Escape From the Slave Market

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 3

Chapter 1 Author's Note

[[Author's note: there are some uncomfortable discussions of sexuality as pertaining towards a child character in this chapter, but these are fully shown as depictions of a 'bad guy', and punished appropriately.]]

Chapter 1

The air was close and uncomfortably humid in the dark, dingy basement that Blue Cat was led down into. It was only through his ship’s infamous name - the Darter - that he’d gotten an invitation to this exclusive black market in the first place. Some markets were for illicit gambling, or drinking, or mating; this market was for anything you wanted it to be.

This was the market where you bought and sold other living beings.

Blue Cat’s small, delicate ears twisted back and forth as his massive hooves hit the packed-dirt floor, and as his gryphon guide lead him forward, he realized that they were the only two beings down here not tied up. It wasn’t well lit, at the best of times, and even worse in the middle of the night; but he could see various bodies on either side of them, mostly curled up in sleep. A few turned wide, shining eyes on them as they passed, reflecting dimly back at him in the darkness, frightened or alluring in turns.

‘Slave markets’ were, for many, simply the euphemistic title given to bordellos, which were more or less legal than slavery depending on the region you were in. Gryphon-controlled regions, for whatever reason, tended more towards the real-slavery side of things; go figure, that whole ‘love one another’ bullcrap still ran deep in ponykin, no matter how far they wandered from Equestria. Still, to a trained eye, it was easy to tell that at least half of the beings here didn’t particularly mind being tied up, if it meant they still got paid at the end of the night. Those weren’t the beings Blue Cat was here to see.

“Um thinkin’ this one’s gonna be too lil’ for yeh.” the gryphon rumbled, coming to a halt in front of one of the low-walled stalls, where a too-small body was curled up, still deeply asleep. “Y’ell rip ‘er in half. Now, one o’ these other gaerls, they’ll show yeh a good time…!” he trailed off meaningfully, directing a half-plucked wing towards one of the sultry-eyed mares on the other side of the low stall.

Blue Cat broadened his shoulders and scowled at the gryphon, rising to his full, massive height. Although his ears were delicately wrought, they were the only part of him that could be described as ‘delicate’ in the least; he was built like a barn, broad on all sides, with short, powerful legs covered in a thick feathering that almost brushed the ground, and hooves like dinner plates. His denim-blue mane was short-cropped, befitting his station as a sailor on a slaver ship, and his dusty grey coat might have melted into the dimly-lit background of the slave market if it wasn’t for the paler, raised scars that traveled across his powerful form.

“Alrigh’, alrigh’! Far be it from me to question what kinda goods the Darter deals in!” the gryphon shifted backwards, his smile too saccharine to be sincere. The way his eyes kept darting to the heavy satchel on Blue Cat’s shoulder, too, showed his single-minded goals for tonight. The gryphon made a big deal of bending down to look at the little card by the filly’s stall - PONY: EARTH. GENDER: F. AGE: FILLY. SPECIAL. $$$ - before looking back at Blue Cat, putting on his best ‘apologetic’ face, his beak twisting downwards in an exaggerated approximation of guilt. “Ah, says she’s one o’ the special ones. Never had a stallion in ‘er, yeh? That’ll drive the price up, triple the usual cost. Virgins’ll always run yeh high, ‘specially this young. Now, one o’ these older gaerls -”

“I can pay.” Blue Cat ground out, and as the gryphon watched eagerly, he opened the satchel, revealing three heavy bags of gold coins.

“Yeh know,” the gryphon babbled happily, eagerly picking up the first bag as Blue Cat placed it on the ground before him, “I’ve always said, best to get ‘em nice ‘n young, train ‘em up right, make ‘em do anythin’ without even blinkin’!”

“Where’d this one come from?” Blue Cat asked, eyes shifting to the small, pale green body, turned away from him, its side - her side - rising and falling slowly in sleep.

“Eh?” the gryphon asked, clearly distracted as he dug his scaly claws through the bag of coins, all but cackling with greed. “Oh, we jus’ got that one in, last week it was. Came in from some kinda shipwreck, I think. Easy enough to swipe, no one’s watchin’ the little one while they’re’ll jumpin’ off the side of the boat, yeh?”

“Yeh.” Blue Cat rumbled in reply, his heavy brows furrowed as he watched the sleeping filly, her legs tucked in tight against her tiny body. She was so small, he could have almost covered her up with one of his hooves, all curled up like that. “Any others?”

“Neh, just ‘er. Everyon’ else was too grown to bother with. But a little one, that’s a rare find, easy to transport too. Oh! Silly me, you wanna get a good look’it the merchandise, oi?” the gryphon chuckled, and abandoned his bag of coins with badly-disguised reluctance, reaching down into the small stall to give the filly’s pale green shoulder a rough shake. As she slowly woke up, oversized ears fluttering and eyes blinking blearily (bright green, Blue noticed), the gryphon reached down, brushing the mane out of her face so he could admire the wide, shining eyes. “See, nice ‘n young, big ol' eyes you could break a heart with.” the gryphon flashed Blue a wink while the filly squirmed in his grip, trying to squirm away from his talons.

“S-Stop!” she wailed, small legs bracing against the low wall as she tried to twist away from the gryphon’s grip, but she could only make it a few inches before the rope tied around her neck pulled taut, leaving her struggling between the two extremes. “W-Wanna go home, lemme go!”

“Oh, hold still, yeh little brat!” the gryphon spat, grabbing both of her hind legs and dragging her back towards them, leaving her to wail and try to grab onto something, succeeding only in grabbing a small pile of straw that lined her pen. With a rough yank, he dragged her out of the pen, making her wail all the louder, awakening some of the other slaves in nearby pens. “Quiet down! Now, with’a big mouth like hers, you'll have to beat the screamin' outta her, so I recommend takin’ some’a the oil they sell at -”

But what kind of oil he should use, Blue Cat would never know; for at that moment he had shifted onto his front legs, twisting around so that his hindquarters faced the gryphon. Distracted as he was with the filly, he never even saw the pair of massive hooves coming towards him until they plowed into his face with a sickening crunch, all but flying through the air until he came to a halt in a limp, broken pile a few feet away.

The room grew silent, but the silence was electric; dozens of eyes locked on Blue Cat, horrified and thrilled all at once. What was he going to do next?

Chapter 2

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Chapter 4

Logically, being in a dangerous situation would seem like it would make sleep impossible. First in a slave pen, and then wrapped in the forelegs of a stallion you’d just seen murder a gryphon in cold blood? It seemed like sleep would never come.

But bodies need sleep, even more so in dangerous or scary situations. Especially for such a young body, exhaustion came on hard and fast. And so, despite her circumstances, Watermelon Seed slept deeply in Blue Cat’s grip, hardly even stirring when he got up at first light.

She didn’t wake up when the train car began to move, either, and was only finally jolted to alertness when they hit high speeds, the jostling of the car banging her head against the slatted floor, poorly cushioned by stray strands of escaped grain.

She gasped as she twisted around, trying to get her bearings. It was a terrifying few moments, with the large, hulking shadow of Blue Cat silhouetted against the striped light that filtered in through the wide sliding doors of the grain car. The stripes on the little zebra’s body became a riot of crosshatching in the striped sunlight, resting against Blue Cat’s side as if he was an extra limb.

Watermelon Seed shakily got to her feet, rubbing her head with one pale-green hoof as the night’s events slowly came back to her. The slave pens, the bad gryphon - Blue! Scary, and huge, but … soft, sometimes, like Daddy. Maybe not as scary as the gryphon, unless he wanted to be. He got her out of the pen, got everyone else out, too.

Blue Cat felt a small pair of eyes on him, and he slowly shifted his gaze towards the newest member of his motley crew, one ear flicking towards her absently. “How’d you sleep?” He rumbled, which caused the little zebra to look up too, his gaze far more excited than his larger companion’s.

“I slept okay.” Watermelon Seed responded, hesitantly, uncertain what to say. She slept deeply, dreamlessly; it had felt like five minutes between being cradled to Blue’s chest and when she woke up with her head banging on the ground. She still felt tired, but maybe that was the same sort of tired she’d been feeling ever since the bad gryphon took her. She’d never felt that way before, in her entire life; sadness, day in and day out, until it became sort of a low-key constant in her life. She’d been sad before, but it always went away; not like this sadness.

