Home is where the Mouth is
A Fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Chapter 3
You know the drill.
- - - - - -
Previously, on Home is where the Mouth is . . .
Walking, Smell, More Walking, Flowers, Plant, EVIL Plant, Rod, Flying, Running, Falling, Sliding, Searching, Spying, Running, Hiding, Complying, MORE Walking, Talking, MOAR WALKING, Eating, Bedrooming, Dreaming.
- - - - - -
Minty had slowly and lazily woken up from the dream he just had. He was sad to have it end so soon. He wished he could be with his mother some more, but he knew that it would never happen. That could quite possibly be the saddest feeling of all. Wanting the thing you love most, but knowing that you will never be able to have it. It left a sense of extreme emptiness in his heart.
He opened his eyes only to have a wave of blue and gray flood his face. He moved around a bit and got the strange object away from him. He found he couldn’t move much. It took a while to realize what had been happening. Colgate had her fore hooves wrapped around Minty’s torso, and was nuzzling his neck.
He struggled but couldn’t get away from the iron grip. It was as if she was trying to squeeze the life out of him. But it also felt very comfortable and soothing. There was a rather attractive (at least Minty thought so) unicorn mare cuddling with him. He blushed. His mind tried to find an explanation for what he was feeling, but came up with none. Just then, he felt a strange sensation on his neck. Almost like wind. He turned his head to see Colgate, wide eyed and awake, still cuddling with him. She had a smile on her face.
“Good morning,” she whispered. Minty noticed that her breath had pleasantly smelled of mint and toothpaste. He wanted to just stay there with her, but the awkwardness of the situation alone was enough to make him want to get out.
“Ehrm, good . . . um . . . morning, Colgate,” he said uncomfortably as he adjusted his tail out from under his leg. They laid there in silence for a few minutes. After a while, Colgate raised her hooves past her head to stretch. Minty took the chance to get away. He jumped out of the bed causing some hay to blow onto Colgate. Just then, a zebra male, probably one from the other night, had trotted into the room.
“Prepare yourselves. The Elder has requested your presence in the main hall.” Minty learned not to question zebras. Especially not the males. He had moved over to another room and began pulling equipment out of his bag. A small box with string, a tube with pleasantly smelling cream, and a stick with small orderly placed hairs on the end. It was his mouth-cleaning kit. He had always had it with him wherever he went. As he began brushing his immaculate teeth, he noticed Colgate getting up through the reflection of a small rectangle mirror on the wall. She shook the hay off which caused it to go flying in all directions. She then joined him in the room.
Sitting next to him, she also pulled out a mouth-cleaning kit of her own. A yellow brush was dispensed, floating by means of magic. She squirted some toothpaste on the brush and got to work. As she was doing this, Minty couldn’t help but look. She had her mouth open revealing her perfect teeth. Her mane was all ruffled from sleep, and it had hung partially over one of her eyes. Minty spit out the remainder of the water-toothpaste mix from his mouth as he began to think to himself.
She sure is cute for a unicorn. I’ve never really been into ponies other than pegasi, but this one . . . She seems perfect for me. She is kind, honest, loyal, happy, generous, and seemed to be able to handle her magic pretty well. And also, none of the Pegasus mares back in Ponyville would go out with me.
Minty had always been a sort of a ladies man. He had tried hitting on that Rainbow Dash chick, but she shut him down saying he wasn’t cool enough for her.
I can be cool, he thought. Sometimes.
He had also tried going for Fluttershy, but she didn’t seem to want to talk to him much.
I’m a likeable guy, right? I like me, Colgate seems to like me.
As he had focused back on the mirror, he noticed Colgate spitting and saw her lick her lips out of the corner of her eye. This made his wings flare open, which then proceeded to bump Colgate on the side of her flank right about where her cutie mark was. She turned her head to him, then mischievously smiled.
“So you want to do that now?” she began as she rotated her whole body. She leaned her front down and dragged a hoof through the dirt floor. She snorted a little. Minty just looked at her.
