Prisoner
“Don’t mistake my actions. I’m not doing this out of love. I’m doing this for myself. The Princesses are coming, and I will not yield. If the worse should pass, I will bring them down with me. But my line, my legacy, shall not end. Your job is to protect my seed. Love has nothing to do it. Now go!”
—King Sombra, before the Crystal Empire vanished
Lyra Heartstrings had a strange, and some ponies would say unhealthy, obsession with creatures called humans. She had books filled with stories about them. She had spent years gathering every scrap of information she could on them. She was basically a certified expert on creatures that didn’t exist.
One thing that she always harped on was the thing a human had at the end of its arm. It was apparently a complex structure of bone, tissue, nerves, and muscle that fanned out into five long digits called fingers. It was called a hand, and humans used them for everything, according to Lyra. They used to them to write letters, they used them to carry objects, they used them make music, and they used them to grab things.
Now, as Octavia lay on top of Vinyl’s soft chest, she desperately wished that she had those strange appendages. She wanted to run her fingers through the plush white fur. She wanted to feel it between her fingers. She wanted to grab handfuls of it and hold on as tight as she could. She wanted to grasp Vinyl with all her might and never let her go, because she felt like the Unicorn was slipping away from her.
But the cellist didn’t have hands. All she could manage was to stroke Vinyl’s chest with her hoof while she buried her face in the mare’s chest. The tears wouldn’t stop, no matter how hard she tried. Vinyl’s words cut into her again and again, tearing her heart to shreds with every breath she took. It hurt in ways that Octavia had not realized were possible, and as she lay there, pinning the love of her life to the snow, she wondered if she would ever be able to stop crying.
Vinyl knew the truth.
Octavia could not bring herself to raise her head. In her mind, all she could see was the look of loathing on the Unicorn’s face. She feared that if she looked up, she would see nothing but those beautiful red eyes staring back at her, filled with hate.
Octavia’s family was filled with stallions leaving her family once they had found out her lineage. Her grandfather had left her grandmother shortly after her mother had been born. When her mother had been born, her mane had been jet black, her coat the color of soot, and her eyes were a dark shade of violet. She had looked exactly like her mother, with no trace of her father’s traits. Octavia’s grandfather had demanded the truth, had demanded to know why his daughter looked nothing like him, and when he had heard it, he had left.
As far as Octavia knew, only her father had stayed after finding out. Out of all the generations since Sombra, only one pony had willingly stayed with his descendants.
Octavia had always hoped that Vinyl would be the second. The D.J. was so wild, so free, so unlike any other pony Octavia had ever met, that she knew that something like ancient relations would not bother her. Vinyl lived in the present, as hard and as loud as she could, with little concern about things written in scrolls and covered in dust.
But Octavia knew now that she had never really believed that. She had never believed in Vinyl. She had let the fear and shame consume her, just as it had every other mare before her. When the moment had come, instead of trusting the mare that she loved, she had doubted her. She had doubted Vinyl’s feelings and her character.
A new wave of anguish washed over the pony. She shook as she stayed on Vinyl, too terrified to move. She could not live without Vinyl. The thought of it was too dark. She had experienced that life for a few weeks before, and it had nearly destroyed her. If Vinyl left her for good, she did not know what she—
“Octavia?” Vinyl whispered, her voice quiet.
Octavia froze. The tears stopped flowing, but she could still feel them building in her eyes. She began to raise her head, her eyes slowly looking up Vinyl’s chest, then her neck, then her chin, then her lips—
Pain rocked Octavia’s body. Her left side felt as if a full-grown stallion had kicked her as hard as he could. She found herself airborne for a moment, but just as that thought crystalized, she slammed into the ground and skidded through the snow. She rolled several times and then came to a stop, her body aching and her mind struggling to stay awake.
“OCTAVIA!”
The cellist heard Vinyl’s scream, but it sounded so far away. She groaned and opened her eyes, shocked at how far she had been thrown. Vinyl was several meters away, scrambling to her hooves. As she stood, she yanked the sword Shining Armor had given her out of its sheathe.
So this was the end. Vinyl had attacked her, and now she was going to finish her off. Octavia closed her eyes and let her head rest in the snow. It was for the best, no doubt. She did not want to live in the world if Vinyl hated her. She closed her eyes and waited for the Unicorn to come finish her off.
To Octavia’s surprise, the sound of approaching hoofsteps did not come from Vinyl’s direction, but rather off to the side. Confused, and still in pain from the attack, she remained still with her eyes closed.
“I told you we need her alive!” an unfamiliar voice hissed.
“Why?” another voice said, filled with contempt. “She’s an Earth pony.”
“Because…Look, just hope that she’s not dead. Hurry up and grab her.”
Octavia heard the sound of snow crunching as one of the ponies came closer. “What about the other one?”
“What about her?”
“She’s a Unicorn.”
“Oh, right. I’m sure the others are taking care of her. Now hurry up.”
Octavia heard, and felt, one of the mysterious figures kneel next to her. She snapped her eyes open then, and her gaze locked with a pair of blue eyes. “You will not touch her!”
“What the—hey!”
Octavia pushed the pain in her side away and reached out with her foreleg. She caught the strange pony’s hoof and pulled. He lost his balance for a second, but that was all Octavia needed. She rolled across her back and whipped her hind legs up into the air, and then used the momentum to bring them crashing down on the stallion’s back. He collapsed in the snow, and as a final measure, Octavia slammed her front hoof into his face. She then stood up, careful not to show any signs of the pain she was feeling, and faced the second pony.
