Mortal Coil

by Reeve

LVI - Belly Of The Beast

Coming around beneath all that rubble was a painful experience, my body ached even as I lay perfectly still, but that was nothing compared to how it felt with the slightest movements. Despite the anguish I was in, I was able to take solace in the fact that my injuries were mostly superficial. There were no large open wounds that I could have bled out from, and while I was sure some damage had been done to my bones, I doubted anything was completely broken. Most of all however, while I was passed out, my mind had been able to recover, and I could feel myself once more in control of my magic.

The wooden debris that pinned me down was never going to be shifted if I tried pushing it off, but now that I had magic, that wouldn’t be an issue. I began drawing energy into my horn, I thought back to how Fluttershy had screamed after me as she was dragged away. As I did, I could feel my power growing in direct proportion to my rising anger. When I finally did release my built up magic, it was as if I had turned into a small bomb myself, every bit of rubble flying off me as my power exploded outwards.

Now that I was free, I slowly picked myself up, a tricky task, but once again my anger fuelled me to push through the pain. I must have been out for some time, the sun was well risen, which meant Fluttershy and her captors would have got a daunting head start. I searched the area, lightly kicking and levitating bits of wood and stone until I recovered all three of my knives, my sword, and finally Fluttershy’s mace. The Children of the Earth hadn’t thought to take it with them, perhaps not realising the power it held in the right hooves.

I returned all my weapons to their sheaths and loosely tied the mace alongside them, it worried me how none of the Dragoon patrols had come by this way and found it or myself. Looking up and down the street, I saw nopony around, and listening carefully I heard nothing in the distance. I had no idea how the battle had turned out last night, if the Dragoon’s had been able to defend themselves, or if the surprise attack had paid off for the Children of the Earth. More than that however, I wondered how many more walkers there were.

Fluttershy said herself that anypony who died within the town limits turned into one, and since nopony had the ability to put them down for good besides her, any and every casualty from the night’s battle would have added to their ranks. I only waited there for a short few minutes, debating what would be the best course of action. The wisest thing seemed to be returning to the camp south of Brine and seeing if the Dragoons were still alive. If so, I could tell Gale what happened and get their assistance in both going after Fluttershy, and getting word to Rainbow Dash and the others.

However that plan was incredibly risky, the obvious problem lying in whether the Dragoons even were still alive. If they weren’t, and the Children of the Earth had won the battle, I could be walking to my death by returning to the camp, not to mention the walkers that were now roaming free in the streets. My main problem with this plan wasn’t that however, but simply that turning south would waste precious time that could be spent pursuing Fluttershy, it was the same problem that lay in returning to Anchorage myself to get help.

In the end I didn’t make my decision due to any kind of logical reasoning, but instead followed my guilt burdened heart, and left Brine to the north, intent of catching up to Fluttershy and her captors on my own and saving her. I encountered no others on my way out of the town and through the farmlands until I was safely past the scorch line, and from there I made my slow, painful journey north. The way from Brine to Cragsburg was a fairly simple one; the Lesser Pastures had very little woodland, but on the flipside was incredibly hilly.

The road from Brine travelled north until it reached a junction, anytime we had come to this junction, we would turn right to go to Olympus. However turning left would take a pony on a mainly horizontal route west, straight to Cragsburg. The road would eventually come to a river, once beyond that, it was only a short journey through the Lesser Pastures until you were officially in the Ash Lands. The Ash Lands were the most northern area in Panchea, they were an incredibly inhospitable place where plants could not grow, and as a result very few animals could be found there.

It was so named because of the copious amounts of ash covering the earth there; it was basically a grey desert. How the Ash Lands came about is unknown, although it is generally believed that it was the result of some natural disaster many thousands of years ago, nothing particularly special or mysterious, not like the Nether Vale which lay just passed the western border of the Ash Lands. It may seem like an odd choice to build a city in such a place, but the Ash Lands were incredibly rich in minerals and gemstones, the mining and quarrying of which is what Cragsburg specialised in.

