I sat there in stunned silence as I listened to the mare descend into more heart wrenching sobs and half formed apologies. She continued on like this for what felt like a good ten minutes or so before she finally started to calm down.

The sobs were eventually reduced to whimpers, then to sniffles, and finally a heavy silence filled the air. I almost didn't want to break it, but I felt I had to say something.

But what?

What did I say after that?

After some thought, I decided to go the safe route.

"Hello?"

I heard a small gasp followed by another sniff and more movement.

"W-Who's there?" Rarity called out, "show yourself you.. you... vandal! Come to see me suffer have you?"

"What? No," I assured, "I'm in the cell next to you. I'm... apparently a prisoner here same as you."

My response was met with a brief moment of silence.

"How is that possible?" Rarity asked warily, "this ship is brand new and hasn't even left port yet so nopony is supposed to be here but me... at least, as far as I know," she finished uncertainly, "I don't really know how long I've been out..."

"Honestly, I don't know how or why I'm here," I replied, "I just woke up here, same as you," I looked out at the area past my bars, "quick question though... this isn't a slave ship, is it? Please tell me this isn't a slave ship."

"I..." Rarity hesitated a moment before speaking again in a more subdued tone, "I'm afraid it is, darling. It... it hasn't been used yet, thankfully... I mean I don't think it has... but... but..."

She trailed off, but I didn't pay it any mind as I proceeded to regret everything I head ever done to make it to where I was now.

"Great!" I cried, throwing up my hands in exasperation, "fucking perfect! I was screwed then, I'm screwed now," I leaned back against the wall and groaned, "dammit..."

After another pause she spoke again, her sad tone turning wary once more.

"Forgive my rudeness, but just who are you, anyway?" she asked, "I don't recognize some of the words you use, and I certainly haven't heard any of the natives speak like that."

"Well I... ah... fuck," I muttered, before letting out a sigh, "My name is Salvatore, and yeah, let's just say I'm... not from around here and leave it at that for now."

"What a strange name... Salvatore," Rarity repeated, as though testing out the name, "well at any rate, you can call me Rarity, dear," she went quiet again and I heard another sniffle, "I suppose you could say I'm not quite from here, either."

I raised a bemused eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" I asked, "are we not near Equestria at all?"

I inwardly cursed at myself for the slip and unfortunately for me, the oddity of the question didn't go unnoticed by Rarity.

"Now how was it that you knew I was from Equestria?" she asked suspiciously, "I've only told you my name, and as far as I know, we haven't met before and I don't even know what you look like. Believe me, I wouldn't forget a name like Salvatore."

"Well... your voice sounded... familiar," I replied, trying to think on my feet, "I've been to Equestria before, and... well, uh... you... kinda sound like someone I had met before. Must've been someone else, sorry about that."

"Ah, I... see..." Rarity replied slowly, "well it's quite alright, darling, and you were correct in your assumption after all."

Thank god I didn't end up locked in here with Applejack...

"So if we're not near Equestria, then where the h... where are we?" I asked, trying to curb my cursing a bit, "you said something about 'natives' so I'm assuming you're not living... wherever we are... or were possibly."

There was another silence, this one lasting somewhat longer than the others. It got to the point where I started to get worried.

"Hey... Rarity?" I asked tentatively, "you... okay over there?"

"What?" I heard her call out distractedly "oh... no, I... I'm not, darling... not at all," she let out a shuddering breath before speaking again, "Twilight Sparkle -- the Princess of Friendship... and my dear, dear friend... she was to undergo an important diplomatic mission in Abyssinia..."

The sound of another sniffle made its way into my cell as I sat and listened. My brows raised slightly at the mention of where Twilight had been going.

This was probably sometime after the movie, I couldn't help but shake my head and grin wryly, what a shit show the sequel is turning out to be...

As I thought about how odd that thought was, Rarity moved on, her tone low and melancholy.

"When we -- that is, the rest of our friends and I -- when we all heard the news, we went to Canterlot and convinced Princess Celestia to let us come along," she let out a single choked sob, "we... w-we wanted to be there to... to support our friend as the Element... the Elements of H-Harmony but... b-but..."

I grimaced as the distraught mare broke into more loud sobs.

"THE WHOLE AFFAIR WAS NOTHING BUT A WRETCHED FILTHY MISTAKE!"

