True Punishment

“There's nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you've been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.”

― Dave Barry

The young stallion had a spring in his step, and he was right to have such a thing. A young colt of 23 years he had just been promoted to manager of the Hayburger he had been working as a fry cook at for 5 years. Now he was the boss, he had control, he was running the joint! Under the fast food franchise’s board of course but nonetheless he was the boss now.

He skipped all the way home ignoring the stares and giggles he got from his fellow city dwellers as he headed inside the apartment building and made his way to the elevator, pressing for the third floor button. As the door closed and began to ascend he started getting himself ready to call up his online marefriend in Manehattan and tell her all about his success while of course stretching out a few details to improve his odds with her.

“Here we go!” with a grin on his face he pulled out his phone and started dialing her number ready to tell her the news.

As he pressed green send button on his phone a hard blunt object made contact with the back of his head with the echo of a loud thud and a crack of the skull as he dropped like a rock to the floor. He dropped his phone to the tile floor with the screen facing upward to the assailant as it continued to ring to try and reach the call recipient.

As the ringing stopped the static voice of the Manehattan mare can be heard to the assailant. “Hello? Azure are you there? Baby?”

She continued asking for him before the masked assailant picked up the phone and stared at it for some time before hitting the “end call” button and put the phone into their pocket taking it as their own. They then picked up the knocked out and bleeding earth pony and stopped the elevator one floor below the requested one.

Hours passed, afternoon became the late night as the many church bells spread around the city rang out to signify it was now midnight to those home. But to the rest of the city it was merely 9PM. Police sirens and the flashing lights were all too common here as 3 cars and a single ambulance were parked outside the apartment building belonging to the young stallion named Azure. The security guard noticed the scene taking place inside the elevator via the security cameras inside the car and quickly called the police once overcoming the shock of the scene. Once the police arrived they looked over the crime scene on the elevator only having the trail of blood to go on. As they continued trying to piece the scene together their thoughts were disrupted by the sound of a large crash coming from outside accompanied by the scream of a frightened rookie officer as they backed away from the cruiser with a crushed hard top. The detectives sent inside to examine the blood with the forensics team came rushing outside at the sound of the crash with the alarm blaring loudly as it drew the attention of bystanders walking by the scene.

There in the hard top roof of the car was the body of the young stallion from the elevator, now embedded into the caving in roof. The lead detective stepped forward taking off his coat and put it over the dead stallion’s body as he looked up to the sky seeing nothing but Luna’s half-moon and her stars, he cursed under his breath as he walked away from the bloody sight as the paramedics and forensic team rushed over to the crushed in car.

“Sir?” the mare officer asked her as she looked up to her boss already knowing when he was upset being under him for a few years.

He stayed in silence as he rubbed his eyes with his index finger and thumb with a quiet groan. He looked down to his subordinate and kept his voice low just for, “This was no suicide.”

He ended it there and walked back to his car and got inside putting the air on, the cool air blew into his face through his fur and he inhaled deeply and exhaled just as deeply needing to get away from the familiar feeling he was having creep up on him.

“Celestia dammit all…”

“The day of my birth, my death began its walk, it’s walking to me without hurrying.” ― Jean Cocteau

*TWO HOURS EARLIER*

After the initial blow to the head by the masked assailant the stallion only known as Azure would find himself continuously going in and out of consciousness getting only a blurred image of where he was going.

Once he had awoken fully his mind was fuzzy with what had transpired beforehand. Once his blurred vision had improved and he could make out where he was, he saw he was truly nowhere. His eyes needed to continue to adjust before he could finally make out two outlines of two figures that slowly approached him as his brain started kicking into gear. Once he felt it all snap into place he tried moving but found himself bound to an old wooden chair by layers of rope around his chest pressing on his chest causing his rips some pain with his wrists and ankles kept down with a combination of cuffs and more rope keeping him in place no matter how much he struggled.

His eyes were kept shut as he continued to struggle praying he would be able to slip from his bindings. A flick of a switch was heard and suddenly there was light on him. He winced from the feeling as his eyes hadn’t been in contact with any sort of light for a unknown amount of time, as he squinted his eyes he slowly started to adjust to the light till finally he could see the shadowy silhouettes of the figures as they light shined in from above.

“Looks like you didn’t do too much damage this time around L.” the shorter of the two said as he looked at Azure grabbing his head examining the wound on the back of his head.

Azure shook his head away as he tried to scream but found his mouth was duct taped shut. They stood back from him as he became more erratic with his struggling as he soon began rocking the chair back and forth before finally falling over onto his left side.

“Aaaaaaaand he fell over, son of a bitch.”

