Monday morning passed by in a blur for Wildfire. The little yellow mare was still riding her high from spending the weekend at Tinkerer and Belle’s house over in Celestia Borough. Literally on cloud nine, especially as she couldn’t believe she had finally attained her life’s dream of bearing a foal, Wildfire was in a very good mood indeed.

Her good mood was only increased incrementally as Lancer and Undercloud were experiencing the dreaded ‘Monday Blues’. Thankfully, she was so buzzed that absolutely nothing was going to affect her today, Monday or not. Wildfire was her own little bundle of sunshine in an office of rainclouds at the Weather Factory.

This sunny demeanour was in full force as Wildfire left for her lunch and, when she trotted into the MiAC store to collect her order, the state of affairs showed no sign of altering any time soon. No sooner had the door closed behind her than there came a voice from the service counter to her left.

Bridle Way, a chocolate brown earth pony, affectionately known as Ball Gag to her friends and regulars, grinned when she saw just whom had walked in. She had gotten to know Wildfire quite well over the past few weeks – of course she knew Airmail, Tempest, Mapper and Serenity already. “Ah, it’s my favourite regular customer! Need any help today, or you just feeling up the merchandise?” she asked with a giggle.

As soon as she heard her voice, Wildfire’s ears flicked to the left, closely followed by her beaming smile. Idly she wondered if the reason for her good mood was obvious. “Oh hey, Ball Gag, how's it going?” she was almost bouncing as she walked over to the counter. “I'm just here to pick up an order I made last week, two sets of slave clothes and a Queen costume, please hun.”

Bridle Way rummaged, loudly, so that her favourite customer could hear her, behind her counter top. She was sure her boss had left a couple of parcels behind the workstation. “It’s Wildfire, right?”

“Yuppers!” Wildfire practically squealed, she wondered if she should just hang a sign around her neck, ‘Pregnant & Happy!’ “That's me!”

Bridle Way soon found the items, along with the work chit. “Okay, says here you already paid in full. I just need a signature from you to say you received it. It is in plain brown wrapping. Do you want it gift wrapped, and would you like to touch the items?”

“Alrighty, where's the pen?” when the non-writing end of the pen was placed in her mouth, Wildfire hastily signed her name where the mare indicated. “Ooh...can I have them wrapped please? I don't want to touch, it'll be more of a surprise when I get them home to my herd.”

“Okay,” Bridle Way laughed, “so, you want blue, purple, or pink paper?” she asked, thinking of the other mares that Wildfire associated with.

Wildfire however wasn’t thinking about that. She was resisting the urge to sing from the rafters that she was pregnant. As such, she said the first colour that came into her head. “Uuum...pink, please, Ball Gag.”

“I'll keep the 'Queen's' identity a secret.” Bridle Way snickered as she loudly, far louder than was strictly necessary, wrapped the three costumes up in bright pink wrapping paper. “Can I interest you in anything else, while you’re here?”

About to shake her head, a sudden thought occurred to her. “Um...oh! I don't suppose you do braille books? If not, I'll take a couple of DVD's.”

The relief in Bridle Way’s face was almost palpable. “I thought you'd never ask! Since you come in quite often I wrote the home office and they sent me some items.” The chocolate earth pony mare was practically giddy now. “I have five books. Three are triple X rated romance novels. One is a scratch and sniff,” she giggled, “some kinky smells in that one. The last is really neat. I think Princess Cadance herself makes them. A bass relief pony sutra book. You can feel the action.”

“Yuppers!” Wildfire listened, and as soon as there was a pause in Bridle Way’s spiel, she nodded. “I'll go for all five. Please. Thank you.” She was in too good a mood to worry about little things like choosing which book she wanted most, or what they cost. She knew she had enough of her reward money left on her card to treat herself a little.

Bridle Way was trying to work out how much commission she’d make from this. She settled on ‘a lot’. “Oh my! Thank you. I'll let the home office know they were well received. Please do tell me later if they are actually any good. I, ah, I only looked at the sutra book. It is really hot. Would you like the books wrapped too?”

“Aaah...n-no, thank you,” Wildfire decided against that. She had a much better idea for the books, which involved her office and her hoof later that afternoon. “I'll ah, give them a bit of a look this afternoon, to see if they're good.” She had to check them before she took them back to her herd, right? That was her excuse and she was sticking to it.

“Okay, move sideways and I'll put this lot in your saddle bags.” The chocolate brown mare beamed, “Both in one or split books and costumes?”

“If you can get them all in one bag,” Wildfire responded as she turned sideways so that her right side was nearest to the counter. She knew from experience this was the best way to go, as it had her ready and facing the door, “Then go for it.”

It only took a little gentle re-arranging for Bridle Way to make everything comfortably fit into the right side saddlebag. “Thank you for shopping MiAC, Wildfire, may Princess Cadance bless your love.”

Now that business was done, Wildfire gave her friend – she was quite comfortable calling her a friend, given how much time and how many bits she spent in the store - a typically 'restrained' Wildfire hug ™ which the earth pony was only too happy to take and return. “And may she bless you too, Ball Gag.”

When she exited the MiAC store, with its bright gaudy pink façade behind her, Wildfire decided that even though there was a perfectly good coffee shop right next door, she’d spend her lunch time at Caffeinated’s shop. There was just ‘something’ about his black coffee that was worth the short subway ride. Plus, she reflected as she set her headset to the train station, she fancied a catch up with her herd-mate over a salted caramel donut.

Alas, Wildfire’s departure from the MiAC store did not go unnoticed.

Autumn Leaves, the dull orange unicorn, was watching from the alleyway the other side of the adult store. The mare had been stalking her prey for over a week now, using her tracking spells, drawing her plans against the blind pony in the process. Now, having ascertained Wildfire’s routine, she judged it was time.

She had heard Number Thirteen, as Amethyst Glory had named it, request directions for the subway station. ‘This is perfect,’ she decided as she stepped out from her hiding place and walked several feet behind the hated figure in front of her. Amethyst Glory hadn’t just been her boss, for Autumn had loved the purple unicorn with all her heart, though that love had gone largely unreciprocated.

