Canterlot Academy Trials

Meanwhile, in Abyssinia…

As soon as Laurent made it home, he had no time to react before he was ambushed, and stuffed into a bag with his wrists bound and mouth gagged by rope. The lynx boy squirmed about and wriggled uncontrollably, but he was completely in the dark until he was finally exposed and revealed to be tied to a chair in a dimly lit cobblestone dungeon…

“...Mmph?! MMPH!” the lynx hissed upon regaining his vision and looked around for any sign of who put him here.

As it turned out, Odu’s associates had brought him here--a caracal cat woman and a puma man.

Soon enough, the tiger man himself would walk into the dungeon area and greet the lynx boy. “Ah, you’re here. Good. Seems we can finally execute the next stage of my plan.”

Laurent became hysterical as he kicked his legs about, unable to speak but demanding some sort of answer.

Odu saw fit to indulge him for the time being, and nodded to the caracaless who removed the rope around Laurent’s mouth.

“Rrrrgh!” he purred angrily, “What is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?!”

“Isn’t it obvious? Well no, I suppose it isn’t,” the tiger man shrugged his shoulders and went on, “Long story short, Abyssinia has entered an era of peace…and stagnation. Our old rivals in Caninia can’t be allowed to continue living after what they did to our ancestors. I’m sure you know of the war between the Abyssinians and Diamond Dogs from around a century ago.”

Of course Laurent knew. It was a fact of life taught in all of their school curriculums. “Yeah, but we made peace with them about 10 years ago, didn’t we? All that shit we did to each other was in the past because of two stubborn assholes on both sides!”

While this was the case, Odu simply refused to believe that his kind was at fault in the situation. “...I don’t recall asking for your input, child.”

“Oh, okay then--so how about this,” Laurent changed the subject, “Why in the hell am I even here? Huh??”

“That’s simple…we’re going to give ourselves an alibi that the king and queen are going to follow us upon. With your help boy, we're going to show them just how awful those mangy mutts can be,” he nodded at one of his assistants.

This time, the puma man went to a nearby dungeon cell and retrieved what looked like a pet carrier that shivered violently and wildly with beady red eyes being the only think poking out of the strikingly dark box.

“W-w-what?!” the lynx boy bit his lip and quivered within his seat out of fear. “...w-why are you doing this to me?!”

Odu simply folded his arms. “A sacrifice is necessary for this plan to come to fruition, dear boy. Demented pups like these are the exact problem with this world. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to let Rooba know how you felt about her once you’ve passed on. Your death will serve the greater good. Come now you two.”

The puma and caracal folks followed the tiger man out of the room. With the pet carrier’s lock being set in front of Laurent on a timer, it would be only five minutes before the lynx boy would fall victim to whatever lay inside.

Helpless, all Laurent could do was shout wildly as he felt the blood pump into his ears. “...you’re a monster…you’ll never take power, you hear me! You’re done! You’re finished! As soon as I get outta here, I’ll--”

Clink.

With that, the dungeon’s door was shut and locked, leaving him alone with whatever was in that carrier. And as soon as he realized what it was, he panicked. Sadly, all he could do was begin to sob and scream as he shook about within his restraints.

"No...nonono...it's a...HELP! HELP ME! GET ME OUTTA HERE! I won't be off-pace anymore! Please! I don't wanna die...I don't wanna die...!!"

But up in the ceiling, someone had been watching the situation unfold, and kept a close eye on the lynx and the cage.

“...This is gonna be a pain, but I’ll have to get him outta here if I wanna proceed.”

Back in the goblin’s cave in the middle of the desert…

Uzi would go on to explain what exactly her and her mother had witnessed thus far, which included the tiger man meeting with other Abyssinians in his gang to set up a plan of attack from an old fort at the edge of the region.

“It’s like a small castle,” she explained, “A single tower with a few ramparts surrounding it. That’s where he tends to go, so that’s your best bet.”

“Any idea what they could be planning?” Fang asked.

Uzi shrugged her shoulders. “Outside of the same ol’ shit about killing all dogfolk, not much else. If you want my best guess, they’re prolly gonna stage an attack on themselves so the Abyssinian royals will let ‘em wage war.”

Lee would comment on this from her own experiences, “...I’ve seen those ideas used before against previous Emperors. They are not fun. Nor fair. We cannot allow more corruption to spread.”

Rufus would put his hooves together and crack his neck. “Alright then, what’s the plan? Do we run up and smash ‘em or do we sneak in?”

“Never would I imagine you’d be up for sneaking in anywhere, Rufus,” Spear snarked at the yak with a grin on her face, “But I think we should get a proper layout of the place first before we--”

But just then, their conversation was interrupted by the voice and appearance of another goblin woman who looked to be the same age as Uziel. The main difference between the two was that this one had a head of red hair instead.

“Uzi! Uzi! We got a problem!” the redhead goblin rushed in and stopped before panting to catch her breath.

“...Sariel? What’s wrong?” Uziel asked.

The new goblin, whose name was Sariel, then explained what had just happened not long ago. “It’s Ziwa! She’s been kidnapped by some cat lady!”

Uziel froze. “...”