You know, I spent a good few minutes considering all of my options.  Somehow I figured spitting at the royal that literally had my life in her hands...er... hooves would be a bad idea.  The more I thought about it, the fewer options remained.  In the end it boiled down to simply spending the rest of my probably short life in a cell or potentially gaining my freedom.  If there was anyone nearby they might have called me a coward for it, but an old adage came to mind.  It is easier to die for your beliefs than to live for them.  Well that and 'ignorance of the law is no excuse.'

"I'll serve."

I'm not entirely sure what the mixture of emotions that crossed her face was, but she generally seemed pleased but serious as she approached.  Every hoofstep echoing ominously as she neared where I was sitting before she pausing in consideration.

"You may wish to take a deep breath."

Wha...

Blue light filled my vision, bleaching out all other colors with searing brightness while my skin started to crawl.  Like a thousand fire ants, the sensation quickly bloomed from an irritating itch and into searing heat in a heartbeat before I could scream.  Thankfully darkness consumed me before the flames.

Cold.  The chill of cold stone dragged me back to consciousness slowly.  The rough grey surface of a stone floor stretched out in front of me, ending in the silver shod hooves of Princess Luna.  Oddly enough, she had what I considered a look of concern on her face.  Considering my head felt like it was used as a drum by a dozen two year olds, I imagine I didn't look to well myself.

"Apologies Alex.  It seemed like your body did not welcome our magics so we pushed slightly harder than intended.  Beyond soreness and headache are you well?

All I could manage was groan while dragging myself back into the chair I'd come to dislike so much.  I'd swear there was the sound of something rattling loose in my head when I nodded softly.

"The headache should disappear over the next few hours and the pain should not last much longer than that.  I have requested the guards bring a small meal for you while I explain your new found position.  I shall return in a few moments, it would please me if you did not move from that chair."

No acknowledgement or anything, she just turned and headed toward the door behind me.  Closing my eyes made the pounding within my head quiet slightly while I listed to her hoofsteps vanish down the hall.  When it was a safe bet that I was alone, I tried to stand.  Keyword was try.  The texture and grain of the rough hewn wood pressed against my hands as I internally screamed at my body to obey.  No matter what I did, my butt wouldn't lift off the chair.  The harder I pushed, pressure built around my left wrist and hand until it started to burn.  That's when I decided to sit, and the sensation vanished.

"That was lesson number one Alex."

I couldn't even jump out of the chair as Luna's voice came from directly behind the chair, only able to look around wildly.

"It is a simple enough lesson really.  If I were to ask something of you, it gets done with few exceptions.  It is not something that I will use often as I prefer not to have you as a slave.  There may be some times that I require something of you, and you will follow my request to the letter.  When I am comfortable with your abilities and you have earned my trust the vast majority of the compulsion will be removed.  Your repast has arrived however, so please eat.  Afterwards you'll be returned to your cell.  In the morning we'll discuss your new living arrangements and where your life will go from here."

With that, two guards that I had no idea were in the room set a tray in front of me with a small array of covered plates.  After the garbage I had been fed in the dungeons, whatever was under the domed covers smelled like ambrosia.  I could barely hear Princess Luna speaking as the meal was revealed in its glory.  Protein, meat, eggs, toast, everything I'd missed so much over the last few weeks.  Reaching for the nearest dish, her words rang in my mind.

"Enjoy your meal Alex.  I look forward to working with you and it would please me if you retired to your cell after eating and rested well for the morrow."

The next morning came far too early, yet I was oddly well rested for the first time in too long.  It might have been that I was provided with a thick straw padded mattress that was the first 'soft' thing I'd slept on in at least a week and change.  Thankfully the pounding in my head had largely dissipated as well.  The only pain was little more than the occasional bit of tenderness across my left arm.  In the dim light, I'd swear there was a pattern on my skin but it could have just been the all encompassing fleshy pink that spread after the princess' ministrations.

This is going to take some getting used to.

So I sat there in the gloom, on my scratchy mattress and leaning against the grey stone walls and waited.  My mind wandered over the last few days playing the 'what if' game.  What if I hadn't killed that pony.  Would I have been accepted or taken as a pet?  Could I have managed to survive in the forest if I hadn't gotten caught?  The kind of questions and thoughts that lead nowhere useful and were as dark as the room that housed me.  My reverie was broken with the dull squeal of the cell door being pushed open and spreading a mixture of light and shadow across my cell.  As best as I could tell it was the same guard from before carrying a small tray.

"I know you can understand me prisoner.  Do not speak to anypony until you are in Princess Luna's presence.  Here is your breakfast, eat it quickly.  Afterward I am to show you to her.  The first day of your new life awaits."

Oddly enough, the guard's hoofsteps were almost muted across the stone floor.  What grabbed my attention most was the pair of membranous wings that were sprouting from the pony's back.  I could get yellow eyes and even the strange fangs, but bat wings on a mini horse just looked odd poking out from dark armor.  Then again, kind of in technicolor pony hell.  Hell that had apparently brought me some kind of porridge and fresh bread from the smell of the tray.  

You never realize how much you miss hot food until going without.  The moment the tray was set down, I forgot the guard.  It might have been prison food but my first real heated meal in days was divine none the less.   In what seemed like the span of a few heartbeats the gruel and coarse bread in front of me vanished, only to reveal a guard tapping their hoof on the floor impatiently.

Jesus, I'm coming.  Hold your damn horses.  HA!  Horses.  Fuck I'm retarded some days.  Thank god they can't read minds.

I can honestly say I'd never seen a hor... pony wince before, but from all the cracks and pops I made getting up I'd assume it wasn't something pleasant to consider on their end.  As I followed the guard out of my cell and down the ever present dreary hallway full of echoing hoofsteps and flickering torches, a feeling of dread started to build.

What if Princess Luna has something fucked up planned.  I could have really screwed up with all this.  Too late now I guess.  It'll be interesting and I can freak the fuck out later.

The same room, the same chair, and all of my possessions were arrayed in the same places as I stepped into the room.  The door shut ominously with a dull thud while I was taking a seat like a good student.  Luna was waiting for me the moment I stepped into the room and looked almost eager.  That only doubled the discomfort in my mind.

"Good morning Alex, I hope you slept well."

"Morning Princess Luna.  Um, should I call you Mistress, or anything else?  This is all kind of new to me."

Yup, voice still sounds like I was gargling with razor blades.  Yay.

She looked at me quizzically for a moment before chuckling softly.  

"Mistress?  Heavens no.  Princess is fine.  Eventually you may be allowed to call me Luna if you serve well.  Mistress is something you'll never call me, our relationship will never be... that.  I've taken the liberty to prepare a rough schedule to cover the next few weeks for you.  Today we'll be discussing your property and its disposition before being placed in proper servants quarters.  Starting tomorrow you will be learning the proper etiquette and expectations from my personal steward and guards.  Only the guards will know a bit of your nature, so you will begin wearing the enchanted torq this evening.  Speaking of which, I need to make a note to fill you in on the local humans and things to be aware of..."