The next morning was no better than the one before, if not it was worse. Midnight woke up to a real uncomfortable humidity, and the tropical sun didn’t help either. This time however, he didn’t waste his energy trying to get loose. Thankfully, the moon had given him plenty of energy last night, and because of it hunger wasn’t a problem. He was real grateful his ability to absorb moonlight energy had not been nullified by this infernal inhibitor ring on his horn. However, his throat was once again parched, and the best he could do was keep still and not waste energy on pointless horseplay. He felt the buzzing of mosquitos and gadflies around him, so annoying that he had to stand up and whip at them with his tail and shake his mane whenever they buzzed near his ears or eyes or nose.
It was humiliating. Here he was, one of Equestria’s most powerful mages ever, reduced to livestock in a corral. But reality was cruel, and here he wasn’t a mage who could easily skin these beaked cats nine times over. He was a slave. He had no rights. He had no freedom. He didn’t even have his dignity! All he had was his patience, which would have to stay strong to tolerate the abuse and humiliation that was certain to keep coming, and await the opportunity to topple his oppressors, and maybe if he played his cards right, he might even make some allies of his fellow slaves. Hopefully, he already had one, considering that griffin with pony hooves from last night that had risked getting caught to give him water when he wasn’t supposed to have any.
But what exactly was that guy? Midnight wondered.
The figure had called himself a half-griffin, and obviously his other half was equine.
Half griffin, half pony…?
It sounded familiar when the beat of wings broke his train of thought. He turned to see the Overseer smirking at him as he held a wooden tankard.
“Good morning slave, enjoying this tropical sun?”
Midnight bit his tongue and simply looked away, much to the Overseer’s amusement.
“Nothing to say? What happened to all that fiery spirit yesterday? It looks like you’ve gone tepid…”
If I could use my magic, griffin, you’d learn why I’m not called Midnight Blaze for nothing…! Midnight thought to himself but kept a calm demeanor and his head low.
“Hmph, well, at least you’re learning to mind your betters, scum,” the Overseer clucked nastily. “But I am not wholly without heart, if you’d like some water here you go!”
Then Midnight jolted when he felt a splash of water on his head and shook it off, the Overseer squawking in laughter. As much as he wanted to throw the Overseer a murderous glare he tempered his rage and continued to keep his head down.
“Huh, it seems you’re smarter than you look, meat!” the Overseer noted as he dipped the last few drops of his tankard into his beak.
“Breaking you will be easier than I thought if but a mere day and a half in this condition is quenching your fire!”
At that moment, a loud noise earned both their attentions, and they looked to see an earth pony mare had collapsed in exhaustion while the other one pulling the wagon with her was trying to encourage her to get up and keep moving.
“Bah! It seems duty calls, unicorn scum!” the Overseer threw a devious look at Midnight. “I suggest you pay attention while I attend to business, because I have a good feeling that what I’m about to do to that pitiful waste of flesh I’ll be doing to you soon enough!”
The Overseer pulled a coiled whip from under his wing and Midnight realized what was about to happen! He stood up and exclaimed, “No, please! She- she’s just tired!”
“Silence!” The Overseer let the whip loose and lashed out, the tip snapping against Midnight’s shoulder, making him cry out. As Midnight clenched his teeth and held his hoof against his stinging shoulder, the Overseer laughed.
“I’m the overseer of my lord’s slaves for a reason, scum! I don’t suffer fools whatever their excuse!”
The Overseer chuckled darkly as he turned his attention back towards the collapsed mare, only to gawk and squawk in surprise.
“What the-”
Midnight saw him too, the same hooded figure from last night, giving the collapsed mare water.
“You!” The Overseer shrieked as he flapped over, holding his whip menacingly. “Out of the way, you filth! That slave is due for some punishment!”
“I was tasked by our lord to see to the slaves’ health and well-beings, Overseer,” the figure replied calmly, keeping his attention on the mare.
“You can’t fault me for carrying out my duties. The slave can keep going, so there is no need for the whip.”
“We’ll see about that!” The Overseer screeched as he raised the whip only for the mare to get to her hooves and urge her fellow beast of burden to keep going. The Overseer growled angrily to see his whip would not be inflicting some punishment after all.
“One day, you abomination, I’ll be laughing over your worm-riddled corpse…!”
Midnight was relieved the mare had not been punished and was now certain who or whatever this stranger was, he was an ally.
