First Come First Burn

=Sunset Shimmer=

“DUCK AND COVER YOUR MOUTH!!!”

I jumped up with a startled yell, awaking from unconsciousness. The last thing I remember was Silas discovering Donna for the fraud she was. Secret agents are never far from aliens or other unexplained happenings, so I’m rather surprised that she-or any of her colleagues- hadn’t found us sooner.

It’s just not fair. I was supposed to be the one who introduced him to the world. He was supposed to be my friend, but she was taking him from me and he was letting her! I’ve waited six years for a miracle like this to happen! Silas is the only one who really matters to me in this world, since my mother and father were only concerned about using my magic to help further their stature in Canterlot. I was nothing but a marionette to them, and I helped them knowing that.

I’m weak, even though I was under the tutelage of Princess Celestia herself. I had always entertained myself with the notion that other sentient life existed, far above and beyond the limited reach of the Equisian minds. My world was consumed with astrology and higher sciences dealing with space and galaxies. In time, I became the largest personality in Canterlot with my field of study, and many ponies came to me for expert advice on space and all that lies within its confines.

I was seven.

But, my parents didn’t approve of my passion; and since I was but a little kid, I changed myself in order to find comfort with them again. I was enrolled in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and in time, became the Valedictorian of my school year’s students. It only made sense for Princess Celestia to quickly take me under her wing-literally-and teach me personally.

I crushed every lesson she threw my way, adding her knowledge to mine and even using it to secretly continue my passion for the unknown. I remember when I was fifteen and Princess Celestia walked in on me while I was outside on her balcony.

It was midnight, if I remember it well enough, and I had been crying while stargazing. I was crying because my parents would never accept my dream of discovering new life in the galaxy. I had gotten a letter during the morning that they were proud of me for being Princess Celestia’s student. But if you really read the meaning behind that statement, it meant that they were proud of what I became and not who I am. They never liked Sunset Shimmer the Stargazer who’s Always Happy. They like Sunset Shimmer the Faithful Student of Princess Celestia.

I looked behind me to see Princess Celestia without her royal trinkets on, scanning my face with a look of concern. She asked me what was troubling me enough to not sleep, and I answered her to the best of my ability, crying all the while. By the end of my tale, I had somehow found myself in a warm hug from the Princess herself, a scowl written across her face. It chills me-her face that is-to this day, and no matter what I do, I can’t seem to eject that look of pure disappointment and anger from my head.

“Stop staring off into space and help us.” I turned my head to look at quite the peculiar sight. It was a Diamond Dog, but she was shackled and chained up. Spending some time outside of Equestria, I came to know that the diamond dogs were notorious slavers and would kidnap ponies, griffins and minotaurs should they be careless enough to allow it to happen. “You’re gonna make the Alphas angry if you cause our group to give less than their quota.” She also seemed pretty irritated with me as well.

“Huh...uh what?” I gave a mighty yawn, making sure to cover my mouth with a hoof as not to appear rude. I was still pretty dazed from waking up IN A TUNNEL!!?? WHERE THE HELL AM I!!??

The diamond dog in front of me seemed to see my reaction, so she hastily put a large paw over my mouth after squatting down to get to my height. I screamed with my eyes closed, but when I only heard the muffled version I stopped.

“Calm down! I know waking up in the mines is a horrible experience, but believe me when I say that screaming is the second worst thing you could do.” She whispered harshly, making me sweat as she removed her hand from my mouth.

The diamond dog was dirty, so most of her white paw, eye and jaw fur was covered. Her green eyes shone through the layers of caked filth and grime. She reminded me of the pet husky I owned when I was a kid and still lived with my parents. She has a soft face, and if she didn’t have the massive arms like all diamond dogs, I would’ve mistaken her for one of those Felines I’ve been hearing about in the pub that lives in the Great Rainforest back on the Main Continent.

She seems like an okay girl, but you can never be too careful. Especially around diamond dogs.

“Alright I’m calm...ish. So where are we anyway?” I asked with genuine confusion, to which she pointed at the ground underneath me. I looked down and saw an iron pickaxe, which had old bitemarks in the wood and a couple of chips in the metal. I looked back up at her with a frown on my face. “And you’re showing me this why?”

She facepalmed and slowly dragged her claw down her dirt-covered face.

