Twilight Sparkle dreamed of pleasure.

She was floating on a bed of clouds. Down by her tail was Alyss, gently lapping at the guarded treasure just behind Twilight’s teats. Every lick of the changeling princess’ tongue spread Twilight’s lavender lips a little further, sunk a little deeper, drew just a little more of the sweet nectar out of the Princess of Friendship.

“Yesss Alyss,” Twilight said, in a sibilant hiss. “Oh Light, just like that. Keep going.”

Twilight tried to bring her forehooves down so that she could pull that willing tongue even further into her, but they didn’t seem to want to move. Puzzled, she tried again. Her forelegs moved down a bit and then were pulled back up above her head. She looked up and away from the mesmerizing view between her thighs to see that her forelegs were being held in place by another pony.

King Sombra, a smirk on his lips and his eyes dancing with wicked pleasure, was holding her in place. His hooves were like elastic steel around hers, letting her pull forward a bit before drawing her legs back with an easy strength.

“Fear not, Mistress,” Sombra said, his earthy grumble vibrating through Twilight. “My purpose here is your pleasure, naught else.”

Keeping her forelegs pinned, Sombra began to lick, kiss and nibble his way along Twilight’s throat. His fangs left little electric trails in their wake, as they scraped along Twilight’s skin with delicate viciousness. As the dark king worked his way down her lavender column and into the hollow of Twilight’s throat, her breath quickened, and felt Alyss’ tongue pass the last barrier it had been dueling with to penetrate into Twilight’s now molten core.

“Ahh,” was all Twilight could think of to say, as the long wiry tongue inside of her began to wriggle and twist, touching every sensitive nerve cluster that Alyss had learned of when she had held Twilight as her captive.

“MMmmm,” Sombra hummed as he worked his way back up Twilight’s throat, sliding his teeth across either side of her windpipe while he sucked at the skin over that precious area. The erotic vulnerability was something Twilight had only read about, and to experience it was was beyond words, beyond thought. It was not something that could be described, only felt.

Her mind and will were both melting rapidly under the two pronged erotic assault. Twilight knew, in a distant part of her mind, that she should be pushing them off and fighting back. In truth though, she no longer cared. She felt like one of Pinkie’s surprise candies. If you licked at one of them patiently, eventually you would get through the outer candy to the tasty treat in the center. Twilight began to wonder which of her conquered paramours would be the first to suck and lick long enough.

That thought coincided with the gripping, shuddering climax that rolled its way through the alicorn. Which also had the effect of waking Twilight up.

“What?” she asked in confusion, her mind mazed by abrupt wakefulness and the aftershocks of her orgasm. Sensation began to fire again in her nethers and her forehooves moved down in automatic response, only to pulled back over her head again. Looking up, she saw that there were shiny black cuffs wrapped around her hooves, connected to her bed posts by a series of elastic cords.

Twilight looked down and saw that her rear legs had been similarly secured, the stretchable cords holding her legs apart. Looking between them was a sight she instantly recognized. Black curves of living, symbiotic latex, highlighted with a myriad tiny flowing lines of colour and power, all topped by a head sporting a purple mane with aquamarine highlights.

“Starlight, what are you—uuhhh,” Twilight moaned, as Starlight lashed Twilight’s pearl with her tongue again.

“Good morning, Mistress,” Starlight said, lifting her head from where it had been worshipping the alicorn’s body. The self-captured unicorn had a look of pleased satisfaction on her face, which the smear of Twilight’s juices did nothing to reduce. Dipping her head down again, Starlight was able to draw a second orgasm out of the primed and ready mare she had bound to the bed.

“Starlight,” Twilight said, minutes later, as she managed to free her mind from the sweet rapture that Starlight had wrapped it in. “what are you doing, and why am I tied up?”

“My training gave me the idea that you might enjoy it, Mistress,” Starlight said, and a hint of mischief came to her eyes. “And I had to do something to keep your legs out of the way while I woke you up. Did you enjoy it?”

