Nine was in pain as he laid on the cold and damp floor of the dark jail cell. The smell of death, mold, and stagnant water filled his nose making him choke as he remained still, as the screams and cries of several other prisoners were beaten or begged for mercy.
He kept running today through his head, and all of the events that got out of a cell in his world and thrown into a cell in another world.
"Wake up, slaves, time to work," the slave owner yelled out as the bright red light of the cells light up and filled the room with an unpleasant red, burning Nine's eyes as he got up. Nine made his small cot, before walking to the small metal chest in the cell, grabbing his work rags. As his hands touched the metal lid of the chest, the scars, cuts, and bruises caused tears to appear in his eyes, before pushing them aside and getting dressed.
Nine was a slave of the prosperous Aldemia Family. He worked in the family's textile factory, where any day could be his last. For nine years now, he had been slaving away, being beaten, scolded, tortured, starved, and nothing was ever going to change this. He wasn't a person, he was an object and he had no right to demand to be treated better. He was barely 14, stood around four-foot-seven, weighed around 90 pounds, and could barely pick up a jug of water for cleaning. The only reason he was kept around or kept alive was because of the mental torture the slave owner loves forcing upon him.
"Nine, come on, it's time to get to work," Ten put his hand on his shoulder, only to get shrugged off by Nine, who looked at him with a disinterested look, the bags under his eyes blending in with the bruises around his eyes and cheeks. "S-Sorry, just looking out for you."
"I don't need someone looking after me, I can fend for myself," Nine told Ten as he walked past him, the skinny child walking out of the cell and walking to the factory. Two days ago, two slaves died in the factory, both got sucked into weaving machines, the blood was weaved into the cloth and sold at a higher price to the wickedest buyer. They were siblings, one was an accident and the other was an example set forth by a factory manager, don't cry for a pathetic worm or you will end up like them.
"Ah, look, it's the failure who got the 50 lashings yesterday," The snooty assholish voice of a factory manager rung in Nine's ears as a strong hand grabbed on to his shoulder, spinning him around and facing the pig who ran Nine's section of the factory. He had his morning cigarette and glass of whisky on his breath, his flushed face told him all he needed to know. "You might have got a lashing, but your mother and sister got fucked by each and every one of the Aldemia family members, then us factory workers got a turn."
His shit-eating grin as he laughed and pushed Nine away from him made Nine growl, the feeling of blood lust and murder in his heart was only dissuaded by the disgust in his stomach. They had killed his mother and sister 6 years ago and just kept them around as sex toys. Nine had no idea if they were fucking rotten corpses or skeletons, but he didn't care.
"Get to work, you runt," the manager spit out after finishing his constant stream of laughs and coughs, but after those words left his mouth, he doesn't remember what happened. The feeling of fire ripping away at his skin, melting his muscles and his bones being ground to dust. It felt like his very being was getting taken apart and put back together again several hundred thousand times a second for eternity. Thankfully, this hell only lasted three seconds before he blacked out from the pain.
When he awoke, he was somewhere much different, and the pain had subsided as well. The floor beneath him wasn't cold concrete or wet stone bricks, but a smooth wood. The room was nearly pitch black except for the numerous candles surrounding him. And there was a figure, from his position on the ground, it looked like a child, or just someone crouched down.
"I don't have much time, listen to me, savior, my name is Princess Twilight Sparkle, heir to the Equestrian Throne, I summoned you to our world in hopes that you will save it," the figured lifted their head, and underneath the cowl of the cloak, was a horse face, except her eyes were comically large for an animal, and her coat was a brilliant violet. A large scar ran down across her face, starting at her temple and ending at her lip, also traveling over her eye, leaving it glazed over. "Nine, I need you to save my world, my life, and every Equestrian's life rests entirely in your hands."
