Watcher in White Tail Woods

I never saw the cause of the crash. One moment Silver Spoon and I were riding in Daddy’s carriage on a trip down to Los Pegasus, the next I was flying through the air. I heard the drivers yell something before the accident, but I don’t recall what they said. It might have just been a shout of alarm.

The carriage swerved to one side, and although they were the best drivers and escorts for two fillies that money could buy, I don’t think there was much they could have done. It slid sideways, and the impact came right in the middle of the door, splitting the carriage in half.

I remember flying through the air, and then a heavy impact on my chest from some part of the carriage. Pain shot through me, and I skidded through the dirt. I ended up lying on my back, staring at the sky as I struggled to breathe. I don’t remember much else, but of my scattered memories of the event, I heard a sound to the side and saw my tiara lying next to Silver Spoon. Her left foreleg was bent at a strange angle, and the left lens of her glasses was broken. Her mane had some blood in it, but she was moving.

I could hear shouting nearby, and the sound of splintering wood. There was a wet thud, and then the shouting stopped. I tried to pull myself to my hooves, but my chest hurt, and as soon as I moved my vision swam from the pain.

“*cough* Silver? Are you okay?” I said.

She didn’t respond, but she groaned and shifted. I took that as a good sign, until something grabbed her and dragged her away. It wasn’t the kind of treatment that I imagined somepony should give to an accident victim, but somepony was nearby and wasn’t injured, and I just wanted reassurance. Daddy wasn’t there to give it to me, so I would take what I could get.

“Who is that? Please help!” I struggled to follow, but only had a glimpse of a large, hooded figure before the pain was too much to turn myself and follow him. “Ah! Come back! Help me, please!”

My breaths came in shallow gasps as I struggled to rise, to turn myself to see where Silver Spoon had been taken. I heard her cry out in pain, then hoofsteps came back toward me. I knew then my reassurance wasn’t coming. I tried to crawl off the road and into the bushes, but the last thing I heard was heavy breathing behind me before something struck my head, and everything went black.

When I came to, everything was black. I could hear dogs barking nearby, and the sound of running water. I heard wood creaking rhythmically, and loud yelling from somepony that was close by, but the voice was muffled, so they were likely in another room. I tried to sit up to look around, but the pain in my ribs prevented me from lifting myself to sitting. Instead, I had to roll over, then push up with my forehooves. That hurt, but it did the job. I sucked in air and sobbed from the pain. I heard something rattling as I moved, and cold metal pressed against my forelegs. I felt it and found I was chained to something.

“Diamond Tiara, is that you?” Silver Spoon asked from somewhere near me.

“Silver Spoon?” My voice wavered as I spoke. “Where are you? I can’t see.” I reached out into the darkness.

“Oh, thank goodness. I knew you had been brought here too, but I can’t see anything.”

I reached out in the direction of her voice, moving carefully to avoid aggravating my ribs. The chains attached to my forelegs reached their ends and I had to stop. I heard rattling moving closer to me from where Silver Spoon’s voice came from and I felt her familiar hoof grip mine.

“What’s going on? Where are we? Why are we chained up? I want Daddy,” I cried.

“I don’t know, Diamond. But only horrible ponies would chain up other ponies.” Silver Spoon’s voice went low and shaky. “I think they’re criminals!”

“You mean we’ve been foalnapped?” I said, my horror building.

“I think so. I don’t know what they want, but I’ve heard at least two of them. They sound mean, and they have a lot of dogs.”

“Dogs? Like guard dogs or like Applebloom’s mutt?”

“These don’t sound like Winona at all. These sound like bad dogs!” Silver Spoon’s statement was punctuated by another raucous round of barking through the walls.

I felt terror spike through me, and I started crying. It didn’t last long as the pain from my ribs quickly overwhelmed the sobs, and I doubled over, giving short gasps for air as I struggled to level out my breathing.

Silver Spoon’s hoof gripped mine tighter, and she pulled me closer. We tried to hug, but the chains didn’t allow that, and we settled for patting each other on the foreleg. I patted her on the left foreleg and she hissed.

“Oh, sorry, Silver,” I said.

“I think it’s broken. I can’t move it properly, and it’s really swollen.”

“Does it hurt?”

“Only if I try to straighten it out.”

“It needs set if it’s broken.”

“I know, but I haven’t seen anypony come in since I woke up.”

“How long have you been awake?”

“I don’t know. An hour?”

