Verve

Umbra’s full weight sagged on the heavy shackles, the sweat pooling from her neck and legs. She could feel the blood in her body settling farther down, deeper into her already jelly-like muscles. She had never wanted to lay down so badly in all of her life, as her sawdust covered face peaked up at the support beam above her. Just another inch or three, and she might be able to force it… but she simply didn’t have the resolve to push on for another round of desperate struggling.

The sun was up now. That much, she was aware - especially when an enraged Captain strode through the door with a clatter. The cool wind whipped the sweat off of her crumbling body, forcing her to take a gasp. Behind him, the dark skyline glimmered with stars - even in the blinding light of day.

“For fuck’s sake, a delay. A full week’s delay! I have to wait until Princess Celestia is feeling well before she sends her snobby troops to meet on the Smokey Mountains. And now there’s a weird… fucking blue spot in the sky, and the moon still won’t go down! Do you fucking have any idea how little I give a shit about your stupid sun princess?! King Leotoln, bless his resting pinions - he sent her to the moon for a REASON.”

He kicked so hard at the cell’s iron bars, that one of them bent an inch inwards. Umbra could hardly care less; they couldn’t break her with idle threats. She refused to give up hope now; if the sun has risen, Arin has returned. He’ll save her. He wouldn’t leave her to die. That wasn’t speculation - she knew her fletchling Seraph beyond words.

“And this concerns me how?” Umbra glared, raising her head to stare at the grease-slicked Seraph.

“It concerns you, ‘Queenie’, because I’m so fucking sick of reading horse speak, talking to horses, thinking about fucking horses-”

“I thought you bucked men? Do stallions suit your fancy now, too?”

The Captain’s voice died in his throat. Silently, he jostled the keys free of his pouch - approaching the door with vile intent. She had a clear memory of the past spring up as the door swung open - of when Arin essentially challenged her into killing him. He was suicidal to suggest it - but it worked in breaking her from her thoughts.

Perhaps that tendency to challenge authority - passed on through him - would lead to her death here, now. She knew she made a mistake, as the first blow - a clenched fist directly to her unprotected muzzle - nearly knocked her head back.

“And I’m beyond done-”

His fist slammed into her stomach, forcing her to gag and shudder in disgust.

“With YOU’RE FUCKING-”

Another blow, this one to her lower ribs - instantly winding her as the liver shot nearly made her cry out.

“MOUTH!”

He struck so hard at her cheek, she was shocked a tooth didn’t come loose - regardless, thick blood pulled in her muzzle, the enraged Unicorn staring up to challenge his blue eyes with her wincing green gaze.

“Then why do you…” she wheezed at the lack of air, fighting back the urge to dry heave. “Why do you keep coming here… to listen to it?”

At that, the empowered Seraph growled - landing another punch into her gut. That’s where it would hurt the most - her empty stomach. Umbra coughed and sputtered, shaking from hoof to horn in surging pain.

It was incredibly rare a creature could harm her. A blow would have to come either outside of perception, or when she was incapacitated. In Harmony’s case, it would have to come in such a wide area of effect that she couldn’t escape the twirling beam of light. Her shadow form made her near unkillable in combat.

But here, bound and magic gagged - she stood no chance. The former umbrum glared through the pain, fighting back the urge to whimper. She would not break, no matter the abuse. Starvation, beatings - Umbra would persist.

“You’re lucky the payday is worth the trouble. Three years, I’ve been hiding from the law here in ‘Equis’ - I was a respected man in Erenorn! One of the best damn Crossbow Seraphs in the Far Reaches! I perfected the art - refined it! Ages, decades of my life! I had novels for the craft - and when that bored me, I took the blade. I was aspiring to be Leotoln’s second! His right hand Seraph! All - GONE!”

His hands latched so tight around her neck, that it almost felt like he was trying to pop her head off from the titan’s grip alone. And he had no intention of stopping - the iron grasp held tight, choking the precious air out of her lungs. Her vision darked at the seams, the Seraph stepping to the side to let her blood-swollen hindlegs kick uselessly at the air.

The ship shifted several inches down, as a firm knock at the door soon followed. Knock? More like a rattling BANG. A second later, the handle turned, a giant of a Seraph kneeling down to look inside.

“The FUCK do you want, Oarkin? Get the fuck back to work! Find something useful to do! Something other than sit on your ass and eat our fucking rations!”

The giant Seraph glared at him behind gray eyes, scratching his bald head - before stroking his beard. He looked simply too big to fit inside the door - as much as he’d probably like to do.

“There is no honor in killing jailed horses.” His glare shot through the Captain. “Come! Leave her be. There are many things to see down below! Strange things, yes.”

His thick accent immediately reminded Umbra of her dealings with the Southern Spears in Erenorn; and as the hands fell away, she took a pained gasp of fresh air. Oxygen rousing her blood to move once more, however weakly it may without food.

By the time she recovered from her pained breaths, the door was already closed. Agonized body quivering like a leaf, she turned her eyes up at her single barricade to freedom. If she just had a few more inches… Arin was on the way. But if things didn’t improve soon - she’d very well perish from the abuse before the Seraph she adored had a chance to even see her again.

She couldn’t risk any more witty comments. Another chirp like that, and the still nameless Captain would impale her on a blade - a preferable alternative compared to another day wasting away here. Her best bet was silence.

Shame, too. He was rather easy to upset; but she needed to buy time. Because there was a core issue with that letter.

Why would Celestia need to recover from her tenure on the moon, to send a ship to collect her?

Simple. She didn’t. Celestia wouldn’t need time to send a platoon for her rescue - that was an obvious tell that something was wrong. And with that, she began to think.

The sun is up; that much she was sure. But he mentioned something about a blue spot in the sky with the risen moon; that made… little sense to her. Besides the fact that the sky was obviously blue, though… not here. And night had lasted well over a day, here in… well, the middle of nowhere. She wasn’t sure where she was, exactly - other than the sky, even in sunlight, was pitch black with sprinkled stars lining the distance.

She suddenly regretted having an orphanage level education, even if she later became well-read through acquired books and tomes. Especially after her first fight with Princess Twilight Sparkle. She needed more information on Harmony, and her only solution was reading. Know thy enemy.

Blue spot in the sky... long night, the moon is still up. Sun and moon… If Princess Celestia brought the day, Princess Luna surely ended the night.

...Princess Luna would lower the moon. Nightmare Moon would not. If both celestial bodies are fighting for dominance, then Celestia and Arin had returned - and lost their battle with Nightmare Moon. But not all is lost; they had to flee. Otherwise, well… the sun wouldn’t be up.

The letter proves it. A bid for time; Arin was coming to save her, in person. Or, she could simply be rambling in her mind in an attempt to ease her troubled nerves.

She would need a full and proper explanation, upon her escape… or, if that spark of hope burned true; her rescue. For now, she was as lost as the Seraphs holding her captive were.