“Your training?” Twilight asked, before shaking her head. That wasn’t the most important thing just then. “Can you undo me now, please?”

“Mistress, you can do it yourself,” Starlight said, moving her head back toward Twilight’s nethers. “Unless you would prefer me to continue, that is?”

“What do you mean, I can do it myself?” Twilight asked, becoming a little annoyed.

“I didn’t bind your magic in any way,” Starlight replied. “You can undo yourself at any time. You always could.”

Reaching out, Twilight realized that she did indeed have full and complete access to her magical abilities. What made her flush with embarrassment though was the fact that she hadn’t even considered using them, let alone try to release herself. In fact, after her initial reactions Twilight realized she hadn’t even physically struggled against the cords holding her. A quick flare and Twilight was free, but instead of dealing with her own issues she decided to deal with the other mare.

“Starlight, what did you mean by ‘training’?” Twilight asked, as she grabbed a cloth with her field to wipe herself off.

“I’ve been able to create training regimens so that the suit rewards me for different activities,” Starlight said, pouting a bit. “You made me stop using the conditioning routines, so I came up with this instead.”

“Starlight, I’ve said before you aren’t my slave, or my prisoner,” Twilight said, wiping off Starlight’s face as well. “I brought you here to teach you about friendship.”

“And you are,” Starlight said, leaning into the strokes of the cloth. “But I have to pay for my crimes against reality itself. I’m just lucky that you’re letting me decide how I should be punished.”

“Wait,” Twilight said, tilting her head at the suited mare. “Crimes against reality?”

“While you’ve been gone I’ve had time to think about it,” Starlight said, beginning to look more and more upset. “Twilight, I didn’t just destroy Equestria multiple times while we were fighting in that time loop. I think I fractured the timeline and damaged reality itself. I broke the space-time continuum. All these other Equestrias you’ve been going to? None of them existed before. I created them. I made all that death, all that misery. Everything that you’ve been going out and fixing, it’s my fault. ME! ARGHHH!”

Starlight had been getting louder and louder, a combination of growing rage and sorrow working across her face, but now she was on the floor, writhing in pain.

“Improper behavior detected, punishment routine activated, 614,” came the Voice of Control from the collar around Starlight’s throat, and the suit flowed into place over the mare, forming a full hood and muzzle that reduced Starlight’s cries of pain to a barely audible whimper.

“Override!” Twilight shouted, dashing forward and gathering Starlight up against her. “Suit, abort punishment.”

“Control recognized,” the collar said, and the surges of power along the lines of the suit’s energy flows stopped. “Punishment routine aborted.”

“Never do that again, Starlight,” Twilight said, looking into the other mare’s eyes as the hood flowed back into the suit. Taking a deep breath Twilight made a decision, and said, “Not without my permission. You say you need a Mistress, or an Owner, so I guess if that’s what it takes to keep you from hurting yourself like this, then it’s up to me I guess.”

“You… you mean it?” Starlight asked. “You’ll actually take control of me?”

“Yes, you are mine,” Twilight pronounced, and a relieved sigh passed through the mare lying against her. “Until I release you, or you ask for your freedom.”

“Thank you,” Starlight said, gratitude in her voice. “But if you can release me at—”

“Is the owned questioning the owner?” Twilight said, lifting an eyebrow in not quite mock severity.

“No, Mistress,” Starlight said, lowering her eyes.

“And, another thing,” Twilight said, getting up and getting Starlight back on her hooves as well. “Don’t call me ‘Mistress,’ it sounds like something out of a cheap novel. If you have to use a title for me, just call me ‘Princess’.”

“By your command, Princess,” Starlight said, giving a brief bow. “Breakfast should be ready by now, if you’re hungry.”

“Let’s go,” Twilight said, moving forward as Starlight fell into place a pace behind and to the side. “For some reason I seem to have worked up a big appetite.”

Twilight wondered about some of the things Starlight had said as they walked the corridors of the castle though. Had Starlight fractured reality and broken the timeline into multiple branches? Or, had those other worlds always been there, just waiting to be discovered and helped along by the right pony or ponies. As they reached the dining room, Twilight realized that there was someone she could ask. The answers might not make any sense, but she could ask.

