Work Horses

Chapters

The Chase is On
Marshmallows and Butter
Pony Law
Ned Vincent
Before the Storm
The Trial
The Fall
A New Day
30 Years Ago
Generosity
Insomnia
Honesty

The Chase is On

The rain had just subsided, and a light mist began to rise from the asphalt on this warm summer night. Puddles littered the streets of the urban jungle of the college community, and I happened to slip on one and fall flat on my face. Behind me, I heard the sirens of police cars coming nearer and nearer with each passing moment. Ahead of me, I heard a rhythmic tapping that turned into a scraping followed by a quiet, almost whispering voice. “Come on! They’re catching up to us!”

I stumbled to my feet and broke into a sprint beside the frantic tap dancer. They’ll keep chasing us so long as they hear that damn noise, I thought to myself.

In one swift motion, I stooped down, extended my right arm, and snatched the source of the tapping. For how filthy and unkempt she looked, her coat was still smooth as silk, but the bright color was a dead giveaway, even in the poor incandescent lighting. I slipped off my hoodie half way and wrapped it as best I could around my unlikely companion. She squirmed and gave out a timid shriek before I had her safely nestled into my arm. “Shhh! Just trust me,” I whispered hoarsely, “Just close your eyes and keep quiet.”

I didn’t check to see if she closed her eyes, but she kept quiet as I instructed. Taking every shortcut and narrow ally I could find, we eventually lost the cops. But I never stopped running; not until we got back to my apartment. I fumbled with my keys in one hand, looking in every direction my neck could point me to. Don’t look so guilty! Just play it smooth. What are you doing? You’re casually coming home from some late studying and your backpack broke open. Yeah! That’s it! And you wanted to keep your books dry, so you wrapped it in you hoodie.

I finally found the key, and after some finagling with the lock, I was able to get the two of us inside the hallway. Trying to keep my steps silent, I made my way past the two rows of doors to the stairwell in the back.

“Um…is it safe to—“

“What did I say about staying quiet?!”

I gave my “backpack” a slight squeeze that made it squeal. Up two flights of stairs, down the hallway, and we arrived at the fourth door on the left. I fought with my keys and the lock again and shoved my way inside. The lights were off, but before turning them on, I closed the curtains on the window and frantically locked the door. I set my parcel gently down on my bed and let out a huge sigh of relief. Huh, Luke isn’t back yet. He must still be at his girlfriend’s. maybe he won’t be back ‘til morning. That’ll give me some time to figure all of this out.

I sat down on the nearby chair and ran my fingers through my hair, moaning. What the hell are you doing? Why are you risking so much for this thing? I looked up at the yellow coated, pink maned pony shaking where she sat on my bed. She was looking back at me with much fear in her eyes, but beneath that was a feeling of genuine appreciation.

“Um…thank you for taking me…”

She diverted her gaze and half hid herself behind her long mane. It was those damn eyes! Regular animals are adorable enough, but this one has an impossible quality of cuteness to her! Ugh, what am I gonna do now? “Uh, sure…don’t mention it.”

Her head snapped up and she leapt down under the bed. At first, I only watched her confusedly, but then I heard it too. the sirens were back. Shit! Shit! Shit! Oh man, what do I do?! Should I leave the lights on? No, it’s almost midnight. I would be in bed by now.

I dove for the lights and waited for the sirens to pass. Once they did, I let out another sigh and went over to my bed. “Listen…uh,”

She whispered something so quietly I could hardly make it out as a name. “Flutters? Uh, I’m gonna go to bed now…you can have the bed if you want. I’ll just crash on the couch. I’ll figure out what to do with you in the morning.”

All I got in a response was a squeak that I vaguely made out as an “ok” and went over to the couch. I kicked off my shoes, grabbed the blanket, and collapsed onto the soft cushions. What am I gonna do? Damn ponies. We should’ve never have put them to work. We should’ve never found them.

My name is Eric Cornell, and this is my story. My story about ponies and their slavery.

Marshmallows and Butter

I don’t know what it was about large gatherings of people, but they always made me depressed. Seeing other people pass merrily by in flocks to their next destination would make me look at myself, strolling aimlessly and alone, and feel worthless. I guess some people are just better at losing themselves in the moment. I could never do that. Everything had an objective, and it was my goal to meet it.

I went to the town fair to meet some friends and try to enjoy myself. I found them, well part of them. It was as if I hadn’t seen them in years. Their faces were the same, but their hobbies were more…mature. Congregating in the background, lighting up cigarettes, and nobody around giving a damn. Kids everywhere, smoking, dressing indecently, growing into horrid monsters, leaving behind mere shadows of themselves.

I crouch down by the carousel and wait for my mom to pick me up, trying only to blend in and not think. The monsters, however, notice me. They skulk closer and closer speaking in a language I recognized but did not understand. Their voices heightened and lowered in pitch, became raspy, and it all frightened me. When I didn’t respond, they would bellow hideous cackles and guffaws, but eventually they were infuriated and grabbed me. The carousel’s music grew louder as they pinned me to the asphalt and pressed their cigarettes on my skin. I couldn’t hear myself scream over the music.

The music turned into singing, then to a muffled whisper, then to a clear voice calling my name.

“Eric! Eric, wake up!”

The monsters and the fair vanished and I opened my eyes to find my roommate, Luke, shaking, smiling, and staring at me. His skin was more pale than usual, making his freckles stick out like mud on a white suit.
“Eric, do you know what’s on your bed?” There was a tinge of vibrato in his voice, as if he was about to explode in hysterical laughter.

I tried to guess what could be in my bed that would make Luke so happy. At first, I jokingly thought of a dildo, but then I remembered the events of last night. “I take it you met, uh…Flutters?”

Luke stooped down lower and let out a noise like he was punched in the gut, though his smile only grew. “I think you mean Fluttershy!”

Leave it to a brony to correct me on a pony’s name. “Well whoever she is, you can take care of her. I don’t want anything to do with talking ponies.

“Aww, c’mon Eric! I can’t be here all the time. I gotta take care of Michelle too! Just think of her as…as a home project. I know how much you love to take care of animals, and that’s what Fluttershy used to do!”

I sighed in resignation. Even though Michelle was a brony too, she found out she was allergic to talking ponies when she and Luke went to an auction. Luke was gone for a week consoling her. “Fine, but don’t be shocked if she’s just gone one day. If Flutters,”

“Fluttershy.”

“Whatever! If Fluttershy gets on my nerves, I am inclined to kick her out.”

Luke’s smile finally left him. “You can’t just do that Eric! She’s one of the elements of harmony!”

“Then you can take care of her yourself.”

I crossed my arms and smiled in satisfaction. Luke looked like he was about to throw up, which made me chuckle a little. Finally, Luke said, “Fine. I doubt you’d even have a problem with her anyways. That smile of yours will probably scare her away.”

I laughed and replied, “Trust me; I won’t be smiling with her around.”

I stood up and went to my room to get a change of clothes. I grabbed what I needed and started to undress when I saw the pony sleeping soundly in my bed. I won’t deny that she looked adorable, but then again I would say the same thing about a snake constricting my arm. She was whimpering and fidgeting every so often. From what blabbering I understood from Luke, Fluttershy was a pony that was literally afraid of her own shadow, so I imagined what beautiful dream she was being terrified of. I stepped into the bathroom and tried to remember what my dream was about. Something about a circus…a fog machine? Oh well.

I saw my reflection in the mirror and noticed a big scrape on the side of my face. How didn’t Luke notice this? Oh right; my face never left the pillow. I opened the cabinet and pulled out some hand sanitizer. I never used to clean a wound other than putting water on it, but ever since I started studying to be a vet I took a couple extra precautions, even if they weren’t very good ones. I took a little of the substance out and rubbed it thoroughly in my hands. I took a deep breath and slapped my scrape repetitively, pursing my lips as the sting coursed through my face. After cleaning the wound I realized I didn’t shower last night like I usually do.

One shower later, I got dressed and headed to the kitchen for some cereal. I opened the door and the mellow pony’s head snapped towards me. She half hid herself behind the covers and whispered, “Um, good morning sir.”

“Good morning.” I responded flatly. “Uhh…you eat cereal?”

All I got in reply was a small nod and a lowering of the blanket. “Alright, all we’ve got is Lucky Charms so I hope that’s ok.”

Her pupils shrunk to an impossible size. “D-don’t those have m-m-m-m-marshmallows?”

“Uh, yeah, they do…why?”

“I heard marshmallows were p-p-pieces of my friend, Rarity.”

Something clicked in my head and I just stared back at the pony with a stone face. “Yeah, and I heard you were a stick of butter, you want breakfast or not?”

She slowly crawled out of my bed and followed me to the kitchen, though she seemed to keep her distance from me. I poured two bowls, put one on the table, and the other on the floor. Fluttershy said thanks, but she never looked at me. She only looked at her cereal sadly before she slowly began to eat. She only ate about half of it and said she was finished. I cleaned both bowls and sat down on the couch. Thank God I don't have class or anything today. I looked over at the clock and noticed that it was 1:08. Wow, we were knocked out. Luke was nowhere to be seen. He must have a date with Michelle and left while I was in the shower.

“Oh my, what happened to your face? Did you scrape it when we were running last night?” The pony was looking at me with pity in her eyes.

“No, I had a dream that zombies were eating my face and it came true.” I said scornfully.

The pony vanished underneath the couch, and I facepalmed. Geez, this pony is gonna drive me insane. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. “You know, zombies like to live under couches.”

A yellow blur darted out from under the couch back to my bedroom, and I fell off the couch laughing.

Pony Law

“Oh, when can I go outside Mr. Cornell?” Fluttershy inquired, “It’s such a beautiful spring day and all of the birds are playing. When may I join them?” I furrowed my brow, grunted, and looked up from my textbook at the unusually antsy pony.

“For the last time, once Luke gets back with the license he can take you outside! And stop calling me Mr. Cornell. Eric is fine.” Fluttershy returned to her mild demeanor and climbed off of the window.

“Sorry.” She replied softly. I looked back down at the heavy book for a few minutes, but eventually closed it and rubbed my eyes. I couldn’t concentrate on school work with that pony in the room. I didn’t want it here and, from what I could gather, it didn’t want to be here. All it ever wants is to be outside with all of the “cutsie, wutsy, widdow animals” as she would call them. I just kept thinking, Luke will be back soon enough and she’ll be out of your hair for a while. Putting up with that pony is like putting up with a child.

These past three and a half weeks have been some of the strangest moments of my life. First thing I tried to do was establish how she’d do her business. At first I thought newspapers would suffice, but this was a pony, not a Shih-Tzu. Then I figured ponies usually go in stalls on hay, so I cut up a large box and filled it with hay from the local pet shop. When I presented my handiwork to Luke and Fluttershy, all they gave me were confused looks. Then Luke explained,

“You know they used toilets in Equestria, right?”

Then there was the sleeping arrangement. The second night she was with us, she immediately went back to my bed, but I wasn’t going to have any of it. I told her to go sleep on the couch, but she was still too terrified of zombies to get within two feet of the piece of furniture. Luke ended up taking her to his bed. This, however, lasted only three nights since Michelle’s allergies started acting up whenever Luke was around her. He checked his clothes and found yellow fur all over it. Dear God that pony sheds! Her fur was everywhere she laid down, and judging by my bed it looked like she had a wrestling match. So both beds were out of the question, and Luke wouldn’t let Fluttershy sleep on the ground like a common animal.

“But that’s what they are nowadays!” I replied, but he argued that she was “one of the Elements” and deserved better. I tried to force her back onto the couch, but her fears overcame her, and made her surprisingly strong. Finally, I resolved to sleep on the couch with her, but I made it perfectly clear that it would be for one night only. That night, I hardly got any sleep as I felt hooved appendages wrapped around me for dear life. I could only stare into the darkness thinking, why me?

I could get used to her bathroom preferences and sleeping arrangements, but the thing that really startled me, even to this day, was how she moved. She seemed to weigh a decent amount, yet her wings, which didn’t look much bigger than a falcon’s, could still lift her. If she needed something, such as a bowl from the cabinet, she would simply fly up and grab it with her mouth without disturbing anything with air displacement. Even worse was how she moved her legs. I had never seen a member of the Equidae family put its legs over its head to cower in fear, and it freaked me out quite a bit at first.

Besides adjusting to having another mammal in the apartment, I also had to do some extra studying. One day, Luke came home with a tall stack of books and pages printed from online. A few of the covers were the likes of “Equestrian Caretaking”, “Ponies for Dummies”, and “How to Own a Pony.” I asked Luke, “What’s all this? I thought we had everything settled for her.”

“I think we do, but we need a license to legally have a pony in the house.”

I rolled my eyes and tried to walk away, but Luke pleaded that we both needed to know this stuff in case anything bad happened. I argued that I had sacrificed enough for this thing and didn’t need to do any more studying in addition to my vet work, but Luke argued back,

“If I don’t pass this test we won’t have a license, and even if we kicked Fluttershy out, if anyone found out we were keeping a pony illegally we could get in huge trouble!”

I gave him a long stare and finally came over a cracked open a book. It was about the laws of pony ownership. Luke wasn’t known for his choice of legitimate books, so assuming it was a book about etiquette or something I checked the bibliography. It was published by MoPA in 2030 so I knew it was the real deal. I flipped to the first unit which was a brief history on how pony trade came to be. I guess once pony smuggling became a common practice, the U.S. Government decided to make it legal and tax it, like alcohol during the prohibition. Since then, the Management of Ponies Administration, or MoPA, has worked to protect ponies from inhumane conditions. One provision was that owners had to have a license to legally own an Equestrian pony or else they would get ten to twenty years in federal prison. I looked over at Luke and said, “Are you sure we have to go through all of this trouble? We could just give her to a pound and say we found her.”

Luke slammed down the book he was reading and stared at me. “No we cannot! I’m not going to let her rot in a place like that! She’s—”

“One of the Elements. Yeah, I know.”

After that the book got started talking about the bit-to-dollar exchange rate and got really boring so I closed it up and looked at an online article about pony health and medicine. It started with information on dealing with aggressive unicorns. Apparently, a shock behind the ears can disable their magic. In that general area is a section of their brain that allows them to use telekinesis and teleport, but I really didn’t feel like figuring out how any of it made sense. All of this reminded me of the local protests outside of hospitals where I guess they were sawing off unicorn horns to make them safer. The rest of the article went on about clipping Pegasus wings and had a few links to facilities that did pony vocal surgeries. I looked up again and asked, “Hey Luke, what do you suppose is vocal surgery?”