The zebra clambered up onto long, spindly legs, the first growth spurt of many that would transform him into an adult, and happily trotted over to her, his bottlebrush tail whisking back and forth. “Filia crrrat ni ta? Filia - nyamet?”

Watermelon Seed cringed backward again, pressing into the bales of grain, eyeing him with open concern. But this time, her neck didn’t pull, and as she looked down, she realized that the rope was no longer tied around Blue’s foreleg, but looped around her neck, instead. She was still bound, but she wasn’t bound to anything; it was freeing, but not as wonderful as being completely free would be, she was sure.

“Tilik,” came Blue Cat’s warning voice, and while Watermelon Seed cowered from him, Tilik’s rounded ears slid back, shooting Blue Cat what seemed to be a guilty sort of glance.

“Filia crrrat ni ta! Filia nyamet, nyamet!” Tilik repeated insistently, and the words made just as little sense to Watermelon Seed as the first time he’d spoken to her. She thought, perhaps, that he had an accent, like the bad gryphon; but the more she listened, the less sense it made.

“What’s ‘nyamet’?” Blue Cat rumbled disagreeably, and when he turned to glower at Tilik, his ears were flat; but while Watermelon Seed tried to make herself as small as possible, Tilik continued chattering, although he seemed a little daunted by the stallion’s angry response, too.

“Nyamet! Om - Tilik! Tilik.” Tilik insisted, touching his chest with one solid-colored hoof, then reached up to lightly touch Blue Cat’s chest, too. “Blyuu. Blyuu, Tilik. Tilik - filia?” Tilik repeated the motion, touching his and Blue’s chests in turn, then pointed at Watermelon Seed, clearly trying to get his point across.

Blue Cat frowned at him for a moment, following his hoof when it pointed at Watermelon Seed, before the idea seemed to click. “Oh. Um. Tilik, Watermelon Seed. Water-melon Seed.” He enunciated clearly, and slowly, and although she had heard the bad gryphon say mean things in that very slow, mocking way, Watermelon didn’t think Blue Cat was trying to be mean to Tilik. She hoped, anyway.

Tilik looked over eagerly at Watermelon Seed, his large, rounded ears swiveling towards her, and he nodded, focusing on her keenly. “Warmar See.”

“No - Water. Melon. Seed.” Blue Cat tried again, trying to hide his frustration.

“Watml Seek.” Tilik replied confidently, turning his eyes up to Blue Cat as the larger stallion rumbled out a noise of frustration.

“Okay, like this: Wat.”

“Wat.”

“Er?”

“Arr.”

“Melon.”

“Malo. Nnn.”

“Seed.”

“See!”

Blue Cat rumbled out an annoyed sound, but judging by the way Tilik brushed him off and happily bounded away, he’d gotten quite used to dealing with Blue Cat’s attempts at pronunciation.

“Warmar See!” Tilik chirped down at Watermelon Seed as he approached, offering her a wide, friendly smile, tilting his head this way and that. He seemed quite curious about her, and his little nostrils flared again, curious about her smell. Watermelon Seed cringed back, but when she realized that Tilik wasn’t getting any closer to her, she relaxed, just a little, and stopped trying to scoot away. “Warmar See, Tilik!” he repeated, and touched his own chest, nodding encouragingly.

“Tilik?” Watermelon Seed responded after a beat, prompting a wide, relieved smile from the little zebra. “Hello, Tilik. Nice to meet you.” she added, formally, trying to remember the polite way her mother had taught her.

“Marrlion kr’K’anta’ki olliola, Warmar See.” Tilik responded warmly, and gave his head a polite little nod.

“It’s a K’anta’ki greeting.” Blue Cat cut in from across the train car, and when Watermelon Seed looked over, she realized he was watching them, as nonchalantly as he could. “May the K’anta’ki sun watch over you, or something like that. Sort of like a howdy-do.”

“What’s K’anta’ki?” Watermelon Seed asked, her eyes moving between Tilik - thrilled, all but wiggling in excitement - and Blue Cat - definitely not. “You can speak that, too?”

“K’anta’ki is what he is - stripey, like that, from a couple oceans away. And no, wish I did. Me and Tilik get by with a lot of sign language, and a couple pidgin words we’ve picked up.” Blue Cat turned his gaze away from her, and Watermelon Seed couldn’t quite identify the emotion in his gaze, this time; it wasn’t angry, like usual. It was … sort of sad, but his eyebrows were puckered, and he suddenly seemed very focused on what was happening to the scenery outside.

Watermelon Seed wanted to ask more, but she was afraid to make his emotion change from whatever this was to anger; it seemed like Blue Cat was very easy to anger, and she didn’t want to make that happen. So she returned her attention to Tilik, who still gazed back at her just as eagerly as ever. But this time, when she met his gaze, he twisted away from her, trotting over to the large door that Blue was peeking out from. The wooden slats that made up the door were nailed together rather hastily, and there were thin lines where the sun peeked in, and they could peek out.

“Warmar See!” Tilik chirped encouragingly, waving her over before he took a seat a few feet away from Blue. He pressed his nose against the wood and peered out, ears flicking back and forth in excitement.

Watermelon Seed hesitated for a few moments, then slowly followed after Tilik, her eyes darting to Blue Cat. When she was certain he wouldn’t grab at her again, she settled down next to the zebra, but backed up a few steps when the door rattled noisily in its hinges. They were going fast, scary fast, and she could see thin strips of the scenery zipping past them from between the slats. There was a thin breeze that snuck in through the slats, and it smelled alien to the small pony’s nose; green, thick and heady, with all sorts of strange, exciting smells in it besides the sharp tang of the train’s smokestack.

Abruptly, Watermelon’s belly rumbled, reminding her that she was hungry again. She looked over at Blue Cat instinctively, the old part of her life still telling her that adults were the source of food; but Blue Cat was ignoring her, staring outside, and so Watermelon Seed sadly turned her eyes towards the slats, too.

She didn’t like riding on the train, she decided. She’d liked it the first time, but that was when she rode with Mommy and Daddy, and they spent the weekend exploring the Crystal Empire. Now, sitting on the hard, bumpy floor, with the itchy rope around her neck and two strangers at her side, all she could think about was how happy she had been before, and how hollow she felt now.

They rode like that for several more hours, and as morning crept into late afternoon, Watermelon Seed curled up against the bales of grain, falling into a sort of half-daze. She wasn’t tired enough to sleep, but she grew tired of staring out the side of the train car and missing her parents. Blue Cat seemed lost in his own thoughts, and after a little while, Tilik curled up on the other side of her, snoozing lightly.

She realized she had fallen asleep when the car shuddered and she jolted awake, eyes wild. It only took a moment to remember where she was this time, and she slowly pulled herself to her hooves, shaking the stray strands of grain from her coat with a little wiggle.

Blue Cat was on his hooves, and his stance was tense, staring outside. Almost before the train had completely stopped, he was moving to the opposite side of the train car, working on the latches that kept it shut tightly. Watermelon Seed watched, quivering with fear and anticipation, as Tilik slowly woke up next to her.

With a mighty heave of his powerful neck, Blue Cat hauled the door open, sending it rattling back on its track and slamming home, revealing the bright green expanse in front of them. There was a forest, far away, but ahead of them stood only a long, wide expanse of green fields, with the occasional buttercup swaying gently in the breeze. The greenery smelled so good, she could almost taste it, and Watermelon took a tiny step towards it, her legs shaky.

“C’mon, Tilik. Time to get off.” Blue Cat rumbled, not unkindly, as he bumped his nose against Tilik’s striped shoulder. Tilik yawned widely and shook his head until his ears made a ruffling sound, flashing a small smile up at Blue Cat before he gathered his spindly legs under himself.

Blue Cat turned to Watermelon Seed - and found her missing. He twisted sharply just in time to see her perched precariously at the edge of the open door, and with a final, breathtaking leap, she sprung out of the train car.

“WATERMELON SEED!” Blue roared, but it was too late; the filly was gone.

Chapter 5

What Watermelon Seed didn’t realize, when she took that flying leap out of the train car, was that train cars for ponies were built with low steps to climb up and down. But for train cars that carried goods, the doors were much, much higher. And while Blue Cat had been able to haul himself up without incident, he was a large, strong stallion; Watermelon Seed was not.

