Rarity Gets Enslaved

by MagicS

Unpleasant Travels

I was carried kicking and screaming, in as ladylike and dignified manner as possible of course, below deck into their ship along with Captain Anchor and the others. Who were sadly still unconscious from the thumping they had taken earlier. We were deposited into a cramped and dark cell with manacles chained to the wall of the ship, the beasts were not gentle at all in affixing them to our hooves, it scraped horribly I tell you!

My captors hadn’t spoken another word since so I had no idea what they were up to, but I could tell that this ship wasn’t moving at the moment so I assume they’re pillaging whatever they can find from our boat before they go back to where they came from on this one. Unfortunately taking us with them as well.

As far as I could tell we were the only other captives on board though, the rest of this large shipboard dungeon brig looked empty, although it was too dark for me to see all the way into it I heard no other sounds coming from other possible creatures in distress. I wonder if the rowers were more of the creatures who had captured us or were prisoners forced to row the boat for them? Oh it would be just awful if they expected me to do something like that.

I simply sat there swaying with the ship for a good while longer, every now and then I could hear noise from up above as some of those creatures moved around or went back and forth from their ship to ours. It was to my horror that I realized that all my dresses, sketchbook, and diary were going to be taken by these things and done who knows what with. Furthermore they were likely upset that our ship didn’t have much in the way of actual cargo, I really hope they treat my possessions well. I can’t imagine they would care about my dresses though. Is that even a bad or good thing? They might accidentally tear them with those grubby hands of theirs. And if they do think they’re valuable then they’ll probably sell them and I’ll never see them again!

Of course knowing that even such fashion-blind creatures can see greatness when it’s right in front of their faces would be a fair consolation prize.

I was ruminating over everything when I heard a sharp sound from outside. It sounded like a tree branch splitting in two, there were unfortunately no portholes for me to see out of but I have to think that it was the sound of them scuttling our ship. I feel so bad for Captain Anchor and his crew, it’s my fault that they’ve gotten caught up in all of this in the first place. Not only being captured but having their beloved ship destroyed, I’ll be sure to talk to Twilight and Princess Celestia about how to compensate them when I’m back home and safe. I was a little fond of that ship as well, even though it could’ve definitely used some decorating.

Soon after hearing the sound of our ship being scuttled our floating prison began to move. It was surprisingly smooth, the rowers must’ve been working in perfect unison. I sighed and leaned back against the cold bars of the cage, trying to just catch my breath and calm myself down. What an absolute disaster everything was.

“Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful...” And now I was talking to myself. Hardly the first time I’ve done that, but still. At least I’m not crying uncontrollably.

I can’t really tell if we’re moving faster than the sailboat or not, the Captain said this boat was faster but it’s not like I have any idea how to gauge such things. If it is faster it should take us under a day to get back to their island as long as they don’t make any other stops. Unless these are just some unaffiliated pirates, which also I’m not sure would be a bad or good thing. Good in that it would mean that this whole new civilization isn’t like/doesn’t condone this, bad in that we could be going anywhere and nobody knows about it. We could be going right to yucky Klugetown for all I know. Ugh, horrible.

Times like these I really wish I had my friends here with me.

I don’t mean that as in I wish they were captured and chained up to. I mean it as-oh you know what I mean.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack would’ve at least put up more of a fight than I did. I remember beating up those Changelings at Shining Armor and Cadence’s wedding but these things were a lot bigger! And I am of course a lover, not a fighter. Regardless of my current relationship status.

After pointlessly musing on my poor luck when it came to romance for a solid five minutes I started to think about if I should try to wake up the captain and crew or not. It’s not like they were just asleep, they were knocked out cold, maybe it wouldn’t be safe for me to just shake them awake or whatever, they could have a head injury after all. Still I should probably do something, it would be good to fill them in on what happened. Although I wasn’t looking forward to telling them what I suspect happened to their ship.

It was just a matter of some poking and prodding and a few whispered words in their ears to rouse the seaponies into wakefulness. They were a bit groggy, and some of them were groaning and holding their heads while they rolled over and tried to get up but eventually the whole group was nice and coherent.

And decidedly not happy.

“This is unbelievable!” Captain Anchor said after I had told him what happened after he and the others were knocked out. “To think that such a thing could happen! And did no one who knew of these creatures really have any idea they behaved this way? The Hippogriffs knew nothing at all?” He paced the few inches he was able to in the cramped quarters as he vented his frustrations.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know anything either.” Even though he wasn’t talking to me I still tried placating him.

“What do we even do now?” One of the other sailors, Kingbolt if I recall correctly, asked.