“Dammit!” the second pony said, and Octavia only had a split second to react as the dark violet mare fired a blast of magic at her. She ducked the beam and sprang forward. She tilted her shoulder forward a bit so that it slammed into the Unicorn and the two tumbled to the ground. Octavia made sure she stayed on top, and she immediately pressed her hoof down on the throat of the strange mare.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
The mare glared back up at her, but there was no fear in her eyes. The green pools that stared up at her will filled with contempt and no small amount of smugness. “Does it matter? I know who you are, Octavia.”
Octavia’s blood ran cold at the mention of her name. “H…How…?” She eased the pressure on the mare’s throat a little as shock rocked her body.
“Daughter of Sombra!”
Octavia’s eyes went wide and she reeled back for a moment, but she instantly realized her mistake. She tried to pin the mare down again, but it was too late.
The mare’s horn glowed with magic and the blast caught Octavia in the chest. She flew backward and slammed into the snow again, the wind once again knocked from her body.
“I need some help over here!” the mare shouted. “This one’s still got some fight in her. Snow Walker is down!”
Octavia shook her head to clear it and rose to her hooves again. She coughed and her insides exploded in pain. She covered her mouth with her hoof as something threatened to come up her throat. She forced it back down and looked at her attacker.
Or rather, attackers.
Five more ponies had appeared alongside the mare. Each one was clad in a dirty white cloak. Octavia was outnumbered.
Worse, she quickly noticed that all six of the ponies facing her were Unicorns, and judging by the way they kept their various weapons away from their bodies, they were trained to fight. They weren’t like the thugs she had easily dispatched back in Hollow Shades.
“You need help Ice Air?” one of the Unicorns asked, looking over at the mare that had attacked Octavia. “Why didn’t you just blow a hole through her chest like you usually do?”
“Because I’m betting this one will fetch a nice ransom,” Ice Air replied, smilingly coolly at Octavia. “I mean, look at her. She practically bleeds stuck up.”
“So…alive then?” another Unicorn asked.
“Yes,” Ice Air replied. “Although, you’re going to have to get a bit rough with her, I think. She took out Snow Walker like he was nothing.”
“Heh. I’m surprised an Earth pony would stoop to something so low,” another Unicorn mocked.
“Where…is Vinyl?” Octavia panted. This was not good. Her body was in agony from the two magic blasts, but she had to stay awake. If these ponies had hurt Vinyl, then she would kill them.
“Oh, don’t worry,” one of the Unicorns said in a mocking tone. “Your property will be fine. Assuming, of course, she surrenders.”
Property? Octavia shook her head at the thought. It did not make sense, but that was not important. What was important was getting out of here, finding Vinyl, and going home. This ridiculous adventure of hers had gone on long enough.
“Look, just lay down in the snow,” Ice Air said with a sneer. “It will be a lot easier on you, trust me. After all, ‘alive’ doesn’t mean ‘unharmed’ in my book.”
Octavia bit her lip, hoping that the new pain would help her focus. This was very bad. None of these Unicorns had made the same mistake as the one that was collapsed in the snow behind her. They were keeping their distance, and while she knew she could close it in less than a second, and possibly even take out two, but she was going to be hard pressed to keep the rest of them at bay.
This was a fight she could not win, but winning was not her goal. She needed to escape. She just needed to cause enough confusion to do that, perhaps slip back into the blizzard, and then if they came after her, she could take them on at her own pace. They would be just as blind as her, and that would render their magic moot.
The cellist took a deep breath and slowly began to drag her front hoof through the snow. She moved slowly, hoping that the Unicorns would not notice the snow she was carefully gathering. She would only get one chance at this.
“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not going to work,” Ice Air said.
Octavia decided that Ice Air would be her target. She took a deep breath and relaxed, readying her body to move. Apparently, the Unicorns took her action as a sign that she was giving up, because she saw them lower their guard slightly when she let out her breath.
Your mistake, the Earth pony thought.
In a flash, Octavia lunged forward. The snow slowed her down a bit, but she could tell that she would make it to Ice Air before the Unicorns had a chance to react. Just like other Unicorns, their reliance on their magic made them slower than an Earth pony when it came to physical feats.
Ice Air’s eyes widened ever so slightly, and that was when Octavia struck. She flung the snow she had been gathering with her hoof, aiming the small ball right at the Unicorn’s eyes. It slammed into her and she let out a small yelp.
Now is my—
Octavia’s thought was cut short as she felt something close around her hind leg. Her face slammed into the snow inches away from Ice Air, and the pain that she had been managing to beat back returned with renewed fury. She coughed and hacked as she lay in the snow. Something swelled up her throat, and this time she was unable to keep it down. Blood and spit exploded from her mouth each time she coughed.
“Told you it wouldn’t work,” Ice Air said as she leaned down. She put her lips next to Octavia’s ear and whispered, “Did you really think I’d let you get away after all this?”
“What…what are you…?” Octavia whimpered, but the pain tearing through her body was making it impossible for her to finish the question. She struggled to turn her head until she was able to see what had caught her. She saw that her hind leg was encased magic, and to her shock, she saw that it was the Unicorn she had knocked out earlier that was holding her.
“Bitch hits hard,” Snow Walker said as he limped over to rejoin the group. “Even for an Earth pony.”