He merely scratched his head as a soft voice floated to my ears. “It’s when they take away our voices.”

We both turned to Fluttershy, who was looking away at us. “When somepony would speak against their master or plot a rebellion, they would be taken away and never speak again.”
For how annoying that pony was, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. Constantly fearing having your voice taken without consent must be dreadful. I went on to read about how dimensional transport can adversely affect some ponies such as fatigue and a lowered immune system. Two of these stuck out; depression and lack of diet. These two seemed to fit Fluttershy perfectly. She always moped around looking out the window and she never finished a whole bowl of cereal. And I thought she was just shy. I mean, she still is incredibly shy, but there’s more to it than that, and now I pitied her.

Ever since I gained that knowledge, things started to go a bit more smooth for the pony and I. Sometimes, when I would play guitar, she would sing a song that she made up as she went. I have to admit, she is pretty good at adlibbing, you know, for a talking pony. Eventually, things became more casual between us, though she remained very meek and shy. Finally, Luke got the results of his test back. At first, he was afraid to look, but after coaxing him to just get it over with he opened the envelope and instantly lit up. He passed! I congratulated him and Fluttershy gave soft “Yay!” which put Luke in a fit of laughter. I’ll never understand bronies. The letter said he would have to wait a week to get his license at the government building, and that’s where he is today.

Suddenly, there was a thud on the window, and Fluttershy shrieked. I looked up and shrugged. “It’s probably just a bird, nothing to worry about.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, that poor creature! I have to help it!”

She started unlocking the window, but I grabbed her hind leg and pulled her down. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked furiously, “I said not until Luke gets back!”

Fluttershy half hid herself behind her forehooves. “But it’s just twitching on the ground. I can’t just let him suffer like this.”

“Birds fly into windows all the time. They’re just dumb animals. I see dead animals all the time in class.”

“…Okay.” Fluttershy responded softly.

I sat back down and tried to get back to studying. Man, Luke still isn’t back? Is there a party that I’m missing? I like parties…well, I like them when they’re with friends. I get lonely when it’s a bunch of people I don’t know. Maybe we should have a party for our floor, but there’s that one guy in 412 who likes to put mouse traps in peoples’ beds.

My thoughts were disturbed by a creak. I thought, Finally! Now this pony can get out of here for a while…wait, that wasn’t from the door. I looked over to the window and saw a yellow flank hurdle out. My eyes widened and a flurry of obscenities spewed from my mouth as I stumbled over to the accursed hole in the wall. The vibrant pegasus was gliding to the ground, but at the same time two uniformed men with wire leashes spotted her and were approaching.

Ned Vincent

That stupid, STUPID pony! I thought they were smarter than common animals! Why the hell couldn’t she just stay in the apartment? I thought to myself as I sprinted down the hallway. Shit, what am I gonna say? I don’t have a license and I don’t know a thing about talking ponies. That’s it! The truth!

I felt like I was going to throw up as I kicked open the door to the outside. The sun was brighter than it seemed merely seconds ago, and though the air was brisk, perspiration was abundant upon my forehead. What I was about to do surely would keep me from trouble with the pony catchers, but would I be safe from Luke?

I raised my hand. “Don’t worry guys, she’s with me. Come on my little pony.” I did my best to keep a straight face.

As I reached out to take hold of the still pony, my hand was smacked by a wire leash. The owner of the leash glared at me with anger and a tinge of hate. “Give her a moment! This is a sad occasion.”

There were tears beginning to well up in the pony catcher’s eyes. Then I heard the sobbing and whimpering coming from the ground. The mellow body heaved with each harsh breath. Fluttershy’s head was hidden behind a pair of hooves on the pavement. The bird was dead, despite her best attempts to fix whatever the impact had broken. This failure destroyed her. Life, even at its simplest form, was of great value to Fluttershy. This sentiment was tragically beautiful. The last time I felt so sad for a dead bird was when I was a child. That moment, actually, was when I decided to become a vet. And here was the feeling again; just as devastating as it was all those years ago.

We all waited there a few moments, and then the other catcher knelt down to Fluttershy. “Miss Fluttershy,” he sniffled and wiped his eyes, “I’m sorry, but we must take you with us.”

As she looked up at him, he slowly lowered the wire loop around her head and tightened it around her neck, though there was still plenty of slack.

“That won’t be necessary.” I said, “She’s with me.”

The first catcher stepped forward with the same glare in his eyes. “Show me your license.”

“Well, you see, I don’t actually have a license. My roommate is the carrier of the license and is currently not here.”

The pony catcher reached for what looked like a miniature cattle prod. “Well then, she’s just gonna have to come with us.”

I felt a lump in my throat. “You two are bronies, right? Tell me, how does it feel to abduct these creatures?” Luke would always rant about how he hated the way catchers would treat ponies.

The catcher’s eyes widened as he came towards me, his hand now closer to my face than the cattle prod. “You son of a bitch! You think I like this job? I get to hurt what I love every day!” As I backed away, he stormed faster.

I heard a clang as the handle of the wire leash was dropped. The other pony catcher had a hand on each of his co-worker’s shoulders. “Let it go Robbie. Love and tolerate, man. Love and tolerate.

Astounding; that phrase actually still meant something to someone after all this time. The catcher named Robbie relaxed his body and slowly walked away. The other picked up the leash and led Fluttershy to their van. She only looked back at me with tears and worry in her eyes, the same eyes that I saw the night I found her. Once again, all I wanted to do was help her, only this time I couldn't.

I stumbled back into the apartment and flopped onto the couch, feeling as lugubrious as ever. What am I gonna tell Luke? Wait, why am I worrying so much? This incident was no fault of my own. Didn’t I say to not be surprised if she was gone one day? It’s just a pony. They get picked up every day. I never cared before; why start? With the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders, I resumed my studying and waited for Luke.

A couple minutes passed and Luke came through the door with the biggest smile on his face. He was waving the little slip of plastic and called out, “Hey Fluttershy, you wanna take a walk?”

When Fluttershy didn’t canter over a look of worry fell upon Luke’s face. I had to break it to him. “She’s gone man.”

Luke looked like he was hit with a train. "What do you mean ‘gone’? Did you throw her out?”

He advanced towards me with clenched fists and tensed shoulders. Why did everyone want to jam their fists into my jawbone today?

“No, she flew out the window and a couple of pony catchers got her.”

This only seemed to make Luke angrier. He grabbed my arm and practically threw me out the door. “Get in the car,” said Luke in the darkest, most solemn voice I had ever heard him use.

“I told you we both shoulda got licenses,” Luke snapped at me, “and now look at what happened!”

“And who was gonna shell out the extra cash? It’s bad enough we had to get you one,” I rebuttled.

Luke might’ve had the pony license, but he never came around to getting a driver’s license, so as much as I didn’t want to come along he forced me to drive him to the pound. I assumed that this was another provision made by MoPA; a pound separate from regular pounds with special precautions and facilities. That didn’t make it look any less dreary on the inside, however. We walked inside, one a bit more briskly than the other, and asked to take a look around. Instead of cages, we found clear boxes with holes drilled in, and there were fire sprinklers everywhere. They were all over the ceiling and on the walls and even in each individual cell.

We eventually found Fluttershy, in block 6-B. She was curled up in the back of her cell, whimpering to herself. When she saw us, she inched a bit closer to the glass and gave a small smile. Luke put his hand on the glass and said, “Don’t worry Fluttershy, we’ll get you out of there. Did they hurt you? I’ll make sure they never lay a finger on you ever again!” You’d think Luke was a mother welcoming back her daughter from her first day at kindergarten.

We were just turning around to talk to the caretaker when a sprite little girl came bounding and giggling to Fluttershy’s cell. “Fluttershy,” she squealed, “Fluttershy! I missed you SOOOOOOO much! Where did you go?”

“Anna! It’s so good to see you again.” It was as if Fluttershy had seen sunshine for the first time in a week. “I’ve been with these two gentlemen.”

She pointed a hoof towards me and Luke, and we in turn looked at the little girl. I gave an awkward wave as she squinted at us accusingly. “Did you two do anything to her?” She said through gritted teeth.
Luke spoke up, “We took excellent care of her. May we ask how you know Fluttershy?”

Anna crossed her arms and smiled a satisfied smile. “She’s my little pony.”

Luke bit his lip as he let the words digest in his mind. “You mean…she’s your pet?”

“That’s right, and she’s coming home with me and Daddy.”

Fluttershy gasped and slid to the back of her cell. “You mean Mr. Vincent is here?”

The poor pony seemed more terrified of this Mr. Vincent than anything before, even the zombies. Little Anna turned to her pony and smiled. “Uh huh! He really missed you too!”

Fluttershy looked like she was about to throw up, but she put on a brave face and responded, “How…nice of him.”

She made the most fabricated grin I had ever seen, but it seemed to fool the little girl. What was it about this man that had Fluttershy to terrified? I had a hunch that Luke was picking up on the same vibe and wasn’t about to just let it go. “Annabelle! Where are you Annabelle?”

A thick, southern, gentleman’s accent filled the hallway that made everyone but Fluttershy’s heads turn. “I’m over here Daddy!”

The man walked over in a shimmering, navy blue, silk suit with such airs that you might think that he owned the world. I instantly recognized the man. Ned Vincent, an oil tycoon back in the day. His first big break occurred when another oil company used a snaking oil well and accidentally started siphoning oil from one of his company’s sites. He sued the company for several millions and has been the head of the oil game ever since. Lately, however, more and more companies have primarily used renewable fuel sources and have put Vincent into a hole. I could only hope he would show more mercy on two college students than he did on an oil company.

“There ya are Annabelle.” He turned towards Fluttershy and smiled. “Well, well, well. We finally found you little one. I say, where have ya been?”

Fluttershy was shivering in the back corner of her cell. Her face was half buried by her forehooves, her eyes trained on her figure of terror, never wanting to break eye contact so that she always knew where he was. Timidly, she pointed a hoof towards Luke and I while still hiding her face. Mr. Vincent turned his gaze towards us. He scanned us over once or twice, never losing his businessman’s smile. “Ah trust y’all didn’t do nothin’ to harm my daughter’s precious pony.”

I cleared my throat. “Uh, no sir. Only the best for, uh, an element of harmony.” A nervous chuckle was all I could manage after that.

Mr. Vincent’s eyes narrowed slightly as he leaned in. He almost whispered, “Of course, only the best for my little girl. Come along Annabelle,” he turned back to the little girl, “time we went to retrieve Fluttershy.”

After the two walked away to the caretaker’s office, I looked over at Luke. He had the same panic I had written all over his face. A shaky voice chimed in, “Please don’t let him take me.”

We both looked at Fluttershy. Luke asked her, “Why are you so afraid of him? Did he do something to you?”

“I…I’d rather not.”

Fluttershy covered the rest of her face in her hooves and began crying again. I had a terrible feeling about this. Whatever Ned Vincent did to Fluttershy it was serious. She looked up again. “You have to get us out of here!”

I scratched my head. “How would we do that? It’s not like we can just bust this glass open.”

“Not just me; all of us. We were never meant to come to be here. We belong back in Equestria.”

I looked around at the other ponies in the pound. Some were young, some were old. Some were bright colored, others dull. Some were skinny, others stocky and every size in between. All of them shared the same, broken expression. All were curled up, alone and separate. Their large eyes shimmered with tears and despair. There was a message in their eyes that was loud and clear; “Save us.” The calling shattered my heart. I fell back on the wall behind me and stared up at the ceiling. I could only utter one word, “Damn.”

Luke was in even worse shape. He was sitting on the ground, tears flowing from his eyes, but he never hiccupped or shuddered. Why do I want to help these…things? I couldn’t explain it, but at that instant, I knew I had a mission. These things were creatures too and it was my lifelong goal to help any creature in need that I could.

The door opened up again, and Mr. Vincent came strolling down. “Boys, y’all are in a world of trouble.” His smile somehow seemed more sincere now.

We stared at him, dumbstruck. I swallowed hard and got the nerve to ask, “Wha-what do you mean? What’d we do?”

“Y’all were holdin’ a pony without a license. That is very disappointing. Y’all looked like such good kids.”

Two pony catchers came from behind Mr. Vincent, pointing their cattle prods at us. They came closer and closer as we backed up closer to each other. It was official, everyone wanted to hurt me today.

Before the Storm

I never slept as horribly as I did last night. A solid slab of steel as my mattress, the feeling of impending doom looming over me all night, and worst of all, the image of Fluttershy’s terrified, sad eyes gazing into my very soul, begging me to tear her away from all evils. At least they gave me a pillow. This is the end. This’ll stay on my record forever and I’ll never get a good job, let alone a job as a veterinarian. I should’ve known ponies would get me thrown in jail.

I was slightly startled when the guard opened our cell. “You two, you get your one call.”

I looked over to Luke and he looked back at me. I said, “You go first. I’ve gotta think about what I wanna say.”

What AM I gonna say? This isn’t exactly something I ever expected to have to explain to my parents. My parents are first generation bronies. They both claimed to have joined the fandom back when they were 14 years old, when the show was in its seventh season. They always had mixed feelings about ponies coming to Earth. They always said it was great to actually see them in the flesh, but they didn’t like how they were treated as less than human.

Minutes passed and Luke came back, looking defeated. I stood up and stepped out of the cell, but not without a shove from the guard. I looked at the old phone on the wall with dread and a little bit of wonder. It’s been decades since payphones were extinct, why still use one here? I guess if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I took the phone in hand and dialed my mom’s number. It rang, and rang, and rang again. Finally, after what felt like hours, she picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mom, it’s me.”

“Eric? Where are you calling from?”

I swallowed hard and cleared my throat. “The county jail. Me and Luke were illegally holding a pony in our apartment…allegedly.”

There was a long silence on the phone, a silence that made me want to curl up in a ball, throw up, and cry. “Okay, we’ll be right over.”

She hung up and I did the same. I stumbled back to our cell and sat back down on the bunk. “Who’d you talk to,” asked Luke.

I looked up and responded, “My mom. I told her we were in jail and she said she was on her way. What about you?”

“Michelle. She sounds almost like she’s getting jealous.”

I furrowed my brows. “Of who?”

