The Unforgiven

by Trigger_Finger

Chapter 4: Slaves?

“But Celestia! Those are our sisters that they have kidnapped!” Rarity cried out. Celestia let out a defeated sigh.

“And I am truly sorry but there is nothing we can do at the moment. But rest easy in knowing that they are safe” Celestia told them.

“Those good fer nothin scammers” Applejack cursed. Celestia sighed as Applejack cursed to herself, mostly cursing Flim and Flam.

“If things were different then perhaps we could just go in and take your sisters and Spike back… but if they have The Bloody Hooves helping them…” Celestia trailed off as she shuddered.

“Princess… what are The Bloody Hooves?” Twilight asked. Luna stepped up beside her sister. “The Bloody Hooves are the remains of tormented souls that roam the Everfree, feeding on those they come across. Any-pony that is killed by The Bloody Hooves are turned into… one of them” Luna told them with seriousness in her voice. The information made the element bearers all shudder.

“So why would they help Flim and Flam?” Twilight asked. Luna shrugged, “Perhaps the brothers have something that they want… no-pony really knows” Luna replied.

Celestia nodded, “Regardless, I would be appreciative if you didn’t go meddling into their property again. Rash actions could lead to severe consequences for Equestria” Celestia told them. Twilight nodded, “Thank you princess… it’s late, we’ll come by later when we can think of something to do” Twilight sighed and with that the element bearers trotted off.

As the six mares left, Luna stepped beside her sister. “This is terrible… if The Bloody Hooves are helping them then what’s stopping them from invading Equestria?” Luna asked worriedly. Celestia looked out to the Everfree and sighed.

The white alicorn princess looked to her younger sister with weary eyes. “Not very much I’m afraid” she told her younger sister.

The element bearers trotted to the train station. “Ohhhhh this is just awful… just absolutely tragic. What are we going to do?” Rarity said in heavy distraught. The group embarked on a train back to Ponyville and they rode in complete silence the entire way back.

The group reached Ponyville around 3:30am. They all walked over to the library. “Alright… every-pony get a good night’s sleep and we’ll all meet back here tomorrow. Then we’ll try to think of something” Twilight told the others who nodded then all went their own way.

Twilight sighed heavily as she opened the door to her library. Without Spike here it felt so empty. She closed the door behind her, not bothering to lock it. She trotted up the stairs to her room in heavy distraught. Spike had left before but she had quickly encouraged him to come home. This was completely different, he may never come home.

Twilight lay in her bed but didn’t bother covering herself with her blanket. She was too out of it to even care. She looked out her window to the full moon and began to cry. “Spike… I’m sooo sorry… I promise I’ll get you out of there somehow” Twilight whispered as she cried herself to sleep.

Elsewhere in F&F Enterprise building:

Flim sat across from the three fillies and the little purple dragon. “Let us go! When our sisters find out you kidnapped us they’re going to turn your flank red” Scootaloo threatened.

“Ah but my dear fillies, your sisters already came by… and then they left when we told them that you all belong to us” Flim told them. He swished his cup of cider around then took a sip.

“No, that’s not true. If Rainbow Dash came in here looking for me then she’d bust us out” Scootaloo spat. Flim chuckled to himself as he took another sip from his cider. He took a look into the cup to judge how much he had left then looked back to the irritated and somewhat scarred little fillies, and dragon.

Flim sighed as he took another sip from his cider then flopped out a small law book onto the table and pointed at it with his hoof. “See this? It states that because you were trespassing on our property you belong to us until further notice” Flim told them then took another sip from his cider.

“No way! I’m not going to have you own me like a slave” Sweetie Bell squeaked. Flim chuckled then poured the rest of his cider to the floor. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a match then gave the burning match small quick jerky swings until the flame was extinguished.

Flim presented the fillies with a smoke. “Want a smoke? Ha-ha, just kidding, stay away from smoking it’s bad for your health” Flim laughed as he quickly took the cigarette pack back and stuffed it in his suit pocket.

“Forget this I’m outta here” Scootaloo blurted out as she lept up and raced over to the door but found it to be locked. She cursed to herself then grabbed the chair she was sitting on and tried to break the one way glass window. The window was actually Plexiglas and wouldn’t break from the force of the chair hitting it.

Flim sighed irritably. “Please sit down” he said but Scootaloo continued to try and break free. Flim grimaced in anger. “SIT DOWN!” he yelled. Scootaloo stiffened from his sudden outburst and very sheepishly sat back down.

Flim’s face relaxed a little and he let out a relaxed sigh of comfort. “Thank you… now where was I?” he asked as he thought to himself. “Oh yes of course. You belong to my brother and I and you will do as we order or we will throw you to the wolves… quite literally” he told the younglings. They all gulped in fear from the comment.

“Yes well now that we’re on the same page, please follow me to your residence where you will be staying” Flim said. They uneasily stood up and followed him out of the basement interrogation room. As they left the room they fell under the stare of several guard ponies with terrifying rifles who watched them intently. Waiting for them to make a wrong move so they could get some target practice.

The fillies and Spike followed Flim obediently. Flim whistled a catchy note as they continued down the dimly lit hallways of the basement. They approached an elevator and Flim dinged for the elevator which hastily came down to them. They entered and he keyed for the fourth floor.