“Good morning, Princess,” Derpy said, holding the dining room door open and breaking Twilight’s train of thought.

Try as she might Twilight could see no sign of the array of close quarters weapons she knew Derpy had secreted over her body, and in the various folds of her uniform. If Twilight hadn’t of seen it herself, she never would of guessed the cheerful grey mare to be a deadly in-close fighter, using her eyes and cheerful demeanor as a cloak to hide the warrior within.

“Good morning, Derpy,” Twilight said, trying in vain to see the darts she knew the pegasus had between her primary feathers. “What’s Dashiel up to this morning?”

“Same thing she’s done for the past two weeks, Princess,” Derpy said, chuckling a bit. “She’s had the Twilight Guard up since dawn doing drills. Right now, I think they’re doing some sort of evasion exercise.”

“Really?” Twilight said, sitting down until something sharp jabbed her rear. “Owch!” Twilight got back up and with her magic pulled a tack, of all things, out of her butt.

“That’s it!” Dashiel yelled, appearing from out of nowhere near a wall. “The Princess is dead! All you losers failed.” The exiled pony put a whistle to her lips, blowing several blasts until ten dejected looking guards entered the dining room.

“What’s going—” Spike began, frozen in the act of laying out some pancakes for everypony.

“Shh,” Twilight said, smiling inwardly.

“What was the assignment I gave you losers?” Dashiel asked, pacing up and down in front of the line of guards.

“Keep you from getting to the Princess,” one guard said, frowning. “And we did, you never got close to her. We were on you the whole time. How?”

“I’ve told you that you guys need to be ready for an enemy that thinks,” Dashiel said, stopping and addressing the one guard directly. “Princess Twilight sits in the same chair every morning. I put that tack there last night, before we started this exercise and not one of you thought to check the chair she sits in, or anything else related to her usual routine.”

“But that’s cheating!” another guard protested.

“There is NO such thing as cheating when it comes to winning a fight,” Dashiel said, rounding on the other guard, “or when it comes to protecting your Princess.”

“Filthy Shadowbolt,” Twilight heard a guard mutter.

“Your Highness,” Dashiel said, her voice going cold as she snapped a salute with her wing. “Permission to take this outside so I can deal with things… properly.” All the guards visibly gulped. The past two weeks had taught them that despite being maimed, the former captain was more than a match for any of them in single combat.

“Granted, Dashiel,” Twilight said. “Just don’t break any of them. Not permanently, at least.”

“Sparring ring, losers,” Dashiel ordered, and as the group tramped out Dashiel paused as she passed Derpy, in her servant’s outfit. “Master Derpy, I request the honor of another lesson from you this evening. I’m still having problems working out that last combination you showed me.”

“On the condition that you play your guitar for me and Dinky for an hour beforehand,” Derpy said, before looking over to Twilight. “If my duties permit, of course.” Twilight waved a hoof in a “go ahead” gesture, and Derpy smiled.

“I will see you then, Master,” Dashiel said, making an odd gesture with her forehooves before heading out in the wake of the guards she was about to chastise.

“Master?” Twilight asked, as Derpy helped Spike with the passing around of toppings for the waffles and pancakes. “Is everything masters and mistresses these days?”

“Dashiel found out that I’m a seventh grade Master of Wing Chun,” Derpy answered. “Ever since, she’s been after me for lessons.”

“Is she any good?” Twilight asked, genuinely curious. “And that's another thing. Since when do you know hoof to hoof combat?”

“Ruthlessly determined is how I’d describe her,” Derpy said, noticing Starlight hadn’t seated herself yet, choosing instead to stand at Twilight’s right shoulder. “As for my fighting. Well, when my eyes… changed, there were some bullies who tried to take advantage. My dad enrolled me in Wing Chun classes and things went from there.”

Twilight could tell Derpy wasn’t telling her everything, but then again she hadn’t asked, and the grey mare had earned the right to keep a few secrets. Twilight also noticed Derpy trying to discreetly get Starlight to sit down.