“Bet you I hit harder,” Ice Air replied. The remark was directed to Snow Walker, but the Unicorn kept her eyes locked on Octavia. “Let’s find out.”
Before Octavia had a chance to so much as blink, Ice Air’s hoof came down on her face. There was a burning moment of pain, and then blackness.
* * *
Octavia groaned as her mind slowly swam out of the darkness. At first, all she felt was a dull ache everywhere. She felt like she had finished a marathon an hour ago, and her body was just now starting to recover. She tried to force herself back to sleep, to give herself a chance to rest, as adjusted her body.
The movement sent pain racing through her entire frame and her purple eyes shot open in shock. Without thinking, she jumped up, but the strain on her muscles hurt even more. She tried to take a step forward, but something tripped her and she tumbled onto the blanket she had been resting on.
“What in Equestria?” the mare muttered as she looked down at her legs. It hurt to turn her head, and one of her cheeks felt like she was carrying an apple in it, but the shock of what she saw numbed the pain for a moment.
A pair of shackles was around her front legs and another pair was around her hind legs. They were bound together by a chain running under her stomach. Her first thought was that Vinyl had gotten a little too carried with the role playing, but the thought quickly left her mind as her memories came back.
It is not a problem, she thought as she kept the pain of her injuries in the back of her mind. I can break them. She began to stretch her legs apart, keeping an eye on the chain running under her stomach. Pain raced through her body, but she forced it down. She had broken Vinyl’s shackles in Hollow Shades without a second thought, so these would not be a problem.
“Knock it off!” Something smashed the back of Octavia’s neck and she collapsed again. She looked up, tears in her eyes from the stinging blow, to see a Unicorn in the familiar dirty white cloak standing over her. He sneered down at her. “Awake, huh? Good. Dragging your body through the snow is a lot of work. You can walk the rest of the way. And don’t bother trying to break those chains. Do you really think we’d be dumb enough to use regular ones on an Earth pony?”
“Where am I?” Octavia asked, even as she looked around. She appeared to be in a cave, but that was all she could tell.
“Like I’m going to tell you anything.” The stallion dropped a bowl of…something in front of her. Bits of it splashed onto her face while the majority of it spilled onto the floor. “Eat up. Ice Air wants to keep you alive for some reason.” Without another word, he turned and walked away.
Octavia found the task of sitting up to be rather difficult, given the shackles. She looked down at the bowl of mush and decided that she was not terribly hungry, and pushed it aside. She slowly reached up and touched her swollen cheek, her shackles rattling as she did, and winched as she felt how tender the wound was.
Ice Air had not held back apparently.
The Earth pony looked over her body as she sat on the ratty blanket. The white coat Prince Shining Armor had loaned her was tattered now, and it had a rather large hole in the side. She assumed that was from where that first magic strike had hit her. The front of her coat was also scorched, no doubt from when Ice Air had blasted her in the chest.
Octavia shuddered to think of what would have happened if these Unicorns had not held back. One of them had said that Ice Air made a habit of blowing holes through ponies’ chests…
She pushed the thought aside. She needed to focus on escaping and finding Vinyl. These Unicorns were dangerous. Ice Air knew about her heritage, and that meant that what Octavia had feared since the start of this adventure was true.
A small fire burning nearby in her cave. While she was in chains, she did not see any bars or anything resembling a cell. That was a good start. If her captors thought she was beat enough to leave her out in the open, that that was their mistake.
She was certain they were still in the Frozen North, because even deep inside the cave and with the nearby fire, it was still terribly cold. The question was though, where exactly was she? She knew she was not at the old settlements, because even then, ponies still lived in buildings. She figured that she had to be close to them though, because there was no way any pony could survive for long in the Frozen North without supplies, and the cave appeared to be well stocked. There were crates against a far wall along with a pile of rags, and she was pretty sure she saw some torches burning further down the cave.
Plus, the blanket she was resting on and the shackles holding her had to have come from somewhere. She doubted that her captors had just lucked out and found them here.
And then there was the food. It was probably eatable, and as far as she knew, there was nothing that could grow out in the middle of the raging snowstorm. Which meant that they either had some sort of secret crop growing in this cave, or they had access to food from another place.
The Earth pony began to go over her options. Her first priority was getting out of her bindings. The Unicorn had said that the chains were unbreakable, even for an Earth pony. Normally she would not believe such a statement, but something about these Unicorns was different. Everything they said to her had a contained fury to it, like their words were just barely holding back their wrath.
Plus, with the way she was hurting, Octavia doubted she was in any shape to break the chains at the moment.
So that meant she had to find the key. She knew these Unicorns were not foolish enough to leave them on the wall if she was not locked in a cell, which probably meant that one of them was carrying the key. She suspected that it was Ice Air. She seemed to be the pony that the others listened to.
Octavia started to wonder how she could manage to get the key and escape when she heard hoofsteps echoing through the cave. She hunched over a little, both as a ploy to get whoever this was to lower their guard and because she was hurting, and perked her ears toward the sound. It sounded like at least three ponies were coming.
Too many. I will have to wait.
Octavia did her best to look broken and beaten as the hoofsteps drew near. If she could play the part well enough, then one of these Unicorns would slip up eventually, and that was when she would make her move.
“She’s over here,” came an unfamiliar voice. “Figured you’d want to see her once she woke up.”
“Thanks.” That voice Octavia recognized, and despite her intentions, she sat up a little straighter.
