//------------------------------// // The Doozy // Story: Artemis // by gcsmith //------------------------------// A/N: I know Authors notes are normally at the bottom but I needed to say this before you guys read this chapter. This is an unedited chapter, the reason I'm putting this up like this is because it took me a month to write and I want you guys to see it. I hope you enjoy it and be sure I will edit at a future point. Please tell me below what you think. The show was a spectacular sight, the likes of which Artemis had never seen before. On stage, Trixie was in her element and the audience were hers to command as she dazzled them with wondrous feats of magic. From levitation magic to conjuration, Trixie performed feats which caused even all the unicorns to holler away like crazy. She also performed a story telling using her magic to make the characters come to life as she talked in a way which reminded Artemis of holograms you saw in the movies. Of course there was also the audience challenge, Trixie succeeding to outdo every pony that dared test their skills against her. It did seem she had learned her lesson however, offering condolences instead of barbs as the competitors left the stage. Artemis ended up leaving the main theater and walking backstage amazed, trying to work out which trick was the best. He couldn't decide between when she covered that baker with pies during his own challenge, or if it was when she did that amazing balancing act with four of the oddest shaped boulders he had ever seen. As he approached Trixie's dressing room, he decided he liked them both and let himself in. Before the performance Trixie told him to come back here and wait for him afterwards. She said she was going to be busy dealing with the press and that he shouldn't be left standing around in the corridor. He sat down in his previous seat and was brought out of thoughts of the performance by Trixie's assistant entering the room. She barely registered him sitting there and busied herself replacing her employers water before leaving. His eyes followed her as she walked across the room and could of sworn she was smiling, but he couldn't be certain. After she had left, he was left alone for what must of been at least thirty minutes. Time which he spent nosing around the room, trying to discover more about his host. Possibly her particular likes or information about her past. His scouring of the room didn't reward with much, just some pictures of her with her caravan, that was until he found what appeared to be an old leather bound photo album. He heaved it out of a space in the bookshelf where he found it and was about to open the front page when it was magically torn from his grasp. He turned around to find Trixie standing in the doorway, the album floating beside her and noticed a gleam in her eyes. It was there for less than a second, but it made him shiver uncontrollably. "Um, Trixie, I didn't mean to be..." "Don't worry about it, this old book would have nothing of interest to you anyway, just some old family pictures." Placing the book back on the shelf, she sat down, indicating for Artemis to do likewise. "So, how did you find the performance? Did you enjoy it?" "Oh yes, I loved it. Don't get magic tricks like that back home, then again, we don't have magic back home." "Really..?" Trixie looked aghast, "I don't see how anyone can get by without magic personally. But a world without magic at all... Now that's what I call a nightmare." She shook her head trying to get rid of some conjured image, her face soon returning to a casual smile. "Still, at least you got to see some real magic for a change. May I ask, what was your favorite trick?" He was silent for a minute, trying to think under her gaze a suitable answer to the question. As his host, he had to make sure what was said didn't offend her. "Um, that's hard to say. I mean, I've never seen anything like it before. I don't think I could choose a particular point as being my favorite. It was all fantastic." Trixie's face broke out into a massive grin, "I knew you would enjoy it." She clapped her hooves together happily. "I just wish... your companion... could of joined us. Might of helped her see me in a new light." Small beads of sweat dripped down her face as she said this, secretly she was glad Rainbow wasn't here. It would make her plan far easier to execute. "Yes, I wish she was here too." Artemis wasn't too enthusiastic, he expected to be verbally slammed a lot when he got back to Ponyville. Not just from Rainbow either, after all it would look strange when she arrived alone and word would soon reach Twilight and the others. Apparently his worry carried across to Trixie rather clearly. "Anything wrong, Artemis?" He shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. "Hmm? Oh not really, just thinking of something." Trixie was smiling inside, if she could get him to open up maybe he would be easier to coerce. "Come on, you can tell me." She leaned her head close to his, so close they could feel each others breath against their faces. He wasn't sure that he could, after all, Rainbow may not want people to know she abandoned him. Nor the affect asking