Before Nine could utter any form of rejection or rebuttal, a door to the room was blown in, followed by several ponies. Some wielding advanced firearms, far more advanced than any firearm Nine had ever seen in his world. The guns also didn't resemble anything Nine had seen used in his world, seemingly designed to be used by a horse, the gun was strapped to a harness on the horse's body. These ponies rushed into the room, as Twilight quickly stood up and between Nine and the group entering the room.
"Well, well, well, Twilight, I'm impressed that you managed to summon... something, but that is no 'savior' if I've ever seen one," a soft melodic voice echoed out as a single pony entered the room, a large pony whose coat was as white as snow, her mane flowed with a shiny rainbow color. Her aura radiated a motherly image, but her exterior dashed that. Her coat was soaked and caked with blood, a necklace of horns and wings hung around her neck, and her eyes showed an emotion Nine had seen several times before. Bloodlust and hatred. "I'm gonna skin you and hang your coat above my throne!"
Twilight didn't respond, just rushing forward towards the crazed pony, her cloak flying off her at the speed she took off at, though the speed didn't seem to help as Twilight was stopped in her tracks, a loud crack filling the room as her neck snapped from the magical grip the pony had cast around her neck. Twilight gasped softly, tears filling her eyes before her body fell limp, the life fading from her eyes as a single tear fell from her, splashing on the ground.
"Hmm, pathetic bitch didn't even manage to last a minute in a fight... can't believe I ever called her my student," she threw Twilight's corpse to the side, two ponies coming in behind the crazy pony and taking Twilight's body out of the room. "You, 'savior', will be the entertainment I was gonna have with Twilight!" With a maniacal laugh, the crazed pony left the room, leaving Nine to be easily knocked unconscious by a single pony and be carried away.
Nine sighed as he sat up in his cot, his hands chained together. The spell cast on the shackles made it so that it was glued to his skin, making removing them impossible except for the pony that put them on. Nine learned that the hard way, the blood on his arms, and lack of skin on his wrists proves it. Celestia had introduced herself to Nine when she had started her entertainment, which consisted of skinning Nine's back a few layers every hour for seven hours. In those seven hours, Nine learned a lot about this new world.
First, humans exist in this world and are treated as objects, not living creatures. Most aren't given food, and will commonly resort to eating the weakest slave. Some are blinded, whipped, burnt, delimbed, and even neutered or castrated. Just because their owners find it funny. Second, there are four different races of ponies, the lowest race is Earth pony, who are treated nearly as badly as the humans. They are allowed food but aren't allowed to own properties or belongings unless granted specific rights by Celestia. After Earth ponies are the pegasi, who are treated fairly but not as highly as unicorns. They can own slaves and property and can work government positions. Unicorns are treated the highest out of the three common races, they're seen as a symbol of perfection and are allowed to do a number of things to any of the lower races. Finally, there is the alicorn. Celestia is the last remaining alicorn after she killed the others. Each one's coat was hung above Celestia's throne, each horn and wing was added to her necklace.
"H-Hello, can you hear me?" Nine nearly jumped out of his skin as a soft voice echoed from somewhere, knocking him from his thoughts. "Nine, can you hear me?"
"Who's that?" Nine asked softly, as he looked around the empty cell, his heart beginning to race.
"My name is Fluttershy, and I'm not there, or anywhere, I was a spell cast upon you by Twilight when you were summoned, my name, nature, and personality are based on one of her friends that she lost when Celestia went crazy," the soft meager voice informed him. "I am speaking in your mind, and you can respond in your mind as well. My goal was given to me by Twilight before her death was to keep you alive at all costs, and help you defeat Celestia."
"Defeat Celestia, I can't do that," Nine refuted as he sat in the corner of the cell. "I'm a no one, and I will die a no one, I can't defeat Celestia, and I never will be able to."
"You're wrong, completely wrong, Twilight put all of her faith in you, and now she is dead," Fluttershy argued, her tone rising in octaves as she got angry. "Are you okay with letting Twilight's death be in vain?"