A second later, three Unicorns walked into view. Two of them were wearing the same dirty white cloak that the stallion had been wearing, but the third one was wearing the same white winter coat she was wearing.
“Vinyl!” Octavia said, her ears straightening and a smile coming to lips. “Thank Celestia you are okay. They did not—”
“Shut up!” Vinyl reached out and slapped her hoof across Octavia’s cheek, making sure that she struck the swollen side of her face. The blow hurt so bad, in more ways than one, that she tumbled to the ground. She lay there, stunned, and looked up at her marefriend.
“Vinyl?” she whispered.
“Spare me you fake sympathy,” the D.J. spat. Octavia recoiled at each word, and as she stared up at the red eyes that used to make her heart race, all she saw was rage staring back at her. The gaze hurt so much that she had to close her eyes.
“Easy there, babe,” one of the other Unicorns said as he reached out to put a hoof on Vinyl’s chest. “I’m sure she deserved that, and more, but don’t overdo it. When the time comes, you can kill her yourself.”
Vinyl’s gaze shifted to the stallion for a split second, and then she nodded. “Good.”
“Tch,” came a new voice, but it had not come from the Unicorns. Surprised, Octavia looked behind herself.
“You got something to say, bitch?” said the third Unicorn as she stepped forward. She walked past Octavia, taking a second to kick her in the leg, and stopped in front of the pile of rags against the crates. “Speak up!” She kicked the pile of rags as hard as she could and, to Octavia’s surprise, a groan escaped them.
“I was just saying that you’re going to pay for this.” Octavia watched as the pile of rags rolled over to reveal another pony. She was either a Pegasus or an Earth pony because she had no horn. “But if you let us go now, I might tell them to go easy on you, Crystal Glade—ooaf!”
“You might?” Crystal Glade scoffed as she kicked the pony again and again. She laughed with each blow until she was winded, and then she just stood over the pony. “What makes you think you have any control here, you bitch? The only reason you’re still breathing is because we need a workhorse to drag our stuff around. But now that we have this one,” Crystal Glade gestured toward Octavia, “your future doesn’t seem so certain. So if I were you, I’d keep my mouth shut and pray that we still need you for something.”
“You’re going to burn for this, Crystal,” the pony said with a harsh laugh.
Crystal Glade kicked the pony one last time and spit on her, and then turned away. “Come on,” she said. “This place is starting to stink. Let’s go join the others. I bet Vinyl here is dying to join our little group.”
Without another word, the three Unicorns turned and left the small cave. Octavia wanted to call out to Vinyl, but the flash of anger she had seen in her eyes gave her pause.
“I’m going to kill that ungrateful little piece of trash,” the pony mumbled after a while.
“You…you know them?” Octavia asked. She blinked and then then tried to raise her hoof to offer it, but was reminded of her shackles. “My apologies. My name is Octavia. I’m from—”
“Does that really matter right now?” the pony growled. She walked forward until the firelight fell on her, and Octavia gasped.
She was an Earth pony, but she looked horrible. Her face was bruised and covered in wounds, some of them recent. One of her ears looked like it had been ripped off near the top, and her purple mane was nothing short of a hack job. Chunks of it were missing, while other parts of it had grown too long and appeared to have been trimmed with a sharp rock. Her coat, which Octavia assumed was originally a lovely shade of emerald, was scuffed and matted so badly that it looked like she had been dragged through the mud.
Judging by the way Crystal Glade had beat her, Octavia would not be surprised if they had dragged this poor soul through the mud just for fun.
“I saw what you were doing,” the pony said as she sat down at the fire across from Octavia. Her blue eyes were hard, and without a word she pulled the food bowl over and began eating its contents. “You’re looking for a way out.”
“I have no intention of staying here,” Octavia replied. Her companion was devouring the mush in the bowl like she had not eaten in weeks. What could make any pony treat another pony, or anything else, in such a way? “I must get Vinyl back and—”
The pony laughed, food spitting from her mouth into the fire. “That white Unicorn? Are you serious? You really think she’s going to want to go back with you?”
“Yes…?” Octavia replied, although she had to admit that she was not entirely sure of that now. Her face was still burning from where Vinyl had hit her.
“And you’d take her back? After all this?” The mare raised her hooves to show that she too was in shackles. “She must be pretty damn valuable.”
Octavia lowered her eyes and stared into the fire. “Very much.”
“Whatever.” The Earth pony finished the bowl and tossed it aside. “You want to waste your chance at escape trying to get that Unicorn back, go ahead. I’m not going to help. However, if you want to get out of here, then we have to work together on that part at least. I’ve been waiting for them to capture somepony else, and now’s our best chance.”
“Agreed.” Octavia raised her hooves. “First, we must get these off. Do you know who has the key?”
“Don’t know his name.”
“What does he look like?”
“He’s a Unicorn.”
Octavia stifled a sigh. She gathered her patience and opened her mouth to speak again, but she heard the sound of more hoofsteps coming.
Two more Unicorns walked into the small cave, and Octavia immediately recognized Ice Air. The Unicorn walked straight up to her, a sneer pasted on her face, and stood in front of the cellist. Then, without warning, she fired a blast of magic and hit Octavia in the chest and knocked her to the floor.
“Get up,” Ice Air said. She looked over at her companion and nodded toward the other Earth Pony. “We’re moving to another camp.”
“I haven’t heard anything about that,” the other Unicorn said as he moved forward.
