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// Chapter Two: A Filly's Introduction To Slavehood// Story: Sorry// by Normal//------------------------------//

	"S..slave?!" The words croak out, grating at my throat like sandpaper.

	That word kept pounding in my ears, over and over again. Slave...It can't be. This can't be happening. Rarity, I need you please, don't let this stallion...keep me. What's that rushing sound, why's it sound like water? My vison swims in the sound, drifting out far and then drawing close with sudden clarity for brief, so very brief, seconds. I felt my front hooves waver like jello underneath me.

	Am I dead? Is this all a dream?

	I see brown and tan swirls reach close to my face, punching me square in the muzzle.

	...And then nothing. Sweet nothing.

											~

	I awoke with a gasp, struggling for a single gulp of air. There. I drew in breath after life saving breath. Where was I though. Tiles, I could see the clean sheen of bathroom tiles. Tan and cream ones, a border of sea shell designs at the top. A bar obscures my vision and I draw back, but no, its just a shower curtain rod. I'm slowly feeling more awake, my desperate gulping of air has turned to small sips. 

	Then I become aware of another sensation. My whole body had just started the pin and needles sensation that I get when I sleep on the floor but something else could be felt underneath it. Something that was strong, kneading into my sides almost. I turn and look.

	My sides clench up, the air whooshing out of me as I remember. I remember why I feel so weak, why my throat burns. I remember why. Him. 

	I watched as a rust red, almost dirt brown hoof rubbed its way across my flank. Not even my daddy had washed me this way since I was a tiny foal, incapable of washing myself.

	"Hold still." He murmured.

	Hooves dug in deeper, gripping my flank in a vice. A whimper slips past my lips.

	"You better get used to this, slave. Things will be getting so much worse for you," His hoof left my sides, soon replaced by a cool sensation, "I want you awake for the evening. No more passing out if you value keeping that nub on your forehead."

	The whimper once more escaped from me, bubbles raising up from the water as my head slowly slips under the water. 

	"Slave, I give you permission to talk. Answer me, do you want to keep that nub of a horn? It's useless on you for anything other than appearance." 

	I let out a guttural scream  as the wash clothe was dropped on my flank. Not that such a small action caused me pain. No it was what his now empty hoof was digging into. The horn was the most sensitive part of a unicorn's body, especially in the body of a youth. When the magic is still growing, so much could be pent up, causing the slightest brush to cause  discomfort. So when I found his hoof pressing down on tip of my horn that was my only reaction. Pain like a hot poker, worse than the light from earlier was piercing through my head. 

	"...Plea...please... stop..."

	"If you wish me to stop will you do as I said. Do you want to keep this," His hoof applied more pressure, "Useless nub or not?" 

	"Please...Please stop..I want to keep it."

	I squeal as his hoof scratches along the base where the bony structure meets up with my flesh. I'm seeing red now, the pain making everything distant.

	"You'll have to specify what it is...otherwise-"

	"My horn! I want to keep it! please stop! It hurts so badly!"

	SMACK

	"Useless nub. Say it. A horn implies you actually have any magic flowing through it."

	SMACK

	"You do not get that dignity."

	The red in my vision was gone now, obscured instead by my tears.  I felt myself choke on the bath water, the warm liquid sucked down my throat as I hyperventilated. I felt myself grow close to the edge, the edge I now recongized as being the precipice right before I'd pass out.

	And then the water was gone, beneath me instead the cold of tile and the warmth of hooves on my chest, pumping. then the water was back, expelled from my throat. It puddled up beneath my head and I felt my eyes unglaze and focus. 

	He...he was right above me. I didn't even feel the motivation to move now. I could feel my life draining away, even after the water left my lungs. His eyes seemed oddly warm. A light color, close to chocolate brown. Though the warmth was lost when I noticed something else. No emotion seemed to be held there, not the bubbliness seen in Auntie Pinkie Pie's eyes, nor the energy in Scootaloo's. There was nothing in there, nothing reflected back, that I could recognize. And that scared me even more. 

	And then he move away, a simple sniff in my general direction. His back turned to me and I realized that he lacked the wings of a pegasus and the graceful horn of a unicorn. My captor, whoever he was, was an earth pony.

	"That will have to do for now slave, though I'm still dissatisfied with your answer. It also seems that bath did little to rid you of your smell."

	He stopped what he was doing, fishing the wash clothe out of the already draining tub, and glanced back at me. 

	"Since I still wish to train you tonight there are to be no more mishaps. That includes passing out, swallowing water until you choke, anything. Do you understand?"

	My head nods, numb to my surroundings, not even fully aware of his words, before I answer.

	"Please, just let me go. I promise I won't tell anyone. I just want to go home to my big sister...Please..."