I just don’t understand! I don’t know where I am, or how I got here, all I know is that it’s dark! There’s no food, and no other people, and I think I’m close to starving! I don’t know how long I’ve been here, all I can remember is my name, “Black Sun” and it doesn’t even sound like a real name, like George, or Tim, or Samantha, or even Orvault, it sounds like some prance-about stage name, but it’s my name and I don’t know why! I don’t know who or what I am beyond that, it’s just too dark to see!
I call different time periods, though. When the… I don’t even know what they are, but I call it night when they’re moving about outside my cell, and I hear what I assume to be their claws clicking and scraping against the stone bricks, as well as hissing, but not normal hissing, it’s more like a hiss mixed with a growl, mixed with one’s last dying breath, that’s what it sounds like! Sometimes they talk to each other, too, in my language.
“Pathetic,” I heard them say once, “Pathetic little prisoners. Moronic bastards, breaking our grand leader’s laws.” They laughed their awful, demonic, hissing laugh when they finished, and I can’t help but feel that maybe, just maybe, they were talking about me. I can’t help but imagine their terrifying forms when I hear the scraping. I don’t even know what they really look like, and that makes them even more terrifying, because they could be anyone, anything, anywhere.
I think of them as being shadowy, black beings with forked tongues, that crawl around their iron clawed hands dragging them to their destinations. I th-
“GRAAAAAAGHUGHARAHH!!!” I bellow, pain gripping me from everywhere at once. The hunger is too strong, too mighty, and if I don’t eat something soon, I WILL die, no way out of it, no hope otherwise. I collapse to the floor, and if it weren't for the door to my cell opening, and my cell being bathed in light, I wouldn’t even know that I’d blacked out.
My senses return with a vengeance as light floods my eyes, and wild screaming my ears. I feel my ears turn slightly to the left to hear a mysterious buzz. I blink repeatedly, trying to clear the blur, but I’m stunned when something tackles me. Instinctively, something flares up inside me, and a vaguely pink flash undoes some of my unblurring, but I keep blinking the blur away, and quickly, I see where I am, what I am, and what tackled me.
I’m in a stone stadium of some sort, and apparently, I’m the main attraction. The battleground is coated with sand, dust, and the occasional rock the size of my head, but no pebbles. In the crowds above, I make out that seemingly all of the audience is comprised of various griffons. They cheer, and whoop, and holler, making it hard to hear where anything, except that annoying buzzing, is coming from.
I find myself to be rather interesting in appearance, because apparently, I’m a unicorn, with a black coat, and white mane/tail. Nothing about me is too overly special, and I still don’t know my eye color, but I can say for sure that I’ve known for a while now of my standing as being a female.
My adversary, unfortunately for me, is a wolf. A large wolf. I’m describing this thing poorly, this wolf, normal-ass wolf, would only be a normal-ass wolf for real if it weren’t a good fucking three times my size. AND THAT’S ONLY SPEAKING IN TERMS OF HEIGHT. Complete honesty, I’m surprised as fuck it didn’t rip me to shreds the instant it pounced me.
But, here I am now, having no fucking clue what to do on account of the fact I don’t know how to do what I did just a second ago, and the fact that I’m facing down a wolf a good sized house would just barely be able to fit in it. If I had anything in me, I’d shit myself. Twice.
I try to jump out of the way as it lunges for me, but despite its size, it’s far too quick, and snatches my lower half up in it’s jaws. I scream in pain, blood gushing from the wound as it starts to wildly shake me around, probably trying to rip me in half, but my back leg instinctively shoots out, kicking its tongue where it connects to the jaw. It howls in pain, and I go flying through the air, blood trailing my flight path, and land back on the dusty dirt.
It shakes off its pain and growls at me, before lunging again. I don’t know what I’m doing, but instinct flares up again, and somehow, magic, possibly, I levitate one of the rocks just into the wolf’s way, and it gets lodged firmly in the beast’s throat. It gags and heaves to the best of its ability, but no matter what it does, it can’t dislodge the rock.
I turn to see the crowds have turned deathly quiet, staring on in shock as the wolf slowly chokes to death. I turn back to the monster just as it collapses, and I stare right into it’s eye, watching in fear, disgust, and some unfamiliar emotion as the life drains from it. The wolf sputters and shakes a final time, before going silent, and being forevermore lost to the world.
I turn back to the crowd, who are still staring on in shock. I keep moving my head all around the stadium, looking for some kind of reaction. My head whips in the direction of a griffon calling out, “Fuck yeah!” and suddenly the whole crowd starts cheering again, this time with something more. They throw bread to me, and I gratefully, and hungrily, eat it up before I’m returned to the cell, which I believe is the likely thing to happen.
Silently though, I wonder what I did that killed the wolf. Did I really use magic? Also, though, I wonder what they want with me here, why I’m here.
I turn in shock to the hissing, and see a lizard with a blindfold. I realize now that this massive, green bipedal reptile is one of my… wardens, as it ties the blindfold onto me, and, fearing it’s massive claws so very close to my throat, I follow it obediently back to my cell.
I’m just happy that not only am I alive, I’m not so hungry anymore. Unfortunately, the adrenaline wears off halfway to my cell.
