…Ow….
Ksshhhhhhhh. Crrreeaakkkk. Thunk.
Mmmm?
I slowly regained my consciousness. With it came pain in every inch of my body. More than that though, I felt that I was being dragged. Gripped by my forehooves, I could feel my hooves scraping against the ground. Occasionally, my hooves would scrape a rock and it would send another small sensation of pain through my leg.
The amount of time that passed seemed like forever. I only knew that I was stuck in this constant dragging, feeling the pain the whole time.
With that thought, I decided to slowly crack open my eyes and was surprised to see that it was dark. It was also a wide dirt tunnel, slowly descending. It was hard to tell what was coming up in the tunnel, since it quickly turned to black further on. The only light seemed to be in the hooves of one of my captors. I tried to bring my head up, but more pain greeted this movement. The only thing I felt able to do was watch the progression through the tunnel. I watched the ground move underneath me and felt it scrape my hooves, but that was the only way I knew time passed. Not even the two dragging me spoke. It was unnerving.
I let my head drop and closed my eyes, deciding to just take stock of everything mentally.
Injured. Tunnel. Prisoner. Prison? Betrayed. Sky…
My mind was still clouded with pain and fatigue, so my mental checklist was less than detailed. However, images were a lot easier to think about. I could see Storm’s kitchen, and the bottle he had. The look on his face when I told him my intentions. The one mare he had sent for me and the stallion she sat on, watching me. I could imagine the sound of Storm’s voice cutting through the blackness.
… And maybe she never got to leave.
Never got to leave.
Through the throbbing pain, I could feel a mix of emotions inside me, all trying to be heard. Pain. Sorrow. Regret. Confusion. Anger.
Fear.
But not for me. I didn’t care for my life. It wasn’t worth caring for. It was useless. But hers. Sky’s. I would give my life for her. And if she had died trying to be free…
I failed her.
I could’ve stopped it.
If only I had known…
I proceeded to mourn for her, feeling as though she had died. I had no idea she had, but I can’t bear the idea of hoping if she wasn’t.
Suddenly, the two ponies dragging me slowed to a stop. I opened up my eyes slightly and tried to look up without giving away my consciousness. I could see a bottom part of a wooden door. That was it. It had a metal lining, but other than that there was nothing to see.
Shhthunk. “Who goes dere?”
A deeper voice seemed to appear from nowhere, sounding close. Boar. Guard? I looked around slightly and couldn’t see where it would be. Other side of the door, I guessed. Easing my head up slowly to try and catch a glimpse.
From what I could see, there was a horizontal opening in the door where I’m assuming the boar was and what the sound before came from. I chanced a look at my captors and noticed them both in patchwork armor. Some parts dented, worn metal, and the other parts rough cloth, all dyed a deeper red. This was normally a sign of Roamin’ Legionaries, but these two didn’t seem the type. Both stallions were darkly colored, with the one on the right being slightly familiar. His muzzle was dark, and was fairly nondescript at this angle.
Where have I seen him?... Then it hit me. An image of Storm’s mare atop a stallion. Smirking. This stallion. It seemed I had been set up from the beginning, seeing that he was here with me.
“Storm’s gift to you.” It was the stallion I didn’t recognize. His voice was gravely and deep, but blunt.
The boar chuckled in reply, which was literally a squeal of laughter. “More bait!” Then he paused for a moment. “Who dat one?” I thought he was mentioning me, but the answer interested me further.
“He’s new. Don’t worry ‘bout him.” The gravely-voiced stallion replied, gesturing to his partner on my right.
There was a pause, but then I heard shuffling on the other side of the door followed by a clunk before the door opened widely.
“Fine. Bring de meat dis way.” At this, the two holding me started walking again, past the entrance, following the large boar. From behind, he seemed a bit bigger than the size of other boars I had seen before. However, the size of boars wasn’t something I kept a close eye on. Still, he used a few pieces of large metals to cover a good portion of his body, and the flesh that wasn’t covered with metal had many scars covering it.
As they dragged me down this new passage, I began to notice more features on the walls. Crates of different sizes littered the walls, with various items like dull blades, a few spears, and much to my surprise, one or two laser pistols. This observation gave me a sense of dread, since laser pistols were both rare and expensive. To get them meant you either were rich, or dangerous.
