I awake. I try my best to gather my bearings but I have been left deep within a jungle. My head is ringing, my heart is pounding and pain has nearly paralysed me. It was physical torment, at best, to describe what I was feeling. I could only assume that I was passing in and out of wakefulness, as time passed swifter than was even possible. I lay still in this state of passing consciousness. After a while I managed to work up the strength and drive to arise, fighting through the aching feeling of death to begin wandering. I tried my best to trot in a straight line, but I'm not exactly sure how straight it ended up.

Night had fallen by the time I wandered out of the forest. Only occasional glimpses of the sky kept any sense of time alive. I decided to head back into the jungle once more to await dawn, when perhaps I could tell where I was. I quickly found, as I attempted to rest within that jungle, that sleep eluded me. I was unable to obtain even the slightest wink of sleep during those dragging night hours. When I noticed the light returning to the world around me I arose and trotted out of this place once more. Looking out of the tree line revealed a desolate landscape, a barren waste, contrasted heavily by the verdant green of this place. Where I was seemed almost out of place. Before I headed out I decided to look myself over, unable to remember much of what might have happened. Scars lined the entire length of my body and each one, in turn, tugged heavily at my mind, suggesting that I knew why I had those scars. But even then I had not the slightest inclination. My own identity seemed to flee before my now conscious mind. I managed to look upon my chest lastly. From what I could tell a scar, shaped roughly like an eight armed galaxy, rested upon the centre of my chest and overlapped the others. Again, the scar bid my memory to recall but I received none such recollection. Perhaps time had slurred my memories, blurred my mind.

As I began exploring the motor functions of my body I found wings. Having forgotten I had wings until the bodily overview, I tried and successfully managed to work the wings. It felt natural, as if it had been a large part of my life. I also felt a little hollow, as if something was amiss or perhaps I lacked in something. What it was I could not tell, nor could I recall. I shook the thought and spread my wings to take flight. Perhaps a higher vantage point would allow me to find some kind of civilisation or get some other inkling of bearings. No sooner had I broken past the top of the trees than I was ferociously assaulted by creatures that flew at speeds of lightning with force and determination of destruction like that of a hurricane. They flew by, making passes with talons to tear me asunder. I barely caught the glimpse of one as they tore by me. It had almost a canine-like snout, long and slim. Each of the four wings carried a set of claws while two legs drug behind with talons outstretched. Their tails were stubs that came to a round point a little ways off of the body. Their overall structure was elongated and streamlined. Shortly after the carnage began I hit the trees once more. I collided with branch after branch, either snapping them off, hitting the branch with a crack, or being hurled away. The ground eventually found me and I hit it with a resounding thud. The pain I suffered in that moment was worse than when I first awoke. I sat through the writhing agony, hoping for an end.

It took a little while for me to find the willpower to continue my attempted journey, but before I did I looked back at myself to see the damage. Several gashes lined my body, but that was not the worst damage. To see my wings in the state they were filled me with deep despair. One had been rent entirely, torn from my body and missing all but the slightest stump near the base. The other was still attached, but it might as well have not been. It hung from the first joint by who knows what little flesh there was left. I decided it best to simply remove the thing instead of have the deformity attach itself again. I grabbed hold of the dangling remnant of my right wing before taking a deep breath. I grunted and winced as I jerked my head away, the wing still in my mouth. I spat it out onto the ground before me and tried my best to clear the taste of blood from my mouth. With the deed completed I was left with what remained: a stump where my left wing had been and a bleeding protrusion where my right wing had been. As much as sorrow demanded tears, as broken and lifeless as I currently felt I was, I felt as if I had to keep going. My only hope of survival rested upon stumbling onto some form of civilisation in this hopelessly barren waste.

I rested for a short moment, hoping the pain would subside and I would gain strength. I could only pray the soul crushing despair that persisted would flee as well, but I quickly found I didn’t have time for such thoughts. I heard the rustling of leaves nearby and perked my ears to find what else I could pick up. Upon my ears fell the sound of snapping branches. When the resounding crack of a tree trunk sounded out my heart began racing. I decided it best to keep moving. It was but a few moments before I managed to find the edge of the forest once more. Upon finding it I examined carefully both earth and sky. The creatures that had torn me from the sky rested upon the fringes of the canopy in this out-of-place grouping of trees I was in. They must have been waiting for me, seeking to assure my destruction. I decided to wander within the periphery of the jungle to reach a different side, perhaps hoping to evade the flying beasts. By the time I reached another part of the jungle's opening dusk had fallen and shapes were now hard to discern. It was then that I left, setting out.

As I left I made sure to carefully examine the sky, first and foremost to assure myself that the creatures would not descend upon me, but also to check for lights. City lights of a metropolis would light up the sky well enough that I would be able to determine which direction I would need to travel. Towns or far away destinations would be far harder to recognise. The longer it took me to search for any signs of life the further my hope of finding it shrunk. I continued, nevertheless, and eventually managed to find just the slightest tinting of the air along the horizon. I turned towards it and began trotting.

As the night passed I was almost aimlessly wandering over the scorched landscape. The air had grown a little frigid, as opposed to the prior and oppressive heat of the day. I'm sure if I could have seen anything that my breath would have been visible, but the lands around me were near-pitch black. Only by continuing my motion did I manage to keep myself warm enough. At a certain point the sky began to lighten once more as dawn approached. As the sun's approach became more and more imminent I began to make out shapes on the ground that I had not seen during the night. I could not tell what they were yet, and really didn't pay enough attention to them in the first place to figure it out. As the sky grew light and the sun broke, however, I looked once more. It wasn't hard to determine what the shapes were when the sun bleached colour of them was easier to see. Bones lay strewn across the cracked and parched dirt. The skulls gave the impression that they had belonged to gryphons. At the time, it seemed to me as if these bones were strewn about the barren landscape between the city and the forest. I wasn’t sure if they were only found in the stretch of land I was in, but I was sure that something had to cause their death, and so nearby where I had awakened.. Whatever that forest was or what purpose it served I did not know, and could only hope it was not as grisly a thought as I was imagining.

What I did know was that the ground began rumbling ever so slightly. Brushing off the tremors as simply an earthquake I continued unhindered. They continued to increase in magnitude, but I continued regardless, albeit a bit shakily. At one point I stopped and began looking around, and why I know not. I heard faintly some kind of noise from far behind me and turned around. The first search revealed nothing. Again it happened when I turned around, so I looked again. No signs of life were present. I sat and focused on that direction, trying to see what it might have been. Suddenly a very large monstrosity burst from the ground before burrowing back in. The second burst granted me a better view. It was almost like a giant worm of sorts, but the maw was filled to the brim with row after row of jagged teeth. This itself sectioned into four parts that opened and closed in harmony to form the gullet of the monster. Seeing this creature barrelling directly towards me caused me to wheel around and gallop with all my might. As quickly as I could gallop I went, and as swiftly as the ground beneath my hooves was passing by it just wasn't enough. Fear gripped my heart as that thought passed through. Thinking became harder and harder, as did the task of remaining upright; the earth beneath was shaking violently now and with great magnitude. I turned my head to look over my right shoulder to see how close it was. Consequently, as it were, upon turning my head my whole personage veered right along with it. As the creature descended upon me I was just far enough out to the right that it merely grazed me with a passing blow. Even then, as gentle as that may sound, the worm's force was that of a freight train. I tumbled time and time again across the dirt and rocks. After the tumultuous bout of flips, rolls and skids I finally stopped.

As I sat for a moment, regaining any sense of direction and all drive to keep going, I thought momentarily on the creatures I had seen thus far. All the fauna here seemed to have mutated or adapted in order to kill and eat whatever poor creature found itself lost in the wastes. On top of it all, it seemed as if movement egged them on the most, as if perhaps they sensed motion better than they saw. This did not mean I was going to stop trying to find the town, absolutely not. I was not going to all but stop my attempted search simply because I might run into a little trouble. Indeed, it only meant I was going to try that much more to find sentient life nearby. As such, my mind began to wander the mental boulevards to find a way to make the process more efficient.

Breaking away from my thoughts once more I stood back up. It was harder this time. Within my left shoulder was a dull, but very deep, throbbing pain. I felt almost as if something had happened to it before, another memory pleading review, but I could not place what happened. This kind of thing happened frequently, actually. It mostly came when I took a moment and reviewed my physical state or current injuries. It felt like perhaps there were memories tied to them that had been long forgotten. I decided that racking my brain with personal torment, trying to find answers I didn’t have, wasn’t really worth my precious daylight hours. Once more shaking the thoughts from my mind I waited over the course of a few hours, taking note of the movement of the sun, hoping some kind of basic astronomy would help me out here in these wastes. It was oppressively hot as I patiently waited for an idea of where I was facing. I eventually began trotting, in part limping, once more towards where I thought I needed to go.

As night fell I noticed the light on the horizon was now a little brighter than it was before, albeit a little to the side of me. I realigned my course with the light and began my journey once again. It wasn't long after I had done so that I heard the sound of scratching claws on the hardened dirt. I paused to look towards the source. With what little light remained at these dusk hours I could see the outlines of small creatures. It wasn’t light enough, and they were far enough away, that I could not make out what kind of creature it could have been. Regardless, the shadows avidly picked at the ground and gnawed on the bones scattered all around. I tried my best to simply sneak away from any groupings of them. It all seemed to be working until one perked up, sniffing. I tried my best to keep away from it, to avoid a confrontation. The creature was insistent, however, and continued to pursue me. I knew that if I had increased my speed it would have caused them all to take note. When it drew too close I held still. I was able to make out the details of the creature. It was very dog-like in appearance, but seemed to have a hide more like a reptile. The claws on the paws of this small creature had seemingly wickedly sharp claws. This creature, as well as those in the sky, had a very slim build exaggerated more fiercely by, what I could assume to be, starvation or famine. Spines lined the back of the creature, making it look bigger and more intimidating than perhaps it actually was. The spine-like hackles on its back raised as it brought its face near. The snout of the creature, a very long and slim face, drew close to my hind legs. It began sniffing the blood on my left leg. At this point I knew I was done for, so I bucked back hard and connected with the creature. Unfortunately it whimpered as it flew, and upon landing I heard several cracks emanate from it. It lay limp upon the ground. Suddenly the others perked up and looked in the direction of the sound. I moved as quietly as possible further away from the initial contact.

It was but a few small moments before they were upon me. I killed as many as I could with tail sweeps and kicks before they arrived, but there were simply too many of them. Their numbers didn't matter to them, and they were so intensely bent on eating my corpse that any loss didn't matter to them. It became a struggle for my life as my hooves and tail had to face their claws, spines and fangs. As I soon discovered their bones were brittle and easily broken, and the creatures themselves easily perished from injury. Despite this, there seemed to be hundreds of the little beasts. The more of them I killed, it seemed, the more there were, as heads of a hydra. As valiantly as I fought there were simply too many to defeat. They began to overpower me, and I began to concede the inevitable. As I was thus struggling on the brink of destruction the rumbling of the ground returned again and, within moments, the little dog-like monsters were gone, whether buried in the ground or having fled so quickly I could not trace them. I backed up, making sure to make as little contact with the ground as possible, and to do so softly. The worm-like creature from before began bursting from the ground, and did so a couple of times before bursting one last time to fall upon the mass of bodies I had left behind. In one swift motion the vast majority of the dead were gone. I waited momentarily, making sure the worm was gone, before continuing as I had been before.

Day broke once more; the previous night's encounter made today's journeying even harder. Injuries were quickly compounding with hunger, thirst and the ever present fear that I would never make it back, that I had awoken just to die. Every now and then in the eventless hours of the day a thought would creep upon me, one promising sure destruction out in these forsaken wastes. I kept casting these unholy thoughts from my mind with as much zeal as I could muster. I needed to return. I knew that I needed to return, but I could not figure out why. I did not even know where I needed to get to, nor to whom or why. It simply felt like I needed to do so. It was more than simple survival.

Night swept away the day, followed by the return of day thereafter. The bones were now more numerous than they had been prior. It was almost as if I hit a point where the majority of the others, those that had tried the same journey I was on, succumbed to something. As I stumbled through the field of bones the day slowly slipped away, leaving me now in the third night. It was halfway through this, the third and seemingly final, night that I saw the lights that cast their glory upon the sky to guide me. Buildings, with all their lighted windows, appeared upon the horizon. The closer I got the more I could tell that it was a walled city, a very large one at that. In excitement of my discovery I began moving quicker, disregarding discomfort from injury. Because of this increase in pace and distraction from the world around me due to intense focus on the possibility of survival, along with the thick darkness that surrounded me and engulfed the land, I did not see the looming hole before me. I took a step further and fell directly into a large pit. As I regained my bearings I heard growling. I fearfully froze. It was familiar growling. Although I could not place why it was so hauntingly familiar, I quickly realised I had fallen directly into a den of wolves. Backing up slowly I found that there was an incline behind me. It might have been an exit ramp, so I hopefully continued backing up. As I backed up the incline, having a higher vantage point, I looked back down into the hole, which revealed dozens of glowing dots. As soon as I broke the lip of the cave I wheeled around and galloped as quickly as I could. It wasn't too long before I heard the telltale yips and sounds that signified that the chase was on.