“Colgate, what are you doing?” She narrowed her eyes then began to charge. Minty noticed this and bolted away. He began yelling, trying to avoid the horn on her head. He remembered his wings and flew up to the ceiling. Colgate just sat underneath him, waiting for a moment to strike. “Why are you attacking me all of a sudden?”
“You bumped me with your wing. I thought you wanted to play.” Colgate sighed at this and came down. Colgate didn’t let up one bit. She jumped at him and tackled him to the ground. They rolled to the other wall and stopped with Colgate pinning Minty down.
“Ouch,” Minty said. He pushed Colgate off of him. “What was that for?” he stood up and brushed himself off with a hoof. Colgate got up as well, but didn’t do anything.
“I was playing,” she began as she walked towards the door to leave the room. “And besides, you’re just so easy to get some times.” Minty blinked at this and followed after her. They walked for a couple minutes before a guard instructed them into a large room surrounded by what appeared to be stairs, only bigger. There was a very large stone table at one end that had many older and some young Zebras. They looked very official. The Elder was seated in the very center. As the two ponies reached the middle of the room, zebras spilled out into what Minty now realized were seats (picture an ancient roman theatre). There was white and black everywhere.
Black.
He looked back to the Zebra officials as one of them began to speak.
“This is the trial of these two ponies who have so rudely trespassed into our home,” a female began. “We shall determine what will become of them.” The crowd began stomping their hooves in a thunderous applause. They suddenly became quiet as The Elder stood.
“First we shall ask the reason they are here, as we are creatures of peace and fairness and not the brutes your kind makes us out to be,” he said loudly. His voice echoed through the room. “Speak now, if you will.”
“We are on a mission given to us by Princess Celestia. We are to save Equestria from impending doom.” Minty heard murmurs and mocking laughter. They didn’t believe him at all. The Elder’s face didn’t change.
“Explain yourself,” a female zebra demanded. It was the one that spoke first. “Why would Princess Celestia send you on a journey to save Equestria? How do-” she was cut off by the Elder.
“Have you proof of what you say?” he asked, the authority in his voice still entirely present. “Surely you don’t expect us to believe in such vague and foolish words.” Many of the zebras around them lightly stomped their hooves in agreement.
“I don’t know if this is really proof, but it might help,” he turned to Colgate and opened her saddlebags. The orb and rod floated out with her magic in an attempt to persuade the zebras to release them. There was a slight gasp from the crowd as Colgate made the objects float a little higher. The Elder even seemed shocked.
“How did you acquire those? Those are sacred artifacts filled with unimaginable amounts of magic!” a second female zebra exclaimed. Everyzebra was completely silent.
“It’s just like I said. Celestia sent us.” Minty noticed them float back down a little. The first female zebra cleared her throat and spoke once more.
“Such evidence still does not support why you have decided to come to our home.” Her voice cracked a little out of shock that there were two of the most powerful magical artifacts right in front of her.
“Well, it’s a long story, act-” he was cut off by Colgate who began detailing the story with pure enthusiasm.
“First, we walked into the forest, which is weird, because why would anypony walk into the Everfree Forest? Then we walked some more until I smelled something amazing. So amazing that Minty says he couldn’t stop me from going towards it.” She was talking a million miles per hour. “Turns out it was this gigantic evil plant thingy that fed on other ponies, and Minty saved me, I think. Then we ran out and fell down a slide thingy with hay at the bottom.”
The zebras listened in silence. They looked to each other, exchanged a few whispers, then turned back to Colgate and Minty just standing there.
“We shall release you on grounds of unintentional trespassing, as we see no harm was done,” the second female zebra said. Minty felt glad that they were being so ‘generous’ as to let them leave a place they never even wanted to be in. “However, you shall be escorted out of the Everfree Forest so you do not intrude other creatures business.”
The elder started to say something. “You shall be escorted by Pela, my daughter.” This elicited a few gasps from the crowd. The zebra in question spoke up next to him. It was the zebra that was eating with them the other night. She seemed to be around his and Colgate’s age.
“But father, I-” she began as she was interrupted.
