"Um Redheart what is going on?" Big Macintosh is rather uneasy about the sudden chanting of the other buyers in unison. Nurse Redheart however is trying to listen to what the others are chanting, but she is not familiar with the word and she could only answer Big Macintosh with the exact words of the crowd.
"Zensunni-Hulud........"
"What the hay does that even mean?" Big Macintosh said to the pink-maned mare. However it is the light brown Sheikh that answered his question.
"They have got to be kidding me........." Big Macintosh realized that the Sheikh is extremely worried, his frown is such that if it stays any more it will become permanent. It was then that the Auctionmaster begins to speak of something, but that something is lost on Big Macintosh. As the words slip away from the lips of the Auctionmaster, both Abu Hamza's and Nurse Redheart's expression darkened a lot more. Big Macintosh wanted to ask them what is going on, but it seems that events are now moving themselves to explain it to the red stallion.
He saw two stallions walking towards them, each carying out a small, simple, and unremarkable black box with a hole at one end of it and if it were any other situation he would not have paid heed to it. However the crowd's murmurs now replaces the chanting in the auctioning house. The other buyer who tied with the Sheikh comes into the view of Big Macintosh, and it seems that the wealth of the gryphon buyer is showing through his rich turquoise robes and gold armor and jewelry. Nonetheless Big Macintosh could also see the tenacity of the gryphon shining from his eyes. Beside the gryphon is a black minotaur, with a chainmail kilt, and a large axe. The gryphon, the Sheikh and the auction house owner are now talking to each other in Saddle Arabian, and Big Macintosh could only cursed in his heart. He hates being out of the loops of things, especially when things are this ambiguous.
"So, are you ready for this?" The gryphon said with a deep baritone, but the unmistakable doubt in his voice seeps through his confident tone.
"Indeed." Sheikh Abu Hamza said uneasily.
" Actually Milords, it will be your servants." The Auctionmaster cuts into their conversation. Both of the buyers now look at the obese stallion, surprised and confused. It was then that the two stallions puts the boxes in between the Sheikh and the gryphon.
" What do you mean 'our servants'?" Sheikh Abu Hamza asked the Auctionmaster.
" This is the house's rule; if we have a tie we would have the servants of the buyers undergo this test. We do not want to harm our buyers as they are the ones paying. But slaves are expendable."
"But these two ponies are not my servants!" The Sheikh protested, however the fat stallion gives a shrug.
"Too bad. You can't do it so it will have to be either one of these equines. The task is simple; your servants are to put their appendage into the box for a minute. The owner of the servant that could endure the longest will get the slave. Each one of you will choose a servant of the other bidder to take this test, barring the little one. So Milords, who would you choose?" The Auctionmaster gives a very sly smile, satisfied that he is getting his petty revenge on the Sheikh.
Abu Hamza's choice is rather simple as the gryphon only had one servant with him. However, it is a lose-lose situation for the Sheikh no matter who the gryphon choose as he does want any one of them harmed in any way. He looks at both Equestrians, his mind uncertain. He could have just kill the gryphon, but then that would cause the Minotaur to attack him, the Equestrians and Fatima. The fact that Fatima is with them only made this situation even worse. Then there is also the fact that the auctioning house knows that he is a Sheikh, and if any Sheikh were to break a Zensunni-Hulud, it would cause a great load of trouble to his clan and his caravan. Killing the fat bastard would not help either, as the guards of this place will be upon him.
"Question; do you take volunteers?" Nurse Redheart asked the Auctionmaster. Nurse Redheart's inquiry made the Sheikh's heart skip a beat. He knew what the white mare is about to say, but before he could protest the obese stallion answered the mare.
"Yes, they can if the other buyer agrees. Milord would you allow for volunteers?" The Auctionmaster is now looking at the gryphon to see if he would agree to this particular condition.
"Yes, I see no reason why not." The gryphon replied.
"Then I volunteer on behalf of Sheikh Abu Hamza." The Sheikh wanted to say something, but the white mare puts her hoof on his lips. Her eyes are telling him that it is not his fault, and this has to be done. She walks towards the box, and awaits the minotaur to do the same. The minotaur is impressed with the courage of the mare, but his duty to his master comes first and he takes several steps forward towards the box.