about her family has. If anything, she would rather no one mentioned her family at all. And betraying the Element of Honesty was probably not a wise thing to do. However, as he sat there stalling, she just stared at him wide eyed. It seemed unlikely she would leave him be without some sort of answer. "Well, ok then. I'm just feeling a bit alone since Rainbow had to go back to Ponyville." It was at least partially true. Trixie put her hooves around Artemis, suddenly embracing him in a tight hug. "You don't need to worry about being alone, Trixie is here." She made sure to make her voice sound sickly sweet, and noticed with joy a red blush appearing across his face. "T-thanks, I guess." He couldn't help but try to look away from her, something about this seemed off. Even from a reformed Trixie. "You're welcome. So what have you got planned for the rest of the day?" Artemis shook his head sheepishly. "No, no as such. Me and Rainbow were going to go straight back after the show. But now..." Trixie blinked at him, pressing him for further information. "I'm not in such a rush to get back." He said with a sigh. "That's ok, I'm not in any rush to get rid of you. I only had the one show today, afternoon and evenings are hard enough when you know the ponies like your show." She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. It didn't look like she was sleeping. More like she was resting. "I'm glad to have some company," she said with a casual flick of one her hooves. Artemis gave a nervous grin, "Sure. I guess I can stay for a bit, but what would we do?" "Well... I could show you some magic tricks. Maybe teach you to perform a couple of less 'magical' tricks." "Huh? Less magical?" "You know, tricks that require slight of hoof instead actual magical skill." "I thought such things would be beneath the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie?" "I thought them beneath me to begin with. However, I realized it might be a good idea to have tricks to sell after the shows. Stuff anyone could perform. Sadly without magic that meant I had to devise such tricks for my Pegasi and Earth pony audiences." "Clever." Trixie smiled, "Quite. So what do you say, you up for learning?" "Sure." "Then follow me." Trixie stood up from her seat, donned her star banged hat and led the way out of her dressing room. Artemis followed behind her, hypnotized by the fact she seemed to have a sort of skip to her walk. He was paying so close attention he failed to notice her turn her head and wink to someone in the gloom. Two hours later, they were back sitting in the dressing room and Artemis flicked a card out of a deck in front of Trixie. It was a clumsy move but it brought a smile to her face. Finally, after much instruction, he had got her card correctly. "Bravo," she excitedly clapped her hooves together "you definitely have a knack for this." "You really think so? I can barely do the trick after all this practicing." "Oh you fool, of course you're doing well. Do you think you will master the technique in this short amount of time? The fact you can even do it basically is good enough." She finished her talk by giving him a playful hoof to the shoulder. "I guess. Thanks for teaching me this trick by the way." "No problem, you can keep the cards as well. You'll need them if you want to improve." "Cheers," Artemis gave her a quick hug which took her by surprise, she didn't resist however. After, he looked at a clock on the mantlepiece in the room and noticed it was coming up to five in the evening. He probably would have to get going soon if he wanted to catch the train back to Ponyville. "Thanks for everything, but I probably need to get going." "Do you really? So soon?" "Trixie, I appreciate everything, but I need to get going if I want to get the train back." "Train back? Oh, you mean back to Ponyville? Of course, how silly of me." She shook her head, a little too forcefully. "But you don't have to go." "Well, I need to get back to Ponyville, where else would I go?" Trixie lifted her hoof to her face, she appeared to Artemis to be deep in thought, but she was really just acting. "Hmm," then suddenly her eyes opened wide, it looked like she had an idea. "I know, you could stay here" "Huh? Here? What do you mean?" "Exactly what I said, you could stay here." Artemis opened his mouth but didn't quite know how to respond, was she really saying he could live here with her? "I mean, we've had fun this afternon. And you said it yourself that you dreaded going back to Ponyville." "Yes, but..." "But..?" "That was more a, I don't want to go back yet but I know I have to, kind of statement. It's not that I don't really want to go back, I mean why wouldn't I? Twilight looks after me well, and all the others are fun to be around." "Really? Including Rainbow?" Artemis visibly shuddered at the mention of her name. What happened earlier today must have caused a lot of damage to their relationship, and it didn't seem to be in any good shape before that. "Well... She has her charm." "Really? So what is it? The fact that she abandoned you?" "Ok, so maybe Rainbow is crap, but the others are good. And they accepted me so quickly, no calling me