Numbness spread over your entire body. Your stomach fell to the soles of your feet as you processed the empty space before you.
Questions flooded your mind. Where did Amber go? Maybe she left to get food or something? Would she be back soon?
Would she come back at all?
You shook yourself out of your fugue state. Sitting there like a lump wasn’t going to help.
As you got up, your hand painfully scraped against the wall. Taking a closer look, you noticed the sides of the cave didn’t look…natural. Being so tired the night before, you hadn’t noticed the rough walls. You weren’t a geologist, but you guessed a natural cave would be smoother. This cave looked like it was carved out artificially. Did Horseyland have a mining operation here?
As you investigated the spot where Amber had slept, you noticed something. It about half as long as your index finger, and a yellowish white. As you picked it up you noticed was hard and smooth. One end looked like it had been broken off, and the other tapered down to a razor point. Your blood ran cold as you realized what it was.
A fang. And a big one.
Something had taken Amber. Something big, and with teeth.
You felt panic start to set in, but you managed to force it back. Loosing your cool wouldn’t help her. There wasn’t any blood, so you were sure Amber was alive when she was taken. Whatever had taken her had probably ambushed her while she was asleep, which had likely earned it a startled hoof to the jaw. You pocket the tooth, and moved on.
You weren’t sure if Amber had escaped her assailant or not, so that left you with the problem of deciding where to look for her. Out in the canyon, or deeper in the cave. Stepping outside, you blink against the mid-day sun. There was no sight of Amber or what ever had attacked her in sight. All you found was a hefty branch that had fallen from the bluffs above. Better than nothing.
Looking back to the cave, you noticed a faint glimmer. As you moved closer you saw shining arrow reflecting the sunlight. You hadn’t seen it earlier because it looked glass or something, and only reflected a certain way.
The arrow pointed deeper into the cave, so that’s where you decided to go.
Light from the entrance quickly faded, leaving you in the darkness, alone with your thoughts. Whatever had taken Amber was likely a predator of some kind. Teeth like that weren’t for munching carrots. So why wasn’t there any other sign of a fight? No blood, no fur, only a single broken tooth and a weird arrow. And why hadn’t it come after you? You hadn’t woken up when she was attacked right next to you, so you would have been an easy target. So why had it seemly dragged a magic horse that had already kicked one of its teeth out? Like most things in this world, it didn’t make sense.
Ahead of you, you saw light around a corner. Erring on the side of caution, you took your time and peaked around the corner.
You saw Amber. Alive and well.
Kind of.
She seemed to alright physically, but her situation was for from preferable. A large metal yoke was hooked around her neck, which in turn connected to mining cart of some kind. A crudely-made muzzle blocked most of her face, but from her eyes you could tell she was frightened.
You were about to go to help her, but the sound of approaching voices coaxed to reconsider.
“You sure Pony can’t speak?” one voice squeaked.
“Yes. No chance of ear-hurt this time!” a second replied.
“Good. Kick hurt mouth enough…” a third growled.
From the far end of the cavern three large figures led a crowd towards Amber. It took you a minute to make them out but when you did, well…
Up to this point you had seen quite a few things, most of which you would have previously deemed ‘impossible.’ Magic, talking horses, rainbow lasers, and amalgamate chaos deities to be specific. Taking all that into account, what you saw shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. Perhaps it was just the sheer weight of all you had witnessed up until this point, and what little patience you had left was broken by this comparatively simple thing.
Standing in a large chamber ahead of you were dogs. Not normal dogs, no. That would be too simple for this god-forsaken place. No, they were huge. Most of them were seven feet tall, some of them bigger. The tallest was at least eight. They all had big teeth, big claws, and were outrageously muscular. Some even had plate armor, while the leaders wore leather vests, because why the fuck not.
You stood there for a moment. Your eye twitched. At first, you thought it was out of shock. Slowly, you realized that you were just done. Out of everything you had endured up to this point, this was the last straw.
Before you realized, you found yourself striding into the chamber. One of the dogs, noticed you and howled an alarm. In seconds you were surrounded by spears. A bit cliché, but the fact they were being held by snarling anthro dogs bucked the trend a bit. You managed to meet the gaze of a concerned Amber before the three leaders shoved their way to the front of the pack.
“Who are you!?” the embodiment of the ‘Napoleon Complex,’ barked.
“What are you!?” snarled the one that looked like Smeagle in a fursuit.
“Why’re you here!?” furry boulder with arms roared.