I listened to the sounds around us. The sound of the water was loud. The splashing sounded like it was right next to us, so we must have been on the banks of the river passing through the White Tail woods. That was if we were even still in the White Tail woods. If we had been taken a longer distance, that would be a problem. We really needed to be near the road so that the wreckage of the carriage could be seen, and Daddy could figure out we were missing that much faster.

I could hear hoofsteps moving about somewhere nearby. The way they moved about the building told me there were multiple floors. Unfortunately, we were probably on the lowest one, if not in a basement. The steps rarely came as low as our floor, and the darkness was too absolute for anything but an underground room. But what kind of pony has chains in their basement?

I thought I might have the answer soon, as I heard heavy hoofsteps coming down a set of stairs toward us. I also thought I might not like the answer. There was the sound of a key twisting in a lock, then ugly, sputtering lantern light spilled into the small room Silver Spoon and I were in.

The pony standing in the doorway had a large cloak covering most of his body. I couldn’t see his face, as my eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light, but I knew what he was: He was poor.

“Release me this instant! My Daddy is the richest pony in Ponyville, and he’ll spare no expense finding me! The royal guard are probably already on their way, and they’ll flatten your ugly little home like a sand castle!” I shouted.

He didn’t say anything, which worried me. Usually when I yell at ponies they show some sort of emotion. Sometimes it’s fear. Fear of what my father can have done to them financially or otherwise. Other times it’s anger. Anger that such a little filly could have the guts to stand up to them. The only ones who react with happy obedience are Silver Spoon and Daddy. This pony barely spared me a glance.

The lantern he carried was hanging from his back, and in his mouth he carried a tray with plates of something on them. This led me to believe he was an earth pony or a pegasus pony, but his sheer size said earth pony.

He put the tray down on a small table near the door, then pulled the plates off and brought one to each of us, putting it down just in front of us. Silver Spoon cringed when he came close, but I wasn’t going to be intimidated. Despite my fear, I tried to square up as far as my ribs would allow, and looked directly at his hood.

“I said; Let us go now and I promise I’ll ask the guards to be lenient!”

He lifted his head after putting down the plate and looked at me. I could see what was under the hood, and I felt a little bit of fear creep in.

He was misshapen. What was his face looked like it had undergone very rough treatment for some time. I couldn’t tell if it was natural or if he had been beaten or attacked, but his face was pocked with scars. His lips were twisted upward on his left side, and one of his eyes was milky-white. I couldn’t see his mane, but his forehead looked like the skin of an aged orange. He looked at me for a moment, then pointed to the plates, which were filled with limp vegetables, then placed his lantern on the table and left the room.

Silver Spoon and I looked at each other, then down at our plates. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I saw it, but the fact that it was food was ruined by the fact that it was also given to me by somepony who had foalnapped me and chained me to a wall. I opted to ignore it for now, and stuck up my nose at the offered meal.

Hours later, however, I was forced to eat it as nopony had come back to see us, and the lantern was running low. Silver Spoon had eaten hers long ago, having given in to her hunger before me, and she hadn’t died or had anything else bad happen to her, so I determined it was okay to eat.

As time went by, Silver Spoon was hissing in pain where she sat. The manacle that was on her left foreleg was biting into her swollen limb, and it had turned an angry red, visible through her grey fur.

“Are you okay, Silver?”

She shook her head and just hissed, breathing hard. Compared to my ribs, which were just a dull ache unless I breathed too deep, her leg was getting aggravated by the shackle. Something needed to be done about that, and soon. I was no doctor, but I knew if the bone wasn’t set and the manacle removed, it would be a problem.

Soon, when the lantern seemed on its last legs, the ugly pony came back. He looked at us, then saw the empty plates and nodded. He came to collect them, and when he got closer I cleared my throat.

“Look, you’re probably awful ponies and I hate you, but my friend needs her broken leg set and the chain removed or it’s just going to get worse. If you want us alive for any reason, you’re going to need to fix it,” I told him.

He looked dumbly at me, his gormless expression disgusting in his even more disgusting face, but he eventually looked over at Silver Spoon, and her broken leg. He dropped the metal plate and it clattered on the floor, then he pulled out a key and removed Silver Spoon’s shackle on her left foreleg.

Without any warning, he then grabbed the leg and began squeezing it and poking it. Silver Spoon shrieked in pain, but he didn’t seem fazed by it. He just kept pulling and twisting it until I heard a crackling sound, and the bulge on her leg became slightly smaller. He put the manacle back on and nodded to me, then picked up the plates. He took the lantern with him, plunging us back into darkness.

