Through Desert Sand and Forest Storm

by Chaos Waltz

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Human, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Other
Length: 23558

A young man joins the Chess Game of the Gods, but is left far away from Equestria.

Fact: if a man offers to take you to Equestria, don't say yes. It's a trap. I agreed, and ended up as a species I didn't even know existed on a completely different continent than the one I was told I'd be on. Now I have to fight my way across two deserts and an army of crazy cultist zebras to even get near Equestria.

And I have no idea what I'll do once I get there.

A Chess Game of the Gods fic that doesn't occur anywhere near Equestria.

Published 2012-06-26 08:44:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-12 17:39:21 UTC

What does pie have to do with Raiders?

The sun had set by the time we reached the camp. It was at an oasis, the only one I'd seen out here so far. Not that I'd explored very much of the desert, but hey. There were a four or five dozen slaves, with half that many guards around them. In addition to those two groups, there was another group of eight camping a bit farther away from the oasis, identical in composition to the group that had captured me. We were marched to this group instead of the larger one.

“Hello Cloud. How was it?” a white unicorn with a golden mane asked as we approached.

“Fine. Rouge's dead. Goods are back. Found an extra.” The black pegasus replied. He hadn't said anything as we walked, but the others had always glanced towards him before they made a decision, making it seem like he was in charge of the group.

“Oh? Where?” the pegasus stepped aside and nodded at me. “Ooh, sandgator. What're you doing this far west, I wonder. . . how smart is it?”

“Smart enough to piss off Cotton,” the orange pegasus chuckled, “had better comebacks than most ponies I know.” The purple unicorn, Cotton, just glared at him. From the way he acted on the trip, most of his communications were conveyed via glare.

“Really?” he walked over to me. “Well, irritating Cotton isn't that hard. How smart are you really?”

I looked up at him. He was average sized for a pony, near as I could tell, but I still only came up to his shoulder. “Smart enough to not get in range of an irritated 'gator,” I said, and lunged for his neck. I didn't know much about my new anatomy, but any species with the word “gator” in it's name probably had a hell of a bite. I wasn't trying to kill him though, then they'd just kill me. I was going for a hostage, sink my teeth in a bit so he got the message, and use him to get out of here.

Except for the part where I hurt my teeth on his apparently rock hard skin. He just stood there, and I'm pretty sure he was smiling. This certainly posed a problem. Couldn't take a hostage for someone you couldn't hurt. I looked around, and all the ponies I could see had smiles on their faces. I got the sudden feeling he knew exactly what I would do when he walked over to me.

I backed off, sitting on the ground in front of him. “Also smart enough to know when something doesn't work. Any weaknesses I could use here?” I just bit the guy who, at the moment, appeared to be the head of a slaver group. I was terrified, so, giggle at the ghosties. Yeah, I was probably going to die.

“Nah, I'm pretty much invincible.” Well, he hadn't stopped smiling, and the tone of his voice hadn't changed. That meant that he either wasn't mad, which was unlikely, or he was about to go a dozen different kinds of crazy, smiling death on me, which was much more likely.

“Well, in that case,” I said, “I'll just be sitting with the other slaves, praying to whatever gods are listening that you don't kill me for that.”

He just laughed. “Kill you? Nah, gators are money. Speaking of which,” the turned back to the black pegasus, Cloud if I recalled correctly. “What customer's been the most irritating lately?”

“Sky.”

“Ah, Sky Lily. She's in the market for gators, right? Yeah, she's obsessed with them.” He looked back down at me. “You seem smart. Try to make her life a little bit worse, kay? Kay.” He turned and walked away. Huh, I thought he'd do at least something as punishme-

I was thrown to the side, jerking the whole line of slaves with me, as one of the other gator's tails crashed into me. It felt like a I'd been hit by a car, one that hadn't bothered trying to brake.

“No one bites the boss,” he said. I winced as I got to my feet. I'd fractured a rib once, in an accident, and it had felt like this. Just great.

“Cotton,” the white unicorn yelled, “hook 'em up to the rest of the slaves. We head out in the morning.” Cotton nodded, growled something uncomplementary about having to do more work, and started leading us towards the larger group.

The slaves were all dressed in rags, like the slaves I'd been chained too. I'd learned on the walk that the rags were there simply to keep something between the sun and the slaves. I didn't know how if that worked or not, but none of the slaves I was with had died of heat exhaustion yet, so maybe they were on to something. I didn't get any, but I didn't feel any hotter than just pleasantly warm while the guard ponies had been sweating their own oasis, so I supposed I didn't need any.

The guards were wearing white cloth an metal armor, looking similar in design to pictures I'd seen of arabic armor. Made sense, really, considering we were in a desert. Cotton informed them of the departure time while one of the guards connected our chain to the one the rest of the slaves were on. Most of the slaves were already asleep, and my group was settling down as well, trying to get comfortable. With a sigh, I lay down. The sand felt surprisingly good, and it wasn't long before I fell into slumber.

~o0O0o~

We set out just after sunrise the next morning. My side still hurt, but I've felt worse, especially recently. Walking didn't hurt it, so I figured it wasn't going to get any worse.

We set a decent pace through the desert. Faster than a walk, but not quite a jog, and we stopped to rest and drink surprisingly often. From the looks of all the ponies, it was more because the slaves needed it than the guards. I wondered about that for a while before I realized why. We were money. Any slave that died on the road was a profit loss.

It was an odd feeling, realizing that all of us chained together weren't people anymore, just profits. I quickly shook that thought out of my head, however. I was still a person, and so was everyone else on this chain. We all had our own identities, our own hopes and dreams.

The next time we stopped, I asked one of the guards near me, “Is there any way to legally stop being a slave?”

He looked at me for a second before responding. “If your master releases you, you're free. But Sky Lily doesn't release anypony, especially not the ones she likes.”

“I see,” I responded.

“That said,” he continued, “if an escaped slave isn't recovered in six months, they're considered 'lost,' and no longer the property of the owner. After that, anyone who just happens to find them can claim them as their own slave. And since not everyone can afford the upkeep of a slave, well, they just have to let them go. Shame, really.”

I gave him a sideways look. “Not exactly the sort of thing a slaver should be telling a slave,” I commented.

“Well, if you get away, she'll just have to buy another. And guess who her number one supplier is.” he grinned.

“So your bosses want you to convince slaves to escape?” I asked..

“Yup. It's called job security.”

I thought back to the white unicorn I'd try to bite. Suddenly, him not lashing out at me made a bit more sense. Not only was I profitable now, but by proving I was smart, I was also making myself a potential future profit.

“And no one gets suspicious when all slaves they buy from you run away?”

“Most slaves don't try, fewer still make it. In fact, only one's ever managed to get away from Sky Lily.” he shrugged, “it's not a big help to our business, but every little bit helps.”

“I see.” I thought about it for a second, then realized something. “Wouldn't the original owner put out a reward for the slave though? Or couldn't whoever found them just sell them back to the owner?”

He gave me an odd look. “Damn, you are pretty smart for a 'gator.” So, escaping was only an option if I could find someone who would release me instead of just selling me back to this Sky Lily.

Clearly he didn't actually want me to escape. I don't know what he'd gain from it, unless this group also captured escaped slaves, which made more and more sense the more I thought about it. Get slaves to escape, capture them, then either turn them in for a reward if there was one, or hide them for six months and sell them back to their owners.

Except that second one didn't make nearly as much sense, because they'd have to feed the slave while they were keeping it, and I doubted a slave would sell for enough to cover six months of food, let alone that much and a profit.

I didn't know what these guys did with escaped slaves, but I knew enough to cross them off of the list of places I could go for help once I escaped. They seemed to respect my intelligence, but they respected money more.

I sighed as we started moving again. In books and movies, they always skipped the long travel scenes and got right to the action. Books and movies. . . I'd probably find books to read here, but I'd never finish the ones I hadn't got around to back on Earth. Dammit, Jim Butcher, I want to know what happens to Dresden next!

I sighed again. There wasn't a lot of things I missed about Earth, but I missed them pretty damn hard. My home, my computer, my brother. . .

I'd jumped at the chance to go to Equestria mostly because I didn't think it through. I should've asked questions, looked at the fine print. I wondered if anyone was taking care of my brother's gravestone, and I hoped whoever did was finding it as therapeutic as I had. It wasn't much, an act of kindness for a person no longer there to receive it, but it made me feel better.

I knew my parents wouldn't, the lazy assholes. I'd never gotten along with them, although I'd never hated them as much as my sister had. I at least waited till I was legal and had an apartment waiting for me to run away, instead of just hopping on the bus one night. I wondered where she was, although I figured I'd never actually find out now.

Needless to say, I was pretty good at dealing with loss, and change. People came and went out of my life seemingly at random. I certainly had no control over it.

But I needed to find something less depressing to focus on. I looked down at my snout, which contained an extra organ that I wanted to know a lot more about. The twitch life sense thing, that had let me know earlier when the small band of slavers was approaching. It still worked, letting me know the location, relevant to me, of every living creature in an area around me half a mile wide. I wondered what kind of magic it used to work, if I could somehow train it so it'd have a wider range, if it worked on plants as well as animals, and, most importantly, if there was any way to hide from it.

Sky Lily was supposedly obsessed with sandgators such as myself. If that was true, she probably had some free ones as guards, or at least some more loyal slaves. Except, I mused, they wouldn't be able to tell a slave from a guard, unless you could train the life sense to a more accurate reading. And from what I've heard, most gators weren't exactly the sharpest crayons in the box, considering most everypony was surprised at my intelligence, and I wasn't even very smart.

My nose gave a little twitch, and something flickered in and out of my senses. I looked in the direction of the flicker, noticing the other gators doing the same. I didn't see anything, and it didn't look like any of the other gators had either.

The white unicorn, whose name I had learned was Sunny, trotted over to one of the gators. “What'd you sense?” he asked.

“Something?” the gator replied, “Nothing, maybe?”

Sunny arched an eyebrow at the gator. “Something, but maybe nothing. Explain, if you don't mind.”

“It was a little twitch, and then it was gone.”

“So something just barely crossed your range?” the unicorn asked for clarification.

“No. It was close. Just beyond these dunes?” the gators spoke very oddly, with long pauses between sentences and short words, like they were trying to say things quickly and hop to the next period so they could plan their next sentence.

But he was also right. The flicker couldn't have been more than two hundred yards away. Far enough away that we couldn't see them around the dunes, which were incredibly large in this part of the desert, but still pretty damn close.

I caught another flicker, closer this time. “It happened again,” the gator next to Sunny reported.

Golden eyes narrowed as Sunny stared in the direction of the flickers, as if he could see through the dunes straight into whatever secrets they were hiding. After a second, his eyes widened. “Raiders!” he yelled.

All around me guards were pulling out weapons as the raiders, their covers blown, began screaming war cries. Cold war cries, that chilled you to the bone and froze you to the earth as you waited for icy death to strike down at. . . wait, what?

I shook my head. What was that? Some kind of spell? Everyone around me was still immobile, frozen by the spell, except for Cloud and Sunny. Sunny's horn was glowing, and there was a faint glow around his ears as well. Cloud just looked like he hadn't even heard it.

The raiders, still screaming, came into view. All hundred of them. We had barely fifty guards, most of which were still stunned, and barely that many slaves, all of whom were still stunned and chained together.

To put it in simple terms, we were bucked up the arse with a zap apple pie.

As the raiders came at us, I got an idea. The scream was clearly a sound based spell, maybe a loud noise could wake a pony up from it. With no other options and horrible death galloping strait at me, I sucked in a breath, and roared back as loud as I could.

Fact: sandgators have a nice pair of lungs.

It wasn't as loud as the raider's warcry, but it was still damn loud, and I was right in the middle of the guards. The spells hold was broken, and although we were still outnumbered, not counting the slaves of course, now we at least stood half of a chance.

One of the unicorn guards, a red mare, cast a spell on the slaves chains, separating them into groups of five. Except me; because I was on the end, I ended up with only two slaves chained to me.

Chaos exploded around me as the raiders met the front line of guardponies. The raiders had numbers on their side, but our guards had better equipment and training. Some of the raiders, however, didn't stop to fight the guards. Vaulting over the fighting, they began running through the slaves, killing whoever got in range. I was stunned by it. I'd been around death before, but I'd never seen anyone die, and to see life ended in such an sudden manner stunned me better than the warcry had.

Until one of them ran by my group, killing one of the slaves with me and giving the other a deep slice through her leg.

It was like flipping a switch, from cold to hot. I was no longer terrified, I was furious. I was no longer stunned, I was active. I was no longer prey, I was the predator. My body moved on it's own accord, spinning around and bringing my tail towards the raider. I caught his back legs, knocking them from under him mid-gallop. My foreclaws clenched in to the ground, somehow finding a sure grip in the sand, and my hindlegs pushed, throwing my body into a hand-handstand. Muscles I didn't even know I had clenched in my abdomen and chest, bringing my body back down to the ground with tremendous force. My tail crashed into the fallen raider's pelvis, shattering his bones. He screamed in agony, a sound curiously akin to the warcry, but I was beyond hearing it. My eyes scanned the battlefield, looking for an enemy I still couldn't sense.

