Leap of Faith
All I could taste in my mouth was sand and disappointment. I was drenched in sweat as the scorching sun burned against my soft blue fur. I trotted beside a caravan cart as I escorted it along its journey through this forsaken desert. I wished I could just fly to our destination, but the job was the job, and I had to maintain strict formation. This was far from my favorite thing to do, but it provided enough for a living, so I couldn’t complain here. Walking and walking…
Sometimes I wondered what the purpose of doing this kind of work even was. The roads had been safe for generations. Nothing ever happened to those who travelled along them. Just dry, scorching roads, sand, and the plants unfortunate enough to be growing here. The only real threat was dying of boredom.
I took a moment to check my surroundings yet again, staring at the seemingly never-ending scenery of sand, more sand, and sometimes rocks of all different shapes and sizes. I looked a bit further ahead, spotting an ancient city on the horizon, which consisted of a set of tall buildings, some of which leaned at dangerous looking angles, half-buried in sand and dirt. I wonder what these cities might have looked like all those years ago, I thought to myself. It was a very dangerous and stupid idea to ever go into one of these ancient settlements. They had all been looted decades ago. All an unwary explorer would find there was their own death within the elaborate traps of aged construction and pockets of wild magic, which would deform or kill a pony within moments.
I gazed back at the desert. It was nothing like the greenery you would see in the other parts of the land, such as the trees and tall grass around Lighthoof, the settlement I came from. But this was the fastest and most direct caravan route of them all, just a two day trip on hoof, compared to almost double that along the other trade routes. I supposed some sacrifices had to be made to ensure the goods were as cheap as possible. I was just glad this was my final job for the month. I smiled warmly, shutting my eyes as I imagined all the good time I would have with Red as soon as I got home. Gosh Red, I miss you so much, you stupid, pretty colt.
I snapped out of my daydream and looked around one more time. Nothing but sand and rocks presenting themselves to my gaze. Big surprise here. I looked down to stare at the rocky road under my hooves. Sweet Luna, I wish we could make it to the other side sooner. I decided to check my equipment for what must have been the hundredth time. I looked back at my gear and mentally went through the list: wing blades, check; saddlebags with road supplies, check; my pretty grey tail… still attached to my body. Nothing out of the ordinary. I turned to look at the other members of the caravan I was escorting, eyeing them for any signs of tiredness or boredom. There was a pegasus colt who had clearly never been in a fight, an elderly earth pony stallion with a few scars, and a unicorn mercenary mare wielding one of those fancy old world spears. My eyes stopped to stare at the spear. It was one of those gorgeous ancient relics with a white and golden finish and elaborate engravings. I realized my mouth was slightly agape from my fascination with it. I gently blushed and turned to look away from the spear. I always wished I could wield something like it myself. Not like I could do that, even if I had one. As a pegasus, my options were limited to either a light sword or wing blades. It was just the way we fought; anything else would be bulky and inefficient.
After what felt like ages, and as I was about to doze off from boredom, I suddenly heard a quiet noise to my left. I looked in the direction of the sound, but only saw rocks and sand. I blinked a few times, yawned, and went back to looking straight ahead. Must have just been my nerves playing tricks on me. Suddenly, I heard a few clanks of metal hitting rock right under my hooves. I looked down and gasped in shock and horror. Right underneath me were a few small metal orbs with blue gems in the middle of them. Magic grenades. Right under our hooves.
Before I could jump away, an explosion screeched through the air and my vision went white as incredible pain shot through every part of my body. I felt myself falling down on the hot road, convulsing in agony. My vision went blurry and unfocused. I could barely feel anything around me, unable to move or feel my limbs. A few grey blobs approached me and I could just barely realize I was being moved somewhere. I was being thrown around. A few lighter colored blobs filled my vision. Then, everything went still and quiet. My eyes closed, all of reality mixed into a constant blur. I couldn’t remember much else after that.
My body felt like it was slowly melting after being frozen. Feeling and comprehension gradually returned to me. All of my limbs felt sore. A few seconds passed before I realized I was in a moving cart. I lay on my back on top of a solid, uncomfortable hard wood surface, my cheek pressed against the side of the cart by someone’s hindleg. I dared to open my eyes and blinding light instantly filled my vision. I blinked a few times as I tried to adjust my eyes to the brightness of the sun shining directly into them. I slowly looked around, desperately trying to make sense of what just happened. I saw ponies from the caravan I was escorting not too long ago, lying in front of me and not moving, only occasionally letting out pained moans. We were being moved somewhere. But where? Questions raced in my mind as panic started to settle in. I tried to collect myself, but all I managed to do was take in short, panicked breaths. I shook my head. Keep it together, Cloudy, I insisted to myself. I refocused my attention and caught a glimpse of the captors. Two ponies in front and a pony on each side of the cart, all wearing red and black metal armor. They appeared unwashed, dirty, but confident and menacingly happy. They must be bandits… or worse, slavers.
