A Light in Shadowy Night

Night Light gave a hefty sigh. He looked the blue stallion dead in the eyes as he watched the stranger button the black jacket with the purple accents around the collar, fumbling as the neon green buttons slipped into their individual holes. It was hard for him to admit that the stallion in the mirror was him; putting on the uniform that had taken everything from him. …Nearly everything, he would have to remind himself, as his eye caught on the last thing left of his old life: his wife of so many years, he had given up counting.

“You don’t have to do this, you know. I could pretend to be a stallion, or… Anything besides this,” she said, lacking her normal confidence.

“You know very well they would notice. I’ll probably have to be pulling out my… you know what just about every five seconds,” he said dismissively. She knew it wasn’t possible, he knew it wasn’t possible, but she would say anything that could get him to stay.

He found it rather strange, the fact he tried to keep his modesty. The society around him seemed to have no problems with showing the most degenerate sights imaginable in open air, so long as there weren’t children there to witness it. He thanked whatever deities that were left that had some restrictions.

Twilight Velvet shifted her gaze away from Night Light’s eyes in the mirror and onto the floor. Night Light knew what would happen if they ever found out why he was joining; and he knew that she would finally be well and truly alone… as Night Light finished buttoning the last button at the top of his menacing uniform and spun around to face his wife, she couldn’t help but lunge out at him, wrapping her arms around him, resting her soft face perfectly in the crook of his neck as she had countless times before.

“Please, Nighty. Come back…” she said, pleading with him. “And bring our last children back when you do,” she added, voice hardening. Her determination sunk into Night Light, giving him strength.

“I will. I promise you, I will.” he said, wrapping his own arms around her waist before lifting her face to his. She knew what was coming, and welcomed the soft kiss goodbye. He had to let go, however, as he made his way out the door to their bedroom, and began his march as a new stallion to his new job.

Night Light was quiet as he was led down the halls of the Crystal Palace. This place was alien to him, having appeared on the map barely half a decade ago. And with it came the stallion who single-handedly ended Equestria as he - and everyone else for that matter - knew. Sombra had effortlessly smashed aside the shields his son and daughter-in-law tried to raise, seizing the crystal heart for himself.

Twilight, Celestia, Luna. All three of the best magic users in Equestrian history had tried to put him down at once, but they failed. Celestia and Luna were cast aside, encased in crystal and put on public display in one of Sombra’s personal gardens, their magic being hijacked to keep the sun and moon in their perpetual dance.

As for his daughter… no one knew what happened to her. She and the princesses fought against the tyrant. Night Light had to stiffen his lips at the thought. His little princess dead… even now, half a decade after Sombra’s victory, it still hurt to think about.

Night Light shook his head and turned his gaze to the guard he was following, then to the ones standing at even intervals up and down the hall. They were motionless like statues, mohawked helmets affixed forwards. From the eye slits in their helms, a green light shone out, snuffing out the idea that these stallions were anything but machines. He knew the unfortunate reality. A machine didn’t derive any satisfaction from acts of cruelty. A machine didn’t taunt their victims, or beat innocents for crimes they didn’t commit. But if there was a single attribute of theirs that earned them the moniker of machine, their blind obedience to their master was surely one. Sombra could probably order one to slit their own throat and they would do it without hesitation.

The closer one got to the throne room, however, the less need there seemed to be for armor, as the guard’s armors got increasingly skimpier and skimpier as they progressed, until the point they were merely wearing their helmets, pauldrons, and knee pads, and a banana hammock, though some went without even that modesty, on full display.

Night Light couldn’t help but wonder the reason they would be so exposed, especially if their duty tended towards the martial. Perhaps it was because the outer guards were expected to deal with the enemies, and the internal ones were merely supposed to be eye candy for their masters. Maybe they were genuinely such good fighters that they could battle any enemy without relying on armor. Or most likely, maybe Sombra knew he was strong enough that he didn’t need guards, and they only existed to fulfill a fantasy for the king.

Night Light grimaced as they passed a griffon wearing a mirror of his current uniform. The griffon was lithe and thin, rubbing himself against a guard while shaking his hips.

“You know the rules, stud,” the griffon said, biting his tongue. “If a minister needs to be stuffed, you stuff them.”