“Starlight, why aren’t you eating?” Twilight asked, even though she suspected what the answer would be.

“You didn’t say I could, Mi—Princess,” Starlight said, confirming Twilight’s suspicion.

“Starlight, unless I tell you differently, you are to eat, sleep, and drink as you normally would,” Twilight said, sensing the approval of the others in the room. “Can’t have you keeling over from hunger now, can we? It wouldn’t look good.” Starlight sat down and Spike slid a heaping stack of buttermilk pancakes in front of the unicorn.

“Good girl,” Twilight said, and Starlight’s smile warmed a place inside of Twilight as she watched her unicorn eat. “Do we have anything pressing today? I’d like to head out and see the girls if I can. Fluttershy in particular.”

“Just one thing, Princess,” Starlight said, between bites that were making the pancake stack disappear with almost disturbing speed. “Flim and Flam wanted to see you. Something about ‘variant’ suit prototypes.”

“Oh,” Twilight replied, intrigued. “That sounds pretty interesting, actually.”

Up until a few months ago, there had been a series of lightly wooded meadows behind Twilight’s castle. Now, the area held the initial facilities for the Twilight Guard, and as with any new military organization those facilities were rough and ready. Despite the green wood that made up the buildings they worked in, there was nothing green about the initial core of guards Luna and Celestia had sent to protect Equestria’s newest princess. Each of them were seasoned, and in some cases decorated, veterans.

Which is why they were not happy with the one-winged pegasus who had been making them look like raw recruits for almost two weeks now.

“All right you worthless excuse for guards,” Dashiel said, standing in the middle of the sparring circle. “Which one of you wants to go first?” Each of the ten looked at each other, seeing who would step forward and accept a pummeling from the azure pegasus. Not a single hoof moved.

“Ma’am, what’s the point?” Sundered Mango, a batpony, said. “We already know you can kick any of our flanks without working up a sweat. What’s the point?”

“The point,” Dashiel said, spearing the pony with her gaze, “is that not one of you has figured out what the mission is yet, and I’m going to keep pounding on your thick heads until one of you gets it.”

“The mission?” Aegis Shield, a bulky earth pony asked. “We already know the mission. Protect the Princess.”

“NO, you idiot,” Dashiel said, tossing a pebble at Aegis, which was blocked almost as an afterthought. “That is NOT the mission.”

“Then what in Tartarus is the mission?” Aegis yelled back, frustration in every line of his body.

“The mission, is to die,” Dashiel said, and all ten of the other ponies took an involuntary step back.

“What the buck are you talking about?” Sundered asked, wings flaring slightly. “You mean to try to kill us?”

“No, you idiot,” Dashiel answered, rolling her eyes. “Your mission, is to die. From an arrow, or a sword blow, or a magic blast, so that a civilian or, Light help you the Princess, does not. THAT is your mission. The civilians will not know, nor will they care. In time, they will come to hate your guts. Nonetheless, you will keep true to your sugar and find ways to get better at your mission every day.”

“Why?” Aegis asked, realizing they were getting a rare look inside the soldier mare. “Why throw our lives away for ponies like that?”

“Because the Princesses, will know. And they will care,” Dashiel said, her voice almost becoming a whisper. “To save Equestria, they might have to pour out your lives like water on a fire. But they will feel every death in their heart. They will mourn each and every one of you, and when things are quiet, you might just hear them recite the names of their honoured and beloved dead. Your mission, is to do everything in your power to make certain your sacrifice is worth that kind of pain.”

“Your Celestia,” Soft Hoof, a batpony archer said, “did she…”

“I only heard it once, but ya,” Dashiel said. Taking a deep breath the pegasus straightened herself back up, and the ten could see the armor around Dashiel’s heart closing back into place. “Enough mush. Are we going to stand around, or are we going to fight?”