“You nothing, Pela. You shall guide them to the edge of the forest, and you shall join them on their journey.” Even more gasps this time. Minty also looked surprised. Here was the Elder, telling his child to go on a very dangerous conquest to save Equestria from certain doom, and he seemed pretty sure about it. “Besides, you always complain about being stuck down here and not exploring the surface. To be honest, it gets a bit annoying at times.”
The zebra named Pela sat back down with a huff and glared at Minty. She was obviously irritated with her father’s decision. The Elder moved his attention back to Minty and Colgate. “Now, our guards will show you out after you gather your things.”
Minty and Colgate went back to their rooms and put everything they had in their saddlebags. They hadn’t taken anything out except for their cleaning utensils, so they were out in short order. Pela, however, took a bit longer. They were waiting at a steep set of spiraled stone stairs when they heard hoofsteps approaching. Pela and two guards emerged from a dark corridor.
“If we are ready, then we shall go. I wish to be rid of this place as soon as possible,” Pela said. There was a bit of reluctance in her voice. “I can handle myself from here, guards. Off you go.” The guards nodded and trotted back to where they came from. Pela walked up to Minty.
“I will show you the way out, but in return I require protection from the creatures of the surface.” Minty had no reason to argue with that so he just nodded his head and agreed.
“Ok, I guess.” They began to ascend. It took minutes to reach the top of the stairs and to reach a short hallway. At the end was a few more steps and a door with light spilling through. When the door opened, they were greeted with a flood of sunlight and headaches. They had spent enough time in the caves to get used to the light level and hadn’t gotten to see any natural sunlight. It was especially bad for Pela, considering she had been underground her entire life.
After spending a moment to reorient themselves, they climbed out of the hole and into a very small clearing, meant only for a zebra or two. Colgate got a look on her face then spoke up. “If you were underground this whole time, how will you know where to go?” Pela glared at her.
“No questions. You will follow me.” Colgate had a confused look on her face, not knowing what she did wrong. Pela began to walk off in a seemingly random direction, while Minty and Colgate followed close behind. It took mere minutes before they reached a small but obvious path. The sun appeared to be setting, so Minty figured it was mid to early afternoon, so he thought they could travel a bit more before resting.
“There is a clearing nearby that is large enough to situate us for the night. We shall travel to it, then stay until morning,” Pela said from the front. She didn’t seem to show any interest in the looks Minty and Colgate were exchanging with each other. Colgate then began to stare at her. At this, Pela turned her head enough to see. She then snapped her head back and began walking differently, like you would if you knew you were being watched and judged.
They continued until they reached the clearing Pela was talking about. There was absolutely no resistance on the path, and there didn’t seem to be any after they set up their “camp”. It consisted of three blankets sprawled across the grass, a tiny fire, and a few sharpened sticks stuck in the ground to ward off any curious creatures passing by. The day went by quickly, and the three companions huddled around the fire. Though it wasn’t really huddling for Pela. Colgate sat rather close to Minty, while Pela was on the opposite side of the fire and not very close to it. There was a very light breeze that played with the flames.
“So, Pela was it?” Minty began. His curiosity finally got the best of him. They had been walking and working in silence since they left the caves. “Tell us about yourself.” He had a fairly expectant look on his face. The zebra flashed shock on her face, then glared at him.
“I have nothing to say to you, pony,” she replied. The emphasis on ‘pony’ made it clear she wasn’t happy with her situation. “If I wanted to talk about anything, I would. But I don’t, so you are out of luck.” She turned back towards the fire and readjusted the way she was sitting. It was pretty obvious to Minty that she was uncomfortable.
“Okay, sorry I asked.” They sat in silence a moment longer until Minty finally got up. “Well, I’m tired. I’ll be asleep if either of you need me.” He walked over to where their beds were, and plopped down on one. A heavy sigh could be heard from him. After mere minutes, light snoring could be heard.
Silence.
It was the only thing for a long time. Colgate rested in front of the fire, and Pela sat awkwardly, trying to avoid the curious stare of the pony. It had to happen at some point.