“Fluttershy. She sorta went on a rant about how I’m doing so much for an animal that I would never do for her. I think she’s just upset that she can’t be with her.”

We waited in that cell for a long time, I don’t know how long. I started thinking about the trial. What evidence are they gonna use against us? Knowing a rich pig like Vincent, he’ll have something up his sleeve. How can we get out of this? We’ve got to talk to Fluttershy somehow. Things were looking pretty hopeless. If Vincent owns Fluttershy, he owns rights over her, and I doubt he’d do anything to jeopardize himself.

Luke and I sat down in a room with windows on all sides. Sitting before us was a man in a suit with a briefcase. “Gentlemen, my name is Arnold Goldstein. I am you state assigned lawyer and I will do everything in my power to give you a brief sentencing. I’ll be frank with you two, the evidence against you is overwhelming and you have little to no chance of proving your innocence.”

Luke spoke up immediately, “We have a chance. We have reason to believe that we are protected under the Hospitality Clause.”

This seemed to intrigue Mr. Goldstein. He raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair. “Do you have proof to make such a bold claim?” he asked.

“Well…no,” Luke responded, “but when Mr. Vincent came to retrieve Fluttershy, she…shied away from him.”

Mr. Goldstein closed his eyes and exhaled. “She’s Fluttershy. Of course she’d shy away from someone.”

“Not like she did. She openly welcomed his daughter, Annabelle, which is understandable since she loves children and animals. But when he came, she couldn’t get far enough away. Something haunts her about him. Something about Vincent scared Fluttershy enough that she had to run away for her own safety.”

Mr. Goldstein opened his briefcase and pulled out a sheet of paper. “According to the report, Futtershy had no injuries whatsoever, and she’s Annabelle’s pet so she couldn’t have been overworked. How do you propose that you qualify for the Hospitality Clause?”

Luke widened his eyes a little and gestured with his head. This made Mr. Goldstein squint. “You don’t mean…A man like Ned Vincent? Why would he sully himself in such a way? He’s a successful business man with a happy family. Why would do such a thing?”

Luke suddenly was the one with all of the answers, and it almost seemed like he was going to represent Mr. Goldstein for a moment. “I can only think of one reason.”

We headed back to our cell and sat down on our bunks. I couldn’t believe we actually had a chance of coming away clean! I tried to wrap my mind around this possibility but it all seemed so surreal. Just a few minutes ago, I thought my life was over. Now, things were about to go right for once!

“Hey Luke?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“What’s the Hospitality Clause?”

Luke just shook his head.

The Trial

The monsters were crowding around me. Scratching, beating, and jeering seemed to be the only things that they knew how to do. I struggled to break free of their grip, but I could never get up quick enough, and there was no room for me to scramble away. I turned my head to the right confident that this would be my end as the pain began to fade. However, there, just on the outskirts of the crowd around me was a little sword. I flipped myself over and reached as far as I could for the handle. Their hands were pressing on me again by the time my grasp reached the sword, at which point I kicked and swung my limbs wildly to defend myself. I got to my feet and took a stance with the sword. What I heard next was hideous laughter all around me. This wasn't a real sword; it was just a hollow, plastic toy that some child had won at one of the games at the fair and discarded. Fortunately, this never registered in my mind. I swung at one monster, and he fell. No blood, no cuts, he just collapsed. I did the same with another, and another, and another until they were all dead on the ground, and I alone stood.

I figured I should head back home, so I stepped away from the fare and into the desert. There was nothing in sight in before me and nothing in sight behind. I walked forward with my new weapon, going to God knows where. Eventually, I came across a shallow oasis. I drank nearly all of the water, which wasn't much, but I noticed a dying palm tree on the bank and left the rest to it. I walked a few more minutes and looked back. The palm tree was erect and flourishing.

The sun suddenly became blindingly bright, and by the time my eyes adjusted, the desert was now a freshly lit jail cell. I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes trying to understand my dream, but all I could come to was I killed my former friends with a toy sword. I could tell that this day was going to be full of weird twists and turns.

Our daily routine started off as it always did. I took a leak while Luke brushed his teeth, then I brushed my teeth while Luke did his business. Next, we went to breakfast, only shortly after we finished, a couple guards shackled us up and made us walk. I knew exactly where we were going, and why. I also knew that we were prepared for what we were about to do. What I didn't know and could only hope for was that the other guys weren’t more prepared.

Today was our court date, and I couldn’t have been more nervous. The guard only had to show us the shackles and I darted to the toilet in the cell to throw up. Arnold Goldstein was waiting for us, as well as Ned Vincent, the jury, and an audience of people, which included my parents, Michelle, the Vincents, and a prissy looking pink pony with a tiara. Why is there a pony in here? Sure this trial involves a pony, but what’s the purpose of having one in the audience?

“Boys, I just wanna say no hard feelings; it’s just business.” Ned said to us with a smug face.

I spoke up, “is that why you’re suing us for every penny we have?”

“And every penny your school has. How could security be so lousy that a fully grown pegasus pony can live in a dorm room for weeks without notice? If I just sued you two I’d lose money.”

I could have sworn I felt a vein pulsing in my temple. You greasy Cajun son of a bitch! Just hold it in Eric; don’t wanna start a scene in the courtroom. The bailiff stepped to the center of the floor and announced, “All rise for the honorable Judge Nicholas Carter!”

A grey old man stepped into the high chair, tapped some papers on his desk and read aloud into a microphone, “Case #29057, Ned Vincent versus Eric Cornell and Luke McDonald will now come to order. Is the prosecution ready to give their opening statement?”

A sleek, graying man in a suit stood up at the table to our left. “Yes your honor.”
He had a straight face that was riddled with experience in both his eyes and his wrinkles. Vincent had to have gotten the best attorney money can hire. Maybe our secret weapon can catch him off guard. God I hope it does. “Members of the jury, my name is Carlos Diego. What does that have to do with this case? Very little; just thought you’d like to know who the winner was going to be. At about nine o’clock at night on February 6, Mr. Vincent noticed that his daughter’s pet pegasus, Fluttershy, had run off through his daughter’s window. Approximately three weeks later, she was found in possession of those two college students without a license.” He pointed to us, “Now ladies and gentlemen of the jury, look me straight in the eye and tell me that this isn’t a straightforward case. We all know that it is hard to abandon these adorable creatures, but the responsible course of action would have been to give her up to the pound. I trust you aren’t blind and will administer justice.”

Diego sat down and Vincent patted him on the back. Judge Carter looked at us now, “Is the defense ready to give their opening statement?”

Arnold stood up, “Yes your honor.” He fixed his tie and turned to the jury with a new aura of confidence that I hadn’t seen before. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you might be thinking that we’re about to plead guilty. Sorry to make you wait here, but true justice must be served here, and only you can bring it. You see, my clients had not only a right, but a duty to take in Fluttershy. That’s right; I’m talking about the Hospitality Clause. For those of you not familiar with it, the Hospitality Clause gives people without a pony license the right to house a pony if they were running away from an unsafe or neglectful environment. Well, this is exactly what we have here today.” Arnold gave a look to Ned Vincent, and then back to the jury. “Thank you." He walked back to our table and sat down. Luke, being closer, gave him a pat on the back.

Judge Carter looked mildly surprised, and perhaps pleased. “Well, looks like we might actually have a real case here after all! The prosecution may call their first witness.”

“Yes your honor,” replied Diego. “The prosecution calls Alec Neumann to the stand.”

My eyes went to the back of the courtroom and I spotted one of the pony catchers who took Fluttershy, the one who calmed the other down. I looked next to him as he walked forward and saw his co-worker. What was his name? Bobby? No, Robbie. Alec stepped into the stand and sat. Next, the bailiff came around with a bible, which Alec placed his right hand on as he raised the other. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“So help me God.”

As the bailiff went back to his spot, I started breathing manually and my heart started beating harder. Just calm down. You know you’re innocent. What are you doing? You’re sitting in a courtroom as the defendant of what is supposed to be and in-and-out case…yeah, you’re not gonna weasel outta this one. Diego walked up to the stand and started, “Mr. Neumann, how are you related to this case?”

“I was the equine acquirer who caught Fluttershy.”

I guess they don’t like being called pony catchers…it’s still the same though. Diego continued, “Can you tell us whom you met while obtaining Fluttershy?”

Alec looked straight at me. “That guy sitting over there with the short, brown hair.”

“Ah yes, Eric Cornell,” Diego took a couple steps towards me, and then faced the jury, “Members of the jury, Eric Cornell is a college student. He lives on the campus and, upon examination of his dorm room, was studying for an exam; a medical exam to be more precise. You see, Mr. Cornell aspired to be a veterinarian, but vet school costs a lot of money, and what’s a poor college student to do? You might be wondering what this has to do with the case. Well, upon a testimony from Fluttershy herself, it was Eric who snatched her from the streets. Now why would a financially deprived college student take in a pet? One might think, ‘Oh, he’s just a young brony with a fierce affection for the colorful equines,’ But I propose a more sinister plot. Mr. Cornell is, in fact, not a brony. He owns no related clothing, has downloaded zero songs, and doesn’t even keep a memento stashed away to keep an off-mainstream image. If he doesn’t like ponies, then why abduct this creature despite the risks? I believe that he wanted her for ransom.”

“Objection!” Arnold stood up, “Your honor, if my client isn’t a brony, then how could he have known Fluttershy’s worth or who she belonged to?”
Judge Carter contemplated this and said, “The defense has a point. Care to elaborate Mr. Diego?”

He merely smiled. “Gladly your honor. Obviously, Mr. Cornell loves animals; otherwise he wouldn’t be learning to be a vet. Now, as we all know, Fluttershy is perhaps the most adorable pony alive, so how could Mr. Cornell look away without helping? It wasn’t until he got home, you see, that he discovered her worth. There isn’t just one person on trial here. His roommate, Luke McDonald, is a devoted brony. He’s got the clothes; he’s got the toys; he’s even got the hard cover copies of the most popular fan fictions. What he doesn’t have, however, is a pony all his own. We did a sweep of his computer’s hard drive and found some interesting searches. He’s been tracking all of his favorite ponies. He knows what they’re doing every hour of every day, and of course what their estimated worth is. I think we can all see where this is going; he saw suddenly saw Fluttershy in his dorm room, quickly thought up his insidious scheme, and made Mr. Cornell his accomplice. Sure, one could argue that he’s just a devoted fan who likes to keep tabs on his ponies of interest, but would a devoted fan, a fan virtually raised on the ideals of care and thoughtfulness, endanger his or her idol’s safety? I certainly hope not.”

Mr. Diego sat back down, looking very pleased with himself with his small smile and beaming face. That bastard! How dare he attack Luke like that! He’d never do anything like that. He’s not a sinister low-life right?...right? I looked over at Luke, and I could tell that none of that was true. While he was trying to keep a straight face, I could see the disbelief in him. He was probably thinking about how much he hates lawyers; right up there with pony catchers. Diego was so unfair to him, but when you’re getting paid as much as he probably is you want to make sure your client’s getting his money’s worth to keep your reputation.

Luke looked into the audience where Michelle was sitting. He just had to let her know somehow that none of that was true, but I don’t think she was quite ready to listen. “Does the defense have any questions for Mr. Neumann?” said Judge Carter.

Arnold stood up and said, “No your honor.” and sat back down.

Judge Carter released Alec Neumann from the stand, and he left the courtroom with his friend, Robbie. I saw what Arnold was doing; he didn’t want to skew off from the case that we were pleading. I just hoped that their case wasn’t stronger.

The Fall

Reminder: anything in this story that is received as offensive by anyone is strictly accidental and in no way intended for malice. I sincerely apologize if you are offended by the content of my story.

"We will resume the trial after a fifteen minute recess.”

Judge Carter banged his gavel, and everyone stood up and headed out the courtroom doors. Of course, we had to stay cuffed and under constant watch, but we were allowed to talk with our lawyer. I looked at Luke, and could see that he was still distraught from the accusations. I needed to cheer him up.

“Hey bud, you alright? “

“No,” he responded, “Oh God. What if he’s right? What if I did keep Fluttershy hostage for my own purposes and never even realized it? I’m a freakish monster.”

He looked down at himself, ashamed. I had to say something to make him snap out of it.

“Wow. You’re really gonna let an overpaid story teller convince you of who you are on the inside? You know what I think? I think you took her in because you felt that she was running from something, and that’s what we’re here today to prove! I know who you are, and so does everyone else around you.”

Next came a shrill, angry voice that sent a chill up my spine.

“You SICK bastard! How could you do something so evil, so heinous? I thought you were a sweet guy who would only do what was right. Well boy was I wrong!” Maybe this is why I don’t have a girlfriend. "I knew you were more interested in that pony than me! You wanted to make sure your retirement didn’t fly out the window!”

The only thing that kept Michelle from tearing Luke limb from limb was the line of officers that surrounded us.

“Shelly,” said Luke, “I didn’t do it for that! You know I would never do anything like that!”

“I’m not your ‘Shelly’ anymore! We’re through! I hope you rot in prison.”

Michelle stormed off, leaving Luke in tears and shock. Poor Luke. He’s gonna fall apart any moment now. I can’t imagine how much he’s hurting right now. All I could do was grasp his knee with my cuffed hands to offer him my empathy. I looked to Arnold and said, “Please, get us out of this.”

The rest of the case was a blur. All the prosecution could do was bring one of the cops that chased Fluttershy and I that one night to the stand. Aside from that, Diego just reiterated what he said before about Luke being the mastermind and me the henchman. Finally, we got our chance.

“Does the defense have anything to counter the evidence?” asked Judge Carter.

“Yes we do your honor.” Arnold stood up tall, proud, and the slightest bit smug. “Edward G. Vincent is a respectable man, correct? He’s a brilliant business man, oil extraordinaire, and from what I hear, a wonderful father and husband. He even got financial advice from Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara after the passing of her father,” I looked back and saw the pony in the audience smiling and wiping a tear from her eye. That must be Diamond Tiara. “But we have reason to believe that this man of gold has a bit of corrosion. Your honor, the defense calls Ned Vincent to the stand”

A murmur began to grow in the courtroom, and Judge Carter banged his gavel to hush it all. I looked at Vincent as he stood, calm as ever. You know we’ve got you! You don’t have a prayer! Vincent took a seat by the podium and the bailiff approached him to swear the oath. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?”