What followed was less of an organized set of sparring matches and more of a generalized brawl. At one point in the scrap almost everypony was up against every other pony. However, hoof to hoof combat is one of the most aerobic activities of all, and fatigue created mistakes that piled up and sent one guard after another crashing to the ground or forced to tap out. At last, it came to Dashiel and four of the guard who surrounded the pegasus in a loose ring.

“Well, come on you losers. This is your big chance,” Dashiel said, panting slightly. Her opponents were in far worse shape. Their sides heaving, sweat running down their faces, but she saw grim determination in their eyes. Good, she could work with that.

“Hey! What the hell?” Dashiel asked, in surprise as the four suddenly got up from their ready stance to stand at attention.

“They are showing respect for their Princess,” a cool voice said from above and behind her.

“Coming in on my blind side,” Dashiel said, not looking behind her as she walked over to grab a drink from beside the weapons rack. “Didn’t think you had that kind of sneak in you, Princess.”

“Stealth comes naturally to a pony who is one with the Night,” Princess Luna said, her voice cool. “Guards, stand down. It is time I tested the mettle of the trainer I assigned to you.”

“Test my mettle, eh?” Dashiel asked, plucking up a sword from the rack with practiced pinions. “How about we test your metal as well, Princess.” The guards looked from Luna to Dashiel, trying to read the intent of both mares as they backed off several paces.

“You wish this to be a true combat?” Luna asked, telekinetically grabbing herself a sword from the rack. “Very well, I will honour your desire to be pummeled this one time. What are the conditions?”

“We fight until one of us yields or can’t fight any more,” Dashiel said, a grim smile dancing on her lips. “As for rules. Princess, in war—” And in that moment, between one word and the next, Dashiel struck.

Caught flat footed, surprised and with her blade well out of position, Luna should have been easy meat. As it was, the alicorn just managed to avoid the blow as she twisted sideways. Mostly avoided, that is. A burning line from the corner of her chest to the side of her left shoulder, told Luna how close Dashiel had come to winning the fight in an instant.

How? Luna asked herself, as Dashiel followed up on her original strike with a series of flashing thrusts with her blade. The practice swords are dulled, with a rounded tip to prevent… Luna’s thoughts cut off as Dashiel's sword slashed past her muzzle, showing her that no matter how the practice swords were supposed to be, the blade the pegasus wielded was both sharp and deadly.

Luna stopped thinking at that point, and simply acted and reacted to her opponent. When Dashiel pressed forward with a combination of high and low slashed, Luna parried on the vertical. Which Dashiel countered with a full body lunge toward Luna’s already nicked shoulder. Instead of trying to parry the blow with her inadequate practice blade, Luna instead rolled herself in the opposite direction.

Recovering from her the extension of her lunge, Dashiel turned to see the Zodiac sword emerge from a swirl of shadows and take its place at Luna’s side.

“Pushed you hard enough that you need an edge, huh?” Dashiel asked, smirking.

“I only needed to find something as sharp as your tongue,” Luna quipped back, as she launched an offensive of her own. Now, it was the azure pegasus on the defensive as the Princess of the Night demonstrated her skill with the blade. Economical short thrusts, combined with slashing attacks and the gained wisdom of centuries of bladecraft gained Luna a trio of cuts on her opponent.

“Yield, Dashiel,” Luna said, pausing while keeping her sword at a low-guard. “Your skill is considerable, but you are not my equal.

“I’ll quit when I’m dead,” Dashiel growled out, launching a flurry of attacks that pressed Luna further and further back, as the grim soldier seemed to find a higher level of skill within her.

She’s not faking this! Luna thought to herself as Dashiel’s sword came closer and closer to her flesh. She means to kill me. I must end this, now.

Luna waited until Dashiel attacked again with another exquisite, whole body lunge, that bid fair to run a sword through the entire length of Luna’s body. Now, in close enough, Luna rolled her entire body horizontally in the air. Her leading wing knocked Dashiel’s sword off its driving line, up and away, her trailing wing struck then Dashiel bodily, knocking the pegasus into the air and a blast from Luna’s horn drove at the pegasus in a bid to end the fight once and for all.