But what exactly is he? Half griffon and half pony, I’m certain I’ve heard or read of a creature like that…
Midnight wished he could have a word with the stranger. Sure, he knew acting the obedient slave was crucial here but he needed to know more of his situation. Like, about the auction he’d heard the Overseer mention. Obviously, these griffons sold their slaves, but he wanted to know when this auction would occur. He also had to find out where Hresvelgr slept so he could have a chance of getting his Time Stone back. Right now, Midnight was woefully ignorant of the nuances of his predicament, and for as long as he was kept tied up in this corral it would remain so. Sighing, Midnight plopped his rump down and simply observed the goings-on around him.
From his castle above, Hresvelgr lorded over his dominion. Here he was lord and master, every life on this island was his to do with as he would. But he noticed the blue unicorn sitting in the corral and narrowed his eyes. Going over to a rope that hung from a hole in his ceiling, he pulled it to ring the bell that hung in the servants quarters to alert his staff.
Before long, the door knocked and he answered, “Enter.”
In walked an earth pony mare dressed in a maid outfit, bowing, “You called, milord?”
“Send for my Lieutenant, I desire a word with her.”
“At once, my lord,” the mare answered and left.
Hresvelgr growled and tapped his talons on the windowsill as he waited. Finally, the door knocked again and opened to reveal the Lieutenant.
“You called, my lord?”
“Yes, tell me, Lieutenant,” Hresvelgr growled, “Why is that blue unicorn sitting idle while the rest of my slaves are working?”
“…He has spirit, Lord Hresvelgr,” the Lieutenant chose her words carefully, “so I ordered the Overseer to tie the wretch to the post for three days without food or water, to deflate his foolish hot air.”
“Be that as it may, Lieutenant,” Hresvelgr growled, “I do not condone slaves failing to break their backs over their assigned labor… Send him to the forge!”
“But- My Lord!” The Lieutenant chirped only to peep in intimidation at the look her master gave her. Her plumage softened as she conceded, “As you wish, my lord.”
Something landed near him and Midnight looked to see a bag with oats spilling out. Confused, he looked up and saw the Lieutenant with a real good poker face as she set down a tankard next to the bag.
“Eat, drink.”
And without another word she flew off, to Midnight’s bewilderment. She was the one who had him tied and corralled to begin with, why was she giving him food and water before the three days were up? Midnight wasn’t inclined to the oats but knew it would seem suspicious if he didn’t eat anything. Besides, he was thirsty.
The oats hardly tasted anything like the oatmeal his sister Applejack often served back home at Sweet Apple Acres. How he missed his family, his big brother Macintosh and his stoic and calm demeanor along with his even bigger heart, his stubborn yet reliable sister Applejack, his sweet yet mischievous little sister Applebloom, dear Granny Smith and her semi-senile stories, and Twinken.
Midnight couldn’t even imagine his little brother’s reaction to discovering him gone. The two brothers were so close, and Midnight knew for a fact Twinken loved and valued his family above all things. He only hoped everypony else would be able to keep his little brother’s spirits up.
He washed down the oats with the water but noticed some weird aftertaste. Sighing, he set the half-empty bag of oats and tankard down, and waited. It wasn’t for long when a guard came up with a chain and collar. Midnight conceded, partly because the guard had a sheathed sabre hanging at his side.
The guard led Midnight towards a corner of the cloistered courtyard and with a stone building that had a pair of chimneys belching out smoke, and he could smell it long before he got near it. It stank of burning ash and metal and oil, the pounding of hammer to ore rang like a headache, it was sweltering!
Midnight then saw, to his relief, unicorns working the forge alongside some Minotaurs and Dogs, but Midnight was astonished to see these unicorns didn’t have inhibitor rings on their horns and were even using their telekinetic auras!
“What the…?!” he whispered.
“Don’t get any ideas, slave,” the guard accompanying him growled. “These unicorns, including you, have been drugged.”
“Drugged?!” Midnight gaped at the guard who smirked.
“That food and water the Lieutenant gave you, it was laced with a special alchemical drug that severely weakens a unicorn’s magic when ingested. Every time you try to cast a spell, you’ll be overcome by a dizzy spell that makes you light in the head and unable to remember the spell you attempted to cast. The best you can do is a measly little bit of telekinesis like those unicorns in the forge…”
Midnight glared but kept his gaze downward as he realized he’d been tricked. He then felt the griffin yank his chain and force his head down, saying, “Hold still!”