Now Cragsburg was home to the Children of the Earth, and while I had no idea what would await me inside, I very much doubted it would be a very welcoming environment for a unicorn such as myself. No, I needed to catch up with Fluttershy before they reached Cragsburg; if I didn’t, and they got her inside the city, then all hope for her rescue could be lost. In order to achieve this while also making up for the head start my enemies got, I had to travel constantly without rest, a feat made incredibly difficult both by the length of the journey, and how weak my body was.

Rather than follow the road, I knocked as much time off my journey as I could by cutting across the hills of Lesser Pastures, hugging close to the water’s edge until I reached the bridge. Even with my shortcut and refusal to stop and rest, the sun was still dipping low in the sky by the time the bridge came into view. This one wasn’t some neat wooden structure like the one between Pivot and Sweet Apple Acres, but rather it was a great stone piece that stretched over a deep ravine, with the river some ways below.

I dropped onto my stomach and drew my spyglass; I was finally at a decent point where I had a wide view of both the bridge in the near distance, and the surrounding landscape. I could see the scurrying of figures on the bridge, and for a moment my heart leapt at the possibility that I had caught up with my targets. But as I peered through the spyglass, my heart sank even further than before when I saw that not only was it not Fluttershy and her captors, but that it was a checkpoint swarming with Children of the Earth soldiers.

Cursing under my breath, I scoped out my side of the river, silently praying that I would now see them approaching the bridge. But the longer I looked, the harder it became to believe they hadn’t already passed beyond the bridge. I put my spyglass away again, the way my luck had been going, one of the guards on the bridge would see the sun reflecting off my lens and they’d all be upon me before I could say ‘oh bugger’. I clearly wasn’t walking across the bridge, so instead when I stood up, I turned hard left and started down the ravine.

Fighting was suicidal, attempting to sneak past in my condition would be next to impossible, but swimming the river and then climbing back up the ravine on the opposite bank… would be very difficult, but I was becoming increasingly desperate as I felt my time ticking away… or more accurately, Fluttershy’s time. Getting down to the river was easy enough, but I hesitated at the edge, seeing just how powerful the current was, and how wide a length I had to swim. It felt like everything was just pressing down on me, that the more I tried, the more hopeless everything became. I wanted to sit down and cry, and while I got as far as the sitting down part, the crying didn’t follow.

“Well don’t you look so sad?” a condescending voice asked.

My head snapped up and my jaw dropped as I saw who was standing over me, leering down at me with a self-satisfied smirk.

“You’ve really proven my point splendidly Rarity,” Starlight Glimmer mocked as she started circling around me. “Little Fluttershy was so intent on following you, she fled from my protective embrace, and look where she ended up.”

I growled at her, not really stopping to question how she could be there.

“The poor dear,” Starlight Glimmer went on. “She really thought she was going to help you change the world, if she didn’t realise her… belief was nonsense when you abandoned her at Brine, she certainly will now. Or perhaps she’s clinging to hope, maybe she thinks you’ll still rescue her. Of course she can’t see you now, she can’t see how pathetic you look, and how far behind you still are. Maybe she’ll keep on hoping until they cut her wings off, perhaps it will only be then when she realises how you let her down, and that leaving home was a mistake!”

“Shut up!” I screamed, jumping to my hooves and swiping out at her with a foreleg.

My hoof passed right through her, and in the blink of an eye the hallucination had vanished, but the feeling inside my heart remained. I was angry… angry at Starlight Glimmer, even though I knew she had just been a reflection of my own unvoiced thoughts. I was angry at the Children of the Earth for what they had done, and what they were going to do, but most of all I was angry at myself. Fluttershy was in danger, and here I was about ready to give up because of some piddly little stream, well no more. I ran and dived into the water, pushing the pain in my limbs to the furthest depths of my mind as I kicked against the current.