And it just did.
She was just staring. With her blue eyes. There was no sign of Colgate losing the mind grip she was holding on Pela. They were like the sea- no, the ocean, with a stretch as vast and as blue as the eye (hah) could see. In most spots, the water was relatively calm. In others, Pela could see raging waves thrashing about. In the very center, there was a large black hole that seemed to be sucking in the water. But it would never end. The hole kept stretching out, and the blue was pushed up against a white sky. It keptgrowing. A glimmer could be seen in the center. It was a reflection of something.
Life then took a ‘zoom-out’, and revealed Colgate with absurdly large pupils, and a decreasing amount of blue in her eyes. She was looking at Pela’s necklace, though the zebra had no idea. It took her a while to escape the black hole that was Colgate’s eyes and realize her most valuable possession was being admired.
“W- What are you looking at?” Pela hesitantly asked. She already knew the answer, but all she wanted was for Colgate to stop. Maybe distracting her with words would work.
“Where’d you get it?” the blue pony asked. She was mesmerized by the piece of golden jewelry. There was an oval-shaped gem in the center. Pela seemed to recoil from this question. She didn’t think anypony, or anybody for that matter, would take an interest in her. She was clearly mistaken.
“It was a gift. From my mother.” Colgate’s expression didn’t change, although her eyes reverted a little back to what they were. They were about 20% smaller than they were a second ago.
“She must be a very nice zebra to have given you something so beautiful.” At this, Pela let out a small whimper.
“My mother is no longer in the realm of the living,” she began. “She passed away when I was but a foal.” Colgate’s pupils reverted to their original size.
“Oh, I’m sorry about that.” Pela looked back up to Colgate.
“Don’t apologize. You had nothing to do with her death.” Colgate had no idea what to say to this. She just sat there, waiting for something to happen. Pela finally spoke up. “She had a disease. One that would allow her to live for only a few more weeks. Even to this day, our medics don’t know what had caused it, and what had made it die in her. She gave this to me on her death bed, and it is the only thing for me to remember her by.” Pela heard a sniffle.
“That’s so touching,” Colgate began. She was starting to cry. “I never really knew my parents. As a filly, I was adopted by a dentist because I reminded him of his own daughter that had unexpectedly left him.” The two creatures sat in silence in respect of the dead. More and more minutes passed by, and no words were spoken between them. They sat there until the fire died down to a single small flame.
“It’s time for sleep,” Pela began. “We will need energy for tomorrow.” Colgate silently agreed, and they both trotted over to where Minty was laying. His snores were a bit louder than they had been before, and he was sprawled out over two of the makeshift beds. Pela and Colgate rested on either side of him.
As the seconds passed by, Colgate could feel her eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Her eyes finally closed as she was released into the dream world.
- - - - - -
There was nothing. Only a blank white slate. It was so white, that if you could imagine the whitest possible thing, this was about 20% whiter. Well, unless you thought of Colgate’s teeth. Then they are pretty much the same.
Anyways, Colgate was floating in mid-air, not moving, remaining immobile as far as she could tell. She couldn’t even turn her eyes. They just sat there, gazing forward. Into the white.
So much white.
Then, almost suddenly, a small black circle faded into view. It began to grow. It kept on growing until it was about the size of a soccer ball from her point of view. An irritating buzzing could be heard from every direction. It wouldn’t stop.
The buzzing.
It eventually got louder, and the circle began to pulse.
The pulses grew stronger and stronger until Colgate could feel her eyes shaking, the only thing ‘moving’ about her body.
Vibrations.
It began to slowly bounce back and forth by the nothing that was surrounding it. After it reached a mind-numbingly fast speed and appeared to be just a pure black line, it slowed down and eventually came to a stop. Except this time, there wasn’t just one. There were two, the new one the same size as the original.
Twins.
The colors suddenly inverted. Everything was black now, with the exception of the two circles which were now white.
So much darkness.
Colgate felt a presence behind her. Her body somehow turned, only to face a very large red circle that was pulsing. It looked as if it was angry. It imposed some sort of sense of uselessness in her.