One of the raiders, spying his broken brother, rushed over to us, a blade in his mouth. I ducked under his head and jumped up, catching his neck between my jaws and slamming them shut. I jerked my head to the side, messily decapitating him. I grabbed his body and hurled it towards another raider. I looked down at the slave next to me, and saw her staring at me, fear in her eyes.

~o0O0o~

I would be lying if I said I couldn't remember the rest of the battle. That particular fight would be forever ingrained in my memory. That said, there are some things that I don't want to talk about, and that you don't need to hear. That fight was one of them.

Her fear had done nothing to stop me, only even registering after the battle was over. We'd won, but we'd lost a few guards and a few more slaves. I'd been hurt pretty bad when a raider with a spear snuck up on me and stabbed it into my side. Still managed to kill him, and his buddy.

None of the raiders survived. Apparently, there was a bounty for dead raiders. Not as much as a slave would go for, but this group didn't sell ex-raiders. The guards were all collecting manes from the raiders, all of whom, it appeared, were zebras. As was the slave that had formerly been chained to me. As it turns out, her previous owner had been a doctor, and she had learned more than a little bit about medicine. Enough for the guards to ask for her help dealing with hurt slaves. They didn't let her near guards though.

As for me, I was on the other side of a dune from the rest of the group. When the battle was finished, there was a pile of almost two dozen corpses around me. Including bodies I had thrown back at the enemy, I had killed just over a quarter of the raider troops.

The slaves were more scared of me than they were the raiders.

Sunny and the slave girl had done what they could for my wound and rib, seeing as both injuries were on the same side, and left me there with Cotton and the orange pegasus, whose name I still hadn't learned. Their orders were “if he kills you, make sure you get a scream out so I can get over here.” The duo stood just out of tail range, one on either side of me.

“So. . .” the pegasus began, “first time in a big fight like that?” I didn't answer, I just kept staring at the sand. It was all I'd done for the last hour.

“Yeah, first fight, I can tell,” he continued. “Don't worry, it gets better. Pretty soon, you'll be able to kill and not feel anything, and then you'll be a goddamned killing machi-”

“Rise, shut the fuck up before I stab you,” Cotton said. First time I was grateful that the jerk was there. I found it interesting though that Rise said God-damned instead of Celestia or Luna-damned. Maybe they didn't know of the goddesses here?

“Don't stab Rise, he's a very rare and special kind of stupid, so he'd be hard to replace.” Sunny was walking towards us from around the dune. Cotton just grumbled some more.

The white unicorn looked down at me. “You saved lives, you know,” he said after a moment, “you didn't choose to kill, you chose to protect. That mare chained to you? She asked me to thank you. She's still scared of you, but she realizes you saved her life.”

I looked up at him. “Death is death, justified or not.”

He sighed. “I can't argue with that, but death is just as necessary as life. And those raiders chose death. They chose to kill, and be killed. You did the right thing, even if it feels like a wrong thing.”

I looked away. He followed my gaze, both our eyes staring into nowhere. “Well, if nothing else, just think about the mare.”

“The mare who's now terrified of me.”

He chuckled. “She'll get over being scared. Very few people get over being dead. But that's not the only reason I came over here. I have an offer for you.” I looked over at him. “We don't have to sell you. If you wanted, we could always use another hoof, er, paw in the group.”

Cotton and Rise gave each other worried looks, and I got the feeling that this wasn't an offer that got made very often. That said, I already knew what my answer would be.

“I'm sorry,” I said, “but I can't.”

He just shook his head. “I figured. Well, if you ever get away from Sky Lily, there's a place called the reverse tower. I don't know where it is myself, but it's a haven for escaped slaves.” He stood up, and started to walk away, then paused. “What's your name?” he asked.

I paused. I hadn't given a name any thought. My human one wouldn't fit anymore, but I had no idea what sort of names sandgators used. “I don't have a name,” I said slowly.

He gave me an odd look. Then smiled, a rather predatory grin. “In that case, mind if I name you Stormjaw?”

Cotton and Rise both freaked out after hearing that name. Rise's jaw hit the floor, while Cotton mumbled a stream of straight obscenities, his shocked face staring at Sunny. Well, with a response like that, there was really only one answer I could give, now wasn't there?

“Stormjaw it is.”

What did they do for Z?

We traveled for three more days before we reached our destination. Heto city, the only city in the entire desert. I wondered for a moment about the name, remembering that most cities in Equestria had horse puns for names. Probably just one of the princesses had a thing for puns back when they were first making the country.

When we set out, I wasn't put back with the slaves. Whether it was out of respect for me, or because the other slaves were terrified of me I didn't know, and I didn't ask. I was still mostly depressed about my killing spree. I was getting over it, just slowly.

I've learned since then about the other humans brought to Equestria by the Game. Most of them had something different about them, something that drove them to fight, that justified their actions when they killed. I didn't. My past wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad. I had some bad experiences, but I got over them, and none of them were bad enough to make me want to, just as an example, take over a country, like some of the other Pawns.

That said, I understood a few things that made it easier for me. I did, in fact, save lives. About a third of the slaves had been killed by the raiders, but, according to Rise, all of them would've died if I hadn't been there. It was a common tactic of large raider groups apparently, demoralizes their victims. Also, the gators in the guard claimed that the “Holy Rage” as they put it was a sign of being blessed by their gods. It was a test, and if you felt remorse for the lives taken in the rage, you passed. The father of one of the gators had been given the rage in order to defend his family, and passed, so that gator talked with me a bit more, knowing from experience the grief the rage could bring.

What helped the most, however, was Salheen, the slave mare who'd been chained to me. She'd only come by to talk to me once, but she'd thanked me for saving her life, and apologized for fearing me. Her former master had beaten her when he got angry, and I reminded her of that. I thanked her for dealing with her fear long enough to talk to me. She just smiled and left. It doesn't make much sense, especially considering she's still scared of me, but still.

Heto was a trading city, located around a small, swamp-like oasis where two rivers joined on their way to the ocean. Boating up and down the rivers was the main source of transportation between the ocean and the more landlocked cities further inland, although land caravans across the desert were still pretty common, as neither of the rivers went north for several hundred miles.

There were two walls around the city, one around the outer slums, a place which ranged in quality from actual slums to more middle class areas, and the one around the inner city, where everyone was rich, fat, and way too full of themselves. These facts were supplied to me by Cotton, Rise, and, surprisingly, Cloud. It was only the second time I'd heard him speak. Sky Lily lived in that area. I wondered, not for the first time, what she was like. The slavers hadn't been very forthcoming about it, not that I'd asked a whole lot. I mostly figured I'd decide when I met her, rather than letting other people color my opinions ahead of time.

It was just before noon when we got to the outer wall, if you could call it that. More of a giant barricade made of rubble than a wall. As we passed through the gate, I asked Rise about it.

“Well,” he said, “it was made a few decades back when some Zebra chieftain got it into his head that he could take over this town, and make himself it's ruler. Got himself a pretty dang big army too, full of Zebras, Rhinos, even a couple herds of Camels. After their first attack got pushed away, the people living here in the outer city tore down a whole bunch of buildings and just threw up this wall. It exhausted about half of the unicorns in the city, most of the friendly Rhinos too, but it held the second and third attacks back. After that, it became somewhat of a tradition that if anything gets torn down, or if you have any leftover building material after a project, to just add it too the wall.”

“That sounds. . . unstable.” I commented.

“Normally, yeah, but there were still a few Bloodmancer Rhinos in the city then, and they helped build the wall. As long as the builder's family lines stay intact, so will the wall.”

“What's a Bloodmancer?” I asked.

“And here I thought you were smart,” he chuckled, “Bloodmancers are the most powerful wizards in the world, although were never very many of them, and no one knows if there are any left. If they cast a spell, it affected not only their target, but everyone related to the target. Bloodlines, you see, hence the name Bloodmancer. They cast a blessing on a pony, his children are blessed, as are all of their children, and so on, and so on. Same with curses.”

“Huh. How'd they do that?”

“What, do I look like one of 'em to you?” Rise laughed, “if I knew that, I'd be makin a fortune teaching unicorns, not risking my life with the raiders out in the desert. Oh, look, we're here.”

'Here' was the slaver's home base, a fenced off park a mile wide with five buildings clustered in the center. Three of the buildings were holding cells, large square buildings with a courtyard in the center. They were two stories tall, with one gated entrance into the courtyard. The fourth building was the mess hall, just a big open room with kitchens off to one side. The fifth and final building was the office tower. I didn't know what else was in the tower, but the top of it looked like a crow's nest for a watch-guard. Or possibly a sniper's nest, if they had anything like that here.

The slaves were divided into two groups, mares and stallions, and led to their cells. Well, led to their buildings at least. They pushed all the male slaves, myself included, through the gate into the courtyard, closed the gate, and left. There were several guards in the courtyard, however, and one of them, a red stallion with a dark brown mane, approached us.

“Alright, listen up everybody!” he yelled. “Get in a line, and I'll assign you a room. Rules are, be in your room by sundown, and no leaving this building without permission, which you won't get. Any questions? Good, because they won't get answered. WHY AREN'T YOU IN A LINE YET?”

Well, yes sir drill sergeant sir. I got in a line with the rest of the slaves, wondering why the slavers left this guy in charge here. Out in the desert they'd seemed a bit. . .nicer. . . than this, as painful as it was to call anyone who made a living selling people “nice.”

Rise flew into the courtyard, landing near the drill sergeant guard. “Don't go too hard on 'em,” he said, “got hit by raiders in the desert, so we have a few wounded. Make sure they get the good rooms. Also, no pegasi, yet, so no need to pull out the hobbles. The next batch isn't scheduled for tomorrow. Any problems to report to the boss?”

“None while you were gone. And how'd some raiders get past the boss and his twin anyway?” Sunny had a twin? And he'd been in the group? Well, that was interesting.

“There was at least a hundred of them, and they had some sorta crazy warcry, stunned us all. Well, except Cloud, and that slave gator over there,” he pointed at me, “give him the best you got. We'd woulda lost at least twice as many slaves if it weren't for him. Probably closer to total loss, actually.”

The guard looked at me, noting the bandage that was still on my side. “Alright. I'll go easy, for now. They do need to be trained sooner or later, though.”

Rise chuckled. “The gator's goin to Sky Lily, he don't need any training. As for the rest, you can train 'em after that deal's done.”

The guard sighed, and said something I couldn't make out, before looking back at Rise. “Very well. What's his name? Hell, why don't you give me Sky's whole order.”

“His name's not on the order, we picked him up on the way,” Rise paused, “. . .just call him SJ for now. The Boss'll know who you mean.”

The guard gave Rise an odd look, but shrugged and turned back to the slaves. “ALL RIGHT EVERYBODY!” he bellowed, “IF YOU'RE WOUNDED, STEP FORWARD!” All the wounded slaves did so, as much as they could with the chains, anyway, and a few other guards began putting faintly glowing metal bands around each ones left foreleg. I looked at the one they put on me, wondering if it was enchanted to keep us in the compound.

“Any of the slaves have medical training? My whole group's made of rookies, don't have anything but combat training,” the guard asked Rise.

“One mare. Want me to send her over or get one of our guys?”

“Don't care, and I don't need 'em right away. Just figured I'd make sure someone's on call in case something happens with the injuries.”

“Shine'll be over later. Boss might show up too, has his eye on SJ.” Rise pulled a piece of paper out of his armor, looked at it for a few seconds, then put it back. “That looks like everything. Like I said, go easy. They deserve a little break.”

“Real slaves don't get breaks,” the guard countered.

“Too true. Too damn true,” Rise muttered, before lifting off. “I'll be back with the order in a few. Got other stuff to do first.”

“Getting drunk doesn't count as work!” the guard yelled as Rise flew over the building. The pegasus just laughed back.

Sighing, the guard turned back to us. He started walking along the line, directing slaves to what room they were supposed to go to. He didn't give them anything to remember it though.

I was near the last of the line, not that it meant much in a line as short as this one. “SJ,” he said, “room 1-B.”

I looked around, surprised that the rooms were lettered in English. It only took me a second to find my room, which was on the ground floor, directly opposite the gate.

The room behind the door was small, just large enough for the four beds inside it. Two of the beds were occupied, and there was a small, barred window. “This is the best room?” I asked, cringing a bit when I realized I'd said it aloud instead of simply thinking it.

“Dang straight!” one of the ponies in the room, a blindingly yellow earth pony, said in response. “Our window can open, and they didn't stack any beds. Best things a slave could hope for!” Wow, being a slave just got a lot more depressing.