Anytime I felt myself beginning to slow down or weaken, I remembered back to how Fluttershy had looked in wonder over the sea that first day we left the Bask, and I threw even more might and fury behind my kicks. Once I was at the other end, I hauled myself out with less difficulty than I had anticipated. I was now soaked to my skin and freezing on top of being in general agony, but I forced myself onwards, climbing back up the ravine with renewed vigour as I swore to myself that Fluttershy wasn’t about to lose her chance to see the world because I had let her down.

Once out of the ravine, I was back on my way, running constantly despite my weakened and trembling legs regularly giving out and tripping me up. I passed quickly through a sparse wood before returning to the usual hilly terrain of the Lesser Pastures. After that, it wasn’t long before the sun was touching the horizon and the prickly grass beneath my boots began to thin out, and the ground was flecked in ash. I kept my eyes peeled once the sun was set and the dark of the night rolled in, I could see the city of Cragsburg looming in the distance, illuminated by the burning fire pits that ran along the top of the great stone wall that towered over the surrounding barren landscape.

My breathing was becoming laboured and panicked as I continued to get closer, and still I could not see my objective. I started to slow down, wary that I was starting to get close enough to the city that I might start encountering patrols or miners out late. I was grinding my teeth, torn between continuing to push forward or turning back to make sure I hadn’t missed them in the low light. Before I could make a decision however, I saw them. While the captors themselves were mere silhouettes in the darkness, Fluttershy’s white cassock was like a beacon in the night.

My joy was only brief however, they might not have been in the city yet, but they were easily close enough that if I attempted anything, I would be spotted or heard by the guards around the front gates. I kept moving forward, keeping low to the ground as I moved, never letting Fluttershy out of my sight. I managed to get a little ahead and quickly lay flat on a rocky crag that overlooked the front of the city wall. The wall itself was easily taller than Fort Mule, in many ways it reminded me of the wall around Arclight, except instead of a tall archway, there were massive doors barring the way into the city.

There was no way now I could save Fluttershy before she got into the city, that meant I too would need to find a way in. I quickly thought over my previous missions in the hopes there would be something that I could apply to this scenario. When I first infiltrated the Fort at Mule, I simply walked in by pretending I belonged there. That wouldn’t work this time as a unicorn would probably be arrested or killed on sight; similarly I couldn’t disguise myself in their armour, as my horn would protrude through the hood.

When going after the Dreadnaught, Sufferthorn and I went in via the sewers, perhaps there would be some kind of access point around the perimeter of the wall for things like water and sewage. While that might have worked, I didn’t have the time to go searching, as it would take forever to walk around the outside of the city, Cragsburg being as large as it was. Finally, I remembered how Applejack had helped me escape from Port Mule in the back of her apple cart. That was very possible, as I could already see some teams of workers pulling their loads in through the city gates.

It looked like it was my best shot, especially since Fluttershy’s captors were now at the gate and explaining the situation to the guards. I darted away from the crag, looking all around for some workers who might be finishing up for the night. It was a long shot since I didn’t know anything about how mining or quarrying worked, and had no evidence to suggest that they even worked this close to the city limits. Luck seemed to be on my side for the first that day however, as I caught sight of a team of four ponies, packing their tools away into a wooden cart while a guard oversaw them.

I snuck down and tried to stay out of the light of their torches, as I made my way over to the carts that were filled with lumps of rock and ore. After glancing around, I found one that was only half full, I was about to climb into it, wondering how I would ever go unnoticed without some kind of cover, when I heard the crunching of hoofsteps on gravel and had to duck down. One of the workers passed right by me, making for one of the fuller carts, which he began covering with a layer of tarpaulin. I grinned before realising that another pony was standing uncomfortably close to me, turning my head slowly, I looked up to see one of the workers staring right at me.

My heart immediately stopped dead in my chest as my eyes met her blank gaze, I thought for sure she was going to call for the guard and my whole plan would be ruined before I could even begin to enact it. The mare didn’t call me out however, she simply stared at me, unblinking, before sniffing slightly, glancing from me to the half empty cart and then the distant walls of the city. Finally she raised a hoof to her mouth, still looking faintly bored, and made a shushing motion before gesturing for me to hop inside the cart.