Midnight heard a metal clink and felt the pressure on his horn vanish. He looked up to see the guard holding inhibitor ring.
“Once the work day is complete, this goes back on! Now get to work and report to the head smith, that big minotaur over there!”
The guard pointed out the biggest minotaur in the forge. He was tall with bulging muscles coated with sooty gray fur, his horns cut halfway off, he wore a leather apron with a metal mantle, gloves, a metal ring in his nose, and was hammering away on a red-hot piece of metal that looked like it was on its way to becoming a battle axe.
Midnight stepped into the forge, only a few workers taking notice of him but kept working. Midnight slowly approached the minotaur, sparks flying with each pound of his hammer. He didn’t want to interrupt so he waited until the minotaur stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow.
“Um, excuse me?” Midnight spoke up.
The minotaur turned to regard him with a rather intimidating snort.
“New guy?”
“Um, yessir,” Midnight nodded, wanting to get on the smith’s good side. If he was gonna start rounding up allies, this minotaur might be a good candidate to win over.
“Hmm, I’m the foreman of this forge, name’s Iron Fist,” he introduced himself before adding with a scary furrow of his brows, “You can call me ‘boss’…”
“Y-yes sir!” Midnight suddenly had doubts about winning Iron Fist over as a potential ally.
“Now then, I guess we’ll start you off simple,” Iron Fist growled. He looked to one of the furnaces and saw something.
“Keep the fire burning by operating the bellows, give it a good blow at a moderate pace. Blow too often and the fire gets too hot, blow too slowly the fire cools. I need a stable and constant rate of heat, understand?!”
“Y-yeah, b-boss!” Midnight nodded, Iron fist snorting in his face before resuming his hammering.
The blue unicorn went over to the bellows. It was a wood and leather tool with an accordion-like design.
Let’s see just how effective that drug is, Midnight thought as he channeled his energy to his horn.
He felt it! It felt so good to resume the ebb and flow of his power but he found it much more difficult to maintain the output. He looked at the handles of the bellows and concentrated. To his surprise, it was hard! It was like flexing a muscle he’d neglected for so long it was pitiful. But still he managed to squeeze the bellows and heard the ‘phoom’ of air blown into the furnace. So began the repetition.
The rank of the forge and sweltering heat and bits of soot in the air made working next to unbearable. Midnight soon gave his magic a break and decided to operate the bellows by hoof. It wasn’t any easier but at least it would be a workout and boy did he work up a sweat!
Thankfully, the smiths were given all the water they wanted, both to cool hot metals as well as drinking water. But unfortunately, Midnight tasted that same aftertaste he had from the oats and water the Lieutenant had given him. The smiths’ drinking water was drugged. It made sense, as almost every unicorn was working the forge, but Midnight wondered, if they drugged all the drinking water for the smiths did that mean the drug itself didn’t last long?
If that was the case, Midnight had found a weakness in the griffons’ control. He just had to find a way to exploit it.
*SNAP/PHSSSSHHH*
“Huh?!” Midnight stumbled and realized he’d pushed too hard on the bellows handle and snapped it off while also ripping a seam.
“Uh-oh!”
“‘Uh-oh’?!”
Midnight flinched as he turned to see Iron Fist looking to be on the verge of an eruption.
“B-Boss, I- I’m sorry, I was-”
“You ruined this bellow, which means the heat in this furnace will lose its consistency …” Iron Fist growled as he stomped over, his hammer gripped in his hand.
“Which also means I’m gonna have to request the guards for a replacement and I’ll be set behind schedule!! Do you not realize we have a quota to meet?!”
“That’s enough, Iron Fist.”
Somehow that voice cut through the tension as Iron Fist and Midnight looked to see the same cloaked figure who gave Midnight his water last night.
“Fusion…” Iron Fist growled before giving Midnight a real stink eye and cuffing the back of his head. “Get this walking disaster area out of my forge! I don’t need distractions right now!”
“Of course, and you’ll be relieved to know a replacement bellow is already on the way,” replied the figure, Fusion as Iron Fist had addressed him. He looked to Midnight and gestured him to follow.
Unsure but not wanting to rile the bullhead even more, Midnight followed Fusion out the forge and was surprised to see the guard was gone.
“Um, tha-”
“Shush!” Fusion hissed sharply and, to Midnight's frustration, snapped an inhibitor ring onto Midnight's horn before he saw it coming.
“Wait until we’re alone…”