The other pony, a dark blue pegasus with oddly shaped manacles around his wings, looked up at me and shrugged, “They said it was the best, not that it was good. Get used to it.”

I was walking to the farthest bed from the door, intending to take a nap or something, but the yellow pony grabbed me and pulled me to the window, just above his bed. “Wanna play the alphabet game?” What?

“Uhhhhh. . . I don't know that game. . .” I responded.

“It's simple! We look out the window, and try to find something that's name is spelled with whatever letter of the alphabet we're on. We start with A, and go all the way through Z. Ready? Kay let's play!” I hadn't realized it was possible for slaves to be hyperactive, although this place kept treating it's slaves differently than I expected it to.

“Okaaaay. . . let's start with A then.” I looked out the window. Sand, lots and lots of sand. “Sand for A.”

He smiled and started looking out the window as well. All we could see was sand, so nothing for B. Actually, scratch that, something for B.

“B, buckets of sand,” I said. My companion chuckled.

“C, crapload of sand.” He didn't chuckle quite as much this time.

“D, damn that's a lot of sand.” more chuckles as he realized what I was doing.

We eventually got through the entire alphabet. The other pony, whose name was Daisy and yes, he was a stallion, poor guy, acted like a child the whole time. A happy child, but a kid nonetheless.

I must admit, it was kinda fun. I actually smiled, which I hadn't done since I got to this world. After we were done, he hugged me in thanks. I just hugged him back, and went to my bed, where I just lay for a few minutes before a guard came in to grab Daisy.

After they left, the pegasus rolled over to face me. “You didn't need to do that. He's happy no matter what happens. Doesn't know how to be sad.”

I stared at the ceiling for a moment before answering. “He reminded me of my brother. And what do you mean, doesn't know how to be sad?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Couple years ago, there was a Rhino, bought a whole buncha slaves and started casting weird mental spells on them. No one's quite sure what he was trying to do, since he kicked the bucket before he finished, but there was a whole lotta crazy in his basement. Daisy was one of 'em. They say he was just sitting in a cage, smiling for no reason at all. Guy's always happy, gets annoying sometimes, gets real fuckin creepy other times.”

Huh. Note to self, when I get to Equestria, never come back here, and never mention this place again. “Any idea what happened to the others?” I asked.

“Most of 'em were too crazy to sell, got sent to the 'Good Doctor.' Some had to be killed on the spot. The only other one who got out that I know of didn't seem to have anything wrong with him, just kinda quiet. Last I heard, he became an assassin. And don't ask about the Doc. Just don't.” He rolled back away from me, signaling the end of the conversation.

I closed my eyes, hoping to get to sleep, but was interrupted by another voice. “Well, you seem to have gotten yourself into some rather dire straights, haven't you?”

It was the bastard who'd brought me here, speaking in my head again. “Anything you could do to help out?” I mentally asked. I doubted it, but it couldn't hurt to ask.

“I can offer advice, but that's about it. I'm forbidden from actively interfering,” he answered.

“And what's your advice?”

“Make some friends.”

“Dropping someone off in the middle of nowhere and telling them to make friends. Oh, and I'm surrounded by crazy people. How original.”

He chuckled. “That's the thing with the classics. They got that way by being too useful to not use. And really, is it bad advice?”

“No, I suppose it isn't. Don't suppose you have any Elements of Harmony lying about, do you?”

“Nah, Celestia's keeping a very close eye on those, especially after the Discord incident.”

“I'll bet. Hey, while you're here, what can you tell me about this Knight I'm supposed to kill?” he seemed a lot nicer than last time I'd talked to him, so I figured I'd see what he could tell me.

The god paused, like he was thinking about what to say, before he answered. “As far as personalities go, I haven't seen enough of him to say for sure, but from what I have seen, his defining trait is rage.”

“Well, good to know I can piss him off easily, but that doesn't tell me a whole lot. Also doesn't tell me why I should kill him for you.” I braced myself. Earlier, he'd seemed like the kind of guy who got really angry if his “pawns” questioned him.

“What, giving you a chance to get to Equestria isn't enough?” he asked.

“Honestly? No. The show made it seem really peaceful, and the last thing I want to do is ruin that. Especially if it turns out that I didn't need to kill him in the first place.” Also, I just don't like killing shit, but that's a problem I'd take up with him later.

“True, very true,” he said, “as part of my powers, I've been given the ability to see visions of the future. Not the entire future, but bits and pieces of it. And while I haven't seen it yet, I am entirely certain that the war he will cause will envelop Equestria. I can tell you for a fact that, for a time at least, he'll be gathering simple townsponies to join his army.”

“Wait, hold up there. He's causing a war?”

“Yes. He has already voiced his intent to become the warlord of certain lands around Equestria. And I have seen at least one village that will be burned to the ground as a result of his actions.”

War. Innocent lives being dragged into battle and death. Stopping that seemed like a good enough reason to kill someone, as much as I personally didn't like it.

“Why's he causing the war?” I asked. On the same trail of logic, if he was causing a war to end some sort of tyranny or injustice, who was I to stand in the way?

“From what he's said, I can guess that it's simply to sate his bloodlust and put himself in a position of power. He wishes to rule the lands, and has both the power and the drive to make that dream a reality.”

“I see. What species is he? A pony, a diamond dog?” I had decided that I was going to stop him. Maybe not kill him, if I could help it, but stop his war at the very least.

The god smiled. I could feel it. “Neither. He's a species that, for a while, was practically unheard of on this world. A very destructive and chaotic species, full of violence and hate. A species that, currently is being brought here in droves for the amusement of higher beings. He, like you, is a human.”

What? I started to respond, but suddenly felt his consciousness pushing against me, laughing. I descended back into the darkness from when I came here, and felt it consume me. I faintly heard the pegasus in the room with me yelling, and then the world went completely dark once more.

What kind of a name is Professor Snap?

I floated in the darkness, again. The first time, when I came to this world, it was mysterious, terrifying. Now, it's more annoying than anything else.

The god was gone. He'd pushed me in here and left. I wondered, briefly, if I was going to change form again, but doubted it. If he wanted me in a different form, he would've put me in it from the beginning. Probably.

I sighed, confused about the god. What did he want? Why was killing the knight so important to him? And what could he possibly achieve by shoving my mind into some sort of infinite void?

I didn't hurt this time, but I was alone. So, rather than sit around and think, I decided to move. Just push off in one direction, and hope something was over there. I'm not sure what I pushed off of, but it worked. I moved, flying through an endless abyss.

I'm not sure how long I flew for. Time was hard to measure when everything you saw in every direction was just darkness, especially considering I'd never been good at telling time in the first place, but it felt like a while before I found something. I couldn't see what I found, just saw more black, but I could feel it. A river of calm flowing through the darkness. I don't know how an emotion could flow like a river, but it did, slicing through the void like a twisted blade.

I decided to move “upstream,” trying to find where the river of calm came from. Hopefully an exit of some sort, although that wasn't likely.

I felt other “rivers” as I followed the calm, some of anger, some of sorrow. Only one of joy, a river that, although I couldn't see it, I felt sure was yellow. At one point, the river of calm dipped low, heading almost straight down. Fear was down there, and ocean of it, but it was held back by something, an odd force that I could almost see the color of. Almost.

Eventually, I got to the source of the calm. A pillar, tall and indomitable, full of power and a calm fury. Multiple rivers of calm flowed out of it, as did an equal number of rivers of rage and pain. It was. . . strange, to look at something so massive, and not actually see it, but feel it, bigger than anything you've ever seen with your eyes.

“What is it?” I wondered aloud, reaching out a hand to touch it. As I moved my hand, I began to see it, just a faint outline, overlapped by one of a scaled orange paw.

“What the hell?” I looked down at myself, suddenly able to see my whole body. Both of my bodies, actually, as if whatever was deciding what to show me couldn't make up it's mind if I was a sandgator or a human.

I realized, then, that I didn't know what I was. I was a human, trapped in a sandgator's body, on a fictional world, in a part of the world that I hadn't ever known existed. What was I? Was I crazy, was all of this some sort of insane coma dream? Or was it real, did magic and gods exist?

And if it is real, why the hell did that weird-eyed bastard pick me?

I looked around again, casting my senses as far as I could. Rivers of emotion swirled around me in every direction. Fear, anger, sorrow. But also joy, wonder, excitement. Rivers that would drag me down and ones that would inspire me, but none that could give me answers.

Well, only one thing to do now. I looked back to the pillar, then up, towards whatever the top of this place was. I was scared and angry, but that'd never stopped me before, and sitting around here wasn't likely to do me any good. I didn't know what was around here except the pillar, and the ocean of fear below me, so that really only left me with one direction to go.

I flew up the pillar, pushing myself to go as fast as I could. Again, I wasn't sure how long I flew, but after some time I reached the top of the pillar, which, for some reason, I could actually see. It looked like a chessboard. I really should have expected that.

I stepped onto the pillar, still wondering what it was. A familiar voice echoed from behind me, “It's the future. It's why you were chosen.”

I turned around slowly, not sure what to expect from him in this place. A transparent image of the god floated near the pillar.

“My future is a giant pillar, eh? How exciting.”

He laughed. “It's not quite as big in the real world as it is here. And before you ask, no I can't tell you what it is, or where 'here' is. I can, however, say that as your control here grows, mine will lessen. And there's much in here that I'm doing at the moment, all things that you'll have to do yourself when my reach here expires.”

Well, that gave me something to think about. “Why are you telling me these things? Why does it seem like half the time you're trying to kill me and the other half you're trying to help me?”

His face turned a bit more serious, the laughter in it fading. “You're my pawn. You're success is my success, and I want to succeed. Some of the others attempt to command their pieces through fear, more simply placed them in the world and then left, content to watch. Personally, I believe that, in order to accomplish my goals, you need to be as strong as possible. What I do won't make much sense to you for a long time, but it's ultimately for your, and, by extension, my, benefit.”

Huh. Makes sense that he'd want his piece to win, although I wondered how much bending of the rules he was doing. “How do I get out of here?” I asked.

“When you ask the question I'm looking for, I'll send you out.”

What question would he be looking for? Well, what did I know about him? Not much, not nearly enough to guess what he'd want.

An idea struck me. “Who are you?” I asked.

He smiled again, an actual, non-menacing smile. “A complicated question. For now, I'll just let you know my name. Zireahl. Don't forget it.” He held up his hand, and a ball of light appeared in it. Before I could react, he threw it at me. I tried to dodge, but I felt it hit me in the side. I felt pain shoot out from where it hit. . .

~o0O0o~

. . .like someone had shoved a spear into my side. Again.

“He's coming around,” I heard a voice say. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was talking to the god guy on my bed. Then he laughed and pushed me somewhere, and then. . . something about a name? Zireahl? What kind of name was that?

“How're you feeling?” someone asked. It took me a second to place the voice, Sunny.

“Did someone stick another spear in me?” I asked, “because that's what I feel like.”

“Nope, but your wound from the last time someone did opened up again. Goddamn gators, I forgot how much damage you can do to yourself just by walking.” Okay, that information was new. Mental note, find and read a book about my new anatomy as fast as possible.

“Fortunately, our medic here was able to close the wound more permanently, so hopefully you won't rip it open again. Just don't do anything to crazy for a few days to let it heal all the way.”

“No promises. You now how us slaves get, always partying and dancing and shit.” I opened my eyes, checking where I was. It was a sterile white room, about the size of my room in the compound, with an equal number of beds. A single, barred window was set into the wall farthest from my bed.

“Oh, you're that kinda slave eh? Shoulda told me sooner, I coulda doubled your price.”

“Sold me already? And here I thought I was special.”

“You are special, just not as special as a hundred deben.”

“A hundred?” I ask, “I'm a little rusty on slave prices, is that good or bad?”

“Depends on the slave, but most servant slaves go for anywhere from fifteen to thirty.” Well then, I guess I was premium. “You have a whole lot goin for you though. You're a 'gator, you can fight, you're obedient. If I didn't like who I was selling you too, I probably could've haggled you up to one fifty.”

“Good to know I'm expensive. How long was I out for?”

He looked at the evening sun, visible through the window. “A few hours. A lot longer than you should've been for just a spear wound opening up, although Shine says there isn't any internal damage. You have fainting spells or something you didn't mention earlier?”

“Not that I'm aware of. On a note that I really hope isn't related, what does the name Zireahl mean to you?”

“Zireahl. . . Zireahl. . .the name's familiar. From a. . . story, I think? Oh, yeah, he's some kinda old god or something. Cloud could tell you more, he's into history and stuff.” He paused for a moment. “What do you mean, 'hopefully unrelated?'”

“I've never heard that name before, and now it's running around in my head. Just wondering what was up with it.” Although the fact that it was some old god did not make me feel any better.

