Forever Pine

by Matrixster

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: On the Road and an Escape?

Pine Breeze was, to be expected, trembling as she was wedged between 2 extremely scary stallions, whom she had no idea what their intentions were for her. Behind her were a lot of her friends, scared silent for fear of angering their captors.

“So what’s the plan again?” the grizzly stallion to her right asked.

“I do hate havin to repeat myself Rusty, but seein as we’re in the presence of new faces” Gruff grinned, “I suppose I can afford to say it again. We’re takin these fine specimens to Wireston, not too far from that plantation with all them zebra workers”.

“Oh yeahhh. Thanks for that Boss, my memory has been leavin me ever since that one raid where I got bucked in the back of the head” Rusty gave a sheepish smile.

“I understand completely” Boss Gruff said with a nod as he directed the stallions leading the carriage to the right. “And once we do make it to Wireston, we’ve gotta find a place to store those guys in the back for a couple days, seein as the auction isn’t till Saturday.”

“What about this one?” Rusty said, pointing to the still cowering Pine.

“Yeah we’re gonna toss her back with them as well. Matter of fact…” Gruff gripped the reins, getting the stallions to come to a halt. “Go chain her up with her friends, she must feel intimidated by being wedged between two specimens such as ourselves!” He chortled.

“Sure thing Boss.” Rusty hoisted Pine onto his shoulder as he carried her towards the back of the carriage where the giant cage holding her villagers were.

“Hey” Rusty whispered. Pine looked down towards the stallions head. “I know what we’re doin ain’t right, imma try
to get y’all outta this mess” He whispered, being careful not to alert Gruff. Pine felt relief wash over her.

(I’m gonna be able to go back home!) Pine thought. Once they got to the back of the wagon, all the ponies in the cage perked their heads up, looking hopeful. This was either from seeing Pine unharmed, or because they felt like they were being released.

“Take it easy y’all, nobody’s leavin here, I’m just reaquainting this little filly with ya.” Still carrying Pine, Rusty unlocked the cage and jumped in. While some of the younger ponies were struggling from their shackles, anxious to be free, most of the mares and stallions were patient enough to see what the situation was, that they were riding this wagon till the end.
Sitting Pine down right next to a brightly colored mare, he brought out a pair of handcuffs and a chain. Attaching the cuffs to her hooves, he wove the chain through the opening between her chest and the cuffs, and proceeded to weave it through her neighbors’ cuffs.

“There we go, that oughta hold ya.” Rusty said. Shifting around to get as comfortable as possible, Pine looked up at her
would-be rescuer, watching him jump out and lock the door behind him. As everyone returned to sulking, Pine heard another whisper from behind her.

“Try not to cause a fuss, and try to act as natural as you can. Of course, I know that’s asking a lot, seeing as you’re so young.” Turning her head, Pine watched Rusty until he disappeared from view.

(Act natural?) Pine pondered what he meant by that. (I think he means to not talk about his plans, and I can do that!) Filled with self-determination, she nodded her head with a hopeful look.

“Nice to see you being so brave Pine, the chief will be so proud” the pony next to her said.

“Thanks Pepper, that means a lot.” Bell Pepper was the horticulturalist of the village, or to put in simpler terms, she was in charge of the crop fields. She had a deep green coat like Pine, but instead of darker green locks, Bell had a fiery red and orange mane. She was a fair bit older than Pine, but had only recently fully developed into a mare. She was normally very mature and well mannered, but when someone made the mistake of calling her a ‘kid’ or something similar, she would get so heated that she’d chase the offender away until they took back their statement.

“Absolutely! Now from what I’ve heard from the guys up front, we’re going to a place called Wireston, is that correct?” Pepper inquired.

“Mmm hmm, that’s what I believe ah heard. Do you know where that is?”

“Yes… and I’m afraid it’s farther than you think. Without stopping, it’s a couple days journey from home. That’s what it appeared to look like on the village’s maps.”

(Ah yes, the maps my dad never let me look at. He was always paranoid that I’d try to travel to a city and not find my way back.) Pine pouted silenty.

“We’ve been on the road for what I gather is close to a day, so once the stallions stop for tonight, we’ll try to make our getaway, alright?” Pepper said. “Don’t worry, we’ll get back home in no time, and you’ll be back with your daddy.”

“Really? I sure hope so, I miss him really bad.”

“I’m sure you do, but surviving this experience will show him how tough and brave you are, and he might start treating you like a responsible filly.” Pepper winked, getting a grin out of Pine.

(Responsibility… it’s something that the other foals in the village try to stay away from, but for me, it’s my ticket to becoming my own pony. I’ve tried so hard to help around the village, but Daddy always tells me something is either too hard or too dangerous for a filly my age. He barely let me help with the tents sewn by hoof by the older ponies, and that was only after constant pleading and the elders showing him non-pricking equipment.)

“Try to get some rest while you can Pine, because tonight we’re gonna bust out of here!” This statement caught the attention of one of the driving stallions in the wagon behind them. “I-I mean, there’s a lot of dust in here! Achoo!” Pepper tried giving a convincing sneeze. The stallion curtly continued focusing on the road ahead of him.

“That was close; let’s keep this between ourselves and everyone in here ok? Once we get out of here, we’ll help the others loose from their cages too…” Pepper whispered into Pine’s ear.

