The Human and His Lopunny

by Burningbloom78

Prisoner

Author's Note:

Alright, I wanted to get something out before the month was up, so I decided to shift perspectives for this one chapter. I've been thinking about it since I worked on the last chapter. I'll admit it gets a little dark, but not so much that I think it warrants a new tag.

Of the present is a dream dreamt by a distant wailing plaything.

She blinks slowly, darkness enveloping her vision. With a great effort her eye opens, and the young mare finds herself lolling listlessly on the swaying grass of a vast, peaceful plain.

She gazed at the moonlight that brightened the land in its beautiful luminous effulgence. The gentle breeze of the wind whisked through her coat and filled her nostrils with the redolent scent of dew drops after a light rain shower.

She blinks once more and the churning blackness shrouds her vision, inviting back a world of darkness. Then they open with less effort than the last. Light overtook her sight, and she finds her legs moving without command, guiding her down a well-trodden path to a small mystical lake. It glistened with the silvery specks of the ever-distant stars.

She knows this ancient area. It was a serene place, a zone of calm where those of her tribe go to clear their minds of frustration, loss, distress, or weariness, collecting themselves and their rattled emotions; she often spends her nights around the lake to clear herself of the lingering doubt and the fear of her ever-encroaching future.

The young mare blinks again and she finds herself in a dark place where the tall trees creak and their branches crack, alone and cold; many unknown noises echo from the darkness. Confused and scared, she trotted forward in the hope of finding her escape, but no matter how far her hooves manage to carry her, the mare seemed to never get anywhere.

Growing weary and starving, the mare stops to rest. Then she heard something thundering recklessly in the verdant darkness, stomping on bushes and tearing down trees. The sounds of destruction were louder than she thought, and they filled her skull until it thumped with pain as the disturbance got closer.

Unsettled, the mare tried to figure out a way to escape the ever-encroaching disturbance, however, before she attempted to scurry off further into the dark unknown, she spots a ruined body of a mare lying motionless in a thick pool of scarlet blood. It took all her strength to not vomit as she spotted another body, a stallion, drenched in blood clutching his throat with his hooves as a pained gurgling and choking came from him.

Before she could do anything like run or hide, an ugly claw caked in dirt and filth reached out from the darkness and grabbed the young mare, clutching her within its talons and wrenching her into the black depths. Her eye bulged as she let out a blood-curdling wail, screeching for help, but no creature heeded her distressed pleas, and she was swallowed up in the maw of darkness, never to be seen again.

---

Orah awoke with a scream. She veered her frightened gaze around in panic, panting and gasping for breath, but all she could see in the darkness was a distant light she didn't dare to follow. The ground felt mushy and warm under her hooves and a fuggy odor pervaded the air, making it difficult to breathe.

She felt stiff and sore like she was battered by stones, and she was filthy: her black-striped, crimson coat was dull and matted, her mane bedraggled, greasy, and caked in dirt, and she smelled horrible. Even her good eye, which the other was lost due to a horrific incident, made things hard to see properly.

It was an amazing effort to even attempt to move; it was in vain. Something caught her eye. She turned to a corner of the chamber to spot a hoard of gems and jewels clumped together in an ever-accumulating pile. At first, she was confused, and rightly so. Why was she here again? How did she get here and why did she stay instead of leaving? She continued to stare at the pile of treasure until sharp pain pulsed at the front of her skull. To another corner was a pile of rocks.

Realization hit her as a dreadful headache made her wince. I shouldn't be here...

Before she could say anything, a deep slimy voice caught her attention.

"Are we doing well this evening?" the sonorous voice asked soothingly. "I would... dislike it if we weren't."

That voice... the deep bellow of a slithering creature. It shook Orah to the core. It was Lunaris. She dared not to speak for fear of angering this foul beast.

"Orah," Lunaris growled, "you're trembling." His malignant blue eyes, which glowed ominously in the darkness, drifted slowly toward the pile of rocks. A disappointed sigh filled Orah's twitching ears. "Why haven't you turned those rocks into gems?"