A thrill of horror immediately overshadowed any hope as she sprang from the train car: the ground was much further away than it should have been. Although she had tried to jump out, too fearful of the churning wheels to simply climb down, she was still coming down at a precarious angle, and she did her best to brace for impact.

With Blue Cat roaring in disapproval behind her, she crashed into the ground as if in slow motion. She could tell she was going to land hard well before she did, but there was nothing she could do, only watch in distant horror as her forelegs slammed into the ground, then crumpled, the rest of her body soon following after. Once she made contact, everything felt like it sped up again, and she rolled, over and over, into the dense greenery. What had looked inviting and soft from the train became sharp and painful at high speeds, ripping at her coat and mane as she tried to shield her face with her forelegs. She rolled, almost as fast as the train had gone she thought, until she finally came to a broken halt.

She rolled onto her back, staring up at the blue sky in a daze. Every part of her body hurt, from the multitude of scratches on her body, to the sharp pains in her forelegs, to the way her head spun as she looked up. Oh, the clouds. It had been so long since she’d seen the sky, ages and ages; she’d gotten spoiled on it, living in Ponyville, going outside every day to run errands with Mommy. Down in the basement, she had missed it so keenly, and when they escaped it had been too dark to see anything. But now, oh! The sky! The clouds! They were so soft, and fluffy, they went on forever and ever above her. She could almost reach out and touch one -

“What th’ fuck are you doing?!”

The sudden appearance of an angry, yelling face in her peaceful cloudscape made Watermelon Seed scream a little, and she rolled away from Blue, trying to get to her hooves. But the rebellious pair in front crumpled painfully as she tried to put weight on them, and she couldn’t bite back a yelp of pain as she fell back to the ground.

“Don’t you know you could have been killed, you stupid cu- I said what the fuck are you doing!!” He bellowed, ears flat and neck muscles bulging, stamping on her tail as she tried to crawl away. “Don’t try to run away from me! I’m saving your life you ingrateful cocksucking no-good sonofabitch barnacle-licking motherfucking fatherless bastard child of a camel fucker with no -”

“Stooooooop!” Watermelon Seed wailed, ears flat, finally interrupting the furious ranting of the sailor above her. Hot, fat tears began to run down her cheeks as she sobbed, covering her ears with her aching front legs. “S-Stop y-yelling, I w-wanna go h-home, I w-whaaa - I waaaaant my mooooommyyyyyyyy!” Any semblance of words quickly melted away into insensate wailing, and Watermelon Seed curled in on herself, trying to hide from the stallion standing on her tail.

Blue Cat stood over her for a few long moments, chest heaving. His heart was beating fast and hot in his ears where they laid flat against his shorn mane, and he glared down at her mightily as his nostrils flared. Dimly, he was aware of Tilik as he caught up to him, his breath coming in sharp pants as he galloped through the path of broken underbrush Watermelon Seed had left behind.

“Warmar See!” Tilik gasped, horrified, and Blue was forced to look at her again, really look; look past the anger that clouded his vision, look past the eyes that only saw an ungrateful little brat, graciously rescued from a life of imaginable horrors. She didn’t know how good she had it, the spoiled little fuck, soft in the head and soft in the hoof from her pampered life, he should have left her back there, made her learn a few things about how bad life could get -

But then he saw all of the rapidly-reddening welts and cuts on her coat, too many for such a small body; the tiny shaking of her shoulders as she wailed, calling for a mother who was too far away to hear; the tiny forelegs, one twisted at a painful angle, covering her ears as she cringed away from his yelling, suddenly ringing so loud in his ears he could hardly believe it had been him at all.
He’d been this small, once; he’d been the one cowering while a looming stallion stood on his tail and screamed.

The sudden realization made him lift his hoof sharply, and his head tossed fitfully as he took a step back, as if Watermelon Seed was suddenly on fire. But the filly continued wailing, unaware that he’d moved, that the whole world seemed to be moving under his hooves like he was suddenly back on the Darter.

His chest heaved for a moment longer, his breathing more panicked than angry now, and as his ears slowly came back up and the ground stopped its rolling under him, he found that he was left staring down at his two charges. Tilik, scared but defiant, eyes darting between Watermelon and him, and Watermelon herself, wailing like she would never stop.

There was a moment where Blue stood still, looming over them uncertainly, before he lowered himself to the ground, lying on his belly beside Watermelon Seed. His ears flicked back and forth as he looked her over, and he finally reached out, touching her shoulder gently with his muzzle. She flinched away as if struck, wailing all the harder; but he stayed where he was, and spoke to her quietly when she paused to gasp for breath.

“I’m -” The words tangled in his throat, rebellious, fighting to stay hidden. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to - well, I did mean to scare you.” He corrected himself with a rumble, looking away, surprised to realize that he felt shame for yelling at a lowly slave.

Watermelon kept crying, but one eye, large and wet, peeked out from under her foreleg, and she lifted her good hoof a little bit from her ear.

“You … I was … scared.” Blue Cat admitted, with great difficulty, avoiding their gazes as if he wasn’t speaking to a pair of foals. “When you took off like that. You could have snapped your neck. Somepony might grab you. Something - bad might happen to you.”

“You scary.” Watermelon Seed hiccuped, trembling all over as she rubbed her nose.

“I get that a lot.” Blue Cat agreed, nodding gently as he slowly brought his eyes back to Watermelon Seed’s face.

“Yelled at me!” Watermelon whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut as her bottom lip trembled.

“That … yeah. I did.” Blue rumbled, frowning to himself.

“Said bad words! I thought you - thought you were gonna - hurt me!” Watermelon Seed sobbed, rubbing her eyes. “You were bad! Bad like the gryphon! Put a rope on me and - and dragged me around!”

Blue Cat’s ears flicked back, not quite a wince, but after a moment he nodded. “Yeah. I bet we seem pretty -” But he cut off sharply when he heard something, and he lifted his head, ears perked at alert and nostrils flaring. Tilik twisted, too, and almost immediately crouched down against Blue, trying to hide in the brush as the sound of voices filtered through the air.

“- yelling, from this side of the tracks, maybe bandits? Boss said we should check the cars -”

“We gotta go.” Blue Cat hissed, and hastily began pulling himself upright, no small effort for a stallion of his size. At his side, Watermelon Seed instinctively tried to get to her hooves as well, but soon collapsed to the ground, crying out softly as her forelegs gave way.

“M-My legs h-hurt -” Watermelon began to cry again, but her words were cut off as she felt something clamp onto the scruff of her neck and haul her into the air.

“Hold still.” Blue Cat rumbled through a mouthful of Watermelon’s coat, and began to gallop, creating a crashing path through the brush. Tilik followed behind him, too small to make much headway on his own, offering small, frightened chirps as they ran.

The distant voices behind them suddenly rose, angry and loud, and Watermelon covered her eyes fearfully as she bobbed. She swayed every time Blue Cat’s hooves left the ground, and every so often, a stray branch grabbed at her back legs, making her whinny in fear.

Something whistled past them, and Watermelon Seed opened her eyes, curiosity pushing the fear aside for a moment. What was that? Were there birds in the bushes? More voices whistled around them, and Watermelon tried to twist to look, unable to see anything that looked like any bird she recognized.

“Fuck, Tilik, zigzag - go this way - back and forth!” Blue Cat tried to yell, his mouth still full, and his teeth dug into Watermelon Seed’s coat a little harder as he veered sharply left, away from the whistling sound on his right. Tilik vanished as he ran the other way, his striped form disappearing in the thick blanket of brush around them.

Watermelon Seed didn’t have much time to worry about the whistling sound, since all of the back-and-forth was making her stomach do somersaults with each sharp twist of Blue Cat’s head. For once she was grateful that she hadn’t had anything to eat, since there was nothing to rise in her throat except for the taste of bile.

The forest was getting closer and closer with each zig-zagging hoofbeat, and just when Watermelon Seed started wondering why Blue was running this way - wouldn’t it be much faster to go straight to the forest? - one of the whistling voices became suddenly loud, and Blue Cat’s steady hoofbeats hiccuped.

