As the clops of hooves neared the closet, I slowly drew my knife. I said a small prayer as my grasp tightened around the hilt of the weapon when the pony on the other side stopped right outside the door.

There was a long pause; I stood there, holding my breath as best as I could with a million thoughts running through my mind as I waited for Barney to open the door, and the maroon pony on the other side simply sat there in front of the closet. It was at that moment that I realized I hadn’t properly shut the door. I blanched at my blatant stupidity, now sure that the pony on the other side knew something was amiss.

I heard a small chuckle as Barney pushed the door completely closed.

“Well, isn’t that curious,” he said. I could just hear the smile on his face, and at that moment I could tell he was toying with me.

His behavior made me want to slam the door into his smug nose and run off, but before I could make any move to do that, I heard the mixing of a few other voices in the hall leading to the room.

‘Great. More company,’ I thought, my scowl dipping deeper at the thought of having to listen to more of Barney’s confidants.

I placed my knife back behind by belt as Barney turned toward the sources of the noise as they grew louder the closer they got to the conference room. There were more pony clops before they slowed and the voices abruptly hushed at the sound of one’s command. I breathed a little easier now that Barney wasn’t paying attention to my ingenious hiding spot as both the pony and I awaited the grand entrance of whatever hardened thugs were preparing themselves behind the door.

I heard the muffled sound of a question and two responses, along with the shifting of what sounded like armor before the door was pushed open. A pony guard wearing a dark red garb and a golden faceless helmet with holes etched into it that allowed his ears to poke out of the sides with segmented plates that ran down the back of his neck stepped into the room.

He, along with the other guard dressed in the exact same uniform, wore a short silk cape that covered one of his shoulders and was held to the armor beneath the cloth by a clasp that was also golden. Both guards had curved swords – scimitars I’d guess – sheathed underneath their capes. Looking down, I noticed that they also wore shoes that were, you guessed it, golden. The shoes ran up the fetlocks of the guards and I could see with my amazing twenty-twenty vision that, etched along the front of the pony-boots, were elaborate engravings of phoenixes carved into them.

Both ponies were a tannish color, with long, slender necks that resembled that of swans more than the shorter, more muscular necks of the ponies that I had seen thus far and they stood on slimmer, longer legs as well. The difference in appearance, along with the flashy get-ups, told me that these ponies weren’t natives.

One of the guards held open the door for a taller, more ornately dressed pony to step into the room. He was of a slightly darker shade of tan than the other two ponies, and he donned the same red garbs as the other ponies, only his was a lighter shade of crimson and had ritzy designs stitched into the cloth and the golden chestpiece beneath was much sleeker and seemed less weighty. His boots were of the same design as his armor, being less bulky and more elegant, with a phoenix also being incised into them.

Unlike the other two, however, he wore a tightly wrapped black turban with a red gem at the center pinning a terracotta red feather to the cloth as it proudly extended upright. Along with this, he also wore pointed black shoulder pads that connected to an even longer cape that ran down to his tail. The cape was held by two clasps that ran over the shoulder pads, and it was blood-red in color.

On to other differences in appearance, I could make out an even larger scimitar strapped to the pony’s hip. The handle had a guard that protected the user’s extremities from slashes during combat. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe this guy was compensating for something. That, and I wondered why a pony would need a guard for a sword. Didn’t ponies use their mouths for these sorts of things? I couldn’t imagine seeing one properly wielding a weapon in their hooves, let alone using one to its full extent in combat.

As I paid more attention to his face, I noticed that he was sporting a goatee. As confusing as it was for me to behold an equine with facial hair, I pushed the observation to the back of my mind as I noticed that he had a small scar on his upper right cheek, right beneath the eye. This was the only imperfection I could see on the pony’s face.

The swan-necked pony, who looked like a villain that walked straight out of a Disney universe, strutted into the dusty room like he owned the place. Jafar – as I took to calling him for now – had his nose pointed high as he trotted into the room, the pony flanked by the second guard who moved to sheathe his scimitar as he walked into the room after the tall pony.

Jafar may have kept an uptight appearance, but I could see his yellow eyes carefully scanning the entirety of the room as the guards took up position on either side of the conference room’s entrance, staring attentively ahead.

Barney moved to greet the slender pony when he saw Jafar trot inside.

“Welcome to La Fuerte Express, Bolukbasi Sarif, emissary of Saddle Arabia,” greeted Barney as he extended a hoof. “Or at least one of them. Please pardon the lack of imagination that went into the name of this plant; the locals aren’t exactly known for their creativity.”

Jafar, or rather Sarif, turned to Barney as though he had only just then seen him. He extended his hoof to the smaller pony to complete the handshake. I’m sorry, still thinking normally in this bizarre world. I meant to say hoofshake. And seriously, Saddle Arabia? The longer I stayed in this world, the more I wanted to put a bullet through my head. I’m fairly certain I had to get in line, though, what with how many times others have tried killing me. I find that sad.

