//------------------------------// // Granite Podium Arc: Part 5 [Rewritten] // Story: Silas Epista // by Maneiac //------------------------------//         Sunset Shimmer was a mess.         A mane of ruby and topaz, perfectly maintained, has now become a bog of split-ends and mud. Her hooves fared no better, and her entire coat was bespeckled with mud and dust as well. Her bloodshot eyes were a strong indicator of a loss of sleep, and her ears twitched every now and then from their flattened positions against her head.         Her horn was currently alight with magic; a perfect counter to her seemingly lifeless eyes. Her horn was currently holding a spongy cup-like cylinder, and it’s completely covered in white marks in the shape of splotches; something like one would find from careless writers that use ink and quill, or drops of paint from the rookie artist.                  But this... this wasn’t art. This was torture.         Sunset turned her attention to the other women sharing their sentence with her in The Rough; an erected box of disgusting pleasure for the many guards who have trouble finding a willing bitch to lay. Her light-blue eyes settled on the fetal positioned Donna Lehigh, her face absolutely caked with mud from laying down on the constructed pillow made from the same material.                  Donna’s bloodshot eyes quivered with the gentleness of an earthquake, and the serenity of a thunderstorm. Her black hair was clumped together by mud, and her face - where mud didn’t conceal it - was obviously tear streaked. The beautiful dress she wore on the night she met Silas and Sunset was now nothing more than a ragged, wore-down curtain.         Sunset took a couple of breaths to steady her jumpy nerves and turned her head, hoping to see the remaining member of the Amazon Three faring better than the minotaur. Her hopes were dashed as her eyes settled upon Diamond, the gruff Diamond Dog female that was currently frowning deeply. Her fur was matted in places that gave her a feral appearance, and her mouth was worked into a permanent snarl. Her green eyes, constantly shifting, eyed every hole The Rough had cut into it. The mare swallowed the tumbleweed forest in her throat, then licked her lips a bit. Standing up, she trotted over to Diamond with a heavy sigh. “... We shouldn’t have resisted.” This one phrase caused the bipedal woman to roll her eyes. “Yeah, well I’d rather we go through this than get raped by Otto’s men. You know they wanted our asses that one day, and that’s why you formed the Amazon Three.” Diamond crossed her arms following the retort, batting an eye to look at Sunset, who was now seated beside her. “In any case, we don’t have much longer in here. This is the last shift of guards before we’re released back into Otto’s Level.” Sunset nodded... then raised her eyebrow while looking up at Diamond. “Are we not in Otto’s territory right now?” Diamond sighed and leaned against the granite wall behind her. “No, we’re in Dreggen’s.We were taken down into the Middle Level; Dreggen’s Level. It’s a sick, twisted, expanse of lustful tunnels where his lecherous guard is notorious for sticking it in any hole they see.” She gestures at The Rough in general. “Take this shit, for example.” Sunset grimaced. She didn’t like the fact that such a randy, unlawful place could exist. “And I assume, seeing as how there’s holes all around this thing, that we’re in the heart of Dreggen’s Level?” She peeks through one next to her with a frown. “I see entryways leading into main tunnels from here alone.” Diamond scratched at her ear a bit, frowning at how many dirt flakes were being flung off from this action. “Yes. The Rough is at the heart of Dreggen’s Level. This block happens to be the...” The diamond dog cut herself off, her mouth still open. Sunset quirked her eyebrow; she could practically hear the cogs turning in Diamond’s head. “A bit for your thoughts, Diamond?” The diamond dog moved her mouth a bit, then closed it into a wide, ear-to-ear grin. “I believe I have a cunning plan when Wergal decides to launch his plan.” Rubbing her paws together while snickering in mischievous joy, Diamond looked at the ceiling of The Rough with plotting eyes. Sunset raised her eyebrow, but did nothing more as she goes over to her corner. There she stayed, resting on her rump in the mud as she started to think about everything that’s happened so far. “I think it’s safe to assume that I’ll spare not a single slaver in this hellhole. How these dogs come up with these sick