“Gotcha…”

Nightfall

“All right! Let’s set up camp here for tonight boys, we got some precious cargo on our hands and we want them in tip-top shape for the auction Saturday” Boss Gruff shouted. All the stallions unhooked themselves from their reins and promptly collapsed, as they has been riding without stopping for about a half a day.

“Hey, Squirt! Go hand out these rations to the ponies in them cages, we want em, y’ know, not starved to death by the time we get into town tomorrow.”

Squirt, formally known as Spike, bellowed: “Sure thing Boss…”

Gathering the small bundles of hay, Squirt made his way to the first and second wagon, tossing in enough of the hay to keep everyone not starving, and lastly he sauntered over to Pine’s cage, opening the door and dumping the last of the hay in front of everyone. As he made his way out, he spoke.

“Nice to see ya again little one, you’re gonna sell for big.” He spoke as a cheshire grin appeared across his face, revealing both yellow and gold teeth.

(Ha! That’s what you think dummy!)

Seeing that the coast was now clear, Pine motioned to everyone to act natural. They nodded. Pine and Pepper proceeded to grind their chains against eachothers until they saw that they were worn down enough to attempt breaking them. They tried, but no luck.

“Maybe this”ll help?” a familiar voice rose from outside the cage.

A silver key was tossed into the center of the wooden floor.

“So you were serious about helping us?” Pine inquired.

“Sure was, ain’t right what we’re doing to ponies like you, our evil deeds blinded me to see that for the longest time.”

Looking around to see if anyone was watching, Rusty continued. “That kick to the head I mentioned up front? It didn’t have that effect of memory loss I mentioned, but what it did do was make me realize that we’re taking ponies from their homes and families, two things I hold dear. I’ve got a daughter, ain’t much older than you, I miss her dreadfully, but I know she still loves me…”

“Ok, I trust you” Pine said, a tear escaping her eye.

“Good, because theres only a small window of opportunity for this to work, so lemme open this cage” Grabbing another key from the loop on his saddlebag, Rusty quietly opened the cage door. “You hold on to this, work on freein your friends, I’ll do my best to distract everyone.”

Using the key from the floor, Pine unlocked her and Pepper’s chains. Handing the key to Pepper, Pine turned back to Rusty.

“How will you do that? There’s so many…” Pine remembered seeing at least about two dozen ponies enter the village.

“Easy, most of em were leadin the carriages, and they’re all already asleep. Theres only about 6 of my ‘friends’ left, and they’re all around the campfire on the other side of this wagon.”

“Alright, do your best.’ Pine smiled sheepishly.

Smiling, Rusty said “Can do little filly”.

Rusty headed over to the campfire where Boss, Lanky, and Spike/Squirt were relaxing, eating a can of beans along with some dried sunflowers.

“Howdy there Rusty, what were ya doin over yonder with the savages?” Boss narrowed his eyes, eating a mouthful of food.

“Uh, just makin sure they aren’t going anywhere. Not like they would know how to get out right?” Rusty nervously stated.

“Uh-huh, and what happened to some of your keys? I remember seeing 5 on your bag, and now there are three” Boss
questioned, eye starting to twitch.

“I…uh…guess they fell off? I’ve had this bag ever since I joined you guys, maybe its time I get a new one?” Still nervously, Rusty began examining his bag.

“Speaking of which, Rusty, I’ve noticed some odd things happening ever since you got conked in yer head. One time, I found a good portion of our rations missin, and then I see that our catch had been surprisingly well fed. Then there’s times where I see you makin small talk with the ponies we got locked up.” An evil grin creeped across Boss Gruff’s face, as
he got up and slowly walked toward Rusty. “And you wanna know something I heard today?”

A crazy look in Boss’s eye signaled to Rusty that things were going south, and quickly. “What would that be Boss?”

“Before he passed out, one of the drawin boys told me a couple of the prisoners was thinking bout ‘scapin. Now I know that would be considered normal, but these ponies were sadder than a desert with no tumbleweeds! So can you propose a reason why their mood changed so quickly?”

“Uhhh, nope!” Rusty said promptly.

“Rusty my boy, I think we need to have ourselves a private conversation.”

“What’s wrong with right here? We’re keepin watch while everyone else gets some shut-eye?” Rusty points to Squirt and Lanky, who have passed out behind their log seats.

“Ho ho trust me, this wont take long, plus we don’t wanna disturb em with any…noise.”

Back to Pine

“Alright, now let’s get everyone else out of those cages” Pine quietly proclaimed.

Pepper nodded. “Yeah, lets…”

BANG!!!

END OF CHAPTER 1

Author's Note:

Hello Everyone! So, I had some free time today, and an inspiration of where to lead the
story came to me. So I had to type out my ideas while they were still fresh in my mind. I feel like I should say, that the sexual and romance aspects will be happening waaaaay down the
line, as Pine is still a filly. I'm honestly coming up with the storyline as I go, and that's what makes it so fun!

Comments

[Raretasticity]

Red Dead Redemption 2 meets My Little Pony. Im enjoying this story so far! It reminds me of the trail of tears with the Native Americans. The vocabulary the author uses and the steady structure moving the story along without focusing to much on little details make this a read you would find in Barns and Noble. The ending of chapter 1 left me in awe. Im beginning to love little Pine Breeze. Keep it up Matrixster!