When I was a filly, my mother told me stories about the dangers of the land. Ponies losing their minds and becoming bandits or slavers, or some critter wandering where it shouldn’t have and turning into a monster, permanently twisted by wild magic. I always had hoped I would never encounter them, that somehow life would throw me a bone and let me avoid them entirely in my life. I was so sure I would be safe that I never even thought of these things. I lived in a peaceful settlement far from trouble, did the safest well-paying jobs, avoided the dangerous ones. The Association of Joint Settlements made sure to send war parties to cleanse the area from these ponies, if you could even call them ponies. But these ponies never seemed to go away, no matter how much effort we put into making sure they did.
I tried to move. At this point, I noticed an unusual weight on my forehooves. As I looked down I discovered my forehooves were cuffed together, bound by a chain to shackles around my hindlegs. I felt around. It seemed like my range of motion was limited to nothing but a pathetic crawl. I tried to wiggle some more, only managing to roll awkwardly onto my side, instinctively trying to open my wings for balance. Then, a very scary fact dawned on me. My wings are clasped! I was unable to open my wings… I was worse than an earth pony now. The slaver to the left of the cart turned his head to look at me. He was a dark red unicorn stallion with green eyes and a sharp, beaten looking sword held in his green magical aura floating beside him. He had a black, square eyepiece in front of his right eye, seemingly projecting some sort of a picture only he could see.
I heard my friends talk about these funky devices once. A pony could put one on and supposedly see all the secrets of the ancient world. My friends always seemed excited about old relics like that, but I was hardly ever interested. My eyes were always glued to the weapons of old, like gorgeous ancient spears or wing blades made of gold. My thoughts were interrupted by the unicorn’s voice.
“Ah, look who is finally awake,” he said with a very twisted grin on his face, obviously noticing my pathetic attempts at movement. “Today is your lucky day. You get to be our war chief’s property! Isn’t it an honor? You’ll serve a far better purpose as his workers than... whatever you were doing before.”
I tried to talk, but my panicked, adrenaline-filled body was only able to produce a quiet, trembling, “h-huh?” The slaver did not appreciate my hesitation, and he levitated his sword, swinging the blade at me. I shut my eyes and shrunk in fear, anticipating my death at any moment. I felt a sharp, blunt blow to the side of my head instead. “You keep nice and quiet, or else!” he yelled at me. I reopened my eyes. His angry stare was filled with genuine hatred, amplified by the soft red glow of his eyepiece, giving him a scary look. I kept still at first, too shocked to move. “Hmpf, pathetic,” said the slaver as he seemingly lost his interest in me, releasing me from the grasp of his menacing stare. I swallowed and slowly tried to move my body to a more comfortable position, lying on my side and putting my head on top of the other captive’s hindleg.
Okay, Cloudy… You got yourself into this mess, you can get out of it. I closed my eyes and focused on collecting myself and calming down. Breathe. In… and out. Good filly. After a couple of minutes, I opened my eyes again and assessed my situation with a level head. I slowly peeked over the cart. I noticed we were moving along a different path than the one the caravan was following. There was no rocky road, only sand and dirt, an uncharted path. I noticed a large square structure to my right. An ancient ruin? I turned to look to the left, finally seeing that we were within one of the ancient settlements! Square structures of various sizes lined the road we were travelling along. Many of them were buried under a layer of dirt and sand. Some small green trees grew all over the place. I took notice of one of the buildings, which was one of the most intact ones I could see. It had green bushes poking out of some of the windows, as well as general greenery and vines occupying the outer walls of it. I took note of a large opening in one of its sides, which presented an entrance into the structure.
An idea started to formulate in my head. I tried to move my hooves inside the cuffs. They appeared to be loose, but I needed to confirm my suspicion. I slowly and silently wiggled my forehooves until I freed my left hoof from its shackle. They didn’t put them on tight enough! A victorious smile came over my face. I wiggled my right hoof out of the shackle just like the left one. I bet they didn’t anticipate someone with hooves as thin as mine. I used my forehooves to free my hindlegs from the shackles as well, trying to be as quiet as I could so that the captors stayed none the wiser to my intentions. The cart slowly approached the building I noted previously. I needed to be ready.
I looked back at the other captive ponies in the cart. I noticed they were all unconscious, unable to move. I can’t help them, I have to save myself. I felt a small pang of guilt and sadness in my stomach as I looked at the helpless victims. They had their own families too, their own lives to return to. What right did I have to just leave them to the mercy of these monsters? You can’t save them all. They’ll just be a dead weight. Save yourself. I tried pleading with myself, convincing myself I was making the right choice. I closed my eyes and sighed quietly. There was truly nothing I could do for them. I reopened my eyes and gave them one last glance of sorrow and sympathy. Then I slowly returned to my planning.
