I sprinted down the hall as quickly as my legs would take me as I heard the clacking of armored hooves behind me. As I quickly glanced back, I could see that I was being pursued by none other than Sarif and his guards, the Fearsome Threesome nowhere in sight. The ponies were forced to resheathe their scimitars before running after me, so that, along with my head start, gave me ample time to get ahead before they took chase.

Unfortunately for me, the Saddle Arabians were fast little bastards; their light armor did nothing to slow them down as they slowly closed the distance that I had put between us. I guess the longer legs meant they could move more quickly. Still, things seemed to be looking to work in my favor, as the hallways had plenty of old filing paper, cardboard boxes, and even filing cabinets for me to toss behind me in order to slow the ponies’ pursuit.

I panted heavily, my lack of proper rest still weighing on my shoulders, but the knowledge that stopping right now would result in my enslavement kept me moving forward. I turned a corner, grabbing onto the wall so that I could keep my momentum going, and headed toward a door that had a sign above it reading: “Lobby Area”. I pushed on to the end of the hall as the ponies skirted around the corner, still hot on my trail, slamming into the door hard enough to force it open.

Realizing that the door would now be useless after my show of strength, I quickly turned around to see another filing cabinet perfectly positioned on the side to allow for me to create an impromptu blockade. I shut the door as the ponies neared, Sarif at the front, and threw the filing cabinet down in front of it to ensure they wouldn’t be able to easily follow.

I turned back around and continued running until I reached what looked to be a reception area, with legless chairs that looked a lot like the ones in the conference room I just ran out of, a front desk with dusty miscellaneous items resting atop it, and an assortment of more filing cabinets.

Looking up at the low ceiling, I could see arrows pointing to various areas such as the employee lounge, the next manufacturing facility, the lower levels, and most importantly the exit.

By now, the angry ponies were bashing against the door, only held back by the obstruction I so wittily placed behind it, but they were quickly making progress in their endeavors. Alarmed, I followed the arrow pointing to the exit, sliding to a stop in front of the door so I could lower my head before throwing my weight into this obstacle as well.

To my misfortune, on the other side of the door lied a flight of stairs. Expecting the ground outside to be level, I foolishly continued looking straight ahead until my foot was met with open air. A quick glance down showed that I was going to have a bit of an unpleasant experience for the next few seconds.

‘Well, shit,’ was about all I could think at that moment as time seemed to slow to show me just how much of an idiot I was.

I tumbled down the stairs, shouts of pain and irritation leaving me every step of the way. Luckily, the staircase had only about ten steps, so I made contact with solid earth eventually. I landed on my back, my ruined hoodie gathering a blanket of dust and sand as I stared up at the cloudless sky while the sun beamed right back at me, giving me a warm welcome back outside. I was free! Finally!

I let out a small cheer as I moved to my knees, only to have the smile that had made its way onto my face summarily erased when I was greeted with the sound of several swords being drawn. Facing the direction of the sounds, I noticed three more Saddle Arabians with their scimitars pointed directly at me.

One of the guards started shouting demands at me in some harsh language as he moved closer to me. I stood to my full height, patting the grime off of my pants and shaking the dust off of my torn hoodie, keeping him in my sight as the other two moved to my sides, weapons also at the ready.

“English, mothafucka. Do you speak it?” I asked.

The guard took the hilt of his sword and slammed it into my stomach in response, making me double over. He then smacked me in the face, leaving me face first on the ground in pain, still clutching my aching belly.

I looked up to the suicidal pony, defiance painting my features as I spoke through clenched teeth.

“Listen here, asshole. You touch me again and I’mma have to bust out my ninjutsu moves, ya heard?” I threatened, a small smile etching its way onto my face in response to the guard’s scowl deepening.

He let out another command that I couldn’t understand before moving to once again strike me as I was on the ground before the doors once again burst open. Another command sounded from above me as I prepped myself for another beating, the Saddle Arabian doing the hitting finally backing away when he realized that he didn’t want me to break out the ninja moves. Now that I think about it, though, maybe it was because of the command…

I moved back to my hands and knees, painting the brown earth with bloody phlegm before I ran my tongue over my gums, checking for any loose teeth. Past a busted lip, there didn’t seem to be too much to worry about, so I turned my attention to the one who was ordering the others around, already having a good idea as to whom it was.

Surely enough, there stood my good pal Sarif, gazing down at me in annoyance, his guards on either side of him. He slowly descended down the stairs, the guards moving to surround me as he approached.

