“Welcome to the Den, here you can find anything you need if you have the money for it.” Krivroth said motioning me to follow him. The Den was a collection of bridges suspended mid-air and hundreds of stone alcove that littered the central spire, which was entirely made out of marble. There were dozens of wooden building hanging off from cliffs and seemingly defying gravity for how they were positioned, hundreds of people were going and coming even in the middle of the night.
“Come, we must reach the spire there. You can get rid of Napolos and get your reward. We may even have a new task if you are up for it.” He said, we started walking to the spire, I avoided to stare of people while Krivoth just saluted and greeted as we passed, when we arrived at the base of the spire I marveled at the design of the door that lead to the inner parts of the structure.
The door itself was made of pure black marble that shined in the light of the flickering torches, there were several intricate depictions all around the door none of them scratched by time. “Ok, put the guy here.” Krivoth said, pointing at the door. “I’ll take him inside now, you can’t enter yet.” He said seriously.
“Sure, sounds cool to me.” I knew that they couldn’t just let a complete stranger inside their base just like that, so I waited, in the meantime, I knitted some more making some vests for the girls, the holes for the wings were a bit tricky, but I managed. I stored the new jackets on my abdomen and stuck them to it with some more silk.
‘Krivoth is sure taking his time.’ I thought after even more time passed, I shrugged shot a web on the roof just above me and started to knit once more, this time I was making a jacket for Krivoth, I wanted to challenge myself and tried to make it as good looking as possible. Unfortunately some more time later the door opened and my work wasn’t finished yet. I put the jacket with the other vests and saw Krivoth exiting the spire.
“So?” I eagerly asked.
“You begin your trainer tomorrow night at 10:00 don’t be tardy. Also, we have a new job if you are interested, it’s a simple escort mission for a guy we are going to bust out of prison, your job is to bring him safely from the prison. You have three days to decide if you need them, good night.” He said and walked past me, vanishing into the crowd.
I returned to the inn in less than an hour, I wasn’t even tired when I climbed up the wall and returned to my room, so I finished knitting the jacket. Dawn came unexpectedly; I was more focused on the jacket than anything else. Aside from the fact that it was pearly white, it was very good in my opinion, it didn’t have buttons yet, so it couldn’t be closed, but I would buy them that same day. I yawned from the fatigue and went back to the web that I called a bed. “Buonanotte to me.” I murmured before sleep took me.
The banging on my door woke me up, I stretched and jumped down, feeling quite reinvigorated after my sleep, I went to the door and opened it. Sweetie Belle stopped her knocking and greeted me. “Good morning Tela!” She cheerfully said.
“Morning Sweetie, where are the others?” I asked.
“Scoot is still sleeping, and Applebloom is downstairs helping Tenebris.” She replied.
“Oh ok, hey Sweetie, did you find anything else in the book?” I asked, walking downstairs with her in tow.
“Well, I found some other spells, but they are so difficult I can’t even understand what they say most of the time, I tried to go further in the book, but it was utter gibberish.” She said with a hint of sadness.
“Don’t worry, I know you will be the best mage around.” I said, ruffling her mane.
“Hey, that’s not apple juice!” Applebloom scream came from the bar, she ran away in what I believe was the bathroom and started to wash her mouth.
“What happened?” I asked sternly.
“Oh, little Applebloom tried drinking some apple cider. The strong one.” Tenebris replied with a shrug holding a bottle.
“I told you to not give her alcohol!” I shouted.
“Hey, to be fair, she asked.” He said, laughing his ass off.
“Heeeeey Tela…” The mushed voice of Applebloom said from my right.
“Applebloom, you are drunk, go home.” Sweetie replied, concerned.
“Pft, I can’t go home, Sweet! We are stuck until Twily gets us all away from here with her maggggic shtuff. Ya know? That weird thing you do too, heeeey can you do a magic-” She face planted the ground and fell asleep.
“Ok.” I said.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA Oh my fucking gods!” Tenebris said, laughing like a maniac. “Did you see her all tipsy and barely being able to stand? I never saw a horse dance, but oh my gods am I proud of myself hahahahah!”
