Wicked Bliss

The Master returned the following morning with a tray of freshly prepared fruit and the usual double mug of water. Rainbow Dash was alert, and the change in her was obvious. There had returned a trace of the old defiance. She still looked terrible, covered in the wounds of the ordeal, but it was as though she’d found a touch of her spirit again. But the Master evidently had been expecting this because he grinned widely at the sight of her staring at him and started his snickering laugh.

‘Feeling better, I see. Fruit?’

She eyed the plate for a moment then nodded stiffly. He placed the mug on the ground, skewered a diced piece of melon on a wooden fork, and held it up to her mouth. She bit it from the fork with dignity and chewed in silence. ‘Try the strawberries—fresh from the garden.’ He popped one whole into her mouth, playfully pulling back his hoof as though he expected her to snap at it like a pet. He picked up the mug of water and helped her to drink. Once she’d finished eating, he asked her whether she’d like some cheesecake for dessert. She gritted her teeth, looked at him, and shook her head. ‘Well, if you’re sure,’ he said with a shrug. ‘It’s very nice. Lemon curd. My favourite.’ She stared at him. He chuckled. ‘Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you, just help you heal.’

Rainbow Dash worked her mouth then muttered, ‘What did you give me?’

The Master grinned. ‘Good stuff, eh? How do you feel? Are you hurting?’

‘I feel OK.’

‘Well, of course you do. Bet you you just had the night of your life.’

‘What do you want from me?’

‘Only to let you know that I’ve got some business to attend to that’ll take me out of the house. If you’re lucky, you won’t sober up until after I’m back.’

‘But what do you want from me?’ she demanded again.

‘Sit tight. I won’t be long.’

‘What do you want?’ she threw at his retreating back. The Master stopped in his tracks and turned. He was smiling again but carefully as though considering whether to stay. He walked back to her.

‘What do you think?’ he asked quietly.

Rainbow Dash blinked. ‘I don’t know.’

‘I think you do.’

Rainbow Dash swallowed, her jaw tight. The Master’s smile had gone. ‘This is the secret fantasy of every colt at some point in their lives,’ he said quietly to her face. ‘The world is chaotic. Here there’s perfect order. I am the emperor, and you are my subject. You interfered, tried to stop me taking what was rightfully mine, and I have punished you. Now that you have paid the price, I shall be good to you as any good ruler is to the ruled.’

‘I’m not your subject,’ muttered Rainbow Dash.

‘Of course you are. You’re my subject by nature’s law: might makes right. I attacked the filly; you intervened. You prevented me from taking her, but I fought back. I overwhelmed you. I was better than you. Stronger than you. Because I am, we’re here. That’s the way of the world.’

‘That’s not the way of the world.’

‘You can deny it all you want, but the very fact that you’re standing there is evidence against you.’

‘What sort of pony enjoys torture?’

The Master shrugged. ‘What sort of pony doesn’t? That’s the problem with the world these days. Everyone’s so fixated on how they should be feeling rather than on how they do feel.’ A definite note of bitterness had entered his voice. ‘What they should be doing rather than on what they can do. Well, I enjoy this, and I can do it. So I do it. Anyway,’ he added, ‘you’ve got nothing to be afraid of. I’m looking after you now.’

‘You say that,’ grunted Rainbow Dash resentfully, ‘but you already proved to me your word isn’t worth shit.’

He seemed pleasantly taken aback. ‘No, I suppose it isn’t,’ he chuckled. ‘I lie, and I maim, and I revel in it. I am what I am.’

‘Let me go.’

‘There’s no point in going down that road. I’m not going to let you go. Why would I? To let you bring the police?’

‘Ponies will be looking for me.’

‘You’re right. They will be. The filly whose place you took probably told them all about it. And you’re Rainbow Dash after all, a pony ponies care about. Isn’t that funny? It doesn’t matter how special they say you are; we all react the same to a kick in the gut.’

‘They’ll find me,’ went on Rainbow Dash. ‘If you let me go, I can tell them—’

‘What?’ he interrupted, lip curling.

‘That you were good to me, that you didn’t …’ She trailed off at the look on his face, a look of amusement and scorn but absolutely no pity.

‘Don’t insult my intelligence. The fact is, yes, they’ll be looking for you—and yes, who knows, they might find me. But letting you go won’t help an iota and is far more likely than not to make things worse for me.’

Rainbow Dash’s look of loathing was spoiled somewhat by a reluctant, angry tear dripping slowly down her face. ‘Let me go,’ she half hissed, half sobbed.

‘Shut up!’ he shouted at her with that intense ferocity he’d shown before, as though a reservoir of rage had suddenly been tapped. She flinched. The Master sighed then said quite calmly, ‘I didn’t mean to upset you.’ The corner of his mouth twitched, and he nodded slightly as though congratulating himself for his self-control. ‘I’ll top up your shot when I get back. Don’t go anywhere,’ he added with a smirk.

For a while Rainbow Dash’s main obstacle appeared to be the doldrums. She sighed and tried to make her head comfortable, but she didn’t sleep. The injection he’d given her had conked her out for much of yesterday and most of the night, so she’d caught up largely on the rest she had missed up until then. She spoke to herself in a whisper, positive, self-affirming nothings. But as the time wore on and the drug or potion or concoction or whatever he had given her wore off, she started breathing heavily again, wincing as though pain was returning.

It soon became clear that the pain wasn’t related to her injuries alone. The drug, whatever it was, had side effects. When she’d started on it, the pleasure had looked to be enormous as evidenced by her moans and the juices that had dripped from her nethers. As the drug settled, the euphoria fell and the effect became one of general wellbeing based on how Rainbow Dash had managed to return more or less to her former attitude without regard for the pain she’d been. Now in its final phase there was onsetting desperation. She started panting as though for water. She groaned and looked at the door as though willing it to open. But the Master was nowhere to be seen. The time stretched on and on much like it had when she’d been abandoned in the stress position. As it passed, she began to sweat more and more as though she was fevered, and her groans became sobs, and her sobs became cries, and her cries became calls for help.

‘Please!’ she shrieked fruitlessly at the door again, shaking in her restraints.

When the pleading ran dry, she tried bargaining, shouting half-baked schemes into the room and waiting for replies that never came. Then it seemed the drug had run dry completely because she screamed and screamed. Her voice, already worn to stubs from before, didn’t last long.

When the Master did at last return, Rainbow Dash’s mouth was open, but barely a sound was coming out. Her eyes were popping; her face was drenched. She looked as though she’d been ducked. The Master as before, as usual even, seemed entirely unsurprised by the sight, but he went over to her quickly enough. In his hoof he had a second injection. Her eyes bulged, begging, imploring, her mouth moving but only faint gasps coming out. He gave her the shot and watched her eyes roll, and her breathing grew slow and steady. He stroked her cheek and stayed with her as she passed into temporary bliss.