an evil monster and running away like children at the sight of me." As he said this, he remembered when he first laid eyes upon Twilight. The nervous smile that played across her face when she saw him. The memory caused him to go slightly gooey eyed, something Trixie clearly noticed. "Really? That good?" Artemis noticed how he had been staring, and blushed. "No-no, of course not." "I think thou doth protest too much." Giggled Trixie. "No-no I don't, I just don't like them in that way." "Hmm, of course not... So do you want to stay?" He looked away from her before stumbling a reply. "I-I-I I can't, thanks for the offer, but I need to go back to Ponyville. That's here the Princesses sent me and that's where my friends are." "Of course." Trixie replied as he stood up to leave, a small smile appearing across his face. "Well, I'll have my assistant show you out. But perhaps a drink before you go?" Artemis - who was hovering over his seat - plonked himself back down on his chair. "Sure, I could use a drink after all of that teaching, especially with the walk back to the station." "Water ok?" He nodded in response. Trixie stood up and busied herself with getting the water. Due to his distracted state and his only recent exposure to magic, he failed to notice the strangeness of her gathering the water without magic. He also failed to notice a small vial of clear liquid being dispensed into one of the glasses. With that stage of the task done. She walked back over to the chairs, two glasses of crystal clear water suspended by her magic. She sat down and levitated one over to Artemis who grabbed it and was about to eagerly drink it when she interrupted him by speaking. "I propose a toast." "A toast?" "Yes, a toast. To your adventures in Equestria. May you enjoy your time here and may you one day get home in piece." They knocked their glasses together and Artemis quickly wolfed down his water. Trixie, instead of drinking just sat and watched over the top of her glass. Artemis quickly finished his drink, wiping his mouth of excess water with the back of his hand and stood up. "Thank you for having me...." He stopped talking mid sentence, his mouth was already dry and his head began to spin slightly. He leaned his hand against the chair to steady himself and shook his head. After a moment the spinning stopped and he took a step forward only to trip headfirst towards the floor below. As he hit the floor Trixie sprang into action. She quickly moved over to him and provided a hoof to him as he started picking himself back up. He grabbed hold of her helpfully provided hoof and together they got him to his feet. "Thanks Trix...ie." That last syllable was strangely high pitched as he noticed that Trixie looked strangely different. "Oh my goodness, Artemis, that looked like a bad fall. Are you ok?" "Yes, I'm ok thank you. Although I think I must of banged my head." "Why do you think that?" Silence, he just stood there staring. "Hello, Equestria to Artemis. Are you there?" She waved her hooves in front of his face bringing him back to reality. "O-oh r-right, yes I'm here. And my head feels a little funny." As he spoke he couldn't help but stare into her purple eyes. Trixie noticed this and it brought a smile to her face, her potion was working. Time to put the next stage of her plan into motion. "Well, if you're ok, I guess you better be going." "Right, of course." But instead of moving just stood their clumsily gazing at her. "You are going aren't you?" Her tone was not that of annoyance and contained a slight tinge of sultriness. She flicked her tail towards him slightly as she talked. "Well, um. I... don't... What?" For some reason he couldn't focus on anything apart from the mare standing in front of him. His head felt fuzzy and he couldn't focus on anything. "Well you don't have to, the offer to stay is still open." Her voice was even more sultry than before and she played with her mane with a fore-hoof as she spoke. He didn't know how to respond, a moment ago we knew he had to leave and get back to Ponyville. But now... Now part of him couldn't think of anything better than to sit down next to Trixie. And that part was getting louder by the second. A minute later Artemis was sitting back down next to Trixie, this time leaning closer to her than he did before. He didn't even know how he got from standing up to sitting down. Nor why he suddenly found her blue coat alluring or why her eyes seemed like really deep and enticing. "So Artemis," His ears picked up immediately, somehow her voice seemed like the sweetest honey all of a sudden. "Are you really going to stay?" The part of him that was being drowned out, the part that still had sanity started screaming no as loud as it could inside his head. But, he nodded all the same. "Y-yes." 'No, why am I acting like this' he thought to himself. 'Her coat is dreamy though... Damn it, why do I think that. "So, Artemis, what made you change your mind?" She played her tail against him teasingly. "I-it..." 'No, don't answer.' "W-was..." 'Please brain, don't say it, please. Anything but I know what you're going to say.' "You." 