His voice was painfully loud in her ears as he groaned, and the steady rhythm of his hoofbeats became staggered, random, and Watermelon Seed felt her nape start to slip free of his teeth as he jostled underneath her. She tried to grab hold of him with a panicked cry as she slid downwards, but the fearful scrabbling at his neck seemed to wake him up. He lifted her higher with a little jerk, resettling his grip on her as they raced to the forest, but far less smoothly now.

The whistling voices grew louder and louder, but Blue Cat kept on a straight path this time, although his breathing seemed to be coming a lot sharper, deeper and more ragged as it washed over her shoulders. Once even and strong, his hoofbeats had become arrhythmic, and Watermelon’s teeth jangled in her head painfully as she was pitched back and forth through the air.

Finally, with a groan of exhausted victory, Blue Cat staggered into the shade of the forest, twisting his head to start searching for Tilik - before his legs suddenly went out from under him, and he collapsed into the dirt with a wheezing moan.

Chapter 6

“What d’you think you’re doin, Blue? Lying down on the job?”

The jeering laughter echoed in his head; his right eye was a throbbing firebrand of pain, and everything was dark, disorienting. Dizzy, too; probably from that last kick to the side of his head. He tried to gather his legs under himself as every instinct he had screamed get up!, but he found himself unable to move.

“Aw, little kitty-cat can’t handle ship life? Does little kitty-witty-pussy wanna go home?” The laughter increased, and the smell of salt water burned his nostrils, intermingling with the copper tang of his own blood. “Sorry about that, kit-cat; no going home to Ponyland. Not unless you wanna go in a box.” The hot breath of his gryphon commanding officer washed over his face, and Blue shuddered, thrashing in the darkness, trying to get away.

“Knock it off!” A distant voice, but sharper than the others; somehow more focused, cutting through the kick to his head, somehow.

“Get away from me.” Blue Cat snarled, thrashing in the darkness, even as he felt the gryphon’s claws tighten around his foreleg.

“I’ll show you what disrespect gets you on my ship.” the gryphon hissed, and a thrill of horror went through Blue; this was the part where he broke his leg. Wait, how did he already know that?

“GET YER ASS BACK INTO TAE BED BEFORE I SHOVE YA THERE MYSELF, YEH MOGGY-WALLOP!”

Blue’s eyes snapped open.

Instead of a gryphon, another pony stood over him, blurry in the candlelight. He wasn’t on a ship; he was inside some kind of building, tall with stone walls and thatched ceiling. He wasn’t lying on a wooden deck, surrounded by briny sea air; he was on his side on a packed-dirt floor, and instead of his eye, his hip throbbed.

The arrow! The train! The pursuit! The little ones - where were the little ones?!

“You stop yelling at Blue Cat!” Well, that solved one question; Watermelon Seed was suddenly between him and the stranger, her magenta tail standing on end as she roared her disapproval to the stranger. Blue tried to get to his feet, but his powerful legs failed him, and he soon landed heavily back on the floor, his hip screaming in agony. Watermelon Seed whipped her head back to look at him, her tiny face pinched with a worry that aged her by years.

“I’m not - you! Sit tae fook down, afore I - och!” The stranger’s voice was thickly accented, and he swore in a sharp, angry undertone, watching Blue’s failed attempts to stand. “Yeh get fookin’ shot and suddenly yeh want tae go on a run around tae town! Yer stupider t’an a -”

“Who are you?” Blue demanded, his voice husky, blinking rapidly to try and bring his eyes into focus. “What’re we - what’s this?”

“Sit still and don’t undo what little healin’ I know how tae do, and I’ll explain!” The stallion snapped, and purposefully closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose. Blue’s vision was rapidly coming back into focus, although the room was still dim; the light outside was fading, and there weren’t nearly enough candles to illuminate the large, empty building. It was far too large to be a home, and something uncomfortable prickled when Blue caught sight of the fourth wall, which was made up crumbled stone. A collapsed, abandoned building; this wasn’t dangerous at all!, Blue thought sarcastically.

“My name’s Sillach; most my family calls me Sil.” The stallion began to explain, and Blue’s eyes darted back to him. The accent seemed thinner now; maybe it came out when he was angry. “I found you three at the edge of the forest. Seemed like those guys wanted to finish the job; I got you under cover until they left, then I got you back here. Wrapped you as best I could. You and her legs.” Sil nodded down to Watermelon Seed, and Blue looked down in surprise, noting the thick wrapping on each tiny, green foreleg.

There was a warm pressure behind him, and Blue twisted his neck sharply, coming nose-to-nose with a teary Tilik. “Blyuu?” Tilik asked softly, and sniffled when Blue brushed the underside of his jaw between his ears, rubbing the top of his head gently.

“S’alright, kiddo. I think.” Blue murmured, and turned back to look at the stranger. Behind him, he could feel Tilik press his face against his shoulder, a bead of heat on his skin. “Alright. Why’d ya do a stupid thing like that? We could be criminals. Murderers.”

The stallion rolled his eyes; orange, Blue noted. They were striking against his greenish-greyish coat, which wasn’t any more flattering on his tall, lanky frame than any other shape. He was sort of like a moss-covered rock, which suited his home, Blue realized suddenly; the rocks used on his ‘home’ certainly looked old and covered with lichen at their edges. His mane was long, pulled back into braids, and light purple. He wouldn’t have been much prettier as a girl, Blue decided. His appearance was odd, but ‘odd’ seemed to be the word of the day. “Ah yes,” the stranger replied coolly, “I know so many murderers who travel with children. Slave children, it seems like. Which brings me to my next question: who are you?”

Blue’s small ears swiveled back in sharp dislike, and Watermelon Seed came a little closer to him again, finally sitting down so she could press on his other shoulder. “They’re not my slaves. They’re - former slaves.”

“That one had a rope on her neck.” Silach said coldly, nodding down to Watermelon Seed. The rope was gone, Blue noted with sharp surprise; it felt like he was one step behind everything, at the moment. “I took it off.”

“She’s - young. Little ones run off.” Blue replied, his tone equally cold. “What’re you so concerned about foals? And why’d you save us? You got an eye for little ones?” Blue growled, and he felt Watermelon jump at his side, nervous of his anger.

Silach’s face flushed hot with rage, and he scowled at Blue. “If I wasn’t a pacifist, I’d break your fookin’ jaw.” He snarled, his accent deepening with his anger.

“Don’t hurt Blue!” Watermelon Seed interjected, her tiny voice octaves above the two dueling stallions’ registers. “He - he saved us! From the bad gryphon!”

Sil eyed her, and released a long, deep breath through his nose. “I’m not gonna hurt anyone. Where did you come from, anyhow?” His voice was gentler now, speaking to the little filly.

“Ponyville.” Watermelon Seed replied softly, curling against Blue’s thick neck more tightly, nervous about the attention suddenly placed on her.

Sil took in a sharp breath, and he stared at her for a long moment in silence. “Ponyville? That’s … gods protect us.”

“I know. It’s fuck-me-in-the-ass miles from here.” Blue replied flatly.

“Don’t swear in front of them!” Sil snapped. “They’re just foals!”

Blue groaned out a little sound of annoyance as he rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll make sure the next guy who comes along to haul two little foals across various continents has a cleaner mouth!”

That quieted Silach, and he stared at Blue a little more closely. “You’re taking them home?”

Blue avoided his gaze, and instead looked over the new bandage on his hip. “Not exactly in the business of adopting foals. Gotta get ‘em back home if I don’t wanna keep ‘em, seems like.”

Silach watched Blue in silence for a few moments longer, to the point where Blue felt himself getting annoyed. “Alright ya weirdo, what?”

“I’m wondering what you are in the business of, Mister Blue Cat.” Silach asked quietly, his orange eyes now a dark umber as he considered him.

Blue sighed bone-deep, and felt the two shoulder-guardians on either side rise and fall with his breath. “How about a deal; I’ll tell you what business I’m in, and you tell me what business you’re in.”

Silach considered him for a beat. “Deal.”

Fuck, thought Blue.

Chapter 7

There was silence for a long moment, then Silach cleared his throat very quietly.

“What, am I supposed to fuckin’ start?” Blue snapped, sort of hoping that his heavy glare would prevent Silach from pursuing his line of questioning. “You’re the one in a fuckin’ - collapsed castle, or some shit.”

