Author's Note

Sorry for the Hiatus. I was ill, then there was computer problems and school just started up. Hope this chapter was worth the wait. Next chapter alredy being worked on.
xxx
-Amelia

Campfire sories

Everyone lay down for the long journey, and each began to tell their stories in turn as the wagon moved forwards.

Lyra and Bon bon
Me and Lyra used to live in Ponyville, just like you. We'd see you around occasionally, but you all know what Ponyville was like. One day, I received a call from work saying not to come in that day, but when I asked why, all they said was 'you're not to come in, all employees are terminated.' When I had finally worked up the courage to ask around, my former work friend told me that my agency had been torn down, all agents fired and the senior managers had been executed. I was devastated, and when I was told who it was behind it, that Celestia had done it, I was devastated. Me and Lyra discussed moving to somewhere further from Canterlot, in case she came for me, but we decided against it. Then we heard you six were all sent to Princess Celestia for something, and that's when the raids started. The pony rights act had been revoked, and the princess ordered the slave trade back. When the first wave of raids on ponyville were sent, they took the children. I remember their screams as they were torn from their families. Their parents were so miserable after that, but they trusted their Princess too much to say anything.

Then, the raids came for the mares and stallions, and as I was a former agent, I was deemed dangerous. Lyra was asscociated with me, and she alone knew of my identity, so she was in danger aswell. We fled to Appleloosa, hoping someone there could help us out, but by the time we got there, it was too late. The whole place had been transformed into a ghost town, and all the food was gone. We wandered around southern Equestria for three years, avoiding the patrols as best we could, all of the towns and settlements were completley desolate and deserted. I hoped the ponies there were not victims to the trade, and had simply escaped, but I suppose we all know that isn't true. We drank from the river, and gathered food left behind in the ghost towns. But our luck would not last forever; Lyra fell ill, and we decided to try find help. I met up with some smugglers in Dodge City, who said they would help us across the border to the Crystal Empire, but it turns out you shouldn't trust smugglers. We were turned over for a couple thousand bits and sold to a slave owner who owned a corn plantation in Baltimare. Luckily, I still had my training, and was able to sneak the two of us out and another two pegasi, with a little help from three brave ponies, stealing this wagon along the way. The plan was to smuggle ourselves under the disguise of being slave transport. We picked up these four a while ago, recognising them as we spotted them trying to evade a patrol they were being cornered by. We've been travelling for months. I didn't expect to be ambushed along this road, least of all by Rainbow Dash.

Vinyl and Octavia
For the first year, Vinyl and I were completely safe. We were very influential, and so we were seen as valuable for as long as her majesties sanity held. We were cautious , and we tried to abide the law as much as we could, wich proved difficult as time went on and the law became more…ridiculous. But we couldn't run forever, and eventually, they came for us.
We tried to run, but of course they caught up with us. The patrol leader told Vinyl that she was allowed to leave, that she could go home and live a normal life free fro harm, because of her race and influence. She refused, and she spat on his face, wich was amusing, but not at all wise. As punishment for our 'insolence' they sent us to the pits to work in the mines. Let me tell you, that was a thousand miles down from our old life of privilege. For three years we worked eleven hours a day, pulling carts nd mining, occasionally switching mines and locations. We were mainly cart horses, and our work was exhausting, having to haul heavy carts laden with hordes of gems and precious rocks for the delegates in Canterlot and Manehatten, and many other large cities. The gaurds were heavy with the whip, and punishments were severe. Many a pony was driven to insanity in those mines, and many more died.

I remember our last day at that death prison. We were heaving a dragons hoarde worth of emeralds and rubies to the surface. It had been a long, tiresome day and I was expected to work that night as well. I was starving and had developed a cough from the dust that clouded the passageways. As we neared the fifth level, we felt the ground begin to shake, and there was a deafening rumble. As I looked around, a couple of pebbles fell on my head somewhere below there was a scream.
"Earthquake…the mines" I whispered, barley audible, staring with wide eyes at the mines rotten, flimsy, already straining suppourt beams. "Vinyl…" And then I shouted; "Vinyl, RUN!"

