//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: The Clipper // Story: A Bird's Cage // by Ravenpuff //------------------------------// Sunny Rain woke up to agony. Her body was aching all over, making her groan as she did the mistake of squirming on the bed sheets, hoping a change of position would make the soreness of her body go away. Instead it made it worse. Her chest was particular sore and it hurt to take deep breaths, it didn’t felt like she could expand her lungs enough for proper breathing, without it hurting. Slowly the small pegasus opened her eyes, only to face the usual dimness of her prison cell. She remembered a short taste of freedom, the fragile hope of escape which had cost her dearly. Yet… here she was, still alive. But aching all over from the rough treatment when he had captured her again. So easily catching up to her. She shuddered at the memory, getting plucked from the sky like a small sparrow taken by a falcon. The sky was the domain of the pegasi yet she had been no challenge for the big, scary griffon. The skin around her neck felt red and sore from the pulling and tugging of the collar and leash although thankfully she wasn’t wearing any of that anymore. The rough treatment when captured had caused her quite a few bruises. Searching her sides with her hooves she felt the scratches and wounds from his claws, no longer bleeding but left as a reminder of how easily his claws could hurt her. She had tried and failed. A moment of desperation and all she got to show for it was pain. And misery. Without warning the tears began, pathetic sobs only worsened by the pain from her chest. Made worse with each convulsion. She couldn’t hold it back, her failure to escape too great a loss of what little hope she had left to be free. It had been made clear to her she wasn’t going to be allowed to leave from this place. At least not without HIS permission. And she highly doubted he would ever permit her to leave by the look of things. And still, after all she had been through by now, there were still no reason. No explanation, no excuse, nothing. Why? The question she would never get an answer to if everything else up to this point had a say in how the future would look. If she just knew what she had done wrong to deserve this, then she would do anything to make up for it again. Anything to at least know a reason. The pegasus pony was still crying her heart out into the dirty bed sheets when the door was unlocked and the griffon loomed in the doorway once more. She wouldn’t even look up at him, to acknowledge his presence. Let him be mad, she just couldn’t stop her tears of despair. She didn’t care if she was being too noisy, what more could he do to her by now? She was already in pain. She felt the weight of her warden as he sat down on the bed, next to her trembling and convulsing form. She still refused to look up at him, didn’t want to see him. A desperate hope deep inside that she could just cry and ignore the monster away. If she didn’t look up and just pretended it wasn’t there, it would just return to its den in the closet and stop bothering her, just like when she was a little filly. Sunny Rain flinched at the touch, a hand stroking her side gently. She refusing to look up, she tensed and dreaded what this would lead to next, having no idea what he was up to now. What else could he do to try and break her? The talons gently inspected the scratched on her side, seeing they had stopped bleeding, was closing up and going to heal on their own. Sunny Rain gasped at the pain as he forced her to roll onto her back, pressing onto her chest with his bird claw hand to inspect the damage done there. Making her squirm, breathing in small gasps as the pain made it hard to breath properly. She kept her eyes clenched shut, stubbornly still refusing to look at him, shivering and tensing at his touch. Now feeling her sore neck and throat, seemingly examining the damages he had left on her. Except the pressure on her chest his touch was surprisingly gentle and painless despite she was expecting otherwise. Why would he worry about her injuries anyway? He was the one who had inflicted them on her. Her head was starting to hurt from the extensive crying. She grimaced as she now had yet another inconvenience to be bothered with above everything else. Almost getting used to his gentle touch over her hurting areas she didn’t notice his hand had wandered up to her wing until he grabbed onto it firmly. One of the few parts not hurting from the failed escape despite the rough treatment. She gasped none the less as he held firmly onto the wing and pulled her up onto her romp, making her sit up with her back to him. Panicking she tried to pull away from him, her hooves grabbing at the bed sheet without much luck. He held onto her firmly. The griffon pulled her closer, wrapping his thick, strong arm around her, pressing her front legs firmly down her body to keep her squirming at minimum. She finally turned her head to look at him, her eyes big and fearful as she really didn’t want to see what he had planned for her, yet didn’t dare to just sit and let it happen without warning. Her back was pressed up against the side of his chest, the only free part one of her wings which she had spread out at the shock. Her other wing kept folded under the hold of his arm around her. His free hand was holding a… a pair of blades. A form of scissors. A clipper. She didn’t know what it was for, but she didn’t like it either way. She liked it even less as he moved the tool towards her free wing. In another burst of panic she flapped her wing as hard she could to try and hit the tool out of his hand. All she got out of it was an angry growl, a rumbling, deep sound she felt vibrating through his chest before he strengthened the hold around her. The pressure around her own chest making her gasp at the pain. He kept on squeezing her until she stopped moving her wing, letting it hang limply down her side. Trembling and sobbing once again, gasping for breath greedily when he loosened his hold on her just a bit. Trying to recover she was distracted from the subject of the small struggle until she felt the cold steel against her feathers, eyes widening at the first cut. She froze, in shock at the thought of what he was doing. The first feather tip falling gracefully to the floor. Forgetting about the pain and punishment she found a last reserve of energy to panic and struggle widely, fighting to get her limbs free from his hold. Her wing flapping, hoping to hit him as hard she could, to make him let go of her so she could make a run for it. Even if she knew she had no place to run. The punishment came immediately; once again he squeezed her in the hold of his arm. Squeezing hard around her body, ignoring her gasping and crying from pain and panic, kept on doing it with the intention to first stop when she had given up the fight. The pegasus first gave up the fight as her vision began to blacken again, warning her she was about to pass out once more. Maybe that was to be preferred, over being awake during the… treatment. She became limp in his hold, unable to fight anymore yet still halfway conscious. Still sensing his hold although the pain was slowly getting replaced by an uncomfortable numbness through her body. Her breathing felt shallow, it was so hard to get enough air down her lungs, even after he loosened his hold on her again. The snipping sound of the clipper could be heard as he resumed his work. Feather by feather he shortened them all down, focusing on cutting the main control feathers she would need to stir her flight. Shortening them all down to make her unable to gain enough wind and air under her wing to be able to raise herself from the ground. She wouldn’t even be able to glide through the air with her wing in such a state. The lightheadedness made it easier for her to just leave her mind and body, to ignore everything happening to her. The fight squeezed out of her once more. She didn’t even bother to take up the struggle again when he released her to switch side and begin working on her other wing. Giving it the same treatment. Letting her keep her feathers, just shortened down to a grotesque length, making her wings useless for flight or anything. As soon he was done he let her go, dumping her back onto the bed. Gathering up the pieces of feathers, cleaning away the proof of the crime. A terrible crime to do against a pegasus, especially when being avian himself. It didn’t seem to face the griffon though. It was just another task which had to be done. A final punishment to teach the pony its proper place. Now she couldn’t try and fly away again and the loss of her flight feathers would possibly teach her the seriousness of her situation. Despite having nothing left, he could still find something to take from her until she would learn. She didn’t even have the strength left to continue her sobbing. Just lied there on the bed, eyes empty and unseeing, she had tried to escape into her mind. Away from the dreadful moment and her terrible situation. Just away from it all. He left her to it. Raising from the bed, walking on his hind legs once again to carry the pieces of feathers and the clipper he left her to her solitude and despair. Locking the door with a loud click behind him.