Adopting / Adapting

by ThePizzaDeliveryPony

Chapter 2

PLEASE reread the first chapter if you have already read it. I have rewritten the story, and therefore, you will not understand what is going on unless you read from the beginning. i have provided dates of the updates to the first two chapters, if you had read it before today, you must now reread the first chapter.... I apologize for my stupidity.

Chapter 2: Updated 7/30/2012

A week…

Life was still hell after a week…

Life had actually gotten worse since the first night. The abuse had become more frequent. She was fed only enough to keep her alive. She cried herself to sleep every night, on the cold, hard, floor.

Then yesterday, she was told to fly, and she did. Now she had to go fulfill her purpose.

They were trying to steal from the Princesses’ gold vault, where they kept government funding. Her purpose was to do all the work.

_-_-_

Waking up this morning, sunlight was pouring in the room, but she still felt cold. The Sun had always helped her through rough times, giving her hope. Now it signified freedom for her, something she may never have again.

Sitting up off the hard floor, she stretches her wings along with the rest of her body. After a few pops, all her joints are back in place, and with a statisfied expression, she gets up off the floor and begins to walk across the room towards the door.

Midway to the door, she passes the bed with the still sleeping stallion laying on it. She stops and looks to him; he had yet to wake up, and was not looking healthy with no sustenance for his body. Sleep was good; however, this pony was getting far more than his need. If he didn’t wake up, he would die soon from starvation and dehydration. Summer didn’t think anypony else was concerned about the issue though, and she was not going to bring it up, for the fear of making them angry was larger than the fear of this stallion’s death.

Turning back towards the door, she began to trot again, continuing to think about that stallion. Would it be her fault that he died? Could she honestly say that the stallion’s death had nothing to do with her? She was the cause after all. She wasn’t a murderer, but she would be the root cause of his death, so what does that mean for her?

Suddenly finding herself at the door, her thoughts on the stallion in the bed were stopped. She had the same internal struggle every day she was here. Open the door, or don’t open the door? She knew that if she did not get out there, they would beat her like they had before… but they might just beat her anyway, and that’s why she always hesitated.

Finally accepting that going through the door did not guarantee a beating, but waiting would, she opens the door and goes through to find all three stallions looking at her. She cringed and looked down to the floor, trying to avoid their gaze.

After crossing the threshold, she closed the door, and sat down in front of it. Then, they began their day like usual.

“So nice of you to join us on this glorious morning your highness.” yelled Ricky sarcastically. Ricky stood up from the table, and walked across the room to the filly.

“M-…mmMorning Mr. Ricky, Mr. Caner, and Mr. Billy.” She had gotten beaten for not saying good morning to one or all of them. Doing it this way however, seemed to satisfy all parties.

Shuffling under the gaze of all three ponies, and in particular, Ricky’s, she was suddenly slapped across the face. She tumbled to the floor, and closed her eyes, she trying to brace for the blow she knew was coming next, however the next never came. Instead, she had one wing roughly pulled from her side and felt something cold grab onto the base of it.

Remaining still, she felt her wing drop to the ground as Ricky was finished with whatever he had to do.

“Open your eyes, and look at your present! You should appreciate all the trouble we went through to get it for you.” He said this in a way that seemed almost happy.

Sitting back up, and not looking at the ‘present’, she opened her mouth to say ‘thank you’ however, nothing came out. Her eyes went wide, and she looked back to her right wing. What she saw, she didn’t know how to react to... she didn’t know what it was.

It was a large metal bracelet, but it had engravings all over it, giving the impression it was jewelry instead of what it really was.

Looking back to Ricky, he had a wide grin on his face. “That’s a wing lock, it sets ya off balance when you try to fly. We had it enchanted to keep you from talkin’ as well. It’ll keep ya on the ground and from talking to other ponies. And you’ll have to come back, because I got the only key!”

Ricky turned and went back to the table. Sitting down, he picked up a piece of paper and crumpled it up. He threw it at the filly, and told her, “memorize that for tonight!”

Nodding, she folded her wing, as best she could, and walked around the room to her corner where she stayed when she was awake. Her walk was a little rough with the new weight, but she could get used to it.

Sitting down and un-crumpling the paper, she found that it had a message written on it.

If anything happens that isn’t part of the plan tonight, I will…

She read the rest, tears filling her eyes as she did so. It was violent, it was cruel, and it was the truth from what she could tell. It scared her; she knew ponies were capable of terrible things, but what this letter said was simply too explicit.