I reached out for Silver Spoon, silent tears in my eyes as she sobbed in the darkness.

“They’ll find us soon, Silver,” I said. “Daddy wanted to know as soon as we arrived, and the hotel was expecting us. They must be looking for us by now.” I could only pat her on the leg, but it seemed to help, as sobbing calmed down somewhat.

Some time later, we were brought water. It was placed near each of us in wide dishes on the floor. I stared at the cloaked pony with derision as he placed mine down next to me.

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate the water, but do you seriously expect me to drink it out of this?” I pointed to the pan, which was dented and scuffed. I couldn’t even see my reflection in the warped metal it was made of. “It looks filthy. Why don’t you have a mug or a goblet?”

He didn’t respond, but he did smile a strange smile in my direction. It creeped me out, and I could see what remained of his teeth in the weak lantern light. His teeth did nothing to comfort me, but he left soon after, leaving the lantern for us.

Eventually Silver Spoon got thirsty enough to drink out of the metal dish, and she didn’t die or get immediately sick, so I felt that I could as well. It was undignified, but very refreshing, and soon the water was all gone.

Unfortunately, that meant that in a few hours, I felt the call of nature. There was no toilet immediately apparent, only a channel near the chains that went in the direction of the running water. They couldn’t seriously be expecting me to go right in front of Silver Spoon, and without anything protecting me from the door opening up, could they? I decided to take matters into my own hooves, and started yelling.

“Hello? Come down here this instant! I have demands!”

There was no response at first. I could hear hoofsteps passing nearby above us, so I knew there was somepony there, but despite my continued shouting, I got no response for some time.

“I said come down here! I need assistance! My Daddy has money, and if he finds out how you treated me, you’ll be sorry! It won’t just be the royal prisons for you! It will be the stocks! Public embarrassment!” I shouted.

“Diamond Tiara, please. I don’t want that ugly pony to come back down here,” Silver pleaded.

“Silver, I have to go. I don’t see a toilet, and I don’t want to go right here. I just want them to take me to the bathroom.”

“I think that’s it.” Silver Spoon pointed to the channel I had previously disregarded.

I curled up my lip at the suggestion. “There is no way in Tartarus I’m going to use that as a toilet. That is just disgusting. What if somepony were to walk in?”

“I don’t think they care. They didn’t even properly set my leg.” She held up her swollen limb.

“Then we’ll get them to fix that while they’re here.” I turned away, ignoring her protests, and continued yelling at the door. “Come down here this instant! I need to use the toilet! Come take me there at once!”

I could hear voices begin talking just above us, and could make out parts of it. It wasn’t reassuring chatter, and it reinforced the fact that they were awful ponies.

“Rich bitch needs a good smack or two. Do you say anything to them when you’re down there?” A rough voice said. “Good.”

It turned into mumbling for a bit, and I felt then was a good time to interject. “I hear you up there! Send your colt to take me to the bathroom, pronto!”

“Diamond Tiara, please! Don’t make them mad!” Silver Spoon said.

I was far past the point of caring about the pony’s looks. I had to go, and my ungracious, foalnapping hosts were treating us far too poorly. Daddy was going to put them through the wringer when they were caught, but until then, I was going to do it for him!

“Sweet Celestia the rich one is annoying. Look, go down there, and I don’t care what you have to do, but show the spoiled brat the toilet she’s clearly too stupid to see,” the rough voice said.

There was grunting and heavy hoofsteps started downstairs. I knew the ugly one was on his way. His hoofsteps had become familiar. A bit of routine in this otherwise awful place. Surely he would listen to reason, in his own brutish way.

The door opened and the big pony lumbered in.

“Finally! Now, if you would kindly–”

I was cut off as he grabbed the chain attached to my forelegs and without a word yanked me over to the channel at the back of the room. He lifted me up so I was dangling by the chains, and shook me over the channel. I heard a splashing sound and a smelly yellow stream started to pour down it. He turned to look at me while he emptied his bladder and made a grunting sound. When he was done, he threw me to the floor and stomped out of the room. Thankfully, he left he lantern.

“Are you alright, Diamond?” Silver Spoon asked.

My cheek was damp, and the smell of urine filled my nose. He had not been gentle with me, nor had he been careful where he had been peeing. I was sure it had splashed out of the channel, and that was what was on my fur. I was furious.