The bolukbasi gently wiped his hoof off on his garb after they broke the gesture, moving to speak. “Charmed. I apologize for forgetting your name?” he spoke in a deep tone that brimmed with authority and elegance that matched his uniform. Though he had an excellent command of the English language despite being from another country entirely, he still had an accent; luckily, though, it wasn’t so thick as to make what he said difficult to understand. He paused as he waited for the maroon pony to introduce himself.

“My name is Bare Yield, though my friends colloquially refer to me as Barney,” answered the shorter of the two.

Sarif nodded before continuing. “Unfortunately, the young representative of our great nation could not make it. I do hope that is not too large of an inconvenience,” said Sarif as he inspected Barney.

“It is perfectly fine, Bolukbasi. Please, sit,” responded Barney as he gestured to one of the nearest seats.

The captain sat himself down where the maroon pony indicated and attempted to make himself comfortable as Barney moved to the other side of the oval-shaped table to take a seat across from him.

“May I ask why you are here when you are the head of Prince Yahguul’s security detail in foreign lands, Bolukbasi?” queried Barney as he set his hooves on the low table. “That is, if you don’t mind.”

Sarif seemed a little uncomfortable in the chairs that seemed too small for someone of his stature, though he took his discomfort in stride, keeping a regal posture as he turned to look at the maroon pony. “No, I do not mind giving you an explanation. We were a bit later than we had originally agreed to, after all,” responded Sarif. “Although Prince Yahguul is meant to be our official emissary, he often sends me to do tasks of this sort. When he visits these lands, he is infamous for either pushing the small amount of work required of him onto his subordinates or frequenting the brothels of the lands he finds himself in. Quite the hedonistic procrastinator, he can be,” he said as a disdainful expression made its way to his otherwise stoic face. “He does have at least two armed guards around him at all times when I am not near, so I fear him drinking himself into a comatose state more than I do him being targeted by some assassin.”

“Yes, I’ve heard quite a bit about Queen Alimada’s youngest son’s…exploits during his endeavors into other lands. Now, on to the transacti-,” said Barney before he was interrupted by Sarif’s held up hoof.

“Before we move on I have a question to pose. Do you smell an odor permeating throughout this room? What does this stench belong to, for it is assaulting my senses,” said Sarif as he put his hoof back down.

I silently cursed as the captain began sniffing the air, acutely aware of the amazing sense of smell ponies had. It certainly didn’t help that I hadn’t bathed in days.

I backed away from the door slightly, keeping my eyes on Barney and the guards as they, too, replicated Sarif’s actions.

Surprisingly, Barney answered. “It may be the stench of rodents or of rotting wood. This building has been long abandoned, after all, so you can’t expect it to be well-maintained.”

Sarif stroked his goatee as he continued sniffing the air. “What you say holds weight. My apologies for the interruption; what is it you were going to say?”

“The transaction,” Barney answered simply.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for reminding me of that. Now, where is this creature you intend to sell to us?” asked the tannish pony.

“I must respectfully ask where the payment is before answering any further inquiries,” responded Barney.

“But of course.”

With a wave of the hoof, Sarif motioned for one of the guards to approach. The guard reached under his cloak before pulling out one, two, three sacks that I presume were chock full of those golden quarters. For the first time since the meeting had started, I saw Barney’s emotionless mask shatter as his eyes widened upon viewing the bags. I gotta admit that the sight made my mouth water, so I could empathize with how he felt. The only bad thing about this was that it was being used to purchase me; I can guarantee that no amount of money in the world would be enough for me to give up my freedom willingly.

Sarif allowed himself a small smile when he saw Barney’s shock.

“May I?” asked Barney.

Sarif nodded and Barney moved to lift one of the bags, weighing it in his hoof before opening the bag and putting his hoof inside to retrieve one of the quarters. Barney looked at how the light reflected off of the coin as he closely inspected them before bringing it to his mouth and biting into it to see if it would bend. He seemed pleasantly surprised at this development as he tossed the gold piece back into the bag and moved it closer to the center of the table to show he wasn’t doing anything more suspicious than this get together already was.

When I stopped salivating at the sight of the gold, I couldn’t help but think to myself how seedy this entire situation was. Apparently the ambassadors of another nation were buying rare creatures from other countries when they docked. I couldn’t help but wonder why. All that I knew for sure was that I wasn’t going to be added to their list of slaves.

“It’s genuine alright…” muttered Barney.

“I take it that this is to your liking Mr. Yield?” asked Sarif, small smile still on his face.

“How much is this?” responded Barney, casting a suspicious glance over to the captain.

“Oh, only about three thousand seven hundred bits.”

Barney’s eyes once again widened, his mouth slightly parting as he was caught completely off guard by the revelation.