I hesitated only for a moment, totally dumbfounded before deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and obeyed. Once I was inside and folding all my screaming limbs into a more compact shape, the pony threw a sheet of tarp over me, and I could hear her tying it in place.

“Alright workers, let’s get moving!” the guard called out. “The gate will be closing up soon”

I could feel somepony hitching themselves to the cart I was hidden inside, I wondered if it was the same one who had stayed silent for me. After that, I felt it begin to move as the pony started walking, it took all my concentration to avoid crying out in pain as I was banged about inside the cart. If Fluttershy and I both got out of this mess in one piece, I was not going to be shy about letting her treat my injuries. I certainly hadn’t been kind to my body in recent days, I could practically hear it screaming out for me to just stop and rest so it could begin to recover from all the beating it had endured.

The cart trundled along for a short while before coming to a shuddering stop, at the same time, the distant voices of the city guards had become louder and clearer as we drew closer. There was a brief exchange between them and the workers' guard before we were cleared to carry on, and I felt myself moving once more. Once again we walked for a few minutes, until I felt the cart I was in start to slow. The pony who was pulling me spoke to the others in a dull, monotone voice, explaining that she had to make a quick stop and would catch up with them.

She was excused, and I felt the cart turn as the pony pulled me away to the side. It wasn’t long before we came to a complete stop, and I heard the pony removing themselves from the cart and beginning to untie the rope that secured the tarpaulin. As it was thrown back, I cricked my neck to look up at her, she didn’t say anything or move to help me out, she just continued to stare blankly at me. Realising I was on my own, I began twisting my legs out of the cramped prison before dragging my body roughly out and dropping down painfully onto the cobblestone ground of the alleyway she had taken me to.

“Thanks,” I wheezed, wincing as I stretched myself up straight.

She gave the curtest of nods, really only tilting her head an inch before throwing the cover back over the cart and reattaching herself to it. I figured she would explain why she helped me, or ask me what I was doing, but to my dismay and complete confusion, she simply turned and pulled her cart back the way she had come without uttering a single word to me. I was left alone, feeling utterly bewildered as to what just happened. Deciding not to question my good fortune at being discovered by the one pony in Cragsburg who wouldn’t turn me over, but also aided me in infiltrating the city for no apparent reason, I began creeping my own way out the alleyway.

Cragsburg was a very cold city, not just temperature wise, although something about the Ash Lands always felt more chilly than the rest of the country, but something about the city always seemed uninviting to me. In the same way Timber was made almost exclusively of the wood they chopped, it was rare to find anything in Cragsburg that wasn’t carved from stone. The buildings were all big and blocky, most of the streets outside the main one were all very narrow and twisting as a result, it gave the whole place a very claustrophobic feel as I crept about.

I was very thankful for it being so late, there weren’t many ponies out and about with the exception of Children of the Earth soldiers on guard duty, and the numerous fire pits dotted around the streets made it difficult to find shadows to cling to. The ground was rather inconsistent, in some parts it was neatly done in cobblestones with only a light dusting of ash. Whereas in others, it looked like they hadn’t bothered, opting just to leaving the hard earth as it was. As I travelled through the city, the few ponies I noticed all looked very glum. I imagined Cragsburg was never the most charming place to live, but it did make me wonder if maybe some of the earth ponies who lived there didn’t resent the Children of the Earth.

It was a nice thought to believe that not everypony in this unpleasant city was a fanatical psychopath, but more than that, it might be useful one day if we were ever moving to take back the city. I stopped behind a heavily eroded statue of some pony in what looked like a small market area; the stalls all deserted what with it being so late. While I hid there and caught my breath, I tried to think where I would find Fluttershy. The ponies who had taken her said that they would present her to ‘Gaia’ immediately, I had heard the Children of the Earth use that name once before, back when we encountered them at Pivot, and they said that Gaia showed mercy to earth ponies who refused to help capture ‘abominations’.