I peeked out from the cart again. We were close. I thought for a few seconds about the best way to approach the escape, my mind preparing itself and the body for what was to come. I remained still and waited for the right moment. When the cart was in just the right spot, I leapt out of the cart and to the left. Time seemed to slow down as I was mid-air. My pegasus instincts kicked in. I reached for the stallion’s sword with my hoof and guided it in his magical grasp to strike him square at the base of his horn. I used his back as a jumping platform as I hopped and landed on the solid ground. The unicorn collapsed to the ground, clutching his horn and screaming in pain as his comrades looked at him. They slowly redirected their gaze at me, too confused to act quickly enough. I galloped along the solid ground towards my goal, aiming for the opening in the ancient structure. I heard yelling and a hurried string of commands barked behind me. I ran inside.
Ancient buildings are dangerous, Cloudy. They were built hundreds of years ago, you could step in the wrong spot and fall to your death, or be crushed by a rock. I know you’re a curious little filly, but please just… stay far away from these places. They are cursed.
I looked around the room I found myself in. It was dark in here, the floor half-buried in sand and dirt. Some ancient furniture poked from under the layer of soil. I hurriedly made my way deeper into the building, following the twists and turns of the old world architecture, the voices of my captors echoing out behind me. Finally, I saw a staircase. Go down, they’ll never suspect that a pegasus would go down. I nodded at my own thought and fled down the staircase, into the darkness.
I passed a few flights of stairs. There were thick metal doors on each landing. I decided I could just hide in a random one and find a different way out. I stopped in front of one of the massive metal doors, looking for a way to open it. Finding a lever near the side of the door, I tried to push it up. To my surprise, it moved fairly easily and the door popped open with a gentle click. I hurried inside, making sure to close the door behind me, pushing the lever on the other side to reseal it, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding.
I turned around and looked at the room I found myself in. It looked like a spacious hall at first glance, before I realized I was in a corridor lined with rooms whose walls were made of glass. Glass walls? So much for privacy in the ancient times. I looked up at the roof, noticing a square pattern of a metal skeleton of what must have been the ceiling at one point. Most of it had crumbled away, but there were still some square tiles hanging between the metal framework they undoubtedly were meant to occupy. It felt cold down here, but my coat and the residual heat from the surface did a good job at keeping me warm. I slowly took a few steps forward, looking around for anything useful to my escape, only finding a couple of desks which had managed to rust into the floor, and a few rotten papers and folders on the floor. Nothing I can use.
I realized there was dim light down here. I was always told that the ruins were lifeless chunks of metal with no magic left in them, but there was clearly magic in here. Otherwise, there would be no light. My curiosity getting the best of me, I peeked into the rooms I was passing by as I walked along the corridor. Each one of them seemed to be made of three glass walls and one metal wall. Some of them had tables with chairs inside, while others had sorts of equipment I had never seen before in my life. I glanced into each and every room curiously, occasionally bumping my snout against the glass walls. I noticed that the doors had metal plaques on them. Most of them had oxidized with time; the text on them had become an unreadable mess. On some of them, I could still read numbers or individual letters, but none had anything I could piece together written on them.
I finally reached the end of the corridor. A metal wall with a sliding door in the middle of it stared back at me. The plaque on this door looked golden, and the letters looked pristine. I tried to read it, which was difficult in the dim light of the floor, but I managed to make out two words: “Director Horseshoe.” I tilted my head in confusion. Well, this “director” must have been important if he had such a nice plaque for himself! I pressed a button next to the door. With a loud screech, the pneumatics behind the door’s mechanism came to life and it slowly slid aside, presenting me with a spacious room behind it.
Suddenly remembering there were angry captors chasing after me, I hurried inside and was immediately assaulted by the smell of very stale air. The room had clearly not been visited by anypony in a very long time. I closed the door behind myself and took a look around. The room looked like an office with a metal desk in the middle of it and a big chair neatly tucked in behind the table. The walls looked like they may have had a nicer finish in the past, but it all had rotten away many years ago, leaving gaps which showed the bare metal surface underneath. I sneezed. A thick layer of dust coated everything in the room. I walked towards the desk and noticed what looked like a box and strange rectangular device next to it. I leaned and blew at the device and the box, causing the dust to take to the air. Another sneeze. Shaking my head a little bit, I took a better look at the mysterious rectangle on top of the table. I took it into my hooves and sat down on my flank to examine it. I poked my hoof against the shiny surface of the device. It came to life, and floating blue text formed in front of it. An ancient machine that served as a letter? I gave it a read.
To: Director Horseshoe
Subject: Successful test batch of MG-A72
Dear Director Horseshoe,
As you requested we have performed tests of our MG-A line with the parameters you sent us earlier today. This is phenomenal! The test results exceeded our greatest expectations. Speaking out of protocol, this thing was nuts! It left no trace of that concrete wall!