The flight was quick, but it was also very clear that it would end poorly very soon. As the city approached I hoped that there was some kind of creature upon the wall, some kind of sentient being. I figured servitude was better than becoming the dinner of a lost pack of wolves. Hoping not only that something was on the wall but also that it could hear me I cried out. It was a mighty shout, in an effort to reach all the way to the wall, followed by a choked yelp as I suddenly hit the ground. A sharp stinging pain resounded in my leg, forcing me to turn my gaze back towards it. One of the wolves had a very firm grip upon my hind right leg with its powerful jaws. As much as I tried to break free, as much as I kicked at the wolf and squirmed around, I could not break the grip. Fear took the reins, causing me to let out one last plea. It was the loudest sound I could muster, and possibly the most pathetic sound I had ever made, but it was surprisingly sharp and clear. My next cry, choked by both pain and terror, garbled out and died within my throat. The wolf was dragging me backwards, yanking hard on my leg. I kicked and yanked in return but never quite managed to connect hard enough to kill it. Each moment brought my doom that much closer. The other wolves were approaching now. They would soon be upon me, tearing me apart in a mad feast. Right about the time I was awaiting that terrible moment a light came on upon the top of the wall. In desperation, maybe to help those that might come, I lashed out a few more times at the wolf. Even my tail was not enough to dissuade the hungry beast. It seemed as if I was surely going to die. I braced myself, closing my eyes in anticipation of the unimaginable pain that would follow.

After a terror filled moment I heard yips and scuffling, mixed with a few grunts and cracks. After a blink's worth of time my leg was freed. Shortly after that the world fell silent. A few moments later I was jabbed by the end of a spear's hilt. The voice that accompanied it was fairly gentle. "I could only guess this made the noise?"

The next voice was harsh and coarse. "Probably so."

"It's not moving. Is it alive or were we too late?"

"If it doesn't move it isn't worth our time. Doesn't seem like anything is happening. Let's head back then." Fearing a new resignation to doom I grunted and shifted. I was too deprived and exhausted to do much more.

"Wait, it's alive!"

"Great. Guess we get to drag its sorry carcass back to the city."

"I'll carry it." With that, I felt my personage lifted and set down again. I was now on the back of one of my saviours. We began moving, albeit a little slower than I had originally anticipated. I finally opened my eyes at this point. Not only could I see we were headed to the city that I was fleeing to before but I also finally saw what had come to my aid: two armour-clad gryphons. I was grateful for the help, but hoped for the best. Relations between ponies and gryphons had been strained at best for a while, decades even. All I could do was wait and see if fate was forgiving.

After what seemed like an eternity we neared the gates. As we approached it was clear to see that creatures had assembled outside the gates and were clawing at the thick metallic doors, hoping to breach the gatehouse. We heard the gates begin to open and the creatures frantically attempted to enter. They were met with pikes and swinging swords, ending only in their utter annihilation. The little skirmish didn't take too long; the creatures of these wastes were far too weak to ever do anything against armour and weapons. We were greeted by the platoon that led the slaughter before we were heralded inside.

"Ah, Theogar, what did you two find tonight?" One of the nigh-unrecognisable armoured guards addressed the one beside my carrier.

"Just some dumb pony out in the middle of the wastes. Almost got itself killed."

"How come you saved this one?"

"I'm not sure. It seemed different. Perhaps it knows of their plans." The guard chuckled. "What?"

"Oh, it's just that you always go on about how they have a plan to overthrow the government, conquer the kingdom, yada-yada-yada. Out of all the ones you've asked not a single one has answered. What makes you so sure this one will?"

"Believe me. It will." His tone seemed a little darker when he said that.

"Well, tell me how it goes. I'm always enthralled by your tales."

"Watch your tongue, recruit. Just remember who you're addressing."

"My apologies, captain." The guard’s retort was sarcastic in nature.

"I have business to attend to. Keep up the good work."

"Yes, sir." Once we were completely inside, the gates locked and barred once more, I finally got the opportunity to weakly gaze around. The town was made entirely of narrow houses bunched together. They seemed oddly different to me, but I could not place why it would be different. They were just tall houses; why would it have been strange? These houses appeared to have the width of a room and a hallway, but they rose four stories tall. Out here, near the city walls, the roofs of these houses met in the middle, blocking the light from the world outside. Each floor extended a little further out than the floor that was beneath it. The houses were clumped in groups of five wide before breaking into an alleyway. The alleys were narrow, barely enough room for one pony to fit at a time. Everything seemed rather middle-aged, the cross timber frames of the houses accenting the feel of the town. As we continued our move inwards not only was it harder for me to stay awake at times but the houses seemed to spread out a little further from each other. They definitely got bigger. Whereas there was only room for one in the alleys, now at least two could fit. They remained in clumps of five still. After we passed this they became small houses with alleys between each, but they were still close together. Suddenly to view rose a very large, almost anachronistic spire, almost as if to try and conquer the sky itself. It was magnificent, but I was too weary and weak to truly care. It was to this spire that we were headed.

When we reached the doors they opened of their own accord, sliding to either side to grant us passage. There was a desk of sorts and a gryphon sitting behind it. The one behind the desk and this 'Theogar', as he had been addressed as, conversed for a while before we departed once more. I didn't catch much of what they said, as all of my energy was being exerted to stay awake and alive. Either way, we moved for a little while before stopping in some kind of lift. They half set and half dropped me onto the floor before grabbing hold of handles along the sides of the machine. Theogar pressed a few buttons and awaited the doors to close. Once they had, we jolted violently into motion, causing me to shift before hitting the wall. This merited a chuckle from him. He muttered something but I didn't understand it. After a few moments of movement in this direction the lift stopped, then jolted in another direction. Again I rolled, but it wasn't far enough to hit anything. One last time it stopped and started again, vertical this time. This continued for longer than the other two times before, before it stopped and the doors opened. I was picked up, rougher this time than last time, and carried into a room. They dropped me in the midst of it before they spoke to each other. None of their words registered, almost seeming to be alien to me. After a short talk they left through the lift again. I was left alone in my agony now. I was bleeding, most notably from the bite on my leg, my wings had been torn from me, my left shoulder felt like something was wrong with it and my numerous injuries sustained were most likely infected. All of this misery added together overshadowed me with a growing sense of weariness. All I could muster was the thought that sleeping seemed better than any other thing that I could have done.

I awoke the frenzied motions of gryphons all around me. Voices seemed far when bodies brushed near. Images faded as lights focused. Numbness grew as I felt the world around me. My presence seemed hazy at best, my circumstances surreal and my mind detached. As my paradox of an existence began to sort out and fixated itself on the real once more I began to discern voices. I went to get up, only to be quickly pushed back down. One of the gryphons spoke. "Rest now, creature."

Creature? Did they not know what I was? Could they not recognise my equine nature, that I was a pony? My mind began to scream in protest as my body began to react, to attempt harder to arise; I was too weak to resist them. Then something jabbed into my neck and a numb wave of pain shot through me. It wasn't long before I dropped back onto the surface I was on, falling under once more.

When next I awoke it felt as if I had been gone for ages. My body ached and I had all but lost my sense of time. As I looked around I began to discern features and objects in the room. Where I had been resting was no more than a pile of straw. The walls were all reflective, as if made of mirrors mounted upon the walls. This was all I could find upon an initial inspection. I decided to take advantage of the surrounding reflections and finally see what I looked like. I recoiled in fear from what I saw. I had assumed I was little more than a simple pegasus, albeit wingless, so what stood before me was a complete system shock. My hide was a light blue, at least what hide was exposed at least. Spread across my hide but not quite covering all of it were scales hued and shining like sapphires. My eyes were a bright, almost fuscia colour. They were slitted and more reptilian than equine. I showed my teeth to find that a few of my front teeth had replaced themselves with fangs. What else I saw was the stump of something coming from my head. Upon closer inspection it looked like it used to be a horn. It felt like there was a story behind it, why it was missing, but I could not recall it. I poked it, making sure it was authentic and, sure enough, it was. I saw once more the condition of my wings, filling my heart with grief. As I turned my head back around I noticed that the shape of it seemed foreign to me, as if that wasn't quite what it was supposed to be normally, as if it was slightly different than what a horse was supposed to look like. Again, I could not find a reason behind the feeling, especially because I was the only horse in this entire blasted wasteland. My mind rapidly searched for an answer to my bizarre appearance, some kind of explanation. The only conclusion it reached was that I had been experimented upon. My thoughts snapped back to reality as I heard a voice, almost seemingly from nowhere. As it spoke I searched for some kind of a source, eventually finding something on the ceiling that my mind satisfied itself as to be the source. I then listened again. "Ah, now you're listening. Excellent. We grew worried for a moment there. I see you've noticed already the changes your body made. Quite interesting, actually. I would like to study you if I could."

Using raised volume, and speaking towards the 'vent' I responded. "What have you done to me?"

"You needn't speak so loud. There are microphones."

Figuring he didn't understand my question, rather heard my volume, I spoke again. I answered softly this time. Despite this, the same intensity was still in my tone. "What have you done to me?"

"Quite frankly, my dear, nothing. Your body did it all for you. We wish we knew why or how." My haziest memory was trying to scream why. That still left unanswered two questions I had. Hoping to sate my curiosity I spoke again.

"Who am I and where am I from?"

"The answer to the first, there's no way we could ever find out if you don't tell us. We can only assume you came from Equestria, but we have no way of knowing due to your bizarre nature." The name sounded so familiar it almost made my head ache just thinking on it. "We simply don't have enough information."

"Where is this 'Equestria' place?"

"North-East of here, a few weeks journey by boat."

"Take me there."

The grizzled voice from before, Theogar's voice, jutted in. "I don't know who you are or what your plans are. That's why we're here for find out. We will know whether or not you’re a spy."

A spy? "A spy?"

"Yes, and we're here to get what you know, one way or another." It fell quiet for a second or two before one part of the room opened up. In walked two armoured gryphons, followed by one in armour more extravagant than the first two, ending with another set of two regulars. I could only imagine that the one in the middle was the captain. When they entered the room he was boxed in by the surrounding four guards. His voice betrayed his identity; it was Theogar. "Now, either you answer our questions or we pry the answers out of you. Question one: who are you?"

My mouth opened instinctively to answer the question that should have been of no regard to me. Nothing, however, came out and no name came to mind. The memory of my name, of my identity, seemed so far lost by some barrier of time that it was unfeasible to think on it further. "A quiet one, huh? Strike one. Question two: who sent you?"

Another blank. I could not think of a response. I felt as if I were here of my own accord, but perhaps there was one that sent me? I shook my head and a few moments of awkward silence dripped by. He was now very close, within reach. "How exciting. Strike two. Question three: what is your mission?"

Sick of the silence and this game I spoke. "I cannot remember my name and nopony sent me. I don't know what happened. Perhaps it was an accident, a mishap?"

"Lies!" Theogar swung and hit me across the face. The blow was solid and his claws dug into the flesh of my face from about my ear down a diagonal line to the bottom of my jaw. A deep and all-penetrating fury suddenly began burning within my chest. "Nothing 'accidentally' ends up in the Wastes!"

Not having turned my head back up from the impact I spat my words out. "If you dare touch me again I will personally see to it that your limbs are torn from you one by one."

I finally looked back up. The rage on my face must have been the most apparent feature in the room. Theogar hissed back. "Is that a threat?"

"It's a mandate."

"Look around you, wretch. You're in a land filled with gryphons. None of your pathetic horse friends back home can save you out here. So guess what? If you ever want to see those four legged monsters again you will answer my questions."

"I have already answered your dumb questions."

"All you have done is lied to me. You will tell me the truth or I will tear it from your lips."

"I have neither the power nor the need to answer your questions."

"You will answer them or I will pry the answers from your dying breath in the most mentally damaging and physically excruciating way possible. So let me give you this: if you had any sense of intelligence I'd suggest you start pounding that thick, ignorant skull of yours against the wall to find those answers. Think on your options." With that he left with his guards. I was alone once more. I went back over to the straw pile and sat down, thinking heavily while trying to devise a way to escape from their clutches. After finding nothing, I gave up thinking and laid down to rest once more. It wasn't too long before sleep overcame me.

When next I awoke it was to the gentler voice of the two guards who had initially found me. He seemed almost apologetic in tone. "Hey, you're awake, good. I know of a way to get you back home."

My ears perked up and I arose, listening intently to the voice. "Because of the rapidly declining conditions of the Wastes and increased need for guards the progress on the wall has slowed dramatically. The king saw this and set forth a decree that prisoners who help build the wall will have their crimes pardoned, receiving a brand for their crime instead of a lifelong sentence. I can arrange something for you, if you'd like."

"Yes, please." Something from within me burned, as if this was what course I should take. I looked around the room, hoping to find the silhouette of the one speaking. I found nothing until the door opened. In came the troupe of armoured gryphons from before. Theogar spoke.

"Alright, wretch, you had better start giving us answers. Who are you, what are your plans and who gave them to you?"

"If you bothered to recall what I said earlier then you would already have your answers."

"I don't have time for your useless banter or your cheeky remarks, horse. Tell me all you know."

"Even if there was something I knew that I hadn't told you, I have neither the need nor the desire to do so."

"Is that so? Well, that kind of remark makes this job worthwhile. Seize her."

They approached. My heart began racing. "Lay not a talon upon me. That is your only warning."

"You have no authority here, horse."

"I do have the power to end your life." It was entirely bravado, but something told me that I actually could.