'Damn you brain, that's the last time I give you any mental stimulation.' Trixie gasped, "Me? Why would I change your mind." He felt the last of his resistance give way and the response came freely. "Just you. What about you wouldn't change my mind? From your beautiful blue coat and shining - waving silver hair. To your great ability with magic. Everything about you is amazing, you are truly the most beautiful mare I have ever met." "Really?" Trixie purred, her hoof slowly grazing gently against his shoulder. "Would you say you loved me?" "Y-yes. Yes I do." The smile that appeared on her face was sinister, but he didn't seem to notice. "Good, so what would you do?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, what would you do to prove your love to me?" "Anything." "Anything, really? Completely sure?" Artemis nodded, "Yes. I am sure." "Then you shall be my slave." "What do you mean?" "I mean what I said. You shall be Trixie's slave. Do you understand?" Inside what remained of Artemis was screaming out to stop this, but his body ignored him and nodded. "Yes, Trixie." She raised her hoof and smacked him hard across the face, causing him to stumble but otherwise he didn't react. "You are Trixie's slave! You do not refer to me by my name, instead, call me mistress." "Yes, m-mistress." "Good, it's nice to see you know your place already. The love potion I slipped you seemed to work correctly, despite how shady the dealer seemed." She did a little jump for joy before stopping and raising a hoof to her chin. "Still, you need to learn your place as my slave, and I need to see just how far this potion will make you go." She paused to stare at him while she thought of something suitable for him to do, at the same time he just stared at her, waiting for her command. "I know what you shall do, it's suitably humiliating and should test the skills of the potion. You must lick the Great and Powerful Trixie's Hooves." Artemis hesitated for a second as Trixie sat down to present her hooves, however a quick book magically hitting him in the back of the head set him in motion. Slowly, and hesitantly, he walked over to her. Eventually he reached her and bent down, gripping one of the hooves in both of his hands. As he opened his mouth and tentatively poked his tongue out, Trixie almost squealed in delight. She had a human slave who was about to lick her hooves. His tongue made contact with her hoof and a wave of pure ecstasy swept over her. The feeling of his soft fleshy tongue against her fur felt like true bliss. It was such a pleasurable experience she missed the door to the dressing room open as her personal assistant entered. "Miss Trixie, I see your plan worked. Although I guess you resorted to the potion?" "Ah-Ah-Ah... Yes I did.... Ah-Ah-Ah." Trixie could barely spoke through the waves of pleasure she was experiencing. "Artemis, stop for a second." Artemis halted and Trixie used the reprieve to calm down and turn her attention to her PA. "I take it you have the 'equipment'." "I do indeed, miss Trixie, here you go." She presented Trixie with silver tray that was topped with a a whip, chains, and a leather dog collar. "Excellent," she studied the pieces before picking up the collar with her magic. "I think this piece will be what we start with. Come here slave, lets see how you look..." The sun was steadily falling towards the horizon as Rainbow reached the outskirts of Canterlot. She was tired, far more so than she expected. It turns out the train had traveled further during her flash back to the past than she had expected. Still, the element of loyalty wasn't going to give up. As sweat dripped from her brow she cursed the designers of the city. Its design made it virtually impossible to work out where to go from above, unless you lived here of course. Approaching the center of the city, she went down and rejoined the street levels. Firstly, so she could rest her wings. Secondly so she could easily locate the theater where Trixie was performing. She had checked all the trains that had passed her as she flew and he hadn't been on any of them, so she assumed he was still there for some reason. Landing on he ground, she found herself standing in the same square that they had stood in that morning. That morning... She had reacted so badly, he just wish Artemis could forgive her. She knew she was going to get an earful from Twi when they got back. Finding the theater wasn't that hard. The side road was quite easy to find, and there were signs left out from the performance earlier that day. Despite this, it took her a good twenty minutes to walk there, due to a mixture of exhaustion and dread at how Artemis would react. The front door appeared to be locked as Rainbow approached it, and a quick go at pushing and pulling the handles confirmed that suspicion. "Dammit, can't anything go right for me today?" She banged her head against the door a couple of times before trying to find the stage entrance they had been to earlier that day - another locked door - another smack of head on door. "How in Tartarus am I meant to get in there?" She didn't know if they were still in there but it would be a good place to start if they weren't. She paced on the spot for a minute before a light