The results are fully within your specification, Director. The ground was barely damaged, while the target of our experiment was practically vaporized. I’m excited to see MG-A72’s performance in trickier situations, such as where magic shields are involved, or where they use the new fireproof panels they build houses from nowadays.
If everything works as you say it will, it will be a huge leap, a breakthrough I might even say. This will definitely put us at an incredible advantage in front of our competitors at Horizon.
Best regards,
Doctor Pink.
“MG… A? What?” I looked at the box I found. I got up, slowly reached for it with my hoof, and undid the latch which held the cover in place, lifting it to reveal the contents. Two small orbs which looked like magic grenades presented themselves to me. The crystals in them appeared unlike anything I had ever seen before, dim and almost lifeless. I reached into the box with my hoof to pick one of them up, rotating it for a better view. Upon examining the small orb, I noticed that the construction looked remarkably similar to a regular magic grenade, except for the crystal. I poked it a bit with my hoof. “Huh…”
An experimental magic grenade? I scratched the back of my head with my hoof. Is that what they were doing here? Developing weapons? But why aren’t there more of them here? I sure could use a weapon right about now… I took one more look at the magic grenade in my hoof. I suppose deep down I hoped for it to do something, anything, to let me piece together its mystery. It did nothing. It lay in my hoof motionless, ready for me to press the button and use it, just like any other grenade.
I hesitantly stashed it away in my tail. “Might need this later,” I muttered under my nose as I made my way further into the office, looking around for anything useful, spotting dusted and rotten paintings along the walls. “I wonder what these were supposed to be,” I said to myself as I approached one of them. I dragged my hoof along its surface, removing the dust. The paint, left to the mercy of time and worn down by the decades, crumbled and wiped away under my touch. Recoiling, I looked at the mixture of paint and dust on my hoof and wiped it against the wall, continuing my search along the walls of the room.
I peeked about in every shelf, every drawer, but all I seemed to find were poorly-preserved documents and books, as well as various pieces of scrap and ancient relics which were in no way useful to my current dilemma. If this is a weapons lab, then where are all the weapons? I trotted around the room in circles, making sure I’d searched it thoroughly, until I finally accepted defeat and simply stopped in the middle of the room, frustration building up in me. I let out a sigh. Focus on the task at hoof, Cloudy.
I looked back at the entrance to the office room. There was no way out of here apart from it. Not good. I looked up and noticed a ventilation shaft. This was my perfect escape. But getting to it with my wings clasped would be an issue. I reached for the clamps with my hooves, feeling around the metal. The shackles were tight around my wings, preventing any movement. Let’s see if the wiggle strategy would work for the second time. I used my hooves to help my wing along, but the piece of metal just would not budge. “Darn it…” I muttered to myself as I tried harder to wiggle my wing out of the clasp. Nothing. Almost punching my own wings out of frustration, I took one last look at them as if expecting the shackles to just magically fall off by themselves. Looks like I’ll have to find another way out.
I slowly approached the metal door and opened it once again, peeking out. Quiet. I reached further and slipped out of the office, making sure to leave the door closed behind me. Suddenly every room on the floor was illuminated brightly, and a booming synthetic voice spoke across the floor.
“PFFT- SAPIENT LIFEFORM- BZZZT- TED. OPERATING- BZZZZT- POWER.”
I looked around in shock and awe as the glass panels of every single room lit up and displayed red glyphs and letters. I looked at one of the glass walls. “Offline. Operating on emergency power. Restore main power,” I read out loud. I tilted my head once again in confusion. “Offline? Looks online to me,” I whispered to myself and slowly made my way through the corridor, glancing at the rows of similar red text. On some of the glass walls the text was barely readable, while on the others it looked fine. A bit of green among the row of red caught my eye. I trotted along the corridor towards it. I reached the green text and took a look at what the wall wanted to tell me. “Prof. Lucky, Physics and Engineering,” I read out loud again. I reached the glass wall with my hoof and touched it gently. The wall’s text suddenly changed into a longer paragraph, turning red in the process. I noticed a photograph of an elderly stallion wearing glasses to the left of the text. It looked lifelike, unlike any we had at home or in the old books.
Professor Lucky graduated from the most prestigious university in Canterlot, the CIT, earning his Ph.D. in the year 1036 and continued to make invaluable contributions to science in the areas of theoretical physics, magic-storing vessels and automation. Having made breakthroughs at Horizon Laboratories, Prof. Lucky j0z^3@ ou& team ^*-
I blinked a couple of times, poking the floating red text with my hoof. My hoof seemed to simply phase through it. I wonder what this professor achieved. Did he invent the magic grenades? I looked at the glass door leading into the room, gently pushing it open with my hoof and trotting inside. I looked around, spotting a plain metal desk in the middle. Unlike before, the desk had a square made of light above it, not unlike the texts I had witnessed on the glass walls. I trotted behind the desk and sat on top of the chair behind it. I took a better look at the square, which seemed to change into a simple sentence. “Please present your identification.” A small blue circle with an image of a horseshoe appeared beside the text. Looking at the circle in confusion, I leaned in to take a closer look at it.