Unfortunately again I had no answer for this question. I may not be Twilight but as an Element of Harmony and somewhat of an unofficial Equestrian Ambassador I should try to take charge and figure out how to get us all out of this mess shouldn’t I? I took care of myself when the Diamond Dogs nabbed me and I can do it again now.

The Diamond Dogs were rather… dim-witted though (and yes that is the nicest way I can put it). These creatures I’m not entirely sure about.

“We may have to wait until we actually arrive at wherever it is we’re going.” I spoke up. “Even if we could break these chains and get out of this cell we’d still be stuck on their ship, and truthfully after what happened earlier I don’t exactly fancy the idea of another fight with them.”

“Are the rowers other captives too?” Fair Wind asked.

“I don’t know.” I couldn’t do more than frown and shrug. “I’m sorry but when they were bringing us on board I didn’t even see where the entrance to the rowing level would be.”

“I’d have to imagine that if the rowers were prisoners like us then they’re probably chained and locked up as well.” Captain Anchor said. “And if not then that’s likely dozens more of those creatures we would have to deal with. Not a pleasant idea.”

“For all we know the rowing is automated.” Kingbolt ventured. “Or some kind of spell.”

That would maybe make things even more complicated. Even if we escaped and overpowered these creatures on this boat I doubt any of us would know how to operate it and I certainly didn’t have the magical ability to move all those oars at once. We’d just end up stranded. The more and more we talked about our situation the better waiting and seeing seemed. It was a dangerous bet but I really didn’t see us having any other options, especially since I doubt we’d even be able to get out of these darn chains in the first place.

“Rarity, how long were we out anyways?” The Captain asked me.

“Two hours maybe? They spent a fair amount of time looking through the ship before we started moving again.” I answered to the best of my ability, in hindsight I probably should’ve been keeping track a little better.

Captain Anchor sat down and thought for a bit. “I doubt it’ll even take them twelve hours to get to our destination at the speed this thing goes.”

He was right, and if this boat isn’t just some lone group of pirates there were probably a number of other boats just like this one that patrolled the waters around their country. We were likely already deep behind enemy lines. The mood was getting sour as the rest of the crew realized our bad situation and just how unlikely escape was at the moment. Pinkie Pie would be better suited for it but I suppose I should try to cheer them up too, or at least reassure them that not escaping now doesn’t mean giving up.

“Let’s not all get so down in the dumps.” I tried to help with things a little. “At least we’re all still okay. I don’t think we have to worry about being in danger anytime soon, if they wanted to hurt us they could have. And we’re all together too. That’s something to take solace in.” It’s the kind of thing that would always help when me and my friends were in some terrible situation after all.

“I guess Rarity is right, I don’t think we should just sit here and worry about what we have no control over.” Fair Wind said.

Captain Anchor nodded. “We should probably try and relax and even get a little rest if we can.”

And so it was that we sat like that for the rest of our time on their ship. We kept the conversation light and not focused on our present situation, I regaled them with stories of my friends and some of the adventures (and misadventures) I had been on while they told me of some of the sillier encounters and jobs they had had. I did rest my eyes for a little at some point but as expected I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. As it was we all just tiredly rested as the boat rowed on, cruising to its destination, our destination, and whatever unfortunate, unpleasant, outcome awaited us. This is really not how I expected this trip to go.

It didn’t take long, relatively, before the boat started to slow down and we could hear a new set of noises from outside. From above deck as it sounded like those creatures were moving around, doing who knows what, and from outside the ship as there seemed to be an equal amount of activity going on around us. The unfortunate lack of any windows meant we were all still in the dark at this point though. Finally after another minute or two longer our boat came to a complete stop, the other ponies and I got ready to inevitably confront those brutish creatures again. Wherever we were I’m sure they’re planning to offload us here.

“This is it, I’m not saying get ready to fight but be prepared for anything.” Captain Anchor said to the rest of us.

I could only nod, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen either but I certainly wasn’t going to just lie down and let these villains have their way for long. I could hear them as they came walking down from the deck to the locked door that led to this brig.

Oh, I probably look terrible right now, this is just awful. I hate not being seen at my best.

The keys turned in the lock and I was sadly greeted with the ugly sight of those same five creatures that had captured us. The captain and crews eyes narrowed at them and they tensed up, I as well stood and braced myself for whatever was coming next.

I couldn’t differentiate between them by appearance but I recognized the one who had grabbed me when he spoke up. “Relax ponies, no harm will come to you.” He said not so reassuringly. The leader then motioned to his cohorts and they came to our cell, unlocking it as well.

