I woke up who knows how long after I had fallen asleep. I didn’t open my eyes, not because of fear that they were still swollen, but because I was afraid if I did open them, Sombra or Discord will be standing there. I was still on my stomach, but it was still possible for somepony to get up in my face. I listened to see if I could hear anything. Not a peep. In fact, the silence was so thick, it almost hurt from the incessant ringing. To my surprise, my eyes flitted open the moment I told them to do so. They still hurt pretty bad, but at least I could see.

I was in a darkened room, but all I could make out was a long table with a cloth that fell to the floor and a staircase leading up, and another one leading down. The faintest of light made its way through the upper staircase. It looked like that blue-gray you often see during early winter mornings. Since no one was around, I decided to try and wiggle loose. I used my front hooves’ restraints to lift me up and bring tension off my back hooves. After a moment of brief struggling, they were free. The moment they went back to their normal position, pain struck through my spine like lightning, causing me to let go and fall through the rest of the restraints. I fell on the concrete floor, hurting every inch of my body. At least my right arm cushioned my head. I yelped loud on instinct, and immediately covered my mouth and forced myself to crawl under the table to hide. Each little movement sent waves of pain through my body, but I didn’t want to be caught by those two monsters. I laid on my side, not moving, barely breathing, and tears moistening my eyes. Please don’t come down here, please don’t come down here. I hoped like nothing else that they didn’t hear me.

Just as I thought it was safe to move around again, something grabbed my tail and pulled me out from underneath the table, hoisting me upside-down into the air. I couldn’t even thrash around because the pain was so unbearable. I wanted to cry, to whimper, to be a total wimp and hold Dante again. But not now. I had to be strong. Shutting my eyes tight, I waited for the worst. “Oohhh, we have a little Houdini in the making,” Discord sneered. He threw me hard against the wall and I hit my forehead. I cried out softly. “Ahn…” I didn’t speak or look up or even dare move. I doubt I could even do any of those things, anyway. I whimpered quietly, tears on the brink of poring out. I heard Sombra walk over and kicked me in the ribs, shooting searing pain all over. At least he didn’t buck. I hid my face in my hooves and let the tears drip onto my fur. “I hope that hurts,” Discord flatly said. “We were actually going to grant you food and a shower today, since you smell like a barn and I can see your ribs. But after that little stunt, I’m not so sure anymore. What do you think, Sombra?” “I think we should at least feed her, you know? We don’t want her to die just yet.”

Food. Dear Celestia. I didn’t realize how starving I was, until I remembered the intense pain in my stomach. How could I have forgotten food? Or even water? I then felt my whole body being moved, but I couldn’t tell how. I looked up and saw Sombra was half dragging me across the floor with a levitating spell cast from his horn. “Come on, you little annoyance…” He said that as if he was bored. He trotted with me over to the staircase that led downward, the concrete scraping my skin, creating new wounds and reopening old ones. Struggle was obviously futile, so I just took it and bit my tongue. He reached the first step with no sign of slowing down, and dragged me tail first down the stairs. Panicked, I took all of my strength to put my front hooves in front of my face and forehead so I wouldn’t hit it anymore. A scraping thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk and the sound of hooves was the only thing breaking the silence as we went down the stairs for what seemed like an eternity. I could tell Discord was right in front of me, following Sombra. As if he could tell I was thinking about him, he said, “You know, you’re a lot tougher than I had expected. Sombra and I actually made bets on when you would start bawling and break,” He chuckled. “Of course, I lost.” He sneered. I could hear Sombra chuckling to himself as we finally hit what I hoped was the bottom floor of wherever we were. This room was well-lit, and I could smell something unfamiliar cooking. I could hear a fire crackling and popping. Maybe they were making food. With hidden excitement, I lifted up my head to see what was cooking.

I wish I hadn’t.

There, hanging from the ceiling by a meat hook, was an animal. Half of its meat had been taken off, leaving entrails dangling from its stomach. I stared at it in disbelief. Upon looking at it closer, I realized I recognized what it was.