“Monastery. Abandoned centuries ago.” Silach said simply, watching Blue Cat from under half-lidded eyes. “You’re the one who intruded on my forest, with two young foals in your care. You’re the one with more to explain. Plus, I saved your life. You owe me.”

Blue Cat exhaled a sharp, annoyed breath as he rolled his eyes, but after a moment of silence, he obliged him. “I was a sailor on a slave ship. Which I guess is a nicer way of saying I was a slaver - but it’s not like I set out to do that.” Blue Cat backtracked rapidly when he realized that Watermelon Seed was suddenly watching him very keenly. “I wanted to be a regular sailor, only … well, most of the ships didn’t want me. I got a bit of a … reputation.”

“Hard to imagine why.” Silach said coolly.

“Would you shut your trap?” Blue Cat snapped, turning to glare at him. “I didn’t know slaver ships were like that. But I figured … I dunno. For a long time, I told myself it was just a job. That it wasn’t so bad. That they’d have a better life where they went - even if they were slaves.” Blue Cat sighed heavily, and his delicate ears laid flat against his mane. “Besides, getting initiated into the crew was plenty rough. Doesn’t exactly leave you with a lot of desire to repeat the experience when you leave. So I convinced myself it wasn’t that bad.

But then I went to pick up some pretty stripey mare from an auction, and they sent over this one instead.” Blue Cat tilted his head towards Tilik, whose rounded ears perked in curiosity, but without any clear understanding of the conversation in his expression. “Just a little sprout. Crying like he was going to die. And I realized … I couldn’t send him off. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Crying like that, and hanging onto me, like I was the last safe thing in the world. Me! Lookin’ like this!” Blue Cat chuckled, but there wasn’t any real humor to it, and it soon faded to silence again.

“Made me feel like I still had a heart to break.” Blue Cat murmured, and after a moment, Tilik snugged his face back down against Blue’s shoulder again, his ears still swiveling to listen. “So I left. Took the kid, never went back to the ship. Let ‘em think I’m dead, I guess. I’m sure they’d have a bone to pick with me, seein’ as I took the coin to buy the kid, but - well. I’m staying inland for a reason. I heard there was another kid in a slave market, real small, too small for anypony to have good intentions for buying, and - I got this one.” Blue tilted his head towards Watermelon Seed. “Shipwreck got her folks.”

“Folks?” Watermelon Seed piped up, and both stallions looked extremely uncomfortable.

“Um … parents.” Blue Cat said carefully.

“My parents weren’t on the ship. I was visiting my Nonna and Poppa.” Watermelon Seed clarified, shifting a little so she could lean against Blue’s warm side more comfortably.

“... I didn’t know that.” Blue Cat replied after a beat, considering her. “So where are your parents?”

“Ponyville.” Watermelon Seed replied, and a small frown soon settled on her face. “Do you think they’re worried about me, because I didn’t come home?”

Blue Cat and Silach exchanged a quick look.

“Perhaps we can get you home quickly enough to keep them from worrying.” Silach said at last, his voice gentle.

Blue Cat snorted, but Silach hissed a quick sound at him, and he silenced himself.

“Really?” Watermelon Seed’s eyes were quick when they darted to Blue, and stayed on him.

“The sooner we get you back, the less time they have to worry.” Blue said instead, and relaxed a little when Silach didn’t snap at him. “Anyway, I wanna hear what Silach does.” Blue Cat continued, and enjoyed when it was Silach’s turn to look uncomfortable.

“Well, my tale is not - quite as fanciful as yours.” Silach said carefully, his voice a little tighter than it had been before. When Blue simply stared at him and waited for him to continue, Silach sighed heavily. “I was a … missionary.” Silach paused, mildly annoyed when Blue offered no response to allow him to dodge the question. “For the Temple of the Moon.”

Blue Cat watched him for a beat longer, then suddenly squinted. “Wasn’t that a cult?”

Silach tried to hide his flinch. “Is. The Temple still exists, only our - her numbers are greatly lowered in recent centuries.”

“Well, because it’s a cult, isn’t it?” Blue Cat persisted, and this time Silach didn’t flinch, only closed his eyes.

“I didn’t think it was, when I was a part of it. I thought - it was meaningful. I thought the Temple had - beauty, and strength. I thought we were going to save the world.” Silach didn’t look so young, then; he might have passed for an acolyte at first, with his tall, lean frame. Blue now saw how the years wore on him. “Our Lady of the Moon, that’s what we called her; the goddesshead who granted her most loyal followers abilities beyond our ken. The mare who recruited me, she wanted to bring the Temple back to life; she said it was our duty to bring more followers into the fold, to expand our Temple beyond the reaches of Equestria.”

“And now you’re out here, elbow-deep in the shitholes of gryphon country.” Blue Cat said agreeably, although Silach shot him a glare at his language.

“I wouldn’t have put it like that, but yes. Our leader - Crescent Crystal - she promised us powers, powers beyond what us mere earth ponies can have. She told us that if our belief was strong enough, we could have powers as strong as hers, a unicorn.” Silach’s gaze was far away, lost in a memory; Watermelon shivered, and pressed closer to Blue’s neck, hiding her face there. “I witnessed followers flying, healing the sick; I saw things I couldn’t understand.” Silach went quiet for a moment, and considered his front hooves where he sat. “I came here to the gryphon lands, hoping to share these gifts. It was several months before I realized that any powers I manifested had only come while I was in her company; she had lied to me, had lied to the entire flock. There was never any magic beyond her own. She had betrayed us.” Silach was quiet for a long moment. “There was never any magic in our Temple. We could never save the world.”

Blue Cat’s expression tightened, and he was quiet for a moment, trying to come up with a reply. “That’s … rough.”

Silach shot him a sharp glare.

“So you, uh, ended up in a ruin?” Blue Cat said quickly, trying to push past his gaffe.

“It was the first - only - monastery of the Temple of the Moon in gryphon lands, built centuries ago, when the banishment of Our Lady was still fresh. I had hoped to find a new flock, create a new branch of the temple, and rebuild the temple.” Silach looked up towards the thatched roof, the collapsed stones that still laid scattered around, the fouth wall that was made up of rubble. “Instead, it has become my new home.”

“Well, you could do worse; my home was a shithole cubby on a slaver’s ship.” Blue Cat offered, a sardonic grin curling one side of his mouth.

“Lovely.” Silach grumbled.

“It’s good you were here, though; we would have probably died if you weren’t hermiting in the forest.” Blue Cat tried again, his voice a little less sarcastic the second time. “So … thank you.”

Silach seemed surprised that Blue Cat was making a good point, but he finally inclined his head in a little nod. “You’re welcome.”

There was a moment of quiet before Watermelon Seed asked, quietly, “Is it my turn now?”

“Hm?” Blue grunted.

“Do I get to share?”

Blue and Silach exchanged a quick look. “Uh, sure, kid.” Blue Cat said at last.

Watermelon Seed carefully pulled herself up onto three legs, holding the most damaged foreleg tucked up against her middle protectively. She cleared her throat, and began reciting, just like Miss Cheerilee had taught her to in Show And Tell. “My name is Watermelon Seed, and I am from Ponyville. I like dandelion sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and my family is my mom, my dad, my nonna and my poppa, and my cousin Billygoat and Frillyfloat, and their mom and dad who are my aunt and uncle, and I have a pet hamster, and his name is Sunflower. Mom and Dad live in Ponyville with me, but Nonna and Poppa live far away, because they are the Ponyville ambassadors to the eastern kingdom of Karst. Karst is next to the gryphon lands, and it is very important. I went on a very long boat ride to visit them! I liked riding on the boat a lot. We saw dolphins and many fish and birds. But then we hit a storm, and the ship got holes in it. Then we were in the water, and a gryphon flew down and took me! I wanted to call for my nonna and poppa, but I was too afraid. Then I was in the basement, and it was very scary, and I cried. And then Blue Cat came, and he kicked the gryphon until he didn’t speak anymore!”

Silach shot Blue Cat a sharp look; Blue Cat pointedly avoided his gaze.

“Um… that’s it.” Watermelon Seed considered herself for a moment, then sat back down, reclaiming her spot against Blue Cat’s side. “The end.”

“Very well said,” Silach said kindly, “good job, Watermelon Seed.”