"I'm impressed by your stupidity. Maybe your shrewdness with answers will make it more enjoyable." The guards drew close, ready to apprehend me. As the first made contact I quickly snapped into action. I threw myself underneath him and flipped him over top of me as violently as possible. The next had managed to jab his sword into my left hind leg. I wheeled and bucked back, connecting with his helmet. The beakpiece warped heavily, the force sending him sprawling across the room. His weapon dislodged from my leg incorrectly, a large gash replacing the smaller puncture. The third I whipped my tail under, tripping him and forcing him to land face first. As I continued my spiral I kicked down to add more force to his fall, slamming his beak into the concrete floor. It was clear that he was unconscious, or at least I hoped that was all. The fourth came quickly but I had enough time to swing my tail around again to connect with his windpipe. He tumbled back and lay still, clutching his throat and wheezing heavily. As I turned to face Theogar he connected with me solidly, charging in with his spear shaft turned sideways. He shoved me against the wall and held me pinned by the throat, my hind legs barely remaining connected with the ground. He pressed ever more firmly, choking me. In an act of desperation I lifted my two hind legs from the ground, forcing the choke further. I bucked as hard as possible and connected with his chest. He flew backwards and hit the wall, leaving a spiderweb crack across the entire surface of the shattered glass wall and falling limp. His helmet rolled off of his drooping head, revealing what he actually looked like. His feathers were a dark brown, with a few of them tipped with a sky blue acting as accents. From the corners of his eyes, and including some of the area around them, came a streak of the sky blue. They curved up his head before connecting with his pileum, ultimately making the plumage on the top of his head the same colour. The bands from his eyes split as they turned upwards, creating another branch that turned downwards, wrapping around to the back of his neck. I can only assume it tapered off. He also had a streak of the sky blue feathers from the base of his beak down his neck, although his armour blocked my sight on the rest of it. His eyes were closed, and his head drooped, so I didn’t get a chance to see what colour they were. I wouldn’t have had the time to regardless.

As I recovered a little of my breath, and recovered from the surprise of just how much strength I had, I enacted a plan. I galloped over, taking Theogar's sword, unsheathed it and held it firmly in my mouth. It would come in handy, if nothing else. I then turned towards the door. The time had come to make my escape.

It might have been that they were too stunned to react in time to close the door, or perhaps one of the other gryphons was helping me escape. Either way, the door was open long enough for me to leave. I barely got out before the door slammed shut. Unfortunately I had not entirely made it out and quickly found that my tail had been caught in it. I panicked a little and began kicking the door. Each buck sent waves of pain up my injured leg. This pain turned to rage and my bucks only became fiercer. Something clicked inside me, some kind of primal 'do or die' instinct. The wrath deepened and ignited a new kind of strength from me, one which I knew not could be obtained. With one monumental buck the door bent out of shape, caving in enough to free my tail. Suddenly, out of nowhere, all of the pain of my tail caught up with me. It was near crippling, but I continued regardless. I needed to find the exit, and this sword was going to help me get there.

It wasn't long before the alert got out. I fought through a few groups of guards, albeit small patrols, that lent little or no delay on my journey. When I reached the main gate, however, I found the majority of the guards stationed there. The beginning of the fight went exceedingly well, surprisingly enough to my forgetful state. Things worsened when they brought rods of electricity. I succumbed to the lightning strike's worth of electrical current and sheer number of guards. I soon fell, unable to move or react. I was entirely helpless again. They drug me back to an isolated and solitary cell. They dressed my wounds therein before leaving me alone to convulse a little more.

After several moments rolled by, enough so that I recovered enough to arise unhindered by spasms, the cell door opened again. In poured guards with shields, who corralled me into the lift. They engulfed me with their shields, as much as I resisted, and drug me to another cell. Once we arrived I was shoved into the room and beaten into submission before being bound, my strong resistance causing no benefit to myself. They then forced me into an upright position, tying my front hooves into rings mounted upon the ceiling and my hind legs into those on the floor. I was bound tightly and left entirely helpless. They left once I was secured. After a few minutes of struggling I heard the gryphon with the softer voice speak. "Thank the skies you're still alive! After that display I wasn't sure whether or not they would actually let you live. But there's not much time, so I have to hurry. You need to hear these directions and you must do exactly as I say. Before too long Theogar will be up here with his six pronged whip. He's savage and barbaric, but you're going to have to stick it out. As unbearable as it will be you need to keep yourself awake. He'll probably ask if you're a spy or not. Whether or not you actually are, for the love of the air, just say yes. We probably both know it's wrong, but I can more easily help you if you do. The lift is here. I have to go."

It fell silent again in the room. A few moments later the door opened. Theogar came striding in, the whip dragging behind him. It certainly was an intimidating sight. Each cord of the whip, all six of them, had knots tied, with little razors embedded within each knot, that ran all the way down almost to the tip. Pain was soon to come, and a lot of it. He began pacing around me once he was inside the room, speaking in an almost menacing tone. "That was quite the stunt you pulled there. Incapacitated four royal guards, one of which is in intensive care. Not only that but you hospitalised a couple over twenty guards, set the laboratory into a state of emergency, disgraced me by the use of my own sword and destroyed a heavily reinforced metal door. We had to get the engineers down there to cut us out. They're still working on it, you know? Fixing the mess you made. Now, we gryphons pride ourselves in being educated, scientific, something you detestable creatures seem to lack. We believe in equity, exchanging equals. Suffering for suffering. Pain for pain. Humiliation for humiliation. So, tell me this once and I might contemplate letting you go with only a few stripes. Are you or are you not a spy?"

"I don't even know who I am or where I came from. How do you expect me to know if I was sent by anypony or why they sent me?"

"That didn't answer my question."

"I don't answer it because I can't."

"You're trying my patience. This is a yes or no question, horse." The last word was spat harshly. "Are you or are you not a spy?"

"With my best judgement I would say I am no spy."

"Hm. Well, that makes this job interesting." He had paced around back behind me at this point. He stopped, causing my heart to race. "Let's see if a few new scars improve your judgement."

He laughed a little before drawing the cords and taking the first stroke. Sheer, unbridled agony followed. Just one stripe from this brutal instrument would have been enough to bring a riotous subordinate into exact service for years. Several would have made an enemy of the state into a faithful servant of the king. But this went on for more than several, for many is all I know. I lost count after several dozen. By the end of the shredding, which did not encompass only my back but my undercarriage and legs as well, I didn't have the strength or the will to react to the blows. The first few were agony enough to kill. A few of them drew groans of pains from my throat and several dropped tears into the pool of my own life essence beneath me. By the last dozen or so the impact merely hit, my body reacting only from force rather than avoidance. It was several pounds of rope and razors being flung at high speed. My face was dull and lifeless, I'm sure, by the end. Theogar must have noticed and grown tired of receiving no reaction. He finally stopped the scourging, came around front and looked me over for a moment. "Well, how about it? Tell me now, horse, what your answer is: are you a spy or not?"

I simply sat and stared at him with a blank expression of disconnect, as if his words had not even registered. I had no means of answering a question, for my strength was entirely fled. He simply shook his head and undid the bands. Upon releasing the first my leg fell limp, leaving me dangling by one leg. He undid the other and I slapped loudly into the sticky liquid that had amassed on the floor. I sat, utterly unable to feel and not wanting to do so either. "Pathetic. I went easy on you. Now, the damages need to be recompensed. Now, for need to remove the door I need to remove something from you. I could do the tail, or perhaps...wait, what's this? Quite strange indeed. A line here on your hoof."

He had moved close to my one leg. Indeed there was a faint line upon it. My mind, weakened and unwilling to process as it was, begged me that it knew, that I knew, what the answer to it was. "It seems almost as if it's all scarred beneath this line. Did you lose a hoof and regrow it? You are strange indeed. Well, I'm sure you won't miss it again. Guards, bring my sword!"

A few moments later, the door opened and the blade I had stolen was carried in. Theogar took the blade after giving orders to the guard. His lackey came over and held me, extending my leg. Theogar drew close with the sword, looking over my hoof one last time. Panic struck me deeply as I realised just what he had in mind. In some kind of burst of unknown strength I pulled back, causing great strife for the guard holding me. Theogar would not be able to cut it without hitting the guard too if this continued. I wasn’t able to fully pull away or lash out at any of the nearby gryphons, but I made sure he wouldn’t be able to hit me. Instead of trying, he came over towards my head and began hitting me hard with his claws, as if putting a disorderly pet back in line. My head splashed back down a few times into the pool of blood, hitting the hard cement beneath the surface and stunning me. The world was spinning now, flashing and sweeping in and out of focus. The strength I had found departed once more and the guard pulled my leg out from under me again. I couldn't budge and could only fearfully watch as Theogar prepared the blade. He swung down. I saw the blade sink deep, severing the hoof from the leg. As numb as I was I could still feel the immense pain of the injury and groaned as I could. I felt nauseated enough to contemplate vomiting. "There we go. Recompense for your actions has been paid. We'll leave you here to contemplate your answer for the next time I arrive."

With that, he and the guard left after giving me one last kick to the side. It was but a moment after the doors had closed and the lift departed that the other gryphon rushed in, a panicked looking expression written clearly on his face. I couldn’t focus enough to gather an appearance. I simply felt weak, sick and tired. All I wanted to do was fall asleep. I suppose my eyes had closed momentarily, as the gryphon shook me violently to keep me awake. "You're not dying yet. I'm dressing you as best as I can, just hold on!"

As I kept threatening to slip I saw his frantic actions shift between wrapping my wounds and keeping me awake. From what I could tell a mixture of emotions read in his eyes: fear, sorrow, anger and desperation; the emotions of something fighting off the death of another. Just as he was finishing dressing my wounds I felt my grounding on reality slip.

Shaking was the next thing I felt. The room was unfamiliar, far different from the blank room I had been in before, and I could not focus enough to recognise the creature beside me. Fear clutched my heart and I leaped to my hooves. As soon as I did I collapsed back down, the impact with the floor knocking me out again.

The next time I awoke I managed to recognise the creature beside me as being a gryphon. As far as I can recall, he resembled the one that had tended to me in the torture chamber. He spoke, the words barely registering. "For a while there I feared you had died instead of simply falling unconscious. I knew that Theogar was barbaric, but that was just absurd. Now, I have some bandages to dress those wounds of yours again because we need to cleanse them first. Unfortunately, the tub is on the second floor. This is the basement. Do you think you can manage to get up there?"

I simply looked at him, my body screaming for me to stay down here, but I did not want to be proven unable; for some reason unbeknownst to me I was absurdly stubborn when it came to resisting physical limitations. I arose, fighting through the steep price of pain. I almost fell over several times, making this kindly gryphon panic accordingly. Surprisingly enough, my uneven stance did not feel terribly foreign to me, even though I had thought my legs to be of equal length up to this point, almost as if I had known the feeling before. Once I arrived at the base of the stairs I finally felt the magnitude of my situation. Steeling myself, I put one shaky hoof in front of the other. It was difficult to keep balance, most particularly on my shortened leg. This task was particularly difficult because each time I tried to step on the severed hoof I would shiver through waves of pain that shot up my leg and down my spine again. Every time I fell or stumbled, however, the gryphon was there to catch me. One stair after another, the climb eventually ended as I found myself on the second floor. He told me to be seated eventually and I more than gladly complied. Plopping down on the welted wounds of the whip felt a lot better than remaining standing on the throbbing stump of a hoof I had. After a short while, I was beckoned over by the gryphon to a wash basin. "Now, climb in. It's going to hurt because of the cleanser I put in the water, but at least it will keep me from having to scrub you, which might hurt more."

It's going to hurt indeed. As I stepped into the water I felt a pain only describable like unto being impaled by a thousand needles simultaneously. The pain raised to agony as I sat down into the liquid. I let out a sound that was half moaned and half groaned. Once I was inside the basin the pain subsided shortly thereafter. When I looked over at the concerned gryphon he motioned for me to submerge my head underwater. I closed my eyes and did just that, pulling my head back out of the water only after the pain had subsided. When I emerged again I recovered my breath and was addressed by the gryphon. "Ok. You just need to soak for a little while to make sure those wounds come out clean. Every time this five minute timer dings I need you to submerge your head again."

I nodded. He pulled out a little device that resembled an hourglass and turned it over. He turned his attention back to me. "I suppose since neither of us can leave just yet we should get to know each other. My name is Segaran. What's yours?"

I sat in silence staring at him until the resounding ding broke the solemn air. I dropped my head under until I needed air and came back up. As hard as I had been thinking I could not remember my name. All that came to mind was the fact that I should know the answer to his question. After another submergence, Segaran tilted his head and asked in a very concerned tone "So you weren’t kidding after all, not even in bravado against Theogar. You don't remember anything, do you?"

All I could do was simply shake my head from side to side to indicate a negative response. "Ok, well, I guess we'll try later I suppose, and hope for the best. You're almost done soaking."

After the last immersion he had me step out of the basin. He then took a towel and dried my body in a very careful and gentle manner, one with such care as I had never seen or felt before. He then beckoned for me to come to the stairwell. I did as ordered and, before too long, began descending. I'm still not sure how he managed to get me back down those flights. I'm sure he carried me as much as I actually trotted down the steps, as each step was a losing battle against collapse. Once back in the basement I sat upon a pile of fresh linens to rest. It was soft, refreshing, but it still hurt to be upon my wounds. "Those cuts should begin closing and healing within the next few weeks, and the welts going away about the same time. If there is anything I'd be able to do for you until then tell me and I will do it, alright?"

I gave my best effort for an affirmative nod, laying down and resting my head upon the linens. My plan was to simply rest and recuperate in that time. He left upstairs, leaving me alone down here once more. I tried to think again on who I was, but ended up getting nowhere and gave up. A few moments later Segaran came back down with a plate of food. I perked up, having been so numb that I had forgotten the fact that I was famished. I ate as much as I could, which was not a lot at this point, and Segaran took the rest upstairs. Of course, there was one problem that arose out of such an opportunity: eating only made me hungrier than I was before. After, I'm assuming, several hours of rest he fed me again.

