Survival Through Resignation

Apple Bloom kept scrubbing and scrubbing. She'd been elevated from floors to toilets. She didn't see this as an upgrade, but more along the lines of being rewarded for her hard work with more work. In fact, she wasn't even allowed to use a regular brush, as she'd been completing her tasks too quickly. She'd been given a smaller brush and told to make smaller circles with it.

She was glad to not have an instructor watching over her this time, instead being overseen by Sandstorm, who had been told to use the whip but opted not to, so long as they did a good job.

"And they just give it to you?" asked Genevieve from the next stall over. "What if you use it to whip them?"

"Whipping a guard is a sure-fire way to have your whip removed. While you have one, they have dozens, and a single slave will give up long before they run out of guards."

"What if that slave has a lot of stamina? She could outlast them."

"They can always just kill her," answered Apple Bloom. "Out on the farm, if the plow stops plowin', ya break it down and use it for parts. If ya can't use it for parts, ya throw it out. Melt it down and turn it inta somethin' useful."

Genevieve swallowed hard. "Wow. That's brutal."

"Well, we tried ta keep everythin' in workin' order. If we can keep the plow, we don't have ta pay ta replace it. If we can pull some spare parts off it, we can just fix the broken pieces. A couple a' leather straps are way cheaper and easier to put on than havin' a new plow delivered and assembled."

"Wow," chuckled Sandstorm. "I was kinda hoping that we'd be bought by the same owner, but I have to wonder if you wouldn't be better suited as a farm slave, Apple Bloom. Being out in the field, working the land... Honestly, I think you'd take to it really well."

"Well, Ah'm hopin' that Ah can just run a farm, and drop the whole "slave" part of it out of the equation."

They all shrugged, though neither Genevieve nor Apple Bloom could see each other. "What about you, Gen?" asked Sandstorm. "What kind of position do you hope to attain?"

"One in which I can be the one holding the whip," she grinned. "And if I can tie him to the bed, too, that'll make it easier to escape."

"Dead set on the freedom, huh?"

"And how about you, Sandy?" asked Apple Bloom. "We've told ya ours. What's your desired position?"

"Honestly?" She paused for a moment to think about it. "I want a home position where the master is fair and just. Where if I do my job well, I can have a decent meal at the end of the day and go right to bed."

There was a pause, where the sound of brushing was the only noise in the room. "That's not a very big dream," commented Apple Bloom.

"Maybe not," chuckled Sandstorm, "but it's realistic. If I set my expectations to it, it's attainable. And honestly, even if I was a field slave with Apple Bloom, or a bed slave with Gen, I could be okay with it. It's all about not being punished for something beyond my control or knowledge."

"Ah suppose that wouldn't be so bad." Apple Bloom sighed. She was glad to have made some friends, and with no overseer, they were allowed to talk for a bit.

All of that changed as the door opened and a zebra walked in. He put his hand on Apple Bloom's face and shoved her out of the stall before taking a piss into the bowl. Apple Bloom was certainly upset by this, but having been here for two weeks now, she was used to it. This wasn't a battle she could win, and it wasn't very hard to flush, wipe down the rim, and go right back to scrubbing.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. When he was done, he grabbed her be the mane and dragged her toward the door. "Now that I have had my pee, you, little miss, are coming with me."

It was several steps down the hallway before Apple Bloom righted herself enough to walk behind him without too much strain on her mane. She didn't know what she did, or if she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. She did know that the guard could bring her into any of these empty rooms and exact his will on her, whatever it may be, but the fact that he didn't even bother checking meant that he had someplace special in mind.

She couldn't raise her head for the tight grip he had on her mane, so she just watched the floorboards drifting by until finally, they came to a stop long enough to open a door. With a hard yank, she was tossed forward, collapsing in a crumpled heap on the floor.

She tried to stand up and look around, but a clawed foot held her down. "Well, well. Somepony's been a very naughty filly."

"Have Ah?"

The claws dug into her shoulder. "I thought I told you to lose that accent, girl..."

Apple Bloom grunted in pain, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry or beg. "I-I have done ev'ry tas-- Ah!!"

""Every," girl, "Every!""

"I-I've done all you asked!"

""You've,"" he corrected again, "and no, you have not. You refuse to learn to speak properly, as I've had to correct you three times during this conversation. But it is for another rule broken that concerns me today." He very quickly bound her legs individually, keeping her knees out and her heels pressed to her butt. Her arms were bound behind her back, and a cloth gag was tied into her mouth.

He opened a door to a small hallway, which had a lot of closed doors close together, as if they opened to closets. He opened one, and Wibble Wobble fell out, looking exhausted. He pulled down her gag and rolled her onto her back. "Please," she begged. "Water..."

"Tell Apple Bloom what you told me, Wibby."

She looked up at Apple Bloom, and her eyes filled with tears. "I-I'm sorry..."

With a swift kick, the gryphon headmaster leaned down over her. "That's not what you told me. Try again."

Wibby coughed a few times, then looked up at Apple Bloom. "Applejack is going to come s-save us. A-Applejack is going to rescue us all..."

Her gag was put back in and retightened, and she was put back in the small room and forced to squat on her bound legs. "Now, I wonder where she could have heard that," sneered the headmaster. "We have a special punishment for dissenters." He opened a door a few down and placed Apple Bloom in there, forcing her to squat on her toes to stay away from the metal grate beneath her. It was very hot, and as the door closed, steam began to vent from below.

At first, it felt like a spa treatment, but after a few minutes, Apple Bloom was feeling what Wibby had indicated. The cotton gag had sucked all of the moisture from her mouth, and the sweating she was going through had her very thirsty, moreso than usual. She needed fluids, but the moisture in the air around her was only making things worse. Water was everywhere, but she couldn't drink a drop.