“Tenebris…” I said darkly. “You better return to your potions before I decide to make a snack out of you!” I threatened. ‘Hell did I just said what I said?’
“Ok, ok, sheesh, I just wanted to have a laugh calm your tits.” He said before going back behind the counter.
“Sigh, hey, Sweetie.” I said, making her lookup. “Can you bring Applebloom to her room, please?” I asked.
“Sure. Oh, Celestia she is heavy.” She said, struggling to keep herself up, bringing Applebloom upstairs. After some minutes I heard her little hooves coming downstairs, she huffed and weakly put a chair out from under the thick white blanket and hopped on it sighing.
“Hey, Sweetie who is Twilight?” I asked curiously.
“She is Princess Celestia’s student, she knows a lot of magic, so I’m sure she will be able to get us home.” Sweetie said confidently.
“Is she a unicorn-like you?” Tenebris asked.
“No, she was, but now she is an Alicorn like the Princesses.” Sweetie answered.
“An Alicorn?” I asked, confused by the term.
“An Alicorn is a pony with both wings and a horn!” Sweetie declared.
“Cool, cool.” Tenebris said, nodding. “Oh yeah, Tela.” He said, gesturing to me to come closer. “A, sinister figure left this here for you.” He said seriously. “He said you will know what to do with the information inside, do I have to worry about my inn being destroyed in the near future?”
“No, if he is who I think he is then the inn is safe, don’t worry about it.” I said, taking the letter and opening it. ‘Dear Tela, I talked with my boss for a bit, and he talked with one that knows a bit about magic, he said that he never saw something like your three friends there not here in this town or forest at least. If you want, we could arrange for you to have a private conversation with an expert in the magic academy. Of course, it comes with a small price, your collaboration in our future operation. If you agree to the terms, then you can tell me this night. Have a pleasant day.’ No signature, well, that was a bit expected. I crunched up the letter and let it rest in my closed fist.
“So?” Tenebris asked.
“Nothing.” I curtly replied. “Just a friendly letter that will come in hand, hey Sweetie go wake Scoot up we are going to explore the city a bit.” I said to her, at which she nodded and scurried off. “Hey, Tenebris, do you know where we can find a hunter guild?”
Sometime later, a grumpy Scootaloo, an excited Sweetie Belle, and I were going to the hunter guild in the city. Which I still don’t know the name of. At the end of the narrow street, we found our objective, a hulking building made out of stone with three floors loomed over us,
on the front in the highest place there was a flag, it had four horizontal stripes, blue, black, green and red. On the front, just over the main door, there was a metal plaque that reads “The Gorgon’s Eye.”
“I think this is it.” Sweetie said.
“You don’t say?” Scootaloo sarcastically said back.
“Girls, please.” I said calmly, “We are in the middle of the road, behave.”
“Yes, Tela.” Sweetie chirped.
“Ffffffine.”
We entered the building, it had a wooden floor that sparkled with how much it was cleaned, the room we arrived in sported a lot of tables and chairs in sets of four chairs and one table, some even had sofas instead. The important parts right now were, the mission board and the front desk, the clerk behind it upon seeing me tensed up quite a lot. “Wow, look at this place…” Sweetie said, mesmerized.
“Yup, it’s cool.” I confirmed with a nod and walked to the front desk. “Hello, I’m Tela, and these two are Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.” I said, presenting them, both saluted jumping up and down to reach the tall counter.
“A… Pleasure?” He said, eyeing the two of them and especially me. “So how can I help you?”
“We would like to join your guild.” I said as a matter of fact.
“Sure, compile these and then come back to me.” He said giving us a paper each, I quickly looked at it, and the questions were all normal, name age etc… I put down the paper and caught the clerk staring rather intensely, and with a dreamlike expression at my breasts, he sure knew what good quality was, that’s for sure. I smirked and tightened my bra a bit more just to screw with him a bit, he noticed I was doing that on purpose and went red immediately while pulling his gaze away and onto some form on his desk.
We went to a nearby table and filled the form up nice and quickly, we then returned to the counter and put them on it. “Uhm, listen, I’m sorry…” The clerk said, ashamed and quite shyly.