The two circles from before then moved to either side of the red circle. They floated above it, then merged.
Normally, you would expect the colors to join to make another color, usually gray. But this was different.
Light and Darkness don’t always mix.
Purity and corruptness.
Truth and fear.
That buzzing from earlier came back, except this time it was higher pitched and joined by an extremely low rumble, presumably coming from the red circle. It was pulsing harder now.
Earthquake.
The red began to seep out from the circle and slide down like raindrops on the windshield of a car. The red stopped, and in the next moment it completely disappeared from sight. All that remained was the two smaller circles, about halfway into each other, resisting the push and embracing the pull of the other. In the center where the two circles met, there was a small figure.
It began to grow.
It was the sphere that she had been carrying around with her. It appeared to come closer.
The sphere started vibrating, and a soft whistling sound could be heard resonating from it.
The waves were becoming stronger and stronger. They eventually became so strong, that Colgate awoke with a start.
- - - - - -
She literally jumped off of the ground. The sun was nearly at its peak in the sky, and Minty and Pela had already packed everything up. Colgate had rolled off of the blanket, and was now standing in front of a patch of long grass.
“Well, look who’s finally awake,” a male voice said as Colgate slowly walked over to them. “We’ve been trying to wake you up for a couple hours now.” Colgate blushed at this. She was never one to sleep in this late. She just blamed it on how late she was awake, and then left it alone.
“I need to fix myself,” she said. Minty thought about how strange it sounded, but then ignored the little pony in his head. Colgate reached into her saddlebags with magic and pulled out a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. She trotted over to a small pool of clear water and began brushing her teeth. Seeing them brought up memories of the dream.
White.
She tried to ignore it until she finished with her duties. When she was done brushing, she stepped a front hoof into the puddle to break the reflection. As she was putting her things back into her bags, she checked to see if the orb was still there. It was.
After a few minutes, the group finally set off.
- - - - - -
They had been walking for a couple hours when they finally came upon the large path that Minty and Colgate had started on. They could see the fork in the road from where they were standing. Gladly, though, it was behind them both figuratively and literally.
“We must continue this way,” Pela began. She seemed to know what she was doing, so the two ponies trusted her. “We shall come upon ancient ruins, but be wary, for it can cast a spell on you.” Minty wondered how she knew all of this.
“How do you know all of this?” Colgate spoke up in a cheery voice.
Why do ponies keep doing that?
“My scholars know well enough. I would always be learning of what the surface was like.” Pela began walking once more, and Minty and Colgate followed.
Minty used the time of silence during their walking to think about a few things.
‘Pela seems to be opening up. Is it because she is just getting to like me more? Or does it have something to do with Colgate? When did they even go to sleep last night? Why wasn’t Colgate waking up this morning?’
Sadly, he wouldn’t be able to have the answer to any of these questions for a while because they began to approach something.
It was the ruins of what appeared to be an old castle. There was a very worn out bridge that ran over a fog-filled ravine. Fortunately for him, he had wings so he could just fly out if he fell. But Colgate and Pela weren’t as fortunate. Just about when Minty was going to say something, Pela spoke.
“We must be careful. The Pegasus can fly us over one at a time.”
Was his mind really that easy to read?
It was too late, however. Colgate was already about a quarter of the way across the bridge. There was an ominous swoop sound behind them, then the crackle of branches and leaves. It was obvious they were being followed.
“I think it would be safer if we-” Minty started as he was once more interrupted.
“No time for the flying. We must all stay together. Onto the bridge, quick.” That was nothing like what Minty was going to suggest.
That’s a first.
Minty and Pela galloped over to the bridge, and Pela practically jumped on it. It creaked a little.
“Uh, Pela, are you sure this is safe?” Minty asked as he stepped onto the bridge with a hoof. It started to swing uncontrollably as another swoosh passed above their heads.
“You are a pegasus. You do not need to walk.” At this, she jumped away to another board of the bridge.
Duh.