The guard gave a nod, before turning, following after the griffon as he led him to a more… private locale.

Night Light quickly turned his gaze back to the hallway ahead. He let in a deep breath. A naive part of him was hoping that he, as a government agent, would be exempt from the rampant intercourse that was par for the course in Sombra’s new empire. But he was wrong. Thankfully, his wife would understand that everything he would come to do in his infiltration of Sombra’s ranks would be perfectly justified and wouldn’t count as cheating, per say, but he was still rather antsy at the idea.

As far as he was aware, he wasn’t into stallions. Never was. He hadn’t even experimented at a young age like he knew so many other stallions did, even his own children were guilty of that - the greatest curse of a father, after all, was knowing too much.

Still, he knew that if he wanted his plans to have even the slightest chance of success, he would have to learn how to be turned on by stallions. As such, his best plan for now was to fake til he could make it. Though, no matter how much he rationalized what he was going to do, he knew he probably would never be able to look his wife in the eyes again.

There was one thing he did manage to avoid by becoming a government official, however. Though he was ruthless and cruel as a king, Sombra was… trusting, which didn’t often fit with his MO as a conqueror. While all soldiers and high-ranking individuals who had his ear often were put through rigorous and mind-melting brainwashing to keep them absolutely loyal, those who started low, and worked themselves to the top were believed to have already proven their loyalty by their faithful service.

So long as Night Light kept his head low, his work sufficient and his loyalty unquestioned he could probably work his way into Sombra’s inner circle, and from there it was as simple as getting behind the king with a sharp blade in hand and putting an end to his rule permanently.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of walking, he arrived at a set of black crystal doors. Night Light felt Sombra’s menacing presence leaking through, even without opening the door. He was in there.

Night Light took a moment to think back to the first time he had laid eyes on Sombra, during his victory parade through the streets of Canterlot. Sombra sat on a throne raised upon a palanquin held aloft by over a dozen crystal pony slaves at the head of legions upon legions of brainwashed soldiers, each marching in perfect unison as they made their way toward Canterlot Palace. No one dared raise a finger against him, not one soldier or unicorn noble. They knew he had already won the moment he struck down the princesses.

And that was when he saw it. Tied to Sombra’s throne by chained collars were Spike and Shining Armor, both stripped of their clothes, both looking haggard and withdrawn, tears streaming down their faces as they tried to pull against Sombra as he yanked their chains towards his hooves. For a moment he locked eyes with both of them, but they turned away from him, too ashamed to look at their father. He couldn’t imagine how they felt at the time. All he knew was that that moment was what filled him with the determination that he was going to save them, no matter the cost.

Night Light inhaled deeply as the guard opened the door and ushered him inside. It was time.

Sitting on a cushioned throne at the end of the great hall was Equestria’s - and for much of the world - king. He wore almost nothing, save for his crown and the intimidating boots and gauntlets he deigned to adorn. His legs were spread apart in equal parts intimidation and allure. The scene before the king was that of utter debauchery, the sort of which Night Light couldn’t stomach to look at. A writhing group of bodies all dependent on one another to satisfy and achieve satisfaction; however, out of all the penises Night Light glanced, it was very clearly the king’s that towered over all.

Between his legs, resting the king’s balls on his snout like a pair of goggles was the unmistakable shape of Spike the dragon. Aside from that, he was facing towards the door, perky, pierced light green nipples and dick both fully erect as he kneaded and played with his master’s stones, licking them with his forked tongue as drool leaked down his chin, the gilded chain that connected his two nipples jangling ever so slightly with every movement of his neck. He had matured quite a bit since the last time Night Light had seen him this close; despite his lack of traditional physical exercise, he had gained a fair bit of lean muscle that was just barely visible past the slightly feminine body fat that spending his days on his back and knees had gifted him with. Although Night Light did his best to avoid it, he couldn’t help but glance at Spike’s rather diminished package. Small for a pony, much less a dragon; likely from disuse, or perhaps even a period of time in a chastity cage as he knew the new slave system was want to use. Whatever the case, it was left emaciated despite how hard Spike was, as it throbbed away uselessly and pathetically. He had always imagined Spike becoming a handsome young dragon, powerful, and to see him reduced to the point of essentially being a glorified house cat… he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of mourning.