"Yes," Nine replied with no emotion in his voice. "Where I'm from, death happened everywhere, I've seen more people die than most."
Fluttershy didn't respond for the longest time, taken aback by his hostility.
"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but Twilight was an idiot for summoning," Nine apologized as he crossed his arms over his knees, staring at the tattoo on his arm, giving him his rank, name, and number. The only thing readable anymore was his rank and number, his name having been burnt off by the slave owner's youngest son.
"Why do you have so much hate in your body, towards everything, your world, our world," Fluttershy asked, her tone less curious and more remorseful. "Towards yourself?"
Nine didn't respond, as he stared at his hands, the bruises and scars being pronounced against his nearly pale skin. The very thought of him ever becoming a hero or savior of anything was so outside of imagination it made him sick. The sound of metal hoof steps approached Nine's cell, who didn't give any attention to the sound.
"You, human child, stand up, Celestia demands you to be executed for her amusement," a guard wearing steel armor barked at him. Nine looked up and sighed, before standing up and approaching the bars.
"W-Wait, Nine, what are you doing!" Fluttershy screamed at him, in fear and panic. Nine ignored her as the door to his cell slid open, and the guard pulled him out, forcing him to the ground.
"Crawl, bitch, you humans don't deserve to walk on two legs, nothing about you is superior," the guard ordered before laughing at the obedient human.
"N-Nine, please, I beg of you, don't let me die again," Fluttershy begged, the tone of her voice making it sound like she was crying. The words bounced around inside his head, blocking his thoughts as he began to crawl. "I-I don't want to die again, Nine."
"Don't worry, Elenia, I won't let you suffer anymore," Nine spoke softly, before breaking into a sprint, using the guard's laughing fit as a chance for his escape. He felt the cuffs on his wrists begin to tighten, squeezing his wrists and digging into his skin, but he pushed it into the back of his head as he ran down the dark dungeon hallway, the guards had started giving chase. At the end of the hall he was in, was a wooden door with the label 'laundry' on it, and he quickly ran through it. The room was small, but he saw exactly what he was looking for. A window without bars on it. "You said you were tasked at keeping me alive, right, then do that."
"What do you mean?" Without giving Fluttershy an answer, Nine ran at the window, and jumped through the window. Glass cut into his skin as he felt the cold mountain air hit his skin, followed by the feeling of falling. Nine slowly opened his eyes as he stared down the side of the Canterlot mountain. Which was quickly approaching him. Nine curled up into a ball and braced as he slammed into the side of the rocky mountain, snow clutching to his skin and hair. He bounced and rolled down the side of the mountain for several hundred feet, before slamming into the rocky bottom. Nine laid there as he slowly closed his eyes, consciousness fleeing his body.
Nine groaned as he slowly stirred, his mind feeling numb. He slowly opened his eyes, early morning light filling his eyes as he looked around. He was no longer laying at the foot of a mountain but in a decently furnished bedroom. There was little in the way of decorations, but it had a dresser and a bed.
"Fluttershy, are you there?" Nine asked softly.
"Of course, I am always here," Fluttershy responded, her voice was soft and quiet. "I'm so happy you're okay, please don't ever do something like that again."
"I'll try, but where are we?" Nine asked as he looked around the room again.
"I don't know, I fall unconscious when you do, your life force is also my life force, if you fall asleep, so do I, if you die, so do I," Fluttershy responded, sounding ashamed. "Oh, may I ask who Elenia is?"
"She was my sister," Nine spoke softly, as memories of his sister filled his head. As he relived memories, tears filled his eyes. "She was murdered by my owner."
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up those memories," Fluttershy apologized. Nine smiled as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
"It's okay, I accepted her death long ago," it was a lie, he never has nor will he ever accept her death. "You remind me of her, she was caring and loving."