Autumn Leaves didn’t care about that. Not now. All she cared about was the fact, etched in stone, that Thirteen had gotten away, and its friend had slaughtered her beloved. Now, today, that wrong would be righted. Thirteen would pay, no matter the cost. As she stalked her way towards the station, Autumn Leaves’ mind went blank. She was entering ‘that’ space in her head. The space that held no mercy, no pity, no remorse for what she was about to do.

If all went according to plan, there would be two ponies entering oblivion this day, for she had no desire to see tomorrow, not without Amethyst Glory. She smiled her most sadistic smile, her magic playing with Boris, her favourite bullwhip in her saddlebag, imagining the look on her love’s face when she presented her with Thirteen to play with once more.

‘Oh, how she will reward me!’ Autumn Leaves thought, her sick and twisted mind making her giggle like a madpony as she followed her unsuspecting quarry down the escalator onto the subway platform. ‘This is almost too easy…’ Still, there was no reason why she couldn’t have a little fun. Like a cat would have fun with a mouse. With a delicate little cough, she affected an elderly voice. “Excuse me.” she said once they were off the escalator, “I'm new to the city and blind. I didn't feel any signs for the restroom. Could you help me? I don't want to piddle on the platform…”

“Oh hi!” Wildfire, completely and utterly unaware that she was stood about a foot away from the Warden that had tormented her the most – with the possible exception of Lotus Stripes – turned around to face the sound of the voice and she smiled a very wide smile. It was her pleasure to help this old pony, after all. “I kinda know how you feel, I'm still pretty new too, but follow my tail,” she said helpfully, “there are signs over on the wall at regular spaces.”

Autumn Leaves thought this was a most fun little game. She took a large fake sniff, as she did so she noted that there weren’t very many commuters down here at this time of day. She also noted that there weren’t many security ponies here on the platform itself. Perfect. “Thank you, let me know when you reach one so I can check, please.”

“Sure!” Only wanting to help, Wildfire made her way over to the wall. “So, what's your name? Where you from? How long have you been blind?” she giggled, realising that was a lot of questions. Still, she was hoping she had made a new friend, perhaps she lived in that blind retreat on Stallion Island? “Sorry, it's just so cool meeting a pony like me!”

‘Like you?’ Autumn Leaves almost dropped her little charade at that. ‘You’re nothing like me, you’re nothing but Amethyst’s property!’ She had to try very hard indeed to collect herself. “Like-Like you? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were blind. I can get help from another pony…”

Wildfire however shook her head. “Nah it's cool, here I've found the sign. The restrooms are this way.” She pointed with her hoof in the direction that the braille sign had indicated.

Autumn Leaves made a show of rubbing her hoof against the wall. What she was really doing, however, was scanning for any security cameras. She was very pleased to see there was only two, one at each end of the platform, and not far away there were two large columns standing ten feet apart. They’d block sight lines nicely. “Oh, I didn't expect it to be that high up. You must be a Pegasus. Thank you, I-I think I can take it from here.” She snickered, wondering how far she could take this little game. “Oh, I'm Fall Foliage. I'm from Canterlot, and I've always been blind. Since you asked, I'm guessing you're new to being blinded?”

“I've been blind for five years,” Wildfire answered truthfully, seeing no reason whatsoever to not trust her. “It was an accident in science class at university when I was eighteen. It’s nice to meet you, Fall Foliage. I hope you enjoy Manehatten.” She’d made a new friend! A blind friend! Today was getting better all the time.

‘Fall Foliage’, as she had named herself, said, “It is a lot nicer than Canterlot, and a lot more friendly. I like the handicap zones in the subway cars.” As she spoke, she scanned the wall between the columns and she saw a large pink poster advertising the MiAC store. Perfect.

“I'm Wildfire. Call me Wily. And yuppers, I know what you mean. Manehatten's way nicer towards ponies like us.”

“I'd love to chat, but I really need to go.” Autumn Leaves glanced towards the public restroom. If she could get Thirteen in there, it would be Hearths Warming Eve for her. “I-I should be able to make it from here. Thank you for your help.”

“My pleasure, Fall.” With that, Wildfire, happy that she could get to the restroom on her own, she turned back to face the train lines. She was happy that if she could get about, then her new friend could as well.

‘Fall Foliage’ noisily ran her hoof along the wall, tapping it to let her prey know she was still there. She did make sure it was at the right height. He didn’t want to spook her just yet. Not when she was so close to her revenge. She tried one last time to get her into the restroom. “I wish it said how far and not just direction. I'm going to pee myself.”

Wildfire however, content her friend would be fine, especially as she had been blind from birth, didn’t do any more to help. “Oh, the restrooms are never very far away, Fall. You'll get there, don’t worry.”

By the time that Autumn Leaves realised that the blind mare was not going to escort her to the restroom, several ponies, four stallions and three mares, had taken their places on the platform. She had a sense her time was running out. She went to plan B. Lighting her horn, she concentrated and she pulled apart the seam of her saddlebag. A second later, it gave out, spilling the five books and the costumes on the floor. This wasn’t just to be mean, though that was a bonus. No, she was testing the waters, seeing who would come to her aid.

“Huh? What the...” it took Wildfire all of three seconds to realise what had happened. She felt the weight drop from her right bag, she heard the books thud to the floor. “Oh c'mon!” grumbling, the diminutive yellow mare began gathering up her things, starting with the costumes and putting them in her left bag. “Stupid saddlebag!”

As she was gathering her books, Wildfire managed to pick up four with no difficulty. The fifth, however, when she tapped it with the toe of her hoof, it skitters off away from her. All the while, Autumn Leaves was watching. She noted that only one pony out of all those currently on the platform turned to look at the noise, but that none of them came to help. ‘Perfect!’ She could barely contain her glee.

“Luna damn it...” Wildfire grunted as she gathered up her things back into her one remaining saddlebag, grumbling before standing up. “Ugh...now I need to go too!” As she tried not to think about the fact that she needed to pee, she tried to pick up her last fallen book. Yet, strangely, it moved forward away from the train lines like it was coated in butter. “What the Tartarus...hey!” she couldn’t see the magical aura that moved the book away from her, leading her between the two columns.