Night Light quickly shook his head, moving on to the next slave in the room. Night Light felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw Shining Armor. The stallion was close to unrecognizable to how Night remembered him. Where there was once a proud stallion, perhaps one of the strongest unicorns alive, was now a lithe and svelte stallion all of his previous muscles sheared away. The stallion who had excelled in all of his military training was now panting and moaning as he ground his rock-hard rod against Sombra’s leg, slathering his boot in precum. Night’s mouth grew dry when Shining turned his head and they locked eyes for the briefest of moments. In his son’s eyes he saw shock, and confusion, and buried under it all, he could have sworn he saw the slightest bit of betrayal in his blue eyes.

Night Light deemed that the best thing to do would be to look at someone else for the time being. He scanned the room for a moment as the guard led him inside. Sombra had six pets that he used at all times, bringing with him wherever he went. While two of them were Night Light’s sons, the rest were gained from Sombra’s many conquests. He had a sickening habit to collect the royals of kingdoms he had brought down, and when there wasn’t a ruler he settled for the most exotic specimen he could find.

First, his eyes settled on a pair of black and insectoid creatures sitting slightly off to the side of the throne. Changelings. Night Light had a… complex opinion of changelings. On one hand, they had tried to conquer Equestria; on the other, the conquest of their kingdom was a particularly brutal one, with over half of their species being killed by Sombra’s men. These two were apparently some of the few on the entire planet left who had entirely escaped some kind of damage from the war, which in Sombra’s mind only made them even more valuable. The two changelings were in the process of locking lips, exploring one another’s mouths as they ground against one another. He managed to get a better look at them when they separated for air, staring needily into each other’s eyes. One of them was rather basic in appearance for changelings, cyan eyes, gray headfin, and a deep blue backplate. Hanging from his collar was a small bone-shaped name tag reading Turquoise. The other was far more exotic in shape, purple eyes, a purple backplate, and a red head fin. A similar name tag hung from his neck two, this one reading Amethyst. Those didn’t exactly sound like changeling names to him, so he could only assume they had been renamed since they had been captured and broken.

Unlike the other slaves, the two didn’t have much in the way of piercings or tattoos beyond their collars, though each did seem to have what looked like a tramp stamp of sorts just above their tails reading, in all white letters ‘Property of Sombra.’ Sombra gave a slight snicker as, without breaking eye contact, Amethyst repositioned the other changeling into a missionary position and slowly and gently thrust inside of him. Night saw the smaller slave silently mouth the word ‘Pharynx’ as he breathlessly panted, reaching up a hand which his breeder quickly took, into his own.

Night Light turned his head to the other side of the room, locking eyes on a young griffon. The young griff couldn’t possibly be any older than eighteen. He was occupied with a sizable black dildo, letting out pleasured cries with every thigh-trembling bounce. His hips gyrated in a circular motion; a suction cup being the only thing that kept the griffin from pulling the large rubber schlong up with his hips. Night Light knew experience when he saw it, even of the sordid sort the griffin was so eager to display. The rider’s tongue lolled out, strings of spittle flying everywhere with the same erraticism as the pre-cum flinging from his flopping red prick. What caught Night Light’s eyes was his coloring, a brilliant tropical blue and yellow. There weren’t many griffons with such a unique appearance, most tended towards dull browns and grays. And without royalty to enslave in Griffonstone, it was no wonder Sombra had snatched this one up instead: were he any typical parakeet, he would be a prized pet to be sure. The domesticated griffon’s moaning reached a crescendo as he squeezed his thighs together, a sudden green aura surrounding his rod that seemed to already be inflamed and engorged by repeated denial, Sombra’s horn glowing the same color. Sombra tutted dismissively, though the smile never left his face despite the rather pathetic whine that escaped the griff’s beak.

