Obsession and Regression

2

Suddenly the lights came on.

Dash opened her eyes as she heard a light-footed pony slowly descending the stairs.

"Who... who's there?" She asked, squinting her eyes in the bright lights.

The pony gave no answer, but she heard the approach getting closer.

"Let me out of here, please..." She said as she sensed the pony a few feet behind her. "I just wanna go home..."

She was rotated, now facing both the approaching pony and the stairs. It was Ironhoof.

"Good morning, Miss Dash!" He said in a friendly tone. "I trust you slept well?"

"Please... let me go..."

"No can do, Miss Dash. That's been expressly forbidden by the Mistress!" He then got very, very close to Rainbow, taking her lower jaw in his hoof. "You do have my deepest sympathies, as did all the others... but that's neither here nor there! What the Mistress wants, the Mistress wants!""

He pulled away and began walking about the table Rainbow was on, circling her slowly. Her belly ached with hunger and her head hurt, but she still kept her wits about her.

"That table is a work of art... I welded it myself for the Mistress from schematics for a modified inversion table. We've got 9 others just like it, all crafted by me, so if it wears out we have a spare. Get comfortable, Miss Dash... you are not going anywhere we have not already carefully mapped out for you!"

"Why? Why are you doing this to me?"

Ironhoof chuckled:

"You'd have to be a silly filly not to understand that, Miss Dash... the Mistress said you were. You resemble her foal Honey to a veritable Tee! Doing this to you makes her happy... so I'm happy. If we let you go, that happiness goes away... and when she gets sad, I get sad. I can only find the strength to pull the Mistress out of her melancholia so often!"

"But I'm a sentient pony... you can't do this type of stuff to others... it's not right. I have my own thoughts and feelings."

"We can and, obviously, we have... and we'll do it again, too, if it's necessary. Your feelings about it mean very little to her, and are irrelevant to my actions so long as this is her wish... she comes first to me, always. Never, EVER will anything matter more to me than what she wants -- if it means a pony's life, then that's what it takes... we've had others before."

Rainbow's skin crawled:

"You keep mentioning that! What others?"

"Yes! Ponies just like you who I sadly sedated too often for their own good... they eventually passed away. Fortunately, through trial-and-error, I think I've learned what too much is. It's hard to know for sure when all you've experimented on is lab mice and vagabonds."

Dash locked eyes with the gray pony. He was clearly crazy, so she just had to be crazy back. It was ultimatum time:

"If you don't let me go... She'll hug me one time you both least expect it, and I'll bite your Mistress's neck as hard as I can. I don't know if that'll kill her, but I'll try as many times as I have to... I'll be dangerous to her and you'll have to let me go."

Ironhoof again got close to the bluffing Pegasus's face, looking prepared to give her a black eye with his front hoof... instead, the fire in his eye died down:

"Should you succeeded in doing that Miss Dash..." Pulled sharply pull a lever by the side of the table and suddenly Rainbow was upside down. "And she died... I have an old, woodcutter's saw in the shed behind this house. It's very rusty and has large, jagged, dull teeth... should you succeed and I have to dig a grave for her, first I shall give her vengeance... starting between your legs with the saw, I will cut slowly... it will take a frightfully long time for you to die, with the blood rushing to your head you will not exsanguinate or pass out... it will be a slow, excruciating death, which could take an entire day... and you will be begging for mercy in the first 5 seconds."

By the end of the description Rainbow was in tears once more:

"Please... just... put me back upright. I won't hurt her. I promise."

Just like that, he snapped back to being cordial and, with the flip of a lever, Rainbow Dash was back up right again and being carefully dusted off.

"If you are kind to the Mistress, I shall be kind to you." He gently patted her cheek. "You are not the first rainbow-maned Pegasus we've had down here, but with luck you will be the last. As I said before, get comfortable... every last need your body has shall be taken care of. You'll be fed by her, bathed by her, entertained by her, and you'll even have your bottom wiped by her... Some would give up their lives for this care-free existence."

"Yeah, well I'm not one of them..." Rainbow scowled. "I need to fly and be free! I need to laugh, and see my friends. I know they miss me... I miss them, more than I miss the wind through my mane..."

"After a while, you won't miss them as much as you do now, Miss Dash... you'll come to see things my way, and if not by your own accord, I will gradually make you."