I almost double over in pain from my massive, bleeding wound, and I hear the lizard groan, and tie something tightly over it. It stings even worse now, but I think the bleeding might have stopped, and I’m surely grateful for that.
Suddenly, we stop, and I hear a metal door open. The lizard man rips my blindfold off, and says, “Congrats, you killed the executioner. Now you can work your way out, have fun.” I’m kicked into the room, and slide a good fifteen feet on my face before the door slams shut. I look up to see a wide variety of creatures staring at my sudden and admittedly bizarre entrance. I see griffons, a couple minotaurs, and even a few lizard men. That certainly singles me out, I seem to be the only unicorn here.
“Why the hell’d they buy a pony? Ponies are shit in fights…” I hear one of the griffons mumble, and I hear a lizard man call out, “Hey, can I ride you, and pet you, and make you my bitch?” Several others laugh when he says this, but my eyes just narrow. I immediately opt to ignore him, and get up, before starting to look around for anyone who could possibly help me.
I’m disappointed to find out very quickly that I’m surrounded by douchebags. Everybody here seems only to look out for themselves, and those few that did take a second glance tended to try to rape me. A solid buck in the face always leaves them discouraged, though, so that’s good.
Anyway, I now sit at a wooden bench, oddly in good condition, my head propped up on my hoof, glaring menacingly as I can at the group of douchebags. It sees they know I’m no pansy, but they don’t seem any more eager to help me than earlier. I feel like if I could prove my earlier kill, they’d still not be any help.
The door suddenly opens, and a lizard man holding a pink gem walks, or, more accurately, shambles, into the room. He wears heavy armor, identifying him as a guard of some sort, but seems to have a bad leg. At least, that’s what the shamble and seemingly wrong bend in his leg tell me.
“Alright,” he rasps weakly, “All newbies to me.” I get out of the bench and walk cautiously over to him. Something tells me he’s not as feeble as he looks. I step up to him along with three griffons and a minotaur. The minotaur smirks, and brings his fist down on the crippled guard.
The guard, in turn, pulls out a curved sword and viciously guts the minotaur in front of all of us.
“Well, I was expecting something like that to happen anyways. Whaddya need, Chief?” I say seriously, and the guard barks out with laughter. He sighs, and responds, “I saw your fight today, Sun. I’m very impressed. It’s also very good you know to respect your superiors.” He reaches out and touches the gem against my forehead. “Your room is 215. Second floor, door with a 15 on it. Word of advice, though, since I like you, be prepared to eat your fallen enemies, we usually only throw bread to ferals to keep ‘em from eatin’ up our smarter gladiators. Now that you’ve earned your right to fight your way out, well, we won’t be feeding you anything other than the flesh of your enemies, unfortunately. Least, it’s unfortunate for you. On account of you’re a pony.” He pauses, and starts to chuckle a warm, friendly chuckle, very alternative to a gut ripping guard, or at least what you’d expect from one, “It’s not like me to ramble, hehe, now git, I’ve gotta assign the others.”
I bow my head and trot back over to the bench, where I sit down, and stare at the griffons trying to pick the minotaur corpse clean. My body feels like I should feel something wrong with that, but my mind feels like, “Hey, it’s all they have to eat,” so despite my naturally herbivorous nature, I can’t help but feel… Neutral. I steel my resolve, though, because soon, tomorrow, even, I’ll be doing the same.
I sigh, giving up my inane internal ramblings for now, and look for some stairs. I find them in the corner of the room, leading up to a sort of balcony that goes all the way around the room. That must be the second floor. I hear the door slam shut as the guard leaves, and start trotting over to the stairs, before I’m stopped by a lizard man.
“Where do you think you’re going,” He says menacingly, “ASS KISSER?” I look him straight in the eye and I say, “Well, I was going to bed, I am rather tired after my fight with the big bad wolf, but,” my stomach rumbles, “I could use the practice eating raw meat. You know where I could find any? The minotaur’s picked clean… what about,” I turn and buck him onto his back, and glare at his fallen form hungrily, “YOU?”
He scrambles back to a wall, stammering, “N-no, no th-thanks, I-I, nev-vermind…” I laugh, and trot over to the stairs, laughing, “You’d best not underestimate someone who’s starving, luv! The tend to be rather violent about food, but I’m sure you know that, given your position!” I laugh some more, and head up the stairs, looking for room 15.
I find it quickly, and, just to test, try to open door 14. It doesn’t even budge in the slightest, and I go over to 15, which opens like a well oiled… door, I guess, proving my theory that the doors are attuned to the specific, I hate to even think it, prisoners, of which I am included in.
I go into my room, and take in it’s radiant glory. It’s stone, shocking, the bed, however, looks relatively new, and clean, which is odd, and there is a dresser along with two water basins and a… well, you could call it a restroom, but not really. It’s a compartment cut into the wall with a toilet in it. I’m guessing one basin is for drinking and the other for bathing. Fun.
I sigh, and lie down on the bed. My stomach growls, and I groan in response. no matter how hungry I am, I’m just not ready to eat meat. Yet, at least. With that thought, I close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.