I sympathized with Rarity and I wanted to help her... I really did, but I also didn't want to alert who or whatever decided to waltz back onto the ship while we weren't paying attention.

Ah, fuck it, I thought with a quiet sigh, knowing my luck, they're probably gonna show up anyway and give me and Rarity hell.

"We all got lost almost the instant we set hoof on land!" Rarity continued with another wail, "Pinkie wandered off somewhere and we all split up to different parts of town to look for her despite the fact that Fluttershy and I told everypony else it was a bad idea and.... a-and Spike and I... we couldn't find Pinkie and--"

"Whoa, whoa, Rarity wait a--"

"--ended up in the worst part of town and--"

"Rarity!"

"--find them anywhere! And then those filthy vultures--"

"RARITY, FOR FUCK'S SAKE! CALM... THE FUCK... DOWN!"

The mare sniffed and hiccuped and whimpered, but otherwise quieted down, finally giving me an opportunity to speak.

"...Alright, thank you," I said with a small sigh of relief, "and I'm sorry about that, but you were kinda spiraling there."

Even though I couldn't see her, I leaned up against the bars of my cell and looked over to the general direction of her own cell as I spoke.

"Now that you're not freaking out, try to relax," I said in as calming a tone as I could muster, "breathe... and when you're good, you can tell me again what happened to you and the others, okay?"

Rarity remained silent save for the occasional hiccup for a good two or three minutes. It wasn't until I started wondering if she just gave up that I heard heavy inhales and exhales coming from Rarity's cell that I took my own advice and relaxed.

I gave her another minute or so before I spoke again.

"You good now?"

A brief silence.

"I... I think so," Rarity replied, still uncertain and melancholy, but much less hysterical, "my apologies, darling, things have just been... not going quite so well for me at the moment."

"Believe me, Rarity," I answered with as much straight-faced seriousness as I could muster, "I can say with one hundred percent certainty that I'm in the same boat."

That managed to get a small chuckle out of her and I gave a small smile of my own.

"Now, you ready to tell me what happened to you all?" I asked cautiously, "the last thing I heard was that you had all split up to find Pinkie... and yes, splitting up was definitely an incredibly stupid idea given you only just arrived here for the first time in a land you all practically knew nothing about."

"Well Twilight had done some research into Abyssinian culture and its current state of affairs beforehoof," Rarity replied, "but as you can guess, it didn't help us a whole lot in the end."

"Did her research uncover some kind of slave trade?" I asked, idly looking around the dark room, "because going from a diplomatic mission to being held prisoner in what I'm assuming is some kind of brand new slave transport ship is a pretty big leap if you ask me."

"Well," Rarity gave a deep sigh and muttered something I couldn't hear before speaking up again, "when we all split up, I... Spike wanted to come with me 'as a loyal escort to his Lady'," Rarity let out an odd sound that was a mix between a giggle and a sob, "h-he... the poor dear always had a thing for me, but I..."

"He was too young and innocent, wasn't he?" I guessed.

"Not as young as you might think," Rarity responded her voice suddenly heavy with regret, "for a dragon, he was still very much an infant, but by pony standards, he wasn't all that much younger than Twilight or Rainbow Dash... but yes, I suppose I couldn't rid myself of the 'cute little baby brother' image I had of him."

Another moment passed by as we both sat there in silence. I patiently waited for Rarity to continue, and after another moment, she did -- her voice growing even more somber as she went on.

"Spike and I split up from the rest of the group and made our way to what I thought was a nicer part of town... but I was wrong... so very, very wrong!," the last word was punctuated by a heavy thunk, and Rarity continued on with an angry growl, "that part of town was filled with nothing but cutthroats and vagabonds!"

"Seriously?" I asked in surprise, "how did you mistake a place like that for the nicer part of town? Places where 'cutthroats and vagabonds' like to hang out are pretty easy to spot usually."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Rarity replied with a huff, "but no, these brutes were a bit more clever than that, darling."

"How so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The streets in Paw Print Port where we disembarked were filled with all sorts of wonderous things and creatures we had never seen in person before," her tone became slightly wistful, "many of the Abyssinians were a tall race of cat people believe it or not," she paused a second, "wait, are you an Abyssinian?"

"Ah... not... exactly, no," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck, "I guarantee you probably haven't seen anything like me at all to be perfectly honest."

