“Another for the harvest.” said a chipper stallion’s voice from close by.

I opened my eyes to ponies. Whom I first mistook for Pegasi. But closer inspection revealed featherless, leathery wings, and catlike eyes that seemed to glow wildly. There could be no doubt who these ponies were. There were almost a dozen of them, perched in swaying trees, peering around trunks, or casually approaching with their eyes locked on me.

The Thestrals.

“If you’re going to kill me, get it over with. I haven't got all day.” I snorted. I didn’t want to antagonize them. But at the same time I didn’t want them to think I was being 'too easy'.

I was also fishing for information. If they killed me now then I might as well fight back and hope I could somehow find their lair without their help, or wait until the next blood moon to try again.

“Don’t you worry worm. You will get your death.” The closest one nearly growled, his voice low. “Get the wretch off the hooks and with the others. We’ve got more stops along the way and I don’t want to keep the stockyard waiting!”

Two of the ponies landed on either side of the pole. Slightly behind so I couldn’t easily tackle any of them without immediately being set on by the other two. I pretended to resist by trying to keep the release mechanism away from their grasping hooves. It was petty, but I wasn’t being too annoying. Once they were off, another pair instantly took their place, this pair in much better condition and not attached to the log. I struggled again as they picked me up to carry me. This time actually struggling because anything less would’ve been suspicious.

They didn’t flinch as they carried me deeper into the wood, the darkness seeming to gather around them like a lover. Before long I couldn’t see anything, but I heard a clank, and a rattle of an opening door. Then I was pushed harshly, landing on something a bit higher up from the ground than I was suspecting.

The door now squeaked closed behind me.

“Alright get a move on! We got more rats to collect and I don’t fancy being out when the Sun comes back up!”

The world around me lurched as the unseen cart began to move. My sight finally adjusted to the gloom, and I could see a few poor ponies in the cage with me. They didn’t look like they’d been in there long, but there were only one or two who looked healthy. If I had to guess, I’d assume these ponies were the dregs of their communities.

Not one of them was deluded about their fate.

The Thestrals rushed through the night, pulling the slave cart with nearly reckless abandon. You had to sit or cling to the outside bars just to not be jostled around too much.

Regardless, I tried to stay in the middle of the cage, as stifling and as uncomfortable as it was. I couldn’t take the chance that one of our captors would notice the glared daggers that I sent their way. The thought of how many ponies had suffered this same fate made me fume. The other ponies in the cage must’ve felt something was off about me, because they tried to give me a wide berth, but that didn’t work as more and more ponies were added to the cart.

I was worried they were going to start forcing ponies to pile on top of each other and fill the whole cage top to bottom, but they thankfully stopped just before that became necessary. But that didn’t mean we were comfortable.

Hours seemed to pass since the last prisoner had been added, and the Thestrals had not stopped the entire time. I had managed to snag a few fitful bouts of sleep, just so I would be ready for when the cart finally stopped.

We had to be close to our destination by now. Our captors spoke as if they could accomplish their journey in a single night, and dawn could not be too far off. But still our captors rushed through the night.

I was considering falling asleep again when several of the captured ponies suddenly gasped. I didn’t get a proper view of what they were gawking at, but I did see foreboding towers and battlements in the background above their heads.

The cart slowed significantly as the grinding rumble of what must have been a gate opening admitted us entrance to this place. But as much as I was curious, and as much as I wanted at least some information, I didn’t allow myself to look directly outside the bars. I knew I lacked the “forlorn and hopeless” look that my fellow prisoners possessed. If I were to accidentally catch the gaze of one of the guards… My quest might be over before it even truly began.

The cart rounded a few corners with the casualness of an on schedule supply cart. Seemingly no longer in any rush now that we were inside their city or fortress. But finally it came to a stop, which felt strange after so many hours of ceaseless movement. A bat pony in armor approached the cage, a set of keys dangling from her clawed wing thumb.

“Get up maggots!” she shrieked impatiently. “Come on! Up and out!” The door swung open, allowing the first prisoners to leave the cramped cage cart. I took a moment to truly glance around as it became my turn to leave, able to peer over everypony’s heads from this brief vantage point.