“You use a pickaxe to dig, idiot. As I’ve said, you need to stop staring off into space and dig a hole into the side of this wall; so you can find gems, of course. A group of three or five slavers should be walking past this point in the tunnel any minute now, and I don’t wanna be sent to The Podium because of some dumbass pony who doesn’t know how to dig!” And with that, the female went back to digging with her massive paws.

I scowled at her but did nothing more. She’s almost six feet tall-give or take-and she practically dwarfs any pony save the Princesses themselves. I’m only four-feet-two-inches tall, and i’m willing to bet that the slavers...Yep, they found something that can cancel my magic. Curses!

I looked down at the worn pickaxe, shuddering at the clear indications of mouths being used on it. As in more than one. I bet they don’t even wash the things! I steeled myself, putting on a topsy-turvy face of bravado and picked the pickaxe up the only way I know how.

With my mouth.

I retched when I noticed that the handle was still wet, but I kept it quiet enough so that no one could hear.

Well almost no one.

“The hell are you doing, pony!?” The bitch-as in the technical term for a female dog and not the curse word-whispered harshly at me. I made to answer her, but she stopped me by talking again. “The slavers will be here any second now! Quit your bellyaching and get to work!” She seems very concerned for my safety, which is nice but annoying at the same time. I’m a grown mare and I can take care of myself!

Once again I found myself calming the anger building inside of me, bringing it back down to nominal levels before I exploded into bits and pieces of fury. I turned my attention back to the wall in front of me, pickaxe still in my mouth. One of my weaknesses is that I’ve never had to do any manual labor without the use of my magic. That’s right; I’ve done everything with magic since I was small, which is why it’s so potent and powerful now.

Which is also why it came as no surprise that I couldn’t lift the pickaxe from the ground. I grunted and strained, but only succeeded in tilting the handle into awkward angles and hurting my teeth a little. After giving one more tug, I gave up. There’s no way I’m lifting this thing without my magic, and these slavers are going to have to deal with it.

The sound of jingling keys stopped right behind me, only becoming rustles now. I turned around and stared into the brown eyes of a huge male diamond dog, who was wearing a tophat and suit with white undershirt and black tie. No shoes, but his walking cane-even though he looks perfectly healthy-was ordained with a diamond shaped...pony head?

Oh clop me on the moon.

“And why, pray tell, aren’t you working Unicorn? I’ve even set you up with the best slave in my warren, so that you can’t fall behind in meeting your quota. Has she not been doing a good job in getting you better acquainted to your new life down here?” He casted a glance of disappointment towards the female that was working beside me.

She had stopped digging and slowly turned her face to gaze upon both me and the slaver.

“B-Boss Dreggen!? H-How are you doing today?” The female voice, that was once gruff with authority, had now shrunk down to schoolgirl whispers. Her body was shaking as Dreggen eyed her curiously with a knowing smirk on his face.

“I was doing fine until I came here. It seems neither of you have been successful in finding any gems since you’ve been down here. Do you know what this means, Diamond?” Dreggen’s smirk blossomed into an evil, toothy smile that was only amplified by his height above the diamond dogs behind him and his clothes.

I think I know where this is going...

“We’re going to The Podium?” I asked with a wince, to which he looked at me with widened eyes. He then bust out into full on laughter, turning and falling as one of his guards held him up with burly paws as he continued his guffaws. This continued for about a minute before he regained his composure and regarded both Diamond and I with that evil smile of his.

“The Podium? Ha! An honest to rock knee-slapper, that one! But no. You are not going to The Podium.” He closed his eyes and gave a warm smile at me, to which I relaxed at by letting out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. I cast a look at Diamond, only to see her visibly sweating and breathing swiftly. Something was scaring her.

“The Podium is for those who refuse to do any work whatsoever, silly filly. You two have bought and all-expenses paid trip to The Rough! But, since it only has a limit of one occupant of at a time, you’ll be swapping in and out for a day!” Dreggen’s warm smile evaporated too quick for comfort as he growled at the both of us.

“Enjoy your stay.” He finished darkly as he tapped the bottom of his cane twice upon the dirt and rock covered ground, turned on his heels, and began walking down the tunnel from whence he came.

The guards, however, took to wrestling Diamond and I from our wall-chains and locked us up in neck manacles attached to chains. They put more stuff, like handcuffs and shackles, around Diamond’s hands and feet so that she couldn’t retaliate with her monstrous strength. We were then poked and prodded with cruelty by arrowheaded spears, which were made quite raggedly. If used in an actual battle, they would be as useful as toothpicks against the iron plates of the Royal Guard.