“Huh. Sure you're not just going crazy?” He asked with a smile.

“You're assuming I'm not already there.” I sighed, and closed my eyes again. “How long till I'm shipped off to Sky Lily's place?”

“Two days,” he answered, “but I'm pretty sure you'll be okay there, even with your crazy. I've never heard a complaint from a 'gator she owns. Hell, most of the complaints I hear are from the other slaves, saying she treats them too nice!”

“Good to hear.”

He looked at the sun again. “Damn, spent too much time in here. Got stuff to do, and not nearly enough time to do it in. I'll send up Cloud later, kay?”

“Yeah, thanks.” As he left, a nurse came in with cup full of a strange, rainbow liquid.

“I need you to drink this,” she said, “it'll help that wound close up all the way, and should fix whatever kept you unconscious. It really worries us when one of the commanders favorites spends too long in here.”

“Sorry, I'll do my best to keep all mortal injuries to a minimum,” I responded, taking the potion. I looked at it for a moment, before shrugging and downing it.

Turns out, the potion was made with liquid rainbow. How could I tell? Well, the fireball that shot out of my mouth was a big clue.

“Not one for spicy foods?” the apparently sadistic nurse asked as I wheezed out small fires.

“Not at all,” holy shit, that hurt. I'd always been a wimp when it came to spices, and drinking something hot enough to literally make me breathe fire was not a pleasant experience.

“Huh, most 'gators love it. I woulda warned you first, if I'd known.”

“Don't worry about it, I can feel it working.” And I could, the pain from the spear wound fading slowly, as well as my newly gained burns.

“Good to hear, although I'll want you back in here tomorrow morning to check on you again. And don't break yourself, ya hear.”

“Don't worry, I'm just headed straight to bed,” I said. Being unconscious apparently didn't feel anything like sleep, so I was still tired from the long day of walking.

Rise was waiting for me outside the room. “Good to see you back on your feet. Saw Shine going in with a rainbow potion, don't spread it around that you got one of those. Super rare, only Zebra's can make 'em.”

“Oh really?” I wondered if Salheen knew how to make those potions. She mentioned that she'd been owned by a healer, but she'd never said how much she'd learned.

“Yeah, and only the good ones. That's master level work, and there's only a few real potion masters left. And they're generally creepy.” he shuddered, “like Professor Snap. He knows what he's doing, but dear god, didn't they teach you how to make yourself some shampoo? Anyways, I'm your escort across the grounds.”

I gave him a questioning look, wondering why I'd need to be escorted across a guarded courtyard, before I looked around and realized I was in a different building than the one I'd passed out in. This one was full of guards, both in and out of uniform.

So, Sunny apparently didn't think the medic quarters in my building weren't good enough. Or something. But whatever it was, it would have to wait, I was dead tired, and each step only made it worse.

“Hey, you okay?” Rise asked, noting me almost falling over as we started walking. “Oh, she slipped a sleeping aid into that potion, didn't she? That mare, my god. Fuck, stay here, I'm going to grab a unicorn to carry you, you w o n ' t m a k e I t t o o . . . .”

His voice faded out, and suddenly all I could think about was how comfy the ground looked. And felt, after I realized I'd fallen over. A single yawn escaped my body before I faded out into a peaceful sleep.

Author's Note:

Sorry this one took so long, my roomate moved out, and I couldn't afford rent on my own, so I had to find a new place to stay. I found one, but moving took a lot of my time.

And then I needed to stop procrastinating, which took almost equally as long.

Also, bonus points for anyone who can figure out who Professor Snap is based on. And if you can't, you should be ashamed of yourself because it's really obvious.

With love and tacos, Chaos Waltz

What's up with all the flowers?

I stared out the window, watching the sun rise in the distance. Normally this was Daisy's bed, but he'd agreed to switch me for the night, since it was my last night here. Not that I'd had very many, but still. This place had been good to me, and I'd be sad to see it go.

It'd been three days since we'd arrived at the compound, and Sky Lily was coming to pick up her slaves. I'd been told she'd arrive just after dawn, which meant it wouldn't be long now till I left the compound.

It was kind of odd, how I'd only been here for three days, and yet I'd grown rather fond of the place. Perhaps it was just that it was the first permanent thing I'd been too since I'd come to this world. Perhaps it was just how much fun Rise and Sunny were. If I met them back home, we'd have become friends pretty damn quickly. It made me homesick, thinking about it. There, we would've been friends. Here, they were my owners.

I heard the sound of the gates opening. Time to go and meet my new master. I reached under the bed and grabbed a small satchel, one of the few things slaves got to keep. Anything you could fit inside it was yours, and masters couldn't legally take it away, and, according to the older slaves, very few actually did. The only thing I had in my satchel at the moment was a book, given to me by Cloud, that supposedly contained knowledge of a lot of older gods. I say supposedly because I couldn't read the damn thing, and no one else I'd talked to could either. Salheen said she recognized it from some of her previous master's older books, but hadn't been taught it herself. I don't know if Cloud had done that deliberately or not, but either way I'd need to find someone who could read that language. Eventually. Getting free was higher on the list.

I walked out into the courtyard, satchel slung over my back, just before the overseer reached the door. “Oh, you're up, good. Just head out into the main yard, you'll see where you need to be.” I went through the gates, seeing Cloud and Sunny talking to a rather uptight looking teal unicorn with some sort of vine cutie mark. There were a few slaves gathered behind them, so I figured that's where we were supposed to be and joined them.

There were a few I recognized, including Salheen, who I went and stood next to. She seemed like she was over her fear of me, although I generally tried not to make any sudden movements around her. She was a healer, and the last person you want angry at you or scared of you was any sort of healer. That and I'd always felt a bit closer to her than any other of the slaves, but that might just be the fact that I saved her life talking.

“Is this all of it?” the teal unicorn asked.

“All of them, yes,” Sunny said, “and you know Sky would agree with me. Especially the gator.” he looked pointedly at me. “Hey SJ, sleep well?”

“Ish. Got enough to get me through the day.”

“Eh, that'll have to do. Don't want Sky yelling at me for abusing her precious gator,” he joked, then turned back to the other unicorn. “And you can tell her for a fact I didn't. Now, my payment.”

“Isn't it a little hypocritical to act like they're people, and still sell them?” the teal unicorn asked as he levitated a bag towards Sunny.

“I dunno, isn't it a bit hypocritical for a sack of shit dressed like a pony to tell me how to treat people?” Sunny retorted with a smile. The other unicorn gave him a glare and turned towards us, horn glowing. Chains materialized, linking us all together.

“One day, Sunny, my sister will realize exactly how little you're worth,” he spat, before turning away and trotting towards the gate.

“Oh, you have no idea how much I hope she does,” Sunny said. He looked at the group of us, and sighed, his expression suddenly serious. “Don't let him control you. Sky owns you, not him. Now follow him, he's your guide.” With that, he set off towards the main office of the compound while we began walking towards the gate. Waiting on the other side was the biggest unicorn I'd ever laid eyes on. He stood at least twice as tall as any of the other ponies I'd seen, and appeared to be made entirely of muscle. His mane was a dark brown, and he had a blood-red colored mane and tail, with a hoof crushing something for a cutie mark.

“Hold them,” the teal unicorn said as he walked by. The larger one grunted, and lowered his horn towards us. From this angle, I noticed something; rather than the mostly dull point most unicorns had on their horns, his appeared to have been sharpened to a much finer tip.

His horn flashed, and a rather thick chain appeared, one end wrapped around our chain, and the other around his leg. Looking at the two, I decided it would probably be easier to break the chain than the leg, if I had to try and escape.

The unicorn began checking us over, probably figuring which ones would be the most fun to turn into pancakes, and noticed me, apparently for the first time. His eyes locked with mine, and he began growling, a truly terrifying sound that made me think more of wolves than ponies.

“Bruiser!” the teal unicorn yelled, “don't hurt the merchandise.” Bruiser just snorted, then turned and began trotting towards our current caretaker. We nearly had to run to keep up, his strides being longer than most of our bodies.

I felt Salheen push a little closer to me as we walked. I looked over at her, and saw her shivering, her eyes wide with fright. She looked even more terrified than after the raider attack on our way here. I didn't know whether she was scared of Bruiser or the teal unicorn, but either way, showing it like this couldn't end well for her.

“Don't worry,” I whispered, “I won't let anything hurt you.”

She looked over at me. “Promise?”

I smiled. “Promise.” She stopped shivering then, although her eyes still looked scared. It was kind of odd, how she was scared of me but still pushed closer to me for comfort. Better the devil you know, I suppose.

We walked through the streets for about an hour before coming to the wall to the inner city. There, we had to wait while the guards cast identifying spells to make sure that the teal unicorn, whose name appeared to be Water Vines, was really who he said he was. And then a few more spells to make sure he wasn't masking himself somehow. And then the identifying spells again, to make sure he was the exact same person before the 'unmasking' spells. It took about twenty minutes, and I mentally promised myself that, if I ever got back to Earth, I'd never complain about airport security again.

After we passed through the gate (with a few spells cast on Bruiser and us slaves as well, to make sure we weren't hiding any lethal weapons. Like Bruiser's entire body didn't count as one.), it was only a short walk to Sky Lily's estates. Sandstone walls surrounded an area that, back home, would've been about twice the size of an average city block. Inside the walls was pretty much mostly grassy hills, with a few shallow creeks flowing artistically between them. Small clusters of trees dotted some of the hills, and I wondered how exactly she managed to keep this whole place watered in the middle of the desert. I mean, Heto's inner city was closer to the river than the outer city, but still. This was kind of ridiculous.

Sky Lily's manor was located at the center of the estate, with a plot of desert sand extending out from it like a yard would from a normal house, although it was proportionally bigger to fit the size of the house. Egyptian-style, with multiple buildings connected by shaded walkways, it seemed more like the main house of some tropical beach resort than any sort of home.

Sky Lily was waiting at the front steps. The same color as her brother, she had a long mane, and vines of multicolored flowers wrapped loosely through her mane and tail, and over most of her body. When she saw us, she broke into a childlike grin, dancing in place on the front steps.

Most of the slaves appeared to calm down at this, but I saw through her rather quickly. Sunny had talked like she was a long-time customer, and you didn't stay the head of a household for long by acting like a child. And the act just made me wonder what she had to hide from us.

“Hello sister,” Vine said wearily as we approached.

“Hello brother,” she replied happily, then began scanning the group. “Where's my gator?” He pointed at me, and she began hopping Pinkie Pie style through the slaves. “Hello, you,” she said as she got close, “what's your name? Mr. Sunny never told me.”

I gave her my biggest, happiest grin, and replied, in a voice to match, “Stormjaw.” Instant silence. I couldn't even hear anyone breathing.

Her eyes flickered, loosing their happy shine, but only for an instant. “Well, that's a depressing name. I'll have to think up something else to call you while you stay here.” She dispelled the chains from around my legs, and linked Salheen's to the slave on the other side of me. “Come on!” she began hopping away again, back towards her brother and the house.

I looked at Salheen, but didn't dare say anything. Something here was making me really nervous, and I didn't want to attract any attention to her. I walked out of the crowd, following Sky.

Vine smirked at me as I walked by. So I wasn't just paranoid.

I followed Sky through the house before it hit me: I couldn't sense any life. I could sense the group I'd been brought in with, myself, and Sky, but that was it. A huge manor, but no one inside of it?

Another thought struck me then. Sky was a longtime customer. Sunny hadn't seemed fazed by the size of her order. If this was the average size, what happened to all the other slaves?

“Here we are!” Sky brought me out of the manor into a walled in area. There were thirty or forty other sandgators lounging around, with a large table covered in platters of meat. “You must be hungry, after all that walking. Eat up!”

An herbivore, encouraging me to eat meat? Nope. “I'm actually just tired right now. I think I'll take a nap first.”

She looked at me, her eyes dimming a bit. “Really? Not hungry at all?”

“No, I'm a little hungry,” the best lies had a bit of truth to them, “but I'm really tired. You can ask your brother, I told Sunny I didn't get much sleep last night, and the walk here was a lot more tiring than I thought it would be. I'll probably be really hungry when I wake up, though.” With that, I stepped away from her, found a spot near the center of the courtyard that wasn't near any of the other gators, and buried myself in the sand. One thing I'd miss about this world if I ever got back home, I've never had a bed or blanket quite as comfortable as this sand.

“Okay then, if you're sure. Just let me know when you've eaten, and I'll let you go back and play with your friends.” Wait, what? Sky walked into the manor, then closed the door behind her. It gave a heavy thunk as it shut, and I got the feeling it wouldn't be opening from this side.

I lay there for about an hour, to make sure that anyone watching me would think I really was asleep, before I unburied myself. I walked to the nearest sandgator, to try and see why I couldn't sense it.