The elevator ascended up to the fourth floor then opened, revealing another hallway that had beautiful paintings on the walls and a finely made red carpet across the entire floor of the hallways. Flim led them to a room number 408 and opened the door revealing a miraculous suite. The Cutie Mark Crusader’s jaws all dropped together along with Spike’s.

“Work detail starts around ten o’clock tomorrow morning and goes until six in the afternoon. If you’re hungry just call for room service” Flim told them then left them to their own device. The group rushed into the suite, closing the door behind them. There were four large beds, probably queen size, with red silk blankets.

“This place is awesome… hey look what they got in the fridge” Spike called out as he peered into the fridge. The others rushed over and gazed in fascination at the fridge’s contents. It was packed with sweets and pastries. They quickly rushed around the suite to see all the wonders that had been put into the suite.

“Okay… what do you think the catch is?” Scootaloo muttered as she ate a butter tart. The others stopped parading around and Spike stopped right in the middle of eating a jelly doughnut.

“Well duh, we’re their slaves. We ain’t allowed tah leave” Applebloom replied. Scootaloo face hoofed, “Yeah I know that, but if we’re their slaves then why’d they give us this wicked suite? I mean this place is better than Rainbow Dash’s house” she told Applebloom who thought to herself.

Applebloom rubbed her chin as she thought about it. “Yeah… it is nicer than the farm… and ah’m a little curious myself as tah why they’d give us this suite…” Applebloom trailed off as she thought to herself. Spike shrugged and kept scoffing back food into his mouth.

“Mmpgh… Who care’s… slave or not… this is great” Spike said. Funny considering that only a few hours ago he was shaking fearfully but now he hadn’t a care in the world. The others looked to him with curiosity.

“Yeah… it is great an all… but ah kinda miss muh sis” Applebloom said, the others nodded and Spike sighed.

“Well yeah, don’t get me wrong. I miss Twilight but at the moment what are we gonna do?” Spike asked and they all walked over to the window that overlooked most of the forest. Outside just past the headquarters perimeter sat the army base. The sight of The Bloody Hooves struck fear into the younglings and they quickly shut the curtains.

“Well either way… let’s get some rest before tomorrow. I have a feeling that slave work isn’t easy” Scootaloo told the others. They all nodded and trotted off to their own beds. But as they all snuggled themselves in to sleep, a lone howl of a Timber wolf could be heard.

They all zipped over to into the center of the room and squeezed each other tightly. Despite being in a heavily fortified building, the sheer sound of its howl was enough to frighten even the most fearless of ponies.

“Uhm… let’s sleep together… for warmth” Scootaloo suggested. They all nodded and quickly rushed over to one of the beds and hid under the blankets, shaking fearfully.

“Okay… I take it back… this place isn’t as awesome as I thought it was… I wish I was back at the library” Spike whispered fearfully.

* * *

The next morning:

Twilight heard banging on the front door. She groaned to herself drowsily. She was so down that she didn’t really want to talk to any-pony at… “Oh my gosh!” Twilight gasped as she looked to her alarm clock and realized it was 10:27am.

She quickly lept out of bed and rushed down to the front doors, quickly opening them to be greeted by her friends. “Sorry… I must’ve slept in…” Twilight apologized then she trailed off as she saw them all dressed in fine black suits. Even Applejack had a black suit on with an orange tie. Rainbow Dash had a pair of square sunglasses on and was looking very casual.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “Uhm girls… what’s with the fine suits?” Twilight asked hesitantly. Applejack’s face spread into a fairly happy smile.

“Twi… we have an idea. Actually more like we know a stallion who can rescue our sisters and Spike” Applejack informed her. Twilight smiled happily but she was still curious about the whole suit thing.

“Okay… but what’s with the suits?” Twilight asked curiously. She had never expected to see Applejack dressed in such fine attire. Minus wearing a dress for very special occasions like her brother’s wedding. But wearing a fine suit just to go see a stallion?

“Here Twi, we brought you one to. And some sunglasses because they make you look cool” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight levitated the clothes over to her. They all looked like they would fit her perfectly.

“Okay… but seriously what’s with the suits?” Twilight asked, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack sighed in unison. Dash was first to speak.

“Well… he’s a… a gentlecolt so we have to dress up real nice before we go talk to him” Rainbow Dash told her friend, obviously lying. Rarity scoffed.

“Ha! Gentlecolt is hardly an acceptable term for that brutish arrogant ignorant… ohh” Rarity scowled, obviously very irritated by the mere thought of this mystery stallion. Applejack gave her and aggressive nudge to the hip.

“Rarity hush… nah he ain’t… that bad. He’s just… a little crusty. But he’s really a… an alright stallion” Applejack muttered, stopping several times to make him seem a little nicer than he probably was.

“And the suits?” Twilight asked, trying to bring them back to the subject of why they were all wearing finely tailored suits. Applejack sighed.

“We’re hopin that we can make a good impression on him” Applejack told her lavender coloured unicorn friend. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“Why would you need to make a good impression on him? Aren’t you friends? Pinkie’s friends with every-pony” Twilight mentioned. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around excitedly behind the others.

Applejack sighed and looked down to the floor depressingly. She let out a deep exhale then looked back up to Twilight, “Pinkie never met him before and well… we aren’t exactly on subtle terms with him”