This time, when Wildfire reached for her book, it did not move, but, as she went to pick it up, she heard a different sound. A sound that chilled her very soul. A sound she had only heard for the past month in her nightmares. She heard the sound of two hooves tapping rhythmically on the floor. As soon as she heard it, she froze, the book in her hoof. “Wh-Who's there...no, no it can't be…it can’t be, it just can’t!”

“Just me, dear.” Autumn Leaves said, still affecting her ‘Fall Foliage persona. After she giggled though, she dropped the façade. The next time she spoke, it was in her cold, heartless tone. “But I guess a disguise is wasted on you.” She stepped up to Wildfire’s front as the little mare stuffed the fallen book in her bag. “I don't know how a wretched little nopony like you did it, but I'm glad I was out that day.”

“Au-Autumn!” Wildfire squeaked, her ears slicked back to her head in fear, “N-No, no...Dusk said you were all in prison. Y-You can't be here!”

When Autumn Leaves cast her next spell, she glued Thirteen’s hooves to the floor. It was a spell she had cast many, many times in the past, on all kinds of different property when it needed punishing. Smiling sweetly, she then levitated Boris from her saddlebag and she held it under its muzzle so that it could smell the bullwhip. “Dusk?” she sneered, “That prissy prince. I knew it was bad news when he visited.”

“Autumn p-please...please d-don't hurt me!” Wildfire panicked, every single shred of her previous good mood evaporating in an instant of realised terror as she tried to move. With the magic keeping her on the ground as sure as if she were part of it, her attempts were futile. She even flapped her wings hard, but she got nothing.

“Hurt you?” Autumn Leaves asked in a faux shocked tone, “Me, sweet Autumn, who would tuck you safely in your box at night?”

The mention of the box, that three foot by two foot instrument of torture and misery, made her shake and tremble. “St-Stop it...not the box, please!” she shook her head and began breathing heavily. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening, but, it was. Autumn was here.

“But you loved the box.” Autumn Leaves said, her tone laced with sickly sweetness. She stepped so close to her quivering prey that she saw her breath move her yellow fur. She knew she could feel her breath. “I would come so hard when I heard you shouting out in ecstasy.”

Wildfire, accepting that this was not a dream and it was happening, was trembling in fear. “I-I didn't!” she squeaked, “pl-please...I'll do anything, n-not the box Autumn please, I can't, I just can't!”

Curiously, Autumn Leaves ran her hoof all along the leading edge of Thirteen’s left wing. She could see immediately that it had been repaired. No evidence of her exquisite art remained. That just wouldn’t do! “That must’ve cost a lot of bits. I see the scars are still there, but the bones are well knitted.” As she spoke, her curiosity sated, she laid Boris heavily across her small back. “You have enough bits to fix them again?”

Glued to the floor, poor Wildfire was quivering so hard, had she not been magically pinned down, she would’ve collapsed. In the back of her mind, familiar memory kicked in and she spread her wings wide like she had been taught in the care home, “A-Autumn, M-Ms Leaves, pl-please...I'll do anything...a-anything...please, not my wings, not again, please…”

Wildfire’s pleading fell on deaf, uncaring ears. “Scream for me, Thirteen. It makes me wet when you scream.”

What was before a mere memory was now a vivid flashback, she was in the home, her first day. Amethyst Glory had thrown her into cell thirteen. That number had been hers, throughout her incarceration. Now, it was like she had never left. “Yes Ms. Leaves.” The blind mare even bowed, bending her forelegs as much as she could.

“Scream!”

“AAaaaAAAAARGH!”

Holding her whip in her hooves, Autumn Leaves struggled to not moan as she felt herself get very wet indeed. If this was to be her last day, she was going to enjoy it. She pressed the whip to her prey’s lips. Oh, good! Hmm yes, very good filly. You may kiss the instrument of your instruction.” She held Boris there in place. “Nopony outside my little bubble will hear you. And with that MiAC bag sticking out of your saddlebag, everypony will know you're a kinky mare and leave us alone!”

While the dull orange unicorn giggled madly, Wildfire immediately kissed the whip. She didn’t just kiss it. She kissed it like one kisses a lover. Just like that, she was back where she belonged. “Instruct me, Ms. Leaves.” In her mind, she could smell Amethyst Glory’s office, she could feel the wood of the box, the marble on the floor. She was home.

Stood inside her sound-proofed bubble, Autumn Leaves laughed maniacally. This was so much fun! “Instruct you I will, filly. You're going to wish it was Lotus doing the instructing.” Without warning, she raised her hoof and she struck her hard, backhoofing the blind pegasus across her jaw. “Your shadows aren’t here to save you now.”

“OoooOOW!” Wildfire wailed, her head snapping to the side with the force of the blow. Had Lotus hit her, she’d have a broken jaw by now. She knew what to do, as she felt blood trickle from the side of her mouth and her cheek swell up, she said, “Th-Thank you Ms. Leaves.”

Autumn Leaves though, was not satisfied. “Not loud enough!” with that, she struck her a second time, this time backhoofing her from the other side, making the other side of her face swell as a bruise began to appear under the yellow fur.

“AaaaAAARGH!” Wildfire screamed and hung her head. “Stop...please stop...I'll be good!”

“Stop?” Autumn Leaves cast a glance about. She was safely in the blind spot from the security cameras and, as there was no noise escaping her bubble, no guards or police were bothering her. Two passers-by had stopped to watch, but they assumed it was a show. “I'm having fun. Aren't you having fun?” She picked up her whip in her hoof, foregoing her magic.

“AAAH!” Wildfire shrieked in sheer terror when she heard the crack of the bullwhip. She was so terrified, she actually wet herself, her urine spattering on the floor between her hind legs. “Yes!”

Smiling sadistically, Autumn Leaves took aim and she let fly with Boris. The whip sang through the air, leaving an angry red welt and some bleeding over Wildfire’s left cutie mark, just above the flames. “AaaAAAIIIIIE! Th-Thank you!” she smelled the blood, her blood, and she was further taken back in time, to the times when her hide would be whipped raw just for fun. “Punish me!” A perverse part of her wanted this. A dark part needed this.

“I will,” Autumn Leaves snarled, “for you ran away from your home!” she aimed her whip again, and a vicious strike from Boris laid open her other cutie mark.