Ice Air’s face twisted for a split second. “Well, we are! Now hurry up and bring her.”
Octavia watched everything carefully from the floor, mainly because she was in pain and but also because Ice Air was acting rather strange. Was she trying to hide Octavia’s real identity?
Octavia’s eyes widened when the stallion used his magic to pull out a key. He kept his head turned toward Ice Air, but he moved the key down toward the chain that connected Octavia’s front and back shackles. He slid the key in the lock and turned it.
Ice Air realized the mistake a second too late. “Stop, you idiot! Keep your distance from her!”
Octavia was too fast though. As soon as the lock came off, she jumped into the air and kicked her hind legs forward. The sudden movement felt like it had torn every muscle in her body, but her hooves slammed into the stallion full force and sent him crashing backward. Ice Air readied her magic, but the stallion stumbled into her and broke her concentration.
Octavia moved like grey lightning, fighting through the blinding pain every second. Before Ice Air or the other Unicorn even had a chance to begin untangling themselves, she was on them. She put her chained forelegs behind the stallion’s neck and pulled. As she did, she slammed her forehead forward and caught the stallion in a crushing headbutt. The sound of the impact made her sick and she felt dizzy, but she did not let up. She swung her forelegs to the side as hard as she could, using the chain to drag the stunned Unicorn with her. She spun once to get enough momentum and then pulled her forelegs up.
The stallion flew to the side, and Octavia hoped she had angled the throw well enough that he would land near the fellow prisoner. With him out of the way, she turned her attention to Ice Air.
The dark purple mare was readying a spell, but Octavia could see in her green eyes that she knew she would not make it. The cellist pounced on her, pressing the chain down on her throat. A dark part of Octavia’s mind wanted to keep pressing, wanted to see the life slowly drain out of the Unicorn’s eyes, but she fought the urge back. Ice Air knew more than she had let on. The fact that she seemed to be acting in secret only solidified Octavia’s belief in that.
Instead, she jumped her hind legs into the air—making her chain press down even harder on the throat for a second—and then brought them down on Ice Air’s stomach. The Unicorn’s eyes looked like they were about to explode out of her head from the blow.
“Get up!” Octavia ordered. When Ice Air did not move, the Earth pony put the chain behind Ice Air’s head and yanked her up. The two mares stood on their hind legs like dance partners, Octavia’s forelegs resting on Ice Air’s shoulders because she was in so much pain, but there was no sense of attraction between the two.
“You think you can—” Ice Air started.
“I can snap you neck,” Octavia countered darkly as she moved her forelegs closer and cradled Ice Air’s head. The Unicorn swallowed and remained silent.
Octavia spun Ice Air around so that the Unicorn’s back was to her and then pulled the chain back like a rein across the Unicor’s neck. Ice Air’s body pressed against Octavia’s and the cellist leaned forward to whisper in the Unicorn’s ear. “Now, you are going to stay perfectly still. If you choose to try anything, from moving to the slightest hint of magic, I will pull back on this chain so hard that it will crush your windpipe in an instant. Do you understand?”
Ice Air nodded ever so slightly. Octavia could feel her quivering against her. the arrogance she had been displaying before was nowhere to be found now.
“Good. Now, your companion over there is going to unlock the rest of my bonds, and then he’s going to—”
“I’m afraid that bastard won’t be doing any of that,” interrupted the other Earth pony.
“What?” Octavia looked over and her heart sank. Her fellow prisoner had wrapped her shackles around the stallion’s neck. She was pulling as hard as she could, even though it was obvious that the effort was no longer needed.
The Earth pony gave one final tug and the cave filled with a sickening pop, and then she let the stallion fall to the floor. “Now, where’s that key?”
“Why did you do that?” Octavia asked as she stared at the body.
“Honestly, I don’t know why you haven’t done it yet,” the Earth pony replied as she searched the floor. “Do you have any idea how long these filthy creatures have kept me chained up like this? How long they’ve beaten me? How many times this bastard,” she kicked the corpse as hard as she could with her hind legs and Octavia flinched as it flopped across the floor, “and all the others decided I was just free game?”
“You deserved every—” Ice Air started again, but Octavia pulled the chain tight to silence her. It was not just because she did not want to hear what the Unicorn was going to say, but also to protect her. Judging by the look that the Earth pony was giving Ice Air, Octavia suspected that she would not hesitate to beat the Unicorn to death.
“Found it,” the Earth pony said. “Hey, freak. Use your magic and unlock these chains. And if she tries anything besides what I told her, you—”
“I will,” Octavia said, although she was not entirely sure she could do it. Ice Air was literally shaking against her now, and Octavia could smell the sweat running down her neck. “Just do it,” she whispered to Ice Air, trying to show a small hint of compassion.
Ice Air’s horn began to glow as she raised the key. She used it to unlock the other Earth pony’s shackles, and then she unlocked the ones around Octavia’s hind legs. She moved the key up to the ones around Octavia’s forelegs, but Octavia stopped her.
“Leave those for now,” she said. “I need you close.”
“I-I can’t walk like this,” Ice Air pleaded.
“Then I advise you to learn fast,” Octavia said. She gently prodded Ice Air forward. “Start walking.”
“Hold it,” the Earth pony said. She stepped in front of Octavia and Ice Air and looked at them. “Need to take care of something first.”