And finally was a deer kneeling next to the throne, head lowered as he held up a large platter with snacks and a chalice of wine resting on the top. He was careful to hold the platter in such a way that it didn’t clink against or get tangled in his antlers, but also so that it wasn't far enough away that he would struggle to hold it up. Of all of the people in the room, the deer was perhaps the one Night Light knew the least about. His race was an enigma, only recently having been conquered, and rumor has it they didn’t even put up a fight. A series of golden chains connected between the prongs of his antlers, which let out a pleasant jingling as the deer raised his head, staring down at Night Light with curiosity written in his green retinas. The unicorn raised an eyebrow mirroring his gaze, noting the visible bags under the deer’s eyes, and a certain gaunt look that gave him an ever so slight skeletal appearance, though it did look like he had gained a slight amount of weight recently. It was obvious that Sombra had a certain type looking at the gallery of pets he had amassed, and he appeared to be working this deer towards it.

“Ah, and whoever is this?” Sombra said, prompting Night Light’s eyes to widen slightly. He was quick to give a deep bow towards the throne, arms at his sides.

“Night Light, my King,” the unicorn stated, resisting the urge to clench his teeth. “I was the most recently recruited minister.”

“Night Light? Hmmm… I seem to recognize that name.” Sombra chuckled, reaching a hand down to ruffle Shining’s mane. “Shiny, do you happen to know who this stallion is?”

The other stallion was quiet, hesitating as he shifted his gaze from Sombra to the unicorn in the middle of the room. Several beads of sweat started to form on Night Lights brow, before finally, after an eternity of silence, Shining finally spoke.

“Yes, master,” Shining said, glancing up at Sombra, avoiding direct eye contact with his master. “He was my father, master.”

The cold knife of betrayal plunged into Night Light’s heart. He supposed it only made sense. Shining had been broken; like so many others. He couldn’t fault him for that, especially after what Sombra’s servants did to their slaves - he could only imagine what the king himself was capable of. Night Light tensed, expecting guards to rush him, for Sombra’s horn to light up and to be smashed like a bug… but it never came.

Instead, a dark chuckle emerged from Sombra’s lips. Night Light turned his head upwards to see the King leaning back in his throne, staring at him with a bemused, almost piteous smile.

“I suppose I should have expected a relative of one of my pets to rear their head eventually, but…” Sombra paused, licking his lips. “I didn’t expect them to show up wearing my uniform and offering to work for me. Tell me, did you hope that by serving me you could win the freedom of these two?”

He had prepared for this.

“Frankly, I couldn’t care less about either of them,” Night Light said, sneering at his sons.The lie strangled his gut, but his heart kept him stoic.

Sombra raised an eyebrow, a grin tugging at his lips. “Oh?”

“They are my… wife’s sons. I may have raised them, but they were never mine,” he said, spitting out the word wife as if it was something foul on the tip of his tongue. “I decided to apply for your government because I heard you were offering slaves and rich payment to any new ministers looking for work.”

Sombra let out a guffaw, slapping his armrest with the palm of his hand as he did. His slaves immediately stopped what they were doing, joining their master’s laughter with their own. Night Light flinched when Sombra straightened his slouch, his pendulous balls sliding off their perch on Spike’s snout; finally allowing the dragon to stare up at Night Light.

For a moment the unicorn’s look faltered when he saw Spike’s eyes. They were empty. When the drake looked upon Night Light, he didn’t see his father, all he saw was a random unicorn come to pledge himself to his master. Night Light shook his head and returned his gaze to Sombra. The sight that nearly tore Night Light in two, but made him all the more sure of his goal. The king didn’t seem to notice how the sight affected Night Light, too busy reaching a hand down towards Spike’s metal collar.

The king pulled Spike into a standing position, before bringing his hands down the drake’s sides to his hips. Night Light kept his gaze on Sombra as he pulled the drake down to sit on his lap, squeezing Spike’s thighs as he did.

“Spike, my pet. Do you know who this is?” Sombra asked.

“No master,” Spike slurred, a dumb smile coming to his face.

“Apparently, he is both yours and Shining’s father.”

Spike let out a slight coo of curiosity, turning his eyes towards Night Light. “Can you have me and Shining take turns blowing him, master?”

