Tsundere Travels

Limestone Pie’s head was pounding, like a dozen miners were trying to pickaxe their way into her skull. She was cold, almost chilled, like something had sucked all of the heat out of her. The floor beneath her was hard and cold, and she couldn’t feel a blanket covering her. And her face felt funny, like there was something on it. Limestone wondered if she had fallen asleep in the mine again.

Then she remembered.

Her eyes snapped open. Then squeezed them shut them again when the pain in her head screamed in protest. When the pain quieted to a dull roar, she slowly and carefully opened her eyes. She saw a gray wall, almost perfectly flat but with a rough texture. It didn’t look natural, no one would take the time to smooth a rock wall like that. And from her point of view, the wall was on its side since she was lying on her right side on the floor. Limestone glanced to her left and only saw a featureless ceiling. From where she was, she couldn’t see anything else. So she decided to get up off the floor and look around. Her muscles were stiff from the cold, so it took a lot more work to stand up than she expected it to. They were so stiff that she guessed she had been on the cold floor for several hours.

There wasn’t much to see, after all. The room was rectangular, with a back wall maybe ten feet wide and featureless gray side walls that were about three times as long as the back wall. The front of the cell - and Limestone knew it was a cell, what else could it be - was made of metal bars covered in a wide metal mesh. There was a metal bar running down the middle and a square box on the right edge. It made sense to her that the door to her cell was on the right, with the hinges in the middle on the metal bar. She was sure she could kick her way out, as only her sister Maud had stronger legs.

Then, there were the strange sounds. She could hear the whine of distressed dogs, and an occasional bark. No voices. There was a hum coming from the ceiling outside her cell, somewhere near the bright lights. And now that she paid attention to it, the whole place smelled like dogs. Dog sweat, dog pee, dog crap. The smell was one of the reasons the mare didn’t like dogs.

Limestone’s nose was suddenly itchy, but when she reached up to rub it she hit something else. Her muzzle felt funny, but she hadn’t paid attention to it until then. Something hard was wrapped around it; the thing sounded like metal when she tapped on it. Strong straps wrapped around her head to keep the thing tight on her muzzle, and she could feel buckles holding the straps in place. They would be nearly impossible to get loose with just hooves. Whatever was stuck on her, it would be staying there until she got some help.

Realization slowly dawned upon her. This thing on her muzzle, WAS a muzzle! Whoever threw her in here had muzzled her! And it was humiliating! Limestone could feel her face reddening in embarrassment, and her temper flared up in a full raging fire.

“GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!”

Limestone ran up to the cell bars, then turned around to kick the lock open. Several well-placed kicks, however, had failed to open the lock. She could feel the metal of the lock bending, so either the lock was stronger then she thought or she had just jammed it shut.

“YOU BUCKING BUCKERS! LET ME OUT OF HERE!”

The mare’s rage focused on the center metal bar of her cage, where she was sure held the secret to escaping. She stomped over to face the metal bar, then turned to buck it with all of her might! She knew she felt the metal give. Four more bucks with her hooves, and she was positive the metal was bending. Soon, she would have her freedom!

Limestone’s right cutie mark suddenly erupted in pain, like she had been stung by a hundred bees all at once. At the same time, the muscles in her body suddenly cramped up and she fell hard to the floor. The stinging sensation continued until her vision narrowed to black and she fell blissfully unconscious.