The circle turned red as soon as the tip of my snout touched it. The text seemed to change into a more elaborate version of itself, “Please present your identification (horn, ID card, cipher key; ‘snout’ is not valid identification).” I blinked a couple of times, then my cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. I slowly reached the circle with my hoof and placed it against it. The circle turned blue and then red again. I read the new text. “No access. Please present your identification.” I tried putting my hoof against the circle again and got the exact same results. Scratching the back of my head with my hoof, I reached for one of the drawers under the desk, pulling it open. Maybe one of the drawers will have something more useful inside. It was empty. I opened the second drawer, which seemed to contain a small tubular device, similar in shape to a pen. I picked up the tube in my hoof and took a good look at it. It could have easily been mistaken for a pen if it wasn’t for the lack of a tip. I lifted the device close to the blue circle, and after a few seconds it turned green, “Welcome, Professor Lucky.”
The square of light changed, assuming a more prolonged, rectangular shape. A dozen or so strange glyphs made their way to it. I was confused, and I could not make sense of what any of these images meant. I took a closer look at them and recognized one of the glyphs as a simple question mark, so I touched it with my hoof. As soon as my hoof touched the surface of the rectangle, it immediately changed to display some different text.
Logged in as Professor Lucky.
AscendOS v1.09
Copyright © 1079, Ascendance Labs
>Log out
>Manual & Help
>Debug command prompt
>Close
I scratched the back of my head with my hoof again. I had no idea what any of this meant. I slowly, hesitantly, reached the “Manual & Help” button and poked my hoof into it. The rectangle was unresponsive for a few seconds. Then, all the text suddenly changed to a strange glyph, similar to the one I saw on the red glass walls, and a single word, “Offline.” I tapped the rectangle a few more times, but it seemed to stop responding to my pokes. Letting out a frustrated growl, I tried poking it with the pen-like device again, but it didn’t respond to that either. Sighing and accepting my defeat, I stuck the weird pen in my mane right behind my ear.
Suddenly I heard the lever to the heavy metal door move. Oh dammit, the captors! I forgot about them! I ducked under the desk, hearing the sounds of hoofsteps entering the floor. One of the captors, who I recognized as the unicorn from earlier, loudly barked orders to his comrades.
“Find her!” he yelled, as hoofsteps resonated across the floor. One of the slavers ran past the very room I was hiding in. I heard the sounds of glass shattering and doors falling onto the floor, being bucked right off their hinges. I curled up under the desk, shivering in fear as I checked the clamps around my wings one more time. They were still on just as firmly. Fuck me!
In a moment of panic, I looked around the room for any solution to my situation. I spotted a small red button on the wall with floating text above it which said FIRE in bright red lettering. Bingo! I slowly peeked out from my desk, noticing that the captors were busy searching around other rooms, not paying attention to the one I was in. I took a deep breath and leapt out from under the desk, punching the red button with my hoof. The lights suddenly changed color to red. The text on the glass walls disappeared, and the deafening roar of the fire alarm overpowered all other sounds. The same synthetic voice from earlier tried to speak again, only serving to add to the cacophony.
“PFFT- BZZZT- ALARM! ALL P- BZZZZZT- THIS IS NOT A DRILL! PFFFFT-”
Well, that’s not what I expected when I read FIRE, but I’ll take anything I can have.
“What in the hell is this all about?” yelled one of the slavers, clearly annoyed by all the noise. Suddenly, I felt a steady rain of water start to shower me from above the room.
“PFFFFT- FIRE SUPPRESSION BZZZT- EM!”
“What the shit is going on?!” yelled the unicorn.
“The hell if I know, I don’t see that bitch here,” yelled one of his comrades.
“Fucking cunt tried to distract us!” the unicorn sounded very angry at this point. “Find her, Luna-dammit, don’t just stand here like useless sacks of shit!”
I heard heavy hoofsteps running towards the door, leaving me alone with the sounds of dripping water, the roar of the fire alarm, and the synthetic voice. I sat behind the desk for a couple of minutes before peeking out. I couldn’t spot any slavers on the floor I was at. I relaxed and let out a breath of relief. Then I got up from my cover. I needed to find a way out. I couldn’t hide here forever.
I trotted into the corridor and took one last look behind, looking for anything I could use to remove those wing clamps. Not finding anything, I sighed and trotted towards the exit. I’ll find something to break the clamps with. And then I’ll fly far away from here… I thought as I trotted. I peeked from the exit door frame, looking up at the staircase to see if the captors had truly left. Looking up at my freedom.
“Gotcha.”