We freed ourselves as quickly as we were able, and tore along the passageway. As we reached the fourth level, I noticed other ponies were running with us, and I wish I hadn't, as i saw them die. Many were trapped under fallen rocks, their legs twisted. I saw some struggling under boulders that had trapped their entire bodies, and one pony was felled by a rock crashing on her head, her blood spurting onto my coat. As we raced the chaos, tears streamed down my eyes, and I was very nearly hit myself. Tiny, but needle sharp gemstones tore at our coats, causing little jolts of pain that just made me run faster. Everyone ran in blind panic, and if they were not killed by the rocks, then those who fell were trampled on by the herd as they forgot all else to just tear towards escape.

As we reached the first floor, a huge boulder was shaken loose, and many ponies couldn't turn in time and so dashed right into it. We ourselves had barely enough time to turn away, and I cried out in horror as I saw the exit- our only hope of salvation- was blocked by a huge pile of rocks. We skidded to a halt and began to bang desperately against the boulders, deafened by the screams and cries for help of those next to me. I even remember several of us bucking with our back hooves, but we were all to weak to make a dent. Not to long after that, a rock struck my head and I fainted.I woke up in hospital a few days later, and was told the two of us would be transferred to Canterlot as soon as was physically possible. Vinyl, six other ponies and I were the only survivors of the mine collapse, because the eight of us were the only ones on the first three floors that wern't crushed, and Celestia ordered the mine to be abandoned before the survivors below that were reached. She said to "save time and resources", but everyone knows she just didn't care what happened to them. I still think of them to this day…the poor souls. I think of how they must have felt, deep down, knowing they wouldn't be reusced. Left to slowly suffocate or starve until… it's best not to think of it.

On the way to Baltimare, our cart was apprehended, by three young mares, Doctor and Derpy. They looked and sounded to be in their mid teens, lithe and strong, taller than normal. They led us just south of Filly Delphia, where we met Lyra and Bon Bon. The agreement was, the four of us would smuggle ourselves across the border. It's a shame we only got this far.

The Doctor and Derpy
I…I don't like remembering what happened. But Doctor says I have to accept what happened to fully heal from it, and he's right of course, he usually is.
My name was Derpy Hooves, I was a mail-mare, and I didn't 'fly so good.' I also dropped things a lot. I remember when I dropped all those things on Twilight accidentally. Maybe thats why she turned out so…
Anyway, it was after Bon Bon and Lyra disappeared. Doctor and I were very worried, because at about that time the whole town had been affected, and news was leaking out about Cadence and Shining armour going missing, and how Celestia and Luna were nearly at eachothers throats.

Doc decided that we needed to take some extra procautions, so we decided to go to Cloudsdale. We told others it was to check on some old friends, but we were really getting some more parts to a machine we were building, and someone in cloudsdale had them. Doc never told me who or what we were going to get, or even what the bloody thing was going to do, but I suppose it didn't matter anyway. Doctor had ben working on a Cloud Walking Elixer, and it was finally ready. We cught a taxi up to Cloudsdale and I have to say I was excited. We were waiting outside a spare parts workshop, to buy a couple extra cog wheels that the machine needed when I heard shouting in the distance.
An army of the queens guard was flying at full speed towards Cloudsdale, many of them carring unicorns on their backs or pulling them in chariots. They barley even stopped, just instantly began attacking the defenceless civilians.

I stared, frozen in place as they descended, picking a random pegasus - some foals- and binding them with rope, and tossing them aside before moving on to the next. A few brave mares and stallions rose up against the army, instinctly defending their loved ones, and the rest of us watched in horror as the guards slew them mercilessly, without any hesitation. It was then that I screamed and ran blindly, unsure of waether it was safer to stay with or away from the crowd. I decided to go for the latter, veering away from the stampede of helpless ponies.
My choice may not have been the smartest, but in my blind panic it seemed my only option.