“So help me God.”

Arnold took a few paces towards the podium with his hands in his pockets and began asking his first question. “Mr. Vincent, can you please tell the court if you are a brony?”

“I am, and proud of it!” Vincent said with a big smile.

“And how long have you been a brony?”

“Well, the show first grabbed my attention when I was twenty-two, so about forty years ago.”

“And I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of the fandom over the years; a lot of music, works of fan-made literature, art. Did you like the art?”

“Depends on what kind of art you’re talking about. I thought the comics were funny, I loved the grand, epic pictures with lots of detail and emotion.”

“Detail and emotion huh?” Arnold smirked, “Would you mind sharing with the court what your favorite photo was, or your favorite kind of art?”

Diego stood up suddenly. “Your honor, this is completely irrelevant to the case at hand.”

Arnold snapped back. “Objection! Your honor, what I’m trying to say is imperative to the case.”

Judge Carter looked sternly at Arnold with furrowed brows and squinted eyes. “Then get to it Mr. Goldstein!”

Arnold looked to the jury box and said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the point I’m trying to drive home is that Mr. Vincent is a clopper.” Vincent fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat, “Now, you might ask what this has to do with those two young boys over there,” he pointed towards Luke and I, “What it means is that while the “evidence” against them is baseless and circumstantial, ours is damning. We got a warrant to sweep Mr. Vincent’s computer and found nothing, but with some analyzing and chasing usernames, we have traced several pornography sites back to him, many of which contained clop, or pony porn.”

Vincent threw his hands up in the air and proclaimed, “Ya caught me! I’m a clopper! What does that have to do with any of this?”

Arnold smiled confidently. “Mr. Vincent, weren’t you listening to my opening statement? We have reason to believe that my clients are protected under the Hospitality Clause of the MoPA guidelines and constitution. If an owner is abusive to his or her pony and said pony runs away to the care of another person, then the new owners are exempt from kidnapping charges and the previous owner can be charged with animal abuse. This includes sexual abuse.”

Judge Carter contemplated this for a moment and I thought we were in the clear, but the words that came out of his mouth made my heart sink. “Mr. Goldstein, this proves very little. Either produce some hard evidence, or I will let the jury deliberate.”

Arnold looked at us, with worry and pity in his eyes. He mouthed the words “What now” and I felt completely helpless. I thought of everything we’d done with the pony and nothing came to mind. I was on the verge of tears. Damn! Shit! Bitch! Agh! What can we do?! What did we do?! Why did I take her with us? And then the answer to my prayers hit me.

“MY HOODIE!” I bolted to my feet, knocking over the chair beneath me.

The murmur returned, louder this time, and once again, Judge Carter hammered away. “Order! ORDER! What is the meaning of this outburst Mr. Cornell?”

“Your maje-honor,” I stuttered, which made Diego giggle, “if I could just have a moment with my lawyer.”

He looked at me for a good long second or two as I tried my hardest to make my eyes look like a puppy’s. “I’ll allow this, but this better be produce some results.”

Arnold walked over briskly and I whispered to him my plan. Once I finished explaining, Arnold’s eyes widened up. He walked to the center of the courtroom. “I request a piece of evidence be pulled from police custody your honor; one hoodie.”

Judge Carter asked for the item from the officers at the doors, and a few minutes later the article of clothing arrived in a plastic bag. I looked over at Luke, who seemed to be in a trance.

“You awake buddy? We’re about to go free!”

He never even looked up. “Whatever…”

I decided not to press him further and instead looked at the scene that was about to play out. Arnold put on a cotton glove and removed my hoodie from the bag.

“My client, Eric Cornell, told me that Fluttershy’s coat was immaculately soft and smooth, like a cat’s. He also mentioned that she sheds like one too, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get all of the fur off of this hoodie, which he always wears. The night Mr. Cornell “abducted” Fluttershy he picked her up with this hoodie in order to hide her appearance and not draw attention from the police. He noted that her coat was very smooth that night. Now, why would that be? Sure, the Vincents can probably afford the most expensive shampoos, but we hold another theory. Your honor, I request a DNA test be made on the fur of this hoodie.”

I looked at Vincent, who was sweating and hyperventilating. You see that? That’s called justice you bastard! A fairly large machine was wheeled into the courtroom as Arnold began picking off a few hairs with a pair of tweezers. Thank God for advances in genetic technology. Arnold deposited the hairs on a tray, pressed a button, and the tray inserted itself into the whirring machine. Arnold looked back at Judge Carter once more. “One last thing your honor. I request a sample of DNA from Mr. Vincent.”

“You can’t do that!” shouted Vincent.

“On the contrary, he can.”

Everyone looked to a man in a black suit, white shirt, and red and white striped tie. He was of average height, had very neat hair, and looked very fit.

He pulled a badge from his coat pocket and said, “Morgan Winslow of the Management of Ponies Administration. I am here on official business to oversee this case and make sure that justice is properly served and, if needed, arrest the guilty. Your honor, I am aware of my limitations, but I am also aware of your power. If you grant a search warrant for this man’s DNA, you will find the answers we’re all looking for, but the decision is entirely your own.”

I looked back towards the judge, who was still watching the man in the suit. We waited for what felt like hours, and then Judge Carter finally pulled out a slip of paper, filled it out, and signed it. “We might as well get this over with,” he said resigned.

I felt a smile break across my face, which I fought to suppress. Don’t celebrate too early.

Judge Carter handed the bailiff the warrant, and the bailiff took a Q-tip to Vincent’s mouth. He seemed to refuse at first, but reluctantly, he let the bailiff swab his mouth. The saliva covered utensil was brought to Arnold, who then put it in another tray on the machine. He pushed another button and we waited eagerly for the results. There was a screen on one side of the machine. At first it said “no match” and my heart nearly stopped, but then the screen blinked the result away and said “match.” “Your honor,” said Arnold, “it would appear that Mr. Vincent’s DNA was on Fluttershy’s fur. And just so there’s no mistake,” he pressed on the screen which made it change once more, “the test was one part saliva, one part hair, one part semen.”

The courtroom exploded with talking, shouting, stomping, slamming of hands, banging, and crying. I saw the officers escorting the audience out of the courtroom, leaving it empty except for the jury, lawyers, Luke, me, Vincent, Judge Carter, and Morgan Winslow. Judge Carter looked to the jury and said, “Members of the jury, you may now deliberate.”

The group stood up and exited through a door next to their seats. We waited for a few minutes and they returned. “Has the jury reached a verdict?”

One of the jurors stood up. “Yes your honor. We the jury find the defendants not guilty for the abduction of the pegasus, Fluttershy.”

All I could do was smile and lay my head on the desk. I heard footsteps approaching from behind me. They belonged to the MoPA agent who was walking up to Vincent.

“Ned Vincent, you are under arrest for the sexual abuse of a pony.”

Vincent was read his rights and was escorted out of the courtroom.

“Bailiff, release these two and see that they reclaim their things. This court is dismissed.” Judge Carter banged his gavel once more and Luke and I were free at last.

There was a huge party for us at the local bar. Everyone wanted to buy Luke and myself a drink. I gave one to Arnold. It was the least I could do. After we got our things back from custody, we picked up Fluttershy from the pound. She said she didn’t want to see more people at the moment, so we took her back to our place and left for the party. None of this seemed to cheer Luke up any. I saw him sitting at the bar, taking shot after shot. I knew I had to be a good friend, so I went over to try to cheer him up.

“You come here often, stud?” I gave him the eye and a pair of puckered lips, but all he did was sigh and look even worse. “Come on man, how can Michelle still be mad at you? Did you talk to her?”

“Yeah…she said I still care more about Fluttershy than her and just walked away.” He took another shot and stood up. “I’m goin’ home.”

Luke stumbled toward the door, hiccupping. “Let me help you man,” I said.

He just grunted and shook me off. We were within easy walking distance of the bar, but it was still pretty far for a drunk dude. I watched him shove the door open with his body weight and drank my mug worriedly.

Fifteen minutes later, I decided I should leave too and make sure he got home safely. I thanked everyone for supporting us and headed out. The sun was down now, but I was still checking to make sure Luke wasn’t passed out in the streets. I hope he’s in bed when I get back. I pulled the car into the lot, locked it, and headed up to our room.

I opened the door and heard a noise. It sounded like grunting and gasping, almost like crying, but it sounded like more than one person. The lights were off, but I didn’t want to disturb whoever was making the noise, so I followed it to the source. It led me to my room, only now it sounded less like crying. I switched on the lights and nearly thought I was having an alcohol induced nightmare and I was actually passed out at the bar or somewhere. Oh how I wish that was the truth. What I saw was Luke hunched over on the floor and pulling on a red shirt over Fluttershy’s eyes. I did what my first instinct told me to do, and that was yank Luke away from her and throw my fist into his temple. He fell to the floor out cold half with his pants around his knees.

Fluttershy laid there shivering, whimpering, and sobbing. Again, my instincts took over and I picked her up hurriedly. At first she fought me, but she looked into my face and cried into my chest. Her coat was unkempt and her mane was a mess. I took her straight outside and into the hall. Sitting against the wall, I rocked back and forth, trying to calm her, but I knew it was useless. I had to get her out of here, and not just out of the apartment.

A New Day

I wandered through the desert for what felt like days, but the sun never set. Behind me was a disappearing line of footsteps. I no longer had my toy sword; it vanished some time ago. My mind turned to the tree at the oasis.

'Damn that tree! It didn’t take much for it to restore itself! It could have given me some water or shade for the trip to…wherever.'

At that moment, my prayers were answered. I felt and saw the shade of a cloud pass over me, and I smiled at its kindness. Soon, it began to grow, which made me smile bigger, but then it turned grey, then almost black, and finally consumed the sky.

A strong wind kicked up the sand around me. While this didn’t hurt and actually felt soothing, I couldn’t risk exposing myself, so I curled into a ball on the ground, hoping to wait out the storm.

Instead, the storm waited for me.

With a mighty clap of thunder, a heavy torrent began to pour over me. Fish swam their way out of the muddy sand and flopped all around until the water was high enough for them to move around.

The water was up to my knees and still rose; I had to find higher ground, and fast. Before I could do so, a tidal wave crashed over the dunes and directly on top of me. I felt crushed against the mud, but was suddenly blown away like a feather along the current. The forces were too much, and I blacked out.

I awoke to being poked by something sharp. I looked up to find some sort of Hawaiian-looking tribe baring their spears at me on a beach. Behind them were huts housing frightened women clutching children and a jungle. Before I have any time to assess, one of the natives goes to skewer me, but is stopped by a grunt.

The grunt came from one of the fatter natives, wearing a tall, simple headpiece. He walked over to me, lifted me on my feet by my shoulders, and gave me a spear. All that he said to me was, “Hunt.”

The sun shone through my windshield and the heat woke me up. I weakly opened my eyes, then shut them again and slept until the heat was too much for me. I looked over to the mellow pony curled up in the reclined passenger seat. She had the faintest breathing and every now and then she’d give a spasm. 'I hope she isn’t having a nightmare.' She looked so peaceful, and I didn’t want to disturb her, but I really had to pee. I had no choice but to gently wake up the sleeping pony.

“Hey, Fluttershy, time to wake up.”

A gentle nudge was all it took. She slowly opened her large eyes halfway and looked at me. “I have to start the car and we’re gonna get breakfast, alright?”

She merely gave me a small nod and laid her head back down on the seat and under her forehooves. She hadn’t said a word since last night, and I couldn’t blame her. 'How could this have happened to her again? Dammit Luke…' I turned the key slow as I could, as if that could hush the roar of the V-6 engine. I pulled out of the mall parking lot and made for the nearest fast food place; a McDonald’s just down the street.

The lot was empty, save for a white van and a blue sedan. I found a spot as far away from both of them as I could get and turned off the car. Fluttershy lazily lifted her head and looked out the window, expressionless.

“I’ll…would you like some pancakes? I think they still sell those.” She didn’t even move. “Just please stay hidden.”

I felt terrible. 'I should never have found her. Well…maybe that wouldn’t be the best thing, but at least she wouldn’t have been exposed to Luke like that.' I opened the door and wandered to the bathroom. After I did my business, I got in line and scanned the menu, but I couldn’t take my mind off the unguarded pony in my car. I looked out the large window just to be sure everything was alright, but all I could see were two guys walking back to the van. They were carrying a large sack that was squirming.

'Wait. Squirming??' I bolted from the line and ran outside just as one of the guys got in the driver’s seat and the other jumped in the back with the sack. I looked at the driver’s mirror and saw his eyes, which he darted away from me and started up the van.

I sprinted to my car and found the door unlocked, Fluttershy not present. My first instinct told me to unlock the trunk and pull out the lug wrench. I felt like an invincible warrior, running fearlessly into battle as I charged at the slow-moving van. The windows were pretty shaded, but I could see the panic in the driver’s eyes as I beat at the windshield. After two strong swings at the windshield, the van took off. The glass was severely cracked, and it clearly impaired the driver’s vision. He drove recklessly close to the dead end of the lot and swerved around toward me. 'I’ve got one shot at this!' Taking aim, I threw the cross-shaped wrench at the windshield, smashing open a small hole over by the passenger side. I ran up to the vehicle before it could accelerate to too great of a speed, jumped, and slammed my right foot into the hole. I was wearing jeans, so my legs were mostly protected, except for my ankles, but I got a couple cuts on my arms and torso from the glass shards. I landed awkwardly in the empty seat and slammed my head against the dash as the driver put the van in park. To this day, I’m not sure if it was courageous adrenaline or insanity that compelled me to do that. He tried to reach over me to open the passenger door and kick me out, but I grabbed his arm before he could reach the handle. I squeezed, scratched, twisted, pulled, and bent as hard as I could on the limb while being beaten with the fist of the other. I reached for his head, but grabbed his shirt instead, and tried to pull him down and use him to get back upright.

'I can’t just struggle with this guy. I need to get Fluttershy and get out fast!

Pulling his shirt, I ended up pulling myself up rather than him to the floor, and tried to beat him into submission. My fist would fly to his face, and his into my gut, but neither one of us gave an inch. I made a dive for the back, kicking all the way, and grabbed a shivering, whimpering ball of yellow, but we weren’t alone back there. The second kidnapper was guarding the back door of the van. I curled Fluttershy into my arms and shoulder tackled the man. He slammed against the door and tried to throw me aside, but not before I just reached the door handle. I instinctively dropped Fluttershy to the floor of the van as the two of us tumbled out onto the asphalt of the parking lot.