From this close, I could feel it, but only barely, like a match in the dark, as opposed to the bonfire lives around me usually were. It moved a little as I approached, so I could tell that it really was alive, but something was definitely wrong with it. I wondered if I could sneak Salheen in here, have her take a look.

Next I went to investigate the table of food. As soon as I got near, I could smell something wrong with it. The meat was cooked, and the smell of wrongness was faint enough that I guessed that, when it was freshly cooked, I wouldn't have been able to tell it was anything other than just food.

I needed to convince Sky that I'd eaten some before she'd let me out, that much was clear. I grabbed a small bit and stuck it in my satchel, which, fortunately, had a few pockets inside so I wouldn't get meat all over my book. I then took a whole platter, brought it over to one of the other gators, and buried the meat underneath it. I returned the platter to it's place on the table, then grabbed another one and buried it's meat beneath a different gator.

As the last part of my plan, I found a gator that looked similar to me, put my satchel around it, moved it near the table, stuck some meat in it's mouth, and lay down in it's place. I covered it with some sand as well, to make it seem like he'd eaten right after unburying himself. I had no idea if this would work or not, but, to my eyes at least, all sandgators still looked the same except for a few specific parts. And this one, near as I could tell, looked exactly like me.

It was another hour before Sky came back to check on me. She walked in, and immediately started walking towards the one wearing my satchel.

“Hello, beautiful.” She said as she approached.

“Hello mistress,” the gator replied. Sky paused, and her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“What's your name?”She asked. Her voice sounded the same, but now there was an older quality to it. She'd dropped the act.

“Dreadslice, mistress.”

“And why are you wearing that satchel, Dreadslice?”

“The new one put it on me, mistress.”

“Did he now?” She smiled again, wider, but more sinister. “You seem smart, Storm. It's been a while since I've had a smart one to play with. I'll let you run around the house, for now, but I wouldn't try to leave, if I were you.” With that, she turned around and walked back into the house, leaving the door open behind her. I retrieved my satchel from Dreadslice, but didn't go into the house quite yet. She'd let me off too easily here, when she probably could've just asked Dreadslice or one of the others to tell her where I was. She was playing a game, and if there was one thing I knew about games, it's that they're always rigged.

Well, that's what the movies said, but she certainly wasn't proving them wrong.

First thing I needed to do was find Salheen. I didn't trust this place, and I didn't trust anybody in it. Sunny had said he'd never heard one of her sandgators complain. As cliché as it sounded, mind control of some sort was probably involved. It worked for Chrysalis, after all.

When I walked through the doors, I heard a chime from within the building, like a clock marking the hour. It chimed twelve times, and every time, a life dropped out of my sense.

Oh.

Fuck.

I heard her voice echo through the halls. “Tick tock, Storm. Move quickly, you haven't got much time.

“Let the games begin.”

What did he do for six hours?

Six hours had passed since the bell had chimed, and in those six hours I learned one very important lesson. I'd underestimated Sky Lily. I'd underestimated her a lot, and the current situation was pretty damn close to mentally tearing me apart.

You see, in those six hours, she'd done one of the most terrifying, mind bending things possible to do to someone. She'd done nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

Imagine a visit to the doctor, where you know beforehand you're going to get a shot. You anticipate how much it's going to hurt, how freaking horrible the pain of that needle sliding into your arm will be. But then, when you get that shot, it's really not as bad as you imagined it to be. It still sucks, sure, but, first off, now it's over with, and second off, the anticipation was a hell of a lot worse than the shot itself.

Now, focus on that anticipation. Imagine what it would feel like to just sit there, knowing you're about to get that shot, for six hours.

Oh, and instead of a shot, either you or one of your friends is about to die.

Psychologically speaking, I think that officially classifies as torture.

Using either magic, hidden doors, or something along those lines, Sky had trapped me on the top floor of the main building of her manor. I couldn't find a way down, and both the floor and the walls seemed too strong for me to dig through. I'd decided to check out the entire building, starting from the bottom and working my way up, to see if I could find anything useful in it. The answer had been a resounding no, and I'd ended up stuck up here.

I could still sense the others in the compound, but there was no way for me to reach them. The top floor pretty much consisted of four hallways set in a square. There were a few “windows,” but they were really just slits in the wall to let in some air.

Currently, I was resting in a corner. I had a good view down both corridors, so if anyone approached me I'd be able to see them coming, but I didn't think anyone would. Didn't seem like Sky's style.

Resting may have seemed like a bad idea, but lets see you run on adrenaline for six hours and just shrug it off. It takes a toll on your body, and I got the feeling that me wearing myself out would only help Sky. Not that I wasn't worn out, but I wasn't about to pass out from exhaustion. Yet. Goddamn, today had been tiring.

I lay on my side, soaking up the heat radiating from the walls. For a pony or a human, the heat would have been stifling, sapping their strength as much as the constant running. For me, it was just pleasant. One of the benefits of this new body.

As I lay, I thought. There had to be a way out of here. If it was illusion magic of some sort, then I'd probably already lost. Not much I can do against someone who can change what I'm seeing at any moment. So, I'd have to hope for a trap door, one disguised by more mundane means than magic.

Problem was, I had no idea how to look for something like that. I'd been a normal guy back home, and I'd only been here about a week. Experienced adventurer, I wasn't.

I closed my eyes. Maybe a nap would help. I was sure I'd wake up if anyone came up here, light sleeper that I am. Maybe I'd even dream up a good idea. As tired as I was, and as warm as it was, it didn't take me very long to fall asleep.

~o0O0o~

I was standing in a hallway of glass and light. Each stone in the floor and every brick in the wall were connected, not just by touching, but by glowing strands, forming a spiderweb of starlight running through the hall.

A figure walked towards me. I couldn't tell who he was, but he was tall, much taller than me. He took my hand(paw?) and pulled me towards the wall. Using my claws(fingers?) he cut the web, moving my hand through the glass stones of the wall. When all the strands in a small area of the wall were cut, he let go of my paw(hand?)

“Remember,” he said, turning away, “it was your h p a a n w d that cut the wall, not mine.” He began walking, fading out of my sight before too long. I watched him go for a few moments before looking back at the now severed wall.

It suddenly seemed so much more fragile than the rest of the walls. Like I could just reach out and break it with a single push. . .

~o0O0o~

The sound of bricks crumbling woke me. I'd somehow gotten up, moved to a wall, and. . . broken it? Holy shit.

I looked at the hole a bit more. It was in the same shape as the severed bricks in my dream. But how did that make sense? I was a sandgator, we didn't have any magic. Well, none that I was aware of, but I was pretty sure Sky would've prepared for it, or Sunny would have mentioned it, or something.

But that would have to wait. I finally had an exit from up here, even if it was a five story drop. With nothing but sand and bricks at the bottom. And I had no idea whether this body could survive that. That said, there was no other way out of here, unless I wanted to wait for Sky to send someone up to investigate. Not happening.

I took a few steps back, then launched myself out the hole, trying to land past the bricks. I hit the ground rolling, trying to make it hurt less. The landing still hurt like hell, but a quick check showed that I hadn't actually damaged anything.

Now, however, I was in the open. Very bad place to be if you wanted to hide, which I did. She'd expect a gator to dig, probably, which meant the best hiding spot would be somewhere high. Out of the Nine buildings nearby, I could only sense life in five of them. I went to the nearest one that didn't have anybody inside, a small, three story stone building, and cautiously opened the door.

The room inside was full of ponies, all of whom seemed to be on the same drugs the gators had been on. They simply lay all over the room. I didn't take time to count how may were in there, but I'd guess more than two dozen. More than enough for me to want to find another way in, or hide in another building altogether.

I closed the door and walked around the building. No other obvious entrances, but there were ways around that. The slightly taller building near it, for instance. I could sense a few people in it, but not very many, so I figured I shouldn't be too hard to get to the roof, where it was only a short jump to the other building, where I could hide. Of course, that's assuming that I didn't find any hiding spots in the larger building, which was a possibility.

I just walked into the second building. I doubted Sky would put drugged up ponies with regular ones, so if I couldn't sense anyone that probably meant that someone wasn't there. And, this time at least, my guess proved right. The door opened into a large but currently empty living room, with several couches and chairs placed kinda randomly throughout. There were two other doors, one on either side of the room. Neither had anyone hiding behind them, so I picked the one on the left and started moving.

The building turned out to be housing for the servants. There were, at the moment, only fifteen in the building, although I overheard one of them mentioning how crowded it got at night when everyone returned. It made me a bit more worried about sneaking around, because I couldn't sense very many people in the Manor, which meant that either they were immune to my senses, or they were elsewhere in the compound. I hoped for the latter option, but had to admit that the first was just as likely.

I eventually made my way onto the roof, and from there it was only a short jump onto the smaller building. I entered the building, and found myself in some sort of large office. One wall was completely covered with shelves full of books, loose papers, and scrolls, a large desk was placed near the wall next to that one. Opposite the desk was an ornate door that I assumed led into the hallway, and the last wall had a few paintings and a second door. Most of the pictures were of landscapes, with a few of a unicorn family that I could only assume was Sky Lily's. One of them, however, was a painting of a massive sandgator with ruddy, greenish-brown scales instead of the bright orange-red most of us had. He also had fire pouring out of his eye sockets, and a horribly malevolent grin on his face.

And with that cheery image staring at me, I began to search for a hiding spot. The second door in the room led to a bedroom, with a small bathroom off of it. The door in the office seemed to be the only door to the hallway, which was both good and bad. Unless, of course Sky had a secret door in here. That it was Sky's room was obvious, the office looked like one that would belong to the head of the house, and I doubted anyone else would fill their room with flowers.

I decided to check out some of the other rooms in the building, but before I opened the door into the hallway, I tried sensing if there was anything in the hallway. I hadn't been able to sense the other sandgators till I was pretty damn close to them, so if there were any guards in the hall, I might not have sensed them when I was just scanning, but now I could if I was looking. And, as it turned out, I was right. There were several somethings in the hall, placed pretty evenly as far as I could sense them, which wasn't very far. Still, it meant that I couldn't use the front door to get out. The roof it was.

But first, someone was coming. I'd felt them enter the building earlier, but they'd stayed on the first floor, so I hadn't thought much of it. They'd come up the steps when I was focused on what was just outside the door, so I only just noticed they were on the third floor. And headed this way.

I went to hide in the bathroom. I didn't want to hide on the roof, too open, and in close quarters like that I could use my jaws pretty damn effectively, especially if I got the jump on them.

The person came into the office room, and stayed there for a while. They moved around, probably grabbing papers off the shelves and rearranging them. It was probably Sky, but I decided to stay hidden. Fighting the crazy-ass unicorn in her own home? Not the smartest plan I'd ever thought up.

Eventually, she left. Heading down and out of the building. After she was gone, I left my hiding spot and went back into the office. It appeared unchanged, except that now there was a paper on the desk that hadn't been there before. Wondering if it was somehow important, I walked over to read it.

It said, in a flowery script, “Hiding in the bathroom? How silly.”

Behind me, I heard the door open.

~o0O0o~

Two unicorns stood in a room. One was seated at a desk, the other standing in front of him. Both were motionless, lost in their own private thoughts.

“Do we have a deal?” the first said, breaking the long silence.

The second waited before responding. “We do. I'll be damned for it, but we do.”

“This whole blasted city is damned. If you're only joining us now, your whole reputation is a lie,” the first chuckled darkly.

“How long will I need to wait?” the second asked.

“We won't be able to move until next week. Have to give a customer some time to get comfortable, to drop their guard, before we show up. Only waiting a week is pushing it, really.”

“Why do it so early then?”

“Because, despite what your kind tend to think of us, we aren't really heartless.” The first stood, walking to the only window in the room. He pulled aside the drapes, revealing the twilight sky. “I bound and gagged him, and threw him straight into the 'gators den. Quite literally, in this case. I don't want to see him die, and I certainly don't want to see him end up one of hers.”

“Then why send him in the first place?”

“Because he can beat her.” The second merely raised an eyebrow at this statement, and the first conceded. “Okay, maybe not beat her, but he won't lose to her. Not in a week, if for no other reason than that he's different, that he's new. You know how she is around things she hasn't seen before.”

“You have a point there,” the first said, “but a whole week? I don't think she has that long of an attention span when she isn't dealing with another big player.”

“If anyone could do it, it'd be him. Hell, I'd even give him a chance of escaping. Not a big one, not at all, but he might.”

“Escaping? Her?” the second couldn't believe what he'd just heard. No one got away from her. She was inescapable and untouchable. “If it was possible to beat her, I would've already. You of all people should know that.”

“I'm perfectly aware of the. . . confrontations. . . between the two of you. That said, no one is unbeatable. You just need the right pieces. I told you his name, did I not?'

“. . .yes. And that he accepted it without missing a beat. I still think it would just make her more likely to grab him.”