As Minty extended his wings to take flight, a curtain of fog and smoke surrounded him. Out of the smoke came three pegasus-shaped figures dressed in dark blue flight suits. “Minty Rush, we must speak to you.”
“What’s going on? Who are you?” Minty was perfectly clueless.
“Do not trust her, Minty. She will turn her back on you.” The pegasi just stood there, staring at him.
“Are you talking about Colgate? Because she’d never do anything to hurt her friends.” Minty sounded pretty sure of himself, but as with anything, there was always a sense of doubt, even though it might be negligible.
“Heed out warning, Minty. Tread carefully.” Just like that, those ponies disappeared into the smoke. It cleared, and they were nowhere to be seen.
He could see Pela and Colgate waiting on the other side of the ravine. They weren’t looking in his direction. He flew over and silently landed next to them.
“We should keep moving,” Minty said. “We have a lot of ground to make up.” Pela and Colgate looked at each other, then back to Minty. He was clearly disappointed about something, though neither of the two mares wanted to say anything for fear he would snap at them.
They had nearly walked past the ruined castle, when Minty noticed the three ponies standing on a large branch of a tree. He looked away, only to see Colgate staring at him. He took a step away, then faced forward again. Colgate was so confused. Minty doesn’t normally act like this. She trotted over next to him.
“What’s wrong Minty? You’ve acting weird the entire time we’ve been walking.” Her face only held concern and confusion.
“Leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you right now.” He then trotted a bit faster as to get away from her. This made her very sad. The blue in her eyes turned to a deep grey, and her lip was quivering.
It took hours to finally get out of the Everfree Forest. They had camped at the exit, near the path to Dodge City. Minty and Pela slept, as Colgate moped in her own sadness. She didn’t get an ounce of sleep that night.
The next morning was the same routine. Minty had said nothing to her, and she was still extremely sad. The fact that she had no idea why made it even worse.
They had kept on walking for a couple days, and soon reached a wide river. The Hayseed Swamps were to their right, and they didn’t feel too fond of going in there. They say that anypony that has ever gone in there has never come out.
“If we follow this river, we should end up in the Horseshoe Bay next to Baltimare. At least that’s what this map says.” Minty rolled it back up and stuffed it in his saddlebags. “Let’s go.”
The abrasiveness in his voice hurt Colgate even more. She was moving much slower now, and she had been neglecting her personal duties the past couple days. Her teeth were beginning to show the faintest tint of yellow and had heavy bags under her eyes. She felt horrible in every way, but Ponyville still needed her, so she pressed on. She was having mixed feelings about Minty though.
After a day of traveling, they had picked a place to rest where they were a good distance from the river. Minty approached Colgate as if he wanted to talk. “Hey, Colgate,” he began. Colgate perked up a little at the sincerity and kindness in his voice. “If you want to go back to Ponyville, you can. I’ve been noticing how sad you’ve been lately, and it is making me sad to see you like that.”
Not exactly the apology she was looking for, although it made her feel a tiny bit better that he was actually paying attention.
“No, I want to stay with you. I’ll be fine.”
At this, Minty took his place next to Pela, and Colgate actually got some sleep this time.
- - - - - -
She was still sad, but had been starting to take care of herself a bit better. A dull whitness came back to her teeth in place of the yellow, and her mane was no longer wild as she had washed it. Whatever effect she had on Minty while she was wet had completely disappeared, but that wasn’t as big of a deal.
They were about halfway along the river to the bay when a heavy storm appeared. Wind was whipping their manes all over the place, and rain was practically coming in sideways. It also didn’t help that the forests of the Hayseed Swamps wouldn’t provide any protection from rain.
A sudden gust of wind made Colgate lose her footing and she stumbled into the raging river. Minty didn’t notice until he heard her scream.
“COLGATE! Hold on! We’ll get you!” Minty was starting to panic as he went through ideas of how he was going to save her. He couldn’t fly and lift her out of the water because the wind would throw him all over the place. He couldn’t jump in himself otherwise he would be in the same predicament as her. As he was thinking, he saw Pela jump across the river on some high rocks. She had something in her mouth that looked like a rope. She tossed one end to Minty and shouted over the storm.