went on above her. "Of course, maybe there is a door on one of the other sides of the building." She walked away, noticing the light that was on above her. "Hey, that's kind of funny." The third side of the building was a blank, which left her only the fourth side of any hope of an open door. Sadly the wall was bare of any door. She was about to give up and continue the search elsewhere when she heard a distinct crack. It reminded her of the whip Applejack sometimes used herding the livestock. "Where could that have come from?" She looked around, however none of the nearby buildings gave much clue. There was another crack, and this time she noticed there was an open window along the wall of theater. She wondered why she didn't see it before. The answer was obvious when she was ducking beneath the window. The curtain was closed, blocking most of the light. However, a small gap in the curtain allowed of sliver of light to escape the room - a small gap which might also mean she would be able to see inside and find out exactly was causing that sound. She carefully looked through the gap and had to stifle as she observed Trixie - her hat and cape discarded - holding a whip in between her teeth. "Faster slave. Trixie said faster!" Rainbow almost burst out laughing. She thought Trixie was a nutcase, but she never expected she was into this sort of thing. Then again, she did have a need to be better than everypony else, so it kind of made sense. She just felt sorry for the poor pony who was engaging in this sort of activity with her. What desperation they must have when Canterlot was filled with sane ponies. Sadly she couldn't see who it was because Trixie was standing directly between them and the window. 'If only that fat plot would move...' A moment later her prayer was answered as Trixie stepped out of the view to retrieve something. Who she saw kneeling there made her want to simultaneously vomit and laugh. "Artemis, what they hay are you doing?" She muttered under her breath, in order not to be overheard. She was right, he was a backstabbing traitor. The first moment he could, he made fresh with the first mare that presented herself to him. "Yes mistress." "Wait, is that Artemis speaking?" She peeked through the gap again and couldn't see anypony else in the room. "Must be. Wow, I didn't take him for the dominated type. Then again, it explains all his injuries." Artemis turned his head towards the window and for a moment Rainbow ducked out of sight before she realized that he couldn't see her. She returned to looking and got yet another shock. Artemis' eyes had gone from green to pink - both of them were completely pink, including the Iris and the white parts. 'Something must be up, I don't know much about him. But from what Twilight was babbling on about during her scans his eyes shouldn't look like that. What could of caused that?' Trixie walked over to Artemis and rubbed a hoof under his chin, he just sat there - completely nonreactive. "Trixie never thought her plan would go so well. Trixie guesses it helped that the rainbow tart left him alone." Rainbow couldn't believe her luck. Was Trixie really doing monologue like that villain from her Daring Doo books? She always thought that was cheesy. But at least she knew it was what really happened. Or at least she knew Trixie was really that cheesy. For a moment she smiled at her internal insult at Trixie before frowning. 'Wait a minute, did she just call me a tart?' "Well, it's a good job she did abandon him. Just shows what an idiot she is. With him under the power of the love potion, he will be at my beck and call. Not only that, people will gather from all around to see magic shows involving the only one of a kind." She gave his hair a little tussle with her hoof before visibly shuddering. "It's just a shame that to make the affects of this potion permanent that I have to resort to this." Rainbow watched with fascination as Trixie walked over to what appeared to a bed in the corner of her vision and lay down. However, in a moment her fascination turned to bile as Trixie spread her legs revealing herself. She couldn't see it due to the direction Trixie was facing - but she could easily tell that was what she was doing. "C-come and g-get me." Trixie stuttered, her own disgust at the event clear in her tone. Rainbow could only watch with a mixture of horror and mirth as Artemis struggled to his feet and started taking down his trousers. "Alright, this has gone on long enough. I just hope this doesn't hurt . Me." Rainbow flexed her wings and back-legs and leaped through the window, smashing straight through it causing complete chaos in the room. Well, Trixie was thrown into chaos - quickly closing her hind legs together and leaping to her feet. Whereas, Artemis just stayed standing motionless, his trousers hanging around his ankles. "I am not an idiotic tart! Oh, and get your lying hooves away from him as well... I guess." Rainbow declared, gracefully landing amongst the shards of broken glass. "What..? How...? Why..?" Was all Trixie could say in response. "I think you mean, 'Oh my, it's Rainbow Dash. Please don't hurt me.'" Rainbow smirked. "You are so