As Diamond and I were escorted through the torch-lit tunnel, I could begin making out more slaves. They were chained in twos, with slavers whipping the ones who had fallen down due to either exhaustion or stubbornness. The difference between the two was discernible, and if it was the latter, then the slaves would continue to be whipped as they worked on the walls. Blood and dirt draped this tunnel like a heavy smog. The smell nauseated me and my steps through the blood-splattered tunnel became tentative and heavy with doubt.

I don’t know what The Rough is, but by the way Diamond is shaking her head and talking to herself quietly, I can tell it’s a place I want to know about.

“Diamond?” I whispered to the female dog walking next to me. She stopped talking to herself immediately and threw a death glare at me. I cringed, but I still had a question to ask. “What’s is The Rough?”

The guard on my left laughed as our group made a right, bringing us to the tunnel entrance. Dreggen was waiting for us, eyeing Diamond with a knowing smirk. Once we made it to him, he shoved the guard who laughed back with his cane and opted to continue the journey next to me.

Diamond bit her lip as we exited the tunnel and came face to face with one of the most spacious chamber I’ve ever seen.

“What in th-”

“That, my dear, is The Podium. It’s a thimble-shaped spire of rock that towers forty feet from the ground and has a smooth top. On the top of the spire is the infamous hand and leg locks, which snap shut to keep the trespasser nice and comfortable. Two weeks with little food and no bathroom privileges. Plus, there’s a large shard of glass that’s been shaped to funnel sunlight into a harmful beam. My brother, Otto, was the one who came up with the design.” A prideful smile adorned his face as he continued.

“The beam is used to burn through the body slowly, engraving a tick mark on their chest. A transgressor has a limit of ten tick marks. At the first five, we hold one of his or her eyes open and let the sun take care of the rest. At the second five the other eye is lost. Accumulate one more transgression and...Oh! That’s right!” He tapped his cane on the ground twice, making two of the burly guards escorting Diamond and I to come forward and drop to a knee.

“A minotaur by the name of Bellesh has been remarkably stubborn as of late. He’s been the second one in the history of Granite Podium to accumulate more than ten tick marks on his chest! You ladies get to watch how everything works personally! Isn’t that fun!?” He asked Diamond and I with a manic look on his face. I tentatively nodded while Diamond widened her eyes in what looked like fear.

“Great! Now if you two would be dears and follow me to and up the steps, I’ll be more than happy to reduce your stay in The Rough by twelve hours!” Diamond looked about ready to run up those steps as he said that, which only made my doubts and fears pertaining to this ‘Rough’ more potent.

Our group walked up to the tall spire and found the steps carved into the face of it. They were arranged like the steps you would see in Princess Celestia’s throne room, and I counted a total of thirty before we reached the apex. Just like Dreggen said, there was a dark-brown furred minotaur with no eyes locked into the top of The Podium by four black rings connected to little black squares of iron in the ground. These squares were bolted down, which meant that this minotaur wasn’t going anywhere.

“Is that you, Dreggen!? I can smell your cowardice from a mile away!” Bellesh yelled out as he struggled against his clasps. “I can smell the smugness on you too! Making me blind only served to heighten my other senses!” He laughed victoriously while Dreggen chuckled and pulled his tophat with white stripe down to cover his eyes. He kept his hand on the rim.

“The poor fool’s gone mad.” He mocked as he chuckled briefly before his face became cold again.

“Torch him.” Dreggen tapped his cane on the ground twice again, but this didn’t bring forth any guards that were following us. This brought a tiny sliver of sunlight down from the ceiling, making me turn my head up to get a better look.

The ceiling was actually way up high. I couldn’t see anything accept for many criss crossing rope bridges and alcoves where diamond dog guards, dressed in plates of raggedy iron, sat and looked on with killer smiles on their faces. You’d have to be an idiot to miss the longbows on their shoulders.

The sunlight was coming from the center of the ceiling, which was nothing but a huge piece of glass obscured with a retractable and rotatable piece of circular-shaped stone. A hole was cut into the stone, which was rotated so that the sunlight from the glass above the stone shone through in a small beam.

It landed square on some bramble underneath Bellesh, directly between his legs. I watched in horror as the dry wood and leaves started catching fire.

