Rainbow Dash growled and forced her way through another thick bunch of jungle brush, pushing aside vines and heavy leaves. She stormed through the warm canopy of Southern Equestrian like a mare on a mission, cutting a path for the two mares who lagged behind.
“Are you sure this is the right way?” she asked.
Twilight looked up from her map. “According to this map Yearling lent us, we should be at the temple in another kilometer or two.”
“Patience is a virtue, Rainbow,” Rarity sang, adjusting her mosquito netting hat with her magic. “I doubt Twilight would ever lead us astray.”
“I know that but…” Rainbow sighed. “Being in this neck of the woods makes me jumpy. There’s all sorts of dangerous creatures down in these parts.” She looked out upon the dense foliage, narrowing her gaze. “Ponies included.”
Twilight scoffed. “Please, any local communities have been integrated into Equestria centuries ago. The ponies here are no different from those in Cloudsdale or Canterlot.”
“Well…” Rarity pouted out her lower lip. “I wouldn’t really say that they’re all that similar to those from Canterlot. Did you see their choice of clothing in that last village? It was rather…” She worked her jaw, searching for the right word, “rustic.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Fine. Choice of fashion aside, the ponies down here are no different from our neighbours.”
“Look,” Rainbow huffed. “As much as I want to believe you, I’ve been down here with Yearling before and…”
There was a crunch under Rainbow’s hoof. She went bolt stiff, not moving a single inch.
Twilight cocked a brow. “Rainbow is…”
Netting sprung up from the ground, catching all three of them inside as they were pulled sharply into the air. They screamed as they were thrashed about, the netting swinging them back and forth from its anchor point upon a nearby tree.
Slowly, the world settled and Twilight looked down, seeing that they were now several metres above the jungle floor.
“See what did I tell you,” Rainbow growled. She struggled against the heavy roping though it was to no avail. “Now we’re going to get capture and then who’s going to save our sorry asses. All of our friends are like a billion kilometers away.”
“Maybe it was just an accident?” Twilight suggested, chuckling nervously. “Maybe a leftover trap left behind for a tiger or leopard that they maybe forgot to come back for?”
Rarity frowned. “If that were true doesn’t that mean that we’re likely trapped up here with no hope of rescue?”
“That…” Twilight offered an unsteady smile. “That is a very good point.”
“So, getting caught in a hunting trap and dying of exposure,” Rainbow grumbled. “Was that all part of your masterplan?”
Twilight frowned. “Not quite.” Then she promptly beamed. “Well, I mean, let me just magic my way out of this…”
Her horn sparked, though nothing happened.
Twilight blinked and looked at the netting, letting out a helpless little noise as she ran her hoof across one of its fibres. “Oh shit.”
“That isn’t a very reassuring ‘oh shit’, darling,” Rarity said. “Unless you meant, oh shit I have an idea, or oh shit here comes help.”
“The rope is made of some kind of magic negating substance.” Her eyes sparkled. “That’s so fascinating, I’ve never encountered this kind of…”
“Focus!” Rainbow barked. “You can nerdgasm about the rope later, after we’re safely on the ground.”
“Right, right…” Twilight drew in a breath and let it out slowly. When the other two looked at her in anticipation, she offered a shaky smile. “So… I’ve uh… I’ve got nothing.”
“Maybe those ponies could help us!” Rarity suggested, pointing down below.
A group of six ponies had arrived. They were all stoic looking and had earthen shades for their coats. They were earth ponies and each bore an obsidian tipped spear, which looked particularly menacing to a currently trapped Twilight. They were also covered in all sort of tribal markings done in a red paint.
“See! What did I tell you? We’re dealing with…” Rainbow began, glaring at Twilight.
Twilight rolled her eyes and promptly cut her off. “A hunting party who was just watching their trap. We’re very fortunate that…”
She was cut off as the netting was slowly lowered towards the ground. After a few moments, they were dumped out upon the forest floor.
Though before any of them could move, five of the earth ponies levelled their spears at Twilight and her friends. Meanwhile a sixth started to lay down some form of rune around the scene. It was being done with some sort of mystic grey chalk that remined Twilight of ground up Magikite Ore. Not something that would make spellcasting any easier.
Twilight also couldn’t help but be amazed by the practice. “Fascinating.”
“Still think they’re here to rescue us?” Rainbow grumbled.
Twilight bit her lip. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for what’s going on here?”
“I mean we have a group of feral ponies who are here to enslave us,” Rainbow explained. “I think the spears make that point pretty freaking obvious, Twi.”
Before Twilight could retort, Rarity loudly cleared her throat. This earned her the attention of the nearest tribal who studied Rarity with a cautious gaze.
“Excuse me, yoo hoo, gentlestallions,” Rarity called, batting her eyelashes. “I’m sure that there’s some other way we could get out of this situation. I, for one, would be most inconvenienced by being enslaved. Maybe I could provide you with some other service instead?”
One of the tribal ponies glanced at Rarity, then spoke. His language was not Equestrian in nature.
Rarity and Rainbow looked at him, utterly dumbfounded, before turning to Twilight.
“Can you translate, egghead?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Do you just assume that I’m going to be well versed in every spoken language to…”
Rainbow cocked a brow.
Twilight sighed. “Fine, fine, I suppose I do know a little Mareazonian.”
She looked at the stallion and asked him to repeat himself in a halting version of his language.
He did so.
Twilight bit her lip. “I think he said something about wanting to use one of us? I don’t exactly know. My knowledge of their language is…”
Two of the tribal ponies had started to kindle a fire, while a third went about setting up camp.
Rarity blushed. “They need to use one of us?” She glanced around at her party. “One of us needs to be used by six strapping stallion studs…” She bit her lip and let out a rather dramatic sigh. “I suppose I will make the noble sacrifice then.” She waved her hoof and pressed it against her forehead. “No, no, please don’t try and stop me!”
Twilight ignored her, trying her best to understand that final word in the sentence. She repeated it again and again. there was something about it that didn’t quite sit right with her.
Did it really mean use?
Rarity extended a hoof to one of her captors. “Just please be gentle you roguish brutes. This is only my third time handling this many stallions at once.”
“Err… pardon?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight continued to repeat the word, just as one of the stallions took Rarity’s hoof.
“Oh shit,” she whispered.
“Oh shit?” Rainbow repeated, her gaze snapping to Twilight.
Twilight looked at Rarity and hissed through tightly clenched teeth. “I may have made a slight mistranslation. He didn’t mean, ‘use one of us’.”
“Well what did he mean then?” Rarity asked, stepping out of the circle with her escort.
Just then, the fire caught and the two ponies who were kindling it cheered victoriously. Next, they went about assembling a spit above the raging flames.
Rarity looked at it and then back at Twilight. “Twilight…”
“Yes, Rarity?” Twilight replied, trying her best not to look her friend in the eye.
“What did he mean?” Rarity asked, swallowing a lump in her throat.
“Well Rarity, you’re a really good friend and uh…” Twilight chuckled nervously. “Your sacrifice will be remembered?”
Author's Note
And i'm retired. Visit my carrd if you're interested in following me as i start on this next step of my writing adventure.
It's been fun Fimfic. Thanks for everything.
Visit my website if you want to find more of my work
P.S. Commissions and Patreon commitments will still be honoured if such things happen in the future.