We seemed to be in the courtyard of some sort of fortress... Which strangely enough, had the exquisite gardens of a more modern castle, but the functional battlements and fortifications of older styles. The stone the walls were made of were a sort of predominantly black rock that had faint speckles, but you could only see them if you were closely examining them. Red banners that seemed artfully tattered hung from every wall, spaced evenly between each other. Oddly, they were just colored banners and had no sigil or crest that I could see. The gardens, in stark contrast, were filled with vibrant but deadly greens. I did not recognize many of the plants, but what few I did set the theme for the rest.

They were beautiful yes, but dangerous in some way to the extreme.

And the garden was full of them.

Exotic thorns and flowers that seemed to be made more from teeth than petals grew everywhere. Vines larger than an adult pony lay sprawled out, tiny feelers twitching in the air for something to accidentally bump into them. Several cocoon pods could be seen to know what would happen if somepony were to touch one. A glimmering haze hung over a particularly sweet smelling flower. It looked innocent enough, until you realized the rocks its roots were entangled in were far too uniform and white to be rocks.

It was all artfully displayed, and I inwardly shuddered at the thought of how they had to be maintained.

When the opportunity arose, this garden would burn.

“Move it!” one of the guards shouted, breaking me out of my revelry. This wasn’t the place to be an annoyance, so I jumped down from the cart in a way I hoped seemed meek. I must’ve seemed cowed enough because the guard didn’t yell again.

Thankfully, they didn’t just push us into the deadly bushes to fertilize their garden. But we were forced into a door hidden off to the side. The door lead us into what was clearly a servant’s passage, but even here there was an air of ostentatious danger here. The minor hall was surprisingly clean and well lit, flickering candles dotted alongside the walls in even patterns. . More artfully tattered red banners lined the black walls. More guards stood at regular intervals.

It was the first time I got a good look at them.

The standard uniform seemed to be a red under an armor jacket, with ebony armor plating that looked dangerous to even wear. Their full helmets didn’t have a traditional visor, but merely had a fixed piece of the armor’s material that covered the pony’s face, oftentimes forged in such a way that left two fang like protrusions on the bottom edge. Two furiously slit eyes, ranging from yellow to orange to crimson, glared from the menacing helmets. To my confusion, they didn’t seem to carry weapons... But then I saw the tell tale glint of a sharpened metal edge alongside one of their wings. I had to lower my head below the crowd of taken ponies so they didn’t see my smirk.

They looked and acted like Pegasi, but their armor was for a fighting style that was more akin to an Earth Pony Earthbreaker. But instead of pure strength, they relied on speed, and sheer savagery to win a fight. It was a good technique, but the method had its weaknesses.

The hall morphed into a large, uncramped staircase that spiraled downward. Which seemed odd to me, since I hadn’t seen any further doors. Obviously the downward staircase led to the castle’s dungeon, so did they really have such a decorated entrance just for prisoners?

That told me something about Lord Bloodmoon. If it was arrogance or the need to show off to 'livestock' I wasn’t sure. But I wasn’t impressed.

The dungeons happened to be a different story. While the hall and staircase were clean, the dungeon was anything but. Dirt that I wasn’t too sure was 'dirt', seemed to collect near the walls where ponies seldom strode. Variously faded blood stains were visible nearly everywhere one looked, far too often to be an accident. The cells themselves were more akin to storage rooms; they were so big, each filled with at least 15 ponies of varying tribes. The only things that identified this as the same location as the entrance, was the black stone, and the red banners that hung from the wall outcroppings that separated the cells.

Suddenly an armored bat pony was before me, holding open a cell door and ushering those in front of me into the chamber.

“Get in!” he bellowed angrily. My gut told me this wasn’t my moment, so I quietly shuffled into the cell. Several more prisoners followed me, and the cell door slammed shut with a loud squeal. The guards chattered something in a language I didn’t understand, laughed, and walked away.

The prisoners seemed to pause, glancing at each other as if they didn’t quite know what to do. After a moment they spread out and left each other to their own devices, trying to come to terms with their new reality.

I swiftly noticed something though. I couldn’t notice before, but we weren’t put into an empty cell. Several other Ponies were already inside. But strangely, all of the prisoners avoided one corner, giving it a wide berth.

In that corner, was a Thestral...

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