“Aaaah...AAAAH I-It wasn't my fault!” Wildfire screamed, pain ripping through her body. The blind mare’s head was properly screwed up now, she was getting flashes of the care home and of Vanhoover and the spanking she had taken there. She didn’t know which way was up at this point. “A-Airy...”

As soon as she whimpered the name, Boris’s coils whipped hard across her face, opening up her cheek. “I told you, your shadow isn't here!” Autumn Leaves smirked. As those few watching were now applauding her! Idly she wondered if she could whip the scarred flesh from her face, open her empty eyes right up before she killed her.

“GAAAAH!” she screamed ever louder, though not a peep left the bubble. Shivering in panic, she shook her head, trying to clear it of its pain induced fog. “Airy!”

Without warning, the dull orange unicorn casually flicked Boris, the vicious bullwhip striking Wildfire’s body where her left wing met her barrel. “Shout her name again!” she screeched, lashing out and whipping the wing until she heard the bone snap. Celestia she adored that sound. “She might be sleeping.”

Wildfire actually howled with the pain, sounding like an animal caught in a spring loaded trap. With her wing hanging limp, her flashbacks flit from the care home to the Dungeon. She didn’t know right then where she was. “Celery! M-Mistress, Celery! H-Heeeeeelp!”

Autumn Leaves laughed cruelly. She was almost at the point of orgasm. “You always did love your celery. I wish I had some to stuff in your mouth. Maybe I’ll coat some in dog food and make you eat it while a Punisher rapes your worthless hole! Maybe I won't kill you so I can surprise you again!” Boris, held in her hoof, sang out yet again, the whip landing on target and cracking her right wing this time. “Yell for your other shadow, maybe she is awake.”

“AAAAARGH! OOOW! OOOOOOOOW!” Wildfire screamed and screamed, the flashbacks she was experiencing in her head were flitting all over the place now, from the home, to the dungeon, the home, Amethyst, Mapper, until one word entered her head at long last.

One word.

A word she had been named by one who loved her.

She knew this word. It was her word.

“Wildflower.”

“Idiot!” Autumn Leaves took Boris’s coils in her magical aura and she slapped her prey’s muzzle hard, hard enough to send blood spurting from her mouth and nose. The blow was not hard enough to break the military grade headset she wore. “That isn't her name!” She knew from her week of stalking all their names, where they worked and their routines. She knew she was safe in her window of opportunity.

What Autumn Leaves did not know was, at that very moment, was that thanks to the use of the code word, a signal was sent simultaneously to four cell phones. Airmail, Tempest, Mapper and Serenity were all alerted to the emergency call. All four were connected automatically to the open one-way call.

Her four herd-mates heard what happened next, just as the GPS tracker on their end began to beep, giving away Wildfire’s location. “AaaaAGH...W-Wildflower! H-Help...please help!” she cried the only way she could, sniffing loudly and miserably.

Autumn Leaves simply laughed, unaware that help had been mobilised, thanks to the face that anything incoming to Wildfire’s headset was muted so that only she could hear it. Smirking, she wondered if the stress of the assault had finally snapped her mind. “I have no flowers for you, bad pony.” She cracked her whip just above the base of her black tail, delighting at the fresh blood that appeared there.

Airmail was the first to respond. “Emergency!” she cried, the other three mares heard her response over the group call as she dived out of her office window. In no time, she had left the Manehatten Times building and she ignored the usual flight traffic system. “Tracking on GPS now.”

Mapper was the next to respond. “I'm downtown, at least twenty minutes out. I really should learn how to teleport.” Immediately upon getting the emergency call from her Pet and herd-mate, she had dropped what she was doing, leaving several disappointed foals and angry parents at her carnival stand.

“I'm about ten minutes out.” Serenity reported, her soft voice melodic even in the throes of the emergency. “Said bye to the director.” And she had, too. She had been in the middle of a rehearsal.

“I'm at home,” Tempest called in. “I’m on my way, about ten minutes too.”

Airmail, flying as fast as she could manage, weaving through the oncoming sky traffic with a deft skill, reported, “I'll be there in less than three.”

“Shout your other shadow's name!” Autumn Leaves demanded, waving the bloodied whip under Wildfire’s nose, smearing her own blood all over her mouth, forcing her to lick it clean.

“TEMPEST!” Wildfire screamed. She was at this moment beyond terror. As she experienced ever more lucid flashbacks, to the care home and to the present, She could see the home in her mind’s eye but she could hear Airmail in her hear. “I'm sorry!” Things, events and places, all began merging as she cried her sniffled cries. “Warden...please Warden...” she sniffed, “I'm sorry... h-help...help me!” she had the flash of a dream, real to her as the waking world. “Fireflight, come here sweetie!”

The dull orange mare surveyed her work. ‘She’s lost it,’ she thought with an uncaring, heartless smile. She herself was reminded of the times the Punishers would use its body. She had loved holding her down for that. Those times when she had masturbated along to her frightened, pained screams as she watched them rape her had been her most powerful orgams ever.

How she missed those days. The kindest thing would be to kill her now. Her prey was gone. Snapped. However, she was not kind. She cracked her whip against her exposed chest, once, twice, three times. “Who in Tartarus is Fireflight?” she demanded.

“AAAaaaaaAAAGH...m-my f-filly, Warden!” Wildfire experienced more flashbacks as the whip opened up deep bleeding wounds on her chest. “Airy! AAAAIIIIRY!”

As she flew ever closer, Airmail could hear her fiancé scream out her name. she had only ever heard Wildfire scream like that once before, when she had been suspended upside down in Caffeinated’s Dungeon during Luna’s test. She had prayed that she would never hear the like of those screams again. Each utterance of her name made her fly faster and faster. “She's underground, subway station.”

“On subway,” Mapper replied curtly, “still fifteen minutes out.”

“On subway at least five minutes.” Serenity commented, wishing her train would go faster.

“Crossing Manehatten,” Tempest reported, “I’m still three minutes away.”

Airmail made her decision. “Can't wait, going in.”

