Travelling between worlds is something that was never guaranteed as to how one would arrive. The very least, one hoped to arrive the right way up, and not on top of something dangerous or on top of someone dangerous.

The three ponies had, at least, landed the right way up and down a quiet alley to avoid suspicion as to their sudden appearance. Dizzy, disorientated, and temporarily blind, they paused for a few minutes whilst huddled together underneath their cloaks, silently collecting their thoughts, regaining their senses and covertly checking for danger.

"Is everyone alright" Whisper Blue said under her breath.

"Yes" Crystal Clear confirmed.

"Yes. Though, my hooves are not ..." Silver Song trailed off, looking at his own forelimbs. Instead of hooves, as he expected, he looked at a pair of five-fingered hands. Still covered in grey fur, he realised that he was not quite a human, but not a pony either. He still had his wings, he could see Crystal Clear still had her ivory-coloured horn, and his hind hooves felt the same, though the same couldn't be said of his legs.

The three ponies looked at each other carefully. Their faces were the same, but their bodies were long, their limbs also stretched out, their tails and manes intact.
A hybrid, almost, between human forms and pony ones. It was something of a relief to see that they had been adapted to this place in more ways than one; they still wore their cloaks, imbued with the old lunar magic that made them powerful assets as well as useful disguises. But they also wore clothing, each dressed in something appropriate to their jobs; Whisper Blue wore a dark navy librarian's uniform, a suit jacket and pants with a navy tunic underneath. She noted the badge of the Royal Canterlot Library on her left breast, and removed it quickly. Crystal Clear wore a white lab coat under her cloak, a knee-length cream skirt and cream blouse, a lanyard around her neck that stated she was a Junior Assistant at the Equestrian National Observatory. She too quickly removed her identifying tag, lest someone know who she was.
Silver Song felt underdressed, merely wearing dark gray slacks and a dark grey turtleneck sweater, no such identifying badges marked who he was. That, at least, he didn't have to worry about. None of them wore shoes, so that was something familiar at least, and walking on their hooves was less troublesome than human feet.

"Where are we" Silver Song broached the obvious topic, looking around the alley and the architecture he could see at either end of the run.

"Looks like Canterlot, at least, mostly like Canterlot" Crystal Clear noted, recognising the white, gold and purple colour scheme and the tall spires. Everything was a little off, but she put it down to the differently proportioned citizens that the designers would have had to accommodate.

"Daytime" Whisper Blue sounded irritated. Their cloaks worked best at night, where they could blend seamlessly into the shadows and become pretty much invisible for extended periods of time. During the day, however, they could only manage short bursts, depending on how long their cloaks had been bathed in the light of the full moon.
"We must be careful. We don't know if this land is hostile"

"Something must be wrong, if we heard the Princess calling" Crystal Clear pointed out, nervously looking between the two entrances of the alleyway, "If it is a danger in Canterlot, then it can't be obvious"

"Oh, I think it might be obvious" Silver Song hissed in horror, staring at the right end of the alley. The two mares looked in the same direction, watching to see what it was that was setting their ILUNAnati brother on edge.

None of the three could believe what they had seen. Almost like a passing glimpse of a Shadow Pony, they witnessed a unicorn stallion pass by the alley. That, in itself, wasn't unusual.
What was unusual was the nude unicorn mare he was leading. Walking on all fours, a red collar around her neck like a dog, she was being lead by a lead to follow her master, which she seemed to do with a hint of glee on her face as she kept her gaze down. Her mouth was encased in a muzzle, lined with red velvet to offer some sort of comfort to the degrading facial-ware, and with a bit firmly wedged in her teeth. While she was nude, she did not seem ashamed or discomforted; indeed, she seemed to proudly show off the welts and bruises on her backside and knees, her marehood leaking clear fluid in her arousal.

None of the three could miss the fact that her horn was cut, almost to her skull, and so clearly that it had to have been deliberate, whereas the unicorn stallion leading her had his fully intact.

"..." Almost as one, the three looked at each other, before slinking towards the edge of the alley, staying behind a tall garbage bin as they peered out into the street, making sure to keep their cloaks as down as possible to obscure their faces and keep them in the shadows.

While all three knew Canterlot in their world fairly well, it was something altogether different in this place. The buildings, the shops, most of that was the same. And it was true that most of the denizens were still unicorns. However, the stallions were clothed, and the mares were ... not. Some walked standing, but most were forced to crawl. Some wore black, some wore red, and Silver Song spotted a lone pegasus mare being lead about. On her back were two odd pieces of decoration, almost shaped like butterfly wings. He had to guess that her wings were inside, but those sleeves were far too small if that were the case. Her feathers and the bones would be horribly squashed. Unless ...

"AUCTION IN TWO MINUTES! AUCTION IN TWO MINUTES!" A bellow rang around the streets, causing most stallions to turn their heads to the source of the sound. A small stage set in the closest square, only just within sight of the ILUNAnati, hosted what looked like a tall stallion dressed as an auctioneer. Whisper Blue almost couldn't believe it when she realised the bespeckled stallion was none other than Golden Gavel, the auctioneer who hosted many a charity auction for good causes around Equestria. Now, it seemed he was auctioning off a mare to be sold to the highest bidder.

The mare in question was lashed to a pole, her mouth clamped shut by a black belt, tears streaming down her face. Light lilac in colour, she was too far away to allow the three to see what her cutie mark was; they could tell, however, that it had been heavily obscured with black ink in dismissive, scribble-like strokes. Her horn, as with so many mares here, had been amputated. Two signs next to her seemed to state her name and details, and another stated auction rules.

"This is a nightmare ..." Crystal Clear's voice was a horrified whisper, as a crowd of stallions gathered before the stage. Some already had mares following them, which they seemed to enjoy showing off, while others had none but carried leads in eager anticipation for a winning bid.

It was almost as though they were auctioning off a rare book or esquisite vase. The mare was allowed no say, her ears back and her eyes screwed shut as the bids started at 300 bits. It finally ended at 12,00 bits, and she was soon untied from her pole and passed to her new 'master'. Roughly yanked along on the leash, she fell on her face before being dragged away, and another mare was brought out to the stage for the next assessment and auction. The previous mare's sign was taken down and casually tossed aside, as casually as the mare herself was.

"We must get to the Castle" Whisper Blue said firmly, "We are here to stop this madness. First, we take control of our enclave, if it exists in the Castle, then we rescue Our Princess"

"And then?" Silver Song had to do everything in his power to avoid speeding over and rescuing the poor, sobbing auctioned mare as she wiped blood from her nose from falling onto the ground.

"Then we rescue Equestria ..."

Author's Note

Please note that this story will be ANTI-FoE. This is simply setup to remind readers of the world, and we will get into more positive, lighter territory.