"Really now?" Rarity answered, giving an intrigued hum, "now I'm all the more interested in meeting you face-to-face." I heard her clear her throat, "anyway, we were all treated so well while we were there. The Abyssinians were kind and always greeted us with a smile... and the fashion on display was truly something to behold!"

She sighed sadly.

"But I digress, dear," she said after a minute, "while we were all distracted by the sights, Pinkie Pie galloped off somewhere and we split up to look for her. Spike and I wound up in a place called Turncoat Alley and--"

"Wait hang on," I interjected incredulously, "you went into a place called Turncoat Alley and didn't expect something bad to happen?"

"Well forgive me," Rarity replied indignantly, "I had no idea at all what a turncoat was until later! I thought the street was named so for showcasing some sort of foreign coat I had never seen before!"

I lowered my face to my hand with a small groan of disbelief.

Fucking ponies and their stupid innocence, man, I swear...

"Alright well what happened next?" I asked, just trying to move on, "you and Spike went down Turncoat Alley and...?"

"When we had first arrived, everything looked nice at first," Rarity explained her voice holding a bitter edge to it, "the locals and store owners were even nicer than the ones near the docks... but it was all a horrid ruse.

"While we were looking for Pinkie, I got distracted by what I thought was a quaint little tailor shop owned by a rather dashing tom named Whisker. I had gotten so excited about new fabrics and foreign styles that I... in my excitement and ignorance, I made a rather bad decision..."

You mean aside from up and abandoning the search for your friend because some random tailor shop in an obviously seedy part of town caught your eye?

I of course knew better than to say that out loud, but I couldn't help but think it anyway. Rarity herself fell into another quiet moment and this one felt particularly heavy. She started to talk again, her words slow to come and weighed down with guilt.

"I... he... tried... t-tried to warn me, but I didn't listen," more sniffles could be heard and I frowned in dismay, "like a foal I didn't listen! And now he's... h-he's... oh Spike I'm so sorry!"

I sighed and sunk back down against the back wall as Rarity broke into another fit of heaving sobs and incomprehensible apologies to the little dragon. This time however, something she said caught my attention and my eyes widened in surprise.

"--my fault and now he's dead! My little Spikey-wikey is gone a-and I... I killed him! I killed him! I was the real villain in all of this and I... oh Spike!" I suddenly heard repeated muffled but very heavy thumps coming from the other side of the wall and my eyes widened further in alarm.

"I don't..."

*thump*

"...deserve..."

*thump*

"...the title of the Element of Generosity!"

I winced and looked at the wall next to me with a worried expression.

Is she pounding a hoof against the wall? I thought before coming to a horrifying realization, no... the banging sounds to heavy for that.

"Rarity what the fuck are you doing over there?!" I cried, quickly rising to my feet and grasping the bars as I tried in vain to get a better look at the cell next to mine, "seriously, if you're doing what I think you're doing it isn't gonna help! You're only gonna give yourself a--"

There was one last dull thump before the noise stopped completely. My heart nearly stopped as I heard something heavy briefly slide across the wooden floorboards followed by another softer thump.

Everything went silent.

"...Rarity?"

More silence.

"Rarity?!"

Nothing.

"...Fuck!"

I backed away from the wall separating me from Rarity's cell and into the wall on the opposite side. I sank down to the floor and ran a hand through my hair. I wasn't a person easily prone to stress, in fact, my actual motto in life was that no matter how bad things got, everything would work out in the end.

That motto had been true my entire life. No matter what hardships I faced, I always came out of them okay and in at least as good of a position as I was in before. With how well it had worked for me in the past, I had seen no reason not to hold that motto close to my chest.

Now though?

Now I was beginning to get the feeling things were going to be different. Now I was beginning to worry that I'd be gaining a very different outlook on life once this was all over, and that scared me more than anything.

I didn't want to change who I was, I liked who I was. Hearing Rarity try to explain what had happened hurt... bad. I hadn't experienced raw emotional pain like that since my mom died not so long ago. My aunt and I took her death well enough, but the rest of my family... not so much.

Their reactions tore at me in a way I hadn't felt before, and it was the same now as it was then.

It hurt.

I wanted to help Rarity so badly it hurt, but what could I do? As much sympathy as I felt for the mare, comforting others wasn't really my strong suit. I couldn't do anything from inside this cage and to top it all off, if I didn't do something, we'd both be sent off to who-knows-where as slaves.

If there was ever a time in my life where I needed something to work out in the end, this was it.

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