“Worry not dear, I know I’m good looking after all.” I grinned, I didn’t mind his staring I was a nudist, after all, knowing that people are flustered and attracted by my body was the peak of my happiness.
“Eh, uhm uuuh.” He babbled completely shocked. I got back up and went to go out. “Y-you will receive a notification at your address when the guild decides when and if to make you join them, ma’am.” He said, stuttering a bit.
“Thanks, dear.” I said, and left the building.
“Why were you talking weird before?” Sweetie asked.
“Oh dear, when you are older, yours truly will teach you how to mess with people, but for now, enjoy being a kid.” I said as we went back to the inn. We arrived watching Applebloom outside with a bucket of paint and a brush in her mouth, painting the wall on the front.
“Applebloom? What are you doing?” I asked.
“Oh, hi, Tela. Tenebris told me that if I painted the front wall, he would give me a gift!” She said enthusiastically.
“Oh, uhm, I’ll talk with him just to check, you know?” I said.
“Applebloom, I think you got fucked by him.” Scootaloo said at my utmost horror.
“Scootaloo!” I shouted, looking at her. She jumped in fright and covered behind Sweetie. “I don’t want to hear you say something like that again! Am I clear?” I said, clearly angered.
“Yes, Tela…” She said with a whisper.
I calmed down, lowered down, and took her in my arms. “Scoot, I know you didn’t mean what you said, but please don’t say it anymore ok?” I asked softly.
“Ok…” She said, snuggling my arms and chest.
I hugged her back a bit then put her down. “Alright now, let me go talk with Tenebris ok?” I said, they nodded and decided to remain outside to paint together, where did they find the brushes? Hell if I know.
I opened the door and saw that the inn was actually not empty; there were some people inside drinking and smoking. I went to the counter, ignoring the stares the customers were giving me. “Tenebris?” I asked.
“Yes?” He curtly said while serving another customer.
“What happened? This morning it was all empty.” I said with amazement.
“These guys all came here after you exited, they said a friend told them to come here. I can’t certainly say I’m contrary to that.” He said, smiling and pouring more drinks around.
“Well, good for you?” I said.
“Hey.” A man said, handing me something, it was a little piece of paper. I took it thanking the man and opened it.
‘You are welcome.’ It read, I knew exactly who I had to thank for this. “Oi Tenebris, do you know any attractions around the city?” I asked.
“There is a Circus in the first district. The entrance costs two silver coins, but people say it is good.” He replied, busy with his work. Intrigued, I went out and asked the girls if they liked the idea. They all loved the idea and started painting faster to get there quicker. In less than 2 hours they were done, and right on time, it seemed the sun was barely above the horizon.
“Come on, girls, we have to hurry.” I said to the exhausted fillies, even with my help, they were still tired from the work.
“I can’t walk.” Sweetie lamented.
“Come on, Sweet, it wasn’t that hard.” Applebloom replied no worse for wear.
“coming from the one that works on a farm…” Scoot said panting.
I lowered down and took the three of them up in my arms, then I put them on my abdomen, “Come on, I’ll carry you.” I said softly. I carried them through the slums climbing walls and jumping roofs, we later arrived at the first district and immediately noticed the big red tent that surely was of the circus. We approached the entrance, and incredibly, the clerk at the ticket booth didn’t have a negative reaction to me, something that I was expecting after last time. We entered eager to see the show, the rows were full of dreaming spectators and joyful children. We sit down, well they sit down I just put my legs under me and watched the show.
Hours passed, but in the end, the show closed up, we saw hundreds of magical spells and incredible new creatures, the girls were amazed, and their happy faces were contagious. “Hey, Tela, before the show ends, can we go and get some cotton candy?” Sweetie asked pleadingly.
I looked around and saw that the cotton candy stall was not far from us. “Of course.” I replied, handing them some silver coins.
“Thanks.” They shouted and trotted off.
SWEETIE BELLE POV
The girls and I were eager to buy some cotton candy, I can’t believe how fantastic the show was. “This circus sure is great,” I said.
“Sure is.” Scootaloo agreed. “Did you see that weird monster made out of fire? So cool…”
“Yup, I liked it when the weird plant lady appeared and grew a tree from nothing.” Applebloom commented.