It was Tonrar.

I started to immediately throw up stomach acid. I was screaming and bawling and throwing every colorful curse word I knew at Discord and Sombra. Sombra started to cackle, tending to the fire which was cooking my best friend. I was shaking uncontrollably, gagging and unable to throw up anymore. “What the hell is wrong with you!?” I screeched. I got up and starting pounding my front hooves on Discord’s chest, even though I was too weak to do any damage. He pushed me off and I fell on the ground, still sobbing. “I guess we know what triggers your feelings,” He said, amused. Sombra then lifted me up with his horn and sat me down on a chair at a table, and strapped me in with even more leather restraints. Tears blinded me, and I thrashed around, screaming hoarsely. “TONRAR!” I started to cry hysterically and bellow obscenities.

“Oh, shut up. It’s not that bad. Try some,” What? I opened my eyes to see Sombra eat a piece of the cooked meat. I just stared at him, jaw open. Discord took this opportunity and held my jaw in place, so I couldn’t close it. What are they doing? WHAT ARE THEY DOING? I frantically thought. Sombra took a chunk of meat and brought it up to my mouth. I screamed louder than I thought was ever possible. He forced it into my mouth, and then let Discord shut my jaw and cover my lips so I couldn’t spit it out. Tears were streaming down my face, and I was puking the little stomach acid I had left into my mouth. He moved my jaw up and down to simulate chewing. I tried desperately, so desperately, to make this stop. Unfortunately, straps covered most of my body, so I couldn’t even move my head from side to side. After the meat was a warm mush, he covered my nose and lifted up my head. “Swallow,” He commanded. I knew that he wouldn’t let me breathe if I didn’t. I had no choice. I had eaten my pet. My best friend. I couldn’t cry anymore, so I just sat there, disheveled. They fed me more and more until there was a bulge in my stomach. I had thrown up twice, maybe more. After that I had just lost all strength.

Things started to make sense, I think. The metallic smell I had encountered when I woke up was blood. Tonrar was yelping when I blacked out, Volk snarling, trying to save him. I wondered why I could remember that and nothing else. I couldn’t remember the faces of my friends, or even their names. I sat there, lost in thought, while Discord and Sombra tidied up or whatever they were doing.

My parents? Nothing came to mind. Do I even have a sister? A brother? Still nothing. Was I a good student to Celestia? How can I remember Celestia and none of my friends or family? I groaned in frustration and depression. Was I a good friend?

I fell asleep in the chair, having nothing else to do. I dreamt of a cold, barren wasteland that used to be Ponyville. Everypony was covered in blood, their bodies a mangled mess, patches of fur missing in some spots. Body parts were strewn across roads and yards. Sounds of sobbing and moaning and cries for help was the theme song for this wretched vision. The sky was a golden-red and masked with black, puffy clouds. I could smell sulfur and blood and fire. Fires ate houses, charring bodies. Then, suddenly, everypony dead or alive, slowly turned their heads towards me and pointed. “Your fault… This is all your fault… Why didn’t you protect us…!? You made this happen…!” The dead ponies crawled towards me, the luckier, alive ones ran. I couldn’t move or even scream. I thought I recognized some faces, but that hope faded as the memory flew away from my grasp. They all dog piled onto me, crushing my bones and tearing at my flesh. Pure hatred and disgust filled their eyes. I then woke up with a start, seeing Discord and Sombra tugging away the straps. They both looked at me without turning their heads. “I hate you both,” I spat. Discord slapped me with his paw. “Shut up.”