Gaia could be the leader of their insipid cult, and since they controlled the city, logic would dictate that Gaia would be found in the keep. After quickly orienting myself with my compass, I made to set off, but quickly doubled back to my hiding spot when a pony entered the market area, dragging a cart and glancing about himself with a panicked expression. He appeared to be going out the other end, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I knew he wasn’t going to be around long and I could get moving. However, as he was about to enter another side street, he was stopped by a passing guard.

“You there!” the guard called out. “What is that you’re carrying?”

The stallion tried to think of a response, but I could see he was too stressed to come up with something on the spot. Before he could react, the guard reached out and pulled away the cover before leaping back in horror.

“I… I can explain!” the stallion stammered in a terrified voice.

“What is the meaning of this?!” the guard bellowed. “These…these… abomination parts are supposed to be burnt following the castration ceremony! What in the name of Gaia are you doing with a cart full of them?!”

“Please, just listen,” the stallion begged. “I have a source who’s paying big money for these horns and wings, if you don’t turn me over I can cut you in.”

The guard hesitated as he considered the offer, clearly interested in the idea of making some extra bits on the side. While they were both distracted with one another, I slipped out of the market area and got back on my way, their words ringing in my head and filling me with concern as to what anypony could want with disembodied horns and wings. I came before the front of the Cragsburg Keep, stopping just short of the courtyard in front of it, which I saw to be swarming with soldiers. It reminded me of the Fort at Mule, and I got in there a few times, so I wasn’t about to be stopped here. The keep was far bigger than the Fort had been, but it had considerably more windows.

I waited for an opening before crouching low and creeping along the outskirts of the courtyard, quickly ducking down behind a fire pit before I was spotted. Glancing out, I scanned the surrounding area, looking for something that might be able to provide a distraction. My eyes fell on the fire pit at the opposite end of the courtyard, reaching out with my magic I gave it a short, sharp jab, causing it to tip over, and its coals to spill out over the ground. Most of the guards hurried over to investigate the disturbance; a few slightly more intelligent ones stayed put and simply increased their vigilance.

That was no good, but it gave me another idea. I lifted one of the hot coals from my own hiding spot in magic, glancing out and choosing a target before throwing the lump of burning coal at them. The piece landed snuggly in their belt, resting there for only a second before it shifted and fell out while they were running around looking for whoever knocked over the fire pit. They hadn’t even known it was there, not until they heard the fizzling noise coming from their belt and glanced down to see the bomb hooked onto their side was very quickly approaching detonation.

Of course he tried to throw it away, and of course he didn’t manage it in time. I looked away at the last second before it blew up in his hooves, but I heard the scream. Now all the guards in the courtyard were running around frantically on the opposite end, looking for the perpetrator. With them distracted, I carried on towards the keep wall, where I leapt up, gripping tightly to the rough texture of it. It wasn’t easy, and my body objected the whole time, but I was able to haul myself up one foot at a time, using the indents and jutting stonework as hoof grips.

Finally I made it high enough to one of the windows where I held on for dear life, while also pressing myself as close to the wall as I could to reduce the chances of being seen. I levitated out one of my knives and jammed it into the lock of the window, twisting it around a bit in order to break it and allow the window to swing open. Returning my knife to its place, I clambered through the small opening and perched on the window sill, looking around the entrance chamber of the keep. Thankfully there was a narrow walkway that ran around the upper level that I was able to lower myself on to.

I was most surprised to find this area completely deserted and unguarded, perhaps they were confident in their poor excuse for a guard that they felt nopony would make it this far. The entrance hall was a wide but fairly bare room, two great doors leading out to the courtyard, while only a regular sized archway led to the next chamber, where I could hear faint voices emanating. I crept along the walkway to the en,d where a closed door also led to the adjoining chamber, but on the higher level where I was at.