“Use this to catch her!” Minty grabbed the rope in his mouth, then nodded. They ran downstream with the wind to their backs which gave them a super speed boost, and they eventually surpassed Colgate. The pulled it tight, and Colgate luckily caught it with a hoof sticking out of the water while the rest of her body had capsized.
That’s how it should have worked.
Just before Colgate would have grabbed it, a wave threw her just out of the water towards the rope. She flew into it, and the force yanked Pela and Minty into the river with her. All they could do now is wait and hope they didn’t drown. They had somehow joined together in a group hug as they were screaming and yelling for their lives.
It was minutes before the water calmed down a bit and they were dumped out of the river and into a shallow pool filled with rocks. They were all unconscious.
~ An undefined amount of minutes later, ~
Minty felt himself being dragged along the rocks - his back hooves, anyways. He was only able to open his eyelids a little, but he could see figures of ponies, and a very large wooden boat. They had taken him into a small room that smelled of sweat and alcohol. He wanted to gag, but his body wouldn’t let him. He was thrown into the corner on a not-so-soft sack of something, and then he was out.
~ During that same time, ~
Colgate was the first to wake up. She was half floating, half lying in a shallow pool of water. There were very calm waves from where a tiny waterfall was emerging from the river they were just floating down. It was a wonder she hadn’t gotten any scrapes or bruises from sliding all this way. She immediately got up and looked for her companions.
She found Pela, but there was no sign of Minty.
“Pela, wake up,” she said as she used a hoof to nudge Pela. She awoke very slowly and got up, raising a hoof to her head.
“Ugh, what happened?” She had clearly hit her head on something, more than likely a rock.
“Are you okay?” Colgate asked, concerned for her friend’s safety.
“I’ll be fine. Where’s Minty?”
“I haven’t seen him. Maybe he got up and-” a masculine voice interrupted her.
“Well well well, look what we’ve got here, boys.” The two mares looked over to where the voice was coming from. They saw five or six tough looking pirate ponies dressed in rags and bandanas. One of them even had a peg leg and an eye patch. “A couple of toys for us to play with.” The pirates advanced on them, backing them up against a wall of stone.
Pela tried bucking out in self defense, but one of the larger ponies tackled her to the ground. After seeing the rough treatment the zebra was receiving, Colgate hesitantly gave in to their ‘request’.
“Ergh, unhand me, you, ah! You beasts!” Pela was struggling as hard as she could.
“You want to see a beast? I’ll SHOW you a beast,” one of the pirates snorted out. It was clearly a sex joke with very ill taste. An audible thump came from the same pony.
“You idiot, the Captain gets first pick of any prisoners. You know that.” The perverted pony stayed silent.
It took them only a few minutes to reach their vessel. It was a very large wooden boat with a white skull and crossbones painted on either side. There was a tall mast with sales with the same skull decal.
Pony Pirates. Bet you’ve never heard that one before. (/sarcasm)
A small platform supported only by ropes in the corners was lowered, and they were ordered to stand on it. They were slowly hoisted up onto the ship. What they saw was perhaps the worst thing either of them had seen.
There were dozens upon dozens of what appeared to be slave ponies working their flanks off cleaning the ship. Some were mending tears in the sails, some who were smashing rocks with axes, and one that particularly horrified Colgate, some that were scrubbing the deck with toothbrushes. She would have to make sure to hide hers very carefully so it wouldn’t befall the same fate.
“You two, take these wenches to the Captain’s quarters. I’m sure they need to be spoken to.” Just like that, Pela and Colgate were pushed forward by a pair of heavy ponies. Pela was positive that her ‘push’ was just a violent slap on the flank.
They approached a large single door which opened upon their arrival. Inside was a very elegantly decorated room. There was a long table in the center with a maroon cloth covered in golden floral decorations. There were plenty of plates with deliciously smelly food strewn about the table. On the walls were paintings of what Colgate presumed to be former captains of this ship. There was a large chair turned away from them, and a doorway that supposedly led to a bedroom. Moans and whimpers could be heard coming from that room.