I fell on top of the kidnapper, who seemed dazed and stunned. There was a short scream that was cut short. I look up to see the driver struggling to pull Fluttershy back into the van. I scrambled halfway to my feet to wrench her free of the assailant, but my ankle was snagged by the accomplice on the ground. There was no time to react. Time slowed down as I fell, face forward, and a million thoughts flooded my brain. 'What’s going to happen to her? What’s going to happen to me? Have the people inside been watching this? Is this gonna hurt?' And then, black.

I woke up with my hands bound behind a chair and a black bag over my face. I was so groggy and exhausted that all I could register were the noises around me. They were voices, but they were muffled to me in my current state. One voice grew louder as I heard footsteps coming toward me. The bag was lifted and a bright light shined in my face, forcing me to snap my eyes shut.

“Glad to see you’re awake Mr. Cornell,” said a familiar voice.

I was still too disoriented to recall whose voice it was, but it didn’t sound mocking, sarcastic, or even mean. Rather, it sounded sincere. “You’re lucky to be awake,” Said a harsher, but also familiar voice.

The first voice turned away and went back to an incomprehensible mumble, but as my senses recovered, I understood the conversation.

“I didn’t want him here either, but Fluttershy wasn’t going to calm down until we brought him. Could you live with making her sad like that, after all she’s been through?” There was a long silence, followed by footsteps returning to me. ‘That voice…I heard it the other day, didn’t I?’

The calmer voice spoke up. “Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why we took that pegasus pony away from you. I’m sorry, but you’re an unfit companion for her. She’d be better off in our hands.”

Anger snapped my eyes open for a brief second before they squinted to block the light. “Sorry about the light, but we can’t trust you with seeing us. You see, we are in a secret coalition, bent on liberating the ponies here on earth and restoring peace between man and ponykind. We have no name, and that’s all you get to know about us.” The voice paused.

“You won’t see much beyond this light except for an empty, windowless room. I apologize for the inhospitality, but it is for the good of our operation, and we can’t trust letting you free. We are at war, and you are our prisoner.”

Someone behind me started putting the bag back over my head, but I exclaimed, “WAIT! I want to help!”

The bag paused and was slowly lifted again. “Oh come on! You actually think he wants to help us?”

The calm voice ignored the harsh one. “I’m listening.”

I licked my lips and spoke, “I’ve seen how much the ponies are hurting. I’ve seen, first-hand, some of the horrors they undergo. It was sickening. Please, they don’t belong here. They’re not safe in our world. I can’t just sit by and watch these creatures get abused before my eyes.”

A figure stormed toward me and shined a light in my face. He got up close to me and grumbled. “Why should we believe that? Why should someone like you, a non-brony, be trusted with the care of these precious, pure creatures?”

I gave a small smile. “Since I’m a non-brony, then at the very least, you should know that I never wanted them here to begin with.”

I punctuated with a small chuckle as the light moved away from me, leaving only the one from before. There was the sound of a door quickly opening, followed by a new voice; this one was unfamiliar. “They’re liquidating one of Vincent’s assets! We’ve found one!”

There was a brief pause, and then I heard a knife unsheathe and cut the zip-tie that bound my hands. “If you really want to help, come with us now.”

I was lifted to my feet, and stood there dazed from the glare. Finally, I could see who was talking. It was Alec Neumann and a bandaged and bruised Robbie.

30 Years Ago

I had been sitting outside of the conference room for probably half an hour, but it felt like ages. The coalition still didn’t trust me. I’m not allowed to leave the building without supervision and I can’t contact anyone. They still consider me a prisoner, though I have access to any room except the archives. I can’t go home, but I have to tell my parents what I have been doing. It’s only right. Plus, I wanted to ask them some questions that might make some sense of this insanity for me.

Fluttershy was waiting with me. To be honest, I didn’t understand why she always wanted to be by my side. I had been so cruel to her, and I was sure that I didn’t love her more than a brony, but at the same time I wanted her to be near me. Then again, she’s had it pretty rough lately. Maybe I make her feel safe.

“Hey,” I started. “You doing alright?”

“Um, yeah,” At least she was willing to talk to people again “The people here are really nice to me.”

I laughed softly and said, “That makes one of us.”

Fluttershy looked down at the floor where she lay and took a deep breath. Her face retreated into her hair and started shaking. I leaned over and saw her trying to fight back tears. “Hey, hey, what’s the matter,” I asked.

She sniffled and said, “I miss Angel, my pet bunny. I found him all alone and took him in with me. He wasn’t always nice, but I always knew that deep down he loved me. But now he’s gone…most of my old friends are gone…”

Her grip on her tears finally broke loose and she cried openly. I saw the tears splash to the tile and felt my lower lip curl. I knelt down and she looked up at me with swollen eyes. I didn’t know what to say. What can you possibly say to cheer up someone who is all alone? In the end, I said nothing. Instead I wiped a tear away from her face, and she jumped up to hug me, catching me off guard, but I still returned it. I don’t know why I felt the need to comfort this creature, but maybe that was just it: to me she was no longer just a creature

Fluttershy released her grip on me and curled up into herself. I sat back in my seat and not two minutes later, the door opened up and Alec walked out. “Good news,” he said, “we’ve decided to let you see your parents.”

I couldn’t contain the smile that broke across my face. “Really?”

Alec replied, “Yes, but you can’t talk about the coalition or any of our operations. You know, confidentiality and what not.”

“Can I come with you,” asked a hushed little voice coming from the pony on the floor.
I knelt down to her again and told her, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but I can’t risk you leaving the compound. You’d be safer here with these guys and your friend.”

“Actually,” said Alec, “They’re trying to get some answers from Applejack to see if she knows about any weaknesses or anything about our enemies that could further our mission. They’ve been at it for about half an hour now.”

Well woopty doo! I guess they must be getting something if they’ve been busy for this long. “Still, you should stay here Fluttershy,” I said, and I walked away before she could argue, although I don’t think she would’ve.

I went to the little room that the coalition had supplied for me. It was the same kind of room that the ponies who live with the coalition stay in. The coalition can’t house all the ponies in the world, but they do their best to be hospitable to the ones that they can bring with them. The difference between a pony’s room and my room was that mine was bare with only a simple bed. I had caught a couple glimpses of some of the ponies’ rooms, and it looked like they were able to put anything they anything they wanted to in there. Something told me the coalition’s friends in high places had something to do with that.

I need to list out what I wanna ask. I grabbed the keys to my car, which Alec had driven to the compound after our scuffle, and headed to one of the offices to borrow a pen and a sheet of paper. Finally, I came out the back door to the parking lot, got in my car, wrote down my questions, and drove off.

The radio was tuned to a rock station, but I turned it off. Man…how has it come to this? Why do I hate ponies in the first place? Everyone has heard of ponies, and because they are so integrally part of our lives almost every parent had their kids watch the show, even though it stopped airing about 30 years ago. I never really understood why everyone liked it; I thought it was okay, but nothing special. Maybe that’s why I never liked ponies; people treated them as special and all I saw was another type of animal, but these ponies were more than animals.

My parents’ house was a good hour away from the compound, but I had a feeling that they had several other compounds elsewhere. When I was a kid we lived in an alright suburb, but once I moved out they left for the country. They said it was to get away from the noise. Plus, our front windows were shot out; at by teenagers with BB guns, so I can understand wanting to get away from suburbia.

I pulled into the driveway of their humble abode, prepared to find answers to my questions. “This place reminds me of my house.”

I never thought such a sweet, hushed voice could almost give me my second concussion in a week. At least car ceilings are softer than rear bumpers. Holding my head and cursing up a storm, I slowly turned around to the innocent looking pony sitting in the back seat of my car. She looked at me with concern and said, “Oh my goodness! Are you alright Mr. Cornell?”

I wanted to scream at her and give her hell, but instead I gritted my teeth and slowly said, “What…are you doing…in the back of my car? You should be with Alec…waiting for your friend.”

“Well, Mr. Neumann had to back to the conference room, and I didn’t want to make him angry by going in there when they didn’t want me to, so I followed the signs to the parking lot and got in your car.”

That asshole didn’t lock my car? There wasn’t anything I could do about her now except let her tag along, but not before locking the car. I don’t need any more surprises. I had my notes in my back pocket, just in case, and rang the doorbell. My dad came to the door and said, “Eric! Hey buddy! What ya doing all the way out…Ms. Fluttershy. How are you? Ah, please, come in! Lily, Eric is here with a friend!”

Fluttershy took a few timid steps, looked back at me, and I followed right behind, which gave her some sort of courage. My mom poked her head into the hallway that led from the front door. She gave me a warm smile, but looked a bit lower and let her mouth go agape. Fluttershy looked back at me. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” I replied. “They’re just not used having a celebrity for company.”
My mom motioned us into the living room to take a seat. I sat in one of the chairs and so did Fluttershy. I had to take a second look; I did a double take at her posture. How…how can she sit upright like that? My parents returned from a hushed conversation in the kitchen and together sat down on the couch. Their faces were glowing to say the least. “So, Ms. Fluttershy,” my Dad started, “how have you been? Glad all that drama is over with?”

“Oh, yes,” the pony replied. “It’s so good to finally be free of that horrible man.”

I was about to open my mouth and speak when my Mom said, “Sorry we don’t have any hors d’oeuvres out. If we’d known you two were coming we would’ve set up. Can I get you anything Ms. Fluttershy?”

“I’m quite alright. Thank you for your concern though.”

I tried again to speak, but only got half a word out before my parents interrupted again. “Has our boy been treating you well?” my Dad asked. “You know, he never really liked ponies.”

“He’s done so much for me. I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for him.”

Well of course. You smuggled yourself into my car. “Mom, Dad, please. I have some very important questions.”

One could almost feel the atmosphere in the room change. It might have just been the cool air of the changing seasons, but I noticed a distinct chill. Perhaps it was just my imagination Taking a deep breath, I tried to settle the churning in my gut and asked, “What happened thirty years ago? Why are ponies for sale?”

My Dad let out a breath through pursed lips and spoke while looking downwards, “Well, about thirty years ago, science made a huge leap forward in something that I thought would be after my time. Some scientist, Dr…whatever, I forget, solved the mysteries behind inter-dimensional travel. He proposed that all universes are connected to each other like particles in a molecule, and certain threads were the seams to a veil that kept them all separate. This scientist proposed that we only had to pull apart these seams and we could travel to distant universes. This could’ve opened up a huge trade of things that didn’t exist in our universe, but I’m sure you know what happened instead.”

My history classes told me that the first universes found were deadly to humans, and their physics were so vastly different that there was no way we could live, much less thrive. But in later years, scientists knew what signs to look for in these threads that would indicate that the universe they were bound to was hospitable. They sought out a thread with the ideal conditions and tore it open. What they had found was Equestria.

“We couldn’t believe what had happened,” my Mom continued, taking over for my Dad. “Bronyism was at its height at the time, so if you can imagine almost all the world being in a state of celebration and utter happiness, that’s pretty much how we all felt. But the ponies were absolutely terrified. Do you remember Ms. Fluttershy?”

“Yes, we didn’t know how to approach humans, so we all hid away. I remember this one unicorn was really happy, but she didn’t approach humans either. She was the one who warned all of us to beware, actually. She said that humans can be pretty rough with new discoveries. The Princesses were the first to greet humans.”

I knew the rest, “And human diplomats met with them and we set up good relations. But what happened afterwards?”

My Dad answered, “Eric, some people have no moral compass. After about a year, relations between Equestrians and humans were so good, Equestria was now open to the general public…or, at least, those that could afford it. From what I heard, though, it was like a dream, and I guess some people just never wanted the dream to end. It all started with kidnapping. The people responsible; Those responsible were found easily enough and the ponies stolen were returned, but soon more and more ponies were disappearing, and there were no leads to follow. Black market businesses were kidnapping ponies and selling them off.

“The Princesses were furious with mankind. They demanded that their subjects be returned, but instead diplomats went to talk with them and negotiate peace. After all, it wasn’t all of mankind’s fault that ponies were being kidnapped. When the diplomats came back…pony trade was legal. Just like that. Nobody really knows what went on in that meeting, but I doubt the Princesses just up and let their people be sold into slavery like that. Immediately afterwards, MoPA was created in America and a full list of laws regarding ponies was enacted. It all happened way too fast to seem right, but it happened. What shocked us most was how people took to this. Nobody seemed to mind what was happening. Friends started contemplating getting ponies for pets if they ever got the money, and from that point on your Mother and I considered bronyism to be dead.”

Nothing seemed right about this to me. “Ponies…just became commodities…just like that? How?”

“I don’t know what to tell you Eric,” my Dad answered, “That’s just what happened. I wish I knew. But why do you wanna know?”

I looked toward the floor, then up at Fluttershy, who nodded back at me. She was reliving the past thirty years of her life in her head, but she didn’t cry or recoil in any way. Maybe she’s relived it enough that it doesn’t bother her anymore. I licked my lips and looked back at my parents. “I’m…not gonna be in school for a while. I can’t tell you where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing, but I wanted to see you guys one last time before…before anything happened.”

They only stared back at me. They had always taught me that an education is one of the most important things in this world, and I had to agree, but I hoped they’d understand that I had something with just a bit more priority. “We always knew you were destined for something big,” said my Mom. “Just…make sure it’s the right thing.”

“I will. I love you guys. We should probably get going.”

We stood up and walked to the front door. My Mom was getting misty eyed, but she embraced me and held back her tears with all her might, but her emotion was reflected in her hug. The thought that something might happen to me must have scared her. It scared me too, truth be told. My Dad hugged me as well, and Fluttershy and I stepped outside. There was a pony catcher van parked across the street that started up and drove away as soon as we saw it. I turned back to my parents and instructed them, “Lock the doors and don’t take calls from any number you don’t recognize.”

They shut the door and I heard it lock. The two of us quickly got into the car, but I made Fluttershy get in the back and stay hidden. I took off in the exact opposite direction we came from, the opposite direction of the van. I’m not gonna risk going back directly. I need a detour. I went back through the city. Fluttershy didn’t say a word, and neither did I. My head faced forward, but my focus was everywhere. The van wasn’t behind me, but Fluttershy was looking out the window. I was about to tell her to get back down when she screamed, “Stop the car! I found Rarity!”

