the basket aside and soaked the rag in oil, walking up to Applejack and rubbing her stomach with it.

Of course, Applejack pulled away, squirming and writhing. While Rarity might have seen this as a boon, a spa treatment that would smooth her skin, make her coat glow and apply a pleasant fragrance, Applejack didn't care about any of that. Clean was good enough for her.

Nevertheless, she was bound to the ceiling, hanging by her wrists. Her shoulders ached, not being used to this amount of tension for this long. She was more comfortable with compression, lifting heavy objects that put extra weight on her, not hanging up, the weight of her legs pulling the rest of her apart. As much as she wanted to resist, it was futile.

Perhaps not fully futile, though. The oily rag dripped all over the floor, and when the mare tried to reach up and oil her armpits, she kept slipping and falling to the floor, caking herself in oil. She couldn't reach any higher, anyway, so she opted to stop there for now, not even touching Applejack's breasts yet.

Instead, she went down, starting around the ankles and working her way up. She had to hold Applejack's legs still, not wanting to stand up anymore as the floor was too slippery from all of the fighting. This was an okay solution until she reached her thighs.

Now, Applejack didn't much care for ponies touching her thighs normally, but a stranger grabbing her thighs tightly while trying to wipe her butt was a big problem for her. With as much movement as she could muster, she swung forward, angled her feet back, and kicked at the mare, putting her apple-bucking days to good use.

As the mare fell, her head hit Applejack's heels. More specifically, the shackle holding them together drove into her cheek. As she picked herself up, she crawled over to the rag. It was only then that Applejack saw that the stripes she'd been covered in were washing off. She had thought this was just an oddly-coloured zebra, but the paint dripping off revealed her cutie mark. This was no mere servant, but a slave.

When the mare turned around and tried to return to work, Applejack could see that she had broken her nose. Despite the blood dripping from her face, she was still going to do her job. Either the reward would be exceptionally good to make it worth the pain, or the punishment for failure was greater than she could have imagined.

"You a slave?"

The mare nodded. "My life and health belong to Emperor Zaka," she confirmed, muffled as her nose was swollen shut. "As do yours. The difference is, he doesn't care if I'm injured, as long as I can still do my work."

Applejack hung limply from that point, mostly staying quiet. For the first time since the raid, she regretted one of her actions, and she wanted to make amends. An apology was in order, but first she was going to let the mare finish her job. No more fighting her.

When Applejack's hips and genitals were well-lubricated, the mare grabbed another cloth to wrap around her face. She was still not allowed to bleed on Applejack, so something had to catch it. She also brought along a stepladder to be able to reach the higher elevations of Applejack's arms. She'd needed a long-handled brush to reach yesterday for cleaning, but that was not an option today. A stepladder was necessary.

Just as Applejack was about to issue her apology, the zebra from yesterday walked in. He was wearing much less today; just a belt, pauldrons made from carved wood, a gorget to match, his crown, and a hide waist cloak that almost hid his cock, were the tip of it not flopping just beneath the hem.

"There is my newest and most fiery wife," he smiled, approaching. "Tell me, have you accepted your new lot in life?"

"Leave," commanded Applejack, "Or your face is gonna look a lot like hers."

He looked up to the slave, who nodded and pulled away the cloth, being careful not to drip her blood on anything more important than the ladder.

"I won't be too long, I'm just here for a look; to make sure things are going by the book."

As the mare covered her face and returned to work, Applejack could hear the ladder rattling. This mare was terrified of him, even moreso than she was of Applejack. It wasn't hard to see why, either. As he circled her, his hands would rub, pinch and squeeze. He was very rough, even shoving two fingers up her arse while spreading one of her cheeks with his thumb.

When his inspection reached her feet though, his demeanor changed. He made his way to the ladder and pushed it over, dropping the mare to the ground. She was able to catch herself, but Applejack was sure that the impact hurt. Not helping, he grabbed the mare by the neck and dragged her over to Applejack, shoving her face against her ankles.

"Not only did you forget to let her eat," he growled, "look at the damage you've done to her feet! Do you want to go back in that cage by the door, forced to service my guards like a whore?!"

"No, Emperor Zaka," she sobbed. "I didn't mean to! It must have happened when I tripped!"

Applejack had no idea why she was lying, or why this was such a big deal. She could see the damage from where she was, and it was just a tiny scrape, not even worth a bandage. It didn't even hurt. Just clean it, put a cold compress on it for a few minutes, and it'd scab over within the hour.

"Ah kicked her," admitted Applejack. "It weren't her fault."

"Damaging my goods and lying to me," snarled Zaka, gesturing to the apples as his hand tightened around the back of her neck. "And throwing away my food with glee! To top it all off, you've removed your stripes! I've had it with all of you rebellious types!"

He dragged her out of the room, begging and pleading with him to give her another chance, that she'd be good in the future. When the door slammed, Applejack was once more left alone.