Night Light flinched, which made Sombra chuckle. “No, my pet. Unfortunately, I don’t think your father is yet ready to be your… daddy.” He laughed, returning his hands to his pet’s hips. “Though, if you want to serve someone so badly, you know what to do…”

Night Light’s eye twitched as he watched Spike’s smile widen as he ground his hips against Sombra’s lap, before raising and using his prehensile tail to guide Sombra’s dick into its dock. Spike let out a high-pitched sigh as he slowly impaled himself taking each inch of the rod without the slightest bit of difficulty. The dragon bit his lips when he and Sombra finally met hip to hip, staring down at the bulge in his stomach and the sight of his coin purse resting on Sombra’s much larger stones.

“May I ride you master?” Spike asked, placing his hands on the armrests of his master’s throne.

“I don’t know Spike. Does your father give permission?” Sombra hissed, smirking at the unicorn. Night Light rapidly balled and unballed his fists before quickly regaining his composure.

“Yes…” He finally said with a shaky breath.

And with that Spike started his ministrations. The dragon started by rolling his hips bucking himself against Sombra for but a moment before he brought his own legs up, setting them on his master’s knees. Using the leverage from that and his armrests, Spike started riding Sombra’s royal scepter up and down, grunting and moaning like the trained whore he was with every upstroke and plunge. Night Light found his gaze uncomfortably drawn to Spike’s rod, which flopped uselessly up and down with every movement, a large strand of precum glued to the end of his dick.

There was a moment as he watched Sombra’s rod impale itself into his son when Night Light felt a stirring in his loins. He couldn’t tell what was worse in his mind. That he was getting hard to the sight of a man practically raping a slave, or that that slave was his own son. There was a slight amount of reassurance that came from this though. If he could get hard to this, he would definitely be able to perform if worse came to worst.

“I know this is most definitely an alluring sight and all,” Sombra said, a noticeable tone of possessiveness mixing with bemusement in his voice. “But keep in mind this is practically a job interview, and I would very much like to move things along.”

Night Light gulped, shaking his head. “Right, of course your majesty.”

“That’s better,” Sombra said, as he ran his hands down Spike’s sides.

Night Light tried his best to keep his sight on Sombra, which was rather hard considering the moaning whore in his lap.

“Now then, the way I see it, there are three possible avenues I could go with you,” Sombra grumbled, thinking for a moment. “Three of my top officials are having slight manpower issues in their departments, and since most of my other branches are full, you will go there.”

Night Light nodded. “I see. And what are those branches my lord, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Well, first and foremost there is the Department for the Acquisition of Useful Stallions, headed by my apprentice Sunburst. I’m sure you’ve heard of that particular area of my government,” Sombra said, tapping a hoof as he thought, almost throwing off Spike’s balance.

Night Light grit his teeth. It was hard not to. The DAUS were the main slave catchers within the Empire. Some slaves were purchased, others taken right off the street, but they all went through the DAUS’s meat grinder. They were either sent to be broken down the hard way, through rape and torture, or what many considered to be the worse way. People spoke in hushed tones about the department’s brainwashing centers, stories of herds of defiant stallions being shoved through, only to come out the other side with nothing resembling their original personalities. Most came out brainlessly obedient to their new masters, others with their minds completely shattered, walking on all fours and barking like animals. The worst of the worst were the blanks, however, stallions who had all of the higher functions of their minds burned away. All they could do was breathe, eat, and follow orders, otherwise, they stood there drooling and staring with an empty gaze that prompted nightmares in the unicorn. They weren’t even sentient any more.

To put it bluntly, if given the choice, Night Light would rather die than work for them. Especially if the stories of the DAUS’s leader were to be believed. Sunburst. He was just some random unicorn born in a village on the frontiers of Equestria - who had even flunked out of Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns - and yet he had somehow risen the ranks all the way to being a member of the Imperial High Court. Some say he was worse than Sombra himself. Cruel, sadistic, and, if rumors were to be believed, hopelessly addicted to cocks.

Sombra grunted slightly, as Spike gave a particularly hard downwards thrust, throwing his head back with a slight whimper. Sombra chuckled, as he watched Spike bring his head back, setting it on his shoulder with a whine.

“Then there’s the Imperial Army. They’ve had a slight shortage of logisticians recently, and with the war in the south any help they can get is worth it,” Sombra said, nodding slightly and scratching his pet’s chin. “Big Mac is responsible for that corner of my government, though he has been figuring things out on his own recently, and I don’t want to assign too many people to one department.”