“HEY?!” the shorter one yelled to the taller one as his voice seemed to crack at the rise in volume while he glared up at the other for his comment.

“Hey hey hey! Take it easy K! It’s just an expression.” he mumbled a bit as he lifted Azure off the floor and back upright. “Honestly you need to calm down when you hear that-”

“I know it’s an expression but it’s a very offensive one to my kind!”

As the two figures moved from where they were standing Azure was finally able to make out the two figures that were before him. The sight of these two made him stop when he was able to finally know who were talking to him.

What stood before him were not ponies but they were the two species ponykind was not on the best of terms with. The short one was a young Diamond Dog, but he was thinner than the average K-9 of the species wearing the traditional vest over a black and white checkered hoodie as he pulled something out of his long grey worn out shorts and put it onto the table. As he looked to the taller one he saw a tall griffon with his head feathers left in a buzz cut like manner but it was noticeable that they were growing back slowly but surely. His body was hidden by a military camo styled parka and a black shirt underneath it, his black thin sports dragged slightly under his shoes as he walked over Azure and leaned into him.

Azure struggled slightly as the sight of his sharp beak and his piercing yet soothing blue eyes. He tried to look away from him but was soon turned back to him with a quick grab of his face with the griffon’s talons. “Take it easy blue boy, just relax and this’ll be over before ya know it, alright?” He nodded and waited for Azure to nod and got a slow nod response from him. With a smile he removed his talons from his face and patted his head, “Good boy.”

“L quit the kind act and give him a punch if ya want.” said the short Diamond Dog that was referred to as ‘K’ as Azure remembered earlier. He wondered why they were calling each other by a letter but even with his fractured skull he simple thought they were just being secretive. But soon his mind began to wonder back to his original thoughts. ‘Why was he taken by a Diamond Dog and a Griffon?’ ‘What could they possibly gain from this?’ ‘Why-

“Is he awake yet?” a low voice said. The voice as Azure heard was one full of authority and cold as ice as he heard loud footsteps approaching.

The sound was of heavy steel toed boots making contact with the room’s floor echoing throughout the structure.

“Yea he’s awake now S, surprise ya didn’t hear the thud he made when he fell over.” ‘L’ said as he handed ‘S’ something when the light shined over him casting a glare off of the object as he approached the squinting pony.

When he could finally make out the new being approaching him he was able to finally see who was here. It was a dragon. Azure froze with fear as he stared into the cold purple eyes of this new figure, remembering the stories he was told as a colt about how dragons could easily rip off a pony’s head with one bite. The greed that can overtake them and cause them to kill to obtain whatever they so choose. The tales of the elderly of dragons taking young mares away and raping them, branding them as their own. The tales went on when it came to dragons, the fierce cold blooded killers of the world. The heads of the food chain preceding Griffons below them and Diamond Dogs above Ponies.

‘S’ saw the fear in the stallion’s eyes and didn’t grin at the sight, he sighed. He sighed out of frustration because of how easily he ceased his movements and proceeded to his eyes with his index claw and thumb. He knelt down to the tied up pony now eye to eye to him and looked at him with a straight face showing no ill intent as he grabbed one edge of the tape over his mouth.

“I’m going to remove this quickly and it will be painful, will you stay quiet or are we gonna be here doing this over and over again until you lose your voice from your awful shrieking?” he waited for a proper response for about a minute before Azure slowly nodded at the dragon letting him know he wouldn’t scream. “Good.” was all he responded with before yanking off the piece of well applied duct tape off of his lips.

“Mmmm! Ngh..!”

That was all Azure let out as he felt the pain from the hard peeling go through his lips making him hold in his screams and curses. He shook his head around a bit as he looked down away from the dragon. Panting slightly from being pulled from his fear, he quietly whispered to himself as he kept his eyes to the floor looking at his restrained feet.

“What was that?”

“..et…go…”

“Speak up.”

“Let me go…please don’t eat me…please I’m begging you..!” Azure began to shake around trying to at least bounce a few inches away from his kidnappers as he did so he was suddenly stopped when a claw was put over his mouth gripping tightly slowly increasing the hold on him as his claws started to slowly dig into his face he let out a muffled wail of pain as he tried to shake his head free of the dragons claw.

As the struggle continued the dragon whipped his head with a flick of a wrist to him looking up at him. Their eyes locked with one another, ‘S’ with his red and Azure with his hazel eyes. Azure now in place looked up to the drake and could make him out. ‘S’ has black anodized scales giving them a non-reflective surface with purple spines along his head, they were very short though but surprisingly thick in appearance, he wore less clothing than the others only in a black muscle shirt with dark grey jeans, the bottom cuffs of his pants legs tucked into his steel toed boots. The look in his eye changed from the monotone stare he had before to one of slowly building rage as his claws dug in more into his face.