"You can't force another pony tosee things the way they don't want to!" Thundered Rainbow. "I'm my own pony... my mind will always be up there in the clouds and with my friends until they come and rescue me."

"You think they are going to barge in one day and rescue you? Look around you!" He turned her in the direction of the small window. "This basement is soundproof and magic proof, thanks to some very gifted unicorns. You can hear outside, but they can't hear you... and that one window right there... you can see the outside, but nopony can see in." He stood in front of her, snout-to-snout. "The sun is just coming up on your new life. You are our prisoner and you will grow to like it here."

Rainbow just scowled at him.

"At this point then, Miss Dash, there is nothing more to be said. We are done having this conversation!"

Ironhoof spun the table in circles, but luckily Rainbow's flying experience kept her from getting dizzy.

* * *

It took the table nearly 2 minutes to stop spinning, but once it did, Ironhoof positioned it so that Rainbow was looking at the stairs again.

"I was instructed to feed you," he said, putting on a heavy-duty black rubber glove over his hoof. "I've been told you are a bit bitey... you can bite these gloves as much as you want." He went through the bag and procured four small jars of babyfood. "I am not leaving here until all of these canisters are empty."

"Please just give me some adult food... I won't tell your Mistress."

"But I'll know," he said, getting out the rubber-covered spoon and approaching the table. "And that's unacceptable."

Rainbow Dash looked down at the opened jar of yellow mush he had in his hoof, then over at the spoon holding the mush.

"Please... I'm not hungry."

"Open your mouth, Miss Dash. I don't care if you're hungry or not, and you know it. Open it."

"No."

"Repeat: Open your mouth, Miss Dash... NOW!"

"I don't want to!"

"I will give you a black eye if you don't open your mouth. I'm counting to 3..."

"I'm not doing it!"

"1."

"You can't scare me!"

"2."

She kept her mouth closed tightly and remained silent.

"3!"

He set the food down and pulled back as if he was going to punch her in the face with his gloved hoof... hard. She shut her eyes and opened her mouth wide as he was winding up:

"I should punch you... knock a tooth out for a reminder!" He said coldly, settling back down. He stuck a spoonful of the mush in Rainbow's open mouth. "Everypony gets one... I will not be so kind next time."

Rainbow Dash was a good captive foal and ate the mush as she was told... a few spoonfuls down and she couldn't keep it in and more:

"Gah... It's disgusting!" She exclaimed, swallowing the mush. "I hate squash!"

"Well, fortunately for you, there's only a tea cup's worth for you to eat... eat it quickly and I will allow you to pick the next one."

The spoon was small and Rainbow's taste for the raincoat-colored mush didn't change as she was being spoon-fed it... eventually the jar's contents disappeared. Ironhoof showed Rainbow the three remaining jars and she picked one which surprised her they'd have in baby food form... sweetened apple sauce.

Even though the selection brought her some comfort, she ate it in small spoonfuls and could hardly taste any of it... in her mind, as she said earlier, she was elsewhere:

She thought of her friends... Oh, if it was morning... what would they be doing? Pinkie Pie was probably doing the same exact thing to the Cake's foals at this time. Twilight would be just getting up... Apple Jack would be long up and Rarity would just be having breakfast, while Fluttershy would be getting her animal friends their own food. She wanted so badly just to see them again she began to sniffle and cry... her tears were ignored by the Butler pony, who continued to shovel in the food every time she opened her mouth.

After the apple sauce was gone, a liquefied breakfast cereal was selected, then strained carrots... Rainbow swallowed each spoonful, opening her mouth for the next.

"You are finished." Said Ironhoof, taking off the gloves and putting everything away. "The Mistress will be with you soon. Be happy for her. You will not bite her, and you will be nice... or I will break your nose." Ironhoof got up and approached the hanging Pegasus. "Keep this in your mouth, please." He picked up the dangling pacifier and stuck it's rubbery end back where it belonged. "There's a good mare..." He then left with his bags, ascending the stairs slowly. "Have a good day, Miss Dash. You're still an adult to me, but only second. You're the Mistress's property first."

Ironhoof opened and shut the door, locking it up tightly.

Once Rainbow Dash was sure she was alone, she spit the pacifier out of her mouth once again.