Dashiel had other plans, however. Even as she was buffeted upwards she spread the pinions of her sole wing, releasing her sword to the mercies of gravity. Sword loosed, she gave her wing a single downstroke just as Luna’s horn discharged, and the off center thrust of the wing rolled Dashiel around the shaft of kinetic mayhem that had been sent at her.

Luna fell onto her back as she completed the roll, expecting to see her foe safely hurtling away. Instead, Luna’s eyes widened as instead she saw Dashiel plummeting straight down towards her. In desperation, she wrenched her steel over in an attempt to bar the path of the falling pegasus. Who in turn, had grasped her sword out of the air as it had paused at the peak of its own ballistic flight.

Two winged bodies crashed a moment later, and the dust cleared to reveal Dashiel atop Luna in an intimate position, with Luna holding the edge of the Zodiac sword against her throat. The alicorn looked directly into the eyes of the pegasus whose life she literally held in her hooves at that moment, and saw grim satisfaction there.

“Is this what you seek, Dashiel?” Luna said, fighting the urge to finish her opponent as adrenaline sang through her veins.

“We would have joined each other in Tartarus,” Dashiel replied, and Luna felt a pin prick at the side of her throat from the tip of Dashiel’s sword. “Enough?”

“Enough,” Luna replied, pulling her steel away from Dashiel, who responded by tossing her blade aside and helping Luna off the ground.

“I was worried for a bit there,” Dashiel said, taking in their stunned audience. “But you really seemed to rise to the occasion like a true warrior princess.”

“It has been a long time since anypony has pushed me that hard in a simple physical fight,” Luna said, floating over a pair of canteens for them to drink from. “Be warned, next time I may not be able to suppress my old training so well.”

“Fair enough,” Dashiel said, turning to address the slack jawed guards. “As you just saw, any opponent can be fought. But… you have to be willing to totally commit to that fight. Hold nothing back and you WILL complete the mission.”

“I believe I will take my leave now,” Luna said, spotting an entranced Twilight, who had watched the entire struggle from a balcony of her castle. “And Dashiel, you have company.” There was a soft implosion of air as Luna teleported away.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Rainbow Dash shouted a few heartbeats later, as she landed several feet away, obviously having seen the fight. Dashiel closed her eyes in pain for a moment. She’d known this encounter was coming and that it had to happen, as did another one with a certain baker, but it didn’t mean she had to like them.

“Rest up, because tomorrow we start the real training. Dismissed,” Dashiel said to the guards, before turning to the perfect version of herself. “Hello, Rainbow Dash. It’s time we talked.”

Luna popped back into existence at the side of the young alicorn, and was immediately wrapped in a hug that threatened to trigger Luna’s combat reactions all over again.

“Luna, that was incredible!” Twilight said, stepping back a moment later, oblivious to Luna’s internal fight to not bash Twilight into the ground. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“My sister and I have had long lives, Twilight,” Luna said, setting her mind back into order. “None of the histories know all of our stories.”

“Please, I’ve got to know,” Twilight said, smiling as her magic grabbed up a scroll and quill. “For posterity if nothing else.” Twilight’s smile fell as Luna tossed both scroll and quill over the balcony. She was about to protest, loudly, when Luna began to recite:

Other ponies may yet
more skillfully teach bronze to breathe,

leading outward and loosing
the life lying hidden in marble;

Some may plead causes better,
or using the tools of science

better predict Heaven's moods
and chart the stars changing courses.

But Roaman, remember you well
that your own arts are these others:

to govern the tribes with power;
to dictate their rule in peace;

to raise up the ponies you have conquered,
and throw down the proud who resist.

“Roam?” Twilight asked, when Luna finished the recitation. “You ruled in Ancient Roam?”

“No, Twilight,” Luna said, running a hoof over her peytral. “I was a slave there, as was my sister.”

“What?” Twilight sputtered, shocked. “How? You’re alicorns.”