"Redheart, no........." Big Macintosh said, but his voice is drowned by the cheering and chanting of the rest of the buyers.
Big Macintosh could see that Abu Hamza is not happy with what the damn fat bastard said, as the Sheikh looks at both the Equestrian with such sorrowful and conflicted look. It was then that Nurse Redheart started speaking, and although Big Macintosh did not understand what she was saying he knew that a choice had been made. The nurse then came up to the Sheikh and puts her hooves on his lips, stopping the light brown stallion from saying anything. Her face is so serene and understanding, while the Sheikh's is that of utter helplessness and regret. She then takes her hoof away from his lips and started walking towards the box and the Minotaur followed suit.The two box-carriers then puts the forearms of the Minotaur and the mare into their respective box. The crowd is now silent, as if waiting for something to happen.It was then that both the Minotaur and the mare started screaming in pain and both of them are trying their hardest to not take their forearms out of the box. Big Macintosh tried to intervene, but the Sheikh stopped him in his track.
"It must be done." The Sheikh said to the red stallion, his voice shaking with sadness and anger at his helplessness to help the Equestrian mare. He will make sure that with his reputation and clan's resources, this auctioning house will go to the ground.
The pain is unlike anything she had experienced before. At first, her forearm is itchy, but then the itchiness becomes an irritation, and the irritation soon becomes a slight pain, and from there it just escalates. Within a short second or so, the escalation of pain is such that she wished that she could rip her skin off so that the pain would go away. She started writhing uncontrollably from the pain, and her feet started to contort and she is wiggling her hooves and kicking her feet around to the point where she is just flailing her legs around violently. The bovine monster is also writhing in pain, but he is curled up in a ball, and barely able to scream. Nurse Redheart could see his veins and arteries starting to pop from his neck and forehead and the Minotaur is already thrashing his other arm. Fortunately for everyone, the minotaur is not holding his ax or there would be a massacre.
Nurse Redheart grinds her teeth as she endured the pain, and she wondered why the hay did she even volunteered. It was also then that she said to herself that this is just too much work to save a pony that had caused so much discomfort for her. She wanted to just pull her forearm off from the device, but as she tried to pull out her arm, she realized that her arm is stuck. She could only groan in pain as she realized that she is utterly screwed. However, fate decided to give her a helping hand.
The Minotaur bellowed with all his might and without warning, smashed the stage using the box-encased arm. The box shattered into many pieces along with the stage, the splinters flying everywhere causing the audience to duck for cover. The Minotaur then followed shortly after his arm, falling face first into the stage, causing even more property damage. However the Minotaur did not get up, and his legs are now twitching uncontrollably as he lies among debris. Luckily for Vinyl, her cage is nowhere near the crash site but she is frightened by the sudden explosive action of the minotaur
Sheikh Abu Hamza rushes towards the white mare and pulled her arm out from the box, relieving her of the agony. The white mare passed out immediately after her arm was free from the contraption. Big Macintosh rushes towards the mare's side, checking her pulse and trying to wake her up. He mutters words of encouragement to wake her up, but to no avail. Fatimah could only watch in horror over the whole situation, silent midst the chaos.
However, it was Vinyl who felt the most pain in her heart. She did not want anypony to get hurt to save her, and now her neighbor is down on the floor unconscious. Her perceived guilt overcomes her joy of freedom by a landslide, and she could only slump down on her haunches wondering if her freedom is even worth it. She watches the whole commotion in silence with a sense of helplessness in her heart.
"And we have ourselves a winner!!!!!!!" The Auctionmaster's declaration is greeted with the cheers and chanting of the buyers. However Big Macintosh and Vinyl are now looking at the obese stallion with unbridled disgust and hate, and the Sheikh is now looking at the Auctionmaster with cold fury.