“You stay back, the others come out first.” One of them said to me as they began to undo the chains that affixed the others to the wall of the ship.

“Hold on, none of us are going anywhere without Miss Rarity.” Captain Anchor said as he stepped between me and the one undoing the chains.

“She is coming with you as well, just separate.” The leader said from outside the cell. “Ponies are all leaving the ship.”

“It’s fine Captain, let them do as they will for now.” I said to him. He begrudgingly seemed to accept that. Again it was nice to know that he was a gentleman.

Eventually the captain and his crew were unchained from the wall and taken out of the cell… where they were promptly fitted into new chains. Ones that chained up all four of their hooves, preventing them from running, and were also all connected to each other so they had to walk in a straight line together. After that I was taken out of the cell and given my own set of new manacles around my legs and kept behind the others. All of us ponies were then led out of the brig by the creatures, with the one who had taken us from the cell in the first place bringing up the rear.

Our party went up the stairs and finally came out on deck, once more I could take a breath of fresh air. After that I finally took a look around. I was not exactly pleased by what I saw.

The first thing I noticed was how dark the sky was, black clouds endlessly stretched in every direction, it was the middle of the day but it looked terrible outside. After finishing my look at the sky I saw we had docked at a large port, many other ships were anchored next to ours and dozens, maybe hundreds, of those creatures were milling about and doing whatever their business was. At the edge of each side of the harbor dark, rocky peaks rose up, cutting off this area from the rest of the island it seems. Shortly past the docks a town sprung up, it looked rather old-fashioned, similar to what I had heard of Trottingham. Or at the very least closer to Ponyville or even Canterlot in architectural style than Manehattan or one of Equestria’s other more modern cities. As I squinted my eyes further I noticed that it even had cobblestone roads and oil lamps lining the streets. Another thing I noticed was that of the mass of creatures around us they almost entirely only seemed to wear pants. I believe I saw some vests and hats as well but for the most part it was just the same low-quality pants as our captors wore. Awful.

Speaking of our captors, they led us down a ramp to the docks where we were then marched to a large building that stood right at the edge of the water. It didn’t have any exterior walls though, just a roof and numerous pillars along the edge to hold it up. It seemed to be some sort of check-in station for all the ships that docked at the port and whatever cargo they were carrying. We were led into the large area that served as its floor space and forced to just stand around while the leader of the ship went to talk to another creature sitting behind a desk. I saw many other creatures from boats doing the same, some seemed to be arguing quite a bit with whoever they were talking to and others were carrying large sacks of what I assumed to be money with them and passing it off to the ones sitting at desks. Most didn’t seem to pay any attention to us. It seems ponies in chains were a common enough occurrence here, sadly.

After what felt like ages the leader came back with a different creature, this one’s fur was a shade darker than the others and he wore khaki pants instead of the ugly grey ones that our captors wore.

The leader pointed at us. “You’re going with this one now.” He said, glancing at the new creature. “Don’t cause any problems, there’s nowhere for you to escape to anyways.”

And he walked by us without another word, gathering up the other four creatures that had come off the boat with us and walking back with them.

It seems we had been sold already.

“Come.” The darker-furred one said to us. His voice was much deeper than the ship’s leader and very gravelly, I almost winced when I heard it.

Captain Anchor however wasn’t going to just come willy-nilly like that.

“Come where? Do you even know what you’re doing capturing us like this?” He asked indignantly, stomping his hoof on the ground.

The creature was unamused and unimpressed. “I’m transporting you to the castle, I work for the head slaver, the castle always needs more slaves. No more questions, ponies.” He lightly smacked Captain Anchor on the head and pointed him to march forward. No-nonsense this one.

The crew and I almost fought back and caused a scene after that slap but the Captain just scowled and shook his head, surrounded by all these creatures it was probably the right call. So again we walked with this new one, still chained up, to wherever this “castle” was. I wanted to ask how far but I didn’t want to get slapped either. Brutes.

And “slaves” he said. So there it was, that really was to be our fate here.

He led us out from under the building to the street, it was far wider than the average street I had seen from up on the ship’s deck, probably because it was used as the main thoroughfare for the docks. Mr. Dark Fur Our new captor took us to a set of three wagons that were roped together and had two more of the creatures standing by them. Each wagon had a cage on its back as well. Joy.

The captain and crew were loaded onto the first wagon while I got the second all to my own. I don’t know if it’s because I was the only unicorn or the only female but that’s how it went. The two other creatures then pulled us along while their boss walked alongside us. We weren’t going into town though, instead we turned around and started going to the end of the street that paralleled the docks and harbor. It looked like the town was ensconced by nothing but rocky peaks but there had to have been a small road that led somewhere if that’s where we were going.