Generosity

Warning: Please mind the "Sex" tag of this story.

“Who’s Rarity,” I asked Fluttershy as I pulled the car over.

“One of my friends! She’s the Element of Generosity! Please hurry!” said the excited pony.

I had a reason for my slow pace. This wasn’t a particularly friendly part of the city, full of thieves, brutes, crazed junkies, and any other sort of scum that are a regrettable part of the social spectrum. As I was about to open my door, I noticed a man walking out of the alley that Fluttershy was so fixated to. He was balding, had thick glasses and a beer belly, left his pants’ zipper undone, and appeared to not be keen on the concept of shaving. His face was ruddy with exertion and sweat trickled down his forehead. What stood out most, however, what his smile: the kind of smile only someone who takes pleasure in fiendish acts would wear. What the hell was he doing back there? Do I even want to know? “Are you absolutely sure that you saw your friend,” I asked.

Fluttershy seemed to feel the same creepy vibe I got from the man leaving the alley. “It had to have been her. I just know it. Please believe me.”

Her face seemed sad and frightened at the same time. She knew I didn’t want to go out there, but she didn’t want me to abandon her friend. If it really is her, we’ll be that much closer to having all of this trouble behind us. I checked the street for any oncoming traffic, and then I opened the door and stepped out. I figured if I just looked like I belonged here then I’d be at least a little safer, so I put on a slight scowl and pressed on towards the alley.

It was empty except for a dumpster, but a soft sniffling sound was evidence that I wasn’t alone. I took a few steps in, just past the dumpster, and I saw this wretched creature. She had an unkempt coat of mostly white fur with spots of grey dirt and dust, and a messy, purple mane with greasy, matted curls. Her face was covered in an overabundance of bungled makeup, and her horn appeared to be crooked. But all of this could have just been the poor lighting and grim atmosphere of the area; Could this really be the diva pony obsessed with beauty and vanity that I had heard of?

“Rarity? Is that you?”

She was laying on her side with a lush purple and white, gaudy coat and a string of white beads around her neck. “Darling,” she responded. “I have been waiting for you. I am all yours for two hundred dollars an hour. Don’t worry about the price, I’m so…generous.”

My first thought was how disturbed I was about her licking her lips and stroking herself with her fore hoof. I took a quick peek around the corner of the building I parked my car in front of and looked back at Rarity. “Look, I’ve got Fluttershy with me,” I told her. “I’m here to take you away!”

“Oh? Just Fluttershy?” she asked. “I’d love to see her, but that will cost you extra. And if it’s just some animal you can just forget it.” I couldn’t hide the twitch in my eye. What kind of sick…thing would do that? “Anyhow, I don’t leave this spot until I see some money.”

I let out an exhale and took a look around for fear of any authorities or people I knew before carefully reaching into my pocket and pulling out two twenty dollar bills. They seemed like harmless, innocent little slips of paper crying, begging me to not give them up for such a disgusting act; I could almost feel the ink soaking off onto my fingers with their tears. “What will forty get me?” I asked.
I handed them over to the pony, who grasped them in an aura of blue magic. The sensation was odd, like a tingling disembodied hand was pressed up against my skin. “A small peep show if that’s all you have,” she replied.

Rarity stuffed the bills in her coat pocket and stood up. “Lead the way dear.”

She followed me out of the alley and to my car where I opened the back door for her. She gave me a queer look but jumped in all the same. I guess she thought I was treating her like cargo for not letting her sit up front. Little did she realize that she had a special delivery addressed to her. I would have stayed to watch her reaction upon seeing her long lost friend, but I saw the hood of a pony catcher van rounding the corner behind us. I shut the door as fast as I could, but I wasn’t sure whether it was fast enough. Either way, I tried to look casual as I walked to the driver seat and the van crept closer to us.

The two ponies in the back were making a scene so I had to hush them up and alert them to the current predicament. Rarity responded by saying, “But…but he said he wouldn’t!”

Who this was I had no idea, but there would be time to ask questions after we made our escape. I started up my car and slowly pulled away with the van still close behind me. I turned right, but it was still there. I turned left, but it didn’t leave. I drove in a complete circle, and the van pursued us still. None of us said a word. I started driving faster and even dodged into traffic, and finally we gained some distance from the accursed van. Never had I been so happy to have so many red lights come my way. As the traffic crawled along, more and more lights stopped the van, until I couldn’t see it any longer. I took the quickest route to the expressway and we all sighed in unison.

“So, um, what have you been up to Rarity?” asked Fluttershy.

The white pony, who had a peculiar and rather unappealing scent that I hadn’t noticed during the rush, looked away from her. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

Fluttershy responded, “Oh, well, if you’d rather-“

“My life is miserable!” exclaimed Rarity. “I used to be the optimum optimorum of fashion; the best designer in the world! People couldn’t get enough of my Equestrian style! Why does human fashion change so quickly? Why couldn’t I see around the curve?”

Guess I shouldn’t interrupt her. Personally, I don’t see what all the hype is with fashion. Jeans and a T-shirt is all I need. “After only ten years I was forced to sell my company,” Rarity continued. “ I couldn’t afford a ticket back to Equestria, so I had to find…work,” she said that last word with such disgust that you would think she had swallowed something beyond foulness. “I started thinking of gems and rare stones and how I missed gathering with Spikey-wikey, then it came to me: I could try mining. But the jewels were buried far too deep for my magic to find them, so I was forced to leave that as well. I was lost, cold, homeless, and hungry with nowhere to go and nothing to do but wander the streets and scavenge. That’s when I…really lost everything. Humans, both male and female, were cornering me in the alleys and tried to force their hideous, foul smelling privates onto me. At first, I would kick and throw them off, but eventually the hunger pangs were too much for me to bear, and some had offered money for my services, so I allowed them to…do it.

“It was absolutely dreadful. They were so rough and inconsiderate, and some women put large, firm, let’s just call them toys, inside of me. I was forced to do terrible things that left no part of me sacred. Not even my horn.” Tears started to well up in Rarity’s eyes. “Then I met an associate who went by the name of Sir Young Blood. He told me he could find some respectful customers for me. He was dressed so magnificently that I…I just had to trust him. I’ve never known someone who looked so nice to be untrustworthy.” Rarity started to sob as her old wounds of distrust reopened, which signaled for Fluttershy to give her a long awaited embrace.
“At first, things were alright. My customers were gentler and more considerate, but after a while they started getting worse. But I didn’t care. Sir Blood took good care of me, and even bought me this coat after Opal died, but the last straw was a couple of days ago. One customer was putting my horn inside of him and he…he tried to break it off! That fiend was trying to dismember me for his own twisted pleasure! I was able to throw him off just in time, but my horn was cracked and hurt when I ran away.”

She was whimpering now. “Sir Blood rubbed this cream on it and wrapped it up overnight. By morning my horn was whole, but it was scarred and misshapen. I wanted out! I couldn’t live like that anymore! But that MONSTER was about to call the pony catchers on me! What will he do when he finds me gone?”

Rarity turned her swollen eyes to Fluttershy, who in turn smiled and reassured her by saying, “We’ll keep you safe Rarity. This man here is Eric Cornell, and he’s been fighting to keep me safe for a while now. We’re going to a place full of people who are trying to bring us back home to Equestria.”

Rarity carefully wiped away her tears without smearing her makeup and replied, “That’s only wishful thinking dear, but we’re never going home. The sooner you get your head wrapped around that the better.”
Fluttershy tried to chime in, “But nobody-”
“In time I’ll be back on the streets and you’ll be back wherever you were.”
“But Eric saved-”
“Unless whoever had you before doesn’t want you back, in which case you’ll be put in the pound and purchased by someone else.”

I looked in the mirror and saw Fluttershy’s face contort into a frightening grimace, which I didn’t think was possible for her“Rarity!” exploded the furious, yellow pony, “That is not how things will be! We’re going home and things will be right again! So stop being so negative!”

I couldn’t believe what I had just heard what came out of Fluttershy, and judging by Rarity’s expression in the mirror, neither could she. Was this really the same Fluttershy who was afraid of couch zombies? She returned to her softer demeanor and said, “You don’t have to sell yourself anymore. We’re going to be free!”

Tears flowed back into Rarity’s eyes, but they had a different glimmer in them, a little brighter shine. Nothing more was said on the way back to the compound, but the silence didn’t feel uncomfortable. Rather, there was an air of revelation, a feeling of joy that cannot be expressed, only experienced. Of course, this feeling wasn’t coming from inside me, but I could feel it emanating from the two ponies behind me.

I walked into the compound after the ponies, but as soon as the door shut it opened again. The rush of cool air flooded the hallway and came with the heavy footsteps of a vicious monster whose sole purpose was to devour me body and soul. Or it was just Eric. I turned around just as he grabbed my shoulders and shoved me into the wall yelling, “What in Holy Hell were you doing?! You were supposed to come right back after talking to your parents, not have me chase you around some city that was miles out of the way!” Well, at least the catchers weren’t after me. “You got something to say?”

I said the first thing that came to mind, “Your breath smells really good.”

I didn’t even mean it in a sarcastic way. Honestly, it was a very pleasant scent, though the freshness of spearmint was far too strong; still, it was a much more desirable smell than what I was expecting. Nevertheless, Eric pressed me harder against the wall, only stopping when we heard that twangy voice. “What in Sam Hill is goin’ on here?” Apparently, we were making a big commotion that everyone, and everypony, was curious, even Applejack. “R-Rarity?” she asked, “Is that you?”

All three ponies started laughing and sobbing uncontrollably, huddling around each other. Alec walked down the hall with a look of astonishment which turned into glee. He patted my shoulder and said, “I think we can trust you now.”

Eric stormed off at this, bearing a dark cloud overhead. Alec continued, “Now if you’re gonna be a part of our group, you have to know about our enemy, and that is MoPA.”

Insomnia

Warning: Please mind the "sex" tag on this story. If you thought the last chapter was too graphic, you best prepare yourself for this one.

A black abyss is an interesting concept. Some imagine it as a canvas upon which a world can be created by means of pure imagination and will. Others imagine the black as pure terror, concealing monsters and demons that have no need to kill and exist for solely to inflict physical and psychological torture. Still others depict the abyss as death, the end of days, a realm where we wander aimlessly for all of eternity without thought or feeling. I contemplated all of these possibilities and came to the conclusion that all of them would be a better scenario than not being able to sleep. I hate not being able to sleep. I know I need my rest and have a lot to do the next day, but my mind races with the countless possibilities of what the future holds for me. This leaves me in a state of boredom where I feel chained to my bed yet desire to be doing something else. I lay there comparing the level of darkness in the windowless room to that of when my eyes are shut. They are the same.

My mind drifts to the events that transpired earlier; more specifically, to Rarity’s story. I started replaying in my mind how she lost ownership of her company, and I saw a magnificently clean to the point of sparkling pony with a white coat and purple mane sitting before a very solemn board of directors. I saw her face break down in a matter of minutes as she listened to how people were growing tired of her clothing line and she was being forced to sell her business.
Rarity curled her lips and desperately fought back tears, but as the bad news piled up her resolve grew weaker until, finally, she excused herself from the meeting room and sobbed outside its closed doors.

Next was how the poor unicorn dreamt of going back home to Equestria, but needed money for a ticket across the inter-dimensional border. Her resolution to the issue was a reluctant career as a miner. What came to mind was this pony wearing a hard hat in a damp, dark tunnel, accumulating stains of dust, dirt and sweat on her coat which was once white as snow. A baby blue glow of magic surrounded her horn as she searched desperately for precious stones such as sapphires, emeralds, rubies and so on. Try as hard as she might, the gems were too deep for her to detect. The panic on Rarity’s face was as plain as the horn on her head and not too far behind her was an impatient human miner, sitting atop a drill with his arms crossed. After that, poor Rarity was fired and was left to reminisce about the casual mining trips of a long, almost forgotten past with a certain Spikey-wikey.

Now I imagined Rarity walking carefully through the city’s alleys, keeping a careful eye out for pony catchers. Little did she know that they weren’t the worst threat out there. I saw her digging about in the trash for scraps of food or something that might be used to keep her warm, but as she crawled out of the filth she encountered a man and a woman, both with vicious, lustful eyes, pawing at her and slavering their jowls with the venom of their sinful thoughts. They grabbed Rarity, pinned her against a building and hurriedly undid their pants, but the pony struggled to freedom and ran out of the alley. She slowed to a halt in front of a bakery, which reminded of the wonderful moments spent with her friends. The bakery displayed all sorts of breads and pastries. The mere sight of these delectable foodstuffs would have been enough to make anyone’s mouth water, even if they weren’t hungry; Rarity’s empty stomach growled at the sight of them. After careful thinking and a sigh of acceptance, she dragged herself back to the alley where the fiendish “people” had their way with her for money.

I envisioned Rarity shamefully beckoning strangers into her little alley near the bakery. They would hold her in every position imaginable: missionary, doggy-style, orally; some would even use cheap toys and use her pain-fueled gasps and moans to fulfill their sadistic fantasies. Then one day, after Rarity was worn out, and appeared half dead behind the dumpster, a suave young man clad in a white suit and fedora strolled over, swinging a polished, black cane which concealed a blade gripped in one hand and a predator’s smile on his face that made him both approachable and intimidating. This power of intimidation is what demanded and held Rarity’s attention; what made her come out from behind the odorous rubbish was a tap of his cane on the dumpster and his soft voice, which promised her safety and any comforts she might desire. The man’s name was Sir Young Blood.