Orah's heart began to beat so hard she thought if Lunaris could hear it. She was tasked with changing those rocks into treasure for Lunaris by the use of her unique magic that was unfettered by the Forbidden Jungle's magic seal. She had fallen asleep before doing what was demanded of her.

Orah's lips were quivering as she tried desperately to find the correct words to explain her disobedience. "L-L-Lunaris," she stammered pitifully, her voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper, "I... I-I just don't kn-know what h-h-happened. I'm s-sorry!"

Orah watched as a large ugly black head move forward from the cover of darkness, revealing rows of broken and yellow-stained teeth. Lunaris was not happy. In response, Orah shrank in the face of Lunaris' disappointment.

"You aren't supposed to rest until you were finished," he told her coolly, his tone was icy calm. "Yet you disobeyed me. Again. Do you know what's going to happen next? I think you do."

A menacing chortle filled the depths of Orah's mind with despair. She's made this mistake one too many times, but it wasn't her fault. How could it? She was working too hard with very little food to eat or water to drink; she ran her poor self ragged trying to please this abhorrent creature, collapsing from overusing her magic and blacking out. It wasn't her fault.

He's going to hurt me, she thought, tears beginning to well up in her eye. I don't want the claw... I can't have the claw! Not again!

"Lunaris, s-sir," Orah began, fumbling over her words, "I'm... trying to, umm, to work as f-f-fast as I possibly can, but... but I need rest."

Lunaris said nothing, he only stared at the exhausted mare with a malicious glare. Orah at this point was hyperventilating and sweating, her chest heaving as she tried her best to breathe in any air inside this stuffy old cave.

"Are you saying I'm working you too hard?" he asked innocently. "Because the way I see it, you get to keep your life in exchange for making me treasure with that unique magic of yours. Your life, preserved, I get everything I want; this deal is quite efficacious for the both of us."

"Bu-but Lunaris, I can't keep making gems if... if I-I pass out," Orah whimpered. "Please, I beg you... let me have some moments of rest."

"I'm afraid I can't agree to that," he said. "Didn't you just wake up? It seemed you did; you were having a nightmare. You got your rest, now I expect some gems."

"But... but..." Orah was at a loss for words. "Lunaris, please... I can't."

A clawed fist slammed next to Orah, causing her to scream in terror. She felt the ground below her rumble and shake.

"Orah, do as I say or else," Lunaris threatened.

"I-I can't!" she shouted, her exhaustion and head pain overcoming her fear and distress. "Let me go. You can't keep me here anymore! Please, I can't do this anymore..."

Lunaris was eerily silent, and Orah thought he hadn't heard her voice her misery, but then she saw his eyes narrow into slits as a venomous smile became strewn across his snout.

"Okay, go ahead," he whispered, his voice as sweet as honey. "You aren't constrained. You can leave anytime you are able. You can waltz right out of this cave, and I won't stop you. But I know you won't. You'll die out there.

"You are a deprived pony; vulnerable and powerless to fend for yourself; ensnarled in a dangerous world teeming with beasts that would love nothing more than to rend and tear the flesh from your feeble body and leave your festering corpse for the maggots! So go on and leave but know that you are safest with me, and I demand very, very little from you."

Orah was speechless. What Lunaris spoke rang true and she knew it. Orah could leave and try her luck out in the wilderness if she didn't want to stay with him any longer, but they both knew she couldn't. Orah was never versed in combat; she's of a peaceful tribe. If she had, she might have been able to save her other eye from being torn out.

"You've been cowering in the darkness for so long, you wouldn't last five steps out there without the light dazzling your sight," Lunaris taunted, his face scrunched to give the trembling mare a derisive sneer. "Look at you: you won't even be able to stand let alone have the strength to defend yourself."

Again, Lunaris was right. Orah looked gaunt and skinny, her ribs showing underneath her coat. She wasn't in the best of health, and she looked as if she'd keel over at any second.

