Chapter Two: Part Three
… And she threw it out the window. She had made a promise, blast it! And she wasn't about to break it! So, clenching her teeth, and waving the dust away from her face as best as she could, she stood and looked over the seat to help Bon-Bon. In getting knocked over, she had hit her head on another seat, and Berry could see little stars swirling in the air above her head (and in her eyes as well). Well, thankfully she was alright, more or less. The question now was, what could she do? Bon-Bon was knocked out, Berry had no idea what had happened to Lyra,, Colgate had been yanked though a window, and to top it all off, HER HEAD STILL FELT LIKE IT WAS SPLITTING IN HALF. All in all, things looked very, very bad...
And that's about how it all came to be. Granted, Colgate had no idea that she had jumped onto a train, nor any idea that she had been yanked through a window, or the fact that she has been hog-tied in a matter of seconds on top of a speeding train. Sadly, all she knew was that she was being carried off and that her captors seemed to be from the rough side of the tracks. So, baithed with an abundance of ignorance, she rode off into the wastelands.
And ride she did. It didn't take long for them to get clear of the dust cloud, but once they did, they rode for what felt like hours. Then again, when one is upside down and bouncing up and down every single time their ride hits his hoof on the ground, time tends to feel a bit elongated. What did help was seeing the sun, when she could. It seemed like they were heading south, but the group often turned left and right at seemingly random times. So, her view of the sun was blocked as often as not. By the time they finally began to slow down, she had noticed that the sun had sunk somewhat.
What all that travel time did do was give her a chance to get a decent look around. As far as landscape was concerned, there was little to see, save the odd rock outcropping. The ground was dry and the dirt crumbled to dust when stepped on, causing all of the running ponies to leave fairly modest dust clouds behind them. Which, to her surprise, were kept under control by the pegasai. Near as she could see, the two of them would push the clouds back to the ground with their wings, and cover the group's tracks with the dust. In speaking of which, none of these ponies looked particularly nice.
There was the one carrying her for starters. Now that they were no longer in a massive dust cloud, she could see him a bit better. He wore a large and badly beaten cowpony hat. It was clearly old and had seen many years of use and abuse. It was brown, and had what looked like the odd tool or some such stuck in its brim. His coat was, at its roots, a dusky brown. The rest of it was a much lighter brown, presumably lightened by years of sun and dust. He wore a jacket that was light brown as well, and it too was in bad shape. It had patches and rips here and there. His mane and tail were black, though with all the dust on them, they too looked rather brown. All-in-all, rather ugly. Not to mention his face. That thing was simply beyond words.
The others in the group didn't look much better. From what she could see, the group was about half a dozen or so large and it looked like most of them were earth ponies. Most of them looked to be stallions, but she could see the odd mare here and there. One of the pegasai was a mare. And almost all of them a different spectrum of the rainbow of ugly. What intrigued her the most was that griffin. It had a mixed plumage of grey and black. It wore a red headband, and wore a ragged tan jacket. Colgate hadn't met too many griffins before, so it was hard for her to tell if this one was male or female. That aside, what she did notice was it would fly high in the air for a while, then it would come down and sit on the back of one of the ponies for a bit, then take off once more. It seemed like it had a favorite to perch on, and the poor pony appeared to be none-too-happy about it.
So, all-in-all, a rather rough looking group. Colgate had the sneaking suspicion that she might be in a bit of trouble. Perhaps the pony carrying her wasn't that bad of a fellow, though. It never hurt to ask, right? So, she turned her head, and valiantly attempted to strike up a conversation. “Mummphum phumm fum fum?” was about what she was able to say. In response, he turned his head to look at her and simply growled. At seeing his face in full light and up close, Colgate came to the conclusion that this poor pony didn't get beat with an ugly stick, he was assaulted with an ugly sledgehammer. At this point she concluded that attempting to say anything more would accomplish little. So she decided she would just try and wait until they stopped.
The sun hung low by the time they did. It had been hours since she'd been foalnapped. Hours and hours of hanging upside down and bouncing up and down. By the time they stopped, she was sure that her poor back was nothing more then one big sore bruise. Though she did have to admit that she was impressed that the entire group had ran for that long, without even taking a single rest. Though she could have done without the sweaty-back-of-her-captor part.
