"She doesn't need to be involved..."
"Nonsense. She'll get us some good money."
"... but she's my friend..."
"You don't need her as a friend. You have all the attention and love you'll ever need, not to mention more money than you can handle..."
"What if I don't WANT any money?"
"Nonsense. Now, go to sleep. We'll deal with it in the morning."
"... I think she's waking up..."
"... I can fix that..."
I had no idea where I was. Heat scorched my face, my whole body feeling weakened by unknown reasons. My eyes shot open to see fire clip across my vision, roaring across the sky. Fire? Why was the world on fire? I felt a consistent tug on my body, as if it were being dragged by something that wasn't there, then a sudden fling out to darkness, temporarily blinded by the extreme difference. My confusion gave way to fear. 'What was happening?' I thought, staring wide eyed and unblinking into the night sky, my vision burned with flicks of white and black.
I felt the spray of water as a door opened and I was pulled inside. "Go!" said a familiar voice.
I lied on a wooden floor of a carriage, eyes wide open in a blank stare as it jolted up into the night.
"Hey, is she alright?" Said a gruff voice.
"She'll be fine once whatever Cinnimon gave her wears off."
I stared at the ceiling, wanting to ask so many questions...
"Made you some mess of that place, you know."
"Yeah," sighed the closer, feminine voice. "I know. Now like I could just let Cinni give Autumn away to that stallion ass, and besides, been meaning to leave that shithole." I saw the corner of her face and mane as she looked down.... 'Oh no....' I thought. '... shit.'
I stared up at Tea Rose in silence, feeling paralyzed.
What the hell was happening?
Eventually the feeling came back into my body, and I blinked, my eyes dry and sore. I coughed. "Oh, she's awa-"
"What am I doing here?!" I yelled, glaring at the unicorn.
"It's..." Tea Rose blushed.
"Do I need to repeat myself?" I got up slowly, trembling feeling like the floor was moving under me.
"Autumn... well..." she glanced away. "Cinnamon wasn't going to bother with you... until this stallion came into the Club, asking for you."
"For me? Excuse me, does it look like I'm a prostitute?"
She glared. "Well, he wanted to know if Cinnamon could pull some strings and find you. She's a more powerful pony than she seems..."
"Wait... what were you doing there? Are you telling me that you went BACK?" Anger fumed about me.
"For my things, yes..." she sighed. "When I heard she was interested in finding you... daum, I've really been an ass lately. I wasn't going to let her just go through with whatever she was scheming. So, I when I saw the griffon she hired to get you come in the back way with you, what was I supposed to do? Let her sell you off to that strange drifter-looking bastard? Nope. So, naturally, I planned our escape here. To the carriage?"
"Well, I guess if I was more of a fool, I'd believe that. But seeing as I don't have that much of a choice, I'll humor you." I rolled my eyes. "So, what about that fire?"
"... I'll just say Stone Whooves kinda fell apart. The watcher was called to Canterlot with that splotchy fella', and Cinnamon basically took her place back in control. It was terrible. Basically, it turned my home into anarchy." Tea Rose sighed. "The fire was just a coincidence. Someone probably did it on accident, then again sometimes you do get a handful of pyromaniacs..."
"I think I've heard enough about that." I managed to finally catch my balance and sit down. "So, what is this then?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean where is this carriage heading and how can I get back to Ponyville as soon as possible?"
"Well, we do have some things we need to do. Mainly, our main focus is to get everypony to the nearest village ALIVE."
"Ahem..." Said the rough voice.
"Sorry, everybody." Tea Rose cleared her throat. "Autumn, did you notice our group we have going here?"
"Huh?"
I glanced around me, noticing a handful of ponies, but my eyes darted directly next to me where I noticed the giant grey creature having to slouch to not hit the carriage ceiling... or, at least I thought it was either slouching or had a hump on it's back. Naturally, I freaked out slightly, knocking myself back.
Then the carriage dipped into the ground to a screeching halt.