“We do not have time!” Octavia protested. “I have to find Vinyl and then we have to—”
“It will only take a second.” The Earth pony turned and took a step toward the exit. For a second, Octavia could not figure out what she was doing, but then the cellist saw that pony’s muscles tense.
“NO!” Octavia tried to jump back, but holding Ice Air, and her own injuries, slowed her down. She pulled as hard as she could, but the back kick still caught Ice Air full in the chest. Her body slammed into Octavia and the cellist could tell that the blow had been meant to kill the Unicorn.
The two ponies fell backward and Octavia did her best to catch Ice Air. The cellist landed hard on her back, gasping in pain as a rock dug into her flesh, and a second later the wind was knocked out of her as Ice Air collapsed on top of her. Horrified, Octavia rolled her off and checked so any sign of life as blood trickled out of the Unicorn’s mouth. She thought she saw the Unicorn’s chest move, but she could not be sure.
“Why did you do that?” Octavia demanded as she rounded on the other pony. Ice Air had seemed to know what was going on, and would have probably been an excellent source of information.
“What’s wrong with you? She’s just a Unicorn. And a rebel on top of that.” The Earth pony’s eyes widened as if she suddenly understood something. “Oh, I get it. You’re one of those, aren’t you? Huh. I thought we wiped all you sympathizers out, but I guess not.”
“What in Equestria are you talking about?”
The Earth pony raised an eyebrow. “Equestria?”
Octavia shook her head. “It does not matter. We need to get out of here and then—”
“Whoa there, girl.” The Earth pony walked over and stood over Octavia. “What makes you think I’m going anywhere with you? For all I know, you might be with them.”
“Are you insane?” Octavia asked. She could not believe what she was hearing. Did this pony honestly believe that Octavia was working with her captors?
“And even if you’re not, you’ll only slow me down,” the pony continued as she leaned in closer. “I saw the look in your eyes. You don’t have what it takes to get out of here. And since I can’t risk leaving you here because you might tell them where I went, well…” The Earth pony reached out and began to put her hoof on Octavia’s throat. “I’ve been their prisoner for who knows how long now, and I’m not going to risk my one chance at escape because of you.”
“You are no better than your captors!” Octavia said. She whipped her forelegs up, catching the Earth pony’s extended hoof with the chain. She yanked, causing the mare to lose her balance, and as she fell forward, Octavia’s hind legs came up hard into her stomach. She launched the Earth pony backward and then flipped up onto her hooves.
“You’re comparing me to them? THEM?!” the Earth pony shouted as she got back up. “They’re monsters! They’re nothing more than tools, and they dare to raise their magic against our kind!” The mare charged forward, a blind rage burning in her eyes. “We give them shelter. We give them food. We give them a purpose! All we do is give, and these freaks still think they’re entitled to more!”
Octavia did not understand what the mare was talking about, but she realized she did not have time to concern herself with the mad ravings. This mare had made it clear that taking a life was second nature to her, and Octavia knew that this mare would kill her without hesitation.
The Earth pony lunged forward, throwing a punch with her front hoof. Octavia whipped her forelegs up and caught the blow with her chain. She twisted her forelegs so that the chain wrapped around the mare’s hoof and rolled to the side. Her attacker crashed onto the floor as she did.
“Stop this!” Octavia pleaded as she stood up, her body screaming in agony. The adrenaline that had been pumping through her during her escape was wearing off now, and all of her injuries were making themselves painfully known again. “We do not have time for this! Please! We can still escape this place.”
The mare picked herself up and glared at Octavia. “Why? So you can turn me back over to them? I saw the way you looked at me when I killed those two. You’re with them. I WON’T GO BACK TO BEING THEIR SLAVE!”
The mad pony charged again, and Octavia readied herself, but her injuries flared up as she shifted her stance. Pain shot through her foreleg and she crumbled forward at the worst possible moment. She instantly realized that she had missed her chance to counter the charge, and all she could do was close her eyes and brace for the blow that was no doubt coming.
However, her attacker had been ready for Octavia’s counter, and when it didn’t come, her own timing was thrown off. Her charge faltered for a second. She tried to keep her momentum going, her legs got tangled from the sudden shift in speed, so instead of a full tackle, all she ended up doing was barreling into Octavia like a drunk.
The two ponies rolled across the cave floor, doing little more than slapping each other as they attempted to free themselves. The mare tried to pull away from Octavia, but the cellist whipped her shackles around the mare’s neck and pulled her back into the scuffle. When Octavia managed to get on top, she tried to escape but the mare caught her black mane with her teeth and yanked the grey pony back down.
The two mares did not stop struggling until they crashed into a wall. They had managed to fight all the way out into the tunnel in the cave, something Octavia had not wanted to do. Somehow, she found herself on top of the heap. Her body felt like a buffalo had dragged it in three different directions, and it was all she could do to keep her head up.
“Who’s there?” a voice called, and Octavia could not help but look, not because she was startled, but because she thought she recognized the voice. Down one end of the hallway, she spied two ponies in the familiar white hooded cloaks that Ice Air and the others had been wearing.
“There she is!” one of the ponies shouted.
“Octavia!” the other pony shouted, and the cellist’s blood ran cold. Ice Air had known who she was, and while her companions didn’t seem to know her, these two clearly did. Where these two ponies also in on whatever Ice Air had been planning?
Octavia’s face erupted in a blinding flash of pain as the Earth pony beneath her threw a punch. Her hoof connected solidly with Octavia’s already bruised cheek and the mare stumbled back. Once again, the shackles around her forelegs proved to be her undoing and she landed hard on the cave floor.