The Imperial Army was the remnants of the Equestrian Army that had been brainwashed into subservience by Sombra’s forces; bolstered with massive amounts of fresh recruits made up from stallions who had been pressed into service after undergoing a similar process. They were a true force to be reckoned with. Blind obedience and magical skill coupled with the military knowledge of Sombra and his generals made them a force to be reckoned with. They had smashed aside the defenses of all of Equestria's former allies and neighbors with minimal difficulty. Even the dragons. From there the army was expanded with new recruits brainwashed from the subjects of those regions, and it snowballed from there until Sombra’s army was close to undefeatable.

Now they had met their first real challenge in the far south, fighting against a ‘Storm Empire’ in the south. Being fought so far from the Empire’s borders made it much harder to get troops and supplies to the front. Coupled with the large desert crossing that came with crossing the equator made the war anyone’s to win. Not to mention the rumors that neither side actually wanted the war to end, using it as a way to control the population. Working for the Imperial Army wouldn’t be totally objectionable; however, endless war would make rising the ranks… difficult. Heroism, if it meant bringing this war closer to an end, wouldn’t be rewarded.

Spike let out another whine as he squeezed his thighs shut, prompting Sombra to raise his hands to force the drake’s legs open, flashing Night Light again.

“And finally-” Sombra hissed, a growing lust in his eyes“-there is the Civic Stability and Intelligence Department, headed by…” Sombra hesitated before he spoke the name, wrinkling his muzzle. “August Thorn.”

Night couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. He recognized, at least in passing, all of the other heads of the major governmental bodies, but this one he had next to no knowledge of. “Who?” he probed.

“Thought as much. I tend not to make a habit of broadcasting August’s role in my government, but let’s just say they are a useful asset and leave it at that,” Sombra said, rolling his eyes, his previous lust having been killed by the mention of that name.

Night Light was quiet for a moment, clenching his teeth as he thought. The CSID wasn’t totally objectionable. While he would be doing… amoral acts to get ahead, likely throwing more than a couple of resistance cells under the bus, he wouldn’t be directly involved in the breaking and raping of those captured, as he would be if he worked for the DAUS. And he would have far more opportunities for advancement than he would in the army. Of the three, it certainly seemed like the best option.

“My king, do I have a choice of which of the three I sign up for?” Night Light asked, clasping his hands behind his back. Sombra was silent for a second, his gaze shifting to a look of curiosity.

“Yes, you may,” he said, rubbing his chin. “If nothing else, it will give me a better picture of Night Light the stallion.”

Night couldn’t help but frown. What did he mean by that? “The CSID would be my most preferable role, my king.”

“Ah... well,” Sombra said, disappointment narrowing his gaze. “Acceptable...”

Suddenly the conversation trailed off as Sombra clenched his eyes shut, gritting his fangs and grunting. Spike let out a sudden squeal, arching his back. Night Light watched as Spike’s dick pulsed once, then twice, before spewing rope after rope of jizz. The cum splattered on the floor just inches away from the unicorn’s hooves, prompting him to recoil.

Spike let his tongue lull out, panting before he eased himself off his master’s cock, his hole making a wet pop as Sombra’s softening rod was pulled free. The drake’s gaping hole oozed out the fresh semen into a lewd puddle on the floor.

“Thank you, master…” Spike moaned, shaking his hips from side to side as he looked over his shoulder at Sombra.

The other slaves were quick to hop into action, practically fighting one another as they crawled on hands and knees, cleaning the floor of the drake’s cum with their tounges, faces down asses up and tails raised. Night Light watched as Shining went after a different target. He watched as the unicorn crawled towards Sombra, before grabbing Spike by the hips and shoving his tongue into his adopted brother, licking and slurping up Sombra’s cum from inside of him.

Sombra smirked before he turned his gaze back to Night Light. “Now then, I’ll have one of my guards lead you to your new office. But before then, my guard will take you down to the yard so you can pick up your first…” Sombra trailed off for a moment before smirking. “Toy.”