“And maybe you're right. If so, I've lost quite a bit. But if not, if she decides to wait and see how well he measures up against her hero, then I may have the opening I need. Or, better yet, the opening you need.”

The second only sighed. “I'll be back in a week, you crazy bastard. And don't blame when this whole thing falls apart around your head. She's getting closer to the royals every day, and even your so-called legacy might not protect you for much longer.” With that, he turned and left, leaving the first alone.

“I'm perfectly aware of that, you old moron. Why do you think I'm gambling like this in the first place?” he sat back down at his desk and cradled his head in his hooves. “I'm out of time, I'm out of options, and I won't be able to protect anything. Not from her.”

Sunny looked out the window again, his thoughts on his last gamble. “Bring her down, SJ. Bring her down because no one else in this god forsaken desert can.”

Bruiser can read?

I turned around slowly, not sure what to expect. Hopefully, it would be just another mind trick, just an empty doorway. That was not the case.

“I mean really, all the places here to hide and you picked my bathroom? Please tell me you had some sort of logic behind that.” Sky Lily. Just who I wanted to see right now.

“Most people wouldn't expect it, and I have an advantage in close quarters. Really, they're great places for ambush.” She was still in the doorway, so I edged closer to the roof opening.

“Ambush, eh? Trying to end the game early? And here I thought you were enjoying yourself.” She saw me moving, that much I could tell, but I really didn't want to be in the same room as her.

“You're assuming that was my only reason. And now you're taking that sentence into account and assuming it's not. Would you like me to continue?”

That made her pause for a minute. “You're a lot smarter than most gators. What's your secret? Are you really related to him?” She pointed at the flame-eyed sandgator.

“No secret, I've always been like this. And as for any relation to that one, I actually don't know. I probably could be, but I wouldn't be the person you'd ask about that.” Made me wonder where Zireahl got this body from. I hope he didn't steal it from somewhere.

“Oh?” She stepped into the room now, heading around her desk. “Who would I ask then, if you happen to know?”

“Nobody you can get in touch with, it would take a god to reach him if he didn't want to be found. But what makes you think I'm related?” I asked.

“Other than your name?” Oh, it was a picture of Stormjaw. No wonder people were surprised I'd accepted that name. Probably should've figured that out earlier. “The sundering. He was the only non-magical creature in history able to do it. And you just used it less than an hour ago. Magic runs through Bloodlines, as I'm sure you know.”

“Well then, I suppose I'll have to leave my answer as probably, and take my leave.” I began walking towards the door, hoping to god she wasn't about to toss some terrifying mind-rape spell my way.

“And what makes you think I'll let you?” She asked casually.

Shit, shit, give me something good brain. “Because you're not the kind to bury someone, you're the kind who'll trick them into burying themselves.” Holy shit, thanks brain.

She let out a short laugh. “True enough, true enough. Just remember, don't try and leave the compound.”

“I know, I know. Don't wait up.” I walked out of the room and closed the door, noting that the guards in the hallway weren't paying any attention to me other than a quick glance. Guess I was allowed up here?

I searched around for a few minutes, and found the building all the slaves were kept in. It was smaller than the rest of the buildings, only two stories, and had a fence around it. Figures.

I walked into the building, and recognized about half of the slaves in there. Oddly, I could only sense the ones who'd come here with me, even though all of them seemed awake and alert. The older ones seemed surprised that I was out and roaming, as apparently Sky usually kept the others “somewhere safe.” I informed him that safe was boring, so I left, and Sky was quite aware of it.

Salheen wasn't in the building at the moment, and no one knew exactly where she was, so I settled down in the commons room of the slave quarters to wait for her, idly chatting with a few of the other slaves. Apparently, Sky really was a good master. She treated her slaves very well, gave them plenty of space and freedom and only expected minimal work from them. They were just supposed to maintain the hills and rivers around the estate, something that was really easy for herbivores.

"Except," one of them said, "that sometimes some really odd plants crop up, and anyone who even touches those ones dissapeares. Not right away, but sometime in the next few days they're gone. Also, people who spend too much time playing around the water vanish too. Never more than three or four a month, but it happens, and it happens regularly. Makes a pony think Sky might be up to something else in here, although, of course, you didn't hear about any of that from me."

"What's the plant look like?" I asked, "and do you know of anywhere else someone could find it?"

"It's a dark green, almost black, with bright blue flowers. It's really easy to tell apart from everything else in here. And as for finding it, I haven't heard about it anywhere other than here, although some of the more shady apothocaries down in the outer city could probably get it for you. Not that I'd want any, damn plant looks creepy enough even without everybody who touches it getting grabbed by something."

The conversation moved on to other topics after that, nightmares and boogeymen, or boogeyponies, as they said here, guess that pun got through, but my mind stayed on that plant for a long time. I wondered if it was the cause of the mind-numbing, or if it was something else entirely. Eventually, I rejoined the conversation, making a mental note to find out more about that mysterious plant the first chance I got.

~o0O0o~

It was late afternoon when I got to the slaves' quarters, but it wasn't until after nightfall that I started to get worried for Salheen. She still hadn't shown up, and the image of the blank, unthinking ponies was starting to come back to my mind.

“Do any of you happen to know where a Salheen is? She's a zebra, kinda skittish,” I asked, adding the description for those who hadn't just been bought this morning. Most of them just shrugged, but one got a thought full expression on his face.

“She came in with you this morning, right? I thought I saw her by one of the rivers, looking around for something.” he gave me directions, and I walked out.

I got to the river, and began looking around. No Salheen, as far as I could see. Just a blank river running through the hills. The river was slow, shallow, and wide, with vegetation covering the bottom. I hopped in and started searching farther along it, hoping to find her, or at least some sign of where she'd gone.

I wasn't able to find anything though, and after half an hour of searching I gave up and started to head back. She'd probably gone someplace else, or was even waiting for me in the slaves' quarters right now.

“Are you sure you didn't miss something?” Zireahl's voice echoed in my head.

“Well, did I?” I mentally shot back.

“Actually answering that would break the rules. Just go take a look, and remember that there are no coincidences in matters even remotely related to Sky Lily.” I turned back to the river, and began searching through it again, looking for anything odd.

I found it by accident, a thin vine near the bank opposite the manor. I stepped on it before I saw it, which was clearly the intent of whoever had put it there. Roots shot out of the ground from around the vine, wrapping around the ankle of that leg. I could have easily ripped my leg away, but I chose not too, wondering if whoever had placed that fine would come check it if it got tripped.

Fifteen minutes later, I got my answer. Water Vine walked into my view, and I realized how obvious that was. No coincidences indeed. We took one look at each other, and I jumped away from him as hard as I could. And not a moment too soon, more vines tore out of the ground as soon as I left, searching vainly for a victim to entwine.

I landed a good ways away, because holy shit can sandgators jump, and started sprinting sideways. His magic had range, and that gave him the upper hand as long as he knew where I was, so I needed to get lost, and quickly.

I darted between hills, keeping low to the ground. After I few minutes I started to double back, taking a different path through the hills and hoping he'd follow my original course. I went back till I got to the river, and looked around. He wasn't there, good.

I jumped over the river, and began making my way to the manor. Hopefully, he'd have less of an advantage on the sandy ground. I reached the manor with no difficulty and, with the help of one of the servants, located his quarters, which were across the compound from Sky Lily's. I approached the front door, then paused. He'd already proven he could set traps, so he would probably trap his rooms. Hell, he had a whole building to himself, he probably trapped every single room in the damn place.

Instead of walking straight into his building, I decided to get in the same way I'd gotten into Sky Lily's rooms; from the roof. I went through the building next to his, a two story building full of what appeared to be various grains, although I didn't look very hard.

From the roof of the storage building, I wondered if I could make the jump. Unlike Sky Lily's, which had the four story servants quarters next to it, I'd have to be jumping up a story here, and I wasn't sure if I could. I thought about asking Zireahl, but decided against it. He probably wouldn't be able to help, and I needed to find out the physical limits of this body sometime. I took a few steps back to get a running start, charged, and jumped, hoping to god I could make it.

I slammed into the edge of the roof, half on it and half dangling. Thankfully, I was able to pull myself up, and head to the roof door. It led into a room full of strange plants, covered in thorns and odd looking flowers. I hurried out of that room, and started looking for Salheen.

It didn't take me long to find her, although after walking into the room she was held in, it felt like hours too long. She was in a cage, one barely big enough to fit her, and seemed unconscious. I took one look at the lock on the cage before deciding to ignore it and just ripping open the door, which startled her awake.

“Stormjaw. . .?” She asked, like she almost couldn't believe it.

“Yeah, I'm here.” I helped her get out, then scanned the other cages for living inhabitants. There weren't any, so we started to leave.

Salheen was in no condition to make the jump to the storage building, so we went down to the front door. It was trapped, thorny vines draped all around the main room, but from the inside I was able to nudge them aside and open the door without any complications. I took Salheen to the servants quarters, and handed her over to the nurses there. I also asked them where Water Vines could usually be found this time of night, and they gave me directions.

“Don't. . . get hurt. . .” Salheen coughed at me. Her injuries didn't show, but I could tell something had hurt her in there.

“Don't worry, I'll be fine.” I walked out of the building, heading towards the east fields. As I was walking past Vine's building, however, I felt someone walking around inside. I didn't know if it was him or not, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Considering he'd probably reset the traps, I decided to go in with a measure of caution. By which I mean I bucked the door of it's hinges and let the vines flail at it instead of at me. Then I stepped into the building, waiting in the front room for Vines.

I could feel him running down, and when he walked into the room I didn't give him time to make a move. I charged, slamming into him like a freight train on steroids, and I heard several bones snap just from that first impact. He hit the wall, and fell to the ground unconscious. Good. I wasn't trying to be cruel here.

I moved over to his body, and snapped his neck.

I walked back to the servants quarters much slower than when I'd left. I felt worse than I thought I would. After all, he'd deserved it. I'd thought I'd gotten over that with the slaver attack, but it still hurt. I wondered, briefly, if this was still part of the "test of the Holy Rage" one of the sandgators in that group had mentioned. I supposed I was still passing, if I was still disgusted by the death I caused.

When I got back, the nurses told me that while they'd done what they could for Salheen, and now what she needed most was to rest. I asked them if they had any sleds for carrying ponies around in. They said yes, and gave me one.

"It'd really be best if you and her stayed here. We can keep an eye on her, and Lady Sky will hunt you down if you leave," one of the nurses warned me.

"I'm sure she will, but I'm rather hard to find when I don't want to be. Thanks for the help." I loaded the slumbering Salheen into the sled, harnessed myself, and began walking towards the gate to the compound. The guards seemed mildly surprised, but let me through. I wondered what orders she gave out about the sandgators, or about me in particular, but didn't think on it too long. I had to get out of the inner city and find somewhere to hole up for a little while, and hopefully someone who could help me get on my way. A caravan heading north, or something. I didn't really know, didn't have much of a plan beyond survive the night, but I'd started my escape, and goddamit I was going to finish it.

~o0O0o~

Bruiser was nervous. Really nervous. Sky had been staring at her brother for nearly an hour, not moving, not talking, just staring. No one had told her about it until the morning, when she'd gone looking for him. No one knew what she would do. She was never predictable, but she'd never been in this situation before. Would she snap? Would she kill him for not being there? Vines had asked him to leave, said he wanted some alone time with his new toy. And when he'd come back. . . well. . .

"Bruiser?" Sky asked softly, "there's a book on my desk, top left drawer. Could you go get it for me?"

"Yes ma'm." He got it quickly, running to get there and back, not wanting to anger her right now.

She took the book, and opened it to a marked page near the middle. Bruiser looked at the book as well, his curiosity getting the better of him. It was written in a language he hadn't seen before, which was odd because he could read just about any language written today. Of course, that didn't include old languages, dead languages where they spoke of heathen gods and legends and things like that. But what would Sky be doing with a book like that?

Then, to his astonishment, the letters and words began to move, re-arranging themselves into an entirely new pattern and order. It looked almost like a new language now. Bruiser shook his head and looked back at Sky, not wanting to think about the book anymore.

Except Sky was still looking at the book, reading each line slowly, a smile forming on her face. Bruiser suddenly wasn't sure whether to be excited that she wasn't going to kill him, since he'd never seen her smile during a kill, or very, very terrified.

~o0O0o~

"Wait," Sunny had a look on his face like he'd been hit in the back of his head with a stick. Hard. "He killed her brother, and she freed him?"

Who owned the house before them?

"Thanks for the help, Stormy!" One Shot waved his one foreleg at me as I walked away from his shack.

"No problem. Thanks for the sandwiches!" I called back. I had three of them in my satchel, and while I couldn't eat them, being completely carnivore, Salheen would enjoy them. One Shot and his sister, Blind Shot, were two of the best cooks I'd ever known, and would even cook meat for me, although they didn't have any today.

