I couldn't believe my eyes. Before me, a stallion had himself lowered so far that his face was practically touching the ground.
“Please... help me...” The weary stallion begged.
“You seem like a pretty cool guy, so I'll be totally fine with you taking his place.”
Behind the stallion was a green unicorn mare that seemed to be the source of his grief.
“So, if I agree to take his place, you'll let this stallion go?”
“Of course,” the mare raised her chin and smiled mischievously, “Making deals is what I'm all about.”
“What was his deal with you?” I asked.
The mare shook her head, “I'm sorry, but that's confidential information. I can't share information about clients.”
Damn, so I'm faced with either diving headlong into this problem or leaving this guy to suffer.
“So, what's it going to be?”
“It seems like I've got my hooves tied. Normally I wouldn't get involved with the affairs of others, but when it's right in front of me, I can't just sit idly and do nothing.”
“So, is that a yes?”
I gulped, “Yes, I'll take his place.”
The mare smiled, “Awesome! Now, then, Mister Orange Citrus, you're contract is now void. You are free to go.”
Tears began to flow freely from the stallions eyes, “Oh thank you! Thank you! Your sacrifice will never be forgotten!”
Sacrifice? Wait... what?
“Now, as for you.” The mare focused her sharp gaze on me. I felt as if I was in a full body cast. Hot and unable to move.
“Y-yes?” I replied nervously.
“Now since you have taken his contract upon yourself, I am now at liberty to disclose what your contract entails.” The mare conjured a long rolled up piece of paper with her magic and let it unravel. It covered about half the distance between us. I suddenly felt like I should have ignored my moral obligations.
"S-so, what happens now?" I could hear the fear in my voice.
"Well, I'm glad you asked," The mare shot me a strangely comforting smile as she began to read, "I, insert client signature here, hereby agree to offer my services to, contractor's signature here, and to carry out instructions given by, contractor's signature here, without hesitation. I waive my freedom in exchange for one wish. By agreeing to these terms, I understand that this wish may not conflict with the existing contract, be used to harm, in anyway, contractor's signature here, be used to become royalty, create world peace. I understand that this is a binding contract and should I violate the terms which I had agreed to, my life and soul will become forfeit." The mare yawned, "Yada yada yada, blah blah blah, legal mumbo jumbo this, legal mumbo jumbo that."
I was both mortified and extremely confused. Since my brain was overloaded and unable to process what was going on, I passed out.
I hazily opened my eyes to see the bright blue sky of Ponyville. Was it all a dream? It must have. That mare and her contract was just too weird to be true.
"Hey, servant, you awake?" A familiar voice sent a shock throughout my body. As I slowly turned my head, I saw the face of the mare from my dream, no, that was no dream. What the hell? Why is she here?! Does that mean.
The mare raised an eyebrow and tilted her head slightly, "C'mon, you couldn't have possibly forgotten our contract already?" The mare looked at me, as if expecting a response, "That's no good," she sighed, "It'd probably be in your best interest to learn every detail of our agreement, kay?"
"So, what exactly does being your servant mean?"
"Well, I guess it just means you follow me around and do whatever I say when I ask you to do something, I guess."
"You guess? You don't sound very sure. Perhaps you might want to revise your little contract."
The mare's face instantly became bright red, "S-shut your mouth! I have you in my hooves! H-how dare you. Normally, I wouldn't tolerate such insolence, but I'll let this one slide, just this once."
This is quite the character. She's showing a more childish side as opposed to the serious business attitude from earlier. I'm actually curious as to who this mare is. As long as I don't break the contract, I should be just fine, how bad could it be?
"Servant, I'm hungry." My new master declared.
"So, what? What do you want me do about it?"
"Well, get me something to eat, idiot!" She wrapped her magic around me and began swinging me like a ragdoll.
"Okay! Alright! I'll get you something to eat! Just please put me down!" I screamed as loud as I could, holding down the contents of my stomach to the best of my ability.
"That's much better." The mare released me and let me drop to the ground.
"Ooof!" I got up and rubbed my backside, "Well, what do you want to eat?"
"Bring me something sweet."
Sweets? She really is like a child. Just who the hell is she.
"I don't have any money on me at the moment so-"
"That's not my problem. I asked you to get me something sweet to eat. Not if you had money or not."
"What? You want me to steal food?"
"If that's what it takes, yes."
"You can't be serious. The last time anyone ever attempted to steal from Sugarcube Corner spent six weeks in the hospital and suffered post traumatic stress disorder. Every time he saw sweets, he'd have an emotional breakdown." I wished I was joking, but Pinkie Pie isn't the type of pony you'd ever want to make cross.
The mare obviously didn't care, indicated by her yawning, "You really are a moron aren't you? You are under contract to be my servant and you have to do obey my demands. You'd better march your hooves over to that store and get me something to eat, pronto!"
"And if I say no?" I replied, trying to be brave.
Suddenly, I felt as if I were made of air. I looked down to see my forelegs becoming transparent.
"What? What's happening?!" The transparency spread and soon enough I couldn't see my front legs.
"This is what will happen if you break the contract. Disobey me and you forfeit your soul, remember?" The mare's eyes were now nothing but black holes in her head and the grass around her hooves slowly turned brown and withered away.
Is this it? Is this really happening to me?
"Of course I don't intend on taking your soul just yet." The mare's eyes returned and the grass around her sprang back to life as she reverted her powers.
"Huh?" For the first time in my life, I could actually feel the weight of my body as my legs began to reappear.
"The stubborn ones always need some persuading." She smiled, "By the way, what's your name? I don't really feel like calling you servant all the time."
"Smooth Finish."
"I'm Emerald Dream, now get me something to eat Smooth Finish."
So this is what my life is going to be like, huh? I used to be an average citizen of Ponyville, but now I'm a slave to some random unicorn with mysterious powers and a childlike personality. I should have stayed in bed today. Celestia help me.