This kind of pattern repeated for quite the window of time. It consisted of sleeping at all hours of the day until awoken for another session of eating or cleansing, followed by the questions of who I was and where I came from. I did not mind Segaran's asking of these questions mostly because I knew it was innocent curiosity, and that made it kind of amusing in a way. After the questions, and the lack of a response thereafter, I would fall again into slumber.

As time passed I noticed two things. The first thing to note was the gryphon’s appearance. Since he wasn’t clad in his armour, I could finally see what he looked like. He had silver feathers, with purple accents curling down from behind his ears in an S shape down his cheeks before ending underneath his beak. He also had a diamond-shaped mark of the same colour with the bottom point starting the shape at brow-level. The shape cut off at the level of his ears, joining with the S curves on his cheeks. The feathers of his wings, not the feathers on the joints but the feathers that were ultimately responsible for flight, were also that same royal purple. The feathers on the end of his tail were also purple. His eyes were a gentle mix of amber and yellow accents that created a softer shade overall.

With his appearance aside, I can focus on the more important issue. What I noticed is that as he continued to ask the questions, as he needled for that information, I felt that the feeling of 'I should know this' was slowly being replaced with vague mental images. Even though I noted such and focused as best I could upon the images I was still utterly unable to make out the meanings, or even what was being shown for that matter. I was still just as confused as ever.

One day, after the little bout of kindly interrogation, he paused and thought. "You know, I've been thinking about it. I don't think you'll be able to work on the wall."

My heart sank at this statement. In a response as cold as steel in a forsaken arctic tundra I inquired of him. "What are you trying to say?"

"Well, it's just that I marked you off as having died on the records so I could get you out of the Citadel."

"I'm pretty sure I had."

"So if Theogar and his guards saw you-"

"Then they would assume you bluffed about the whole thing."

"Lying to a senior officer merits several strokes from the whip. Lying to the captain of the guard is considered treason, punishable by public execution."

"Is there some kind of back way of doing this? Some way that I would remain away from Theogar?"

"I'm not sure. I'm trying to think..." He sat for a few moments, deep in thought. "Well, I think there might be one way."

"Spit it out then."

"Since so many workers have been called to the front wall, where the danger currently lies, and others have been drafted as guards, nobody is currently working on the wall into the mines."

"Set me off over there, then."

"Well, that's the thing. You'd have to do all the work by yourself. The wall has been sectioned off, as it is, and you need to complete several sections in order to get one petition of the king. Carrying the blocks, lifting them, setting them, everything would be solo. There aren't even any cranes left back there."

"Doesn't sound too hard. I'll manage."

"Are you sure you know what you're getting into? Those blocks are heavier than you might think. Are you sure you would be able to handle it?" I nodded. After a moment of silence he spoke again, albeit in a concerned tone. "Alright then. Follow me."

I arose and shook off the bandages he had used to treat my injuries. When they had all slipped off I saw that, where the scars should have been, sapphire-blue scales replaced them. Most of my body was now covered in these shimmering, near-gemlike things. I turned back to Segaran, who, almost as if shaking himself back to reality, turned around and beckoned for me to follow him again.

We wandered through town for a while, eventually reaching a part of the town that was covered by an overarching hill. We continued in, eventually passing the last building to find a little wall in the back. It was made from a dark, almost onyx, stone. This wall separated the city from what lay behind it. "Here it is. It's not much to look at yet. They started building this wall first, thinking that the creatures would come from within the mountain. When they found out that the casualties lay on the opposite side of town they quickly commenced building over there and abandoned this wall. They have not come back since. Behind here is actually the quarry for the stone. The gates, as they will be built, are wide enough for a stone hauler's cart to fit."

After that little lesson he showed me where the stone was and how I might be able to set the blocks on the wall. Following his brief instruction I set off to go to work, trotting over to the large stack of onyx stone. When I lifted the first block I instantaneously knew that this would be a monumental task. These dense little blocks weighed more than they first appeared, more than I could have imagined them to weigh. The one block fit upon my back perfectly, but that one block was all I was able to carry. In my time malnourished and destroyed, between the wastes and the clutches of Theogar, I had grown pitifully feeble. Each time I brought a block I returned slower than I had departed the time previous. It was gruelling work to move one of these things across the cave, nonetheless up a wall. My hope of finishing this task quickly began diminishing swiftly.

The day ended, hardly any progress having been made. I had moved several blocks from the back of the quarry to the front, but that was the limit of my efforts. I was ready to pass out before I set the last one down. Segaran, seeing this, bid me to cease. My will departed and I caved in, allowing myself to sell a little shorter than I otherwise would have and, ultimately, rest from the work.

It was not until the next day that I returned to work. I was sore beyond what I thought I had known, and heavily doubting if I could feasibly manage the day's work. Regardless of this, I continued. I had something to achieve, as vague as it might have been, and hopefully that goal would propel me far enough.

Several weeks of this monotony and fatigue crawled. There was, however, a break in the grind. I was stopped one day before I headed out, Segaran's face showing a bit of urgency. He absolutely forbade me leave. "Aqua, you cannot go outside, not today."

I was more than a little perplexed, so I inquired of him. "What's so special about today?"

"It's the first of the month."

"...and?"

"Theogar brings the workers back to haul more stone to the main wall, to gather the supplies they'll need to continue the near-twenty four hour, non-stop construction. All progress on it ceases until tomorrow."

"So what does this mean to me?"

"It means Theogar is going to be back in the quarry overseeing the workers as they load and transport the materials."

"I won't be able to enter."

"Exactly. We can't have you discovered. Not yet, at least."

"Does this repeat?"

"Every month."

"I see. You will have to warn me when that is."

"Alright." I returned from my desire to leave and work, taking the day as a much needed break from the physical exertion. My body was tense; that was for sure. The first part of the morning was quiet as I spent most of the time resting. Around lunch time he descended with a plate of food. As he entered I spoke.

"Segaran, since we're going to be stuck here all day anyways, I want you to keep asking the questions. I don't know why but I feel as if something might come of it."

"Well, I suppose that's alright." He set the food down. "I suppose question one would be the same as always: what is your name?"

I sat in silence, thinking on it. When he went to speak I raised my hoof and signalled for him to remain silent, which he did. I focused intently upon what I felt, what I saw in my mind's eye. The images I had seen before continued coming to me, but this time they had finally slowed down enough for me to catch glimpses. As I tried to remember the pictures they came to me, hazily at first. What impressed upon my mind the first time was that of a lake or pond, I'm not sure which. It does not matter as much. The water therein was still, serene and gentle, almost creating a feeling of peace and tranquility. Then came the second in its fury. A tempestuous cloud rampaged across the sky, blowing to and fro and threatening to rend the air with thunder and drown the ground beneath. Feelings of fear and anger rested in this image. As it pertains to an understanding of its meaning I had none, but I felt like I almost did. I felt as if, should I focus on it further, I would obtain the answer to the interpretation. I tried to think on them but the images fled, leaving me alone again with a feeling unsatisfied, a desire left bare and a mind wracked with the torment of not knowing a fact I should know. I looked back up to Segaran, his hopeful expression taunting my own sense of hope. I simply shook my head and watched his expression drop.

"Still nothing?"

"No."

"Well, shoot. I guess the next question then: where are you from?" Any and all thought spent on this question simply brought mental images of ponies trotting around, but I could never focus on the rest enough to figure out where or what the locale was. Another shake of the head. "How did you end up here?"

The only thing that came to mind was the fleeting thought of an explosion and a drop, a fall. Nothing more came and it left as soon as it arrived. Again I shook my head. Perhaps it was because he couldn't stand not receiving an answer but he arose. "Well, I'll let you continue resting. I need to get back to my post. I had been playing sick to care for you, but I can't fib any longer without raising suspicion."

"Fib about being sick?"

"Yeah. There's no way I'm telling anybody about you, so I lied to get time off. Anyways, I’ll see you after my shift."

"Be careful, Segaran. You're the only hope I have in accomplishing anything here." He smiled before leaving. I was left alone once more. I decided rest was the best option. I tried time and time again to fall asleep, yet slumber evaded me harder than ever. I simply could not clear the feeling of my impending closeness to the answer. I gave up on the idea of sleep after another try or two and began pondering the images, focusing more upon them. Each moment I spent in deep meditation upon the images the more they cleared, the more they stayed. I heard a few whispers and quickly looked around. Finding nopony else nearby I panicked a little, shutting out the whispers. When they left, so did the clarity of the images. Fearing the loss of my one shot of a cleared mind I scrambled to get the whispers back. They did not come back, the imagery only continuing to fade, so it was there I directed my mind. The images began clearing again and, with due time, the whispers returned. There were many voices that spoke quietly. Some were with words of peace, friendliness and hope. Others, most of them, chanted words of malice, rage and bloodshed. The more I focused on the one set of voices the more they flourished, diminishing the others. Part of me began focusing on those dark chants, almost telling me that my fate previously had been one of war. A growing sense of dread, uneasiness, and fear began to take root, bolstering the evil chorus. Thinking there had to be something else for me I did my best to ignore them, giving heed to the faint voices gently pleading for my attention. As these grew the others quieted, making it easier to focus upon their good tidings. Peace began to fill my frame. Finally, after the struggle had passed, the peaceful, serene voices spoke a word that begged familiarity. It was after several times that the meaning of the word clicked: it was my name. Aqua.

Suddenly memories poured into my mind like a floodgate had been broken. All the way from the beginning did my memories play in rapid succession. Event after event unfolded before my mind. Tragedy after heartbreaking tragedy played out. Do not be mistaken. The gut-wrenching things I saw were also mixed with events so joyous that my whole being seemed to burn with a righteous endeavour to repeat such actions. Lives saved and tear-filled reunions kindled a flame within me that I knew not had existed within me, nor had I known that it had quietly burned out. Suddenly, predictably almost, things turned for the worse. Whereas actions of good and justice took the bigger part in the earlier memories, dark and looming shadows now overhung. I watched as my actions turned from noble to barbaric, from righteous to sinful, from good to evil. Wrath overshadowed my memory, though not my person now. Sorrow sunk deep into my heart as I watched myself turn from a deliverer to a monster, a leader of example to a tyrant; I saw myself now as a vagabond of fury more uncivilised than those daemons I had sworn to defeat. I had become a failure, a hypocrite. What else added to my unending grief? I now had the agony of watching my biggest mistake yet.

I wandered to the mountain where Shade and I had previously engaged in conflict. He had told me to return for his challenge, a duel, and so I had. Smiling in anticipation of the fight I stopped near the entry to reassess myself. I had previously transformed in preparation for this fight. My slim, blue frame of swiftness would not have cut it in the least bit. I needed this bigger, stronger form with its distinct orange hide. I made sure all systems were running in my armour, the near-impenetrable fortress I had constructed. It had served me well and I anticipated it to do the same here. The two large blades, capable of heating to extreme temperatures by conduction were weapons to be feared. I had also prepared two other blades in case I needed to attack while moving. Anticipating Shade's resistance to be great, and the possibility that I did not return, I crafted a mimic of the original pearl that contained my soul and imbued the mimic with a portion of it as a failsafe. Actually, to assure myself the likelihood of victory, I put the vast majority of myself into the imitation, leaving the actual soul-bound gem with very little, as well as being well hidden within my home. Thinking all preparations had been made I entered through the way. It was time to put Shade down once and for all.

As soon as I entered I was stuck dead in my tracks. I looked around as best I could, finding nothing. It then dawned on me: I was stuck in a form of arcane webbing, imitating the properties of a spider’s web. Before I had time to free myself I heard the portal behind me close, followed closely by a whizzing sound. I was struck suddenly, catapulted far from the web by the impact. Amidst a few rolls and bounces I regained my ground when I could and turned to face the force. I then saw Shade, appearing now as some kind of haunting visage of Death itself instead of his smaller, armoured form. He was wielding a large and very threatening scythe and was charging directly at me. I arose onto my hind legs, locking the anchors of my hind greaves. I unsheathed my two blades, hoping that they properly heated in time, locked the hydraulics in the legs, and used my tail to brace for impact. His swing came and, even with all the support one could possibly get, it almost forced me from the ground. I locked my two swords against his scythe and pushed back. A contest of strength began. It quickly became clear that he would win, but at the price of his scythe. It certainly was not as durable as I had first imagined. Shade quickly broke the grapple, trying to add room between the two of us.

After he recoiled away I undid the hydraulic clamps and anchors, sheathed the swords again and began moving quickly. I was galloping around him, hoping to find a weak point. I managed to dodge a few Shadow Spears that he had cast and flung my way. He saw that such an attack was not successful and, as such, swung his massive scythe around in a circle instead. I jumped over it but did not do so as well as I ought to have. My tail was clipped at the end and I was thrown slightly off balance, enough so as to where I could not dodge his next blow. It hit me square in the chest and sent me tumbling backwards. Once I stopped tumbling and brought my attention back up I saw Shade taking a leaping strike downwards. I tucked and rolled to the right, barely dodging what could have been my certain doom. I got back upon my hooves and began galloping directly towards him. He raised a leg to buck me. Upon seeing this I ducked and tumbled to the left this time, anticipating it to be the easier of the two directions to dodge towards. I quickly recovered my ground after having narrowly dodged the blow and drew my swords while I was underneath his frame. I raised up upon my hind legs once more, using the force from standing up to deliver a strong slash along his underbelly. I then managed to get three quick, solid slashes upon his legs before he brought his hoof back and kicked me going the opposite direction. It was not as strong of a kick, but it was enough to send me tumbling out from between his legs. "You're quick for a lumbering oaf."