Stroking his goatee, Sarif clarified: “Take this as an additional apology for our tardiness. I understand that the original deal was five hundred bits less, but I simply had to make up for my lack of punctuality since I pride myself on timeliness. Still, if this creature is as unique as you say he is, I can say with all certainty that Prince Yahguul will not mind the small dip in his finances. I doubt he will even notice anything as small as five hundred bits disappearing.”

A cautious glance was aimed at the captain by Barney despite his excitement.

“Is there any reason you’re dipping your hooves into your Prince’s cookie jar anyway?”

A smile was given to Barney in response to his question. “I have already told you my reasons for the additional sum. It was to make up for me losing track of time. That, and I do not care overmuch for our esteemed representative,” the last part was whispered, but the venom on the captain’s tone spoke volumes about his thoughts of the young Yahguul. “Bandits of your ilk tend to be too distracted by greater rewards for their dishonest services; why is it that you are so curious to know such things?” asked Sarif as he leaned over the short table.

“No reason,” responded Barney quickly. Almost too quickly. “I simply was ensuring no repercussions would fall on us if it were to be made known to your superior that you had given away more than agreed upon.” A smooth mofo, this guy was. I was surprised he dodged that bullet.

“There will be no repercussions on your end, Mr. Yield. All blame will be held by I and I alone,” replied Sarif, leaning back carefully into his seat. He seemed way too confident about not losing his job after such an offense, if you asked me. Just what was his relationship with this Yahguul? What was his relationship with Queen Whatsherface? These questions flooded my mind before Sarif interrupted my train of thought.

“Would it be rude of me to ask what I can expect of this ‘exotic’ creature you have told me about?” inquired Sarif.

“Not at all. Though I did not care enough to catch his name, you will know the creature when you see him,” answered Barney before he was cut off by yet another question.

“How is it that you came to know this creature is male?”

“He has a masculine voice, is how I came to the conclusion that he is not a female. He looks a bit strange, almost like a minotaur, but hairless everywhere except on the topmost part of his head, his face, and his chest. He’s even bipedal, which is a bit of an anomaly around here. He truly looks like an alien despite his similarities, though. His skin is brown, he has a small, almost nonexistent muzzle aside from something of a bump that he breathes out of, and his eyes that are just as small. He also has a fair bit of muscle from what I’ve seen, so I can assume that he won’t be useless wherever you place him,” said Barney before contemplating and letting out an exclamation as he remembered one last detail.

“Oh! And let’s not forget that he wears clothes. I’m not sure why, as from what I’ve seen he has little by way of intelligence,” I wanted to punch him in the face so badly when I heard that part, “but he seems to cover his genitalia along with everything else, sans his face, with material.”

The captain drank in every detail, listening intently to every word. He went back to stroking his goatee as he spoke, staring off into a corner of the room before looking back to Barney.

“Interesting. Very interesting indeed. I’ve been from Genoosa to Caliheigh, crossed the Twilight Sea and trekked through Draghdad; yet despite all of my interactions and ‘deals’, I’ve never quite heard of a creature such as the one you describe. Nor have I read about any with such an appearance. Alien indeed,” he said as he allowed an enlivened sigh to escape from his lips.

“Now, just where is this creature so that I may gaze upon him and be done with this deal?” asked Sarif in a creepily enthusiastic tone.

Before Barney could answer, in burst Tony, a barely conscious Hawkeye on his back.

“Alert! Alert! We got a problem, Boss Man!” exclaimed the vested blue pony.

“What is the meaning of this!?” shouted a surprised Sarif as he and his guards unsheathed their swords and pointed them at the panting pegasus.

“Woah, now! Let’s not do anythin’ rash, okay?” said a startled Tony as he frantically waved his hooves around.

Barney moved to keep the situation from escalating. “Calm down, everypony! He’s with me!” he assured.

“Why is he so distressed?” asked one of the guards, not moving his sword.

“H-hold on, now! It’s just- just look at this!” he motioned to Hawkeye. Barney’s eyes widened for the third time today, and this time it wasn’t out of excitement. “She’s been jumped! Beaten! Her wing’s broken!” shouted Tony.

With the explanation of the cause of his jitteriness, Sarif lowered his scimitar.

“Yield, guards.”

And with his command, the guards also lowered their scimitars, but made no move to resheathe them.

“Tell me what you saw,” demanded Barney when he saw that his partner was not going to be spitted by Sarif and his guards.

“Just like I said, Boss Man,” responded Tony worriedly as he moved to carefully place Hawkeye on the table. “When I went down there, I found Hawkeye unconscious. She was hogtied, hurt, and her wing was bendin’ at an unnatural angle. She was also carryin’ some sorta object in one of her talons. I couldn’t get a good look at what it was, though, because she had a death grip on it. Not only that, but the pane to one of the doors leading to the assembly lines was busted and somepony left the machines runnin’,” he said as he turned to look at everyone in the room. Upon hearing this, Sarif’s guards turned to one another in askance as he glanced between Tony and Barney.