The group had arrived at what looked like a bunch of rocks that jutted out of the ground. They were rather large boulders, that looked almost like spears poking out of the ground. They seemed to lean on each other, creating what looked like a cave under them. The group stopped in front of this cave, and dropped everything on the ground. “Ophm!” cried Colgate as she hit the ground. The pony carrying her had simply dropped her and walked into the cave. All of the other ponies she saw began to go about various tasks as well. Two set about digging a hole in the ground, while another set went about producing what looked to be blankets and other such things. Others went about producing what looked to be food, and the fliers took to the skies. The griffin perched on top of the rocks, and the two pegasai flew off and out of sight.
A heavy dragging nose, accompanied by grunting, caught Colgate's attention. It came from the cave, from which she could see the ugly one dragging what looked to a large bundle of wood. He brought it over to the side of the pit, untied it, and dropped a few logs in the pit. “Er! It's d'un!” he said, looking up at the griffin. The griffin cast a mildly bored look back. Then it looked off in the direction of the other two.
“Alright.” it said, its voice infuriatingly gender neutral, “Those two had better not take forever again. We've only got about an hour before your Princess drops her sun.” Your princess. That phrase struck Colgate. It was clear from the way it said it, it thought little of the Princess. There was a void of affection, even a sense of disconnection. It seemed like this griffin did not consider itself to be an Equestrian. “Seriously, how long does it take to grab two simple clouds? They always take forever. And I thought pegasus ponies were suppose to be fast.”
“ 'hy u a'waz beastin' 'ere 'ings?” asked the ugly one. At least, Colgate was pretty sure it was a question. Something along the lines of, 'Why you always busting their wings?'
It looked down at him coolly. “Well I'm pretty sure it's because they flap those things so slowly. I'm pretty sure I could fly circles around them if I wanted. But, I can't move clouds like they can, so here *I* am, stuck waiting.” It pointed at its chest with an irritated claw, and looked back at the pony with a look that dared him to challenge its words. The pony paused for a moment, then looked away. It was clear to Colgate at this point who was in charge here. “Anyway, when they get back, I'll take the cloth off and let's see if we can get that unicorn to start a fire for us. I'm tired of having to do for you no-talent idiots.” No-talent? That didn't make sense. Colgate attempted to shift a little in the dirt to take a look at the ugly one's cutie mark.
His flank was blank.
Colgate blinked in disbelief. He was a full grown adult alright. No question about that. Wait. She said idiots. Turning her head, she caught sight of another one of the ponies. Her flank was also blank. As was the flank of the pony next to her. They were all blanks flanks. Fully grown adults all of them, and yet, not a single cutie mark. She had expected to see one or two that had to do with say, robbery or something. But no, not a single cutie mark.
Wait, did that griffin say something about her starting a fire?
“Oh look, she's wiggling around. Hold her down until those two get back. I don't want to risk her somehow getting loose.” the griffin said with a dismissive gesture. The ugly pony grunted in reply and turned around and made his way over to her. Colgate began to struggle, trying somehow to free herself, but the ropes holding her were too strong. Walking right next to her (and filling her nostrils once more with an awful smell), he paused for a moment. Then, he sat right on her.
Now, Colgate has been many things in her life. There was her professional career of course. She had been a student for many years before then. She had been a friend, and at times even a confidant. She had been a star gazer, and at times a bit of dreamer. She had even been a royal Princess once, at least, a pretend Princess. It's hard for a little filly to be a Princess, but little itty-bitty Colgate had pretended her hardest. She had taken tin cans and wrapped them around her hooves and colored them with a golden crayon, and had made a little crown for herself out of cardboard. She had even tore open a pillow and glued the feathers to a pair of paper wings she had made for herself. Indeed, she had been the very embodiment of all that was regal and adorable-erm-royal. This however, was new. Of all the things she had been in her life, she had never before become a bench. A lifetime of academic study and hard work, and now she found herself becoming the sitting place of a criminal. What had her life come to?
As her thoughts of self-pity came to a conclusion, she noticed the world around her suddenly became much darker. She could still see, but it was like she was suddenly in a thick fog. Confused, she tried to turn her head to get a better view of what was going on (as the pony sitting on her felt the need to cover face with his rather unwashed tail.), but was unable to as his weight prevented her from being able to move. She heard the sounds of flapping wings, and it sounded like something landed near her.