I shook my head and regained my sense of direction. As I looked back to see where he was I saw a javelin made of pure shadow but could not move quickly enough. The spear hit directly on my helmet, forcing my head to recoil from the force. One javelin after another was being lobbed my direction. Many of the first set hit before I managed to roll out of the way. I then quickly galloped to the side, winding my way in towards him. When I reached him he kicked out at me. I unsheathed my blades, feeling the connection of his massive leg with my armour, and sunk them deep into his flesh. He grunted and began attempting to shake me from him. He was not successful in this effort, as I remained firmly attached to him. I began to cast my own shadow magic in return, summoning blades that whizzed by his frame and left gashes in their wake. I then felt a breach in my armour at the small of my back. I looked back, finding his scythe sunken deep into my armour. I was then torn away from his leg and tossed across the room. After tumbling and skidding I finally regained my ground, arising again and turning back to try and find him. I could not see him in any direction. Realising I stood in immediate danger I bolted to the side. Shortly thereafter I heard the clang of metal striking the ground. I turned around to see Shade reappearing. I turned and began charging directly towards him. He prepared himself to counteract my charge before launching a comment to dissuade me. "I've never seen an underling as bold as you are, fighting a god in his own realm."

Disregarding his jeering remark I moved forth at full speed. He began a sweep of his scythe as I drew close. I tucked down, sliding across the floor. I skidded directly underneath the weapon and between his legs. I unsheathed my blades and began slicing his legs as best I could while moving quickly through. I was afforded one shot on each. Most of the others merited little, but I managed to hit a key tendon in his rear right leg. I turned over and I slid past, sinking my sword into the ground to turn myself and, ultimately, stop my motion. When I looked up I was met with a large hoof, a strong buck from Shade. Even with padding and everything else I had accounted for, nothing could have spared me from that kind of force. I was catapulted across the chamber, not managing to touch the ground, before slamming into the wall with colossal force. All of the wind was knocked out of me, leaving the only option for me as awaiting the return of my breath. I sat limply attempting to recover as best I could to no avail. Shade was slowly trotting over, limping heavily with his hind leg's injury. His scythe was, at first, dragging along the ground before he raised it up. He was ready to end me, to deliver the killing blow. I barely managed to arise as he came over. "It's been fun, but it's time to put you where you belong. You cannot escape death any further. I'll make sure you get a decent burial."

He laughed a little in an intimidating fashion. I anchored my hind legs against the ground in preparation. My back was already nearly against the wall, so my tail did little to help me in this situation. His scythe was now quickly approaching. I unsheathed my swords, preparing them to cut through his scythe, and held them up to protect my vital areas. He struck surprisingly low, catching my legs instead of the blades. This time, though, he didn't stop pressing. I could feel the gauntlets buckling from the sheer force. In an act of desperation I pulled one leg away, causing the force to increase exponentially upon the other, and quickly shifted my stance to press the sword against his scythe. The gauntlet was compromised, and the pressure of the rending scythe now also rested upon my armour. Pain was more than evident, but my blade was now superheated and ready. I pressed the sword against the scythe, hoping more for relief to my other leg than actually doing damage to his weapon. It began to eat its way through Shade's weapon, but this did not stop him. No, it only made him press harder. The blade of his scythe had dug halfway through my one leg and was now breaching the armour around my chest. It had begun digging its way through my body when his scythe finally gave way. The blade clattered onto the floor and Shade stepped back, his weapon now utterly useless. He threw it aside, not stopping for even a moment. He turned around, preparing to buck me with full force. I could not react in time to dodge it, so I simply kept my blades drawn and held them forwards. The hoof met my blades, sinking in all the way to my own legs. Shoulders and knees dislocated or broke as I hit the wall. The corresponding shards of armour were wickedly contorted and dug deep into my flesh. When his leg moved away and my swords withdrew finally I unanchored and sheathed my weapons to land on all fours. As soon as pressure was applied to my front two legs I instantly collapsed to the floor. I looked up to see Shade, his limp worse now than before. "Perhaps there is more to you than meets the eye. Perhaps you're not simply another mortal. As curiously strong as you are, however, your time has drawn to a close."

I had to think fast, as he would soon be upon me. My fear turned nigh unto panic when I saw that he was charging a spell instead of planning on destroying me physically. My mind raced as quickly as I could, suddenly hatching a radical idea. Perhaps I could counter-cast his spell, negating it. Seeing as it was my only hope I began. I noticed that he took note of the fact that the spell was slipping away from him, as the successful counteracting was occurring. He feared losing the spell, so he simply cast it as it was, firing it off early. Realising what he had just done he galloped away quickly, fleeing in terror. The spell, in midflight, erupted into itself, imploding in the air before me. The gravity of the room suddenly and dramatically shifted as a small pinhole became a gaping black hole. I felt myself sliding along the ground, moving towards the all-consuming anomaly. I anchored my hind legs as best I could, proving to be enough momentarily. I needed to leave this place immediately or be consumed, yet I was both too weak and too near the expanding pull to manage to escape physically. I needed to teleport but, finding that the counterspell had drained me too far, I was unable to. As the pull of the black hole increased I saw some of the shrapnel from my armour tear from the rest of it and fly towards it. I had one hope and one hope only remaining: the warp core. The machine ran on kinetic motion, banking its energy on movement and changes in acceleration. Unfortunately this also meant I had one shot at it. Swallowing my fear I switched the warp core to active, setting the destination to some open fields outside of town. I then released the clamps of my hind legs and began sliding, before taking off into uncontrolled flight, into the hole. The armour around me started stripping off as I approached the growing mass. All was well until I saw the warp core leaving the armour. Not wanting to fail this one shot, I shot my front legs out and grabbed the device. The actions of both extending my legs, both in general and as quickly as I had, and subsequently grasping very firmly the core between my hooves was more than excruciating. I pulled it close to me as best as I could. I held the core as securely as possible, as my life depended upon it. I entered the periphery of the black hole, which felt like passing through a veil into a land of sheer agony. My body would not hold against this force for much longer. I closed my eyes, hoping for the best as the core continued to charge.

I opened my eyes again to find myself free falling. I was quite the ways up in the air, dropping rapidly towards the barren landscape below. One decently sized forest was the only feature visible at this point. I felt several sparks of electricity shock my throbbing legs, forcing me to look down towards my hooves. It was the warp core that shot off the sparks. I foresaw the imminent and let go of the core, unable to throw it very far due to my injuries. It was not much further ahead of me when it ruptured, exploding in a blinding flash of purple and blue. The shockwave, the force of the rupture, all but stopped my fall momentarily. The arcane nature of the explosion did not singe my hide like most other fires would, but it did heavily affect the pearl. I felt the overly energised creation pulsating with rampant arcane capabilities. Each pulse was another unbearable wave of pain in my chest, as if I was being eaten from the inside out. It then shattered in turn, shooting deep pain through my chest once more. I looked down at where it had been, seeing vaguely what appeared to be a wound shaped like an eight armed galaxy. When I looked back up I noticed that I had reached the trees unawares. I broke down into the canopy, hitting a large branch near the front of my body. The already destroyed front legs of mine were only hammered harder by the sheer force of the impact. The force caused me to begin spinning backwards rapidly, unable to control my motions as I tumbled back-first and hooves over head time and time again in a very short frame of time. The only thing I recall happening after that was a massive concussive force to the skull, the corresponding visual flashes and the ensuing drop into nothingness.

I snapped back into reality, almost instantaneously collapsing to the ground. All I wished to do at this point was cry out in a fit of anguish. Not only was Segaran right there beside me but I had such a splitting headache that I was rendered entirely incapable. As best he could, Segaran tried to minister unto me and render what aid he could. In spite of this I gave out under the pain and dropped out of consciousness.

To this day I do not know how much time passed while I had been out, either in that forest that I had smashed my way into or here in the basement of a house in a land filled with creatures that held a deep resentment for anything remotely related to a horse. Once I had recovered well enough from my severe handicap I finally arose. Segaran was, of course, more than a little concerned. Perhaps, though, he saw something was different in the way I held myself or something, as he did not even spend the time to ask if I was alright, nor to welcome me back from my trip into the dark embrace of a coma. Regardless of all this, the relief on his face was a sight to behold. "Who are you?"

He must have been so excited about the fact that I might have the answers that pleasantries went to the wayside immediately. I answered the questions regardless, almost more excited than he was that I finally had answers. "My name is Aqua WindStorm, former Guildmaster of the Order of Protectorates."

"Former?"

"Well, considering all that has happened I might as well have died, or at least be considered dead to the rest of the world. I have absolutely no idea how long I've been in this blasted waste."

"Where are you from?"

"A small town in Equestria."

"Which?"

"Ponyville."

"Why do you have dragon scales?"

"As to these I know not. I only know that they are new, appearing only since I arrived in this land and following an arcane explosion. They seem to replace my scars and, as I would guess, come from a part of my heritage."

"Your heritage?"

"I am half-dragon. My father was a drake."

"So then what happened to the horn? You've got nothing more than a stump."

"I lost it while fighting an evil entity, a pony, that sought the destruction of my family and friends."

"Your wings?"

"Creatures out in the wastes shredded them beyond repair."

"Your hoof?"

"The first time it was to an acidic plant. This time, it was at the claws of Theogar."

"What's with the tail? As far as I know I don't remember horses' tails being like that."

"As previously stated it would probably derive itself from my father's lineage."

"Do you think we'd be able to sneak you out of the city?"

"As it stands I would rather do it honourably, paying my debt." He seemed confused at first, but eventually nodded in agreement. He then prepared the supplies I needed for working on the wall. I guess sometime while I was either recovering from the near-death experience or when I was recovering from the rush of all of my memories he had made custom saddlebags for the job. They seemed massive, big enough to hold a decent amount of that stone in the quarry. I figured it would make work faster, so I opted to use them. With all things situated we headed out. This time, though, I had a new resolve, something I didn’t have before. Time and injury could no longer cloud my vision of home. It was with this end in sight, finally returning home and being welcomed back by Storm, that I set out with new determination to work.

Once I arrived in the mines I wasted no time. Where before I was slowly, purposelessly hauling a lone block at a time I now brought five, straining heavily against the mass. As difficult as my steps were I hauled the blocks relentlessly. Nothing could break my resolve to finish this task ahead of me, not even the near-deadly fatigue I suffered from daily. Segaran seemed impressed with the new vigour I had suddenly, and seemingly from nowhere, acquired. I had not noticed the first several times I made the trip back and forth but he had gathered two other guards, presumably ones that had not known of me before, nor that had known that Theogar had charged me as a spy. I didn't know exactly why they were there but I worked regardless of their presence. It didn't take too many more months before my work of hauling, lifting and building was finished.

Segaran woke me the day following after the last block was set and prepared me. He explained I was meeting with the king to gain my freedom and my wish. He told me that, no matter what happened, I should go free to reunite with my family. I had nodded in accordance before we set out to find the palace. It didn't take too long; a building such as this one was not hard to miss. It was roughly the size of the massive citadel I had been held within initially, but not tall as it had been nor was it adorned with spires. The walls were beautifully polished and kept meticulously clean. Inside was even more so, but the first thing I noticed was the architecture. The outside adopted an almost castle-esque appearance. The inside had high vaulted ceilings that were supported by two rows of massive stone pillars. The pillars themselves, along with the floors, were well polished. A rug led from the door to the stand, guards lining the entire length of the rich red carpet lined with gold thread. To the left and right of the stand, stretching forth along the walls, were two sets of stands to house scribes and other personnel as such. It had already been filled entirely with such gryphons. Directly in front of the stand, several yards away, was the throne. It was very ornately decorated, a well-polished peach-coloured stone with gold trim and red accents upon it. The king sat upon the throne in his royal attire. Nearby the throne were seats for either other dignitaries or guards of high rank, I could only assume and I was not sure which; I could not discern it at the time, but the seats remained full. As I thus marvelled over the architecture I was startled slightly by a powerful booming voice. "Is something needed?"

I arrived at the stand, noticing all eyes were upon me. This had been a planned meeting. I went to speak but was barely preceded by Segaran. "Your majesty, this individual has completed those requirements previously declared for pardon."

"Was the individual alone in the endeavour?"

"Yes, your majesty." The king looked to the two other gryphons that stood nearby. I narrowly recognised them as being the gryphons that had, before, been watching my progress. They both nodded.

"Well, then? What was the crime to be forgiven?"

"Assault of the guard." I figured I might as well say that, as I had done it. It was a true crime that I needed to repay. I was confident in the situation until I caught motion in the corner of my eye. I looked towards it, focusing. My heart sank as I saw Theogar approaching the king. He seemed to be eager to make my life misery, and he certainly took this opportunity to do so. He rose to the king and spoke. I knew it was all over now.

"Your majesty, this individual is responsible for espionage and plotting the demise of the state."

"Lies!" I hissed back at him. He seemed a little taken back by the response but the king arose regardless.

"What is the meaning of this?" His tone and rising sent the whole room into a thunderous uproar. After a few moments he managed to silence the room again. "Explain yourself, now!"

Theogar went to speak but the king kept him silent. As such, I spoke instead. "I can assure you, my lord, that I am no spy."

The king couldn't keep him silent any longer. "Then explain your presence on our borders."

"A freak accident in a long string of mishaps and mistakes. You yourself saw the pitiful condition I was in when you found me."

"An excellent cover up given you by luck of the draw, allowing you to more fully infiltrate our civilisation." Guards had begun to come forth to take me, but also to my dismay Segaran and the two witnesses. I had to think quickly to dig them out as well.

"Even if that were a fraction of the truth what fault would these witnesses have?" It grew deathly silent and the other guards stopped, eventually returning to their posts. Mine remained nearby.

"Segaran had filed the report of your death, yet here you are."