I heard a buzz like sound as intense heat pulsed from the back of my head. My vision quickly turned black. I didn’t even feel my body hit the floor.
The next thing I knew I felt disoriented and dizzy. I should stop getting knocked out so much in a single day. I was lying down on my side with my limbs shackled again. The shackles were fastened much tighter than before, so much so that I felt them dig into my fur and skin, painfully and uncomfortably. I guess that makes sense, now that they know what I am capable of. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself inside of a crudely built encampment. Walls made of sharp wooden pikes surrounded it. It’s like they deliberately tried their hardest to make the place scream ‘villain.’ I saw guard towers placed at regular intervals along the wall, with a few unicorns wielding throwing spears stationed on top of them. I was sure they were there to not let anything or anyone get in or out of the camp. I glanced at various contraptions along the walls. Barbed wire, pikes and other gruesome devices ensured that all of the poor souls who were unfortunate enough to be brought into the camp stayed in the camp. I gazed further, noticing wooden cages along the inner perimeter of the camp. Cages with dried blood smeared all over them. Probably the blood of countless captives unlucky enough to find themselves in one.
I turned to look at the middle of the camp. There was a large campfire with an intimidating looking metal cross standing up tall in the center of it. A scorched, charred body of a pegasus pony, having been tortured, crucified and burnt, was nailed to the cross and hanging from it helplessly. Probably a reminder to everyone who has any ideas. I saw a few pegasus slavers sitting around the fire, smiling and telling their own stories, completely ignoring the corpse in front of them, acting like it was nothing. Moving my eyes further along, I saw carts with slaves. Ponies were forced into lines and whipped and yelled at by slavers, captors showing no mercy to their victims. I noticed a griffon slaver among them, holding one of those ancient magic guns, talons fitting perfectly on top of the firing mechanism.
“Hey you!” a masculine voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “Get in line, slave!” I suddenly felt myself being yanked up by my mane and pushed in line with a sharp blow to my side, bumping into other captives accidentally, but managing to keep my balance and composure. I looked at the pony who pushed me, a rather pissed-off unicorn from the cart ride earlier. He glared back at me, the look on his face screaming pure contempt. I righted myself in the line, still looking around and assessing my situation. I took a glance at the line of the captives which I was in. Most were pegasi just like me, with a few earth ponies and unicorns here and there. All of them had defeated looks. I tried to keep myself together. I had to. If I slipped now, I was definitely a goner.
“Well, well, well,” a very deep, masculine voice sounded from the side. It somehow gave me shivers down my spine, a light cold sensation ran down my body in fear. The voice spoke slowly, very calculated and calm, yet authoritative and intimidating. I turned my head to the source of it, seeing a mountain of a green earth pony, a stallion larger than any other I’d ever seen. His entire body was covered in scars, and his muscles appeared hard as rocks. His hooves looked nothing short of two huge boulders, larger than my entire head; he could easily fit me between them and crush me like I was just some fruit. Gulp.
“Welcome,” he spoke loudly with his booming voice, “welcome to my fun park! Let me introduce myself, I am War Chief Brick, and you are all my property from this moment on until the day you die, slaves!” His voice sounded authoritative, commanding, and intimidating. Multiple ponies in line cowered and shrunk back as he spoke, and were promptly beaten and forced to stand straight by Brick’s henchmen. I stood my ground, merely looking around, analyzing my surroundings. There must be a way out…
“I will give you all an opportunity,” his voice boomed, as he closed his eyes and paced back and forth, “an opportunity to become faithful workers of the true order, and in return, you shall know you are serving the just cause. You will be given a chance to build a better world with us, together!” He stomped his hoof at the end of the sentence, eyeing the line of terrified captive ponies for any sign of defiance. Seemingly satisfied with his observations, he continued.
“However, I can’t help but notice a certain piece of filth among you.” He quickly approached the line, eyeing every single one of the ponies in it, before slowly stopping right in front of me, mere inches away from my face. His closeness made my legs feel as light as cotton, and my body shivered involuntarily. I could feel his breath against my fur as he finally broke the brief silence, angrily shouting right in my face. “You!” He placed his hoof onto my shoulder and yanked me hard, tossing me like a doll right in front of the line of captives. “Stand up!” he shouted right into my ear, not waiting for more than a couple of moments before screaming again. “Too slow!” he roared as he kicked me, punting me several feet to the side, sharp pain radiating from my barrel.
Despite all the pain I still had my willpower and spirit. As the last act of defiance I could muster, I stood up, and looked him in the eyes.
“Aren’t you something?” he said, letting out a short laugh. He pointed his large hoof right at me. “This filth tried to defy us, escape from her fate,” he looked at me with an expression on his face that screamed ‘death.’
I gulped.
“And you know what? We will give even this failure a chance at becoming a faithful worker.” He looked at me, smiling maliciously. “She shall be re-educated by me personally and set onto the right path.”