“Thank you.” Watermelon Seed beamed, and Blue Cat shook his head a little, whuffing out a small sound of amusement from his nose.

“Alright, so now that we’re caught up, where th’ fuck are we gonna go next?” Blue Cat asked, and shifted a little, groaning. “Once we’re healed?”

“Ponyville, isn’t it?” Silach replied simply, and rose to his hooves, crossing the room to rummage in a small box of items, returning with a quilt to throw over Blue Cat and his two charges. “But they are very far away; for now, we will have to save our strength for the journey ahead.”

Blue Cat snorted again, but didn’t protest, instead laying his chin down on his forelegs while his two charges fussed with the quilt. “‘Our’ strength, huh? That a Temple saying?”

Silach was quiet for a moment, tucking the quilt around Watermelon Seed’s small body. “Well, I don’t exactly have a lot going for me here, do I?”

Blue snorted. “I don’t recall inviting you.”

“I don’t recall you being able to plug the open wound in your flank.” Silach responded sharply, and his orange eyes narrowed as he shot a glare towards Blue.

Blue Cat was quiet for a moment, then grumbled out a little huff, closing his eyes. “Well, I can’t stop you if you follow us. It’s a free country.”

“You couldn’t stop me if you wanted to, you’d just get more holes in your ass for your trouble.” Silach huffed as he pulled out his own quilt, settling down into a pile of straw he’d made for himself.

Blue Cat huffed out another sharp sound, but it was closer to a laugh that time. “The only pain in my ass I’m gonna have is you, I bet.”

“Hopefully so.” Silach said briskly, and rolled over, facing away from the trio. “Good night.”

“Hmf.” Blue Cat replied, his cropped mane twitching.

“Good night, Silach.” Watermelon Seed called quietly, now fully settled down against Blue’s warm side. “Good night, Blue Cat. Good night, Tilik.”

“Warmarsee?” Tilik said quietly, mostly asleep.

“G’night, kids.” Blue rumbled, his eyes already closed. Blue didn’t move, didn’t say anything, but he stayed awake until the two smaller companions were fast asleep on either side of him. Only then did Blue’s heavy, unconscious breathing fill the hollow arches of the former temple.

Chapter 8

Blue unwillingly returned to consciousness with a fast, fluttering sensation wriggling somewhere beneath his jaw. Blue figured it was another bug - mosquitoes could get the size of pegasi in the gryphon lands - and reached up a hoof to bat it away. Instead, his hoof made contact with something much larger.

“What th-”

“Ssshhh!” Came a panicked whimper from the same place on his neck, fearful and soft. Blue began to return to consciousness, very fast, because he realized it wasn’t the only sound he heard - there was also quiet talking, somewhere outside.

Blue pushed himself up onto his belly, upsetting Tilik behind him - also cowering against his side. The mosquito on his neck was Watermelon Seed, whimpering and pressing close to him. Delicate ears strained to hear the conversation happening - outside, it seemed. He thought he could recognize Silach’s voice; that would make sense, since Silach didn’t seem to be in his straw bed anymore.

“... humble member of the Temple of the Moon; truly, when I tell you it has been years since we’ve had new acolytes seeking to join - can’t I invite you to join me for some prayers? Some holy chanting? Perhaps -”

“Listen, brother,” that wasn’t a familiar voice, and Blue’s blood ran cold as he strained to listen, “we haven’t got time for that. We’re looking for a couple renegades. Pony types, like you. Seems like you’d have a nose for something like that, your own kind ‘n all?”

Now pressed tight under his jaw, Blue Cat could feel Watermelon Seed’s heartbeat ratchet up into a fever pitch, almost as close as his own.

“Constellations, no! The Temple of the Moon is open to all members! We see no difference between pony, dragon or gryphon! In fact, it’s mentioned in one of our songs - feel free to join me on the chorus, I hope you like the diatonic scale. Mm-hmm. Ohhh,” and here Silach began to warble in a tone that sounded more like a dying seal than a holy chant, Blue thought. “Our Sister, our Mother, above us sees all/Her Gentleness bravely enduuuures/Her Goodness protects us, Her Power enshrouds us/If only you answer Her caaaaaall!/Oooohhh, Holy -”

“That’s enough of that!” One gryphon squawked, and Blue could hear several others adding their own protests until Sil stopped warbling. “We are not interested in your Temple! We want to hear about ponies! Runaway ponies!”

“Well, I’m afraid the flock is, well, rather small… I’d notice anyone who happened by, I’m certain.” Silach said, quite sadly. “Are you certain you don’t want to chant?”

“NO!” The gryphon leader bellowed. “If you DO see anyone, you come straight to us, you got it? They’re criminals. They’ll kill you as soon as look at you, so - keep your distance. Come get us right away.”

“Oh, yes sir!” Silach agreed, and there was a faint sound of scuffling, as many claws and paws made their exit from the front of the collapsed monastery, where only one rotten door stood between Blue and discovery. “Although our Temple is still open to all - so if you feel that you might need to return -!”

“WE WON’T.” the gryphon leader growled, loud even at a distance, and a few of his comrades chuckled.

There was the faint sound of paws receding, low conversations between the gryphons, and they soon faded to nothing. There was a pause, and no one moved; the only sound Blue could hear was that of Watermelon Seed trying to quiet her sniffling. Then, finally, the rotten door opened, revealing Silach as he darted inside.

“The bad gryphon! The bad gryphon f-found us!” Watermelon Seed said, tearfully, as her voice began to rise into a wail. “I don’t want to go back to th-the bad place!”

“Ssh!” Silash shushed her sharply, but he seemed startled by his own sharpness. Slowly, he lowered himself to kneel beside the trio on the floor, reaching out a hoof to touch Watermelon Seed’s uninjured foreleg where she now quivered silently. “It will be alright, little one. You don’t have to be afraid. Blue and I will protect you.”

“H-How can you protect us f-from the bad gryphon?” Watermelon Seed snuffled, her voice now thick with tears.

“We, uh, well… we could kick him?” Blue Cat offered, squinting.

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Sil answered her, and Blue Cat lifted his eyebrows at him. “We’re the grownups, that’s our job. You just let us figure that out, and we will get you away from the gryphons safely.”

“And … and back home?” Watermelon asked, her bottom lip trembling. “To my mom and dad?”

“And back home,” Silach lied, which Blue Cat knew because he knew just as well as the missionary did that ‘home’ was a tall order, indeed. Still, Blue managed to restrain his dismissive snort, surprising himself.

Blue Cat couldn’t stop the sharp squint directed at Silach, but he couldn’t squint for long, because Watermelon Seed was all but flinging herself onto his neck in turn, hugging him tightly as she cried. “I w-wanna see my - my mommy and daddy again! I miss them so much!”

“I know, sweetheart. You’ll see them again before you know it.” Silach was not as uncomfortable as Blue was with the brightly colored filly, and so he soon wound the little filly up in a hug, holding her close as she cried.

She cried for what felt like a long time, although it quickly shifted from throaty sobs to a low, steady kind of whimpering. Whining, Blue would have called it, and he was halfway to suggesting a brisk cuff across the back of her head before he realized Silach was stroking her mane, and speaking softly to her. Blue was too startled by this prospect to realize how long he stared at the pair, and before he quite knew what was happening, Watermelon Seed had fallen into sort of a light doze against Silach’s neck, cradled in the curve of one foreleg.

“How’d you do that?” Blue Cat asked, at last.

“Do what?”

“Get her to stop - that.” Blue Cat resisted the urge to snap at him. ‘Do what’ - as if he was playing dumb!

“She’s a child.” Silach said, a little coldly, anticipating Blue’s sharp sarcasm; when it didn’t come, Silach had to find a better answer. When he spoke again, it was hushed, so as not to awaken the sleeping filly. “She’s - very small. She’s in a strange place, with strange ponies. She needs comfort.”

“Don’t you usually just - give ‘em a smack, when they whine like that?”

Silach looked at Blue oddly, in a way that made Blue’s skin feel twitchy. “Who told you to strike foals?”

“No one had to tell me, you just - it’s what you do. How you raise foals.” Blue Cat huffed, shaking out his cropped mane a little bit, making Tilik lift his head from where it had been resting against his shoulder.

“No it’s not.” Silach countered, and Blue Cat decided abruptly that he missed being someone ponies were scared of - he got fewer rude rebuttals like this. “Did your parents hit you?”