means of torture is beyond me, and I certainly don’t care for them!” Her eyes settle upon one of the many holes in the box. “Gloryholes are disgusting... it’s a good thing I made those cups of soft mud, and placed a penetrable filter inside so the guards can’t see the mud on their penises when finished, because it’d be caught by the filter.” Rubbing her chin a bit, she looks at the ceiling of The Rough. Her frown is still present. “... Why would Diamond be so happy at a time like this, especially about The Rough? She mentioned Wergal’s plan again, which only leads me to believe that she somehow sees a benefit to his machination with this place.” She tapped her chin with a hum, then blinked after about a minute of brain scouring. “... It’s a support beam! This thing of granite probably holds the mountain together, seeing as how they made most of it out of cobblestone and slate.” For the first time since Sunset’s been in The Rough, she cracked a ghost of a smile. Some would call her gesture even more devious, showcasing a side to the well-learned mare that no one has seen before. “I think I have plans for this little place...” She grinned quite evilly there, her body shivering in joy as she thought of so many chaotic ideas on the spot. Her horn fizzled, her hair stood on end, her eyes shifted... it was like watching a natural disaster of nerves. She wanted to do the things she was thinking of so bad, but her logic kept bringing her down to the clear fact of bringing harm unto her friends and her boyfriend. “When this is all over, I’m going to enjoy walking on a diamond dog alpha pelt!” Her moment of intense plotting and reverie was cut short by the banging of a spear against the granite walls surrounding them. The annoying clang of metal on stone made Sunset and Diamond grimace, and Donna curl up tighter. The voice on the outside was gruff. It was a voice that the Amazon Three knew all too well. Their warden was here, one Fetcher. “Wake, get ready. Last shift come now.” “Sunset, you can do this. It’s gross - very much so - but manageable. You can’t say you’ve been through worse, but you can say there’s something motivating you to press on.” Sighing deeply, Sunset walked to the middle of the enclosed space and sat in front of two cups made of soft mud, and covered with white splotches here and there; these shared a similar appearance to the one in her grasp, still. Diamond approached her then and there, looking somewhat sheepish while doing so. “Do you want me to man a hole this time, or are you going to do it?” She placed her paws on her hips, looking at Sunset with a raised eyebrow. “I’ll do it alone again. It’s fine.” At Sunset’s retort, Diamond sighed heavily. This sigh blasted Sunset in the face a bit, making her mane blow just a tiny amount. “You don’t look so hot, Sunset; not as hot as you did when starting out. Please let me do this if it’ll help keep your head on. We’ve lost one to grovelling, and I’ll not stand for such an intellectual like yourself becoming next.” Diamond started reaching for a cup, just to frown in annoyance as Sunset moved it away from the paw with her shimmering light-blue aura. “I’ll do it alone, Diamond. I’m fine.” Sunset nodded at her, getting Diamond to roll her eyes and sit down in her respective corner. The diamond dog frowned further when something pink floated into the hole next to her, but kept her growl down as to not incite the rage of their captors. Sunset nodded her thanks at this, and went to work. The mare had to hold back a retch as the mud-cup slopped onto the tip of the intruder, getting a growl of pleasure from the dog outside. She made sure to stick to just that one area, using the cup as a piston against the pink flesh. It took about three minutes, but the cup was rewarded with its spoils of victory. More white splotches showed up on the outside of the cup, and the air inside The Rough became rank and rusty with the smell of sweaty, dirty dog once more. Hardcore panting on the other side alluded to a pleased guard, and the magic filter on that hole stopped any loose mud from following the penis out. “... This is outrageous!” Gnashing her teeth in supreme fury, Sunset continued to work these gloryholes expertly. Every guard that stuck it in was jerked off at the tip until he sowed his wild oats into the cups. It eventually got to the point where Sunset had to apply more magic in keeping the cups in proper form, so that they didn’t break as they became soggy halfway through. “We just so happen to get the largest fucking