He approached me, grabbed me by my mane and lifted me up, the pain too much for me to handle silently as I let out a yelp, some small tears forming at the corners of my eyes.
“Look at this! Such a pathetic worm!” He tossed me aside again. I painfully impacted the ground, getting my fur soaked in mud and dirt. “But soon, even this worm will see the light…. Yes… I shall show her the way.” He looked at me again with a calm, stoic smile on his face, then gestured to his henchmen with his hoof. Two earth ponies approached me from either side. I wasn’t able to move my body in any meaningful capacity as they dragged me away from the main group.
Brick continued to lecture the other unfortunate souls, stomping his hoof and picking his next victim to be abused. I was dragged underground to what appeared to be a basement of sorts and down some stairs. I hit every single step on the way with my body or head. Soon enough, the war chief’s voice became nothing but an echo. I was thrown against the wall of the basement with a powerful shove. I looked up, trying to take in my surroundings, trying to find any means of escape, when suddenly one of the slavers bucked me square in the face, laughing.
“You little cunt! Nowhere to run now!” he yelled in my face as the other slaver pony shackled me to the wall. I tried to look up again only to be bucked in the face one more time, shattering a tooth. Blood started to pool up in my mouth. The pain had only just begun.
Two of them mercilessly gave me blow after blow to every single part of my body. A buck to the belly, a kick to the face, another buck to the side. I felt my bones shatter and agonizing pain shoot through my body. They showed no mercy. I screamed and cried, tears flowing down my cheeks as the beating never stopped. I pleaded, begged, but it only seemed to make them want to hurt me more. Then they opened my wings, undoing the clamps on them, letting my them spread far and wide. That’s when I felt pure agony shooting from my wing joints. They sent raw, white pain through my entire body, making me scream at a whole new level. They bucked my wings, then used their blades to cut my feathers, and moved on to the flesh and joints of my wings. They kicked and sliced, doing as much damage as their sadistic minds could possibly think of. They only wanted to hurt me, to maim me, to leave me nothing but a shadow of who I once was. They stripped me of my pegasus pride. My wings were reduced to nothing but a couple of pieces of sliced muscle, only attached to the body by the thin joints. At some point I must have passed out from the intense pain and shock. The next thing I remembered was two stallions staring at me with wide grins on their faces, as they gave each other hoofbumps and left the room. I closed my eyes again as my vision went unfocused and blurry.
My consciousness was still foggy. I knew I was hanging by the shackles from the wall, my entire body felt on fire with pure agony, muscles unable to move more than an occasional twitch. I hung there for what felt like hours, incapable of opening my eyes from physical and mental exhaustion. My body did its best to cope with the damage it had sustained, but I still felt everything. I felt my own blood slowly making its way down my cheeks, limbs and body. I couldn’t feel my wings anymore, not even the pain. The pain means you are alive. Does that mean I am becoming less alive? Whatever it was, it hardly mattered, considering the situation at hoof.
Awareness returned to me slowly. My thoughts gained shape, and I dared to open my eyes. The first thing I noticed was a decently sized pool of blood, my own blood, under myself as I felt weak and barely able to stay awake. Is all this… my blood? Oh dear Luna... My body tried to throw up. All it managed to do was cough up more blood from my punctured lungs, spitting it out, adding to the pool. Everything radiated excruciating pain, every part of my body. Even those parts I was sure were no longer attached to my body felt like they hurt like hell. I couldn’t move my hindlegs or my wings. Dear Luna, what did I ever do to deserve this… I slowly looked up, trying to see where I was, not giving up my hope, until I saw Brick sitting right in front of me, smiling softly, almost sadistically, as he examined my body. I felt a strong pang in my stomach as my hope shattered. I was done for.
“Not so brave now, are we?” he said in a surprisingly calm and collected voice, as he laughed softly, looking at me. He used his hoof to lift my head up to force me to look him in the eyes. I tried to say something, anything, but I just couldn’t force my jaw and tongue to move. “Let me show you your place,” he said in the same calm and collected manner. Then he moved his hoof away from my chin, letting my head return to its original position. He reached for my shackles, fondling them, and after a few clicks they fell to the ground. My limbs were no longer chained to the wall. I fell to the ground and onto my side, soaking in the pool of my own blood. I tried to move, but everything burnt in pure, raw agony.
Cloudy? Look at you, aren’t you a strong pegasus? Happy birthday, my dear, me and your dad will always love you more than anything! Now go and blow out your candles silly.
Memories flashed before me, some happy, some sad, reality started to fade away a little as every move was making me feel parts of my body I didn’t even realize existed The pain was beyond what I could possibly even comprehend.
Cloud Leap! I personally congratulate you on graduating the pegasus combat academy! You will go far. I’m sure of it.