“Fuck off.” Blue Cat snapped, sharply that time, and pushed himself upright. The pain seared through his hip, just as hot and sharp as ever, a lancing pain that shot down his thigh; Blue Cat forced himself to stay upright, even as sweat beaded on his upper lip. “I’m hungry. What do we have to eat?”

Silach watched him, his orange eyes a different shade than before, considering him; but before Blue had to threaten him for an answer, he tilted his head towards a basket near the door. He’d been carrying that when he came in, Blue realized. “Dandelion greens. I was foraging when I saw the gryphon group moving through the forest. Lucky I made it back in time.”

“Lucky you were foolish enough to wander away while we slept?” Blue asked coldly, and he felt a little relief from the prickling under his coat when Silach glared at him, and the consideration left his gaze. “Remind me to thank you.”

“I knew the foals would be hungry when they woke up. They’re children, they can’t eat as infrequently as we do.” Silach was angry, and the prickly feeling vanished entirely as Blue made his slow, arduous way over to the basket. “Why the hell are you upright? You should be resting.”

“Resting, huh?” Blue asked as he reached his nose into the basket, chewing a mouthful of greens before he swallowed thickly. “You think we’re gonna stay here and wait to get caught by the gryphons? Is that your plan?”

Silach’s anger was clear on his face, but he didn’t answer him for a moment. “I was going to suggest that we leave at midnight. No one wants to wander the forest at night, not even gryphons. There’s water in that jug - don’t drink from the jug you animal, there’s cups in the basket.”

Blue rolled his eyes, but obliged the grumpy monk, lowering the jug from his mouth to instead pour the water into a small hoofmade earthenware cup, judging by the lumpy shape. “Just wastes time, this thing is too small to do me any good.”

“Well it wasn’t made for you, I made it for me. We may be in the forest, but we’re not savages.” Silach glared, and began gently removing Watermelon Seed from his neck, laying her down on the straw bed beside Tilik, who watched the pair with a worried pinch in his eyebrows. “How can you be so eager to get on the road? You just had an arrow in your flank just yesterday.”

“Yeah, well,” Blue Cat emptied the mug in one deep swig, and began pouring himself a second serving, “something tells me that I’m not going to have the time to heal up before the gryphons come back.”

Silach considered that for a beat, and finally offered a small nod. “I suspect you’re right. But you won’t be able to make much progress with your leg like that. Nor can Watermelon Seed; that front leg doesn’t look right.”

“You a doctor?” Blue Cat sneered.

“I’ve had to make do out here, being the only pony for miles. The last time I got sick, the local gryphon healer advised me to preen my feathers more regularly, as I had an infection of wing mites.” Silach rolled his eyes as he retrieved the basket Blue had eaten out of, portioning the dandelion greens out into four equal servings on small, lumpy plates. One of the plates, Blue noted a little grumpily, contained all of the flowers.

“You’re not doing her any good,” Blue grumbled, gesturing with his nose to the plate, “spoiling her like that.”

“Don’t you think she’s earned a little spoiling?” Silach snapped back at him, his eyes narrow as they shot a sharp glance at the burly slaver. “Dragged out of a basement with a rope around her neck? I saw those too - the rope burns.”

Blue wasn’t sure when he’d given Silach permission to stop being afraid of him, but he was trying to figure out how to rescind that permission. “And how did she do once I let go of the rope? Leaping off a moving train and breaking her legs?”

“Sprained. I think.” Sil started out angrily snapping, then had to walk it back to uncertainty. “It didn’t feel broken.”

“Glad to know the local moon-priest has given her medical clearance to travel.” Blue growled, and took one of the flowerless plates between his teeth, limping towards the crumbled side of the room.

“Where are you going?” Silach huffed.

“I’ve got to think about how the hell we’re going to get to Ponyville with six working legs between the two of us, and I’d like to eat without your tableside conversation giving me indigestion.” Blue said, voice tight as he found a big enough rock to lean against. Sitting on the floor was too hard just then, but leaning took the pressure off his leg, which even now pulsed a steady, throbbing reminder that he hadn’t been fast enough. And wouldn’t be, not if he had to try and outrun a group of archers again. He probably couldn’t outrun Watermelon Seed, at this rate. So their path to Ponyville would have to be even more winding and circuitous, and that meant wasting time. Blue didn’t like wasting time.

Wasting time or not, it looked like Blue was stuck with the moon-fancier; maybe that was for the best, he thought, idly watching as Sil tended to Tilik, bringing him a plate of dandelion greens. It looked like Watermelon Seed naturally gravitated towards whoever was closest, and she had curled into the little zebra’s side as she slept, her nose tucked under her good foreleg.

Good; that was fine, Blue tried to reason with himself. If Silach wanted to tag along until he got bored, that suited Blue just fine. He seemed to do okay with the foals, and if he could keep Watermelon Seed from running away again, then the trip would go that much faster.

If he could just keep his damn mouth shut until they hit the border, Blue grumped to himself as he chewed his flowerless salad, then that would be even better.

Chapter 3

Blue cat looked her over - the pale green coat, the magenta mane, bright green eyes, probably freckled in the sun - and gave a small nod. “Alright, Watermelon Seed. That’s a nice name. Where do you live?”

“I-In the b-basement?” Watermelon Seed quailed, turning her wide, teary gaze towards him, hesitant and trembly.

“No, I mean - before the basement.” Blue spoke, softly and slowly, with great effort. “With - your family?”

“M-Mommy and Daddy?” Watermelon Seed hiccuped, tears filling her eyes anew. Oh, her family! She missed them so deeply it hurt, hurt like the sharp rope that cut into her neck even now, rubbed raw by days of trying to get loose.

“Yeah - no, it’s okay, no crying, it’s okay.” Blue Cat fumbled, ears slamming flat against his mane, clearly at a loss as to how to deal with a crying child. “Where did you live before - this?”

“Before the b-bad gryphon?” That seemed to pull her back to herself a little bit, fear making her quieter than before. “I … I lived in …”

It seemed so far away, but she remembered the schoolhouse, and Miss Cheerilee, smiling down at them as they sang songs about counting and the alphabet, and learned to share, and snacktime. She remembered the bakery where her Mommy took her to get fresh bread, carrying her on her hip so she could look into the case of sweets, sometimes she even got one for her! Oh, how she missed cupcakes, she hadn’t had anything sweet in so long, she’d only been given gruel and old stale grass to eat, it was the worst, not like Mommy’s dandelion sandwiches with the crusts cut off, just like she liked! Her stomach rumbled in protest, remembering suddenly how hungry she was, cutting through the fear, wishing her mommy was here to give her something nice to eat, and to wrap her up in her forelegs like she did whenever she was scared!

Blue Cat was trying to give her all the time she needed to answer, but when she started whimpering, he figured it was time to cut in. “Hey, kiddo, c’mon; Watermelon, you’re safe now. C’mon, just need to remember where your family is. Are they near - a mountain? A lake? How about a castle? What do you remember about your town?”

“Th - The Everfree Forest, we’re not supposed to go there.” Watermelon Seed piped up, her small voice throaty with tears, and she cleared it softly, swallowing back as many tears as she could. “It’s … near. And th’ - I go to school, too, with Miss Cheerilee. And ... and there’s a b-bakery. Sugarcube Corner.”

“That’s, uh, not really helpful - no, it’s okay, it’s okay!” Blue Cat started in soft annoyance, quickly backtracking when Watermelon Seed looked ready to burst into a fresh round of tears. “Do you remember - nearby towns? Big landmarks? Maybe you - went somewhere on vacation?”

Watermelon Seed thought to herself for a few moments, idly rubbing her wet eyes with small hooves; too small, Blue Cat thought, much too small to be out here on her own like this, with gryphons showing her to strange stallions like him.

“We … we went to the Crystal Empire, on the train.”

Blue Cat’s ears perked up at that, the name finally ringing a bell. “Crystal Empire? I heard about - alright, on the train? Where’s near there - uh, Canterlot? Are you near a big city? A castle?” Fuck him, if she’s from the fuckin’ capital of Equestria, there’s no chance in hell he’s getting her back without being arrested.

“No, Canterlot’s far away. Twilight - Princess Twilight, she’s from there, but she lives with us, in town.”