I suddenly felt the wind knocked from my lungs as a large unicorn gaurd landed on me. I stared into his copper eyes that were dull and listless, but his mouth was contorted into a furious snarl of pure hatred. I fought my hardest, but I couldn't get him off of me; he was just too heavy. His horn glowed as rope began to snake it's way up my torso and I screamed, but the gaurd only laughed cruelly.
Suddenly, I felt his weight moved from my chest and I saw a brown pony tussling with him on the floor. I breathed a sigh of relief. Doctor pinned the pony with his hind legs and reared up, coming down hard on his skull. The body fell limp.
"Doctor…Is he…?"
"No, I just knocked him out. Come on, quick."

The two of us ran to the left, thankfully we were near the edge of the city where I stopped dead. I looked around for a way to get my friend down, because I knew a fall from that height would kill him.
"What now?" I asked.
"We jump." Doctor said, matter-of-factly.
"But…you are an earth pony."
"Am I? Strange. I didn't notice." He replied, grinning. "You can fly, right?"
"But I don't know if i could carry two people…"
"I belive in you."
I paused, unconvinced. In the background I heard the sounds of ponies screaming, and biuldings crumbling. We were running out of time. It was now or never.
"Ok.`" Doctor said, looking out to the horizon. "On Three. One. Two"
"Wait, Doc.. Are you sure-"
"Three"

He jumped off shreiking 'geronimo' at the top of his lungs. I shreaiked and jumped after him, folding my wings to try reach him faster. Once I had fallen level with him, I grabbed onto both his arms and pulled up with all my might. He was lighter than I anticipated, so we shot up slightly, but I was able to set him down on the ground gently enough. We grinned at eachother, and I giggled, telling him off for scaring me, but he shrugged saying there was no fun in doing things the easy way. We wern't far from Ponyville so we decided to hot foot it back to the lab.

The town was a mess. Litter lined the streets, and many houses were crumbling ruins and Twilights Castle was gone. Worse is what had happened to the lab. It looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. Papers were burned and torn up, machines were smashed and all of the elixers and potions had been stolen or smashed. Broken glass, wood and singed straw lined the floor. We knew then we were in serious trouble. We hid around Ponyville for a little bit, before we were approached by three mystery mares. They told us about a secret movement to smuggle all vunerables and slaves across the border to a safe place. Apparantley, Luna was there and she was recruiting. Celestia was insane, and would bring down Equestria with her in her descent. We agreed, and this was our first mission. It failed quite spectacularly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rainbow Dash and Dawn Feather listened to each story in awe, shedding more than a few tears. They glanced at each other uncomfortably, aware that they were the bad guys here. They sighed as the storys came to a close, and were beginning to grow uncomfortable in the presence of their newest catch.

"What about you?" Octavia asked passively as Vinyl stared intently at them.
"What?" Rainbow Dash said, startled.
"What's your story?" Lyra clarified.

Rainbow grew hot, and she closed her eyes, allowing a flashback to wash over her.

The blood on Pinkies face as she ran from Celestia, her mane slowly deflating and her mouth contorted into a grimace of conflicting emotions. The tears in Applejacks eyes as she accepted her fate, for fear of her family. The fustration Twilight showed as she was fed conflicting lies and turned against her friends. The fear for her two friends, one that never returned from the palace, the other running away in blind fear.

Pinkie Pie shaking as she drops the knife, blood running fown her forelegs as she smiled cruelly ad her terrified friend. Rainbow Dash knew that this was it…Pinkie had finally snapped.

A knocking came from the door, snapping Rainbow out of her daydream. The door slid open and Blossomforth stuck her head through the crack.
"We're back. Pinkie wants to see the new…arrivals."
"Pinkie Pie is alive?" Derpy said happily, and the other five all smiled, no doubt wondering if this would be so bad. They had no idea of the horrors that awaited them.
Rainbow Dash shuddered snd shook her head sadly.
"Not the Pinkie you used to know."