“What business do you have to interrupt my business?” a voice coming from the chair said.
“We have a couple . . . Prisoners, that you might like to look at.” At that, the chair spun around to reveal a young unicorn mare adorned in a fancy hat. She jumped out of the char and walked over to Colgate and Pela. She was a very shapely pony, and the guard ponies that escorted them to the cabin suddenly started standing funny. They left with grunts and throat clearing.
“Well, well, prisoners is right. You two do look like you could be useful.” The pony walked around Colgate first. “Hm . . . Not bad, not bad. But you could still use a little less meat on you.” This offended Colgate, but not enough to make her want to get beaten for not staying quiet. The pony walked around her back.
“Actually, this might be really good. The Captain has been lacking women that can hold him up. Nice strong legs will do the trick.” With this, Colgate blushed and the pony moved on to Pela. “A zebra, how . . . exotic.” She walked around Pela, inspecting just about every detail about her body. “The Captain can decide what to do with you. In the meantime, I’ll just-” yelling came from the back room.
“Now go on, get before I make you!” A small crying mare ran out of the room, her mane all ruffled and blotchy. A very well maintained earth pony stallion followed. He trotted over to his chair and sat. He pretended not to notice them for a minute.
“Ah, what do we have here? A couple more ponies to assist me with a very important job?” He got up off of the chair and trotted over to Colgate. “Hm . . . Not too bad, nice color, strong limbs, perfectly capable of doing this work.” With this, he switched over to Pela. She recoiled from the smell of salt and alcohol in his breath. “It’s been years since I’ve had a zebra work for me. It has proven to be a most . . . interesting experience.” He sat back down into his chair.
“Sooooo . . . Do you want them?” the mare asked.
“Take them to the cellar, Thrash. I will decide what to do with them later. For now, I have another ‘employee’ to attend to.” He retreated into the back room, and a scream could be heard followed by a thud. Colgate and Pela looked at each other with disgusted faces.
“Aw, don’t be like that. Captain Oliver’s not all bad. In fact, if he likes you enough, he might just let ya’ do more than one job for him.” The hint was obvious. “Now, just follow me and we won’t have any trouble. Is that understood?” The pony and zebra nodded.
“Good. I don’t want to hear about two mares causing any trouble. If I do, there will be consequences.” They followed Thrash out of the cabin and onto the deck, where she received a bunch of salutes.
“First Mate Thrash on deck!” Nearly every single pony on the deck stood on three hooves and saluted with the fourth.
“Back to work, you worthless pieces of bear crap.” The hustle and bustle from earlier returned, though there wasn’t any whistling going on.
They arrived at the cellar. All there was was a stained and creaky door that had a crooked sign that had ‘Sellur’ painted on it. It looked suspiciously like blood.
“Now, you two just stay here.” At that, Thresh pushed them into the room and left. Pela had once again received more than just a push. They sat there in the darkness.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Colgate asked. She used her horn to illuminate a small circle around herself and Pela. Just by seeing the door to the place, she knew she didn’t want to see the condition of the food.
“I do not know. Perhaps we can escape.” They then heard something in the room with them. It wounded like grain running out onto the floor, then a groan. A figure just outside of Colgate’s light’s area of effect could barely be seen standing up and holding a hoof to its forehead.
Colgate instantly recognized it as Minty. She tackled him with a hug.
- - - - - -
Sorry I’ve been so late with this one. I have been extremely busy with school and other projects, and sort of had a tiny case of writer’s block somewhere in here.
It’s been just over two weeks, and I was able to provide you with about 7,000 words. I had to cut the end a little shorter than I would have liked only because I felt like I was starving you guys of a story. Not that there aren’t a ton that are better, just saying. I like to think I have thousands of adoring fans enraged that I haven’t uploaded in a while.
A man can dream, can’t he?
I am also working on another crossover fic at the same time, so I apologize if it goes a little slow.
Thanks for understanding. But if you don’t, then I don’t have anything else to say to you.