I walked into the house Salheen and I were living in. It used to be a two-story merchants home, but had burned down some years ago, leaving a nice little wreckage for some slum-dwellers to find a home in. Salheen wasn't back yet, so I stoked the fire and put the food in the icebox. Yes, we had an icebox, full of actual ice. You have no idea how much trouble it was to get that, but goddamn was it worth it.

It had been about a month since I'd 'escaped' from Sky Lily. I'd gotten into contact with Sunny once, and was told that, while I was technically freed, I was still wanted for her brother's murder, and that they couldn't help me yet, although they had mentioned that there was a plan in the works, and that I should just hide out.

We'd gone to some of the outermost slums of the city, hoping to find somewhere that we could survive until the plan came through. Fortunately, the slums wenecessarily re actually a very hospitable place, provided you worked hard enough. People didn't have money, so they dealt in favors, most of which got cashed in immediately. Move something for a blind earth pony, she makes you sandwiches. Pull a collapsed wall off a unicorn, he'll make you new ice whenever he can. Undo gravity to pull someone's foal out of a river, and they'll help you turn a burnt down house into a rather decent home.

Oh yeah, I figured out how to Sunder gravity temporarily. I still wasn't sure exactly how I did it, but if my claws or fangs were touching something, I could make it weightless. It felt similar to when I'd broken the wall, so I assumed that it was some part of the Sundering. I needed to find out more about it, and about my namesake, Stormjaw the first, but the only person I was aware of that had any actual information on either of those was Sky, and I wasn't exactly in a hurry to talk with her. Everybody else I asked about either had no idea what Sundering was, and only knew Stormjaw as some tyrant from the past.

I'd gotten some raised eyebrows at my name, but no one had ever said anything, and they seemed to have gotten over it pretty quickly. Of course, I met a pony who was named Blood Smear, so I suppose I didn't have the oddest name out there.

I felt someone start to enter, and turned to see Salheen walking in. She'd been out talking to someone who we'd heard could translate the book Cloud had given me. She didn't seem very happy, though so I figured he'd been a bust.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

"Not good. He seemed like he might actually have been able to translate it, but he took one look at the book, yelled something about heathen gods and curses, and ran away. I locked his shop before I left." I chuckled at that. Most slummers would've just left, and a few would've robbed it blind and pawned everything, but only Salheen would lock the front door before leaving.

"I'm assuming you left through a back door, then?"

"yeah, one with a magical auto-lock. He seemed really well off, and had a lot of magical things in his shop. Well, I think they were magical, at least. Speaking of which, any progress on that?"

I'd been trying to see if my life-sense could pick up anything other than life. So far the answer was "No, not yet." but a little voice at the back of my mind kept telling me there was more I could do with it. "But I haven't been able to practice yet today, been over helping the Shots out. And on that note, you hungry?" She nodded, and I pulled one of the sandwiches out of the icebox and tossed it to her.

"Get anything for you?" She asked.

"No, I'm gonna have to go hunting tonight." Hunting was. . . an endeavor. You could stay close to the city, and stay safe, but not much prey was in the area. Or you could venture a bit farther out into the desert, where the only difference between predator and prey was who won. I'd only had to go hunting a few times, and I generally stayed in the middle, straddling the line between safety and plenty. Sure, it occasionally left me hungry, but it also left me alive.

"Okay. What time are you heading out?" She'd completely gotten over her fear of me, as well as most of her fear in general. I guess being near me helped her somewhat, and I was happy to see her more outgoing, and less afraid.

"Not till nightfall. Easier to sneak out." Wanted men do not simply walk out the main gates.

"What're you doing till then?"

I yawned as I answered her, "I was just planning on taking a nap. Damn stove was heavy, even with the gravity turned off." Dropping gravity didn't change it's mass, so pulling it around still took a certain amount of force, and changing directions while it was moving took a lot more.

"Alright then. I'll probably go check on a few of my patients, make sure they're actually following directions."

"Follow directions? Are we thinking of the same patients here?" I joked to her.

"I know, right? Still, maybe they actually listened, for once." Salheen got us favors by helping out the sick people in the slums, although most of them were very bad at listening to her.

I fell into our bed and closed my eyes, meditating. It helped me get to sleep if I focused for a bit on my life sense first. Not counting what I could feel, or focusing on anything in particular, just feeling. It felt like looking at a field of stars, something that had always helped me relax, and it wasn't long at all before I had drifted off.

~o0O0o~

It was midnight when I set out on my hunting trip.

Because I couldn't go through the gate, the only way for me to get out was over the wall. For most people, this would be very difficult, as the wall was at least six stories high, and patrolled rather thoroughly. Any grappling hook or ladder that could even reach that high would quickly be found, and simply dropped off the edge.

For those of us that could ignore gravity, however, the whole thing was a pretty minor obstacle.

I sat on the ground a block away from the wall, and Sundered gravity on myself. A few deep breaths, to let some time pass, and then one powerful push with my hind legs and I was sailing through the air. The goal was to push myself to the top of the wall, where I could grab on for a second and change my direction downwards. It usually took me a few tries, I had a tendency to aim too low because of the fear of overshooting and having to fall sixty feet, but tonight I got lucky and got a handhold on the top my first try. I pushed myself to the other side of the walkway, startling two guards who were on duty nearby, and started pulling myself to the ground.

The guards didn't sound the alarm. They weren't lazy, and I was sure a note would be made somewhere, but one of the good parts of the Heto guard was their acceptance of the necessity of lawbreaking. They wouldn't go out of their way to help you, but they wouldn't go too far out to stop you either. If I'd lingered on top of the wall, they'd have sounded the alarm and chased after me, but a single person hurrying over didn't merit too much work. Especially considering most of the guard came from one of the slums in the first place.

The Sundering didn't last all the way to the ground, so I did end up falling for a ways, but not far enough to hurt me. I did a quick check to see if there was anything besides the guards in range of my senses, which there wasn't, and so I headed a bit farther from the walls, hoping to find something large enough to eat, but not quite large enough to kill me.

~o0O0o~

I didn't end up finding anything big, although I was able nab a few hares and a vulture. The hares were enough for that night, and the vulture would keep for a while. Keep well enough for me to eat anyway. I got back over the wall without any problems, washed all the blood off of myself in one of the public fountains, and walked happily home. With a full stomach and food for tomorrow, I was in a good mood, and wasn't really paying attention to who I could sense, and where they were.

The four swords that appeared at my neck when I walked into my house reminded me of why I should never stop paying attention to that.

"Wait, that's him." Salheen said quickly. She was sitting on the bed, staring towards an empty corner. A corner that suddenly stopped being empty when a blue-gray unicorn stopped being invisible in it. I relaxed, because Salheen didn't seem to worried, but I still glared angrily at him.

He levitated the swords from around my neck and into four sheathes strapped to his back. "So, you're the one who got away from Sky. Thought you'd be taller." He voice was deep, although not unnaturally so.

"Because height matters so much against her. Now, who are you?" I didn't know who he was, but he'd better have a damn good reason for being here like this.

"Names Taurian. I'm an. . . associate, you could say, of your former owners, Sunny and Cloud." He sat down next to the fireplace, and started building the fire.

"I thought they couldn't help us out right now, with the whole wanted fugitive thing."

"They can't," he replied curtly. "However, if you can find any sort of evidence that Water Vine or Sky Lily had something illegal going on, you can claim that they attacked you first. Self defense, everything you did was legal."

I raised an eyebrow. "A month after the fact. With plenty of time for me to plant evidence. They gonna believe that?"

"If I'm with you, they will. And Sunny will back you as well. If we get some good evidence, not even Sky's reputation will save her from that."

"First off, We?" I asked. "And second off, what exactly are we looking for when you say illegal?"

"Yes, we. I've been trying to take down that particular mare for. . . quite a while now. And as for finding something illegal, our best bet would be to look through Sky's office."

"We'll get caught." I replied instantly.

"You can sense when no one's in the room, how exactly will we get caught?"

"I can't sense Sky's guards, and Sky can sense me. And no, I don't know how." Although I was really interested in learning.

Taurian gave me a concerned look. "Really. Well, that certainly explains a lot. Anything else I should know about?"

"Maybe, but first," I shot at him, Sundering gravity on his body to disorient him, then grabbing him and slamming him into the ground, my jaws around his neck. To his credit, he reacted quickly, and had his swords ready to stab into several vital parts of my body before he hit the ground. "How exactly do we know that Sunny sent you?" I asked around his throat, "because this is really awfully convenient that you know where I am after I didn't tell Sunny or Cloud, and I don't trust anyone who's had any sort of dealing with Sky before."

"The book Cloud gave you," he said calmly, "I used a tracking spell placed on that to find you."

"And what was the title of the book?"

"I'd honestly be surprised if you knew, considering it was written entirely in a dead language." I released him, and he put back his swords. "I do approve of the paranoia though. It pays off when you're dealing with Sky."

"Until she realizes you're paranoid, and starts playing off it," I joked back at him.

"At that point you've already lost, best bet is to just get out of the city. So, what else was there to tell me?"

I told him about the strange plants I'd seen in Water Vine's rooms, as well as the stranger plant that grew out in the field. I also mentioned the mindless ponies and lethargic Gator's I'd seen. He thought over it all for a few minutes before responding.

"I think we could find a link between her and the raiders just with how her guards can't be sensed. We were able to sense raiders until just last year, which is about the same time Sky really started being a real political power in this city. We'll have to look through her papers, however, to try and find a concrete link, otherwise it's all just guesswork. I'll handle that, and in the meantime I need you to look through Vine's building for a couple of specific plants. I'll be back tomorrow night with a list of what to look for." He stood up and left the building.

Salheen and I just looked at each other for a minute. "So are we leaving right now, or in the morning?" she asked.

"Morning, they'll expect us to run now. Think you'll be able to stay awake for a few hours?"

"I can watch till dawn, I'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Thanks Sal." She got off the bed as I lay down on it, my full belly and the mild excitement of the night catching up to me. I was asleep before she got to the door.

~o0O0o~

We moved just before dawn. We didn't have much to carry, just the icebox and a few blankets, so we were able to simply grab it all and head into another building nearby. And from there we went through a broken wall in the basement into a sewer, then up into a different house just across the street. I wasn't able to Sunder walls into dust quite yet, but I could still crack a hole in a crumbling one, and I'd traded quite a bit for a good map of the sewers.

The building we were in now, however, was one I'd stumbled onto by accident. It had formerly been a three story building, but something had collapsed the second floor, blocking off both front and back doors. However, that same collapse had knocked a hole into the sewers more than large enough for someone to climb up through. I'd hopped up to the third floor, made sure that it was sturdy, and stowed a rope up there so that, if we ever needed somewhere to hide, we had a place. We were using it now because I didn't quite trust Taurian yet, and the way he'd approached really didn't fill me with confidence.

As I watched Salheen climb the rope, I wondered, not for the first time, how the ponies, and other hoofed animals, grabbed stuff. I figured it was some sort of passive magic, but decided that, if I ever did get to Equestria, I'd ask Twilight Sparkle about it. She seemed like the kind of mare who'd check into something like that, and it was something that had been bugging me since before I even came to this world.

Salheen spent the day in the building, keeping an eye both on our old home and the house across the street. I went back out and started trading in some favors I was owed, mostly for supplies and travel gear. If this was a trick, we'd need to get out of the city as soon as possible, and the closest town was more than a week's journey away.

I didn't get everything I needed until dusk. Two pairs of Saddlebags, as well as a set of thick, pocket-covered leggings called explorer's socks for Salheen. A dozen canteens, a few pounds of jerky and grain cakes for food, and a map for navigating by stars. Not a whole lot, but enough that we'd be able to make it to an oasis or a caravan if we did need to cross the desert. I also got a zebra bow, because Salheen had mentioned being interested in them, and I figured we'd be elsewhere soon no matter what happened, so no point in saving for latter.

"I don't actually know how to use one of these," she said after I handed it to her.

"No better time to learn," I responded, and let her mess around with it while I watched the area around us. Nothing yet that looked like it might be an ambush, although I was still cautious. "I'm going to head down to the old house to meet him. He can turn invisible, so it's not like we'd see him from up here anyways. If you see something, start running around in circles. I'll sense you doing it." I dropped down into the sewers and started heading out.

I couldn't sense anyone in the house when I entered, which really only made me more watchful. If this was a trap, Sky could get around my Life-sense, so I'd have to rely on my regular ones to warn me of any dangers.

It wasn't long after that Taurian showed up. I could sense him approaching, and he knocked on the door rather than just sneak in. Salheen wasn't spinning, so I opened the door for him. He was wearing saddlebags this time, although they seemed mostly empty.

He pulled a couple of sheets of paper out from one of the bags, and handed them to me. "These are the plants you need to be looking for. Will your zebra friend be coming with us tonight?"