“We were just starting out, Tia and I,” Luna said, her eyes unfocusing as they looked back to a place long since dust. “We were young, and proud of ourselves. The acclaimed chieftesses of a small mixed tribe of ponies, so when the Roamans came for our village we laughed at them. We had heard of Roam, of course. Everypony had, and in our arrogance we thought we could handle them easily.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked, gently prodding Luna along.

“The Roamans beat us in the same way they had defeated countless other small tribes,” Luna said, with a grimace as her ears lay flat against her head. “They were organized, and they were prepared. No matter what we tried against them, they had a counter. At the end, with nearly half our tribe either dead, wounded or in bonds, they called on us to surrender. They told us that if Tia and I gave ourselves to them, they would spare the rest of the tribe. With no other real choice, we agreed.”

“What happened?” Twilight asked, again.

“The Roamans were also noteworthy for keeping their given word,” Luna said, tail and mane stilling. “Even as we were placed in chains, they released their captives, treated the wounded of both sides, and offered Roaman citizenship to any who would forswear Tia and I, in favor of their Emperor. Many of our ponies accepted the offer, and to this day, I cannot find the heart to blame them for their decision.”

“Is that when you became slaves?” Twilight asked, picturing the dark blue alicorn across from her wearing a collar and shackles.

“Not quite,” Luna said, animating a bit again. “First, we were taken to the Imperial City. We were chained and harnessed to the chariot of Emperor Ferus, and made to pull him through the streets as part of a triumphant parade. As we drew our captor’s chariot past the cheering crowds, we were mocked as defeated ‘barbarian princesses,’ who had dared to challenge the might of Roam. We thought it was the end when we were reined to a stop near the executioner’s block.”

“No!” Twilight gasped.

“Yes, dear Twilight,” Luna said, nodding sadly. “We struggled, of course. But our chains and bonds had been crafted to hold creatures of far greater power than us, and despite our efforts we were dragged into place, our necks stretched across the block for the waiting axe.”

“But you didn’t die,” Twilight said, trying her best to take in every expression on Luna’s face to better understand the history being revealed to her.

“We were given a choice in that moment. Die free, or live as Roaman slaves,” Luna said. “While there is life, there is hope. So Tia and I both chose a life of bondage.”

“Slaves of Imperial Roam,” Twilight breathed. “It’s like something out of an old story.”

“It’s a story now, but then it was grim reality,” Luna said, ears slowly lifting from her head. “We were sold at auction for a vast sum and bought by Decius Caballus, a leading senator.”

“What did he do to you?” Twilight asked, both fascinated and afraid of what she would hear.

“Broke us of our pride,” Luna said, and Twilight notice Luna’s left forehoof tremble slightly. “He was never cruel to either of us, but by the time he was done with whip and bridle, crop and harness, we were both tamed to his will.”

“And once you were… tamed?” Twilight asked.

“We were trained for the tasks he had in mind for us,” Luna said, and Twilight watched the tremor in the alicorn’s hoof slow, then stop. “Tia learned to handle the accounts and records of Decius’ vast estate. She was also taught the ways of the couch by the finest courtesans available.”

“You mean Celestia was a—” Twilight broke off her question, trying to wrap her mind around the concept of what her mentor had been made to become in those days of old.

“—highly skilled pleasure slave. To this day, it requires an effort of will on her part not to kneel when she hears the sound of chains sliding over the floor,” Luna said, and the magnitude of what Celestia had offered Twilight back at Shaushka’s increased tenfold in Twilight’s mind. “As for myself, I was trained in the ways of the gladius, the fuscina, and the pilum. I made a name for myself in the fighting pits, along with more than a little coin in the process, as ‘Luna, Fighting Slave of Roam’.”

The story, she is not dead! Seriously though, I've been meaning to get back to this for awhile now, but with my life and new job it's been something of a struggle to get any writing done. Hopefully my pace will start picking back up now that I have something resembling a regular schedule.

My Patreon is back up and running. My kind and wonderful Patrons have made the difference. They are:

Canary in the Coal Mine,
Damaged,
Shaushka,
Airar,
Pseudosapien,
Machara,

and my newest Patron,
Drazhan.