"So... what will it be? What will the pathetic mare do?" the black dragon asked, smirking.

Hurt by Lunaris' constant jibs and insults, Orah looked downward at the moist ground, defeated and tired. His words bashed the inside of her skull as her confidence, or what little retained, began to vanish.

She wasn't pathetic, right? She thought she was doing the right thing and taking control of her life. She wanted to be a part of something big and grand, to have an importance many would look upon with respect. With her unique magic, Orah wanted to make others happy and put smiles on their faces with the guidance of Princess Celestia lighting her path even further. But now it seemed to cause nothing except pain and woe.

The dream harkens back to her, and Orah is reminded of the two royal guards who risked their lives to see her through the Forbidden Jungle, only for them to meet a fate unknown to her. She shuddered. The body of the mare laying seemingly dead on the ground and the stallion choking on his blood... Orah felt drowned in guilt; her desire to become something even more than herself has caused pain or even death. Just thinking about it made her emetic. She could only pray for forgiveness.

Now here she was, starved and potentially ill, entrapped to serve a dragon who views the despondent mare as a tool to be bent and used until she couldn't any longer, a means to his end. He need only to care for her as little as possible, to make sure she didn't die, at least.

"Why...?" Orah's quivering plea was barely audible. "How c-c-could you do s-something like this?"

Orah heard Lunaris chuckle. "It's simple," he said without a hint of remorse. "I'm a dragon and I love treasure. I was sentenced here because I tried to kill and murder my people for their treasure. They bound me in invisible chains, hoping I would change my ways, and left me here until I gave in. But I didn't. I am a dragon, no matter what others say or do to me. I love treasure and I will never change that. I won't let them win; I will not conform and prostrate myself to them. Never.

"I'm going to continue doing what makes me... me. I will never change. And look what happens when I persevere. You come along with the magic to create anything from Mother Nature. What's, even more, is that your magic stands against this jungle's influence, unhindered by its rules; I'm just lucky to have come across such a great find. Why would I want to change that? I may be bound till the end of my days, but I will be surrounded by glittering gold, shining rubies, sparkling emeralds, and beautiful sapphires. In the end, I have won."

I am trapped here forever, Orah thought depressively, her eye becoming dull and empty. She tucked her hooves under her the best she could. He won't let me go. I can't escape. I'm going to be here until the day I die, enslaved to this unquenchable dragon. He'll keep hurting me... I'm going to get the claw until I break. What am I supposed to do?

Suddenly, Orah found herself knocked to the ground and onto her back, exposing her belly. It was riddled with black scars left by Lunaris as prior punishments for Orah's disobedience. Filthy claws pinned her legs firmly to the ground as Lunaris loomed over her with an ire that shone like the brightest flame. "I haven't forgotten your punishment," he snarled.

He raised a claw and bathed it in puny flames that sputtered from his mouth. The once white claw, now brown, was radiating a reddish-orange tint and he dangerously hovered it over Orah's heaving belly. The heat from the claw began to hurt Orah, gradually burning her underside.

"Maybe this will remind you of what you will always be: my prisoner."

Through gritted teeth, Orah strained desperately to fight back, squirming and making an effort to move her bound limbs, but nothing worked. Tears began to stream down her eye as the pain began to mount; she screamed and shouted in some last act of desperation, still hoping she could get away. If she would die by going outside the cave, then that's what she'd do. She'll take her chances; anything was better than being with this horrid creature.

But alas, her efforts to break free from Lunaris' hold were in vain, yet she continued to move as an echoing wail came from her; the burning claw had made contact with her scarred belly.

Everything swirled around Orah's blurring vision as the claw moved agonizingly down her belly. All she could see was Lunaris glaring mockingly at her and the encroaching darkness closing in as she screamed for the torture to stop.

Then, unable to take her cruel punishment any longer, everything went black; she gave one final shudder and became still.