Opening it slightly, I peaked in to find a much more opulently decorated room, with flowing banners of forest green, golden candle brackets, and a massive chandelier that hung over it all. I slipped into the room, silently closing the door behind me as I continued along the walkway. The chamber was a throne room or an audience chamber, the throne itself being a hulking piece, crafted from dark stone that sat upon a raised dais, overlooking the rest of the audience chamber. Sitting upon the throne was a young mare, perhaps even younger than myself, she wore the same forest green robes as the rest of the Children of the Earth, although she lacked the stone like armour.

Upon her head she wore what appeared to be a crown of thorns, similar to the pony who was standing at her right hand side, a stallion wearing a crown of laurels. My eyes narrowed as I recognised the stallion who had led the invasion on Pivot. Both of them were looking down at a figure who knelt in the centre of the room, cowering in fear. My heart leapt as I saw it was Fluttershy, but more than that, I saw that she looked completely unharmed, just very frightened it seemed. The group of ponies who had attacked us and taken her away, stood slightly behind her, standing to attention in a row, blocking the exit.

There were several other guards dotted around the room, standing with their backs to the stone columns that lined both sides of the chamber. As I started looking around for a way to save Fluttershy, my ears perked up as the mare on the throne spoke up.

“I asked you a question,” she said in what sounded like a calm, polite voice, although there was a definite edge to it. “Are you aware that your existence is an affront to all things natural? Or that in your existence you have chosen to dedicate yourself to the worship of a false god, the greatest abomination that walks this earth?”

Fluttershy whimpered in terror, but didn’t answer as she kept her head bowed low.

“The Lady Gaia asked you a question!” the stallion standing next to the throne snapped. “You will answer her, or you will have your tongue cut out, so that you might never speak again!”

“Calm yourself Lord Terra,” Gaia instructed him, glancing up at him with a loving expression. “She will talk in due time, besides, it is rare treat to have a sister in our midst. We should savour this moment, for today we will be marking another major step in our quest to purge the world of all the abominations that infest it.”

She gave a little nod to Terra, who turned and marched away, disappearing into another room while Gaia turned back to Fluttershy and the others.

“I thank you for bringing her straight to me,” Gaia told the ponies lined up behind Fluttershy. “Do not worry; you were right to put aside your orders to take Brine in favour of capturing this one. I trust she was unharmed while in your possession.”

“We left her entirely untouched Lady Gaia,” the stallion who had beaten me up informed her. “We knew you would want her as she was.”

“You were very right,” Gaia agreed. “However, we cannot risk losing a prey as fine as this one, the castration must proceed immediately. Will two of you volunteer to hold her in place while Lord Terra performs the ceremony?”

While the ponies began having a hushed argument among themselves as to who would get the privilege, Terra returned, carrying a saw that was eerily familiar in its design. Fluttershy bucked like mad as she saw it and she realised what was going to happen, the ponies behind her stopped their hushed argument and two of them darted forward, grabbing her even as she kicked and screamed and begged them to stop. Terra made his slow way down to where Fluttershy was thrashing about, he gave a glare at the two ponies trying desperately to hold onto her and they immediately added more pressure, I could hear Fluttershy scream out as they grabbed her more forcefully.

Terra was now standing directly in front of her, looking over the saw while one of the ponies pulled out Fluttershy’s wing. As Terra brought the saw in, that was when I made my move, leaping off the walkway and landing hard on the chandelier which swung dramatically. Once I was on top of it, I used my magic to pull the chain that was holding it in place loose, grabbing on tight as I rode it from the ceiling all the way down to the floor. Terra leap out of harm’s way, dropping the saw as he did. The two ponies who had been holding onto Fluttershy scrambled away for dear life, only Fluttershy was left in place.

Using my magic, I threw her aside out of harm’s way of the falling chandelier, and as it was about to smash onto the floor, I leapt clear of it in the direction I had thrown her, rolling as I hit the ground to reduce the subsequent pain by a little amount. Before anypony could recover from the shock of what was happening, I pulled out Fluttershy’s mace and forced it into her hooves.

