//------------------------------// // Act I – Slaves – Chapter 1 // Story: Sunset in the gods // by red-sun //------------------------------// Grandfather? Why do I have to go with them? Is it because of the fire that I accidentally caused with my magic? Is it because I'm a unicorn? Is it because I don't have wings? Is it because I'm not strong enough? Please answer me Grandpa Gruff. Sunset suddenly wakes up in Twilight's lap. "what happened?" “You're finally awake, what a relief.” Twilight puts her hand on Sunset's cheek but she pushes it away from her. "you feel good?" "I'm fine, just a bad dream." Sunset answers. "what happened?" “The slavers surrounded us and hit you hard on the head. You were unconscious for two days." Says Shining Armor, who was next to his sister. "Where we are?" Sunset asks still disoriented. "Hey, keep quiet or they'll hit you." Says a girl who appeared to be about ten years old, with blonde hair and wearing a stetson hat. "Don't blame her, she woke up and appeared in a cage, it's normal for her to be like that." A blue-haired boy says. “My name is Flash Sentry and this is Applejack, and we're in a slave caravan, Equestria is fallen and the Crystal Kingdom rules. Now slavery is legal and there is no shortage of slaveholders who do not take advantage of the opportunity”. "You still haven't told me where we are or at least where the slavers are taking us." Sunset says. “To the mines of the northern mountains. They sold us to work there.” Reply Flash Sentry. "I wonder, what kind of place is it?" "It is one of the largest mines in the Crystal Kingdom, all under a great mountain, they say it will be decades before it begins to run out, I guess with the fall of Equestria and the arrival of more slaves, more sections will be opened for the extraction of minerals”. Twilight says. And everyone in the carriage even the one driving the cart stares at her. "That? I like reading". "Look, I think we've arrived." He says Shining Armor and points to the spot. "The mountain doesn't look that big." “Must be underground. If it is the largest mine that exists, then there must be kilometers of tunnels”. Says Sunset while she also looks at the mountain. "Wow... Do you know that just by looking at her?" Applejack asks surprised. "That and looking at the size of the caravan." Sunset, now more awake, points behind the cart showing other carts with more slaves. The view reached the horizon. When they reach a village the carts stop. "Everyone get down from your cages!" A guard wearing light leather armor yells as he opens the cage, other guards also open the other cages. "Everyone gather there!" He tells him pointing to an open field. When Sunset comes out of the cage she looks around and finds Velvet and Night Light, apparently taking them on another wagon. Then Sunset and the family get together and proceed to the place the guard pointed out. "We welcome the owner of the mines, Mr. Filthy Rich!" On a platform appears a man who seemed to have just entered old age, had dark gray hair combed back. He wore robes with a very elegant collar, and was accompanied by a girl who appeared to be about eight years old, had lavender and white hair, and was wearing a tiara. “As you may already know my name is Filthy Rich!” the man yelled “And today is the first day of the rest of your life! As you know from the rumors, the mountain has opened four sections to dig given the large availability of slaves today. Before you set foot in your new home, keep in mind that the northern mountains are ruled and protected by the gods. Any dispute outside is none of our business, any more than the newly inducted Shadow Emperor is with our business or the gods. Were it not for the decree of the gods, all of you would have had to suffer through the flames of war. But now that the war is over, everyone will have to adjust to the new status quo. All of you and you don't know how slavery works, other more experienced slaves will be brought to teach you how everything works ". "This is boring!" The girl next to Filthy starts throwing a tantrum. "Daddy I want to go play!" "Okay my little girl, she waits a minute." She said playfully to the girl. "Guards, bring in the new slaves, let me know when the next batch arrives." A large gate opens for the slaves to enter the mountain. Entering the mountain, Sunset along with the rest of the group lined up. As they entered, they began to hear screams from the group that had entered first. "They are marking the slaves." Flash says. "Prepare, this is going to hurt." Ahead you could see a group of men branding people in the arms with a red-hot iron. “Forgive me, your majesty. Due to our carelessness it will have to rise unnecessarily”. Velvet whispers to Sunset. "Hide the necklace well so they don't take it off." While Sunset sees how the people cry and complain about the pain of the brand, she responds. “Leave it like that, now I'm thinking about what to do. Besides, she needs something more than a hot iron to make me scream”. When Sunset's turn came and they put the mark on her left arm despite her pain she didn't scream, compared to the burns she sometimes suffered in fire magic training in her world, this was nothing. As she kept walking she noticed that the ones behind her didn't shout as much as the ones in front of her. He sees Applejack go by. "I see that you can handle the pain." "Ha! I guess when I notice you didn't yell I'll take it as a challenge." The next to appear is a fourteen-year-old teenager who for his age has well-formed muscles and Applejack recognized him. "Big Macintosh!" Applejack runs to hug the teen. "I'm happy to hear you're well. Was Apple Bloom able to escape? "Yep" "Granny Smith?" "Yep" "Grandpa Pear?" "Yep" "I'm glad to hear they managed to escape." “I see that it is of few words”. Sunset says. "Yep" "My brother is like that, his name is Big Macintosh as you heard my name is Applejack... sorry for my attitude in the cage, I was a little worried about my family at that time... what did you say your name was?" “I didn't say it, my name is Sunt...”