Coco trembled as the guards turned back to them. One snorted loudly, adjusting the strap that ran across his back. It held a giant wooden scabbard for a wicked sword that had several twists and turns along its razor sharp body.
She glanced up at the crowns. They shone in the noon light that was spilling through the stained glass windows . The time of day reminded Coco of the deadline.
Only a week left.
The guard with the wicked sword, who seemed to be the leader, approached them.
"I am General Quicksilver of the Elephantopian's army. Me and my compatriots will lead you outside the castle to leave the city. We are peaceful people, but are none to slow to fight back."
The giant scythe on his back shifted, giving the quartet a better view of it. Several of its edges were stained crimson.
"You will have this one chance-leave on your own accord, and never come back to these lands as long as you dwarfed beings shall live."
"And what if we decide to stay?" Coco asked. She quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. She hadn't had the intention of saying such a thing out loud-it had just came out invoulintarily.
"Well then," General Qucksilver said, his gaze like a wooden dagger carving out Coco's eyes. "If you decide to stay, you meet your fate in The Melting Pot." He pointed to a giant brass cauldron the hung in the center of the square outside one of the big stained glass windows.
The cauldron was full of burning hot lava that was tinged a light magical lavender.
"Oh, I forgot! It's time for that nasty thief Tuber to be executed!" He then ordered several of his men to stay where they were and guard the quartet until he got back. He then barreled down the steps, calling out to the four remaining of the five.
"This will show you why you want to leave NOW."
Coco was rattled. She looked up at the nearest guard. He stood straight and erect. He snorted in her face before returning to his stoic position. She glanced at the barbed spear that was draped across his chain mailed back.
"I'm hungry," Dinky groaned after twenty minutes. The stoic guard next to Coco glared at Dinky. The rulers still sat idly on their thrones.
"Noon Court shall soon begin, Guards Splat,Crane, Sedimentary, and Stormy. Escort the filthy intruders out of here the second the demonstration is over."
"Yes, Queen Mudhen," the guard farthest from Coco piped. He clutched a small sword in his trunk, and his name, Crane, was carved on the blade.
"Look," one of the other guards, who had been referred to as Sedimentary in an earlier conversation, said. "It has begun."
The four moved towards the window and looked out.
A large gray elephant, his legs hogtied together with chains, his trunk tied in several very painful looking knots, was standing on a wooden platform above The Melting Pot. He was shaking. The watched as General Quicksilver pointed to him and gave a short speech. Then several guards dressed in black armor took giant axes and began to cut at the platform.
The thief being executed, Tuber, screamed his lungs out as the guards gave one final chop. The elephant topped into the flames, his screams echoing throughout the city as his body spasmed in the burning lava before it sank completely, melting into it.
Dinky was clutching Spike tightly while tears leaked down her face. The death of Amethyst was still very fresh, and just glimpsing death made the floodgates break open for the poor unicorn filly.
Coco looked up at the ruler's crowns while they were escorted out of the room. If they left, Equestria and everywhere else would fall to the mysterious villain.
But if they stayed, they risked ending there lives by lava pot.
What were they going to do?
===
Amethyst felt like she was dead. She was fed, but just enough to keep her from dying. She was starving all the time, and her throat was always parched. Her hide was now surely scarred from the many beatings of the willow switch. Several times her plot had even began gushing blood.
She cried softly into her own shoulder. Soon she heard a noise.
She looked up to see a young fawn fall to the ground, pale and immobile, its eyes glassy.
Razor seemed to be becoming stronger. He was sucking the life out of everything around him. Hundreds of dead trees surrounded them, and innumerable bodies of lifeless animals were scattered around. He was quickly becoming stronger and bigger, but not in the rapid way Tirek had. No his seemed slower, like he was easing his way into the flow of energy. At beginning he had only chanced sucking life out of blades of grass and bugs, but know was doing so with trees and pony sized animals.
She whimpered at the thought of all the animals dying and her body became racked with sobs.
The switch fell across her hide and she screeched again as a plume of blood shot from the scarred area of tissue.
Amethyst looked at her plot while Lord Razor galloped over to a sapling to suck life out of.
Her one flank, her left, was free of scars and bruises since she laid on that one all the time. It was caked with dirt and mud.
But her right flank was a mangled mess of blood and body tissue. it was so messed up that Amethyst could barley make out her cutie mark any more. She began to cry once again, curling up into a ball, her chains clanking, in the place of death that she rested in.
===
Dinky trotted down the street with her three friends. All three were deep into an argument about to stay or to go. All three wanted to stay and go at the same time.
Eventually, with a few choice swear words from Dinky telling them to figure it out, the verdict was that they would stay.
The quartet cantered into a small side alley where a family of dirty rats ate from the rusty trash bins.
They were just looking for a place to talk when an old oak door swung open, its hinges creaking loudly, like a moaning pony with a belly ache.
A male elephant stepped out. He clutched a rusty iron trident in his trunk. His eyes met theirs, and he opened his eyes wide.
Suddenly movement could be heard outside the alleyway. The guards had realized that the four weren't leaving, and were on the search for them.
"Quickly, quickly, inside!" the elephant bull whispered.
The quartet had no idea what to do. With no other choice, they dived through the rusty door way after the elephant. the door slammed closed seconds before guards came clattering down the alley.
A hard rapping on the door could be heard. The elephant pushed them into the kitchen and hid them under the table in a corner before he opened the door.
"Head Armory Director Debris, have you seen any sight of these four?" The guard, who Dinky recognized as Guard Crane, held up a quickly sketched poster of the four.
"I'm afraid not, Crane. I bet Shire a little down the way might have."
"Thanks for the lead, Director Debris."
"No problem, Crane."
Crane and several other guards then plundered away down the alleyway befor eturning a corner and disappearing.
Debris slammed the door shut and moved towards the four.
"I think I can help you. You see, I have a score to settle with the Government here. Especially those haughty monarchs. And General Quicksilver. Quicksilver the most."
The four still cowered under the table.
"So you're no-not gonna turn us in?"
"Of course not. This is the thing I've been waiting for."
"What?" Spike asked.
"Help."