“Wow, okay, way to spray.” You said flatly as you wiped spittle off your face. “Well I’m a human, I’m here for my friend you got chained up over there, and my name is-“
“LITTLE PONY IS OURS!” all three howled.
“You really yelling, don’cha?” you replied as your ears ring.
“Last pony very useful! Found gems, pulled cart!” Tiny yapped.
“But it always whined! Made ears hurt!” Smeagle whined, ironically.
“This one can’t find gems, but still can pull.” Bruno grumbled.
The three of them crowded around Amber, staring you down smugly. Amber looked uncomfortable.
“And Little Pony can’t talk!” The three Muttkateers laughed.
As they laughed, you too stock of the situation. Things looked…well, shit. You were surrounded by giant dogs, each of which could easily tear you to shreds in seconds. Honestly, the spears seemed superfluous all things considered. The odds of you fighting your way through them, saving Amber, and escaping, all while armed a dumb branch were basically zero.
Good going genius.
Bruno was suddenly in your face, glaring.
“Wait…you were with Little Pony…Why didn’t we see you?” he snarled.
Smeagle smacked Tiny.
“You found Pony, why didn’t you see Thing?!” he accused.
“It was dark! It looked like rocks!” Tiny growled, and the two began rolling in the dirt, snapping and snarling.
“Not important now.” Bruno said.
The two cantankerous canines froze mid-brawl.
“He’s right! Now we have Little Pony-“ Tiny began.
“And New Thing!” Smeagle finished.
The three howled, and three of the dogs disappeared into a tunnel. A moment later they returned, carrying another set of a yoke, cart, and muzzle.
The Lupine Leaders began dancing around laughing and singing: “More work! More work! More work!”
Yeah fuck that.
Maybe they’d smack you around before slapping you in chains, or maybe they’d just kill you. If the former happened, you’d be able to wait for a better chance to make a move. And if it was the latter, at least your problems would be over. The more rational part of your brain was screaming to just let things play out and wait, but another side won out.
The side that was just tired.
Tired of running, tired from a horrible and just plain weird night’s sleep, tired of just waiting for thing to get better, and most of all sick and tired of the non-stop train off bullshit that you’d been forced to endure since you got to this stupid place.
So as the dogs approached you with their tools of oppression you raised your branch high with a mighty roar, ready to do your best to smash the closest dogs’ teeth out…
And the branch slipped from your grasp.
All eyes watched in silence as it sailed across the room and clattered to the floor.
Silence fell.
Of course. Of fucking course.
The one time you grew a spine and finally stood up for yourself, you fucked it up. And now the only thing you could do was wait to be mauled. You just hoped Amber didn’t have a good view.
The dark shadow of one of the dogs approached. You closed your eyes and waited for the inevitable.
And waited.
And waited some more.
You cracked open one eye to see what was taking so long. A dog was sitting in front of you, it’s tail wagging furiously. It dropped the branch to the floor and looked at you expectantly. Cautiously, slowly, you reach down and pick up the branch. All eye are fixed on you as you stand up and wind it back. The instant you toss the stick a horde of hounds pile after it, barking and slobbering everywhere.
Huh, you thought to yourself, I guess a giant armored dog is still a dog.
A plan forms in your head. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was more than you had a minute ago.
Just like before, the branch was dropped at your feet.
You raised the branch above your head, and addressed your enraptured audience.
“You want this?” you asked.
“Yes! Please!” Tiny barked.
“This? You want this?” you waved the branch around.
“Give it to us!” Bruno roared.
“Are you sure?” you mocked.
“I don’t know why but YES!” Gremlin begged.
Not wanting to disappoint, you heaved the stick with all of your might. You paused only long enough to make sure your distraction was going to last, then make a dash over to Amber. The yoke around her neck was fixed in place with a rusty latch. It took a few moments of struggle, but you managed to wrench it off. A glance over your shoulder told you that you were running out of time. Most of the armored dogs were unconscious on the ground, and the three leaders were fighting over the stick. Fortunately, they were facing away from the two of you.
Amber motioned to her muzzle.
“Sorry, no time.” You said, shaking your head. Amber shot you a glare, but seemed to understand.
It was a mad dash out of the caverns. You couldn’t help looking over your shoulder from time to time to see if you were being followed. Luckily you weren’t, but the paranoia was driving you crazy. After was seemed like ages, you made it out into the sunlight. Neither of wanted to slow down at that particular moment, so you tore your way down the canyon. Eventually you found a easy slope, which the two of you scrambled up. The hope was that you’d lose them in the forest above, if they were in fact added to your growing list of pursuers.