“Hey, do you want some cotton candy?” Someone asked from behind me.
“Sure!” I said, looking back.
“Well, then you must come with me; the sellers are all outside.” The weird ‘Man?’ said.
“Wait.” I said, “The vendor is right there.” I pointed to the stall with a line in front of it.
“Well yeah, but he will finish the cotton candy soon, he told me so, come on the candy will be outside.” He said motioning us to follow him. We shared a look but decided to follow him outside, I heard someone whispering something in the dark and then a sudden pain before nothing.
TELA POV
“They sure are taking their time.” I said, wondering where they were. I was watching them when a guy bumped into me spilling his drink all over me, he apologized a lot but still. ‘I’ll have to make a new one, I don’t think you can wash raw silk.’ I thought.
“That is all for today, ladies and gentlemen.” The announcer said bowing, the circus erupted in cheers, and coins went flying, but I still couldn’t find the girls.
‘Where are they?’ I said starting to panic I looked around but couldn’t find them anywhere, I stood up to my full eight and still nothing. I hastily went around asking if someone has seen them, again, no luck. In a frenzy, I exited the tent and started to look around frantically, I was livid with myself. How could I have done such an irresponsible thing! “You fucking idiot!” I shouted, punching a nearby wall drawing blood and maybe breaking my hand in the process. I wanted to cry so hard, but tears had to wait, I had to find them.
SWEETIE POV
My head hurts, my stomach hurts, and my everything hurts. I managed to open my eyes briefly to look around, we were all in a cage, it was dark and damp. A lone torch hanged on a wall and granted us some light. “G-girls…” I said weakly, I heard something wet on my head, I reached out and saw blood. “G-g-girls!” I said, still weak and now scared.
“S-sweetie?” Applebloom called weakly from her cage, finally waking up, she stirred up a bit, and when she noticed the bars, she immediately panicked. “Sweetie? Where are we?” She asked.
“I don’t know.” I said frightened, the room where we were held was barren and made out of stone, there were traces of rats on the floor, and the place reeked like it was old and abandoned. “Is Scoot up?”
“Almost, she is opening her eyes.” AB said. “Hey, Scoot. You alright?” I heard her ask.
I looked at the cage door and noticed the sturdy-looking lock. ‘No way I can break that… Maybe Applebloom?’ I thought. Before I could voice my idea, we heard steps coming towards us. We saw the same guy from before, he was smiling like a lunatic.
“Oh, you are awake then? Good, good.” He said his hands in his pants. “now let me just explain your situation, you are weird-looking creatures thousands will pay to see you, and I will be there to collect everything…” He said, rubbing his hands.
“When Tela finds out, you will be sorry!” Applebloom said.
“Is Tela that Drider? She doesn’t know you are here, nobody does, nobody will.” He said, cackling.
“She will save us!” I shouted.
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.” He said, now unamused. “Toll, Lork take them to the mage room; he will break them for us nicely.” He said, immediately from the shadows, three men showed up holding collars and whips.
“Of course, boss.” The middle one said, he was wearing a jacket, a pair of pants and he had a bandana on his face, the other two were wearing the same, the middle man had a small beard black as night, the other two had a bald head but a long blonde and red beard respectively.
“Handle them nicely, I don’t want to spend money on healing them up.” The boss said, leaving the room.
“You heard him, let’s take them.” The middle man said. The other two nodded and crouching down and opened the cages. In an instant, Scootaloo headbutted the blonde one knocking him away. Applebloom kicked the cage open, slamming it in the face of the black-bearded man, possibly breaking his nose, I cast firebolt and hit the red-bearded man in the face burning away a bit of his beard.
“Damn it!” The black beard shouted in pain. “Catch them!” He ordered the other two. A hand came for me, but I quickly sidestepped and cast another firebolt, this time I hit him in the chest he screamed in pain and fell. He was still breathing, I’m sure.
Applebloom got caught by the black-bearded man, but immediately she bit him making him let go, she spun around and bucked him right in the groin, I cringed, I don’t have male bits, but I read enough to know that a blow like that hurts a lot. The man lost consciousness immediately after slamming his face on the cold floor.