Wildfire could hear the chatter in her headset. She heard it, but she didn’t know enough to believe it. She had been fooled before. For all she knew, this was just another trick, a game at her expense, Autumn’s way to extend the torture. She didn’t care any longer. She whimpered, very pathetically, “Airy...love...please help me…”

Autumn Leaves laughed her high, cruel laugh. A laugh that came straight from Amethyst Glory herself. “Your ‘love’ can't save you now.” She flicked her whip yet again, this time it hit Wildfire’s right wing, the bone breaking with an audible snapping sound. “Nopony is coming for you, Thirteen.” She readied Boris for one for strike, this one aimed at her scarred face. “I’m going to open your face. Then, I’m going to kill you.”

Airmail, who was still airborne when she entered the platform, heard Wildfire’s pathetic whimper. It cut her deeper than hearing her fiancé scream. “AAaaaAAGH!” she heard the scream. She saw the magical bubble between the two wide columns. “BUUUUUCK! BUUCK! M-My wing!”

Autumn Leaves shuddered as she came. Her prey’s pained anguished scream sending over her edge of her orgasm. “Oh, oh I am so sorry, that was my fault. Let me give you a matching set.” As she readied her whip, she saw, out of the corner of her eye, a rapidly approaching azure blue blur.

The last thing she saw was a pair of dead brown eyes.

Banking around the first column, Airmail saw her target. At fifty miles per hour, she plowed into the magical bubble, her forehooves outstretched. At fifty miles per hour she connected, in the process she actually clipped Wildfire’s head with her belly as she went straight for her target.

With a sickeningly loud crunch, Autumn Leaves had her head spun a complete three hundred and sixty degrees. Her neck broken, she was dead before she knew what had hit her. As Airmail’s hind hooves hit the wall, leaving little craters from the sheer force of the impact in their wake, the dead unicorn tottered, teetered, and fell.

There was no Applewood-style heroic monologue. This wasn’t that kind of movie.

With a dull, almost extremely mundane thud, Autumn Leaves, the last of the Wardens from Helping Hooves care home, hit the ground. Utterly and completely dead, her glassy vacant eyes staring, frozen in a look of shock and surprise.

Wildfire, realising that her hooves were suddenly unstuck from the floor, immediately made a loud yelping noise and she huddled on the floor, trembling and crying from the intense agonising pain in both of her wings. She was expecting the death blow at any second. “Warden I'm sorry!” she squeaked pathetically, “I'll be good! I promise I'll be good!”

Seconds later, as Airmail moved to wrap her quivering wreck of a fiancé in a feathery hug, there came the sound of police whistles as they and the security guards gave chase to the pegasus that jumped the turnstile. “I have you love,” Airmail whispered, ignoring the whistles and approaching galloping hooves, “I'm here.”

“No!” Wildfire screamed, suddenly she was wrestling against the hug with a vigour, smearing her blood on Airmail’s blue coat. “You're her! You're tricking me!”

Several things happened at once. A Manehatten police stallion had his weapon drawn. “Freeze!” He took in the chaos of the scene before him, looking from Autumn Leaves’ dead body, neck twisted all the way around, to Airmail and finally to the grievously wounded Wildfire.

Tempest, at that point, galloped onto the platform, very badly winded she struggled to speak. “Ca-Ca-Calm down, officer. I'm Major Tempest, First Weather Battalion, and I can help you with all that.”

On the ground, Wildfire was no longer struggling against Airmail’s hug, but she still didn’t know who was who, or what was happening, or where she was. “T-Tempest? A-Airy...that's really you?”

Tempest though, for the moment only had eyes for the police unicorn and his partner that had just turned up on the scene. “That is Airmail, lead editor of the Manehatten Times and her fiancé, Wildfire, who is badly injured. Once again, I'm Major Tempest, with the Manehatten weather service.”

The police stallions shared a look between each other. They couldn’t have had much more high profile ponies on their hooves except the mayor himself. “And that one?” the first officer pointed his weapon at Autumn Leaves.

Now, finally, Tempest also glanced down. She saw the nasty bulge in her neck, her body at an odd angle to her head and the blood that was pooling out of her mouth around her head. “Looking at her neck, I'd say that one is dead.”

The police officer turned his attention to Airmail. “She will have to come with us, ma’am.”

Knowing full well she had to act, Tempest moved next to Airmail and she carefully took hold of Wildfire’s bleeding little body. She hated having to use this authoritative voice. “Stand down, Airmail.”

As Tempest commanded her lover and herd-mate, Serenity arrived, stepping off the train that had just arrived. She immediately took in the scene and weighed up the options, which weren’t many. “I will go with Airy. Mistress should be here soon and can go with Middle Pet and Stormy.”

Airmail didn’t see the members of her herd. Or the very confused police who were now confronted with a very, very famous opera singer on the scene. She was still holding her fiancé. “No!”

“Yes,” Tempest insisted. “Mission is complete, you will go with Serenity and the police officers.”

“What...What's happening?” Wildfire questioned, fear and pain rife in her voice. Ponies she knew, or thought she knew, were all around her. Smells, sounds and sensations were overloading her senses to the point she couldn’t trust herself. “Au-Autumn...it was Autumn! She was here!” she tried to get up from the floor, but her legs wouldn’t respond. “Wh-What's happening‽”

Airmail shook her head. “I'm staying with Wily.”

“No,” Tempest stomped her hoof into the platform’s surface as Mapper arrived. “Mapper and I will stay with Wily. I would also call your lawyer, Dusk.”

Airmail still had that dead look on her face. “Stormy...”

Again, Tempest stomped her hoof. “I said, stand down!”

“Stand down, please, Ms. Airmail.” Serenity interjected, giving her recently arrived wife and Mistress a brief explanation of the events through the mental link they shared with each other.

Wildfire was in real danger of retreating back inside herself. “I ran away...she punished me for running away…” she shook her head in an attempt to clear it. “A-Airy...you came,” she smiled a shaky smile. “You saved me!” she gave up trying to stand and she slumped on the floor.

The second police pony gradually lowered his weapon once he realised there wasn’t going to be any trouble. He glanced at Autumn Leaves’ body. “This one is dead. She has a bull whip. Those are whip injuries if ever I saw them.”

The first police unicorn nodded at Wildfire. “We can sort this out at the station.”

