Joy Ride frowned. He had wandered into a completely unfamiliar part of the Society’s upper dungeons. He had lost his friends when he got distracted playing the spank-a-mole game at the Edge Arcade. He realized he must have wandered into one of the many sub-districts when he noticed how there was an artificial sunset sky above complete with wandering clouds instead of the usual lofty cavern ceiling.

It almost looked like a replica of that town on the surface, whotsname, ‘Ponyville’. A circular arrangement of shops and streets surrounded an idyllic central park. But what struck Joy Ride the most was the doms and subs populating the area. Their relationships were a lot less of the strict Master-slave relationship he was used to seeing in the rest of the Society and more….snuggle-cuddles and playful teasings. He watched as one Mistress threw a frisbee for her earth pony sub to run and catch. A Master and Mistress couple sat on a bench, tossing bread crumbs to their two pegasi subs. He couldn’t walk ten steps without coming across a collared sub giving him pleading eyes out of a cardboard box labelled ‘Abandoned pet’. A stage in the middle of the park was dressed up in festive tack with a banner that read ‘Pet Town Pet Show’.

Any other day he would have turned around and walked out back into the upper dungeon’s main thoroughfare. But that day he felt particularly adventurous. He walked on, stopping to window-browse a pet store showcasing award-winning blue ribbon pet subs, eyeing pet catchers carrying an errant pet into the local pound/adoption center, before watching a pair of pegasi subs giggle and splash in a giant pegasus-size bird bath.

His wandering came to a sudden stop when his eyes were drawn to a wondrous sight. He found himself in the Pet Town Aviary, a collection of giant bird cages containing pegasi subs in various stages of preening, eating from bird feeders and splashing in bird baths. But he paid them no attention. No, his eyes were locked upon a sight out of some divine vision. It was a golden cage suspended in the air. Within was a butter-cream pegasus mare with a silky pink mane the colour of a wispy sunrise. She seemed to notice him staring as she paused midway through her preening, no doubt making herself presentable for her Master or Mistress. She gazed down at him from her perch, her look somehow both innocent and mischievous at the same time, a look that screamed ‘You will love me’.

He gulped. Hard. He imagined himself being her lucky Master, opening her cage, having her flutter down into his arms to nuzzle against his chest as he petted her lovingly. He’d feed her cookie crumbs as she sang for him in his lap. He’d brush her fur as she lounged happily in his hold. He’d…

That was when he noticed her collar. His heart fell. She had a black collar, no studs, complete with a personal padlock. Not only was she not free-use, she had an owner. He bit his lip as he silently cursed the lucky bastard and his own luck.

He gave a resigned little sigh before giving the beautiful goddess in her golden cage a little smile and a wave. The songbird returned his smile in kind before raising her voice in birdsong, the most beautiful birdsong he had ever heard. It spoke of love, of belonging, of happiness in finding one’s place.

With the song in his heart and a silly smile on his face, he wandered on. Though he did stop at the pet adoption center….