"From the loss of blood I suffered under your incapable talons I probably had died at some point. Even if I hadn't, I would have perished before any other creature came to me from the wretched condition you left me in. You, yourself, left me to die in that forsaken cell!"

"Enough." The king was standing once more, having seated himself previously to hear our banter. "I have made my judgement based on the knowledge presented to me on the situation. The pony is to come under my custody for interrogation. Segaran is hereby sentenced to exile for treason."

As the guards mobilised I spoke up again. "My lord, you forget the favour that is still owed. I finished that wall as was detailed in the contract. You are bound to that promise, are you not?"

The room fell silent again. Theogar went to interject but was silenced by the king, who sat back down into his seat. He leaned in, listening intently. "You have my attention."

He was certainly intrigued by what I was going to ask for next. For a split moment a selfish though ran through my mind. Disregarding the overwhelming urge to ask for transport home I thought momentarily before speaking. "I have made my decision."

"Tell it, then."

"I wish to grant Segaran full and total pardon of any crime or crimes you currently hold against him and for his continuation in a state unpunished for crimes that could have been committed."

The room again broke into chaos as the gryphons tried to reason among themselves why I had chosen what I did. Segaran broke away from the guards that were holding him and approached me very quickly. "What are you doing? This is your one shot at freedom. Take it!"

Turning back to face him I spoke. "I cannot leave here with my conscious seared by a hot brand of this misdeed. I will not have your blood upon my hooves; I already have enough blood on them to last through several lifetimes of washing. Freeing myself by killing you is far worse of a punishment than anything they can exact upon me."

"You have no idea what you're letting yourself get into!"

"I don't care what I'm getting myself into. It's time I started doing things right, no matter how hard they are. Go, continue your service. Perhaps you will save the life of another." Deep sorrow shot across his face, almost forcing him to tears. The guards then led him out of the room, leaving me alone again before the king. I turned to find the king sitting on his throne, deep in thought. Even Theogar was taking a moment to run the recent events through his mind again to process it all. Every single last gryphon in the room at this point seemed entirely dumbfounded by my choice. The king, nevertheless, had order to keep. He silenced the room again before he spoke, but it neither caused him to rise out of his throne nor to arise out of his thoughts.

"Your wish has been granted. Segaran holds no crime nor punishment thereof. You are still under the jurisdiction of the guard with the possibility of execution should we discover you are acting under espionage."

Theogar protested. For what end I knew not. "Your majesty-"

"My decision is final. Carry out all the necessary actions."

"...yes, your majesty." The guards caught hold of me. I followed without resistance. It was better that Segaran was not here for this, as he might not have reacted in a cordial manner. As they led me away I knew that I needed to survive whatever came next. Whether it was, at this point, for Storm and my family or for Segaran I could not tell. I braced mentally for the coming storm.

We walked for a while, eventually ending up at that same massive tower. We entered into a room, the room just after the one I had broken out of. The group consisted of the king, Theogar the guards carrying me, and myself. The king was the first to speak once we were all in our positions. "So, who are you?"

His questions came from curiosity at this point rather than the intent to discover either a wrong or some kind of fault.

"My name is Aqua WindStorm, former Guildmaster of the Order of Protectorates."

"What do you mean 'former'?"

"I am sure I have been replaced now. My fate is probably believed to be death."

"Yet you are here before me speaking?"

"I meddled in a few things I shouldn't have, both of magic and technology. In a long string of regrettable events I ended up getting catapulted by a mishap teleportation into the wasteland outside of town."

"How am I to believe this?"

"Had Theogar not whipped me to the brink of death I could have shown you the scars." It seemed now as if regret showed in his face. The king merely shot a glance over at the gryphon who appeared ashamed. "He does know, however, that the creatures nearly killed me before they got there. A pack of wolves, if he remembers correctly."

Theogar nodded. "Well, as much as I might trust you I still must double check for security purposes."

Theogar approached him, whispering in his ear. After a few moments of silence the king spoke again. "As requested it will not be Theogar interrogating you. It will be Azundir, second in command."

A new group of armourerd gryphons came in and collected me. It seemed very strange to me that Theogar's face now read worry and concern as I left the room. These guards took me to that same forsaken room, my dried blood still caked on the floor. At least, I could only assume that it was mine. There was, however, a table this time. They had changed the room, or at least whatever was inside of it. They secured me to the table and left me alone with the captain. She began pacing around the table for a short time, giving me enough time to see what she looked like. He feathers were a rich blue, with accented tips of golden yellow. Her crest had small streaks of the yellow colour that ran along the length of the feathers. From her beak came several jagged lines of the gold-yellow feathers. Her undercarriage was the same colour, and had, what appeared to be, mock designs of claw marks in the golden shade. These rounded, yet jagged, lines originated from the undercarriage and swept back on a curve, totaling in 4 sets from behind her shoulders to her hips, each with different trajectories and lengths. She gazed down at me with maniacal eyes of rich yellow matching that of her feather accents. She spoke in a higher tone than I had originally imagined coming from a gryphon like her. "Now, lovely, riddle me this: one, two or three?"

The question absolutely befuddled me. Out of curiosity I responded. "Three...?"

"Excellent. Salt it is!" I looked over at this gryphon. She seemed a little too excited for this. She left the room momentarily. Before too long she reentered, a large vat of white crystals trailing behind her. She came over, leaving the salt a little ways off. She leaned in over my face and spoke. "Now, this is quite the scientific wonder what we have here. I won't tell you its chemical compound or anything like that, but I can and will tell you this: it looks like salt, tastes like salt and feels like salt, in every sense of the word."

She went over to the vat once more, leaving me on the table. She put the talons of one of her front legs into the crystals. She picked some up and let it fall while doing so before turning back to face me. "Thing is: it's not salt and it doesn't affect wounds like salt does, at least not in any harmful way. It's entirely non-toxic. That means I get to have all the fun with you that I want."

She began pacing around me again, leaving the stuff where it was. When she neared she ran one of her talons along my side gently. A thick shiver ran up my spine as she did so. Upon seeing this she stopped momentarily, letting her talon fall once more. "So, tell me, are you actually a spy?"

Out of nothing but pure honesty I responded. "No."

"I was hoping you'd say that. Makes my job that much more fun." She paced again a little ways, eventually reaching the vat of salt-like substance and dragging it over with her the next time she neared. She left it nearby, within reach, and ran a talon along my scales.

“Wait, what do you mean it makes your job more fun?” She eventually left her talon in one of the spots where my hide still showed. With a giggle she pressed in strongly, sinking the talon deep within my side. She then tore a large gash open on my side, fiercely dragging her claws along my body. I tried to shy away from the attack but was too securely bound to move in any significant measure. Once she pulled her talon out of my side, once she reached the end of the open hide, she quickly reached her claws into the vat, pulling out a decent portion of the salt. What followed next was sheer agony. She shoved the salt into my wound without any hesitation. The grains of salt seared my body as a hot iron. I wrenched in pain, attempting to escape the torment; this only fuelled her further. She let out a little giggle of contentment before finishing her task of smashing the clawful of salt into the wound. Once the last brutal grain had finished dissolving into my open flesh, and the pain began subsiding, she spoke. "You're a tough one. The others that I prototyped this on either died or screamed after the first grain. You didn't even grunt. I'm kind of disappointed. Looks like we'll just have to try harder, won't we?"

As she circled around my other side I felt like shouting out a resonant 'no' to her statement. Unfortunately the pain was still dying down and I was too paralysed by it to speak. "So, my dear, tell me this: are you a spy?"

After a short moment or two I managed to spit out my answer. "No!"

This merited a giggle before she savagely dug her talon into another bare spot in my hide and repeated the process. Once the last drop of writhing agony was squeezed out of the wound she repeated the whole process. It was as such that she continued.

The amount of time that passed in that forsaken room of misery is yet unknown to me. Once Azundir finished torturing every open part of my hide, dropping in that devil-sent chemical, she still had some left. Almost as if expected, she simply re-salted the previously maimed wounds. I tried to escape the pain but nothing worked. After an eternity's worth of suffering it finally ended. Azundir had no more of the wicked substance. She seemed almost a little disappointed at first. She left momentarily, leaving me to bask in the nauseating, roaring pain as it slowly died down. After a few moments she came back in. "Well, lovely, this is the first time anything has made it through this session, nonetheless through this much of the stuff. I'm, quite frankly, impressed at how durable and stubborn you are. I wish I could play with you a little longer, but the king wants you again."

She came over and unstrapped me before pushing me off the other side of the table. I hit the ground with a thud. I curled up in pain shortly thereafter. After a short while she started prodding me with a rod until I arose. Once I had arisen, she began striking instead of poking. Each was carefully aimed to line up with where the wounds were, and each strike was evidence that she was more than talented with this rod that she carried. Each hit, sending shockwaves of pain through the surrounding region, was followed by her giggles as I reacted. This gryphon was purely sadistic, finding pleasure and joy in my suffering. I eventually began trotting in the direction she wanted me to go. After we left the cell she directed my movements by quickly working her way around me and striking the gashes on the opposing side to get me to turn. She drove me like a dumb animal, but I had not the power to strike back. This abusive pattern continued mercilessly until I was standing in the room with the king once more. When I entered he looked over. "Ah, I see she wasn't too hard on you."

If I could have hit him I would have done so. I simply held my peace. He outstretched the large claws on one of his front legs and swept his leg sideways, giving me a welcome invitation. He then pointed across the table from him. "Come, have a seat."

With the immense pain currently shooting through my body I opted out of sitting on those wounds. This was, as I soon found out, not an option. Vicious hits followed, egging me to go within. More out of reaction than of violence I kicked back. My leg was grasped by Azundir's talons. They dug deep into the wounded flesh. She then yanked up hard, forcing me to tumble. Once I was on the ground she began striking me ruthlessly until I moved and sat down before the king. Nothing but pain followed as I thunked against the floor. "Good, good. Now, you know what will come next. Before you think about it I would suggest you be honest. If you lie it just means you get to spend that much more time with the lovely Azundir here."

New fear gripped my heart. My fate was resigned to these gryphons' perception. It almost seemed as if my fate was sealed already. I pressed on regardless, hoping for the best. "Now, pony, where are you from?"

"I am from a small town in Equestria."

"What is your name?"

"I am Aqua WindStorm."

"What is your task?"

"I was Guildmaster for the Order of Protectorates."

"Of course, but what is your task now?"

"I'm just trying to get back home to my family."

"What were you doing in our land?"

"I was searching for life, searching for a way to survive after I had been dumped into the middle of that wasteland by a miscalculated teleportation."

"How am I to believe this?"

"There are many who can tell of me back in Equestria."

"I'm sure there are, your accomplices."

"Actually, my husband, my Order and those that I helped and protected, to be specific."

"So you want me to send a messenger to Equestria to find out?"

"If that is what it takes to clear my name."

"The journey, if he makes it, is at least a month. You'd be under the jurisdiction of Azundir and Theogar for that entire time."

"I don't think that would be appropriate."

"Nonsense. They've taken care of you so far."

"If by 'taken care' you mean almost killing me? Yes."

"So then what do you suggest we do, hm?"

"Is there any other way of finding out from this end?"

"I can consult some others, but this would take time as well."

"Less than several months?"

"Several hours."

"I'll take it."

"Very well then. You are to be returned to Azundir for the waiting period." Dread filled my soul. "I'll leave you to it while I consult my specialists."

Azundir came back over and began striking my wounds again. I shot her a vile glance after the first two hits but, nevertheless, had to comply. "Come along, my little pony. We're going to have some fun together."

To that selfsame accursed cell I was drug. After a few moments I was secured on the table once more. Azundir came over, leaning over me once more. "Since three was used already: one or two?"

Dread-filled decision making is a horrible feeling. I knew not which of the two would bring more misery. Hoping for the best I responded. "One..."

"How sweet of you. Bring the generator!" Generator? She didn't mean- "This is going to be an electrifying play date."

She did. After several moments a small cart with a very large box was rolled in. "This battery should give us all the fun we need. Are you ready, dear?"

I merely looked at her, not wanting to answer the question. After a short moment she turned around to face the generator. At first I thought she would turn around with paddles or some other type of apparatus, but I don't know what I was expecting, really. It somehow didn't surprise me when she turned around with two metallic stakes. She was humming now, a tune I did not recognise, and paced a little. After she meandered over towards me she paused near my side. She lined up the first stake, aiming it just to the far side of one of the wounds she had inflicted upon me. Her humming jumped in volume suddenly as she jabbed the metallic stake down brutally. I squirmed a little out of natural reaction; she giggled in response. She sunk the other side in due manner on the opposite side of the long gash. She wandered back over to the battery and flicked a switch. The ensuing pain was unreal. Electricity shot down the path of least resistance: the full length of the salted wound. All I could do was groan under the incessant and excruciating agony. Through pain-squinted eyes I could see her jumping up and down. She was getting much joy from this experience, a little too much if you ask me. I'm not sure when she knew, or how she even would, but she pulled the stakes out just in time for the muscles to begin cramping from the electrocution. The associated muscles gripped and released in rapid succession, meriting that much more pain as the wound was being flexed in different directions. Azundir paced around me a little while longer until she found a wound that satisfied her psychopathic sadism. She then jammed the one stake in, followed by the other. Electrocution of the worst degree ensued.

This continued until each gash in turn had been singed by the electricity. My whole existence hurt and, at this point, I wished I had simply died in the Wastes, oblivious to who I was or where I was going. Once the final shock treatment ended, and in total it took a very long time, she unbound me. She pushed me off the table in like manner as before. I hit the ground with a thunk. My muscles had writhed uselessly against the bindings that held me fast while I was on that cursed table, and the scales were the only things preventing severe abrasions on each of my legs. Once I was off of the table I was free to convulse and retract into a ball. Each violent shake shot numbing pain through my system. I sat in that pure agony of pain and the ensuing nausea, waiting for something to improve my current state. What I got instead were a few kicks, and not gentle ones either, from Azundir. "Come on, lovely, we need to go see our friend the king again. Let's go!"