That word instantly made Night Light sick to his stomach, but he knew he had to swallow his pride and accept it. He hated the very concept of owning another sentient creature, and he hated knowing he was going to have to fuck one to keep up appearances. But he had no choice. “Thank you, Your Majesty,” Night Light said in his most convincingly subservient tone as he bowed his head slightly, mostly to avoid Sombra seeing the tiniest bit of defiance in his eyes.

One of the guards came up behind Night Light, the same blank stare they all shared. Night Light swallowed before turning on his hooves to follow him as he led him deeper into the castle.

Night Light followed his newfound handler into a large open-air forum in the midst of the palace grounds, walking under a massive crystal archway that glittered in the light of the Northern sun. There, he saw a market not dissimilar from the other slave markets he had seen before, albeit slightly more militaristic than the one in Canterlot or outside of the palace. Well-maintained gardening made it a romantic place, despite the hedonism and evil that was before him. Ponies, griffons, dragons, and more could all be seen tied to posts, bound in chains to the walls of the forum, and other similar barbarities that had become common across the continent. Nearly all of the slaves were as naked as the day they were born, and more than a few of them were in the middle of being rutted like mares in heat, whether they were willing or not.

The sound of crying, begging, and taunting burned its way into his mind, and all he could do was ball his fists. It seemed this market doubled as a breaking area. One of the hated areas where slaves deemed too weak to survive the intensive process of brainwashing were brought here and raped until they were the obedient sluts that Sombra’s Empire wanted them to be. They were mainly used as rewards for his faithful, or as “commodities” to keep his soldiers entertained. He would continue to shift his gaze around this place, trying his best to avoid manifesting disgust on his face. Despite his best efforts, his eyes went wide and his breath left his lungs, as he would find himself literally taken aback by the display before him.

Standing in the center of the forum on raised podiums were two statues made of crystal. Statues in the shapes of mares. At first, Night Light thought they seemed out of place, until he saw who they depicted, or perhaps, who they were: Celestia and Luna, their faces twisted in frozen terror: their last moments captured for all the world to see. He watched as bolts of lightning, blue and gold in color, zapped periodically across the surface of the crystal. The magic of the two sisters that kept the sun and moon moving.

“Take your pick. If they don’t have owners listed on their name tags, they’re fair game,” said the guard before turning on his heels, leaving to resume his post.

Left alone with his thoughts, Night Light stepped down the small set of stairs and entered the midst of the forum. The scent of blood, sweat, and semen assaulted his nose. He was going to have to pick someone, and quite frankly, he wasn’t quite sure how he should pick. The one that looks like they will be the least to deal with? The one that he feels the most pity for? The one he thinks he can do the best job of pretending they’re a mare? He walked around, doing his best to avoid getting himself dirty from the huddled groups surrounding a couple of rather popular-looking slaves.

Eventually, in one corner of the forum, Night Light spied a young stallion, probably no older than 19, with a clean chocolate coat and brownish-orange mane, tied to a post. He wasn’t the most intimidating or tallest stallion; which is why he found it rather strange he had a muzzle on his snout, and that nearly no one was so much as looking his way. No one except the soldier who was sitting next to the bound pony, who wore a frustrated scowl that said he wasn’t having the best day, as he sat there playing with his rather sharp knife with crystal handle scales.

“Excuse me, but-”

“Fuck!” The soldier jumped at Night Light’s voice, causing him to accidentally grab the knife that was rolling in his hand by the blade, giving him a slight cut as he dropped the now bloody knife to the ground.

Night Light cringed. “Sorry.”

“What the hell do you want?” the soldier barked as he held his bleeding hand with his not-so-bleeding hand, trying to stop the bleeding.

“Why is this one muzzled? And why is no one swarming around him like they are the others?” he asked, tilting his head slightly as his gaze met the young brown stallion, which burned with a remarkable defiance that he had never quite seen in a slave. This one certainly seemed new.

“Fucker bit me when I was handling him. I thought I was so lucky to get my first catch in the field fighting the rebels, but this son of a bitch has been more trouble than he’s worth. He kicks like a mule and I can’t get my dick anywhere near him without him kicking,” the young soldier commented. “And I can’t seem to get rid of him, because apparently there’s some kind of superstition going around that if a slave draws blood against its captor, it’s cursed. Stupid, I know, but the guys around here are really into that mambo jumbo crap.”