“Stay with these freaks if you want,” the mare said as she picked herself up. “I’m getting the buck out of here!” She took off running, her hoofsteps echoing throughout the cave.
“The prisoners have escaped!” a new voice shouted. Octavia raised her head, her vision still spinning from the blow, and saw several more ponies come rushing down the cave’s passage. The first white-cloaked ponies froze for a second as two of their companions ran past them, and then they joined the pursuit.
“Keep her down!” the lead pony ordered as he sprinted past Octavia. Two more ponies ran past her, and then the two that had first appeared stopped in front of her. She was too tired to raise her head to look them in the eyes, so she just lay on the cold stone ground.
“She looks terrible,” one of the ponies whispered.
“What the hay are you two doing?!” a new voice demanded. “Secure her before she causes any more problems. She beat the snot out of Snow Walker, so you know she’s dangerous!”
“Uh, right. Sorry about this, Octavia.”
There was a flash of light, a second of unbelievable pain, and then darkness.
* * *
Once again, Octavia found her mind slowly swimming back to consciousness. A small part of her brain, the part that had been corrupted by Vinyl’s sense of humor, worried that this was becoming a habit, but the rest of her brain was too busy to notice.
The first real thought she had was the pain in her cheek. Her tongue immediately shot to the side of her mouth and pressed the side. It felt like she had a bowling ball implanted in her face. Her tongue instantly pulled back and the pain dulled, but it was still enough for her to open her eyes, albeit slowly and painfully.
Octavia found herself in a cave again, only this time it was much larger. It was also much more comforting than the little one she had woken up in. There was a long table lined with candles, and several places were set at it. A dozen Unicorns were sitting at the table, but all of their heads were turned away from her. They were all looking toward one end of the cave. Curious, she slowly turned her head in the same direction, fighting her aching muscles every second.
There appeared to be some sort of gathering to her left. While a lot of Unicorns were sitting at the table, a few of them were gathered at the far end. They appeared to be on some sort of stage, and a yellow one with a muddy brown mane was walking back and forth, posturing and talking to those assembled. Octavia blinked a few times and strained her ears, trying to hear what was being said.
“And so,” the speaker said in a smug voice. Octavia recognized it as Crystal Glade’s, and as her eyes came into focus, she recognized the Unicorn as well. She was standing at the front of the stage, her chest puffed out and a wicked smile on her face. “For the crime of murdering one of our own, harassment, slavery, and just being a general bitch!” Crystal Glade spun around on stage and struck a pony standing behind her. Octavia had a sinking feeling that she knew who it was. “I hereby sentence her to death! Objections?”
There was a loud cheer as the Unicorns in the room stomped their hooves.
“No!” a single voice shouted. Crystal Glade smirked and stepped aside and Octavia’s heart sank. On the stage was the Earth pony who had been imprisoned with her. Her face was swollen from what must have been a savage beating. Fresh wounds covered her back and neck, and judging by the angle of her leg, it appeared to be broken.
“No objections then,” Crystal Glade said, completely ignoring the pony’s pleas. “Bring forth the prisoner!”
Two Unicorns shoved the Earth pony forward. Her broken leg gave out and she crashed onto the floor. She screamed in agony, but that just caused the crowd to laugh.
Crystal Glade wrapped her magic around the Earth pony’s throat and left her up. Judging by the bulging eyes, Octavia could tell that the Earth pony was being choked. She tried desperately to paw at the magic, but all four of her legs were chained to a heavy weight that still sat on the stage.
“Any last words?” Crystal Glade asked loud enough for the rest of the crowd to hear. The Earth pony looked liked she was trying to say something, but Crystal Glade’s magic tightened. “I’m sorry, could you speak up?” she asked and the entire crowd burst into laughter.
“Stop,” Octavia cried, but her voice came out as a cracked whisper.
Crystal Glade dropped the Earth pony like a sack and she crashed onto the floor, letting out another agonizing scream. “Not so high and mighty now, are you?” she asked.
The Earth pony let out a short laugh. “You…you have no idea…what you’re doing,” she said. It looked like every word caused her pain, but she did not care. “You’re all…going to burn for this. When I get out of here, I’m going to see to it that each and everyone one of you are—”
Crystal Glade’s eyes flashed with anger. She yanked the Unicorn up with her magic and without hesitating, drove her horn as deep as it would go into the Earth pony’s neck.
The Earth pony’s eyes went wide and once again, she tried to get to her throat, but her shackles prevented it. Fear flooded her face and blood began to run down her body. It coated her once emerald coat and began to drip from her body as it pooled on the floor. She made a horrifying gurgling sound for a few moments and kicked her legs frantically, but slowly, the sound faded and her legs went still. The life left her eyes after what seemed like an eternity, and eventually she simply hung there.
“I will never listen to you again!” Crystal Glade said, and Octavia shuddered from the pure hatred that filled the Unicorn’s voice. The Unicorn shook her head once, jiggling the corpse on her horn, and then whipped her head to the side. The body pulled off of the horn, leaving a trail of blood in the air for a second, and slammed against the ground.
I…never even learned her name, Octavia thought as she stared at the body. While the mare had tried to kill her, and she certainly felt no friendship for her, Octavia still pitied her. No pony should die in such a horrible way, tossed aside like trash.