As Airmail showed absolutely no sign of letting go of Wildfire’s injured body, Mapper decided to take action. Said action was to hoist her bodily into the air and to deliver a very stiff, very well-aimed slap straight across her herd-mate’s face. Airmail's head rocked back from the force of Mapper's hoof. “You will go with the police and I will guard Wildfire. She doesn't want to marry you in a jail cell.” In response, Airmail gave Mapper a cold dead look. The pink unicorn just laughed. “Sorry, death no longer scares me, Airy.”

“For the last time, Colonel, stand down.” Tempest ordered.

Airmail was silent for several long seconds before she broke down crying. Quick as a flash, Serenity wrapped the distraught pony up in a very tight hug. “You can always beat me up,” the teal mare offered, in all genuine seriousness. “I've often wondered how my own death would taste.”

“Airy...Airy where are you?” Wildfire blindly reached out to try and find her fiancé, missing the warmth of her body beside her. She got nothing but air. “I can hear you, where are you?”

Airmail took her lover’s hoof in her own. “I'm sorry Wily, but I have to leave you with Stormy and Mapper. Forgive me?”

Wildfire squeezed the hoof she held. “I forgive you, love.”

As a team of paramedics arrived on the subway platform, summoned by the police officers, Mapper nodded to her wife. She then caressed Wildfire’s black mane. “Good Pet.” The pink mare then cast a glance over her wounds. She admired her Pet for using her safe word. “Now, trot off with the nice officers, Airy, and we'll go with Pet to which hospital?” she asked the first paramedic, a cream earth pony.

“North Park, Ma’am.” She responded, looking over Wildfire and performing a visual assessment. Didn’t take a genius to see both wings were broken.

“That is acceptable.”

The cream coloured paramedic simply rolled her eyes as she administered an injection to the base of Wildfire’s broken wings, the sharp needle going directly into the back of her flight muscles in order to kill the pain she knew she must be experiencing. “I need to immobilise your wings.”

At the mere mention of immobilising her wings, Wildfire freaked out. She lost herself so badly that in sheer panic she urinated again on the platform. “Not the box! Please! I said I'll be good!”

As Airmail made to return to her fiancé, Tempest shook her head and she whispered in Wildfire’s ear. “I will keep you from the box. Your wings are broken, so they are going to put them in a sling so you don't break them anymore. Be brave, my Wildflower.”

Wildfire sniffed loudly. “O-Okay Mistress...I, I-I'm scared!”

Tempest lovingly kissed Wildfire’s ear. “I love you and those that love you are here. We are herd, Wily.” As Tempest worked to calm Wildfire down, the two police officers and Serenity led Airmail off of the platform and out of the subway station while the security guards kept the rubberneckers at bay.

“Being scared is okay, Middle Pet.” Mapper said in an unusually kind and gentle voice as the paramedics carefully moved Wildfire onto a stretcher. “It helps to keep us alive.”

Wildfire was still elsewhere, as far as her mind was concerned. “She tricked me...Dusk...he lied! He said they were being punished!” Moments later, once another team of paramedics had removed Autumn Leaves’ body, the stretcher team arrived to take Wildfire out of the subway station. However, as soon as she was moved, the traumatised yellow mare had another freak out. “I can't! I won't! Please...no hospital, please!”

Hospital, for her, meant Doctor Mindbender. Being sent to him was a far worse torture than anything Amethyst Glory had ever subjected her to. Inmates that he ‘treated’ didn’t come back the same. She had lost three friends to him over her five years in the care home.

Again, it fell to Tempest to try and bring her herd-mate back to the present. Loudly, though it saddened her greatly to do so, she declared. “Your wings are broken and you're bleeding. You need to get fixed and Luna is not coming for you this time!”

Wildfire shook her head. They didn’t get it. She had to make them see! “Y-You don't understand!” she sniffed, her ears slicked back in abject terror, “Mi-M-Mindbender...h-he plays with the patients!”

Though it cut her to her heart as neatly as if a dagger had been thrust in her chest, Tempest inhaled, ready to start her ‘Stormy’ tirade, when Mapper bopped her on the nose. Glaring very sharp, pointy steak knives at the unicorn, Tempest nonetheless remained silent. Satisfied, for the moment that Hurricane Tempest had been averted, Mapper turned her full ‘Mistress’ persona to Wildfire. “Pet!” It was a voice not to be denied. “Silence!”

Unfortunately, Wildfire’s mind was still a bag of cats from the whole experience. It was like she recognised Mapper’s voice but at the same time she didn’t recognise her at all. She knew she was her Mistress but that Amethyst was her owner. It was an inward struggle that righ then, she was losing, badly. “Am-Amethyst...Miss Glory...please don't hurt me! I tried to be good, I swear!”

Without warning, Mapper landed a backhoofed slap across Wildfire’s muzzle, spraying blood over one of the paramedics. “I said silence, Pet!” Said paramedic just stared as the others looked on with the stretcher. Immediately, the yellow mare quietened down, grovelling on her belly on the stretcher, breathing deep breaths with a relaxed smile on her face. “You will remain silent until I give you permission to speak!”

Mapper, once she was sure her lover, her herd-mate and her Pet was under some semblance of control, she gestured for the medics to take her. She had not wanted to strike her, but with Wildfire in the condition mentally that she was in, drastic measures were called for. Mapper knew she had to be the Mistress that Wildfire needed, as opposed to the one she was afraid of. “I will be with you. Stormy, you will fly cover.”

Tempest sighed, for she could see Wildfire of that Thursday on the stretcher, not the Wildfire of today. Still, by now, she had her violent temper back under control. Before she took off, the violet weather mare nuzzled her herd-mate’s ear and she whispered, “You are loved and Airy will love you always.”

“I am here, Pet.” As the medical ponies picked up the stretcher, Mapper flicked her brown tail over Wildfire's muzzle. “And I am watching you.”

Wildfire understood. She laid perfectly still on the stretcher, offering up no resistance whatsoever as she was carried away from the platform and the few watching ponies who had been taking Facetube videos in spite of the guard’s best efforts. ‘Ooooh...’ she thought, feeling instinctively safer now regardless of her injuries and the pain she was in. ‘I'm with my Mistress!’ that thought alone made her sigh happily and her breathing was unhurried. ‘Mistress knows best.’