She knew there was going to be an end to all of this, and she did not want it to be what was on this paper, so she would do the job, and hopefully never have to see what was written there come to fruition.

…She memorized the paper like she was told…

_-_-_

The first time in a week that Summer was able to go outside, and it was with an escort of three ponies who would kill her if she so much as stepped in a puddle.

It was not the most comfortable walk, nor was it the shortest. The group made its way across Canterlot to the tallest tower of the palace. Outside of the tower, there was a garden, and within that garden were a few trees.

They were looking for a tree, but this tree was special. It was not alive, but it looked that way. It was kept alive by magic, and only appeared to function like a normal tree. The tree had a hole in it the size of a small pony, or in this case, a filly. And of course it was hidden among the other, rather large population, of trees in the garden.

If you want to hide a tree, hide it in a forest…or something…

Walking through the small forest, they each looked at the trees, looking for a specific one, and when somepony found it they were supposed to say so.

There were many trees, and each one was hard to get around. Because the garden was outside of the palace, it was not as well maintained as the gardens inside the palace walls. Much of the underbrush was over grown , and the trees themselves had many branches sticking out that could impale a small pony such as Summer.

Walking in all different directions, the group was eventually called back to one tree by Caner, who noticed the hole in the side of a tree after everypony else had already passed it by.

Gathering around the tree, the group all stared into the hole in the tree. Everypony wanted to see that filly come back out, even if it was in the hopes of monetary gain.

While they stood staring at the hole, the filly suddenly got nervous. There were so many things that could go wrong, and the punishment for that was… not pleasant…

That paper, promising it’s many threats was the only thing that really worried her. If she didn’t come back… Or if she came back empty hoofed…

“You memorized that paper?” asked Ricky as she was thinking about just that.

The filly nodded her head, still concerned about the description on the paper.

Ricky grinned, however there was no happiness, only evil in his eyes. “Good, then you know what’s coming to you if you buck up. Now run along and get our loot, you little shit.”

There was a moment of stillness where everypony waited for her to climb in the hole, and go herself. Eventually it became clear that she was not going to move, at which point Ricky nodded to Caner.

With that, against her will, Caner picked her up and threw her into the hole in the tree.

_-_-_

If she could have screamed, she would have. The drop was straight down, and only got darker the longer she fell. Eventually, it began to slope from vertical to horizontal, and she slowed to a stop. It was dark, and she could not see anything in front of her.

She didn’t need the light, though; she knew where she was going without looking. She knew the way better than her own name; a week of memorizing this path and she doubted she would ever forget it.

Moving forward, she eventually hit a wall. Rubbing her nose from the impact, she turned left and began her trek once more. After hitting several more walls, and forgetting about the evil ponies at the top of the hole she was in, she reached the gentle slope signaling the end of the tunnel was approaching.

Reaching the bottom of the slope, she found a dusty grate, and looking through it. Below her, she could see a well lit room, with…

…the largest door in existence…or at least the largest she had ever seen. It was as big as her house, and it was two stories high.

The door had a small dial on the front close to the floor. The door itself was ornately carved out of a single piece of wood, and depicted the two Princesses circling a globe. It had been stained a deep brown, which only made the door seem more imposing.

Looking away from the door and around the room outside, which wasn’t small either, there were no guards, or anypony else for that matter. It was just her and that door, though she knew that a patrol or somepony would show up eventually.

Removing the grate with her mouth, she sputtered for a second to get all the dust out of it. She looked around as if she was checking to see if anypony else saw what had happened. She rolled her eyes, and stuck her head through the hole, and looked around the room once again.

Realizing that she was midway up the wall, she begins to have problems with the plan that Ricky though up. ‘…How in Celestia’s name am I gonna get down from the bucking ceiling! Or up to it again!’ Thinking about how her wings were tied, she thought maybe it had been Ricky’s plan all along to have her fail… but that didn’t make any sense.

Suddenly remembering the threat from Ricky, she decided it would be better to try and get down, than to sit here and think for too long; or worse, return empty hoofed.

After thinking about her options for just seconds, she spread her wings, and jumped…deciding her best chance was glide down and land softly.

The instant, she had left the hole in the ceiling, the wing lock took control and forced her into a spiral. Most ponies probably would have tried to think of a different strategy bore jumping headlong into a death spiral they knew was inevitable, however she didn’t stop to actually think her plan through.

Her ‘glide and land softly’ plan did not work well at all. Fortunately, she got lucky… she landed on her back mid spiral. Her fall knocked the wind out of her, but she could have landed on one of her wings and broken it. Laying on the ground for a few seconds was better than breaking a wing, and spending the rest of this nightmare in pain.