He’s in a fire pit!

Bellesh’s pained hollers reverberated through the room as he was suddenly given an impromptu baptism in flames. All you could see was his hulking form writhing in pain as the fire consumed his fur and mane but stuck to his body like glue. The heat was immense, making everyone in our party-save Dreggen-winced as the hollers continued. There was only red, orange and white.

About ten minutes in, Dreggen tapped the ground two times with his cane again. Some guards came over with buckets of dirt and doused the flame.

I turned my head and vomited when the smell and sight of charred flesh met my face. I stayed vomiting for about five minutes, until there was nothing left to vomit but spit and acid. Everything I had eaten for breakfast was splattered on the ground as bile. After coughing once or twice to get it all out of my system, I looked up only to come face to face with Dreggen.

“That, my dear, is The Podium.” He stood back up to his full height, and I could see now that he was about a two inches taller than the normal diamond dog. I looked at Diamond and saw the same thing. That must mean she’s a- “And now that the show is over, I’ll be taking you two to The Rough personally. Try to be on your best behavior.” He finished with a smile as he walked past us and down the steps, no doubt waiting for Diamond and I at the bottom.

The guards that were escorting us earlier are now seeing to the removal of the charred corpse. I gagged when I noticed a guard sneakily snap a finger off and put it in his mouth.

Disgusting.

“Let’s go. We don’t want to keep Dreggen waiting. He hates waiting.” Diamond’s authoritative voice shook me from my stupor. I nodded in agreement and walked towards the stairs with her. As she descended, I casted one look back at the corpse being tossed over the opposite side and gave a silent prayer of tranquility.

No one deserves to go out like that. If only I had my magic, I could’ve saved him. But life is made up of ‘Could haves’ and ‘What ifs’.

I shook my head and descended the steps, meeting up with Diamond and Dreggen below.

“Dia-mond Dogs! Di-a-mond Dogs~! Living underground in a world of thunder! Dia-mond Dogs! Di-a-mond Dogs~! Do you think we care ‘bout the pain you’re under~~!” Dreggen sang merrily as Diamond and I tagged along beside him. She was flanking the Alpha on the left while I was on the right.

“This guy’s insane! He just executed someone and he’s putting on a *show*!? What a nutjob!” I thought worriedly. Walking next to someone as mentally unstable as Dreggen was putting my nerves on edge. Diamond seemed uncomfortable as well.

On our way to The Rough, I was shocked to see the sheer size of this warren. There had to be at least five hundred slaves here. These dogs had even captured foals and were using them as slaves! And for those who weren’t strong enough to work, well, they became lunch for the guards.

Dreggen explained to us that the slaves used his improvised version of the “buddy system”. The key to not being harmed in Granite Podium was to turn out your quota of gems. The quota was based on your physical prowess and race. So let’s say, for example, that you’re a minotaur. Your quota would be, just on your lonesome, five pounds of gems. Rarity plays a big part in it, but Dreggen didn’t really go into that much detail.

Diamond’s quota was ten pounds of gems, regardless of rarity. When I told Dreggen that her quota wasn’t fair, he laughed at me; as in, he put his big pointer finger in my face and laughed.I then learned that Diamond was actually the alpha of an old warren that Dreggen and his brothers crushed. I also learned why Diamond has innate fear of him.

Dreggen, in order to become the Alpha of Diamond’s pack, not only defeated her in combat; he ate her pups, in front of her face. That’s right. She was forced to watch him kill and eat her children. When his tale was finished, Dreggen laughed as if it was the greatest accomplishment ever while Diamond shed a couple of tears and pulled an invisible litter of pups into her bosom.

I shed a few tears as I walked around Dreggen and nuzzled her leg. She gave me a warm smile in thanks.

After about five more minutes of walking, Dreggen stopped and smiled. In front of us was a square piece of rock with one hole inside of it. There was no door.

“Well here we are ladies...The Rough! I do hope yo-”

“What is it, exactly?” I asked with a hint of fear. Dreggen seemed outraged that I interrupted him, but put on a smile as he squatted down and locked eyes with me. His left eye was a pinprick while his right eye was normal. His smile reeked of madness and perverseness.

“The Rough?” He asked to which I nodded. He stood up and smiled at me knowingly. I shivered in response. “Tell me, my little unicorn, are you familiar with the term...Gloryhole?”