“Your goon got piss on me, you mule! My Daddy will hear about this!” I shouted.

My only response was ugly cackling coming from somewhere above. My cheeks burned with indignation, but there was nothing I could do.

I attempted to rub the liquid out of my fur, but without any water and lacking a cloth of any kind, I had to put up with the smell for some time. I did use the channel, though. I waited until I heard both sets of hoofsteps going away from the stairs I had heard the pony come down, and then quickly went, ordering Silver Spoon to look away. She did the same soon after. When we were done, since we still had the lantern, I finally took a moment to really look around the room we were in.

It was wooden on all sides, with a wooden floor. The channel we had used came out of one wall and drained into the other, indicating it had served a different purpose at one point that as a toilet. The chains were attached to the wooden wall, and the nails fastening it to the wood were shiny and new. That was disturbing in hindsight, but my first thought was just how tacky it was to have chains in a basement. Despite tugging the chains did not have any give, and Silver Spoon couldn’t have pulled on them with her broken leg. It hurt bad enough for me with my ribs. In addition to that, the chains were worn and rough, and chafed my hooves something fierce. I did not appreciate it. I wanted out. I foolishly decided to attempt what usually worked to get Daddy to do something for me: Complain.

“These chains hurt and it’s cold! Bring me a blanket!” I yelled. I heard the floor creak upstairs, but no voices responded. “The basement smells! Why won’t you improve it? Why aren’t you using it to store grains or dried fruits? This is the wrong way to use a basement! My Daddy could do better!”

Silver Spoon remained silent through all of it, but I kept on yelling. I wasn’t going to be ignored. I was going to badger them into releasing me, or at least making my stay more comfortable until Daddy could find them and pay them off or have them imprisoned. Yelling always worked in Ponyville to get me what I wanted.

Eventually, I got a reaction out of the pony upstairs.

“Sweet Celestia, go shut her up, would you? I don’t care how, just don’t damage her too badly.” Rough Voice said.

Lumbering hoofsteps traveled across the ceiling above me and went to the stairs. As the thumping steps came down the steps to the basement, I began too late to regret my yelling. ‘Don’t damage her too badly’ had my throat dry as the cloaked pony entered the room. Still, I attempted to square up against him. Giving in was for lesser ponies. I was Diamond Tiara, nothing this pony could say or do would get me to give in. I was worth more than that.

“Thank you for coming.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “I am getting cold. Bring me a blanket.”

He didn’t say anything as usual, but he just walked up and thrust his hoof into my chest. The pain was excrutiating. My breath was driven out of me, and sharp, stabbing pain made my vision go dark. I gasped for breath, forced to take short, shallow breaths as the pain slowly dissipated. Tears were rolling down my cheeks, but I couldn’t cry or it would only hurt more. I had already discovered that. I held back my sobs and just waited, doubled over as the giant pony stood over me.

“I… demand… a blanket,” I said. Trying to pull myself up.

He forced me to a standing position, and my ribs sent pain stabbing through my body again. Then he punched me in the chest again. Everything went black from pain.

When I could see again, the pony was gone, and my face was once again lying on the sticky and smelly ground. My chest ached, but I could move, if slowly. Silver Spoon was sitting, holding her hoof tight against her chest, just out of reach.

“Are you okay, Diamond Tiara?” She asked.

I took in a tentative breath and rubbed my face with a hoof. My eyes were gummed up from tears, and breathing was harder than it had been previously, but I was okay enough. I nodded to her and just spent some time practicing my breathing. When I finally had the pain under control so I could respond, it was through clenched teeth.

“I’m… okay,” I hissed.

“You really shouldn’t have goaded them on like that, Diamond.”

“If they want money, they’re not going to get it by treating me so badly. Daddy’s going to have them crushed.”

“Diamond, we don’t even know if your father knows where we are. My parents can’t afford a ransom like yours can.”

“Don’t worry, Silver. My Daddy can pay any ransom for both of us, just long enough to have the royal guard come crashing down on this nasty little house.”

Silver Spoon went quiet, and I just sat there trying to breathe normally. I was worried it was going to leave a mark of some kind. My greatest concern at that moment was making sure my looks weren’t going to be messed up. I wasn’t bleeding badly, and I didn’t have a broken leg like Silver Spoon, but that was still one of my highest concerns. I was confident my Daddy was going to find me and we would be able to put this all behind us as fast as possible. Unfortunately that was not to be the case so soon. Our erstwhile hosts still had much in store for us.

