The Legend of the Sapphire Cave

I woke up with a headache. That was new. I put a hoof over my head, knowing it wouldn't do anything to help the pain, but it made me feel a little better about it. Hoping it was just dehydration, I groped around with my other foreleg for my canteen, but found nothing but cold metal on the floor beside me.

That wasn't right at all. I opened my eyes, squinting against my headache more than the dim, blue lighting. I was surrounded by iron bars. This is bad, I thought. A quick glance up and down confirmed I was shut inside a metal cage. This is very, very bad! How had I not noticed being moved? I quickly charged a spell, preparing to teleport myself back to the cave entrance.

Nothing happened. No glow from my horn, just inside my peripheral vision; no teleportation, nothing. Well, my headache did get about two times worse. I moaned in pain and tried to bury my head in my hooves. There must have been some magic-draining spell in effect, or something of the sort. I'd read about them, but I thought the headaches were supposed to be minor.

"You're awake?" somepony said. The voice was low for a mare, but still a mare's. There was a brief shuffling of hooves, and I looked up. Against the light stood a heavy-set silhouette. "Welcome to hell, newbie."

"That," I said, pointing up at her with my right forehoof, "is not funny."

"Nope, it ain't." She did something with one hoof on top of the cage. "Now, before I let you out, you got to know the rules. One, you take orders from me, or a supervisor if one's around. Two, you don't never talk back. Three, you don't make no small talk. Period."

"That's ridiculous!" I nearly shouted, indignant. Then her hoof came down hard on the cage, rattling the whole metal structure and intensifying my already-terrible headache. "AUGH!"

"That's for back-talk. I won't be so gentle next time," the mare said. "Anyways, suit yourself. You come out when you're ready to work."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

I estimated two hours had passed since I was left on my own. I'd tried yelling a few times - first for help, then just for attention - but nopony had come, so I had spent the time thinking. After calming myself, I'd been distracted from planning an escape by the cave I was in. The nook in which I'd been placed wasn't much bigger than my cage, which itself wasn't quite large enough for me to stand. In front of me was a small passage leading off to the right somewhere; the dim light seemed to be refracted through thousands of basketball-sized gems from whatever its original source was. I could hear the occasional shout in the distance somewhere, but I couldn't tell exactly which direction it was coming from.

Plans for escape relied on a lot of speculation. My friends I had left in Ponyville, the Princesses and Elements were still in Canterlot, and my saddlebags - wherever they were - only had basic supplies. I'd have to work with whatever I found here, and the only thing I knew for sure was that I was expected to work, implying a lot of slave labor (I'd have to tell Celestia about this abomination when I got home; all my history books had suggested slavery was completely abolished everywhere). The mare who'd talked to me referenced supervisors like she wasn't one herself, so I suspected she was some sort of head slave, responsible for organizing others but still completely subservient to whomever the labor was for - probably a mad pony or some greater power, as happened in the Crystal Empire. I likely wouldn't be able to get anything useful out of her - she couldn't have been put in that position for disloyalty. That meant any information or assistance would have to come from any other slaves I came across. I would need to either find some sort of map or guide to the surface, or run uphill where possible and hope. I also wanted to figure out what was stopping me from using magic. Without it, I was just a weak pony with a horn, and that made me feel naked.

I must have dozed off at some point. The next thing I knew was the same silhouette banging on the bars of the cage, though thankfully, my headache had somewhat subsided.

"Hey! Water ration," she said, pushing a small tin cup between the bars. I tried to take it telekinetically, but that made my head hurt, and I grasped it with my hooves instead.

"Thank you," I said reflexively, before drinking. I wasn't particularly grateful, considering the circumstances, but at least going through the motions wasn't a bad habit to have.

"Aw, shut up." I could tell by her tone she wasn't used to politeness. I thought that maybe there was a way to get to her after all, but she hardened again fast. "Now give back that cup. I came to tell you it's dinner time, and 'cause you don't work, you don't eat. I'll be back in the morning, and you better make sure you change your mind by then. Working on an empty belly ain't fun."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

In the end, it took me another day and a half to swallow my pride and promise to follow the rules (I wished my belly could count that as eating). I wasn't used to fasting like this, though, and was trembling with hunger when I was finally let out of my cage. The slave in charge practically force-fed me some kind of gnarled mushroom so I could work, then led me out through a maze of twisting little passages, all different.

"I'm in charge," she explained. "I'm Zero. If somepony asks who told you to do your job, you say it was me." While I walked the cramps out of my legs I glanced over her, the first good look I'd had as she'd always been back-lit. She was a larger mare than myself, heavily muscled and both tall and bulky, with a sea-green coat and white mane and tail. It took me another moment to recognize what seemed off about her, at first: she was a crystal pony. Not one of the happy, clear ones liberated from King Sombra - she was almost completely opaque. She didn't even have a cutie mark.

"Now I don't care what your name was, newbie. You're Eighty now, and you better remember that, 'cause that's what I'll call for you by." That was disconcerting. In some of the darker books I'd read, substituting something else for somepony's name was a good way to help destroy her sense of identity. I realized I would likely be dealing with multiple levels of manipulation and coercion and gulped, knowing I'd already succumbed to the food deprivation approach. Maintaining identity and dignity while trying to escape was going to be a serious challenge, though I could think of an immediate counter.

My cutie mark, a symbol of myself, of any pony's self. For me, it was even more important - it was the same violet six-pointed star as the Element of Magic. I wasn't exactly sure what the similarity meant, but I knew for certain I could rely on the mark to remind me: I am Twilight Sparkle. I am Celestia's personal student, bearer of the Element of Magic. My destiny is bound to the Elements and my friends. I can -

"You have two words to say to me, newbie. 'Yes' and 'ma'am.' Y'understand?" I quickly nodded.