“Alright, move it. Let's see if she's useful or not.” said the griffin. As the pony moved off her, she felt several hooves pin her in place. The griffin's face came into view, and even this close, Colgate still couldn't tell what gender it was. “So, my little pony, here's the deal. We got some logs set up in a pit. You are going to use that fancy magic of yours,” it reached out and placed the end of one claw on the covered tip of her horn, “and you're going to set it on fire. Got it? Good.” It looked up from her, “Take her to the pit.”
She felt the hooves pick her up and carry her a somewhat short distance. It was a bit of an odd sensation. The last time something like this happened was the one and only time Colgate allowed Berry to make her a 'mystery' brew. That day, and the following two months, were all a disorienting blur. Much of which included being carried to and fro. This time however she was quite aware of her surroundings and was beginning to feel fear. Granted, this whole time she'd been somewhat afraid, but she had grown a bit numb to it after having been around them for what seemed like most of the day. Now that she was the focus of their attention again, the fear began to come back.
They brought her over to the side of a somewhat shallow pit that was filled with old dried logs. The hooves turned her ride-side up and pointed her at the pit. The griffin walked up next to her, and placed two claws on the cloth that was wrapped around her horn. Leaning in close, it grabbed her chin with its other talon, and pointed her head at the pit. “Now little pony,” it whispered in her ear, “no funny business. Just set it on fire. Alright?” It pulled its head away from her ear. “Alright! Every … pony … READY!” And, gripping the cloth tightly, it yanked it off her horn.
The rush to her head was almost enough to knock her out. Never before had she not had magic, to say nothing of feeling it all come back at once. It felt as though she had been put in a gerbil ball that had been tossed onto a stormy sea; a gerbil ball that was continuously spinning at high speeds. Her vision doubled and the world around her went both light and dark at the same time for a moment. Then, as suddenly as it had hit her, it stopped, save a terrible hornache. Looking at the pile, she began to focus her magic. The pile became encased with the aura of her magic as she focused on their weight. Then, she fired them at the ponies holding her hostage.
“OH NO NO NO NO NO NO! WE CAN'T HAVE ANY OF THAT!” Shouted the griffin, who, faster then Colgate could see, shoved the cloth back onto her horn just as the first log had fired off the ground. The feedback into her head was explosive, and for a moment, all she could see was darkness.
Darkness that felt cold, vast, and ... very familiar.
When she came to, she was lying on the ground, surrounded by a semi-circle of ponies groaning in pain. The pit was empty, and it looked like she was in the center of a blast radius. The griffin, however, was nowhere to be seen. She tried to focus her horn again, but felt the resistance of the cloth once more. She tried moving, but found that she was still tied up. She had hoped that her plan would have worked, but now it seemed like it had back-fired. While it looked like the other ponies were down for the count, if the griffin had escaped, it would not be happy. Shifting her weight, she tried to see if she could at least set herself upright. Perhaps she could hop to a hiding place before anypony recovered, and work on getting herself free. Perhaps they would figure she wasn't worth the trouble and move on without her. Granted, she had no idea where she was, but she figured that being out there was better then being with this crowd.
Shuffling slowly, she managed to get one set of hooves on the ground. Slowly keeping her balance, she carefully got to her other set. Perfect. At least now she was standing. She hopped, and nearly lost her balance, but kept up. Not bad. She hopped again, this time keeping her balance a little better. She hopped again, this time almost tripping and landing flat on her face. She paused to regain her balance. She looked around. Sure enough. 6 ponies. 4 earth and 2 pegasai. And all of them looked as if they had been hit with a train. But there was still no griffin. That worried her greatly. Still, she was on her hooves, that was something.
Hop. Hop. Hop.
She made her way as quickly as she could. She had no idea where she was going to hide. Then, an idea hit her. Why not find something to cut the ropes with? She couldn't see too far, but she made her way over to where she remembered a box had been dropped. Perhaps there was something in there she could use.
Hop. Hop. Hop.
She could see a crate at the edge of the haze. Hopping her way next to it, she saw that it had been blown over, and its contents spilled over the ground. Ha! Just her luck! She could see a rather sharp looking sculpture; one that ended up proving effective in cutting her bonds. With free hooves, she reached to remove the cloth, and felt a terrible pain in her body for touching it. She gasped. She'll have to worry about that later. For now, she needed to get out of here. Looking around, she spotted the cave through the haze and booked it. Perhaps it led to somewhe-
“OH NO NO! YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!” came an eagle’s screech from above. Looking up, Colgate saw a shadow dive bombing right at her...