Chained

by IwuvWoona

Chapter 1

"We're having a field trip today?" Curiosity asked.

Her teacher frowned. "YES... I reminded the class everyday that we were going somewhere special for the last two weeks. I assume you have your permission slip?"

It was painfully obvious that she brought nothing to class, but Curiosity still stalled in her answer.

"What are we talking about?" She said in a pitiful effort to throw her teacher off.

The class began snickering and chattering.

The teacher sighed. "I'll call your mother and tell her to pick you up."

Curie sighed, her forgetfulness would be the death of her. At this point, it was an inside joke for the school staff.

"Ms. Perky, I have Curiosity's slip right here!"

A male griffin waved a sheet of paper in the air. "She left it at my house yesterday."

The teacher grabbed the paper from the griffin's claw, glanced at the signature, and was finally contented.

"Sit down..." she told Curiosity.

She bolted over to the seat by her friend.

"Thanks for covering me, Spriggan." she whispered to him.

"Just feel lucky I know your mom's signature at heart." A fact that would bother most, but a handy one with Curiosity.

A trio of female griffin's snickered. "Ooo, the dodo's boyfriend comes to the rescue again." the one in the center chuckled.

Curiosity balled her claw into a fist. "Oi, Camille, didn't I tell you not to call me that?"

Two of the griffin's cowered, but the center one didn't stand down. "I'm not scared of you," she said confidently.

"Yes, you are!" the left cub squeaked. Camille smacked her claw against her face.

"Girls, shush!" the teacher spat.

The classroom crawled onto a train.

Curiosity climbed into the booth beside Spriggan.

"Where are we even going?"

"The train's going to the old Camelot ruins."

"Camelot? What in tartarus is Camelot?"

"Maybe you'd know if you paid more attention in class."

"Yeah, well, I don't."

Spriggan groaned. "How are we friends?"

"We have a dynamic! You're the brainy one, I'm the strong one."

"We've all seen your performance in flying class, I don't think "strong" is the right word."

"I'm the tough one, then..."

Sprig shook his head. "You don't give yourself enough credit." he softly punched her arm. "You may not pay any attention in class. And true, you can't tell the differences between the "tos"or "theres", but you're pretty smart. You're great at math, and you probably have the best sense of direction out of any griffon on the planet. "

"Thanks, the ability to solve equations is WAY better than speaking correct Griffish."

"All I'm saying is that you're better than you think. Even if what you don't know makes me wonder what our "dynamic" is."

After five minutes of "I Spy", Curiosity was so painfully bored that she fell asleep.

She awoke to the excited cries of the cubs, each cramming against their windows to fetch a glimpse of the ruined city.

"You gotta check this out! It's amazing!" Spriggan squeaked.

He moved aside to allow his friend to look out the window.

Out the window was the grave of a city hanging off a mountain. Curiosity could only imagine the city in its prime, but now it was a broken hobble of collapsed towers and cracked walls. It wasn't amazing, it was desolate and hopeless.

But, there was something else...

From her birth, Curiosity had experienced odd twists and tingles when she was near strange artifacts at the museum. Artifacts often claimed to hold "magical" properties. Magic wasn't real, every griffon knew that. It was stupid to think otherwise.

The thing to these ruins was that the sensations Curiosity felt were wild and erratic. The closer the train got to the city, the more these sensations grew.

Curiosity didn't know if she wanted to go back, or to keep going.

At last, the train docked, and a flood of loud and chatty cubs spilled from the doors. Amassed altogether, the sounds from the children were not unlike a jet airplane. However, these calls were soon drowned out and silenced by the teacher and chaperones.

Curiosity, however, was reluctant in stepping off the car. When she finally forced herself onto the ground, jolts of sensations worse than pins and needles flooded through. She yipped and grit her teeth, until they at last faded.

The rascally children were eventually corralled into four groups of five.

Curiosity felt lucky, she wasn't paired with the teacher. It would make it easier to sneak off if the mood struck her. (which it often did)

As the class treaded down rubbly streets, they were excited, despite having to listen to Ms. Perky's lectures on like made-up history and how to preserve it.