I didn't move. In reality I couldn't. I simply sat on the ground suffering from minor convulsions as she struck the burnt lacerations a few times. When she saw that I wouldn't move from the external stimuli Azundir huffed. She then grabbed me by the tail and drug me out of the room. She certainly was not gentle as I scraped across the cold metallic floor. After having dragged me roughly down the hallways, causing me to hit every last wall possible, we entered into a room, possibly the same from before. She then dropped my tail, or threw it, I'm not sure, and wandered out. I sat there for a little while in the silence of the room before sitting up, shaking fiercely as I did so. After a few more moments of shaking in my seated position the door opened, letting Azundir and the King in once more. He spoke. "Ah, good to see you again. How are you feeling?"

I shot him a dry look. If I wasn't feeling as bad as I was I would have collapsed his beak in. I simply sat in silence. "So then, I want to verify everything as being accurate. We already have your last responses recorded, so if there's any difference in answers we'll know."

With great effort, and the accompanying tremors, I responded. "Go ahead then."

"Who are you?"

"Aqua WindStorm."

"Where are you from?"

"Equestria."

"Where?"

"Ponyville."

"What is your occupation?"

"Former Guildmaster of the Order of Protectorates. I just want to go home. That's all I'm trying to do."

"What are you doing here then?"

"It was not my intention to do so."

"Answer the question."

"I was teleported here on accident and was simply trying to survive."

"Now tell me, as I have seen the reports from before on your answers to such questions. Where did you suddenly find all this information? Or were you withholding it this entire time?"

"I had suffered a major concussive force when I was teleported, knocking me unconscious and causing me to suffer from amnesia."

"And how did you suddenly remember it?"

"I simply had to keep trying to remember until something clicked."

"So your memories were locked?"

"Yes."

"Well, I need to ask an advisor about this. It will take some time for us to come to a conclusion. Until then, Azundir, you are free to take 'Aqua' here for one last session to see if anything changes." Azundir got frighteningly giddy at the prospect.

"Your majesty, please, into any other hooves. Any."

"Is something the matter?"

"She's literally trying to kill me!"

"Well, torture never is easy or enjoyable. You should know that by now. You wouldn't give us answers, so we needed to use whatever means necessary. This time it is just to assure your honesty."

"I'm not complaining about the torture. I've fared far worse." That was not the most truthful sentence I've uttered. "I need to be kept away from her."

I pointed to Azundir. My leg shook heavily, quaking at even the thought of staying extended. The king arose and spoke calmly. "Your concern has been acknowledged but it will not be addressed. Azundir, continue."

He left. Shortly thereafter I was getting struck once more. I didn't move. Half of my motivation was because I couldn't, the other half because I would not. Again she huffed before grasping my tail firmly and dragging me away. I couldn't resist or overpower her as she drug me away towards that forsaken chamber once more. The room had changed, or perhaps it was a different room. Instead of the table being the main article in the room it was bare aside from four anchor points, two mounted on the ceiling and two being bolted to the floor. Once there, I was bound again, immobile and helpless in an upright standing position. Had I had the strength to resist or fight back I would have. Azundir giggled and spoke. "Now, you just sit tight here while I get everything ready for number two."

She skipped away, leaving me alone in anxiety of the time set before me. The vents echoed and clanked before the noise in the room dulled and muffled. After that, I heard the door open again, watching Azundir walk in with a three-level cart filled with many canisters of some kind. Propped upon the top of the stack on the top shelf was a mask to be put on the face. I did not know what to expect this time, nor if I would survive or not. "I redirected the flow of the vents to the outside to properly give this room the air it needs, and to keep this from going to the rest of the facility. At the same time, I lowered the exterior circulation as much as I could, making sure you don't die from asphyxiation or low oxygen."

She then put the mask on. It came to a dull point on the bottom, slits lining the beak of the mask. It must have been to filter air, thinking back on it, so she didn't suffer from what was about to come. "Are you ready for some fun?"

This was going to be anything but fun, I could already tell. She pulled out a few of the canisters, pulling on the ring located near the top. Orange-red mist began to spray forth into the room from these little cylinders. For each pin she pulled she would toss the canister to another random location in the room. Regardless of the dozens on the floor already she kept throwing them. The mist was close to my face now, begging me to close my eyes. The stinging that rung on my body was low but sure, sending wave after wave of dull aches up from the cuts. I closed my eyes and took in a breath as best I could in anticipation. I waited for as long as I could, trying to not suffer the pain that I knew would follow. Unfortunately my efforts were in vain, as the sound of metallic ringing continued to ring time and time again as Azundir continued. Eventually my breath drew short and I was forced to breathe. The ensuing pain came and it came quickly; like a brick wall it struck against me. Every breath felt like an intake of scorching flames and, due to the injuries burning in the evil orange mist, each moment I spent chained there felt like I was bathing in lava. I began hacking and coughing, my body hoping against hope to rid itself of the vile irritant. I didn't know how long I would have to last through this torment, and at one point the thought of whether I could or not passed through my mind.

I lost count of the number of canisters after several score. Each one of Azundir's steps kicked them about the room. At this point I was happy enough simply listening to things playing out around me as I awaited the end. I heard Azundir stop and my heart began to race. "Aw, what's the matter, beautiful? Do you not like the pretty colours I made for you?"

I heard her approach and my fear began to take over. I felt her front claws grasp my face. I tried my best to squirm away from her, managing to do so a few times. Suddenly I felt a sharp impact in my abdomen, a swift and sure punch, forcing me to curl forwards slightly in an attempt to battle the sharp waves of nausea that ensued. It was then she grabbed my head again, digging her claws into whatever hold she could on my muzzle and cheeks, along with one talon on each claw near the neck. The pain stopped me in my motions, as each shift caused her claws to dig or retract a little. I then felt her grip loosen slightly before two claws rested upon each eye. Panic shot through my frame at the prospect; she was going to force my eyes open. As hard as I tried to resist, the strength of her claws was greater than that of my eyelids at that point. As soon as the world came into view again, my eyes began weeping from the sheer pain that followed. The tears instantly formed to try and flush the burning mist from my eyes, but to absolutely no avail. The red-orange overlay was extremely thick in the room and only thickening until the last few canisters stopped. Now I just had to wait out the torment.

If nothing else, Azundir is excessively patient. She sat for most of the time holding my eyes open and giggling at each tear that slipped out, and each cough I emitted. It was taking an eternity for the system to drain the polluted air, that is, however, until I heard the echoing of the fans in the vents. It was almost as if disappointment swept across her face. As the thick, red air began to dissipate she left to collect all the canisters. A voice came on over the speakers as she was finishing. It was Theogar. "Azundir, you've had your fun."

As far removed mentally as I was, I still barely managed to make it out. When I looked at Azundir she was looking at the mirrors, presumably as if something lay behind them. "Aw, but it was supposed to last for six more hours!"

I just about died from heart failure hearing a phrase like that. Knowing what her plans were made me eternally more grateful for the intervention of Theogar. "I have news from the king. The prisoner is now under m-"

"Under no fault, Theogar. You may release the pony, Azundir."

"...fine." She came over, undoing the shackles holding me up. I dropped, hitting the floor with a resounding thud. Existing hurt more than I thought bearable at this point and dying seemed the only reasonable thing to be done. Regardless, I tried my best to press on. The voice of the king came on again through the speakers.

"Theogar, Azundir and I shall depart. When capable, return to the court, Aqua." Once the air had cleared enough a little green light flickered on, allowing Azundir to leave. I was left alone in complete silence at this point, trying to deal with the utter burning agony. I could only assume that wretched concoction had its roots dipped in some kind of pepper extract of some torturously high level of spice. All I knew it to be was burning death. Breath after breath was painstakingly slow and torturous, being fought for with every fibre of my being against the instinct to hack, wheeze, and cough.

I'm still not sure exactly how long I had remained in that room, listening to the ventilation. It wasn't until my eyes ceased to burn with the intensity of the sun and my lungs no longer felt like they were filled with fire that I arose. The rest of my body, at this time, was just recovering as well. I eventually stood once more. I needed to see what I needed to do to escape this accursed land and those sadists that held me captive.

It took me a little while to find the court again. Entering in the massive doors caused the king to arise from his throne. Only him and a few select others were nearby, Theogar and Azundir included. The king spoke once I was entirely inside and the door had been closed. "Ah, I was just ready to leave. Glad to see you made it. Please, take your place at the stand."

I did as instructed. "After reviewing your case, the actions and information we have gleaned turned you up as being guiltless. Therefore: because of our unjustified actions we shall grant unto you every favour you ask of us."

I thought for a while. This moment was absolutely crucial. I needed to get all I could to ensure my own safety and the safety of Segaran. After a few minutes I spoke. "I ask for a few things."

"Please do."

"The first is safe passage to Equestria and sufficient supplies to do so. The second is for Segaran to accompany me to the border. The third is for a platoon of guards to aid the both of us in arriving and returning, in his case, safely. The fourth is sufficient supplies for those guards."

"The only way to Equestria currently is via boat due to political positions. There is a harbour a fair distance away from here. The guards can follow and lead you there. There will be no problem with supplies. When can we expect your departure?" I hadn't thought that far. I thought as quickly as I could.

"Three weeks from now."

"Very well. I wish you luck, pony."

"I don't need luck. I just need those requests filled." I turned and left. Once outside I began to search the city, hoping to find Segaran's house. After having lived there for the time that I did I figured I could find it again just by seeing the surrounding area. The problem was that I had no idea where to begin searching for it. I decided, at last, that heading to the little wall I had worked on before was my best option for navigating.

As I was wandering through town I passed through a few alleyways to cross streets more quickly. One of these alleyways, unfortunately, was more trouble than it was worth. Upon entry I saw seven gryphons standing with their backs to me, talking. Trying to remain undetected I quietly backed up, hoping to back out of the alleyway. What instead happened was I backed into something tail first. I turned around to find a gryphon bigger than I thought they normally got. He towered over top of me in my smaller form, and his presence caused me to back away from him. He spoke, catching the attention of the others. "Better watch where you're going, missy. Don't want that pretty face of yours messed up."

I took a few more steps backwards and he followed suit closely. I looked behind me and saw the others drawing close. Had I armour or weapons I could have easily taken care of the situation. It's funny how much more vulnerable you feel without either. One of the gryphons behind me spoke. "Course we can't just let you leave. Where's the fun in that?"

"I don't know who you are but I suggest you let me bid my leave. You'll be safer that way." I was hoping that some kind of bravado would spare me from this situation.

"Ah, talking tough. This girl's got a fire kindling inside. Why don't we tap into that, see where we get?" There were a few cheers of approval from those around him.

"I highly suggest you do not tamper with my anger."

"Or what? Eight of us, one poor, defenceless you, all in a dark alleyway in the middle of nowhere. Give in, lady. I'll go easy on you."

I stamped my hoof down in defiance, turning 90 degrees to keep both sides in sight. "Touch me not!"

"Well, we'll see how long that one lasts." The lead gryphon was close enough to grab me, and as such reached out to do so. In a lightning-quick reaction, using tail and hoof, I inverted the rotation of the knee on that leg, dislocating it and overextending the joint. He fell back, clutching the now-deformed leg and groaned. The others stood there, almost fearfully. "Don't just stand there you dolts! Get her!"

Upon, what I could only assume was, the leader's command the fear of the others turned to anger. I reacted quickly and as best I could. The handicapped leg slowed me and made things more difficult but I could still manage. I ducked underneath the one large gryphon and flipped him over my body. He collided with a few of the smaller ones, but by the time he stopped, and when they had recovered, I had already broken out of the alleyway. I was trying my best to gallop, and it seemed to be going well at first. The gryphons soon left the alley in quick pursuit, forcing me to gallop harder. Regardless, this handicap was giving the gryphons enough time to reach me. At this point they were nearly upon me. Thinking quickly I used my bum leg to aid me in darting quickly into an alleyway; I used the changing and lowering momentum to redirect my course sideways. They gryphons whizzed by as I continued my flight. By the time they managed to return to the alley I had already left, finding myself nearly a full street over and another alleyway up. I continued fleeing, putting as much distance as I could before tucking into one last alleyway and quieting my flight. I now moved silently and in a generally diagonal route to try and keep the line of sight broken.

I had made it quite a ways further down when I was tackled by a flying gryphon shortly after emerging from an alley. In the tumbling that ensued I managed to wrap my tail around his body. As the rolling stopped I used the last of the dying momentum to fling the gryphon against a wall. Acting quickly I wrapped my tail about him again, pinning the stunned gryphon to the wall roughly. I stood with my side to him "What do you want?"

"Boss is looking for you. Put quite the reward, and not money either." He chuckled in a dark manner, almost frightening me for the prospect of what his boss had offered.

"Give me one reason to let you live."

"Oh, I can certainly make it worth your time." Again he let forth a filthy laugh. Something was wrong with the way he laughed, like some kind of dark purpose was behind it. The situation felt off, like something was horridly wrong. I saw no need for his crude comments any further, so I turned about. Using my hind legs I bucked his laughing face hard, hitting him squarely in the beak. I heard an almost rewarding, resonating crack and he fell entirely limp. I dropped the worthless husk and moved on. I feared that the others had heard the noise so I began moving more swiftly. I did manage to find the wall once more, thankfully, and from there I knew my bearings. I continued from thence along the familiar pathway we took from his house and back.