shift of guards during our last hours in this dump!? Unbelievable! And do they really think I’ll just sit here and not want retribution for this later on!? Oh, there will be more than hell to pay...” Sucking and slurping sounds - all coming at different times - filled the air with the added stench of spilled seed, and Sunset’s face was contorting more and more into her anger. In a flash, all three cups started working the guards off as soon as they stuck themselves inside. Sunset eventually sat panting in the middle of The Rough, allowing the sogged cups to deform and drop into the rest of the muck. Her face was still contorted in anger. “Sentence up. Get out. Escort to Boss Otto Level.” A guard in black plating instead of the dreary silver opened the door, glaring at all three of them. Donna - for the first time since seeing the horrors of this place - moved quickly. She nearly barreled through the guard in the black platemail. The minotaur sow shrunk sizably from the glare being tossed her way by the elite guard. “Too close, cow.” Every word was said with a strong bite to it, almost like he was trying to gnash her face apart. This, of course, caused the jumpy-nerved Donna Lehigh to take a couple of steps back while shaking her head quickly. Through this whole ordeal. her glasses remained spotless. Diamond, seeing the woman backpedal next to her, slid a comforting claw onto Donna’s shoulder; the latte shivering with a quiet yelp of fear, before realizing it was just her friend. Sunset came up to the left of Donna, and then stood in front of her friends, creating a triangle. “At your go, guard.” Her face was permanently scowling, her eyes completely narrowed into the furthest reaches of anger and the desire for revenge. She wanted a bath, she wanted her man, and she wanted to make these sons of literal bitches pay for ever doing this and thinking it to be okay. The guard dressed in black nodded, stomped his foot, and two more silver guards with spears started a flanking position on both sides of the women. They walked, Diamond and Donna hoping to return to Otto’s Level and not anywhere worse than The Rough. Sunset, however, kept her teeth gritted as she walked. She did not understand these feelings swamping her; all she could sense was a growing flame in her body that threatened to spill into her bloodstream and wreak havoc on her nerves and actions. She winced, swearing her teeth were chipping under the harsh grinding she was making them deal with. Snapping her head up suddenly - her face the very definition of intense anger or hatred - she could see something in the corner of her eye. Every time she turned her head to see it clearer, it would extinguish. Mentally resigning to seeing it fully, she continued looking from her peripheral at it; the black, bubbling flame that rested inside a brighter, light-blue outline. Curiously enough, this flame seemed to not only crackle, but bubble as well. These two noises in unison made her see something instantly; something that caused her eyes to narrow further. She saw the disappointment in a certain mare’s face. She saw the face that haunted her all the way till this point. Sunset saw the face of a disappointed maternal figure, and of a teacher. Her eyes captured, if only just for a moment in that backdrop of blue/black flame, that signature raised eyebrow that mare was prone on giving things that displeased her somewhat. And that eyebrow, much to the neverending, growing anger of Sunset, was directed at her. Like the crack of a whip, something snapped in her mind. She saw what she could do; what she could really do in this situation, and about the overall situation. And this recent rush of pride and exhilarating, diabolical plotting, brought a sick smile to Sunset’s face for the first time in their twenty minutes of walking. She could see the flame, the face and eyebrow; but now... she could hear something... ... The crack of lightning. The promise of sweet revenge; titillating comeuppance for the wretched mongrel mutts that made her suffer so. It belonged to her, was hers for the taking; all she need do was act on what this feeling was! She could taste the honey on her tongue, smell the suffering in the air! And as they finally reached the start of Otto’s Level, Sunset’s smile broke out into a low giggle as her horn sparked some of that blue/black magical fire. Her final thought would forever register this as the day... ... Where Sunset Shimmer coped with the notion of killing sapients. “... They’ll all burn for this...”