"Oh... um, thank you, Nine," Nine couldn't see her, but he could tell she was blushing. He slowly sat up, carefully to make sure he didn't upset anything broken. The cuffs on his hands were also absent now, the bloodied and scarred wrists underneath now on full display.
"So I'm the hero of this world," Nine asked softly, as he rubbed his wrists softly. With a soft sigh, Nine stood up and approached the drawers. "What happened to Celestia, what happened to this world, everything just feels wrong?"
"I'm not entirely certain, as I was killed the day of her change, but from the little information Twilight gave me, she believed this was the work of Discord or another world-altering deity," Fluttershy explained, filling his mind with imagines of the things this Discord character had done. Seeing him take over ponies' minds, changing their natures. "This world has always been relatively peaceful, the darkest thing that exists is the treatment of humans."
"So the split in the races is a new thing?"
"Yes, for the most part, the races have never had a hierarchy, but long ago the races used to fight one another, and only through cooperation could they save the world," Fluttershy instructed, showing me simple recreations of the race wars in the past.
"When did humans become a thing in this world?" Nine asked as he looked at his back in the mirror, the bloody skin from where he had been skinned still red and puffy.
"Around five or so years ago, we found the first few lost in the Everfree Forest, then they just kept coming," Nine listened carefully as he sat down, preparing to learn about this world's history. "May I ask a couple of questions?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Why do you suddenly care about this world?"
"To be honest, I'm doing this for you, you seem honest and caring and as I said, you remind me of my sister, and you're right, I can't let Twilight's death mean nothing, so I'll do my damnedest to save this world, even if it means my death."
"Oh... thank you, Nine, genuinely, you try and make yourself appear cold and heartless, but you really do care," Nine blushed softly as he scratched the side of his head. "My second was, do you not feel those wounds, Nine?"
"No, I feel them, every time my heart beats, they explode in an impossible amount of pain," Nine explained as he touched the sore wounds on his back. "Every hit, bruise, injury, cut, wound I feel it, I just take the pain and add it to my hatred of everything."
"That's... impressive, a lot of people and ponies would be done for the count with wounds like that, but you take the pain and amplify it into hatred," Nine nodded as he dug a finger into a sore part of his back, blood pooling around his finger, but his facial expression showed no hint of pain. He pushed deeper until he felt the pain subside, the nerve ending submitting to the amateur acupuncture. Fluttershy watched, not really having any choice, but she wanted to anyway. "Nine... Twilight told me you need to get to the Tree of Harmony, she told me that it would be the safest place for you and that the tree would help you get stronger."
"Tree of Harmony?"
"Yes, it's the tree that controls the order in our world, if something gets out of order, the tree seeks out a single being to correct that order, Twilight went to the tree for guidance after Celestia's change, and she said it showed her visions of you," Nine stood, rubbing his shoulder.
"Why hasn't Celestia destroyed this Tree of Harmony, if it's the only thing that can stop her?"
"Well, a couple years ago, a dark pony named Sombra attempted to destroy the tree, but the Tree retaliated and killed him, so I think Celestia is afraid of the tree."
"Fluttershy, can you see my memories?" Nine asked as he approached the door to the room. "There are things I don't want you to know about me."
"No, I'm not really in your head, I'm more of an exterior being that can help you, I can't see anything in your head without your permission," Fluttershy explained. "I'm sorry I can't explain it better, I don't really understand what I am to be completely honest, I never was intelligent about magicks."
"If you're not in my head, could you manifest yourself only to me?"
"I... I could, but that would require vast amounts of magical energy from the caster or the recipient," Fluttershy explained. "That would be Twilight or yourself."
"Damn, well, which way is the Tree of Harmony?"
"Uh... I don't know until we get outside."
Nine shrugged, before opening the door to the room, outside was a mare, her orange hair covered up under a stetson and a single tear streak running down her cheek as she looked at the door Nine just opened.
"How do you know Fluttershy!" The mare's country accent rose in pitch, as she approached Nine.