But just as suddenly as the crates showed up, the crates dissipated until there were none left. All that was left was the barren walls again. But soon after that, we came to another door. This one was different from the last one, because it was fully metal. There seemed to be no markings on the door, and only a small latch secured it in place. The boar waddled over to it and opened it, with the metal door sliding open, revealing a dimly lit corridor. Inside, the walls seemed to be barred. Prison, was my only thought as I was then dragged into the corridor.
I started to try and examine the contents of each cell that we passed, and noticed a few things. The first thing I noticed that each cell was a little different from the others. Some had chains, the others had bars, cages, or even crucifixes mounted on the walls. The second thing I noticed that each cell hosted only one prisoner. But each prisoner was different. There was a griffon, a boar, a unicorn, and an elk. The last thing that I could notice was that each prison was made for that prisoner. The restraints designed for the strength of each occupant. The griffon’s wings bound, its talons were put in boxes of metal. The boar’s whole body was restrained to the wall; its head was secured so its tusks posed no threat. The unicorn had a magic collar around its horn. The elk was bound to the ground in a sitting position, head covered in a bag. All of them downcast, defeated. All seemed bloody, beaten, and bruised. Exactly how I felt.
As they dragged me to the furthest cell across from the elk, I was thrown roughly onto the prison floor. Pain then exploded in my body causing me to growl in agony. The boar chuckled from the corridor, “We tink he gon’ be lotsa fun, we break champions here.” He started ambling his way to the entrance of the corridor. “Time to go, me ponies. You have more t’bring for our breaking.”
The gravel-voiced stallion followed the boar out of the cell. The only one that was left was the pony I recognized. He was looking down at me and smirking. I made sure to ignore the pain and stare defiantly at him, trying to gauge if I could catch him off guard. A small movement of my body shot a strong dose of pain through my body. Nonetheless, I continued to turn myself around to face him and stand up. Sadly, the pain was so bad I could only manage kneeling. I was gritting my teeth in pain and shuddering from the exertion, but I continued watching him.
He smirked a little wider and kneeled close to me. He quietly whispered to me in a deep voice, “You look hot when you kneel.” He laughed quietly and quickly dodged back as I swiped weakly at him. “Feisty, are we?”
I angrily spat through gritted teeth, “I’ll find you,” to which he smirked even wider and kneeled close to me again. He put a forehoof to his chestplate and pulled a small card from behind it. He leaned closer, whispering in my ear as he put the card beneath me. “Of that, I have no doubt. You have three days. Just, don’t keep a stallion waiting.” He pulled back for a second and winked at me. Then he stopped and thought for a second before searching behind his chestplate once more. Finding what he was searching for, and pulled out a small key. He tossed it so it landed below me close to the card. He got up and walked over to the cell door. He closed the door quickly before smirking at me again and walking in the direction where the other two were. After a moment, I heard the metal door close and lock with a small thud. I was now alone with my thoughts.
I continued to kneel, taking in my darkened surroundings. I heard an occasional dripping, but it seemed that the other prisoners were not making any effort to move. I slowly exhaled a pained sigh that I had been holding in, a small growl escaping my throat. I struggled to move myself so I could examine the key and card. The key was an unassuming black key with several jagged teeth. The card was simple as well, only being a Three of Hearts. I turned it over and the pattern on the back was just like a normal playing card. Slightly perplexed, I set them down and started to look around, thinking at the same time. My “bed” was just a small straw heap in the corner next to a bucket, which I was guessing was the bathroom. Other than that, it was a normal cell closed off on the other sides with stones and mortar, with some small vegetation growing lightly in the corners.
As I was looking around, I felt like something was watching me, but despite looking around, there was nothing but the elk that could see me. The elk was as quiet as ever and hadn’t seemed to move, so I doubted that he even knew I was here. I stopped looking around decided to drag myself and my two items over to the straw. My body slid along easily enough, but was still exhausting for me. The pain caused me to be worn out easily, and as I rested on the straw I was sweating and breathing heavily. This was not a gladiator in this cell. Just another slave. A slave to pain and his past. A slave to fate’s cruel jokes.
My self-loathing was cut short when I continued to feel something watching me. I leaned against the wall and looked around, spotting nothing except the elk. I stared at him, and almost felt like he was staring at me. I whispered a heavy “hello,” trying to get a response. But none came. I waited for wait seemed like an hour, before deciding to get some rest. Maybe I’d be able to figure out what the next steps were.
Revenge, I thought. Revenge and nothing else.
As I drifted off to an uncomfortable and painful sleep, I swear I heard something. A voice in the silence, merely saying hello, friend.