The ugly pony came back to give us food and water, which we ate and drank. It was poor food, and I was still suspect of it, but starving ourselves wasn’t going to help. Ugly took the lantern after that, and there wasn’t much to talk about, so we slept eventually, though lying down was painful for me. Silver Spoon fell asleep first and I could only listen to her easy breathing with envy.

The sound of the rushing water filled my ears. I couldn’t tell if the house was built next to just a creek or a waterfall. It alternately sounded like both, and the creaking wood sounded like it might be a waterwheel. My Daddy knew a pony who worked at one. We got flour from them and I’d had the opportunity to visit once.

If that were correct, that meant we were next to the Equestrian river near White Tail Woods, but I couldn’t tell how far we might have traveled from the road, or which side of the river we were on. There could only be so many waterwheels, right? But then, Daddy didn’t know he was supposed to be looking for a waterwheel, did he?

I felt tears welling up, but I had to stop myself from crying. My ribs ached with every breath, and sobbing would only make it worse. I had to fall asleep without properly expressing my emotions, and that stung. I eventually fell asleep, though, and all my pain disappeared.

I was awakened by a sharp hoof to my side. I recoiled from the impact and hissed in pain. Shortly afterward I heard Silver Spoon yelp and sob. She pulled back, scrabbling across the wooden floor toward a wall. When I was able to breathe properly, I looked up to see who had struck me.

It was a different pony than before. This pony was not nearly as large, and did not wear a cloak. He had on a plaid shirt and bent glasses, and seemed to have what I would call a permanent sneer on his face. He used this expression to look down at me and Silver Spoon.

“Good morning, fillies,” he said.

It was the rough voice I had heard before, sitting casually upstairs while he sent his ugly friend down to feed, water, and show us where to use the bathroom. I suspected he was the pony in charge of what was going on, because he didn’t seem to have the same stupid look on his ugly face as the big pony did.

“So, I have a few questions for you two. If you would be so kind as to answer them.” He pulled my tiara out of his saddlebag and spun it around his hoof. His face broke into a nasty smile. “Which one of you two little mares would happen to be Diamond Tiara?”

Neither one of us answered. I looked at Silver Spoon and she looked back at me. I could tell he was just asking to be cruel. It was plain as day which one of us was Diamond Tiara because my tiara had been modeled after my cutie mark. He smiled a little wider, but we both looked away.

He wandered over to Silver Spoon, looking at me the whole time. “Is it you? You look like you could look pretty cute wearing a tiara.” He shoved my tiara onto Silver Spoon’s head, then grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. “Well aren’t you just the most adorable little thing. Don’t you think so, dearie?” He looked at me while he said it. I turned away. I heard Silver Spoon yelp and looked back to see him tugging her to a standing position with her broken leg.

“Well c’mon, let me see you walk around while wearing it,” he said.

Silver Spoon limped a few steps in the small circle she was able to walk with the shackles on. He waited until she was about to hop on her broken leg, then he pushed her. She tried to catch herself with it and screamed in pain, then tumbled to the floor. The tiara clattered to the ground, and she pulled her leg in close and curled up into a ball, crying.

He picked up the tiara and looked at me. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of making me admit I was Diamond Tiara. We both knew I was, he just wanted to make me beg. Diamond Tiara does not beg. Not for anything. Especially not when I knew he was doing it just to mock me. He walked over and grabbed me by the mane, then shoved the tiara in my face.

“So, tell me little miss Diamond Tiara, how much would your ‘Daddy’ give to have you back?”

“My Daddy will give you nothing. The Royal Guard will find you, and when they do, you’ll be begging for mercy!” I tried to look him in the eyes, but his eyes were cold. They reminded me of a cragadile I had once seen from a distance at Canterlot zoo. It saw me, and it knew I was there, but it didn’t care. It wasn’t trapped, it was just waiting for the right moment.

And strike he did. “Oh, the Royal Guard? One of them came by recently. He was looking for two lost fillies unaccounted for in a recent carriage crash.” My heart lurched into my throat. “Such a shame, the poor fellow got killed by an Ursa Minor, right Dumbell?”

The large and ugly pony lurched into the room, and dropped a smashed and bloodied golden helmet on the floor. The normally vibrant blue crest had been torn, and the helmet was only recognizable by its colors and not by its shape.

