Chapter 23. Kidnapped.
Matthew walked through the streets of Cradle Light with his mother, sister and Applejack. The streets were alive with human and ponies. He could see the joy in everyone's faces and that made Matthew smile.
Matthew felt something hit him in the back of the head causing him to fall to the ground. He could hear Applejack yelling and someone being dragged off. The darkness took over his mind.
Matthew found himself standing in a middle of a strange room.
A woman in a white cloak walked through the room with a sword in her hand "The sword of death, the only blade to kill a God and to bring destruction to this world."
The woman stopped and looked at Matthew "And you king of Avalon shall stop the end of the world."
Matthew felt cold water wash over his face causing him to wake up "W-What's going on?" Matthew said in a daze.
"Three men took Applejack and knocked you out, we tried to stop them but." Matthew could see his mother face become sadden.
Matthew slowly got to his feet "I-I gotta go after them."
"Y-You can't, you took a nasty hit." Beth said.
"J-Just tell which way they went, I-I'll follow the path." Matthew said trying to get the world to stop spinning.
"You are going back to the house to recover, I shall speak with Queen Maggie and find out what I can about the men who took Applejack." Sarah said placing her hand on his shoulders "We will get her back."
Matthew felt Beth get under his shoulder "F-Fine."
Beth helped Matthew get back to the house while Sarah made her way to the castle.
Sarah walked into the throne room "Sarah what do I owe the honor of your visit?" Queen Maggie asked placing her paperwork off to the side.
"I've come to ask for aid for the King of Avalon."
The Queen stood "Why did he come to you?" Queen Maggie asked.
"He is my son, the son I told you about when we first met." Sarah said "It's a long story but he is here in Cradle Light. He would have come here to meet you in person but we were attacked and his marefriend was kidnapped. He needs help finding the men who took her."
"Where is the king now?" The Queen asked.
"He is at my house, my daughter Beth is tending to him while he recovers for the attack."
"I want the city sealed off at once." The Queen said "Sarah I want you to take me to see the king at once."
Matthew sat in a chair with a bag of ice on the back of his head "Just keep that on your head and you should be fine."
"Thank you Beth." Matthew said feeling the dizziness fading.
"Do you plan on taking my mother back to Equestria when you do leave?" Beth asked placing a basket down with some clothes in it.
"It's up to mom if she wants to leave or stay, if she stays it's her choice not mine." He said looking at Beth "I just came into her life, I wouldn't want to drag her away from a home she set up on her own."
Beth looked back at her basket and started folding the clothes "I can maybe help you two out if you need bits, the old kingdom has a lot of treasures that were never taken when the kingdom was taken over."
"Mom has a great job working as a teacher for the Queen, she is teaching those who are brought here on the ships how to read and write and understand laws." Beth said.
Matthew placed the bag of ice down "If you're afraid I'll take her away from you I'm not, you grew up with her while I lived as a slave in chains." Matthew stood and made his way over towards Beth making her look at him "You are family, I won't fight you or mom when it comes to what you two want in life, I just came into your life out of nowhere, once I find Applejack I won't cause you or mom anymore trouble."
"That's not what I'm worried about." Beth said "Mom is strong headed, she has done everything to try and find you, now that you're here I fear she might stop everything she's doing just to be by your side."
"Maybe I can speak with her about her staying, she is doing good here and I've already got so many by my side, she is needed here more than Equestria."
"T-Thank you."
Matthew cracked a smile "It's what family is for."
The door opened and Sarah came walking in "Matthew, Queen Maggie is here to see you."
Matthew saw the Queen walked into the room, her golden blond hair flowed like a river of light and her blue eyes were as blue as the sky "Your highness." Matthew said bowing.
"Sarah has told me about what has happened." She said walking up to Matthew "My soldiers are searching for Applejack as we speak, however I fear she might have already been taken out of the city."
"Give me a sword and I shall find her." Matthew said.
"The people you face are called the king's." The Queen said "They are a group of humans who take ponies and enslave them, we have been trying to tack them down for years now but the ruins to the north have too many hidden tunnels and we cannot find where they might be hiding."
"Where are these ruins?"
"The ruins of the oldest city, it is said it's the home of the great God Luthor." The Queen said "All we really know is the city fell into the sands and the underground tunnels are a maze, they must have figured out the layout of the tunnels unlike us."
"Just point me to where those ruins are."
"You're not going alone." Sarah said.
"I won't let you get hurt going into those ruins. The people here need you mother, I will be fine, I've made it this far, It will take more then some tunnels to stop me from getting her back." Matthew said.
"My men will take you to the ruins, but I can't allow them to enter those tunnels." The Queen said.
"That's fine by me your highness." Matthew said "I just need some supplies."
"Whatever you need shall be given to you."
"Come back safe Matthew." Sarah said hugging Matthew.
"I will." He hugged her back "I'll be back before you know it." He said with a smile.
He left Sarah and Beth alone in their house as he walked with the Queen.
"He'll be back mother." Beth said placing her hand on her mother's shoulder.
Matthew placed the sword into the holster as he saw three guards walked towards him.