Slowly, she regained her breathing and awareness and managed to get back onto her hooves. Searching the room for anypony who could possibly be here, even after her laying on the ground for a few minutes.

Eventually, she decided the coast is clear. She turned and looked towards the door. The door, from where she had been in the wall looked big, but now from the floor, it looked bigger.

After a minute, she decided to not spend any more time admiring the door, lest she get captured by the guard. Moving toward the door, or more specifically the dial on it, she begins thinking of the combination that is needed for opening it.

Finally reaching the door, she begins putting in the combination. For a pony with magic, they may have been able to enter the code in a less than a minute, however for one without the ability to use magic, it took a little longer. About three minutes in fact.

The combination had been a set of around thirty numbers that ranged from one to five hundred, and the process of putting them in on the dial was different from any other safe as well; three clockwise, one counter. With all the money inside, it is no surprise that the combination be hard to put in.

Finally, with the combination in, she turned the wheel on the door, and pulled. To her surprise, it was extremely easy to open the door, without any stress on her muscles she could move it freely. As she pulled, she found the door to be significantly deep. The wood on the outside did not go deep before metal was attached.

Eventually, after several layers of metal, there was a space wide enough for the filly to move through, and therefore, she stopped the door’s momentum.

Light was pouring out of the opening, spilling onto the floor of the room outside. When she moved to look inside, she found gold piled higher than three houses in Canterlot.

Three of the BIG houses… the pile was huge, and she doubted if she took enough to fill a wagon, that it would be missed.

She didn’t have a wagon though, she had saddlebags. Pulling them off, she laid them on the floor, and began filling each side with gold. Filling the bags to the brim, she covered and put them back on, buckling them back into place. They were heavy, and she wondered how much this pile weighed.

Looking back at the pile, she stared in awe for another moment. She would probably never see this much money, or possibly any money at all, in her life ever again.

She turned and trotted out of the Vault. Moving around the giant door, she pushed and it slid back into place. Turning the wheel, and flipping the dial, she locked it back, and hoped no pony would ever find any trace of her being there.

She trotted across the room to just under the hole in the wall. Looking up, she wondered ‘How do I get back up?’ Looking down the wall, she knew she couldn’t climb it. Looking back up at the hole, she put out her wings and tried flapping, but knew her lock and the weight of the gold would be too much to fly.

That left one option…magic.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes and concentrated. She thought about what she wanted to do, however nothing happened.

Focusing harder, she felt a tingle, and the sensation of flight. Opening her eyes she could see the blue that signified her magic was there; however, nothing was happening. Moving a hoof and touching one of her outspread wings, the light inside it died instantly.

With a frown, she looked away from her wing, and looked around the room. Nothing appeared to be out of place, and there was still noting to use in the way of climbing up to the hole. The room outside the vault was barren of anything, even decoration.

With a sigh, she once more closed her eyes and focused on using magic, and what she wanted to use it for. She felt it… she felt the sensation, but stronger, and then she felt it doing what she wanted it to do.

She was slowly levitating herself from the floor, up the wall, in an attempt to get to the hole. She didn’t dare open her eyes, lest she lose concentration and magic; so she could only hope that she was directly under the hole and would be able to feel when she was next to it.

“HELP! GAURDS!! HELP! INTRUDER!” yelled a male pony’s voice that filled the chamber.

Losing her focus and opening her eyes, she looked around the chamber, trying to find the source of the yelling.

Instead of finding the pony who yelled however, she found the floor.

Her landing this time was not as lucky… and landed on her head. For her, the world went dark as she lost awareness.

Life is hell…

Comments

[Soaringhere]

Good chapter.
Can't wait for the next one.

[Delicious]

The first time I read this; I thought it was good enough to continue reading, but barely.
Now that you've rewritten it though; I think it's spectacular!

The first time I read it I thought it was a little bit rushed, but now it's going at an almost perfect pace. I also especially like how you developed Summer's character this time.

[ThePizzaDeliveryPony]

1004569
I'm happy to hear it. the first time i wrote it, i posted before i had my editor read it, now I am sending my work to him, and he gives me advice on how to make it sound better. It is a huge help to have someone to read through my work.
I'm sure he will be happy to know that all his help was not wasted.
Thanks for reading.

[Arron_Starchanger]

Great chapter cant wait for the next please hurry.

[Shadow_Wolf]

you have me thoroughly intrigued I can't wait to read more!