The large and ugly pony, who I assumed must be Dumbell, nodded vigorously. He stamped one of his massive hooves and yelled; “RAH!” then laughed. It was an ugly, mocking laugh. It fit his countenance perfectly.

“He asked a few too many questions, you see. Something about how the deaths of the carriage drivers didn’t match any WILD ANIMALS!” He directed this shout at Dumbell, who cringed.

“So, I’m looking to unload the two of you somehow. My dumbass son here has brought down the attention of some rich-ass pony on our happy little home.” He tapped my tiara against my cheek. “One way or another–I haven’t decided which–I’ll be free of you two soon enough. I just want to know if I might get a reward for finding you and bringing you home.”

The fact that he said: ‘one way or another’ send a cold chill through me. He could tell he had hit a mark because his grin widened. I didn’t immediately respond, but that was enough. He’d gotten what he wanted, though I was too proud at the time to admit I had given it to him.

“Well, we’ll come back down to talk in a bit, after you’ve had yourselves some breakfast. Dumbell needs to eat as well, and we’ve just come into possession of some” —he turned and grinned at Dumbell— “royal meat, haven’t we?”

Silver Spoon gasped and retched. “You’re cannibals?” She said.

“Nah, just Dumbell. He’s too stupid to know any better. I think he likes the texture, but who knows what goes on in that thick head of his. I’m just trying to make sure my boy does what he enjoys the most. Anything he doesn’t eat goes to the dogs.”

Silver Spoon turned away and vomited into the channel against the wall. I was sick to my stomach, but I held it back. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“Oh, don’t you all worry so much. I’m sure your daddy loves you would like to see you back. It’s just a matter of finding the right moment to bring it up.” He scratched his chin with my tiara and looked over at Silver Spoon. “Your friend here though… two for one is a bad deal, and it sure would be a pain to meet with two different families. We also wouldn’t want you together to back each other up about how poorly we treated you here.”

“My Daddy will pay for both of us! You leave her alone!” I yelled.

“Oh, would he now? I guess we’ll see. Dumbell will keep you fed. I have business to attend to. Gotta wait until Daddy’s just frantic enough, you know.” He cackled and jammed my tiara onto my head. It dug into my scalp and he slapped me across the face, then left the room, leaving Dumbell standing in the doorway with his lantern.

I adjusted my tiara so it was more comfortable. Unfortunately, my mane had not been taken care of in a couple of day or so. I must have looked a sight, so I tried to fix it. I adjusted my mane, combing through it with my hooves. While I worked, I noticed Dumbell was staring at me. I thought he might have liked my mane, and having such a big brute on my side could only be helpful, so I thought I’d talk to him, if he could even understand.

“Do you like my mane?” I asked him.

He nodded slowly, and a bit of drool fell out of his mouth.

“Well thank you, I take extra-special care of it. I haven’t been able to since I’m locked up down here, though.”

He smiled a little. Or at least I thought it was a smile.

“Would you like to touch it?” I asked him.

“Diamond Tiara what are you doing? Don’t talk to him!” Silver Spoon hissed at me.

I waved a hoof at Silver Spoon. Getting this ugly fellow to like me would be good. I might even be able to convince him to let us out if I did well enough. I just hoped he didn’t want to get too touchy. I just needed to entice him enough to get friendly.

He nodded and drooled, then walked slowly over to me. His pocked face and milky eye had me screaming internally as he got nearer, but I held it back. When he was standing above me looking down at my mane I could smell his breath. It was sour and salty. That reminded me Rough Voice had said Dumbell was a cannibal and I gagged. I then got a very sound reminder that he was a cannibal when he leaned down and bit my mane.

He tugged with his teeth, and my hair yanked painfully at my scalp. “Ow! Stop that! Let go!”

He didn’t let go. He kept tugging, pulling me along. I screeched as his mouthful of hair pulled at my scalp, and he dragged me along the floor. I could hear hair ripping, and feel it tear out of my head. Silver Spoon tried to reach me, but the chains held her back. I could hear her yelling at him as well, but he wasn’t interested.

“Dumbell! Stop damaging them! I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with them, yet!” Rough Voice yelled from upstairs.

Dumbell let go of my mane, and I dropped to the floor. Pain shot through me as the impact hurt my ribs, but I ignored it and crawled away from Dumbell. There were still chunks of my mane in his teeth, and his saliva dripped down my cheek. Or it was blood. I could see blood clinging to the tiny bits of my scalp he still held.