“Fly, now!” I ordered in voice that left no doubt in Fluttershy’s mind that it was not up for debate.

I spun around and threw all three of my knives at the first three ponies I gauged to be dangerously close and in a state of alert. All three met their targets while I was already drawing out my sword, Fluttershy finally reigned her fear in and unclamped her wings in time to burst into the air, flying straight for the exit as I galloped behind her. Then I felt something pierce into the heel of my rear left hoof, sending an agonising pain shooting right up through my entire body and causing me to drop like a sack of bricks.

My head snapped back to see a crossbow bolt sticking into my rear hoof, the bloody tip jutting right out the other end. Behind me I could see Terra already reloading his crossbow, while the guards around the room charged in. I looked back at Fluttershy who had only just seen what happened, and was making to turn back for me.

“No!” I snapped at her, causing her to freeze in mid-air. “Just get out of here!”

There was a brief moment where I didn’t think she was going to, where she just stared at me with a horrible pained expression, before finally she clenched her eyes shut, turned and swooped away. The guards were upon me, dragging me back down the audience chamber and throwing me before Gaia’s throne at Terra’s hooves, who placed his now reloaded crossbow directly against my head.

“Don’t even think about using any of your vile witchcraft” he hissed. “Or you’ll be dead before you know it.”

My eyes flickered up to see Gaia, who was staring down at me with a loathing expression, hate etched into ever feature of her face. I lay there for some time, until finally I heard a voice call from the back of the chamber.

“My Lady…” it began in a tentative tone. “My apologies but… but the pegasus escaped, she flew away.”

I could see Gaia seething with rage as she focused her gaze on me, as if trying to burn a hole through my skull just with her piercing gaze alone.

“Congratulations abomination,” she began in a low voice. “You successfully infiltrated my city and my castle, and managed to rescue your wretched little friend, do you feel good now? Do you feel like you’ve accomplished something? Tell me, how did you get this far?”

“Come down into spitting range and I’ll tell you!” I retorted, sounding tough even though I was terrified.

“Well, we’ll make you talk in due time,” Gaia threatened. “But right now, I can’t have you casting any nasty spells. Terra, if you would do the honours.”

“Gladly my Lady,” Terra replied in a deadly tone.

My heart began racing as I felt a pair of guards grab hold of me and drag me to my knees before taking hold of my head so I couldn’t twist away, although it didn’t stop me from trying. Before I could use any kind of magic, Terra struck my horn hard with the butt of his cross bow before setting it aside. Dazed and powerless, I continued to try and fight against the ponies restraining me, but I had already pushed my body far beyond its limits. I was tired, hungry, beaten and broken, and now I was helpless to stop what was coming.

Terra picked up the saw he had dropped and was making his slow, deliberate way over to me, clearly enjoying the deed and taking his time over it. Behind him I could see Gaia, a thin smile on her face as she watched the display with a twisted fervour. I never stopped struggling, but the more I tried, the more hopeless it all became, and the more the reality of my situation settled in. I wasn’t going to escape, after everything I had been through, all the narrow misses and near brushes with death… I was not going to escape from this one.

I thought of Fluttershy, happy that she had escaped, but a tiny part of me resenting her for it now, even after everything I had put myself through to ensure it. I thought of my other friends, of Pinkie Pie and whether she would figure out what the robed ponies were up to, of Twilight Sparkle and whether she would capture Blueblood again. I thought of Rainbow Dash and whether she would finish what we started and bring an end to the Dragoons, and I thought of Applejack and all the ponies I said I would return to at Sweet Apple Acres.

Most of all however, I thought of my family, who I never wrote to, who I would now never see again, and might never know how I went out. I started to cry, but that only made Terra’s smile broaden as he brought the saw in closer. I felt the serrated blade press against the base of my horn; breathing became very difficult at that point. I kept my tear filled eyes fixed on Terra’s, keeping my mouth clamped shut, refusing to give into the urge to beg for mercy. Then I saw his hoof start to move back and forth, and felt the blade begin cutting into my horn.