Blue Cat’s hopes, which had already sunk low enough to ‘arrest’, now sunk even lower to ‘vaporized on sight by a magical princess’. “Ponyville?” he asked, clearly hopeful that he was wrong.

“Yeah!” Watermelon Seed gasped, half rising to her feet, but they were shaky, so she soon landed back on her rear. “Tha’s - tha’s where I’m from!”

“Great.” Blue Cat sighed, scrubbing the sudden painful line between his eyebrows with the edge of one dish-sized hoof. “Well, fuck me, kid. You’re a long fucking way from home.”

“Fuck me?” Watermelon murmured, sniffling softly as she turned towards him a little, no longer quite so tightly pressed into the scratchy grass.

“No - no, don’t say that, it’s, uh, - grownup words.” Blue Cat amended quickly, ears flattening further as Watermelon Seed stared up at him.

“I’m hungry.” Watermelon Seed whimpered, small brows furrowing, mirroring Blue Cat’s unhappy expression.

“We’ll eat in the morning.” Blue Cat whuffed, clearly already thinking about the long journey ahead of him as he pulled the heavy pack from his shoulders.

“My stomach hurts.” Watermelon Seed added, but it was quieter, a little afraid to make him yell at her again. She looked down at her stomach and gave it a little rub, hoping that it might make the pain go away. (It didn’t.)

Blue Cat watched her, curled into the wheat bales like he might bite her, and with a great sigh, made yet another dumb decision. He pulled open his satchel, moved the bags of coins aside, and pulled out a mouthful of greens. “Here, k- Watermelon. This should hold you til morning. It’s dandelion greens.”

“Dandelions?” Watermelon Seed gasped, and eagerly twisted to take the food from him - but what he dropped into her eager hooves was only a loose clump of green things. Still, even if there was no delicious bread from the Sugarcube Corner, or plump dandelion flowers in it, it was still food, and it wasn’t gruel! So she eagerly gulped it down, faster and faster with each bite, until there was nothing else left. She snuffled over her hooves hopefully, wishing there was just one more mouthful, before she gave up and looked back at Blue.

Blue had closed his bag and put his head on it, lying down so that he was between her and the big, dark, yawning darkness outside. The sight of it, which should have been comforting after so many nights locked inside, still made her shiver with fear, and she slid a little lower, trying to hide behind Blue’s bulk from the darkness. Tilik was already quite comfortably snuggled into Blue’s side, eyes closed and already falling fast asleep, his head resting in the crook of Blue’s hip. Blue’s eyes were open, though, and they made her shiver almost as much as the darkness did.

“You should get some sleep. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.” he murmured, and his voice was soft again, and he reminded her of her daddy. Not hardly at all - Daddy was soft, and gentle, and never yelled at her, ever - but his voice was like his, when it was soft. It was deep, and rumbly, like when he spoke to her quietly after Mommy was asleep. Not scary like when Blue talked to the bad gryphon.

“‘M scared.” Watermelon Seed said, softly, as she looked down at Blue’s hooves. They were all splayed out, two on either side of her, so big and hairy. Her dad had big hooves, too, but not this big. His hooves were big like Big Mac’s, with the fuzzy part on the outside, too. Before she quite realized it, she had reached out, touching her much smaller hoof to the hair on his leg. She hadn’t expected it to be so soft, and so swishy. It was like her hair, only it wasn’t growing where hair was supposed to grow. Blue’s mane was cut so short, it seemed like he must have more hair on his legs than on his head!

“I won’t hurt you.” Blue Cat responded, equally softly, as he watched her play with his hoof feathers from under his half-lidded gaze. He tensed, a little bit, unused to having someone so small touching him like that; but she was gentle, so small she could hardly be anything but, too curious to remember she was afraid of him. “I’m gonna get you home to your mom and dad.”

That got Watermelon’s attention, and she turned to look at him, eyes wide and red-rimmed from her tears. “Really? Back to Mommy and Daddy?”

“Yep. Gonna do my best.” Blue Cat nodded, doing his best to hold still and keep from spooking her again.

Watermelon Seed stared at him, intense hope warring with distrust, and she finally gave a small, hopeful nod. “I wanna go home.” she whispered, her throat tight.

“Then you should get some sleep, so you’ll be ready to travel tomorrow.”

Watermelon Seed nodded, slowly, and began to lie down. But she quickly had to pause, whimpering when her neck got jostled, and the sharp edges of the rope cut into her neck. “The rope hurts.”

“I know. I’m sorry about that. We’ll take it off in a few days. Can’t have you running off where they can still find you.” Blue Cat replied agreeably, and as if she’d reminded him, he shifted his hooves, knotting the other end of the rope around his foreleg. “We gotta stick together.”

Watermelon Seed’s brows furrowed, and she rubbed at the itchy rope until she got it into a position where she thought it hurt less, even if just a little bit. Once that was settled, she curled up into the bales of grain, her skin twitchy all over where the broken blades dug into her coat, and pulled her legs tight to herself.

Blue Cat remained where he was, considering her with a few slow blinks, and slowly let his eyes close. He gave a great, deep sigh, and Watermelon watched as his side moved, lifting Tilik’s head with it. “Good night, Watermelon Seed. Keep warm.”

“Good night …” Watermelon Seed frowned, realizing she still didn’t know the big, scary stallion’s name. She knew Velvet’s name, the bad gryphon, but only because other people called him that; Velvet hadn’t called the big stallion anything that she’d heard.

Blue’s eyes opened again, and Watermelon Seed cringed instinctively, afraid to anger him with too many questions. Velvet had hated questions; he slapped her when she asked too many right after she got there, so she’d stopped asking.

“My name’s Blue Cat.” he spoke softly, in that same quiet, rumbly voice that made her miss her father. “T’most folks, just Blue.”

“Good night … Blue.” Watermelon said softly, and shivered, watching how closely Tilik snuggled up to Blue’s side. It felt like her sensations were coming back to her in pieces; once she was out of the basement, it took her awhile to realize that she could smell new things, all kinds of things, different than the humid, close smell of too many bodies pushed together in the underground. She’d remembered she was hungry, when she stopped being too afraid to feel it. She was so used to feeling fear, above all, that it took her a little while to remember she could feel other things, too.

Right now, she was feeling cold. She didn’t have thick, hairy legs like Blue, and soon, she was shivering into the bales of grain, eyes closed tightly as she tried to concentrate on sleep. But sleep was hard to concentrate on, especially with the scratchy feeling on her neck, and the cold that made her shiver all over, except for the tiny bead of heat that reflected back from the grain. She shifted, several times, trying to find positions that were more comfortable. Folding her legs under herself helped, but it left her neck and head exposed; curling her forelegs around her head kept that warm, but the rest of her caught a chill. She flopped over, again and again, whimpering unhappily as the chill managed to find her each time, a new part exposed to the cold. She missed her bed at home, with its thick, downy blankets, and some part of her even missed her miserable little straw pile back in the basement. In the underground with many other bodies, it never got cold like this.

Suddenly, a strong mouth caught hold of the scruff of her neck, and she yelped softly in surprise, small legs scrabbling fruitlessly against the planked floor of the train car as she was dragged backwards. As the teeth released her scruff, a long, powerful leg closed over her, effectively trapping her - but bathing her in wonderful, blissful heat. A twist of her neck revealed Blue as he laid his head back down against his satchel, sighing softly - a sigh she felt all around her, pressed up against his massive, warm chest. A look in the other direction showed Tilik, still snoozing on Blue’s hip, his tail flicking in some unknown dream.

Watermelon Seed looked up at Blue, who was apparently too tired to keep his eyes open any longer, and then down at the strong, massive forelegs she was sandwiched between. She considered her options for a moment, then began carefully rolling herself around, so that she could bury her face at the base of Blue’s neck. He was warm, so wonderfully warm it sent shivers all the way down to the tip of her tail, and within a few short moments she felt her consciousness begin to eagerly slip away. It had been hard to sleep, ever since she’d been taken off the ship - but here, even if he was kind of scary, she felt better. Safer, she supposed, although she wasn’t sure why. Maybe because he reminded her of Daddy.

Before Watermelon Seed could give that any deeper thought, she was out like a light, her tiny body almost vanishing in the protective grip of Blue Cat’s massive forelegs.