Despite her name, Curiosity felt as though she were undergoing horrific tortures. This feeling was increased by the ever-present sun. It may hang there all day and night, but it felt remarkably hotter here.

However, the sight of the largest structure she had ever seen immediately piqued her interest.

"Can we go in there?" She asked the chaperone.

"I don't think so. That building is unstable, you might fall through a floor, or the place might collapse because of the weight."

Curiosity groaned.

It was only an hour or so when the party stopped for lunches. Which, our little heroine neglected to bring.

Curiosity was no vegan. Eggs, cheese, milk, it all disappeared down the bottomless pit of a cub.

But meat, it may as well have been rotten...rot.

She saw meat as the animals they once were. And oddly enough, it sickened her.

Still, she'd need something to sustain her on the off-chance she got lost. Sneaking behind Camille, Curiosity grabbed her lunchbag and took off.

Her immediate course was the magnificent castle.

Only to find that the inside was far more lavish than the outside.

A long, red rug greeted her with its worn but soft feeling. The rug led to a giant throne for something far bigger than a griffon.

The walls of the palace were adorned with pictures of oddly shaped creatures dancing and playing. Bannisters of the sun and an unfamiliar crescent-shape seemed like a center-piece of the room.

Curiosity wandered forward in awe, not noticing the floor was creaking under weight. After while, she was snapped into focus when a large crack formed in the floor.

The cub froze, unsure of what to do. The crack grew, and she knew she'd need to make a run for the entrance.

Sadly, she was too slow in acting, and the floor collapsed below her.

Though Curiosity buzzed her wings with every bit of might she had in her, she plummeted like a rock.

She landed with an THUD! But was relatively unharmed. Griffons were durable creatures.

But now Curiosity was trapped, possibly forever, in the dark. On top of that, her sensations had never been stronger. And the more she fought these tingles, the more they hurt her.

In fact, she landed directly in one of the castle's dungeon cells.

It took only a few minutes to understand she wasn't alone.

With only shafts of light emanating from the ceiling, Curiosity could only barely make out a dark shape, far larger than her and chained to the ground.

She assumed it was dead, but when it began writhing and grunting, she gasped and ran to slide through the cell bars.

Wait!

The voice was feminine, but one could hardly call it a voice. It was more of a thought forcefully etched into Curiosity's mind.

Such a thing may have made many others run for their lives, but Curiosity found the virtue she was named for taking over.

Please don't leave me...

The voice was so quiveringly pathetic, filled with years of crushed hopefulness.

Curiosity's eyes had adjusted a little, enough to see the chains were sparkling with cleanliness. How they hadn't rusted at this point in time, she didn't understand.

Then again, how could this creature be alive?

Free me

The cub took another look at the chains. "I'm not strong enough to..."

Free my mouth

I want to speak

I want to breathe

Gazing at what she assumed was the being's head, she noticed a bulbous material where her mouth should be. Even with no understanding of this creature's physiology, she had a feeling it shouldn't be there.

The thing was grimy and worn, likely very old. By the time she removed it, she could hardly tell the thing was once a gag.

The creature opened her jaw and shut it several times.

"Drink?" she asked, her voice so gravelly from disuse and thirst that one wouldn't be able to differentiate it from male and female.

Curiosity rummaged through "her" lunchbag, finally producing a bottle of ice cold milk.

"I-It's probably imported. I warn you most imported things don't taste that good."

The being made a sound vaguely like laughter, but it was interrupted by a harsh coughing fit.

The cub uncapped the bottle. "I-I'm trusting y-you not to something b-bad."

Like the being could do any harm in her position.

Holding the bottle in the creature's muzzle, the being drank it gratefully.

"There is no way I can thank you," she said, her voice still weak, but smoother.

"Who are you?" Curiosity asked, "What are you?"

"My name is Celestia."

"I am a pony."

Author's Note:

Went a little fast, I know. The next chapters will be slower.