<> Day 9 <>
“They unloaded us all here sometime later,” Anna said, shakily continuing her story. “I don’t know how long we’ve been here, or why they put us here in the first place.”
“Pokes, prods, pricks, and pins... let the needle sink slowly in...” Zigzag chuckled.
“Shut up, Zach,” Daz grumbled.
I sighed deeply, leaning against the wall of the dog carrier. My wings twitched in anxious irritation at the whole situation, particularly my sister’s description of what happened to the ponies in this place... and myself. Of course humans would act like this, I snarled inwardly. Dangle something they don’t understand in front of their faces and they immediately try to rid themselves of it. A headache rose to my forehead alongside my angst.
“Wait a moment,” Deedee cut in. “You said there were five crates in the truck. So if your... sister--”
“Brother,” I interrupted, still rubbing my head. The last thing I need is Anna egging me after this about being her big sister.
“--sister- given the circumstances -arrived later than us, where did that last crate go?”
“I... I don’t know,” admitted my ponyfied sister. “Maybe it was just a spare crate or something.”
“...torn, shattered they are...” Zigzag muttered sadly. “Pieces in a flame.”
“Shut up, Zach.”
“Alright, it’s nothing to get worked up over,” Deedee cooed to Anna. “I was just curious is all. I was concerned that they had someone else locked up here.” There was a few moments of silence between the ponies in the room. Even Zigzag kept quiet for a decent length of time. It was getting a bit eerie, but it certainly agreed with my headache.
But after a while, maybe a half an hour or so, my ears twitched as they began to pick up a very soft noise. At first, I thought it was Anna coughing politely. However, as it grew in volume and duration, I realized that it was Deedee, crying to herself and trying to hide it.
“It’s not fair,” she whispered, sobs wracking her speech. “They can’t keep us locked up like this like a couple of stray animals! We didn’t ask for any of this pony shit!” The sound of something striking the bars of the cages, probably Deedee’s hoof, echoed through the room. “They can’t do this,” she repeated. “We’re human beings.”
Life isn’t fair to the lesser.
“No we’re not,” I answered, lifting my hoof up to what I thought would be eye level, but invisible in the darkness. “We stopped being human the moment we woke up with hooves.” Shocked silence answered me, but I wasn’t quite done. In my head, the pain dragged on, like something ripping from my skull. “But you know what? If being human groups me with these monsters, then buck it all. I’m glad I’m not human.”
“Once bitten, thrice shy... Shy daughter, shy mother, now their shy cerulean angel...”
“GRRAAAH!” We all jumped as Dazzle let out a violent yell, then began bashing the cage, making a huge ruckus. “I can’t take it anymore! Shut up, Zach! Just shut up you maniac! Shut up! SHUT UP! JUST! SHUT! UP!”
Suddenly, a door swung open. I let out a pained cry as the light beyond blinded me, doubling the pain in my head. Footsteps pounded into the room, a heavy stride suggesting a heavy owner, and another set that struck the floor loudly, likely with some kind of boots. Beyond the white spots in my vision and the bars of my cage, I could see two human shapes standing in the middle of the room. One of them was tall and wearing something colorful, while the other was a pitch black splotch in my sight. On the black splodge at an extremely pale, bald head. I might have mistaken the figure for some kind of vampire.
Now that I could see the room in the light, I realized that it was structured like some sort of pound, with the door on the wall opposite myself. From where my eye level was at, I judged that my dog carrier was probably stacked onto two others, each most likely joined by the others to sit flush with the wall behind me.
“Alright, here they are,” the taller one said, his voice slightly burred with a midwest-american accent. His arm moved around, motioning to the “Take your pick. That one there is one of those zebra varieties, we got a little winged one down here in that cage, a unicorn, regular one right there, and this one here...” I jumped as the oaf slammed a palm on the top of my carrier. “This one was quite a find. Our boys say they saw it crash in a streak of color. Found it in a decently-sized crater, out cold.”
Well, that certainly explains this headache... I thought to myself.
“Did it sustain any injuries?” the black clad figure asked. To my surprise, he didn’t sound at all American. If I knew better,I could probably distinguish it between some kind of Russian or Eastern European voice. Suddenly, my vampire theory looked very accurate.
The oaf shrugged. “Why should we care?”
“Injuries, you ape,” the man repeated.
Once again, the man shrugged. “Other than a nasty bump on its head, nah,” he elaborated. “Why are you so concerned, Mr. Creepy-Face? Thought you were supposed to be some big honcho from PAPA HQ.”
“Something like that,” the pale guy replied. “It would seem that these creatures are more durable than they appear.” By this time, my vision had cleared enough that I could see even more details. Though, when I beheld the man in black, I began to wish I was blind again. Monstrous red eyes glared at me, made even more piercing on a backdrop of paper-white skin. There was something about him that made me want to run away to a safe place and curl up in terror. Fear hung around his black trench coat like an aura. But his eyes... I couldn’t stop staring at those red orbs... I couldn’t move... so helpless...
“Hey! Slenderman-dude!” My paralysis snapped as the cringing gaze was taken off me and focused instead on Dazzle, off to my right and down one cage from the direction he turned his head. “Let us out, coward!” Daz continued to shout. “I’m not afraid of your damn viper eyes! Let me out of here so I can put the hurt on you!”
“Daz, hush...” Deedee tried to shush the angered stallion, to little effect.
“That one,” the pale monster ordered, motioning to the offending pony’s cage. Doing as told, the oaf shifted away a stray cage that was resting atop Dazzle’s, then picked it up with a strained grunt.
“Whoa! Hey!” Dazzle protested loudly. “Put me down!”
As the oaf passed the cage to the pale man, there was nothing to show that the latter had any trouble lifting the cage, unlike the former. “You speak of cowardice and hurt,” the pale man growled at the pony. “I will show you hurt like you have never known.”
Wow, that was... I groaned inwardly. ...incredibly cheesy.
Dazzle clammed up immediately, but I could still hear a defiant growl from the cage. That stallion was not about to yield any time soon. In spite of his sour disposition I had to admire his stoic bravery, especially in the face of someone like that.
“A pale man robed in black. On his path there is no ‘back.’” Zigzag began to start up a rhythmic mantra. I gritted my teeth, praying for him not to provoke the frightening figure. “His spider’s fingers hold too many puppets. Soon his web will be carried off in buckets.”
The pale man took pause at Zigzag’s rhyme. His crimson gaze briefly glanced at the cages, but then turned toward the exit. “Keep the striped one handy,” he ordered the oaf as he carried Dazzle’s carrier out the exit. “This will not take long, I think.”
“Whatever, boss-man,” the oaf said, following out the door as well.
“Please, call me...” To my extreme frustration the pale man actually paused for effect. Who the hell actually does that!? No one! Nobody actually does that! “...Mr. Silence.”
Sweet sanity I hate him so much...