Scoot didn’t even let the blond man stand up. She was immediately on his stomach, punching him repeatedly in the face until he stopped moving. She had a lot of blood on her hooves.
“Ok,” I started. “We need to get out of here.”
“Scoot, are you ok? You are shaking.” Applebloom said, worriedly.
“Ok?” Scootaloo asked. “I’m ok, alright.” She said, pumping her hoof. “Did you see how I knocked him down ?” She said, still trembling but smiling.
“Are you sure?” I calmly said.
“Yeah yeah, let’s just get out of here.”
“Fine.” I said defeated, I looked around and saw a small light coming from further down the room, “There’s a door there.” I pointed. I lit my horn and motioned for them to follow me. We quietly reached the door and pried it open, the hallway that we found was made out of stone with torches, on the right side there was a right turn while on the left there was another right turn.
“Where to?” I asked the others.
“I dunno Sweetie, should we throw a coin?” Applebloom asked.
“We don’t have one.” Scootaloo deadpanned. “I say we go left then right.” She proposed motioning forward.
“Nothing wrong in trying, I guess.” I said and trotted to the left, the others following me, we reached the turn, and I stopped them. I peeked around and saw that there was no one. “Fantastic.’ We continued down the corridor until we heard the sound of footsteps from behind us, we turned around and saw two guards, one held a hammer and a shield while the other had a crossbow and a spear.
“Fugitives!” They shouted and ran towards us. We scattered immediately, I took the rear while Applebloom went forward to meet the two men, Scootaloo quickly shot forward and rammed her head in the crossbow user knocking him back. Applebloom instead narrowly missed a heavy slam of the guard’s hammer and retaliated with a powerful buck to the man’s ankles, he screamed in pain but remained standing until my firebolt hit him right in the chest knocking him down.
Scootaloo avoided the rapid attacks of the spear holding guard, and when she saw that the man took a step too far she took the opportunity to attack, she jumped up, using her wings she reached the man height, she then punched him in the throat knocking him down as well.
“Ok, their shouts must have alerted somepony else, we have to go.” I said to the others, Scootaloo though refused and told us to wait for a second, she pushed the guard making him roll on his chest and took the bolts for the crossbow, she then leaned down and took the weapon as well.
“It is not very easy to use, but it will do.” She said, eyeing the weapon looking around. Applebloom took the shield from the passed out guard and strapped it on her foreleg.
“It might be helpful, ya know?” She said, trying to walk a bit with it to get the right feeling for it when she was satisfied. She nodded, ready to continue. “Hey, girls.” Scootaloo shouted.
We came near her and saw her flashing out two potions, one was cherry red-colored while the others held a yellow liquid. “What is this?” She asked, looking them over.
“That one is filled with acid.” Applebloom said immediately. “The other hmm, let me see.” She said and took the vial, she opened the vial and took a quick sniff. “This is a healing potion, good find.” She said, smiling and giving it back to scoot. She immediately refused.
“Keep them, you know how to use them better than me.
“Alright, now we really have to go.” I said, a bit annoyed. They smiled and followed behind me, the hallway was clear and silent, it went on for a bit before arriving at what looked like an arena. The floor was made out of sand, and all the lights were off. We cautiously moved forward, but then we heard a shout from above us, we scattered, and a big hulking body crashed down on the sand, the lights went on immediately, and a giant green human looked at us unamused.
“You are the attractions here! Nobody comes in and then gets out alive!” He shouted, spitting all over the place in a guttural and raspy voice. The green man was big, much bigger than the others, he wore half armor made out of metal and had a giant axe clutched in his gigantic hands. “I was gonna sell you lot, but if you want out so bad, I’ll help you leave in pieces.
The green man was caught by surprise as a bolt from Scootaloo’s crossbow embedded itself in his shoulder, drawing blood. Immediately after that, Applebloom did a heavy blow with her shield on his leg, making him kneel. I took aim and fired another firebolt at him, only scorching his pauldron.