Flying alongside the little party as they left the subway station, Tempest said nothing, but the look on her face literally screamed that she wasn't happy. Mapper chose to say nothing, and she didn't care one little bit how Tempest felt. Right now, her responsibility was to Wildfire. When they arrived at the waiting ambulance, Mapper declared, “I am riding in the back.”

The cream coloured earth pony mare was in no mood to argue with the dominant unicorn. “Yes ma'am.” As she opened up the back doors to admit the injured pegasus, Mapper flicked her ears. Reading the silent message, Tempest accelerated, flying on to North Park Hospital.

Wildfire, as she was placed in the back of the ambulance, knew better than to say or do anything without permission. Instead, she laid absolutely still, so still that for all purposes, she could have been a statue with her ears slicked back. Thankfully, as it turned out, it isn't a long ride to North Park Hospital.

In the ambulance, Mapper knew she had to do something, say something. Anything, lest Wildfire sink ever deeper into the mental pit she knew she was on the precipice of. “They do love you, even I love you, but you're not in the right place right now. So, I'm going to keep you where you're at right now. You may say, ‘Thank you, Mistress’.”

When Wildfire spoke, her voice made Mapper want to cry. Her voice, Canterlot accent and all, sounded very much like it had way back on that fateful Thursday when she had walked around her at Caffeinated’s ranch at the BDSM party and she had asked why this mare would interest her. “Thank you, Mistress.”

“Good Pet.” Mapper was amazed that she had been able to say that. It was taking all of her effort to not choke on her words. It didn’t do, after all, for the Mistress to cry. That would come later, when she was with Serenity and nopony else. To distract herself from her own roiling emotions, she lightly petted Wildfire’s black mane.

Not much more than twenty minutes later, especially with the blues and twos on full, the ambulance pulled in to the hospital, where Tempest was waiting, having arrived before them. Mapper disembarked first and, after waiting for the medics to take Wildfire out, they both followed their stricken herd-mate inside. Quickly, the cream earth pony paramedic spoke to a straw coloured nurse. “Broken Humerus, left and right wing. Severe lacerations to the flanks and the chest.”

The nurse, who had been expecting them, directed them to an empty room. “Room seven,” she then addressed Mapper and Tempest. “You two...”

Mapper cut across her. “Are herd and we are going in.”

Tempest nodded. “What she said.”

On the stretcher, as she was transferred to the vacant room, Wildfire smiled, very happy that just by doing as she was ordered, she was making her Mistress happy. ‘I made Mistress happy! I'm a good Pet!’ she thought careful not to speak. She did however let out a scared little whimper when the word 'room' was mentioned.

“You may give her a local anaesthetic,” Mapper said to the waiting earth pony doctor once they were in Room seven, “But you may not put her under.” She was aware of her herd-mate’s anxiety and stress, she didn’t wish to make it worse.

The doctor, a late middle aged stallion with a dark green coat and pink mane and a beard as white as the coat he wore, was confused at this. “But with these injurie...”

“She holds state secrets and may not be put under.” Mapper stated in her best ‘Mistress’ tone, the tone that would countenance no argument, “I'm here to observe. Major Tempest is here in case she does say something.” Tempest, wisely, chose not to question what Mapper had said. After the pink mare sent some ear flicks her way, she simply nodded at the doctor.

The doctor, seemingly convinced, nodded with a shrug of his shoulders. “Nurse,” he addressed the straw coloured mare, “I'm going to need lots of Lidocaine.” As the nurse obliged and filled the necessary syringes, the doctor took a moment to look over his patient. Wildfire, with her broken wings and all her wounds, was laid still on the stretcher, her whole aspect cowed and truly submissive.

“You will feel pressure on your wings.” Taking the first syringe from his nurse, the doctor first injected the little mare’s wings. “Now, your flanks.”

“Aaaaah...” Wildfire hissed in pain as the needles went in, her tail hiking upwards provocatively with each one of the several injections. “Th-thank you, Mistress.” Like a good Pet, she thanked her owner for her pain, like she had been taught.

Quietly, Mapper petted her mane, but said nothing. She didn’t trust herself to say anything. Instead, she just watched while the doctor removed the air splint that was immobilising and supporting Wildfire’s wings. “Looks like blunt force trauma,” he reported what he saw. “Clean break. Eight inch splint and collar cast, nurse.”

It didn’t take very long for the nurse to prep the items. The two worked together to fit the collar cast that went snugly around the broken wing bones but it was designed so that it had slots for the feathers so the wing didn't have to be plucked. Wildfire’s breathing intensified slightly, as her wings were manipulated into the casts. She was on the verge of panic, but thankfully her Mistress's hoof was there to comfort her.

Watching, Tempest noted that with each hiss of pain, Wildfire hiked up her tail. She performed some ear flicks and, reading them, Mapper replied with some flicks of her own. While Tempest looked grim, it took about thirty minutes to set the cast. “Okay, now for these lacerations. Hmm, number eight thread, it looks like about forty stiches for each.”

Mapper asked, “Will she have scars doctor?”

The doctor shook his head. “No, ma’am, they should heal scare free.”

“That is fine,” Mapper said as she watched him carefully clean each wound in preparation for the stitches. “Please continue, doctor.”

When Wildfire heard her Mistress give the doctor the go ahead to start stitching her up, Wildfire had been expecting the usual pain that came with it. That was how it worked. However, with the local anaesthetic, she couldn't feel anything other than a slight pulling of her skin. This just served to confuse her even more than she already was, as there was supposed to be pain. “Huh...why...why isn't it hurting? There's sup…”

With a hint of irritation on her face, Mapper pressed down on Wildfire’s muzzle with her hoof, effectively silencing the yellow mare as the doctor sewed her up. “Did I give you permission to speak?” she asked, ice in her voice.

Wildfire squeaked, “No Mistress!”

Tempest hid her tears well. “She didn't say anything of consequence.” But what she had said cut the violet weather pony to her soul.