I was no more than a few blocks away from the house when the gryphons from before landed around me. They returned, and in bigger numbers. The eight were now more than double that. The leader was not present. In his stead was another leading the group. This one spoke. "Little missy here is causing quite some trouble for the boss and us. You know what we do to troublemakers, right boys?"

The circle nodded and laughed, almost in an equal manner as the other I had confronted. I was turning about slowly, both looking over the filthy gryphons and searching desperately for any escape or resource I could use. As I searched the street clutter the circle began to shrink, the gryphons moving closer. I managed to spot a wooden plank a little ways off. I turned my full body in that direction, facing the gryphon. I scuffed my hoof once and began galloping. I charged in, head butting the gryphon that stood before me. The two nearby gryphons attempted to grab me as I shoved the one quickly out of the circle. I felt his claws sink into the wounds on the side of my neck as he attempted to stay attached. I ignored the pain and continued. I only picked up speed before finally slamming the both of us into the wall. My head rung from the impact, but his grip loosened severely as I heard all of the wind within his frame depart. I ultimately broke out of his grasp and bolted for the plank. Just as I grabbed it the two nearest gryphons were upon me. On the one I used an uppercut stroke just after I had gotten a secure grip on the makeshift weapon. It clipped him under the beak, causing his head to whip back and his body to tumble. The second had a grip on my tail and was going for my hind leg. I rotated instead and bucked him in the chest as he came around. He lost grip on my tail and joined his accomplice in tumbling. The next was nearby already. I swung the board sideways and connected with his neck. He limply fell a few feet away. I took the same swing at the next gryphon nearby but he managed to dodge it. I used my momentum to instead rotate far enough to sweep my tail to knock his footing out from under him. Continuing my circle I rotated all the way around and violently swung the plank down on the scrambling gryphon. It connected with his chest, sending resounding cracks echoing in the alley. Whether it was from the board or his chest, or both, I'm not sure. Regardless, he simply curled up into a ball and cried out in pain. It was then that I finally turned to the rest of the assailants in an intimidating stance. I was prepared for the next gryphon to arrive for a beating. What I saw instead was the overwhelming terror in the eyes of those left standing, regardless of the near dozen of them still standing. I backed up a little, giving myself more space to prepare in case I needed to fend them off. They instead took their wounded and fled, bolting away at even the slightest motion I made. Once they were out of sight I spat the plank out and turned my attention back to finding Segaran's house.

When I found Segaran's home I knocked on the door. Before too long he answered. He was pleasantly surprised at first but it soon slipped to worry. "Ah, Aqua! How-ow-oh...What happened to you?"

"Just a little run in." I thought he was referring to the blood trickling down my neck.

"No, those wounds!"

"I'm serious, it was just a few goons. There's no problem. My neck will be fine."

"No, no, not those, no. The rest of you, what happened to it? Never mind, just get inside, quickly!" The urgency in his voice was clear and it was making me concerned for my own personal physical state. Without protest I entered into his home. He took me upstairs to the washbasin he had helped me in before. "If it's from what I think it might be we really need to get these things treated now."

"How come?"

"Get in the basin." I did as ordered as he frantically filled it with more of the cleansing liquid.

"Why is this so urgent?"

"It was those little canisters, red-orange stuff, right?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"You need a drink and to soak for a good while."

"Segaran."

"What?"

"What is going on?"

"You may not have noticed. Your body's reaction to that stuff is...not good. Anyone's reaction, really, is terrible." I looked down at my legs, finding the wounds that he was referring to. I noticed the skin had begun to peel away, almost as if flaying itself. The separated skin was quickly dying, faster than normal. I simply looked at it in despair and apprehension. "As much as she brags about how it’s finished, the compound is not finished. Did it get in your eyes?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Pop your head under the water's surface with your eyes open. It will hurt, a lot, but it's better than being blinded permanently." I continued to obey his orders, rinsing my eyes in the way he had told me. When I could not hold my breath any longer I resurfaced. Anytime I broke the surface for air Segaran would desperately urge me back under. At the end of it all my body burned intensely, as if set ablaze, and ached from the torture. Segaran led me back down to the lower levels, where he laid me upon another set of linens and began wrapping my wounds. It quickly became clear that I was bleeding again, as if I had stopped bleeding to begin with, and he muttered something about the cost of medical supplies and the citadel not doing anything about it. I didn’t press any further, but instead let him work. Once he had finished he laid me down to rest. Seeing this as a pretty good idea, I decided to take him up on the offer and begin trying to embrace sleep.

Segaran had let me stay in the lower levels of his house again until things were ready for me to depart. All of the preparations were made under the direction of Theogar, and under the close watch of the king. Segaran gave me the saddlebags that he had made earlier for the work on the wall. It was in these that I put the many supplies that they gave me, though it was cumbersome in my smaller form. I met up with Segaran and his platoon at their barracks, seeing if they were ready to depart. At that point they were finalising the loading of their supplies into wagons. Once they had finished, we marched to the front gate. The guards there received the orders from Theogar on the procedure to let us out. Members of the wall guard were there as forerunners for the opening of the gates. Creatures had gathered outside already, as I’d soon discover. As the gates opened these deprived monsters tried viciously to gain entrance into the city, being beaten back by those already at the gate. The wall guard did not stop the slaughter until every last creature had been decimated. They then allowed us to leave the gates and begin our trek to the port town. Once outside, the gates closed.

It took two days for us to arrive. Each night, the guards had a small skirmish with the wildlife. Nothing much came from it other than a few scratches and used bandages. When we reached the port gates the guards and Segaran stopped. When I sensed they weren't following any longer I turned about in confusion to face them. Segaran addressed me at this point. "I wish I could enter and safely get you set off towards your home but that's not going to happen. It's a sport in there to hunt and kill gryphons like us, guards and soldiers. It's rather lawless in there. So we have to let you return home alone. I wish you the best of luck. You might need it in there."

"I don't need luck, but thank you." I trotted over to him, eventually sticking a hoof out towards him. "This is for formalities, to thank you for helping me thus far."

He shook my hoof. I then, unexpectedly for him, pulled him in close and hugged him. He was caught off guard, seemingly dismayed at the initial thought. He warmed up to the idea eventually, but by then I broke the hug. He almost seemed a little bashful in that moment. "That was for saving my life thrice. I wish you safety and success in your future. Perhaps we shall meet again one day."

"Thanks, I'll be waiting. Be safe, Aqua." With that, he left with his platoon. With my saddlebags secured I entered in. Just by walking through the streets one could hear all the tales of the sailors about what they had done recently. Whether true or not one thing was easily discernible: this was a group of ruffians and hooligans. As I thought on a few past experiences I realised armour would have made it so much safer. I saw a lone and burly gryphon loading a cargo ship and thought for a second how I could approach him to find a ship heading home.

"Hey!" Yeah, that got his attention. He turned to face me. "Which one of these vessels is Equestria-bound?"

"Just this one for quite a while. What's it to ya?"

"It's high time I shipped back."

"This would be your only shot. Good luck, though."

"I don't need luck. I need on this ship."

"In case ya ain't noticed this here be a cargo ship. Crates and stuff only."

"Then I'll travel by crate."

"If ya manage to get one let me know. Until then: scram!" I turned and left, trying to find anywhere where I could obtain a crate to travel on the ship. What I saw was a nearby ship unloading its freight onto the docks. Among what else there was I found an empty crate, presumably my size, laying beside others that had already been emptied. I simply trotted over, setting the lid inside of the crate, and started pushing it over to the other gryphon. I heard a few cries from the crew and soon there were gryphons all around me. It was clear that they wanted to keep the crate, but I needed it worse. One, soon enough, shouted at me as they approached.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going with that?"

"Where I need to."

"I don't know who you think you are but you're not about to walk off with that."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Leave it."

"Make me, if you think you can manage." That seemed to have gotten them going. It wasn't my intentions originally, but I found it worked. A few of them came in quickly to start a scuffle. As the first few came in it simply took a few bucks to drop them, either knocking them into the waters or into surrounding items to stun them. As the next few came over they learned from the examples of the first, choosing to come from flanking sides. It simply took a few sweeps and swings of the tail to dispatch these. The last one nearby caught hold of my tail but was met with a ferocious buck, catapulting him into the bay. As the final member of their crew came charging in I simply tripped him, forcing him to tumble in alongside his crewmates in the waters below. It soon fell silent until I managed to get the crate over to the first gryphon. I set the crate before him before speaking gruffly. "Here."

"Quite the stunt you pulled there."

"I held up my end of the bargain, hold up yours. Get me on this ship."

"Aye, aye. Workin' on it." It didn't take him long either. He closed and, with two small nails, barely sealed the top. The crate, containing me, was then hoisted and placed into the boat, sideways. I sat patiently in the stifling crate until the sound of loading ceased. It wasn't too long after that when I felt the boat set sail. Once I felt the listing that signified open waters I pushed against the sides of the crate until I felt one shift. Pushing further unsealed the top and granted me freedom of movement. Once the lid was removed I was a bit astonished at the handiwork of the gryphon. It was interesting, to say the least. He had, using larger crates, built a kind of shelter for me. It was covered, had four walls and small gaps between some of the crates to allow air flow. I was thankful, at least, for the efforts of this kindly sailor.

I did what I could to make it as homely as possible. I managed to engineer a way for it all to work; the little details gave me a little trouble, though, but I worked my way through them. The journey took a little longer than I had previously anticipated. My rationed supplies ran out a little before we arrived in harbour. The signal came, the listing stopped, and I knew it was time to prepare to disembark. I re-entered the crate, putting the lid back on as best as I could. I put the lid on the bottom, standing on it and lowering the rest of the crate on top in a hope that it would seal better. As I sat within the closed crate again I heard container after container unload from the ship. The time finally came for mine. I felt it pushed over on one side and, fearing that the lid would fall off, I followed the motion. I heard a few disgruntled orders from those dealing with the box but everything worked smoothly. As they lifted the crate up and attempted to pass it over I felt a sharp jut as it connected with another. The crate listed suddenly, forcing me off balance. I hid the side, the lid unfortunately in this case, and it popped off, dropping me down onto the crates below. As I rolled I heard the scuffle of nearby gryphons or ponies coming over and the shouted command, broken by my rolling impacts: "Get it! Secure it!"

Suddenly I was grasped firmly by the claws of gryphons and drug back onto my hooves. A rather salty looking gryphon and a pony dressed very finely approached me. The gryphon spoke. "Well, well, what do we 'ave 'ere? A stowaway?"

The pony beside him spoke, his tone much gentler than that of the first. "Captain, I've never seen this before."

"'Course ye've seen stowaways afore. 'Appens all the time."

"No, captain, I mean this type of creature."

"Right ye are, laddie. What reckon ye we oughtta do wiff it?"

"I'm not entire sure, captain."

"The market, aye? Be fetchin' a high price this one 'ere would. We'd be blinkin' rich, that we would! 'Ey! Ya blokes there, get this one 'ere sealed back up an' sennit to the shop!" It was here I gave the best resistance I could. I acted quickly, catching the gryphon holding me off guard. It was a few simple bucks and a squirm to get me out of his grasp. He fell away, stumbling. The first one nearby came close. I simply swung my tail, connecting it hard with his face, knocking him down onto the ground. The second was close by, grasping my tail firmly. I bucked back hard, connecting with the gryphon and nailing him into the nearby crates. The group was, unfortunately, too close. It wasn’t much longer before their vast numbers thronged me. They came too quickly. As hard as I tried they simply overpowered me. They threw me back into the crate, sealing it as quickly as possible. I kicked against the side once, splintering it. The crate then lifted, knocking me around with the jolting and sudden motions. When it set down shortly thereafter I picked myself back up and continued trying to break free. I bucked back as hard as I could a time or two, barely splintering it further. It was now very apparent that they had placed me in another, stronger box in addition to the one I was already in. As I tried a few more times I barely heard the voice of the captain speak. "Got a bloody fire under 'er britches."

Whatever that meant. I didn't sit and think on it. I tried a few more kicks and found no progress. Had I the capability of becoming my larger self I would have easily erupted from these crates and overcome my assailants, but here I was helpless. As such I waited through the jostling, moving and plunking that occurred. After a while it eventually ceased. I prepared myself, expecting them to open the crate to retrieve me. The top of the first crate was taken off, I'm assuming as I heard the typical sounds of a crate being opened. They then cracked open the lid on mine. I was prepared to jump, but just as soon as I was about to the crate suddenly listed, knocking me off balance, before it fell to the side. Due to the sheer speed and force of the tip I lost my ground, falling towards the cracked lid. I did not have time to react, rolling instead into the top of the crate. It popped open as I tumbled out. The room that I was now in was far too bright at first. My eyes were still adjusting from the near-pitch black I had been subjected to, and were still doing so even as I arose after having forced a few more rolls away from the crate to avoid an ambush. As soon as I stood I felt cold iron clamp to my legs, as well as on my neck and tail. I went to protest but a rag was shoved into my mouth and tied behind my head, gagging me. A muzzle was then placed as my eyes finally adjusted. I looked down to find shackles about each of my legs. A chain connected each of the four shackles to a main chain that ran from my neck to my tail along the undercarriage. If I moved a leg it had to be in small movements or risk tripping. If I moved my head I needed to move my tail with it, and vice versa. I was now, regrettably, at their mercy. They prodded me until I moved into a cage that was mounted on a low platform that rolled on wheels. They then locked the cage and placed a large cover over top of it, obscuring my vision and causing darkness to blanket my world once more. Shortly thereafter we began moving.

Next Chapter: 2. Oppressive Chains Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 19 Minutes