"Got it." She hit me in the shoulder, hard enough that I slammed against the wall of the passage we were in, and pinned me there.

"Try again," she growled in my face.

"Yes ma'am!" I stammered. She released me, and we returned to walking. I caught myself favoring my left shoulder, and forced myself to move normally. It was sore and going to bruise, but I knew it wouldn't recover as well if I didn't keep working it.

"One more thing. Stay away from Five. Ruby stallion, brown agate mane. He's mine. You can sleep around all you want - " I cringed at the mere thought " - but you make one move on him, and one morning, you ain't waking up." Her tone was casual, but I didn't let that fool me.

"Yes ma'am." Like I would do anything of the sort, I wanted to add. I wasn't Rarity, but I still knew certain things a proper mare just doesn't do.

"Good. Now today, you work in the garden. Ain't no sense giving heavy work to a newbie pussy as you. Forty-Four'll tell you what needs doing." We stopped outside a large cavern. Looking inside, I could see the rocky floor I'd expected was actually covered with soil. And it reeked. I covered my nose, and Zero laughed. "Newbies, ha! The smell gets you every time. Now get!" She swatted my flank for emphasis, which I did not appreciate. Still, I had to put up with this place until I learned enough to get my magic back and escape. I headed in, trying not to breathe through my nose.

I made my way past several ponies - mostly mares, and like Zero, they were all opaque crystal ponies without cutie marks - who appeared to be tending to beds of various kinds of fungus, before realizing I had no idea which one I was supposed to be looking for. That was fine; slave labor wasn't exactly on my very short list of hobbies. I'd have to get to it at some point, but with nopony paying me much attention, I could probably poke around and maybe try talking to somepony.

"Hey! Newbie!" Or not.

"Uhm, yes?" I turned towards the voice. It turned out to belong to a powerful brown stallion with a blonde mane and, notably, he actually had a cutie mark - it was one of the flatter mushrooms I could see growing in various places. His build kind of reminded me of Big Macintosh, though he was just slightly smaller.

"I'm Forty-Four, and I get to put all the newbies through the wringer."

"Um, you mean show us the ropes, right?" I said, trying to force a smile.

"Nah," he said with a hearty chuckle. He sounded so genuine and friendly - I might've liked him, under less evil circumstances. "I'll run you into the ground, newbie, and you'll thank me for it."

He really did. My job was simple enough - I just had to carry around a couple of large buckets on a yoke and collect mushrooms from the ponies who were harvesting - but between the weight of the yoke, the relative heaviness of the mushrooms (which made no sense to me, mushrooms don't have a lot of water in them or anything), and having starved for two days, I was worn out in under an hour. My legs simply collapsed under me and refused to work. Forty-Four was next to me, laughing, in no time.

"Dang, newbie. You unicorns sure don't waste any time pussying out. I thought you all was supposed to be magic and powerful and shit." He laughed again, then shrugged. "Well, I guess you get to learn harvesting. Come on." I was trying to get out from under the yoke and follow him, but he just grabbed my tail in his teeth and dragged me through the dirt. I was unable to get to my feet or protest enough for him to let go, so I settled for glaring death at everypony we passed. After nearly ten minutes of this, he finally dumped me at a mushroom bed. The yoke I'd just left behind was right next to it.

"What is wrong with you?!" I yelled, scrambling to my hooves. He laughed again at my scowl.

"Thought you should meet everypony, new - "

"I have a name!"

"I don't care!" he yelled right back, without missing a beat. He must have been in charge of the new ponies for a while. He continued with his usual tone and smile, "Far as I'm concerned, your name is Stuck Up Mushroom-Picker, and it's my job to take out that stick. Now pay attention, 'cause this is everypony's dinner.

"You get to harvest this whole bed. There's stalk under the dirt for about an inch, and you'll want that too. You dig into the dirt with your nose and uproot the whole thing. And trust me, you short anypony by not picking right, and your hide pays for it." He demonstrated the digging technique once while I tried not to drill holes in his face with my glare. I had to keep telling myself it wasn't his fault, he's a slave too, I shouldn't take it out on him, there are better ways to handle this -

"Now get to work. I eat your food ration if you don't finish it all." He wandered off to "talk to" somepony else, and I turned my glare to the dirt. It sat there, stinking, but my belly interrupted the staring contest with a gurgle that decided the winner. I sighed and got to digging, combating the stench that nearly made me gag with the reminder that this was for food.

Got it the first time! I thought proudly. Then I frowned. Why should I be proud of this? It was slave labor. I was slave labor, as much as I didn't like the thought. I resolved not to get so involved with my assigned work, and looked around for the mushroom I'd uprooted. Somepony must've taken it while I was busy thinking. I was just burying my nose under the next mushroom - and stopping myself from gagging - when the first one showed up again, falling off the tip of my horn. Oh. The speared mushroom fell to pieces when I tried to move it to the side to start a pile. That was disappointing, but it gave me a brilliant idea.

I had the whole bed dug up and was lost in my own thoughts by the time Forty-Four came to check on me again.

"The hay?" His face was as surprised as his tone, and both seemed a first for him.

"Not bad for a newbie?" I did my best to mimic his voice, which he frowned at. Then I pointed to my horn, which I'd had time to scrape most of the filth from. "It turns out a horn's better for digging than a nose, and it smells less, too!" I could feel a proud smile on my face, and immediately swallowed it. I'm doing it again...

"I don't like your tone, newbie." His tone, going from conversational to flat with a hint of anger, was all the warning I got before he bit into my tail and started dragging me again.

"Oh come on!"