. Sunset remembered that she had to go undercover for a while and decided to lie. "It's Sun, nice to meet you Applejack." And sunset noticed how Applejack puts a curious look but then ignores him. Then he walks away to join Velvet and her family and they keep walking until they reach the work area. The mine was huge, despite being under the mountain it was spacious as Twilight said. He may have just opened this section of the mine but it had definitely been ready for more workers for some time. "Hey everyone! Everyone come here!” A tall thin man with no hair who despite looking like a slave was better groomed than the others. He was smiling Sunset noticed that she was a forced smile, years among nobles and an immortal princess had taught her to notice those things. “They must be scared about their new life, right? They'll get used to it. They call me Old Brother, I am the foreman of this area and from now on I am in charge of you. That is why I must tell you how everything works here and thus ensure that everyone can work well. To motivate you a little I am also a slave, but... ”Old Brother shows his arm with his mark but it looked bigger. “I am a slave of a higher level. It is an honor that can only be obtained after years of hard work. Then with some effort they will also have opportunities to ascend”. “With some effort you will also have the opportunity to ascend”. Sunset frowned suddenly taught. "You're good?". Twilight asks worriedly. "Just a bad memory." Sunset answers. “First of all, the rules. Everyone look at that bell, the bell determines when it's time to eat, work and rest. Second, each slave must comply with a quota of minerals, the one who does not comply does not eat. Third..." After the introduction given by Old Brother Sunset and his group they were already working. "Did you find some of the rocks we need?" Flash asks as he hits with a hammer to break some rocks. "So this is what they want." Sunset examines the rocks. It was a brown stone. “Why would the gods want the carnelian?” "What do you mean?" Twilight asks as she too checks the rocks. "Isn't it for her jewelry and that sort of thing?" "I thought that too at first but..." Sunset remembered that in her world carnelian was one of the least prized minerals since diamonds were better used for magic. “They sent more than twelve thousand slaves to extract this mineral, they said that they opened four new areas to be able to extract them and that these mines are exclusive to the gods, it is difficult to believe that they need these stones so much just for decoration.” “Hey you guys!” Everyone looked where the scream came from. "What are you doing talking?! If they don't work they will bring trouble to all of us!" "Limestone?" Applejack says recognizing the other slave. She has straight, short, light gray hair. "Applejack?" The slave responds and runs to hug the girl. "I can't believe we met again. While that reunion was happening, Sunset noticed that in one of the dark caverns of the mine there was someone watching from the dark part, just when she was about to go to see, the bells ring. "Finally, time to eat." Shining says. In the place where they meet to eat, you can see how they bring baskets with bread, rice, fish and a pond with water. But when the guards walk away a large group of slaves huddle together. "There are a lot of people." Says Night Light. “I'm going to see if I can reach something. So he tries to get between the other slaves to get something but is just stopped by Old Brother. "Excuse me foremen, but why does he stop me?" “There are rules around here and you guys are new so you don't have any contributions, listen, this group of slaves over there are the experienced slaves, and as such they are your superiors and have the right to eat first. You can wait a moment, you will have your turn when they finish”. Explains Old Brother. While waiting their turn Sunset he notices that the first group was eating in that same place and that they were trying to get more food than they should have. "Hey Old Brother! I don't know if you realize it but if they continue like this there won't be anything left for the rest." Says Sunset trying to contain her anger. "They just didn't dole out enough for everyone." He responds nonchalantly. That answer infuriated sunset. "Are you an idiot or what?! Don't you realize that they are taking out more food than it should?! You're supposed to be the foreman, do your job!" At that moment Old Brother stops smiling and hits Sunset with a stick. "You don't speak to me like that!" He starts screaming as he continues to hit her. "I run this part of the mine, I decide how the food is distributed, I decide the rules here!" He screamed non-stop as he punched Sunset but then Twilight gets in front of Sunset to protect her taking a hit herself. "Please stop!" Twilight says as blood comes out of her mouth. “We will no longer insist! Please, enough is enough!” She begs through tears. “I don't care if he eats or not, that's not the problem now. The problem is discipline. So back off at once." "No!". Twilight answers firmly. "Well, don't push yourself away... I'm going to discipline you too!" And Twilight gets hit too, but she doesn't back away from her, shielding Sunset from the hits the entire time. "Enough!!" a guard yells. “If you keep hitting her like that you will kill them and less slaves is less production”. "Sorry boss." Old Brother replies, faking a smile again, and looks back at Sunset. "Take this girl and she goes back to work." Sunset, still a little hurt, picks up Twilight and takes her to the rest tunnels where the slaves sleep. "I'm sorry, your majesty." Twilight whispers to Sunset. "Don't speak, your wounds are worse than mine." Sunset told him. Just then Velvet and Night Light approach to help Sunset but she stops them."You guys keep working while I'll make sure Twilight is okay." Twilight's parents wanted to object but decided to obey Sunset, noticing that she was worried about Twilight. On the way, she asked other foremen and guards if they had doctors to help her, but they all gave negative answers, until a slave explained that they do not have doctors in the mines and that when a slave was injured or sick, they only hoped that they would recover or die. . Those answers frustrated Sunset. “Why do I care about you? You ended up like this because you put yourself in the middle, you are like this because of your own fault. Sunset was telling an unconscious Twilight as she tried to hold back her tears. “I will do what is necessary to help you since you are my subject. You, Velvet, Night Light and Shining Armor are my only subjects at the moment so I will do what I can to take care of them.” "It's not the answers I was hoping for, but I'll settle for it." She said a voice that could be heard from the dark side of the cave, apparently Sunset was lost while she looked for help. "Who are you?! Show yourself! Can you help me?! Then suddenly a tall thin man with a beard and white hair appeared. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Discord, I appear before you and yes, I can help you.