“That felt great!” Crystal Glade shouted as she turned around. Her horn and face were coated in blood. Her eyes were wide with insanity and she smeared the red liquid on her cheeks. After she finished, she raised her blood-coated hoof in the air and cheered. The other Unicorns did the same as the blood dripped from her face, horn, and hoof. “Victory will be ours!” she shouted.
Octavia tried to back up, but she found that her hooves would not move. She looked down and saw that she was chained up the same as before.
“Now, bring forth the second prisoner!” Crystal Glad shouted, and another cheer erupted from the crowd. Then, as one, every Unicorn turned and looked directly at the cellist.
Octavia’s blood ran cold. Once again she tried to back up, but this time she felt two sets of hooves stop her. She whipped her head around, a movement that caused her no end of pain, and saw that two Unicorns were standing behind her. They were both dressed in the familiar hooded cloak that all of them seemed to favor, but unlike the two that she had spied in the hallway, these two had their hoods down.
And the grins they were giving Octavia terrified her as they pushed, and then started to drag, her forward to the stage. She tried to struggled, but the weight of her shackles, the two Unicorns carrying her, and her own injuries made the effort almost impossible. As they dragged her up onto the stage, all she could do was stare at the body of the Earth pony who had just been brutally executed.
Vinyl! she thought desperately.
Her guards brought her to the front of the stage and dropped her.
I have to find Vinyl!
She collapsed and fell face first onto the stage. Her face landed in something wet, and as she pulled away, she realized it was blood.
Vinyl will save me!
“Ah, here she is,” Crystal Glade said to the crowd. Octavia felt her mane being twisted into a clump and then she was yanked up by it. The pain made her gasp. “She looks like she used to be a beauty. Right, boys?”
Several cheers erupted from the crowd, but Octavia ignored them. Her amethyst eyes were frantically searching the crowd for the white Unicorn. A part of her brain was mocking her, reminding her that Vinyl hated her, and rightly so, but she dared not listen to it. If she did, she knew she would break down in despair.
Crystal Glade shook Octavia’s mane once. “Not so much anymore though. I imagine that coat you’re wearing is probably worth more than you are now, huh? I wonder, where did you get it? Did you have your slaves make it for you? How many of them died hunting down the creatures it’s made out of? Did you even care? Did you even notice they were gone?”
“V…Vinyl…” Octavia pleaded as Crystal Glade continued to shake her.
“Oh, her?” Crystal Glade asked with mock sympathy. She let go of Octavia’s mane and the cellist thudded onto the stage. “Well, I guess we can skip the trial. Ice Air might have wanted you alive, but, well…” Crystal Glade shrugged. “Come on up here!”
Cheers erupted and Octavia raised her head. On the far side of the stage, a new pony was walking up. The cellist’s blood froze as she recognized the familiar white coat and blue mane.
“No…” she whispered as Vinyl walked up and stood over her. “Vinyl…?”
“Vinyl, we don’t know what this…creature did to you, but we all have our own examples,” Crystal Glade said. “As such, I’m sure you’d enjoy this more than anypony else.” Crystal Glade used her magic and floated Vinyl’s sword over to her.
“You’re right,” Vinyl said in a flat voice. She grabbed the sword that Shining Armor had given her with her magic and pulled it from its scabbard. She looked down at Octavia once with her red eyes, and then raised the blade above her head.
“Vinyl?” Octavia whimpered, tears streaming down her face. “Vinyl, please…”
Octavia had fought with the voice in her head ever since Vinyl and her had fought out on the snow. She had denied it over and over, telling it and herself that Vinyl did not really hate her. That the Unicorn could never truly hate her. That Vinyl and her were different and that they would stay together no matter what.
As Vinyl brought the sword down, her red eyes burning with rage, Octavia realized with crushing despair that she had been wrong. So very wrong.
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Damn thats one hell of a cliffhanger
Can't wait for the next chapter. Its a shame updates are so far and wide (understandable tho), cause this is getting good
Ho boy! Hope it is all a ruse!
Squee!! A new chapter, just what I always wanted...
No Vinyl, don't do it! You love her, you can't kill her! Don't end it here. Zeck, you monster, how dare you make us wait for a new chapter without knowing Octavia's fate. Anyways, yet another great chapter. Until next time,
-Sphinx
6270301 Cliffhangers everywhere!
I try to update this and Shattered at least once a month, but the ball has started rolling really fast on this story now. So, hopefully, that means updates will come a bit quicker here because I'm now in the realm where I don't have to constantly check established My Little Pony facts, such as names and locations. Meaning it's time to go wild.
6270413 Oh, I can assure you that the rage and anger in Vinyl's face at the end is very real.
6270756 I admit to being evil on sometimes.
However, you should not have to wait a whole month this time to find out what happens. I've hit the part of this story where things start really rolling, so it will be much easier to get chapters out.
6272732 Good to hear, because I'm not too sure how long I can hold onto this cliff.
6272719
41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltnuq4nItX1r3k1m8o1_500.png
6272723
It may be real, but who is it aimed at?
The hands bit completely lost me. I see no real use for it.
6285803 A good question, but alas, the rage really is aimed at Octavia.
And you confused me for a second. I was panicking, thinking I'd put the word 'hands' somewhere by mistake, but then I figured it out. You're talking about the beginning, yes? Where Octavia is thinking about Lyra?
6286278
Yes. Lyra and hands bit completely confused me. Seems out of place for this story, or at least where it was put in.