You collapsed in a heap. If nothing else, you were getting great cardio in your short time here. Amber shuffled up next to you, pointing to the muzzle on her face.
“Oh, right, lemme get that.” You mumble, and you spend a few minutes fumbling with the latch. Finally you get it off, and Amber gives you a weak smile.
“Thanks.” She says, almost a whisper.
There were a few minutes of awkward silence. You rub the back of your neck.
“Look, I…I’m sorry. I should’ve been able to help you sooner, but something…” you stop. How would you describe Discord to her? Would she even believe you? Before you think of a response, Amber speaks up.
“No, it’s fine. It was late, you tired, so I get why you didn’t wake up. Besides, I don’t think you could’ve done much against Diamond Dogs. You may be a demon, but it doesn’t seem like you’re a very strong one.” She paused. “I mean no offense, Master.”
“I…yeah sure…” you sigh “So, Diamond Dogs, huh? That’s what those are?”
Amber nodded.
“I’ve only heard about them before, but they seem like what I was told. Most ponies regard them as a nuisance, since they’re not all that smart. Probably how that stick trick worked. They don’t often mess with us, since they’re really only interested in gems. Like these.” She remarked as she produced a sizeable sack that jingled as it moved.
“…Gems…?” Oh right, you remembered them saying something about that…
In response Amber dumped the bag out on the ground. You’d never seen so many different gemstones in such quantities before. Rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and probably gems you didn’t even know the name of were laid out in front of you. To think just about a month ago, you were a nearly broke college grad scraping by on a ‘minimum’ wage job. Now…well, you were fucking rich.
“I…I don’t even know what to say…We’re rich!” you stammered.
Amber cocked her head.
“Well it’s not that much, but it’s enough to live on for a while.”
You stared at her.
“But…all these…”
“Honestly it’d be better it these were bits, but gems will have to do.”
“Are these…not valuable…?”
“Kind of. The values vary from each stone. I was never good with the conversion rates.” She replied, rubbing her chin.
“So gems here are basically a different currency? Damn, back home this would set you up for years, if not your whole life.”
“Really? A shame we’re stuck here then.” Amber giggled softly as she scooped the haul back into the bag with her magic.
Wait.
“Amber…” you say slowly.
“What is it, Master?” she said with a slight edge of fear to her voce, likely fearing she did something to offend you.
“Why didn’t you use your magic to free yourself? Like, levitate the latch of the cart or something?”
There was a long moment of silence. Amber’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks. She facepalmed (er, hoofed?).
“I…forgot…” she squeaked as she tried to cover her embarrassment. “I managed to steal a gem and make an arrow for you, but…I did that with my hooves…I completely forgot about my magic…”
You couldn’t help but laugh.
“Well, you were terrified, so I don’t blame you. Honestly, I’d probably do the same.”
Amber smiled weakly, still blushing.
“I was…And my magic isn’t the best…so I don’t know what I could have done…”
“Oh really? Darn.”
Another long silence.
“Y’know…” you start “It think this may be the longest we’ve talked since we left. Why is that?”
Amber shuffled uncomfortably.
“I guess…it’s because…I’m trying to figure things out.” She replied slowly after a moment. “Father…how much did he lie to me? All he ever told me was that ponies would want to use me because of my talent, then he goes and does the same thing! Then when I got something wrong, he said I was useless! He didn’t see me as a pony, just a…a tool, I get that now, but…”
She choked on her words, tears forming in her eyes.
“Did…did he ever care? Even a little…?”
Her shoulders shook as she broke down in sobs. You…didn’t know what to do. Dealing with other peoples’/ponies’ feelings was never really your strong suits.
Still, you couldn’t sit there like a douchebag while Amber was having a breakdown. So, the best you could think to do was put your arm around her.
It seemed to help.
“I…I may not have the answer but…” you grip her tighter, “I’ll be with you, and I’ll do my best to help you figure it out.”
Amber smiled.
“Thank you…” she whispered. Reflex kicked in, and you began scratching her ears. She leaned into it, and her hind leg even kicked slightly.
Soon, you noticed she had fallen asleep. You couldn’t blame her, she probably didn’t get too much sleep last night. There was still the concern the Diamond Dogs could track you down. They were DOGS after all, and you weren’t that far away from the canyon.
Aw, to hell with it, I’ll just throw another stick. You thought, and settled against Amber for a nap.