He didn’t move until Rough Voice yelled from upstairs. “Get outta there now! Don’t make me get the dogs!”

At mention of dogs, Dumbell sucked the remaining hairs into his mouth and pounded up the stairs. Thankfully, he left the lantern in his hurry, so Silver Spoon and I still had light.

I put a hoof to my head and pulled it away wet with blood. I hissed in pain at the contact and turned to Silver Spoon.

“How bad is it?” I asked.

She tilted her head to look and winced when she saw it. “It’s not awful, but it’s going to take some time for it to grow back. You’ll have a pretty bad scab for a while, too.”

I patted my head with a hoof gingerly, and I felt tears coming to my eyes again. My ribs still hurt, but I could at least cry a little. I hated everything about this. I wanted Daddy. He never let anything bad happen to me and if it did, he could make it go away. This was going on and on and I didn’t know how or when it would end. I hated it so much.

Time passed and Dumbell came back with some food and water again. He watched me and Silver Spoon while we ate, then took the lantern with him when he left with the trays. With the darkness blanketing everything, I had nothing else to do but listen, so listen I did.

I could hear Rough Voice talking upstairs. He and Dumbell were the only ponies I had seen so far, so I was curious who he was speaking to. He was talking too quietly to understand him, but I heard no response, making me think he was either talking to Dumbell or his dogs.

Everything went quiet after some time, and so I slept. It was fitful sleep, and not comfortable, but I managed it. I was woken during the night, however, by heavy hooftsteps coming down the stairs. It was Dumbell.

Lantern light spilled in through the cracks in the door, then it slowly opened and I saw Dumbell’s head peek around the edge. He wasn’t wearing his cloak, and I could see his mane. It was sparse, and it looked like he had been balding for quite some time. His scalp was also scarred, and the knotted flesh I could see made it appear as though his scars were piled one upon the other over time. Whether they were self-inflicted or came from somepony else I didn’t know, but his appearance was overall frightening to look at.

He came into the room, drool leaking from his mouth. He pointed at me and then at his mouth and he smacked his lips. He approached slowly, as though hesitant to get close to me. He walked toward me and I backed away. I bumped into the channel in the floor, but Dumbell’s presence was enough to keep me going. I couldn’t tell which was worse, the smell from the toilet-channel or the smell of Dumbell’s breath. When he finally got close to me he ground his teeth and sniffed. He shook his head and grunted, turning to look back at the stairs. I just whimpered and curled up. I wanted to avoid looking at him, but not seeing him and knowing he was there was almost as terrifying as looking at his horrid face.

He extended his tongue and licked up my cheek and into my mane. I shivered and cried. I could see Silver Spoon staring in horror. She started to back away from me and Dumbell, but she didn’t stop watching. I imagine it was like some sort of horrid fascination. Like, what was he going to do? He was a cannibal, and he had eaten some of my hair, so was he going to eat me now that Rough Voice was asleep?

Dumbell began nibbling on my hair, licking and tasting it. Drool slobbered down onto my face and into my eyes. I closed my mouth so it wouldn’t get in, but I could smell it. The rancid smell of decay filled my nostrils and I struggled to breath. I gagged, and it sent a twinge of pain through my ribs, which drew a squeak of pain out of me. At that, Dumbell stopped chewing.

I felt him pull my tiara off my head, and he looked at in with curiosity at first, then he grunted in frustration. He threw it to the floor and whined, then stamped in a circle. He looked at me, then down at the tiara, and huffed. Then he looked over at Silver Spoon. She flinched.

He looked Silver Spoon, then at me, then back at Silver Spoon. She shook her head.

“No… no!” she cried.

He opened his mouth and trotted over to her. He followed her as she tried to pull away into the wall, then he sniffed her mane and began chewing on it. She whimpered in terror as he tore strands of her mane out, but he eventually stopped. His tongue drooped out of his mouth, silver strands dangling from it.

“Paaaah,” he said. He looked back at me, and I imagine he found my mane just that much better.

He looked down at Silver Spoon, her tiny form huddled away from his as she cried, then he bent down, picked her up by her broken leg, and bit a chunk out of her foreleg.

“Ahhhhhhh!” Silver Spoon screamed as his blunt teeth tore into her flesh. I was screaming along with her as this pony just casually chewed on Silver Spoon’s flesh like somepony would eat a carrot. He didn’t even seem fazed by our screaming, or the blood pouring out of Silver Spoon’s wound.