When I was loose, I immediately mad a run for it, galloping toward the stairs. I had to run under Tonrar’s corpse because it was the fastest way to the stairs. Blood dripped onto my back. Halfway up the stairs, Discord materialized in front of me and I ran into him, falling backwards and tumbling down the stairs. “Are you ever not going to run into me?” I brought my wings up and I pushed off the ground as hard as I could. Sadly, the ceiling was low, so I couldn’t escape their grasp for long. Every flap of my wings hurt like hell. I collapsed onto the table and got covered in Tonrar’s entrails. I pushed off the table with my wings and flew horizontally, knocking things over and kicking flaming logs into the air. “Holy shit, calm down,” Sombra yelled. Discord grabbed me and held me so I couldn’t move. I struggled for a good three minutes, then stopped out of exhaustion. “Finally…” Sombra said under his breath. Fresh tears streamed down my face as I hung my head. “I don’t care if you tried to escape twice today. You need to wash up. Especially now that you have you dog’s blood all over you,” Discord said, smirking. With his claw, he grabbed me, holding me by my abdomen. He floated up the two flights of stairs, to the room above where I was kept. I had shut my eyes to try to stop the migraine I had. A few doors opened, we went left and right, and he finally stopped and lifted me up so I would be face-to-face with him. I looked at him with no emotion. He stared at me. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. He put me down and left, closing the door behind him. “You have 10 minutes, Chance. We need to show you something when you’re done,” Great, I thought. Can’t wait.

I laid on the floor for a minute or so. I finally got up and looked around. It was a pretty big bathroom, with an intricately designed shower surrounded by a glass wall. Shampoo and the works lined the wall of the shower. I looked at the shower floor and saw clods of white hair. That… Is disgusting. Is that Discord’s? I grimaced and turned on the water to push it down the drain. While the water was on, I wondered if I could just make a run for it now. I looked under the door and didn’t see anything. I tried the knob, but to my surprise, it was locked from the outside. No locks on the inside. Oh, wonderful. Now he could barge in at any time and watch me shower. I looked back at the floor and saw that it was free of nasty hairs. When I stepped into the warm stream of water, my whole body stung. I had to wash out the cuts and scrapes, otherwise they’d get infected. I just won’t use soap on them. I watched as the water going down the drain turned different colors: brown, maroon, bubbly-white with soap, and black with dirt. Finally the water ran clear. I was so thirsty that I opened my mouth and drank the water falling down in streams, and after having my fill, I got out. Just in spite of Discord, I shook like a dog (even though it hurt) and got water everywhere. I started to chuckle when the door opened, and his face peeked through. He looked all over the room and then back at me, shock turning to irritation. “Ugh,” We stared at each other for a long time, and I felt my face burning. I wasn’t sure why. “Time to go.” “Where?” I said flatly. “Just obey and do as you’re told,” He said with obvious annoyance. “Come with me.” He went back behind the door and I followed. “Sombra, the mutt is ready.” “Took it long enough.”

“Can you not call me a mutt?” They both laughed. “…Fine, I just won’t call you Master.” They shot me dirty looks. “Listen, mutt, ‘Master’ is a title. ‘Mutt’ is a degrading term. We’re kings, so you will treat us as such.” I sighed. “And what are you king of, Discord?” A pause. “You. I am your king. And you will obey.” A weird look sprawled across my face, a mix of confusion and disgust. He looked off into the distance. “And obviously I’m king of chaos, if you haven’t already put two and two together.” An awkward silence filled the air, and Sombra cleared his throat. “We should probably get going.” Discord grunted and went to get something out of a drawer. He pulled out a rag and a vial with clear liquid. He looked over at me and smirked, sprinkling the liquid on the rag. “Uhhh…” I said, unsure. I think I knew what that was. He floated off somewhere and I wanted to watch him, but Sombra levitated me and kept me from moving. Discord brought his paw up to my snout with the rag pressing against it.

It was chloroform.

I held my breath until I felt a hoof strike me in the stomach, causing me to gasp. Instantly, I felt numb and everything started to fade away. I had blacked out.

Author's Note

This is the only chapter I'm going to submit today... I made it longer than usual to compensate for two, so... Yeah. Criticism is welcome, like always.♥