“Yo-…You…YOU are begging to ME..?!” The once calm drake was now seething with anger as he began to draw blood from the frightened earth pony, he could feel the claws that once merely scratched against his cheeks now cut into him as the blood trail went along the claws and then his fur as he screamed with full distress. His screams were futile as they were easily muffled by S’s palm.

“…You’re begging to me? Hehehe…after what you did you actually think you can just say a few words and give me some crocodile tears...?” he put his free hand back to the others as ‘K’ handed him a photo. Once he had the photograph in his hand he immediately showed it to Azure. “She begged to didn’t she? Begged to go home maybe? Cried for mommy! Did you listen to her?! DID YOU?!”

The photo was of a young Pegasus filly around the ages of 8-10 most likely. Violet colored fur with a blonde mane, in the style of two pigtails. She was in a school uniform smiling happily up at the camera waving happily at it. The smile she had was one of pure innocence and purity as all children bare. She was kind and sweet to her parents. All friends and no enemies, merely going through her childhood till adolescence would throw trouble and the pain of drama her way that will mold her into the person she’ll forever be in life and continue living on. But she never reached this in her life, 3 months ago she was found dead in an alleyway on her route home. She was found with her clothes thrown aside and her young body left on the floor of the alleyway, naked and beaten without a trace of life or her sweet smile left to be found. Just the tears and look of terror from the frightened young filly. Her name was Dawning Sky, Pegasus filly age 9 and a half, found alone in an alleyway at 10 PM by a resident of an apartment building on the left wall of the alley. Beaten and violently raped, left for dead in the alley as her mother cried for her baby asking for justice and none was given.

As Azure stared at the picture, forced to look its way and only its way as he began to cry. He remembered her, he remembered every detail about her and that night. When he found her walking home alone, smiling as she hummed the familiar tune of all young fillies and colts. He took her and threw her, a toothy grin stretching from ear to ear as he took over her. No matter how hard Azure tried to avoid looking at the picture he was kept in place by his captor. Memories of that night came flooding back to him, all her screaming and endless tears, the fight she put up. And he loved every second of it, he began to sweat not out of fear but of excitement. He wanted to go back to that day, the grin he was barely able to form under his palm. He gripped onto the chairs arms as he began to shake with excitement as well feeling his pants grow tighter as he heard her screams echo in his head over and over again. The pop she made when he stole her innocence. The feeling of her tight and wet insides clamping onto his hardened member as he was able to fill her up with his seed as she cried. Her sobbing growing louder made him snap as he began to beat her. He remembered the feeling of blood on his hands as he continued to punch in her face and chest. When silence reigned over only then did he snap back into reality, only then did he realize his actions and fled the scene.

Azure felt the scaly palm leave his mouth as he looked up to the drake.

‘L’ walked over to him and looked at Azure with his own glare of hatred. “What do we do with him now S?”

“Deliver punishment.”

He walked away from all of them letting his claws slide into his pockets. As he did so K began to undo the bindings on Azure beginning with his legs. Once they were free L delivered a nasty right hook to his head immediately knocking him out.

*5 MINUTES BEFORE THE FALL*

Azure awoke to another throbbing pain shooting throughout the body as the cold night air began to blow into his face and through his mane. When he opened his eyes he came to see a close up of the griffons face as he kept them afloat over the perimeter the police set up around the apartment’s entrance.

“Huh…where ar-aaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHH!” he screamed out as he saw he was high above the city. His mouth was quickly covered by the free claw of the griffon as he kept his cold glare focused on him.

“Tonight, that little filly you robbed from gets justice. And you…get punishment.” He heard the bells ringing and knew that now, it was time.

He delivered a hard punch to his solar plexus, an area just above the center of the chest. Azure suddenly felt empty as every last trace of air left his lungs, the shock overtook him as then began to feel a pull on him. He looked to realize he had just been released by the griffon and began to plummet to the ground. As he did he saw it all flash before his very eyes, his life from birth to his first steps and words, the day he left for school and his first high school crush, the bullies he endured and the late night cramming sessions, the day he lost his virginity, to his first job interview. As he approached the end he came back to see his crime, his assault on the poor filly that sent him here, his day had been hell and he was pushed beyond anger, one bad day for him became this filly’s hell. The last thing he saw was her beaten face as he collided with the cruiser crushing in the hard roof and all life was quickly pushed out of his body.

To the police ponies, one of the many they had sworn to protect and serve had just ended their eyes before their very eyes. To the lead detective he saw the murder of a stallion in his prime. But to those who look with their own eyes, it was justice.

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

― Frederick Douglas