Now I saw a Rarity confident, but with a glazed look in her eyes, like that of a broken mustang. She wore the same layers of makeup as when I met her and her coat was new. It was a gift from Young Blood after her pet, Opal, died. Her clients looked cleaner and were more considerate, and they were willing to flash out more cash, but slowly they became worse and worse. The worst of them all was a man in his late thirties, developing a beer belly, with a drastically receding hairline and a heart as hard as diamond which pumped cold blood.
He took Rarity to his dingy apartment and didn’t even bother with foreplay. First he grabbed her flanks, rubbed them slowly, and lifted her tail. To Rarity this was just another classless evening, but then it all started to go terribly wrong. He was so rough, so careless and dry …The pain was sharp. She needed to slow him down, but this beast was totally in control. Finally, he threw her onto the creaky bed and quickly stripped himself of every article of clothing he wore. Rarity tried to scurry into a more advantageous position, but her legs were too shaky and she was caught up by the man’s sweaty hands. However, as much as he liked Rarity’s body, what he was most interested in was her horn. He licked it, sucked it and even scraped his teeth against it.
Finally, his lust peaked and all decency was lost. He yanked Rarity roughly by her horn and turned himself around. All Rarity could do was shut her eyes and imagine that she was somewhere else. Never before had she been forced to do something as degrading as this. She felt a building tension in her horn: something felt tighter. Then, crack! Pain as sharp as a knife and as hot as the sun struck down her horn and coursed through her body like lightning. Rarity tried to pull away but was met with resistance. In her panic, she discharged some magic that made the man yelp and release her. She ran out of the apartment and back to Sir Young Blood.
I cringed at this thought and wished that the story was over, but there was still the most disheartening part to come. For how compassionate Young Blood might have seemed to Rarity, it was only skin deep. She came to him with tears and shrieks of pain, her horn cracked and splintering, and was taken aside. Young Blood had with him a cream. Rarity did not know what this cream was, but as a vet to be I did. I couldn’t remember the chemical name, but I commonly referred to it as “bone in a can”. In surgery, it is applied directly on the fracture and artificial osteoblasts and osteoclasts have the bone healed up in a day’s time. Young Blood applied an overly generous amount and carelessly wrapped it up in gauze. He demanded to see the money, but Rarity had forgotten her coat in the apartment, obviously a different one from what she presently had on. Young Blood grew furious and yelled at Rarity, grabbing and shaking her to the point of tears. “I want out,” I imagined her muttering.
“Out? You want out?!” replied Young Blood. “The only way you’re getting out is in a catcher’s van or dying in your alley. You’re mine! Without me you are nothing!”

Returning to the present I rubbed my eyes and groaned. “Screw it.”

I threw off the sheets and get dressed in the dark with just a plain white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Skipping putting on socks, I slip my shoes on and walk out of my small room. Only a few lights illuminated the dim, deserted hallway, sending a small chill up my spine. I never really found that chill to be a bad thing. Often times, it helped cool my head.

I aimlessly walked through the building on the first floor staying away from more lighted areas, but fearing the darker corners. If only there were windows. I’d really like to see the moon. Eventually walking bored me, so I trudged into the lounge. A few long tables from the wall on the far side lined with stackable chairs. To the right was a refrigerator sitting snuggly between the far wall and a counter holding some cabinets, a coffee maker, and a microwave. The room wasn’t spacious, but it was comfortable enough. I flicked on a fluorescent light over one of the tables, sat down, and rested my head in my hands with my elbows on the tabletop.

The images of these poor creatures kept flashing into my vision. Snapshots of those caged ponies back at the pound, all looking at me with eyes that had long since run out of tears, flooded my mind. They looked at me like I was their salvation, like I could save them all. The pain, the strife, the tears, it all disturbed me. I shook my head and tried to think of happier times. Mom and Dad. My childhood was good right? Free meals, a warm bed, plenty of love…though they tried to force all that pony crap on me. DAMMIT! My mind was flooded with these terrors yet again. Luke? He was my best friend…‘was.’ That night. That night was too real. I was there for that event. That was not my friend; that was a fiend of the shadows wearing his skin. What he did to Fluttershy…oh Fluttershy. She was so cute lying in my bed. And scaring her with that zombie stuff. I couldn’t help but laugh at the preposterous notion. The only way to “save” her was to spray Febreze under the couch. Man, that pony is something. Something special.

The faint smile on my face melted away and I rubbed my eyes. “What’s happening to me?” I groaned.

There was a knock on the open door that made me jump a little. “Sorry,” said the human at the door. “I can’t sleep.”

The young man walked toward me. He had brown, medium-length hair that was combed out of the way of his eyes and a bit of brown stubble about his chin. He was slightly taller than me and had somewhat of a scrawnier build. “You mind if I sit?” he asked.

“Uh, no, not at all,” I replied.

He sat down and looked at me, then squinted his eyes. “You’re that guy that Fluttershy likes, aren’t you? Eric was it?”

“Yeah. What’s your name?”
“Justin.”
A moment of silence passed awkwardly, then I spoke again.
“So, why can’t you sleep?”

He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his head before replying. “I had to question Applejack today and her story just really…got to me.”

My curiosity piqued. “What happened to her?”

Justin turned his eyes up to me and started, “Well, let me start off by saying that it took a while to get this information out of her. It all started about six months after ponies first came to our world.”

Justin was a great story teller. What I first imagined was Applejack smiling up to Ned Vincent, who smiled back at her. They were in his office talking business, and Applejack hopeful that she and some other ponies might be able to find work in this new world. Good arable land was becoming increasingly rare in Equestria due to a growing clan of Apples all across the map and civilization and feral wilderness such as the Everfree forest alike were using up the rest of the land. The Apples could manage for the time being, but it was going to get harder over the years. Ned outstretched his hand and presented an orchard of apple saplings in the large window behind his chair.

Next was a tearful goodbye. Applejack was next to a line of ponies, all of which looked like they were getting ready for some kind of trip. She was embracing an elderly pony with a gray mane and a light green coat and holding a hoof over the head of a young yellow filly with a red mane and large, pink bow. After Applejack, a large, red stallion came and embraced the same two ponies in the line. All four were crying, but they knew that this was the best thing to do. That was the last Applejack ever saw of her granny and sister.

At first, work was easy. All they had to do was water and fertilize the saplings until they were mature, which didn’t take long thanks to the apple farming expertise of the Apple family. The saplings were full grown in a year and began producing apples that summer. This is when things took a sharp turn for the worse. Applejack could tell things weren’t right the moment she put a hoof to the bark. The first tree felt rough and stiff, not at all like the trees back home. She bucked the strange tree for the first time and a sting shot up her hind legs. Where her hooves had struck the trunk there were hoofprints, but not a single apple had fallen. She kicked again, harder, but the fruit still did not yield. Another buck, and another, and another, and finally a single apple fell, but it did not fall into the basket as she had intended it too. Something was amiss.

Time went on and the harsh work took its toll on the normally resilient Apples. Several fell to exhaustion and injury and some even chose to return home, but their window of liberty did not stay open for long. Tickets to Equestria had increased in price and were well out of range of the lowly farmers. They had no choice but to continue working. Living conditions worsened for ponies at this time. No longer were they living lives of lavish privileges and higher status. They had onyly the same benefits as any human would have, perhaps less. Working conditions were worsened as employers no longer had to let their ponies go home after a certain number hours of daily work. Sure, earth ponies are more durable than humans, but the lengths that they were driven to were too much for the poor creatures.

One by one, they dropped like flies. I imagined them stumbling over to a tree, which had a depressed ring from countless kicks, give it a half-hearted buck, and weakly land back on all fours. I saw knees buckled, bodies fallen over and final breaths exhaled. The number of Apples slowly dwindled even as Vincent alleviated the work load so as to make sure they lasted longer. Each death struck Applejack with a painful blow to her heart, but one in particular pushed her over the edge.

It was the day after a somewhat large storm. Several apples were shaken loose from their branches, so the work day started out with gathering what was salvageable. Applejack’s older brother, Big Macintosh, was pulling a cart carrying full apple baskets. What Justin described next was rather brief and didn’t really have a lot of detail, but Applejack wasn’t watching when it happened.
She heard somepony lose their footing in the mud, a grunt, the creaking of wheels, a deep-voiced yelp, a crack, and then silence followed by a crash. Applejack turned around to find her brother lying on a muddy hill with several apples around its base next to the cart, which was damaged after colliding into a tree. She ran over to him but couldn’t bear to look for long.
His eyes were wide open, his tongue lolled out with blood slowly gurgling from his mouth and a broad bruise striped his neck. She buried her face into his shoulder to cry and felt its remaining warmth, but this was no longer the living pony she had called brother. This was a worn out carcass. Or at least that’s what Vincent saw.
The large stallion was buried in a far off hill. Applejack didn’t understand why the human workers felt the need to put two planks of wood in the shape of a “T” over his mound, but she didn’t mind too much at the time. At least they engraved his name and a few kind words onto it.

Since then, Applejack became less social to anyone or anypony she came in contact with. Even Fluttershy, who was allowed an occasional visit whilst under Vincent’s supervision, was given the cold shoulder. The lonely earth pony hardly said a word to anyone, until she stopped receiving her pay. When she confronted Vincent with the issue, he gave a half-hearted attempt at looking sincerely sorry. It had become too hard for him to pay all of his workers and donate to pony charities, so he cut out the middleman and decided he was doing the ponies on his orchard a charity. “Doin’ us a charity?” replied Applejack, aghast. “We’re the ones doin’ the charity work! We’re buckin’ hard-as-nails trees for peanuts! How the hay are we supposed to live without money?”

She made no attempt to hide her anger. She had left her home and family, was forced to work unreasonable hours for minimum wage, and just lost her brother. She wanted it to be known that she was ready to pack up and walk out the door. Unfortunately, Vincent had planned for this. “Y’all can stay in the new stables I had built, and I’ll have some workers feed ya every day.”

This was an insult Applejack could not ignore. She slammed her hooves down on Vincent’s desk and stood up as calm as a tiger. “We ain’t some dumb animals you can just pen up and put to work. Either ya loosen our workload and raise our salaries, or y’all can kiss our flanks goodbye!”

I envisioned Vincent smile his sly, cocky smile as he reached into a desk drawer to retrieve a document. He laid it before the orange mare and explained, “Accordin’ to this slip of paper, y’all ain’t got that right. Effective today, y’all are my own personal army of work horses. Like it or not Applejack, you ain’t goin’ anywhere without my say so.”

Applejack’s eyes scanned the document several times. A few of the words flew clear over her head, but she understood the gist: it meant Vincent wasn’t lying. She felt a lump in her throat, but wouldn’t allow herself to show defeat in front of this monster. She looked around his desk for anything that might distract her. The only thing she could find to focus on was an envelope with the address 1587 Luz de Verdad Rd., NM written on the front.

“We researched the address,” continued Justin. “I guess it’s some kind of research facility. We’ll know what it is for sure sometime soon…at least, I hope so. Well, I should probably go. I think I can get some sleep now. See ya around Eric.”

I said goodbye to Justin, watched him walk out of the lounge and listened as his footsteps became quieter and quieter. I was alone again, but the story didn’t help to put my mind at ease. No wonder Applejack thought we were monsters. I find it curious that she came to trust us, or at least me, so quickly. I stared off into space for several minutes before I heard more foot-steps, or rather hoof-steps.

I glanced at the doorway again and saw the faint black, masculine shape of a pony. Curious, and with nothing better to do, I followed it. I only had to stick my head into the hallway to see where the gray, winged stallion was headed: a sort of nursery for ponies to recuperate and socialize in private. At this time of night it was fairly empty, but there were a few ponies now and again who needed to do the same thing Justin and I were doing: that was shake off our insomnia. I waited for the gray pegasus to disappear behind the door before I dared to approach the large window, and even then I kept to the shadows.

This dark stallion had a sleek, straight mane and a neat, plain tail, both a slightly lighter shade of gray than his coat. He kept a stern look on his face, as if he was perpetually unhappy with his surrounding environment. The mark on his flank was that of a dagger, which was pretty surprising to me. Why would a pony have a talent with a blade? Perhaps he was supposed to be a guard of some sort? But why, in this day and age, would he be a guardian to anyone? I soon disregarded the curious marking and told myself that speculating on unknowns such as this were fruitless and even counterproductive to trying to ease my mind.

The stallion, despite his grim face, had some compassion in his heart. He had brought a bottle of medicine to a pair of other ponies, both of which were pegasi. One was an orange stallion with a blonde and red mane and tail and blue hooves. The other was a gray mare with a red and white mane and tail. The latter was looking rather ill and was curled up snuggly against the former’s torso. I could hear a muffled “Thank you” from the orange stallion, but the good Samaritan simply replied with a grunt and a swift turnaround to the door. While the healthy pegasus nursed the sickly one, I could hear a southern drawl emanating from the other side of the nursery.

“It’s great to finally see you again sugar cube.”

“I thought you didn’t like me anymore,” replied a hushed voice that I could just barely hear. These are some thin windows. Then again, it’s pretty quiet at this time of night.

“Oh Fluttershy, I didn’t mean to shrug you off like that. It’s jus’ you were with that crook Vincent all the time an’ I couldn’t bring myself to be happy in front of him. I really do feel sorry for treating you like that.”
“I understand. He…wasn’t a nice man. He…he…” Fluttershy trailed off and started to sob in a hushed way. I need to be clear about how she cried here. It was a kind of crying where one could tell that she had cried about this before, but never let another soul see. At first, one might just chalk it down to being a part of her quiet nature, but if one had half a care to stick around a little longer and watch, one would see that there was more.

It was a sort of glimpse into her psyche that opened before the viewer a novel of torture, deceit and darkness. This was the crying of an angel who had not fallen, but was dragged down and forced to burn in Hell: where tears burn like acid and sobs fall not on kind ears, but on pointed ears that would stir the curiosity of the demon of malice. Her cry churned a fire in my belly that filled me with rage for this demon and filled my heart with sorrow and pity for this forsaken creature.

Applejack embraced her friend and gently shushed her while stroking her mane. “There now sugar. You’re safe now. Ya wanna talk about it?”

“No,” replied Fluttershy weakly. “I don’t want to think about it anymore. I just want to go home and never think about this place ever again.”

Fluttershy lifted her head from Applejack’s shoulder and looked downward, her lip still quivering with tears still dripping from her chin. “Well hold on. What about that Eric feller? What about all he’s done for ya? Ya don’t wanna forget him do ya?”

“No, I don’t want to forget Eric.” Fluttershy sniffled and looked Applejack in the eye. “He was sort of a meanie to me at first, but he’s the only one who treated me like any other pony…or person. He never gawked at me or treated me like a pet…except when he had me eat cereal on the floor, but he didn’t know better. I don’t think he really likes ponies that much Applejack, but I don’t think he hates us, or is incapable of liking us. I think he’s just confused.”

Applejack raised a single eyebrow at this. “How do ya reckon?”