Cloudy? Love? Is everything okay? You were talking about that job you were gonna take… are you sure it’s a good idea? Yes? Very well, but know that I love you more than anything… come back safe, okay?
Cloudy! How’s my big sis doing? Caravan? A piece of cake! I know you’ll chew right through and finally have enough to get that place you and Red talked about, yes?
I felt a strong, sharp pain radiating from my head. I got hit by a large hoof, reminding me when and where I was. I had drifted off into my own memories and stopped comprehending the situation I was in. I was getting yelled at by the large slaver.
“Get up!” Brick screamed into my abused ear.
I tried to get up, but my body didn’t want to obey my commands anymore, hindlegs refusing to make any move. Instead I ended up wiggling helplessly on the floor. The end seemed near, the situation desperate. I looked Brick right in the eyes, into his bloodshot red eyes. I smiled, tears flowing down my cheeks from all the pain, physical and mental, mixing with my own sweat and blood. He looked back at me, grinning maliciously, looking at me like prey. He picked me up and threw me on my belly onto a metal table. “I have one last lesson to teach you. To show you your rightful place.” He took a few steps towards me, looming over me from behind, his... smell making his intention clear.
MG-A72… not a single trace of a concrete wall. I let out a gentle laugh as a plan clicked together in my brain suddenly. My hoof shakily reached for my tail, going unnoticed by the large stallion. “What are you laughing at!?” Brick demanded, his voice growing increasingly angry. I kept giggling, finally feeling the metal orb in my tail. I squeezed it hard in my hoof, pressing the button on the side of its casing. I rolled onto my back as quickly as I could. I looked the large slaver right in the eyes from under him, smiling with a grin of my own. For a moment, my whole body felt normal again, I was ready to put an end to the true evil in front of my eyes, to the monster this pony had become.
“Fuck you,” I murmured, showing him the armed live magic grenade I had in my hoof, quickly pushing it against his chest and bursting into giggles. All of my memories and my entire life flashed in front of my eyes: family, friends, acquaintances... good moments, bad moments… all waving their goodbyes to Cloud Leap the Pegasus. A weird sense of peace came over me, enveloping my entire body like a warm blanket, helping me feel happy about the situation I was in. My wounds no longer hurt, my worries were no longer there, nothing mattered nearly as much anymore. I was fulfilled, simply happy I had protected my family and loved ones from hell. And then the grenade exploded.
I realized I was, in fact, somehow not dead. I slowly opened my eyes… or rather, the one eye which was still intact to look around me yet again. Nothing hurt anymore. The pain must have been so intense it stopped registering with my brain. Good for me. I looked at my body, or more precisely the bloody mess that once had been my coat, and then at the slaver. The large body of a formerly intimidating stallion had a huge crater in the middle of it, his facial expression permanently frozen in excruciating pain as he lay in a pool of his own blood and guts beside me. I killed him. I looked at the stump that remained in place of my right hoof, moving it a bit out of morbid curiosity. I suppose it could be worse. At least I still have a stump. I giggled a bit at my own thought. Clever, Cloudy, very clever. The explosion had cauterized the wound and prevented me from losing too much blood. I suppose there’s even luck in losing your limb.
I looked up and noticed that the basement ceiling had collapsed from the explosion. I lay half-buried under a pile of rubble. I smiled as I looked around, seeing slaves with broken chains around their hooves fighting their former masters, overpowering them, taking their weapons from them and fighting back, turning those spears and blades around. At the spearhead of the counter-charge was a blue pegasus stallion. He had no shackles around his hooves. I watched as he sliced one of the slavers with his wing blades, causing the black-and-red armored mare to collapse onto the ground, gasping for air as her throat gashed blood. The casualties seemed great on both sides, but the slaves were steadily advancing, driving their masters into a corner. The griffon had been overpowered by a strong earth pony stallion, who took her rifle and brought his own justice to the bird-like slaver. I closed my eye. This seemed to be a good moment to accept my fate and die peacefully.
A minute passed, then another. I wasn’t dying, and the pain started coming back to me. I moaned, agony pulsing through my entire body. Death is taking its sweet time, isn’t it… I heard, or rather, felt, the encampment being breached by a powerful explosion. Too weak to open my eye, I just kept lying there and smiling, hoping the victory was on our side, whichever side it was. I felt somepony place their hooves on my remaining limb and gently start pulling me up from the rubble. I opened my eye weakly and looked at the pony who was dragging me, his… no, her body appearing more like a blurry mess in my vision. A grey pegasus with a blue mane? I could have sworn I’d seen her before… somewhere, sometime. She looked to her left and yelled something to her partner, an orange unicorn who was very focused on levitating a magic rifle and firing it at the slavers, sending them up in flames. Huh, neat. I was losing consciousness again. Somehow, the company of this grey pegasus mare was giving me the peace I needed to just let go, let go for real, so I just smiled, and whispered my last remaining thought:
“Thank you.”