“And.. if he doesn’t find a master?” Night Light asked, frowning slightly.

“Usually it’s off to the Arcade,” he said, trying to get out a bandage from a side bag as quickly as he can without losing too much blood.

“And… What's the Arcade?” Night Light questioned with a sideways glance at the pony. He didn’t like the sound of it to begin with, much less the menacing way he said it.

“Ah, that’s where we keep the racks. They’re tied up 24/7 for public use. Basically, a wall full of full-body glory holes, with a hole big enough for their whole ass in the front with a ring gag on the other side of the wall. Sometimes, some really creepy fuckers even bring out dogs. It’s a way for the weird fuckers that can’t ever get any to get some for a cheap cost. Most don’t last a week.”

The enslaved stallion’s eyes shot open as he glared at the pony next to him, mumbling through the gag underneath the muzzle rather ferociously as he struggled against his bonds. It seemed that this was the first he was hearing about this too. Night Light thought he could no longer be surprised by the depths of depravity that Equestria was succumbing to, but once again, he was proven wrong.

Thinking quickly, he gave an understanding nod as he placed his hand under his chin in mock consideration, pacing around the brown stallion, seeming to ogle him at every angle. Although he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to touch, he guessed by all the others doing so with reckless abandon that there certainly wasn’t a rule against it, so he gently touched the flaccid equine member of the captured pony. Night Light felt terrible, but he had to sell this to not look suspiciously sympathetic to the poor slave. The stallion growled from behind the bit and muzzle, seemingly not even swayed in favor of subjugation by the threat of the aforementioned living hell that is perpetual rape.

“I’ll take him,” he said with a nod as he turned to the soldier, who didn’t seem to catch what Night Light said for a moment before his gaze would shoot back up to the blue stallion in front of him, as a look of complete confusion coated his face.

“Seriously? You want him? Why?” he asked as he finally got to wrapping the self-inflicted cut on his hand, as he looked like he was wearing a half-done mummy Nightmare Night costume from the heavy bandaging on both of his hands.

“Because I want to prove I can break him, obviously. Just because an amateur like you can’t handle him doesn’t mean that a young buck like him can’t be…” Night Light paused, looking at the bound stallion for emphasis. “Tamed.”

“Whatever you say, pal. Just take him, I’ve got no use for him,” the soldier said, pulling a leash from his belt and handing it to the blue stallion, who took it in his right hand, rubbing its coarse fibers through his fingers, as he would meet the fierce, fiery caramel eyes of his newfound property. He quickly clipped on the brass attachment to the ring connected to the slave’s collar, in spite of the slave's fierce struggling.

Night Light grabbed the bloody knife off the ground, examining it briefly before raising it towards his newly claimed concubine. The slave’s eyes went wide with surprise and mild fear before closing tightly shut as he prepared for the worst… when he actually got relief from the pain. His arms fell from above him as he himself came hurtling towards the ground below, only barely stopped by the strong arm of the stallion who caught him in time, just as he was about to crumple on the ground like a marionette that had its strings cut. The colt’s expression became one of confusion as he looked up at the blue stallion that helped him get back up to his feet. He had been hanging there for more than a few hours, so as a result, his legs were far from as sure as they ought to be, so he certainly needed - and maybe even appreciated - the helping hand.

The slave seemed to pause for a moment, looking at his surroundings slightly hunched over, far less of a self-assured pose than he previously had. His eyes darted from the stallion whose care he just left, to his newfound captor, to the slaves who were currently being ravished, beaten, and broken around him. Although nervous, he seemed to make a conscious decision that this stranger seemed to be the best option he currently had before him. So, when Night Light gave his slave’s leash a stern tug, the colt would grumble under his gag but comply, following behind him, albeit doing his best to cover his package with his hands as he followed.

As they walked, Night couldn’t help but throw his gaze over his shoulder, back towards the door he had exited to get into this clearing. He grimaced, thinking back to the throne room, before taking in a deep inhale. Turning back to stare ahead of him, he let his breath out as a single phrase, barely audible even to himself.

“I’m coming boys.”