"No, she staying behind. . . wait tonight?"

"If she's learned we're going after her, it's best to not give her time to plan. We need to get in there, get what we need, and get out. The sooner we get it done, the sooner we get rid of her." He started walking down the street, towards the inner city.

I ran out to catch up to him. "We're going in without a plan?"

"If we don't know what we're doing, she sure as hell doesn't."

". . . while I can't dispute that logic, it kind of terrifies me."

"Just means it's working."

As we passed the house Salheen was in, I gave her a thumbs up. No one here knew what that meant, considering very few of the people in this city even had thumbs, but I'd told her that it basically meant "i'm okay." Right now, it was me telling her that I was going along willingly.

She'd stay there, and hopefully by the end of the night we'd have what we needed to bring down Sky and clear my name. It wasn't much of a plan, but after a month of doing nothing but wait, any plan at all seemed like a good one.

Why does he have a Camera?

My story all started on a day like any other. Actually, scratch that, bit better than average actually. I actually had money for once, which is why I was in that cafe in the first place. I wasn't exactly in a bad financial state, but, let's just say if I wasn't able to steal food from work, I probably would've starved.

Anyway, back to the story. I was in the cafe, enjoying some coffee, when this guy walked in. First thing I noticed about him was his height. Seven foot six at least, considering he had to duck to get into the building. Second thing was what he was holding, a small video camera on a tripod. There was a proportionally sized professional mike on the front of the camera. Looking at that and the dark gray suit he was wearing, I figured he was a reporter of some sort. And yes, I do enjoy randomly profiling the people who walked into that cafe. Gives me something to do while I drink my coffee.

He looked around for a moment, before spotting me. That was when I got my first clue something was wrong, although at the time I figured it was just my head being a little fuzzy. Hadn't quite finished my coffee, after all.

Have you ever had a moment where you're speaking, and you forget the word you're about to say? When you know what you're trying to say, you can picture it clearly in your head, but you can't for the life of you remember what it was called? His eyes were the color of that feeling. I could see the color in his eyes, I just had no idea what that color looked like. I'm aware of how much sense that doesn't make, but that's just the best way I can describe it.

He walked over to me and sat down on the other side of the table, looking at me. I got a feeling I'm sure is similar to the one a baby antelope gets when it sees a lioness hiding in the grass. Like I should find someone easily tripable and put them between me and this guy in case I needed to run.

“Can I help you?” I asked after a moment.

“Yes,” he responded in a deep baritone, “do you know where I can find a brony around here?”

I sighed. Another reporter wanting to make a name for himself by finding some crazy-ass super fan clopper brony and writing about how we were all sexual deviants. Well, joke's on him, I'm pretty damn attractive for a struggling college student. Okay, maybe not, but I at least look like I get out of the basement more than once a year. “You're looking at one,” I responded.

He smiled. It did nothing to ease the predatory feeling around him. “Well then, I believe I have an offer for you, one I'm most certain you'll enjoy.”

“I'm fine with the size of all parts of my anatomy, and I will not give you my bank account number to help you move your alleged Nigerian millions,” I deadpanned.

He looked confused for a moment, then chuckled. “Yeah, you'll fit right in.” Well, that doesn't sound ominous at all. “Being a brony, I'm sure you're familiar with the country of Equestria.”

“Of course.”

He leaned a few inches closer, like he was about to share a secret. “I can get you there,” he said.

I paused for a second, then laughed. “Sure you can. Let me guess, it's just a hop, a skip, and a jump over the rainbow?”

He chuckled again, although it sounded less pleasant this time. Less like a chuckle, and more like gravel crunching underfoot. “Don't believe me? Turn around.”

Humoring him, I turned around, expecting to see the wall of the cafe. . .

. . .and instead seeing the landscape of Equestria.

We were on top of a mountain, overlooking the valley. I could see Ponyville from here, and the Everfree. I turned back towards the man, and saw Canterlot not far behind him.

“Well?” he asked, “believe me now?” I could only nod. “Thinking about accepting my deal?” another nod. “Good. Now, I'm going to have to set you down someplace a bit different from here. Can't have you dying on me too soon, after all.” Wait, what? But this was Equestria! Why would I die?

Before I had time to think any more, the man's hand slammed into my chest, and everything went black.

~o0O0o~

“You are a pawn, human.” The words were everything. All around me was shadow and silence, a void filled with nothing but myself. And the words. “Nothing but a pawn. But, a pawn forgotten or ignored can be quite the asset, used correctly. You are far from Equestria, far from the chessboard, but you will go there. Gather an army, or go alone, I don't care, but go. Equestria is North, across the Grand Desert and the North Ocean.

Go, my pawn, and slay the Knight.”

~o0O0o~

My head hurt.

Well, to be honest, my everything hurt. My head, my arms, my stomach, my tail, which is apparently a thing I have now.

The tail might've freaked me out if I'd hurt any less, probably take a few seconds of computer-like loading in my brain, but I hurt way too much to care, so I just acknowledged it and moved on.

Eventually, the pain died down enough for me to uncurl from the fetal position and open my eyes. First thing I saw was my snout. Mottled reddish-brown scales covering what looked like the nostrils of an alligator or a crocodile, not that I had any idea what the difference between the two was.

I looked down at the rest of my body. Reminded me a lot of a crocodile, aside from the colors, which matched those on my snout, the scales, which were large, flexible, and seemed more like a cross between alligator skin and real scales than just the latter, and the legs, which were a bit longer than any croc I'd heard of, and underneath me instead of to the sides. Well, at least I wouldn't have to waddle everywhere. I tried to get a look at my tail, but my neck wasn't flexible enough. After flailing it around a bit, I decided my tail was pretty long, although I couldn't tell you exactly how long, and about as thick around as a leg. That's what it felt like, at least. Also, tail-flailing fills the air with a lot of dust, more than enough to blind me.

When the dust settled, I looked around at my surroundings. Turns out that wasn't dust, it was sand. Lots and lots of sand, roughly the same red-brown of my scales.. I was on top of a large dune, but couldn't see anything but sand in all directions.

Wellfuck.jpeg

So, he shows me Equestria, then drops me off in the middle of a desert that is, according to him, an ocean away from that joyous place. Also, I'm a lizard. Dick move, bro, dick move.

“If you fought the Knight now, you would die.”

I spun around, looking for the source of the voice. It was the bastard who brought me here! I also tripped over my legs, but that's not important.

“I've done you a favor,” the voice continued, although I couldn't tell where it came from. “This way, you'll have time to make friends, gather comrades. The Knight is a strong one. I caught a glimpse of his future, and saw him perform a deed of blood that I thought was beyond any mortal. Shows you how far omnipotence goes these days.”

“Where are you?” I growled. Damn, my voice sounded scary. It was deeper than his now, where before it had been a tenor. Didn't sound gravelly at all though, which surprised me. It sounded more hissy, like a snake with a deep voice. If snakes had voices, that is.

“Not on this world, sadly. The rules forbid me from physically manifesting myself, although, as you can tell, I can still talk to you. Now I suggest you get moving. If you stay here, all that'll happen will be you dying of thirst, and then where'd I be?”

Welp, someone's a royal asshole. But he had a point; just standing here wouldn't do me any good. Looking up at the sun, I decided which way was north and set out. Hopefully, I'd find a town or something where I could figure out where I was, and the fastest way to Equestria.

But what did he mean by “kill the Knight?” I haven't killed anything in my life! He's treating me like some kind of soldier, and I'm barely twenty. Well, hopefully when I meet this “Knight” guy I can just talk to him instead of fighting him.

Of course, I have no idea what the guy who sent me here would do then. Or even if Knight will want to talk to me, as opposed to killing me on the spot for being an enemy pawn, or whatever. Stupid chess, never was any good at that game.

My musings were interrupted by a strange twitch on my snout. It felt like I had to sneeze, but it wasn't in my nostrils. It felt a bit higher up, and closer to the skin. Of course, it could just be a regular sneeze, and it only feels weird because I have a completely new nose than I used to have, but something made me think that wasn't the case. Also, the twitch was informing me that there was some prey approaching from the west.

Wait, what?

According to my snout, there were about a dozen animals heading this way. They were a only a quarter of a mile away, so if I climbed a dune, I might be able to see them. That is, of course, if they even are there. After all, what does my snout know?

As it turns out, it knows when there are a dozen animals a quarter of a mile to the west.

I couldn't tell what they were from this distance (did becoming this. . . whatever mess up my eyesight? It used to be pretty good!) but I could tell there were a dozen of them. I decided not to approach them, because they might not be friendly, but I could follow them. They didn't seem to be moving very fast, and I blended in with the landscape rather well, so I doubted it would be a problem.

I dug myself into the top of a dune and waited for them. I had noticed in my inspection of my body that my “hands” and “feet” had some pretty heavy claws on them, as well as some thick webbing going about halfway up the fingers. Most likely for digging through sand, considering the climate I was in. And they definitely seemed to work well, shoveling out a hole large enough for me to lie in. The hole was just big enough for the lower half of my body if I was lying on my stomach. With the color of my scales, there was no way they'd be able to see me.

They came into view a few minutes later. There were six guards, two animals like me, and four. . . they looked like slaves to me. They were wearing old rags covering most of their bodies, and looked exhausted. The rags obscured most of their features, so I couldn't really get a good look at any of them. The guards had two of each kind of pony, unless there were any kinds the show hadn't mentioned, which, considering it hadn't shown this place, suddenly seemed a lot more possible.

The two earth ponies weren't wearing armor, but had two small cannons strapped to each of their backs. The cannons were made of wood, but braced with metal bands. I wondered what kind of projectiles they shot, but decided I didn't want to find out firsthand. One was blue, with a dark green mane, and the other was tan with a brown mane, similar to Dr. Whooves from the show. The unicorns and pegesai were wearing light metal armor, although I couldn't tell any details about it. They were too far away, and my eyesight in this body did seem to be pretty bad. One unicorn was yellow with a red mane, the other was dark purple with a white mane.

Neither pegasi had manes, and their tails were either non-existent or hidden beneath their armor. One was pure black, reminding me mostly of a panther, and the other was a dark orange. I couldn't see the cutie marks on any of them, because either armor or cannon straps got in the way, but I doubted I'd be able to make them out from this distance anyway.

As they got near the base of the dune I was hiding on, a thought struck me. If I could sense where other animals were, could their beasts do the same? They looked to be the same species as me. . .

The tan pony reached up a hoof to scratch his side, innocently pointing the cannon right at me. I spun around, managing not to trip over myself this time, and booked it down the back of the dune. I heard swearing behind me as they saw their prey leave. Well, at least I knew we could speak the same language, as useful as that was right now. I ran to the bottom of a dune, and started running around another, sticking to the low ground. If I could keep a dune between me and them, they wouldn't be able to use those cannons on me. Can't target what you can't see!

Before I could get too far, however, something grabbed my right hindleg, tripping me. I looked back at it and saw it wrapped in a purple aura.

“Got him!” Like hell you got me! I dug my foreclaws into the ground and started dragging myself away. They'd probably already one, but there was no way I was going down without a fight.

I heard a small explosion from behind me, then suddenly found myself tangled in a net. So that's what the cannons launched. Good to know.

“Smart one, this guy. Tried to stay low instead of just heading back up a dune.” one of them was saying as they approached.

“Not smart enough apparently. How much do you think she'll pay for him?” Another responded.

“Depends. How smart are you, scales? What's two plus two?” the first one said again. He moved in front of me, and I could see it was the purple unicorn.

“What, can't figure it out yourself?” I responded. “Well, if you need a hint, it's one below five and one above three.” The unicorn just looked at me, but I could hear his companion chuckling.

“You shut up,” the unicorn said to his friend, then looked down at me again. “Do you think you're funny?” he asked.

“Well I have a few jokes. I'd tell the one about your dick, but it's just too short.” Lightning shot from the unicorn's horn, arcing through my body. White-hot pain lanced through me, and I felt my whole body go rigid from the shock.

“Help me drag him back to the group. And stop laughing!” the unicorn yelled at his companion.

I still couldn't move. The spell had probably been designed to incapacitate as well as hurt. I couldn't resist as they dragged me towards the others. When we got there, the unicorn got the net off me, and his companion (turns out it was the orange pegasus) put a manacle around my left foreleg, chaining me to the rest of the slaves.

“Shouldn't he be moving by now?” the tan earth pony asked.

“Gave him a bit extra. Bastard deserved it.” The orange pegasus started chuckling again, but was silenced by a glare from the unicorn.

“How long till he's out?” the black pegaus asked.

“Ten more minutes,” was the reply.

“Then you can carry him till then. Let's move.” He set out, with the other following him. Cursing, the purple unicorn levitated me, keeping me in the air near the other slaves, as we struck off for god knows where.