Our combined screaming served to wake Rough Voice from his sleeping, though. I could eventually hear dogs barking as hoofsteps descended into the basement we were being kept in, and Rough Voice stepped through the door.

“Luna’s full moon, Dumbell. I bloody told you not to damage the goods. What in Tartarus do you think you’re doing?” Rough Voice said.

Dumbell quickly finished chewing and swallowed, but the expression on his face wasn’t that of a pony committing a horrendous affront to the morals of our entire society, but instead that of a pony who had been caught stealing a snack from the refrigerator. Rough Voice’s face also wasn’t matching the crime being committed, and instead looked like he had caught Dumbell doing just that.

“Well, at least you didn’t take a bite out of the more expensive one. But I can’t have you taking too much before we know how much they’re worth. Get back to bed and I’ll clean up down here.” Dumbell kept his head down and scurried past Rough Voice. “And leave the lantern.”

Dumbell put the lantern on the table and Rough Voice picked it up. As the heavy hoofsteps ascended the stairwell, Rough Voice approached Silver Spoon, who was clutching her bleeding leg and curled up in the corner, weeping. My own eyes were burning, and I was hiccupping in pain as I tried to quash my sobs.

“C’mere, let me see that,” Rough Voice said.

Silver Spoon tried to curl up harder, but Rough Voice grabbed her broken leg and yanked. She cried out in pain, but he roughly yanked it out and held onto her. He couldn’t get a good look at the leg with the shackle on, as the blood had covered everything. He removed it and looked it over.

“Broken, obviously. But his bite didn’t hit anything important. You’ll live. Just need a bandage for now.”

Rough Voice went upstairs then came back down with a roll of cloth. It wasn’t a bandage, but I wasn’t going to complain that he was helping Silver Spoon in case he got vindictive about something. He didn’t wash the wound, either. He just wrapped it up.

“It needs w-washed,” I said, my voice shaking. “Your son’s mouth is f-filthy.”

“Well that’s just too damn bad. We don’t have water enough to spare more than drinks for you two,” he said.

“What? I can hear a river rushing past!”

“No, you can’t.”

I was indignant. He was being deliberately obtuse just to spite me. “Yes, I can! My Daddy has a client with a waterwheel, and that’s what I hear! It’s right there!”

“Well, you caught me. I just hate the both of you and don’t care if it gets infected,” He wiped his bloodstained hooves on Silver Spoon’s mane. “It’s not like he bit you. You’re the real expensive one here. At least he figured that much out.”

I stared at him, unable to come up with a retort. He stared back, his face expressionless for a moment, then he grinned at me. My face went red and my tears were forgotten in my anger towards this stallion who was treating our lives like commodities.

“Now here, put your little tiara on, and pray ‘Daddy’ gets back to me soon.” He picked up my tiara and moved to put it on my head. I swatted it out of his hooves. It clattered to the ground near Silver Spoon, who pushed it away from herself out of fear. He watched it land, then looked back at me, his smile gone.

“Now look here, missy. I don’t care about you or your little friend. I care about the bits I’ll get from your daddy since you’re rich. If you were poor, you’d be in Dumbell’s food by now.” He walked over to Silver Spoon and picked up my tiara, then walked slowly back over to me. “Now, my patience is very limited, so if you want to see ‘Daddy’ again, I’d suggest you sit down, shut up, and accept what little help I’m willing to give you, hmm?” He held out my tiara, and gave me that awful grin again.

I was breathing fast. My ribs ached and my vision swam. I was hyperventilating. From rage, fear, or just my ribs I didn’t know, but I knew he would hit me if I didn’t respond. I grasped for my tiara, missing the first few times, but I eventually grabbed it. With shaking hooves and careful motions, I placed my tiara on my head and sat up as straight as I could.

“I under… understand,” I said.

“Excellent. I’m glad we understand one another,” he said with a smile, though I felt no sincerity in it. “Now I am going to get back to sleep. I don’t want to hear any more noise from you, do you understand?”

“And what exactly are we supposed to do if your son decides to come down here for another taste-test?” I said.

“Get eaten quietly.” He took the lantern and left the room.

After he was gone, in the darkness I turned to where Silver Spoon had been huddled. “Are you okay, Silver?”

She sniffled. “No, no I’m not. My leg is broken and… and there’s a huge bite out of it! I’m never going to be able to use it again!” She broke down into fitful, choking sobs in the darkness. I didn’t know what to say or do.