“Disarm him,” commanded the captain.

I was again pushed chin first into the ground, my arms being pulled apart by two guards as one of the ponies pulled my knife from my belt.

“You will learn not to make such an ass of yourself in the future, creature,” said Sarif as he drew a smaller blade from somewhere beneath his cape, pressing it against my neck as I was pulled back up by my head.

“The only ass I see is right in front of me,” I responded, staring angrily into Sarif’s yellow eyes as he stared intently back into my own.

“What you gonna do, boy? I could use a good shave right about now anyways.”

Sarif allowed a small smile to make its way to his face, his pearly whites showing as he responded. “You are utterly hilarious,” he said as he moved the knife gently up and down my neck. “But I do not plan on needlessly staining my blade today. Guards, restrain him,” he said as he withdrew the knife.

As one of the guards moved to grab rope that he just so happened to have on his person, the door was pushed open again. Hawkeye, Tony, and Barney stood at the top of the steps, each carrying their own bag of loot and looking like deer caught in headlights. Hawkeye seemed to be much more awake for some reason, Tony was fiddling with his necklace as he pulled it over his head, and Barney had dried blood smeared across his nose and foreleg.

The guards turned their attention to the trio, Sarif not even having to turn around as he asked a question.

“And where do you three think you are going?”

“You’ve already got your creature as far as I can see, so our deal is fulfilled,” responded an agitated Barney as he held a hoof to his sensitive nose.

They all walked down the steps as a team, carefully watching the armed Saddle Arabians as they descended. I could see that Hawkeye had her wing wrapped up before she walked out here. She was looking at me with an expression mixed between pity, hatred, and fear the entire time before her attention, too, was recaptured by the captain.

“Ah, but we are the ones who had to catch your creature, Mr. Yield, so I believe that renders your reward moot,” said Sarif as he turned to finally regard Barney.

Barney’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I will have to politely ask that you return my bits,” answered Sarif, reaching for his scimitar. “I would prefer there be no bloodshed required to ensure this happens.”

As he said this, the guards, including the one who was meant to tie me up, moved to stand beside him.

“We will not have any disagreements, will we, Mr. Yields? We are but friendly businesspersons until provoked, after all.”

“Shit!” whispered Barney sharply as he looked around before shouting “Hawkeye! Trixie Exit Dash Two!”

With that command, the griffiness reached into her pack and pulled out yet another pill – I guess she must have restocked with Tony on the way back up? – before tossing it at the hooves of the Saddle Arabians.

I held my breath and closed my eyes as I saw her pull out the pill to avoid asphyxiation and temporary blindness. The guards and Sarif didn’t seem do the same, as they were caught coughing and rubbing at their eyes as the gang ran in the opposite direction.

I felt around for my weapon, opening my eyes as the cloud faded just a bit, finding my knife strapped to one of the guards’ hips. I jumped up and tackled the uncoordinated pony to the earth, lifting his helmeted head up and smashing it back into the ground, knocking him unconscious before grabbing my knife.

As another saw that I was loose, he reached for his scimitar that he had dropped on the ground before I dashed over and kicked him in the throat, causing him to drop it as he gasped for air, grabbing at his windpipe.

The third – this one being the one who couldn’t speak a lick of English – was able to overcome his coughing fit soon enough to run over to me and tried to impale me with his sword. The motion was sloppy enough for me to sidestep before I swung my fist into the side of his muzzle, causing him to rear back in pain before I took him by the slender foreleg that held the sword, leveled it against the ground, and dropped a knee on it as I pulled back, breaking the bone.

The pony screamed as he clutched his foreleg before I kicked him in the jaw, his head swinging with the blow. Seeing that he was incapacitated, I chose the direction of the town I saw the gang running toward and sprinted in that direction, leaving in my wake three damaged ponies and three more who were only just then regaining their bearings.

“Rrraaaaaaaaaaaugh!” shouted someone, presumably Sarif, as he once again was able to use his lungs properly. There was more wrath in that one shout than I’d ever heard before, matching Mufasa back in the forest in terms of sheer ferocity.

I continued running, though, not bothering to look back as I headed toward civilization. I needed to get the hell out of Dodge, and there wasn’t no rest for the wicked apparently.

Author's Notes:

Though this chapter is shorter than most of the other recent ones, I had a lot of fun writing it! It felt right to end it where I did, to be honest. This story's starting to get somewhere now, and I'm pretty happy about the fact that Ladarion is seeming to grow with each chapter.