busted." Trixie groaned in frustration before quickly recovering. "Ha, you think you can stop this?" Trixie assumed a battle stand and pointed her horn at Rainbow. "Take this." Rainbow only had a second to realize that mindlessly charging into the fray without a plan was such a bad idea before she was captured in a blue field of magic. "Cud!" "My, my. What a mouth. That's something I'll have to change when Trixie makes you her slave as well." She said mockingly. "A what? There's no way you will make me a slave." "Oh really?" Trixie walked over to the mantlepiece and withdrew a second vial of clear liquid, causing Rainbow's eyes to open wide in fear. "Oh, you're right to be afraid. I can imagine you know what this is, but just in case it hasn't made it through that thick skull of yours I'll tell you. This is a second vial of love potion, just a few drops and you'll be willing to serve me as eagerly as your friend over there." "Y-you know Trixie, I was wrong about you." "Really? Pray tell, Trixie is all ears." "I thought you were just a gloating nag. But now I see you're an evil bitch." "Sticks and stones, Rainbow, sticks and stones." She let out a large cackle. "You know, I've always liked a slave who can move super fast, and I do enjoy the taste of skittles." She leaned towards Rainbow and whispered in her ear, "With you, I can taste the rainbow." "I wouldn't give you the pleasure." "Oh come now, not as if you can do anything to stop it, now just hand there and open your mouth like good obedient slave you're going to be and no one gets hurt more than they need to." Trixie uncorked the vial of liquid and started walking towards Rainbow, causing her to struggle in vain against the magical bonds. While this was going on, the small part of Artemis that sill existed could only look on in horror as he was unable to do anything to help. 'Come on dammit, move. We need to help Rainbow.' He struggled internally for some sort of control, but only succeed in moving one of his feet slightly forward. It was only enough to cause him to catch his trousers on the chair and fall face first into the carpet, landing with an audible thud. To him it was a clumsy failure, however it caused Trixie to whirl around to identify the source of the noise, losing her grip on the vial in the process. For a moment she looked on in horror as the open vial flew across the room, before she realized she was a unicorn and used her magic to stop it mid flight. She smiled to herself and then turned to Artemis to chide him when a sudden realization came over her. If her magic was holding the vial, what was restraining the probably very pissed Pegasus she was threatening with said vial? The answer came quickly as she felt a pair of hooves buck her across the room knocking her out against the opposing wall. She briefly enjoyed her triumph before frowning as Artemis stood up in front of her. She quickly took a slightly embarrassed stance as she prepared to apologize for the way she behaved. However, she gave a yelp as she was forced to dodge a clumsy punch. "Hey, what gives? I just saved your tail feathers from that witch." "You hurt mistress, now I hurt you." He released another clumsy punch that Rainbow easily dodged. "Artemis, please." She pleaded, "Please don't make me hurt you." "You hurt mistress." Rainbow sighed, she really wish she didn't have to do this. "Artemis, I hope you can forgive me later." She unleashed a savage hoof to the gut, knocking him out and launching him across the room. She walked over to his limp body and carefully placed hooves under him to lift him up while supporting his head and body. "Such a crazy day, time to go home." She sighed. Rainbow was flying through the darkness, Artemis carefully cradled in her arms. A single tear raced down her cheek, this day had been absolutely horrible and given what happened, she wouldn't be surprised if she lost her element. How could she be the element of loyalty after everything that had happened. She heard some mumbling coming from the human in her arms and felt him squirm. He was beginning to stir. She looked down at him and could see his eyes in the moonlight, they were still a milky pink. Feeling his arms constrict around her she began to worry. She was wondering if it would be necessary to knock him back out when he began to speak. "R-rainbow..?" His voice was raspy and barely audible over the rushing wind. "You, you came back?" It seemed a knock out wasn't necessary. "Yes, Artemis, I did. I hope you can forgive me for leaving you." She continued flying, expecting a response however none was forthcoming. "Artemis?" Silence... she thought he was asleep but a sudden movement beneath her proved that theory wrong. She didn't pay much notice but was surprised when she felt his breath against the side of her head. "Rainbow. I... I l-love you." She was still processing exactly what he said when she felt his lips against her cheek. A strange feeling flowed over her, distracting her long enough to nearly impale them on a tree above the Everfree forest. Luckily she came to her senses managed to regain height. "A-Artemis?" There was no response, she looked down and saw that he was fast asleep.