After managing to wake the nurse mare up and Big Macintosh supporting the mare with her arms over his shoulder, the group then enters into the office of the Auctionmaster. The office is rather lavish, with many exotic paraphernalia hanging from the walls such as a beautifully crafted sword made from the finest obsidian and the crystalline shield made out of the finest of diamonds. Behind the beautifully crafted mahogany desk sits the Auctionmaster in all his pompous, bloated glory on a finely crafted couch made from the finest of cotton. There was an atmosphere of silence within the room, as the equines stared at each other. Nurse Redheart was too weak to enter into this staring contest, as she was just utterly pale and tired from her ordeal. It is only with the patience of their most level-headed member that Big Macintosh did not just kick the Auctionmaster's face.
"So where is the merchandise?" The Sheikh asked the Auctionmaster in Equestrian, holding back his fury. The obese stallion, was surprised at this use of Equestrian, but he played along and answered back in Equestrian.
"She will be here Milord, but first I must see...." Without even letting the Auctionmaster finish his sentence, a bag is thrown on the table, with many coins pouring out from the bag. Seeing the payment being made, the fat stallion clops his hooves, and flanked by two guards, the blue-maned mare in the sensuous outfit emerges from the curtains behind the Auctionmaster. The guards unlocks the shackles of the blue-maned mare and without even a second spared the mare rushes towards the weak mare and hugs her.
Vinyl whispered to the unconscious mare her apologies continuously. It was then that Vinyl swears that she will never play any wubs in her home anymore and she will only play them in the clubs, and that she will buy the nurse dinner every day for the rest of their natural lives. She also swears that she will help the nurse mare no matter what, and she Pinkie Swear on it. Nurse Redheard however is reassuring the musician that it is alright. Suffice to say the seeds of a deep friendship is planted between the two mares. However, the fat stallion is not even moved by this scene, and passes the bag to one of his guards to be counted. Soon enough the only ones in the rooms are the Auctionmaster and the group. The obese stallion bows on his couch to the best of his ability and the Sheikh reluctantly returns the bow.
"Thank you Jaja-ji. Before I go I would like you to have a gift for your 'services'." The light brown Sheikh said in Equestrian
"Thank you Milord for your patronage......" The obese stallion said politely in Equestrian, playing along with the Sheikh. The fat stallion could not help but to feel some glee in his heart when he heard the words 'gift'. He started to wonder what kind of wondrous gift will the Sheikh give him, until he looks up to see the Sheikh immediately stepping aside. as the light brown stallion moves aside, an object is now flying at the Auctionmaster's face at a blinding speed. It was at the final second that the Auctionmaster realized that it was the hindhooves of a very angry red farm stallion flying towards his face.
The obese bastard did not even get a chance to scream as the hindhooves of Big Macintosh meets his face. The obese stallion's weight is such that he failed to be propelled in the air, but the force of the kick from Big Macintosh is enough for the fat stallion to be slammed to the wall causing dust to temporarily rain lightly in the room. Suffice to say, the fat stallion will need all that money won from the auction for his corrective surgery, and the stallion would lose the ability to speak for the rest of his life, thus he was unable to name the culprits that did it.
"Have a nice day in Tartarus, ya yellow fat bastard......" Big Macintosh said vindictively as he steps down from the obese stallion's blubber to the floor. After delivering this retributive justice, the group leaves the room not even giving a single care about the equine now stuck in the wall with a severely disfigured face but not before looting the place to their heart's content, taking items that are easily over five times the price that bought Vinyl's freedom.
"It is only fair that he pay for the mental damages." Vinyl said cheerfully as she looted a diamond bracelet.
After hearing what has transpired in the auctioning house from the Equestrians and Sheikh Abu Hamza, Sheikh Fahd is utterly furious and it is said that Sheikh Fahd's anger is terrible to behold as the one who helped brought his grandchild to this world had to endure a Zensunni-Hulud . Sheikh Fahd will soon embark upon a personal vendetta against the obese stallion that is as throughout as it is ruthless. It was told that several years later, the Auctionmaster became a pauper and died from starvation in the streets as thin as a twig. This retribution shall be known in the history of the Remal al-Sahra Al-Khayl clan as the "Tale of A Fat One Breaking". However this tale is inconsequential, for the tale of the greater fate of Saddle Arabia is much bigger than any petty tale of a Sheikh's petty wrath....