While Twilight was having her mental breakdown, across town, a grey earth pony mare was packing up her cello. She latched the case and slung it over her back, turning around to face the backstage door. Another concert had come and gone and Octavia still felt the same. She was no closer to making it than before the concert, only a few ponies had actually stopped her to compliment her on her hard work. She groaned and rubbed her sore hoof, the last peice of the concert had really givin her a cramp. Octavia stepped lightly on that hoof and opened the door. She wished she was a unicorn. Oh what she'd give to be a unicorn, but sadly, fortune did not favor her. She pushed these thoughts aside and stepped out into the alleyway behind the concert hall. The sun was high, but the alley was still caught in the shadows of it. There was a slight buzzing in the air, Octavia's ears turned in all directions to find the source, but unfortunately she could not find it. Then, from behind her, there was a flash of light. Octavia jumped and turned around.
The flash of light was caused by a teleportation spell. There was a lone stallion weakly standing up after being on the ground. He was a unicorn, obviously, with a brown coat and a scar across his face. He began to cough wildly. Octavia stood by in suprise, not sure of what to make of the situation. it was obvious he had some lung problems, no pony had coughing fits that bad for that long.
The stallion wiped his nose and looked around. He mumbled something to himself about teleportation. His eyes met Octavia's and he gasped, earning him another fit of coughing. Octavia raised an eyebrow and watched.
"Excuse me, are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm-*cough*-fine, don't worry 'bout me." His voice was rough, his throat was probably ravaged from all that coughing.
"That doesn't sound healthy. Perhaps you should see a doctor?"
"No, no, trust me, I'm fine. No need for a doctor 'ere."
"Alright then. Would you care to explain why you apeared in this alley?"
The stallion froze. "I...uh, I was um..."
"Well?"
"I was trying to catch up with you."
"Oh really?" Octavia wasn't buying the lie."
"Uh, yeah. I saw you were a musician, and I wanted to talk to you 'bout it."
"Nice try, but you're up to something. I'm going to the police."
The stallion suddeny got very angry. "No you ain't. You ain't goin' nowhere." His horn glowed and Octavia began running. She ran down the alley towards the open street, dropping her cello and yelling for somepony to help her.
The stallion grabbed her with his magic and put a silence spell on her. She tried to scream but no sound came out. Even her thoughts were silent. She tried to escape but couldn't get away. The stallion approached her and pulled a rag out of nowhere.
"I told you you ain't goin' nowhere." He looked furious. A million different scenarios ran through Octavia's mind. Would he mug her? Rape her? Murder her? All three? Her heart raced, her breathing was spastic.
He put the rag over her face and she passed out.
***********
Octavia slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark and cold, and she heard the echo of water dripping from the ceiling. She looked around frantically. She tried to move but found she couldn't. She was strapped down with leather around her hooves. She yelled for somepony to help her, but of course, there was no reply.
There was a glow around the corner. The glow grew brighter as the source came closer. The room began to light up and Octavia realized she was in a cave. That explains the dripping water, but these are the largest crystals she had ever seen. Some towered well over ten feet tall, other jutted out from every nook and cranny in the cold stone, causing eerie shadows when the light fell on them. There was another cough, and another. The sound echoed off the walls, and they sounded far worse down here then they did in the alleyway.
The stallion who had kidnapped her appeared around the corner. He was using his horn for light and he looked worn out. He walked over to Octavia and smiled.
"Hello dear Octavia, so kind of you to join me." He chuckled, triggering another coughing fit. "Sorry 'bout the coughing, the moisture down 'ere really gets to me."
"W-what do you want from me?" Octavia swallowed hard, she was terrified. The stallion grinned, showing his terrible teeth. He came within intches of her face, whispering creepily.
"I want your Cutie Mark."His breath smelled like a dead thing, no, a thousands dead things stuffed into one big dead thing.
"Why?"
"To add it to my collection, of course.You see, Octy, I collect cutie marks. Its a very interesting hobby, you can tell a lot from a pony by their cutie mark, and I can't collect them while still on a pony's body, so I take them."
"Why would you do that? How can you do that?"
"Magic, my dear." He turned away from her, walking over to a metal table. The table was covered in strange objects and tools, most of them looked like medival torture devices. Octavia watched in fear as he picked up some old rusty pliers thathad a serrated edge. He walked over to octavia and approached her flank.The pliers made and active buzzing sound that grew louder as it came closer.
He touched the tool to her skin. It grew unbearily hot and vibrated rapidly. He opened them up and then they jumped from his grip and lunged into her skin. She screamed and the pliers cut her skin around her trebble cleft mark. the pliers dropped to the ground with a clang. Blood pooled around them. Octavia was crying, she had just had her skin ripped from her body by a magical tool. The stallion wasn't done yet, he picked up the evil device and took his time wipping the blood from it. He set it back on the table and picked up another one that looked like medical rib spreaders. He approached her again and put it over her bleeding flank. She winced, and the tool got hot, like the other one. It vibrated and the spreaders dug into the skin around her wound. It pulled shut, pulling her skin over the wound, and the stallion walked back to the table. He Picked up a needle and thread. It was a bone needle stained red and the thread seemed to glow in the darkness of the cave. He threaded the needle and came back over to Octavia.
She had stopped crying, she couldn't cry anymore, and her face was stained with tears. The Stallion came up and begain to push the needle into her flank. She winced again, and he pulled the needle out. he did it again on the other side of her wound, closing it up. She looked down as he finished. He removed the spreaders and the thread began to glow. It sunk into her skin and dissapeared, and the wound healed completely. She gasped in amazement, and the scar faded as well. What remained was her skin and grey coat, no evidence of anything else.
"There, all done. Now when you wake up, you won't remember most of this."
"No, please! What did you do to me? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"
"Shh, shh. all in good time, now go to sleep." He placed a rag over her mouth, and she passed out again.