“Tony, where is the creature?” asked Barney as he glanced uneasily back at the present company.

Hawkeye groaned, interrupting the vested pegasus as she lifted her head, her good wing twitching in anxiety. “H-he’s…he got loose,” she answered.

“Got loose!?” shouted Sarif in surprise. “How on Equus could this creature have gotten loose! You all surely kept a close eye on him at all times while we were making the necessary preparations to journey through the Soranora Desert!” exclaimed Sarif. He then turned to Barney with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “You said he was unintelligent!”

“He showed no signs of being a threat! Not only that, but he hardly gave any reason aside from speaking for me to think that he was capable of such an act!” said Barney in response.

“I-it was my fault,” said Hawkeye quietly, pushing herself up into a seated position as she looked everywhere but at the others in the room.

“What did you say?” asked Barney in a tone that promised retribution.

“I said it was my fault,” she said with more power. “It was my fault that the…whatever he was escaped. I left the room for a minute when he was pacified and when I came back to check up on him, he had broken free. I’ve got a broken wing here to prove the fact that he got out,” said she as she attempted to move her broken wing. She winced when it twitched, Barney and everyone else remaining silent for her testimony. She looked down at the object in her hand, which turned out to be the coin I gave her, before continuing.

“He trapped me. I was close to restraining him, but he used my strength against me. I thought I had him pinned, but he, a dehydrated, cornered creature came out on top. H-he even…he even forced me to tell him how to get out of here by threatening to break my wing. Tony here knows how much us fliers value our wings! So I told him…and he still broke my wing before knocking me unconscious.”

The poor thing looked positively devastated, like a puppet with its strings severed, cutting it off from the whims of its puppeteer. She looked like she’d seen the Void, to be honest. She looked traumatized.

“I-I can still hear him whispering into my ear ‘You still owe me much more’ as he leans over me and ever so slowly fractures my bones as though they were made of glass. I-It h-hurts more in memory than it does in reality,” she shakily said as a few tears ran down her feathered face.

As Hawkeye silently wiped her face free of her tears, Tony jumped up to the table to comfort her, gently rubbing her back in understanding. Barney, on the other hand, had the same cold stare leveled at the griffiness despite her sob story.

"I found the poor girl cryin' when I arrived. She musta been torn apart..." said Tony.

If that didn’t make Barney anymore sympathetic, then the mofo must be truly cold-hearted; even I almost felt sorry for her, and I’m the one who caused her predicament. Still, someone was going to have to knock her down a few pegs further down the line anyway, so it might as well have been me.

“So you do not have the creature in your possession?” asked Bolukbasi Sarif, irritation laced in every word. “Have we travelled this far for no reason?”

“Of course not!” affirmed Barney. “As a matter of fact, I’m beginning to smell that rotten stench you mentioned earlier, Bolukbasi.”

The maroon pony turned his icy glance in my direction.

“And I don’t believe it was because of aged wood. Abandoned buildings do tend to be overrun by pests, after all, and pests tend to hide when they feel threatened.”

With those words, the fuming pony advanced toward the closet yet again, this time with purpose in every step. My heart started pumping yet again as I pulled out the knife in anticipation.

I couldn’t help but think that now would be a great time to make a run for it.

The guards curiously moved from their posts, swords at the ready, and Hawkeye stopped crying as Barney stopped in front of the door, moving to grasp the handle.

“Isn't that right, Mr. Wise Gu-,” Barney was interrupted, however, when I slammed the door into his face, causing him to stumble back as I pushed the door open completely as the guards jumped back in surprise.

I jumped on the table before quickly passing Sarif as he reached for his scimitar, the guards, Hawkeye, and Tony looking on in surprise at my sudden appearance as Barney held his bleeding nose. I blasted through the door, leaving them in my wake.

“You’ll never catch me, ya punk asses!” I shouted as I sprinted down the hall to the lobby area.

The guards and Sarif realized that they and every other able-bodied person should have been chasing me at that moment, the captain snapping out of his daydream before pointing after me.

“Seize him!”

Multiple collisions of hooves on stone let me know that I was being pursued by my would-be captors, the Saddle Arabian ponies determined to return to their home with me in chains.

‘Shitshitshitshitshit!’ I thought to myself as I continued running, wondering why I couldn’t just for once have a nice day that didn’t result in me being chased by slave drivers.

Author's Notes:

I had quite a bit of fun writing this chapter, even if it took all day. As promised last chapter, I'm attempting to expand the world of Reverie Bound to ensure it's not so small. I like to have room to write, and a single location doesn't give me enough elbow room to be as creative as possible.

Thank you guys for reading! See y'all in the next installment of Reverie Bound!