At least I didn’t have to walk anymore.

As expected after no more than a few minutes we got to the outskirts of town and started going up a well-hidden road, it took us up between the rocks before depositing us out onto a ridge that overlooked the town and led back further and further into the island inhabited by these ghastly creatures. It was such a dreary looking place, I can’t imagine it being much better even when it isn’t completely overcast. Just sharp mountains and rocks everywhere. I couldn’t see any beautiful forests or valleys anywhere.

But in the distance I did see something rather spectacular start to rise up.

A castle. The castle. It looked to be built right on top of these sharp, uneven, peaks. Made of black stone the walls rose up so high and spread far enough that I couldn’t see where they ended, dozens of towers and spires pierced the sky, some square shaped, others circular, some connected by bridges and hallways and many stand-alone, huge buildings and halls stood enclosed behind the walls, stretching far back enough that I had no idea where the actual castle grounds ended. It was a massive complex that dwarfed Canterlot Castle, and although it was not as beautiful and warm-looking it had its own intimidating artistry to it. Some buildings and spires had large stained-glass windows dotting them, thick drum towers stood at the corners of curtain walls to dissuade any attacker, and the only entrance I saw, the one we were going towards, was blocked by a gargantuan iron gate that was who knows how heavy. At the tops of the walls lining the gate were dozens of twisted stone statues, gargoyles, done up as an array of vile looking beasts. Manticores, vicious dragons, bug-bears, and so many others.

For the first time in my life I was not exactly happy to be going into a castle.

Not like I had a choice though, the gate opened up through some mechanism I’m completely unaware of and our wagons were pulled inside. There were a number of guards on the inside by the gate, dressed in full plate armor, but we just went right by them. While I saw some doors that looked like they led right into the buildings of the castle our wagons instead went down a little further to a large archway that led under and through a portion of the castle to a courtyard of some sort on the other end. Maybe they didn’t want slaves or dirty wagons in the main part of the castle.

Either way we ended up in an ugly gravel covered courtyard, where I noticed there were several other unattended wagons and carts, and the three creatures that had been transporting us here in the first place pulled us out of the wagons and took us marching towards a large wooden door at the far end of the courtyard. As I looked around I noticed that there were no other doors or windows at ground level here, it seems this was meant to be an out of sight area for the castle, probably because it was a little ugly. I mean that’s why I would keep it out of sight if it was my castle.

The creatures led us through the door and into a hallway, it seemed to be a passage for servants to use as they made their way through the castle, I saw cabinets and trolleys filled with cleaning supplies and laundry. The castle itself on the inside was rather clean and brightly lit so that was one positive of the situation. We were taken up a spiraling staircase to another wide hallway, this one looked more like a common hall that any would enter. It had a high ceiling and even some chandeliers and artwork lining it, they were all rather dull and uninspired though if I may say so. Everything was too uniform. At the end of the hallway was a gate of iron bars and behind it I could see two doors, one to the right and one to the left, each guarded by a pair of the creatures. Another creature sat between the doors at a desk, he seemed to be watching us intently as our dark-furred captor led us down the hallway.

When we reached the iron bars he pulled a key out of his khaki pants and opened them up. Turning around to fix us with his beady eyes he waved us on in.

“Welcome to the slave quarters.”

I frowned, how ghastly.

The bad didn’t stop there either as the creatures separated us, dragging me to the door on the right while Captain Anchor and the others were pulled to the one on the left.

“Hey! What’s the big idea? We’re not letting you separate us from Miss Rarity!” Captain Anchor yelled out as he struggled against the creatures.

I as well tried squirming my way out of their grip but they were far too strong. “Vicious things.” I muttered under my breath.

“Quiet down already, one side is for male slaves, the other, female. No mingling.” The creature that sat behind the desk said without getting up or bothering to give us any more notice.

“No! It’s our duty to make sure she’s okay, I’m not letting you do this!” Captain Anchor said as he tried kicking one of the guards in the gut only to have his leg stopped and a hand clamped over his jaw, he was carried struggling through the door and disappeared from my view along with the others.

“Captain!” I cried out, only to feel my mane tugged on as one of the guards on my side yanked me past the door to the female slave quarters, shutting it in my face.

And now I was alone.

Comments

[Maud of Sterner Stuff]

Once again, you’ve got your main character down perfect. I’ve got a feeling this is gonna be good.