“You are going to pay for that!” He shouted in a fury, he stood up and swung his axe towards Applebloom who narrowly parried the blow with her shield, still she was launched a good three meters away from the strength of the blow. “Applebloom!” I shouted, I gritted my teeth and fired another firebolt. This time I hit him in the back of his head, and he cried in pain.
Then another bolt found its mark in his arm. He grabbed it and ripped the bolt out, the wound spewing blood and meat. That was disgusting. I kept my stomach under control and focused, we didn’t have time to feel disgusted. “Now, I’m angry, and you’re gonna will wish you stayed in the cages!” He shouted, with a primal roar, his right arm grew a nasty-looking green tentacle with a hook at the end, it was very long. “DIE!”
I saw the tentacle almost hit me right in the face, but then Scootaloo pushed me away, she got hit by the tentacle and screamed in pain from the sting. She clutched her head as she collapsed. “You monster!” I shouted absolutely distraught and livid. I narrowed my eyes and summoned a skeletal hand that grabbed his arm, making him howl in pain, trying to pry it off, the hand disappeared after a second, and he immediately rushed towards me. Applebloom was right behind him, she jumped striking him on the back with her shield, that actually hurt him, he angrily shouted spitting out blood and rained a flurry of blows on Applebloom’s shield.
“Sweetie!” She shouted. “Make her drink this!” She said, still pinned under the terrifying blows of the man, she put the red vial down and kicked it towards me. I grabbed it with my telekinesis and made Scootaloo drink it, she stopped shivering immediately, and the wound on her flank disappeared.
“Thanks.” She whispered and immediately took aim with her crossbow, Applebloom sidestepped the incoming bolt and went behind the man, I tried to summon a new spell I learned this morning, it was cruel and just what he deserved.
The dart was fired and hit right in his eye, Applebloom took a bit of sand and put it in the acid potion, she shook it and then threw it. The flask broke on the man’s skin and immediately started to sizzle with the sound of burning flesh and corroding fumes, and I whispered, no, I almost sung.
“Toll the dead.” A sound of a tortured bell rang through the arena, the man put his hands on his ears and screamed in pain, from his eyes and mouth came forth a wave of blood that painted him red, he kneeled down and gurgled something that we didn’t understand then he collapsed in a growing puddle of blood-forming right under him. At that instant, without even having the time to blink, an incredible feeling took me, and the world went white.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw the others staring at me and I at them. “You’ve got a cutie mark!” we all shouted in unison.
“I’ve got a cutie mark?” We shouted again asking for confirmation, we all nodded and looked back at our cutie mark, mine was of a shield with a lavender star in it, on the star there was an eighth note, the note head was replaced with a skull, the shield was colored with our mane colors in three stripes. Applebloom’s cutie mark was of two potions inside the same shield as me, the potions mixed together to create a third apple-shaped potion. Scootaloo’s mark also had a shield for a background, but hers had two crossbow arms sticking out of the sides, a single arrow was in the middle it with two wings flanking it, inside of each wing there was a small thunderbolt.
We gazed at them for what we thought were hours before we returned to our senses, I looked around, the green man now cold corpse was still there. “Girls, he’s dead,” I said with a bit of dread but not as much as I thought I would.
“Right, he is!” Scootaloo said, kicking the man’s arm. “He hurt me a lot and probably hurt a lot of other ponies too.” She said, not fazed by the death of the man.
“I mean, it was him or us but I… I don't know .”applebloom said dazed and unsure.
“Alright, alright, he was terrible." I said confirming what Scootaloo said while trying to not let Applebloom feel guilty. "Now come on, we need to find a way out. We went across the arena and found an exit, we followed the path up to a door and opened it, inside we found three corpses, they were bloody and full of cuts, we heard a whimper over us, and we saw a man hanging inside of a cocoon trying to break free. “Oh no, you don’t get out unless you tell me where my girls are, you cock sucking slaver!” I heard a very recognizable voice saying. Tela was on the ceiling, looking the guy in the eyes.
“TELA!” We shouted with glee.
“GIRLS!” She shouted right back, noticing us, She jumped down and hugged us, her hands were stained with blood, but we didn’t care, she found us, she was going to save us. We were just so relieved for that ordeal to be over that we passed out.