“Well, he wants to be a veterinarian, so he knows how to take care of animals, and in this world, ponies are just another animal. But ponies like us can talk and feel emotions. I think to Eric, we’re a mix of animal and people and he just doesn’t know which side he should take. But I know deep down he just wants to do the right thing, and I think that that’s opened up his heart for compassion to ponies like us, and I’m grateful. He’s become such a good friend to me. I know one day we’ll have to go back to Equestria and I’ll probably never see him again, but even if we’re just faint memories to each other we’ll always be friends right?”

Applejack smiled. “Even if y’all forget each other, y’all are still friends in some mysterious way. Ya may not know it at the time, but you’ll always be together.”

Suddenly, my face felt sore. I had been smiling wider than my face would allow. As I turned around I thought to myself, why so serious, and quietly laughed. A yawn signaled that I was finally ready to go to sleep. It must’ve been my body’s way of saying, “Quit being such a stalker.”

Honesty

"So...why are you guys pony catchers AND part of this coalition?”

Alec, Robbie, and a third member led me down a few hallways once we left the “interrogation” room.

“Technically, we’re not pony catchers,” said Alec, “To make a long story short, we acquired a wardrobe of uniforms, equipment, and the blueprints to their vans. We don’t have funding, but we DO have friends in high places. As for blending in with actual pony catchers, it isn’t that hard. As long as your uniform and vehicle meet code they don’t really check.”

It sounded like they knew how to do their job. But what is their goal?

“And how is all of this going to free the ponies? You can’t just catch them all and cram them in this place.” Again, Alec answered: “For a while, we were stumped as to how to liberate them, but then we started thinking bigger. It’s just a hunch, but it is widely believed that the Elements of Harmony will be able to set things straight. If we can gather the Mane 6 and the Elements together, then maybe everything will be as it should be. That’s how it's worked in the past at least.”

This mission sounded easy and hard at the same time; everyone knew where at least a few of the Mane 6 were, but I had no idea how they planned on getting the Elements. They were locked away in Equestria somewhere. I never really cared enough to pay attention to anything specific, but I knew getting to Equestria wasn't a walk in the park. There was one more thing I had to know. “Who are you guys afraid of? Why all the secrecy?”

Robbie glared back at me and snapped. “Why are you so nosey? Maybe we don’t want people to know things. We shouldn’t have told you our plan in the first place," he looked at Alec with irritation, "And we’re sure as hell not gonna tell you who to spill our plans to.

Alec looked back to me. “It’s probably for the best”

After a couple more turns, we reached a locker room. We walked up to a line where they were dispensing pony catcher uniforms, equipment, and locks. Alec walked by me with his supplies and said, “Change and put your things in any of the lockers.”

I did as instructed. The jumpsuit was loose and gave me plenty of room to move. I was equipped with a wire leash, a miniature cattle prod, some darts, a dart pistol, a black velvet sack, and some zip-ties.

As I strapped all of these tools to my suit, Robbie stormed to me, looking as angry as ever, shoved his face right in front of mine, and spoke through gritted teeth in a quiet, but assertive tone, "You are not to use any of these things on a single thing. Don't touch them; don't even take them off of where they are right now. You're still our prisoner as far as I'm concerned, and that makes you my bitch. Do I make myself clear?"

I nodded quickly, and he walked away.

If he wants to be a pimp, then he's well on his way to getting a gold tooth.

Robbie's breath was horrendous, and I tried to keep away from him merely for that reason from there on out. After everyone was fully equipped, we headed out of the locker room, down another corridor, to a set of double doors, which led to a small parking lot of pony catcher vans. On the outside, they looked like your average, modern, white van with the letters EAP (Equine Acquisition Patrol) and a silhouette of an Equestrian pony in black on the side, but the insides were anything but average. On the walls toward the front were two seats with dual-shouldered seat belts, and beside one was a swiveling arm which held a laptop and a pair of headphones with a microphone. Up front was the driver’s seat and an advanced GPS that could locate every operational van within a twenty mile radius.

Along the driver-side wall was six hooks to hang up the wire leashes, and above those were compartments for fire extinguishers and additional equipment such as EMP grenades and water hoses. Those must be for subduing groups of unicorns. On the other wall was a set of three cages, and on the floor were hidden, collapsible cages in case of additional captures.

I climbed in, placed my leash on the rack, and took my seat as assigned by Robbie, who then sat across from me. Then what I thought was going to be a long and smelly ride filled abusive remarks and dirty looks took a turn. Fluttershy jumped in, looked at me with the biggest smile I’d ever seen, and ran up to me. She looked like she was about to hug me when she suddenly stopped and said, “I’m…very happy to see you Mr. Cornell.”

She looked away, returning to the same demeanor she had before all of these events.

“I’m…happy to see you too Fluttershy.”

I wanted to hug her, but she seemed to shy for that right now, so I went to pet her, but she’s more than a pet, and I didn’t know whether she might react negatively to it or not.

So, I extended my hand slowly and awkwardly. She looked at me, then at my hand, blushed with a small smile, and placed her hoof in my palm. From the corner of my eye, I saw Robbie roll his eyes as he pulled the laptop in front of him. He looked at the screen and put on the headphones as Alec got in the driver’s seat. “They’re all a ways away from the address location.” said Robbie to Alec, who replied, “So I should just look for a big group of blips?”

Alec flicked the GPS screen with his thumb and index finger and pressed on what I can assume was his target location. He started up the van as the doors shut and I spoke up, “Wait, she’s coming with us?”

Alec looked back at me, then smiled at the pony, and said, “She refused to be separated from you, and we figure she could be useful on this mission. Plus, it’s sort of a treat for being such a good pony for us while we took that chip out.”

I looked down at Fluttershy quickly, then back at Alec. “Chip? What chip?”

Alec responded, “Ya know those chips owners put into their dogs? We don’t want anyone catching our scent. We’re having it sent back to your original address.”

“Come in Winona One, this is Winona Seven,” broadcasted Robbie over the microphone, “We are inbound to your position with care package Kilo to assist with the acquisition of package Hotel. ETA is approximately fifteen mikes. Over.”

Robbie watched the screen as the return broadcast filled his ears. Then, he turned to Alec and uncovered an ear. “She’s not making it easy on them. We better hurry.”

Alec called back, “I can’t go any faster without drawing attention.”

What was all that? I looked at Fluttershy and said, “You know what any of that meant?”

She looked back up at me with her large, blue eyes and shrugged. I called over to Alec, “Hey, Alec, what’s Kilo and Hotel?”

Slightly curtly, Alec replied, “Kilo means kindness and Hotel means honesty.”

I didn’t feel welcomed enough to bother with what those meant, but I read Fluttersy’s excited face. In her excitement, she asked, “We’re going to see Applejack?!”

Alec looked at Fluttershy from the rear view mirror and said with a smile, “Yes, my little pony. We’re going to see Applejack.”

Fifteen minutes passed and the van stopped. Robbie and I unstrapped and went to the back door. Fluttershy was about to come with us, but Robbie turned around and said it wasn’t safe for her to come out yet.

“But…I don’t want to be left here all alone.”

Her eyes glistened as she looked up at us. Once more, her extraordinary powers of adorableness got the better of a brony. Robbie led her to the laptop and pulled up a camera view from outside the van. “You can see us from here. To turn the camera, just push these buttons, and press this to zoom in. I’m sorry Fluttershy, but we need to bring Mr. Cornell with us. We’ll get you out there as soon as we can.”

She gave a soft word of acknowledgement and Robbie and I exited the van. Before we could get around the van to the others, however, Robbie pinned me with his oral odor and instructed me on some protocol. “Now listen, just play it cool and look like you belong here. Don’t pretend to be too happy to see a farm full of ponies.”

“A farm,” I interjected, “Why would Vincent need a farm?”

“When oil took a nosedive, Vincent had to turn to alternative fuel, which he never really sought out, and converting produce into fuel seemed cheapest to him. Now, we’re going to say a joke that won’t make any sense to anyone who isn’t in the coalition. Just laugh like the rest of us so we can weed out the actual catchers. Understood?”

I nodded and we walked to the others. I was mildly impressed. Robbie’s tone didn’t have the bully-like feeling like it usually had when he spoke to me. I guess he’s done messing around. The earth was soft and worn as we walked to the front of an apple orchard. There was a group of guys in uniform like us all huddled and squirming together just behind a couple rows of trees, which all had hoof marks imprinted into the bark. As we got closer, we could see a somewhat small orange creature struggling beneath the group. Robbie patted one on the back and said, “Did you guys hear about that cereal killer on the loose?”

The pony catcher responded, “Why are you talking about a serial killer right now? Why don’t you help us or something?”

An anonymous person spoke up from the group, “You mean the crazy one? I heard he was bananas!”

An uproar of laughter erupted from the group. I joined in with the best façade I could muster. The real pony catcher stood up at this, looked at the group queerly, and simply stated, “Freaks.” and walked away.

After the pony catcher was a good distance away, the group fell to a serious silence. Robbie called out, “Who didn’t get that joke?”

The only response was the orange creature wiggling on the ground. “Ah sure didn’t understand it. What kinda sick monsters are you? Laughin’ bout a mass murderer. Ah knew humans were liars, but I didn’t think y’all were this sick in the head!”

I looked into the middle of the group and saw an orange coated pony with a blonde mane and white freckles struggling on her back with a wire leash around her neck while the others tried to wrangle up her hooves. The guy holding the leash around her neck said, “Please Miss Applejack, we don’t mean you any harm,” he slowly removed the leash from her head, “We’re trying to help you. Honest to Celestia!”

The pony named Applejack stopped squirming and said, “Honest to Celestia huh?”

She rolled over and stood up on all fours. “Funny thing about honesty,” she threw her hind legs upwards at her liberator’s face, whom fell backwards and grabbed hold of his left cheek, “y’all don’t have any!”

The pony made a leap over the heads of the uniformed men and tried to run, but one grabbed hold of her tail and another jumped on top, and another, and another. Others grabbed her hooves, two each, and remarkably, she still stood. She couldn’t move, but she could still stand. Robbie walked in front of her and kneeled down to bring his face level with hers. “Element of Honesty, please believe us. We are trying to save you and all of pony-kind by sending you all back home, to Equestria.”

Applejack grunted and responded, “No! Y’all ain’t gonna get my goat again! Y’know what your kind did? You killed my family!” The group was deathly silent. “When we first came here, everything was great. We were treated like equals. No, we were treated like royalty, celebrities, ponies that everyone wanted to see. But something always felt wrong in this world. Time took its course, and soon our time in the spotlight was over. They started offerin’ jobs…and like fools we took ‘em. They said that the trees here were the same as in Equestria. They said that they’d pay us what we were due…they said…they said Big Mac would be alright.”

Applejack started to shake and sniffle, trying desperately to hold back tears. She didn’t want to show us weakness. “They never lightened his load…and they just threw him in the ground and put two wooden planks over him!”

She finally collapsed with a shudder and sobbed openly. Then, she raised her head once more and continued, “And I ain’t about to let that go unforgiven.”

Applejack threw her head back and struck one of the guys on her back on the forehead. I looked over at the first member to feel her wrath. He was still on the ground and had a deep red hue to his face surrounding a hoof shaped mark. I got down on all fours next to the sad pony and spoke, “Please trust us. Our plan is true. Hold on! We’ve got Fluttershy with us!”

I scrambled to my feet and ran to the van. I think Robbie tried to stop me, but was too slow. I cracked open the back door slightly and poked my head in. “Hey, Fluttershy, come here.”
She quickly scampered over to me and excitedly greeted me, “Oh good! You’re back! Are you coming back in?”

“No, I’m taking you to see Applejack. But you’ve gotta stay low and close to me.”

I pulled my head back out and took a quick look around. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I opened the door a little more and she jumped out. I took small strides so I could hide her from at least one side as we made our way back to the group, which was still partially burying Applejack. The captive pony called out, “Fluttershy! Get away from these brutes!”

She struggled more and nearly succeeded in shaking the bodies off of her, but Fluttershy cantered over to her and tried to talk her down, “I’m fine Applejack. These humans have been good to me.”

“Impossible. Humans are evil monsters!”

“Not all humans. This one saved my life.”

Fluttershy pointed up to me, and I felt a bit of pride well up inside. She returned to her friend, “Please Applejack, come with us. We’re going to find our other friends, and then we’re all going home.”

There was a moment of silence, then Applejack finally submitted, “Alright Fluttershy, I’ll come with yYYYYAAAAAOOOOOWWW! What the hay do ya think you’re doin’?”

Applejack tried to kick at someone on her left. It was Alec, who just pulled out a syringe from the pony’s flank. I was shocked at this odd behavior and said, “Dude! What the hell? We just got her trust!”

“I need to get the chip out of her,” he replied, “and I had to numb the spot it’s at.”

Applejack looked thoroughly annoyed. “What chip? What’s goin’ on?”

Alec answered, “The bad people put a chip in you so they can know where you are at all times. They don’t want us taking you. I know this might not seem favorable, but think of it as a sign of good trust.”

“It’s okay Applejack. I had one in me too.” Fluttershy reassured her.

After the mess was over with, Alec directed the rest of the group to fan out and recover some more ponies to keep off any suspicion. Next, he told me to loosely put a leash on Applejack, who needed to be reassured by Fluttershy, who was also leashed by Robbie. The five of us went back to the van and drove away as casually as possible. Applejack elected to sit in the furthest corner away from us. “I still don’t like any of this. And I don’t trust anyone who puts a leash on me.”

Robbie, eager to please, said, “Don’t worry Applejack. I don’t like him either.”

She squinted her eyes at the man and said, “Kissing my flank is only gonna make it easier for me to buck you right in the jaw. Your move partner. I’d suggest that move be with a toothbrush”

Robbie swallowed and looked away sheepishly. Fluttershy sat down next to her friend and started sharing her stories from when they got separated from each other. Apparently, she was a birthday gift for Vincent’s daughter, Annabelle, and lived in the lap of luxury, but then Vincent started getting creepy and made his advances, which made Fluttershy constantly paranoid. Finally, he did it, and continued doing it for a week before she finally got the courage to run away.
Then she shared the story of how she and I met on that rainy night and made our great escape from the authorities. I could feel a lump in my throat growing as she spoke, and I could almost see the hardness melt from Applejack’s face. The orange pony looked at me with awe, and finally showed some calmness with a smile. I think she had finally learned to trust us then.

Author's Note

For my mom. If you can correctly identify the shout out to her, and you have an OC, I'll give him/her a cameo in a future chapter!