Mapper nodded. “One can't be too careful.” She kept her hoof in place on Wildfire’s muzzle until the stitches were completed, which took another thirty minutes. Wildfire, having been admonished once already, laid silent while the medics worked. She was utterly, completely, confused. She was moving her head right to left, sniffing and listening trying to work out who was where. Once the doctor had finished, he proceeded to check her for other injuries. She let out a frightened little whimper and, as the stallion felt her body, she raised up her tail high, her ears back.

Just like she had been taught. Mapper saw this at once and she sympathetically petted her mane. “You are a good Pet.”

Wildfire nodded and, with every slow motion of Mapper’s hoof as it stroked her mane, she let out a little cooing noise. She even went so far as to nuzzle her Mistress’s hoof but she didn't speak. This was mostly due to her mental state right then. She had been granted the pain, her tail was up high, so why wasn’t the doctor raping her?

That was how it worked.

“There’s some bruising, but that takes care of the major wounds.” The doctor confirmed as he stepped away from his patient, extremely curious as to her odd behaviour. She didn’t smell like she was in heat, after all.

Tempest, impatient at being still and forcefully calm for an hour, asked, “When will you release her?”

“As long as there is no infection, morning after next.”

Wednesday morning was good enough for Tempest. “One of us will be with her at all times due to what she knows. A seating pad will be adequate. Can she please have a private room?”

At that, the doctor looked at the straw coloured nurse who quickly shook her head. “Sorry ma’am, but that won't be possible, we can put her in a room alone, but you can't tell when the other bed will be needed.”

Mapper spoke up before Tempest and her temper had a chance. “That is adequate, doctor. Thank you for your service.” The doctor and the nurse both moved Wildfire over to a vacant two pony room, where they easily transferred her to the bed and made sure she was as comfortable as she could be before taking their leave. Tempest followed, carrying her saddlebags with the MiAC purchases inside. “Where are you, Pet?” Mapper asked, her eyes narrowed.

“I...I...I'm in Doctor Mindbender's surgery, Miss Glory.” Wildfire answered, but with each spoken word, she was more and more unsure of herself. “Miss Leaves has punished me for running away...” she had her head cocked to one side in thought. “But...but it doesn't smell right...I...I don't know!”

Quickly, Mapper raised a hoof before Tempest could say anything. Even she could tell that Wildfire was as scrambled as her breakfast that morning. In lieu of speech, she did a series of ear flicks and, without argument, the violet pegasus nodded before leaving the room. “You are a naughty Pet,? Mapper asked harshly. She knew this was what her herd-mate needed, right then and there.

“Miss Leaves said I was naughty slave, Miss Glory.” Wildfire answered, “She had to punish a naughty slave.”

Mapper did her very best to keep her voice even and collected. “I once heard a pony say that all ponies are bad ponies.”

“As you say, Miss Glory.”

“You are still not worthy enough to be my slave.”

This just served to confuse the poor mentally scrambled mare even further. “But...but why? I've been good! I've done everything you ordered, Mistress!” pitifully, she shook her head. This, something about all of this, just wasn’t right! It wasn’t right but she didn’t know why it wasn’t right. “M-Mistress...what's happening?”

“Enough Pet, you may now sleep.” The dominant part of Mapper commanded her Middle Pet. However, deep inside her core, the loving, caring, sensitive pony was crying so hard she thought her soul would break under the strain. Still, she had to keep up the act, just a little longer, for her herd-mate’s well-being. “As punishment, you will have to sleep in this bed.”

“But...” Wildfire sounded so very, very scared. “Th-The smells, the sounds, it's wrong! What's happening? I...I'm scared Mistress!”

Mapper laughed, that harsh ‘Mistress’ laugh. “All part of your punishment, my naughty Pet.”

“I...yes Mistress,” Wildfire sighed, now she had it all laid out for her by her Mistress, she was at once sounding all calm and submissive again. “Thank you for my punishment, Mistress.”

“You have earned it, my Pet.” Mapper stated before taking the vacant seating pad by the bed while Wildfire, with a very serene smile on her face, laid back on the hospital bed, the sheets drawn up over her body.

Out in the hallway, where she could not be overheard by Wildfire, Tempest was busy carrying out Mapper’s instruction. Thankfully, the pony she had dialled answered on the second ring. “Yeah, it's me, Requiem…No, things are really screwed up. Wily was attacked in the subway. One of those Tartarus-forsaken ponies from the home…Yeah, they missed one.”

Tempest sighed as Requiem made the same outraged noises that she had felt like making. “Her head...she is...she is worse than she was on day one when we met her.” Tempest explained, very grateful when Requiem offered her psychiatric services. “Yeah, can you squeeze her in? I know, I know, we’re herd. We are at North Park Hospital and she really freaked about that. Maps has her in total lock down in ‘Pet mode’. Yeah, room 534 on the fifth floor. Okay, see you when you can get here.”

“Airy?” Tempest responded to what Requiem asked next. “Yeah about that. She killed the pony that did this to Wily. She’s at the police station, but she is with Serenity. Yeah, Maps is in contact with her. Yeah, I wanted to, but Maps has kept me on an even keel. Thanks, bye.”

By the time Tempest had hung up and walked back into the room, Wildfire was asleep and snoring in the bed, the poor blind mare curled up in a foetal position just like she used to adopt at the care home, though she had a happy smile on her face. Tempest caught Mapper’s eye and she flicked her ears.

“Yes,” Mapper sighed despondently as she wiped her rather wet eyes with the back of her foreleg. “Wily is sleeping and she is really screwed up in the head.”

Tempest took the second empty seating pad next to her lover and herd-mate. Her voice sounded as heavy as her soul felt. “Requiem will be by this evening after her show.”

Mapper understood the sound of her herd-mate’s voice. She felt exactly the same. “Ser says they have Airy in a holding cell while they review the security cameras. She is also giving out autographs to those who ask. So far she’s given out twenty.”

“How long will they keep her?”

Mapper ignored Tempest’s eye roll. “It has been a few years since she killed a pony, so I'd say at least overnight.” She couldn’t ignore Tempest’s deep heartfelt sigh. Wrapping her foreleg around the violet mare’s shoulder, she pulled her into a tight hug. She was so very pleased when the hug was reciprocated. Mapper was even more pleased when Tempest began crying. It meant they couldn’t tell whose sobs belonged to who.

~ ~ ~