"King Matthew, it is an honor to meet you." Matthew notices the guard in the middle pull off their helmet letting their red hair fall "I am Sansa Wolf, her highness general of Cradle Light's army."
"It's nice to meet you Sansa Wolf, are the only three coming with me?" Matthew asked.
"Yes sir, the city is on full lockdown as we try to find the king's." Sansa said.
"Alright, why don't you lead the way." Matthew said.
The four made their through the city "King Matthew, the Queen has told me why you are heading to these ruins to find your marefriend."
"You can just call me Matthew or Matt." Matthew said as they walked "I will do anything to get her back."
"She is that important to you then?" Sasna asked.
"She is, if it wasn't for her I might not even have hope for a bright future." Matthew said as they walked.
They made their way out of the city and out into the desert "There is a river about two miles from here, once we reach the river we will setup camp for the night."
"Alright, if there is anything I can do let me know." Matthew said as they walked.
Queen Maggie sat in her throne room with paperwork in front of her.
"Your highness, is it wise to send Sansa to the ruins with King Matthew?" A man asked.
"Sansa and Matthew have the same goal." Maggie said looking at the man "They both have someone taken from them they love, knowing Sansa she will go with him into those ruins and if the saying is true, King Matthew will bring the end to slavery once and for all."
Celestia walked through the halls of her castle with Luna by her side.
"We have already set up places for humans to be taught and learn." Luna said as they walked "Night and Midnight have taken troops to the east to get more humans free and cut off any supporters of slavery."
"We still have a long road ahead of us." Celestia stopped and looked out the window "How are the efforts of rebuilding Avalon?"
"Twilight is overseeing the rebuilding, she has already started rebuilding the inner city." Luna said.
"Good, how is Sweet Apple Acres?"
"Big Mac says everything is back to normal, he's just worried about his sister Applejack."
"Inform him she's right, she's on a trip with Matthew helping with humans in Saddle Arabia." Celestia said "Has Discord said anything else?"
"He's being his normal self, won't tell me a thing." Luna huffed.
"All we can do is hope they are okay and they come home safely." Celestia said as they walked down the hall.
Matthew sat in front of the fire as the three guards ate their meal.
"You should eat." Sansa said.
"I'm not hungry." Matthew said "I'm sure you three are hungry."
She took a seat next to him "You'll need to eat, I know you're worried about her, but she'll want you to eat to have the strength to find her."
Matthew looked at the soup "Fine." Matthew said chuckling as he ate.
"Alright you two." Sansa said getting up "I'll take the first watch, you two get some sleep."
The two guards went to their tents leaving Sansa and Matthew alone.
"If you want I can take the first watch." Matthew said.
"It's alright, there are three of us, besides." Sansa took a seat across from Matthew "My family once served the kings of Avalon and now my family has a chance to rejoin the ranks and protect Avalon once again."
"The wolf family served the kings of Avalon?" Matthew asked.
"Yes, when war broke between Equestria the king ordered my family to flee, he said one day the wolf family would one day join the kings again and be apart of history once again." Sansa said with a smile "Once we find these kings and put an end to their slavery I wish to join you on your journey back home."
"Thought you had orders to leave once we got there?" Matthew asked.
"Those bastards took someone dear to me, I've been to those ruins a thousand times trying to find those who took my husband." Sansa said "I won't rest till I find him."
"When we reach these ruins I promise you Sansa we will find your husband." Matthew took a sip of his soup "Didn't know they kidnapped humans."
"He's not human, he's a pony." Sansa said.
"Oh, still we shall get him back." Matthew said.
Applejack felt the heat of the sun shine through the cart of the wagon.
She could see the other ponies in the wagon in chains "Where are they takin' me?"
"Alright boys! We got some fresh ponies ready to be put to work in the tunnels." A man said.
Applejack felt her body be pulled as the chains wrapped around her neck yanked her off the wagon "Get moving you Equine."
Applejack was beyond angry "What gives ya the right ta treat us like slaves!?"
Applejack felt herself get smacked across her face "Your kind will never enslave us again! You will taste what your kind has done to us!"
Applejack glared at the man "Put a muzzle on her." A woman said laughing.
Applejack was forced down as they strapped a muzzle onto her face "Now that should shut you up bitch."
They dragged her off into the tunnels "She was a feisty one." A woman with dark black hair and a pair of blood red eyes "How are some of the tunnels?"
"We found four more tunnels and a chamber but only some treasures." A man said.
"We shall keep digging, I want the tomb of the king found." She said heading towards the ruins of an old castle.
"You heard our Queen! Get these mules moving!"
Ruby sat by a fire trying to keep warm.
"What do you want sis?" Ruby said feeling his sister's warmth a mile away.
"I've came to check on you, I don't care what happened between us Ruby but I want to try and reach out and do my best to help you." Lucy said taking a seat next to him.
"You got what you wanted, just leave me alone." Ruby said.
"I've created a new creature for the humans to eat besides fish, I call it Lax, it's like a cow but bigger and tasty." Lucy placed some meat down for Ruby "You might like the taste."
Ruby looked at the food "Why?"
"Because I still care for you brother and I know you'll soon see what humans can do." Lucy stood "Just call for me and I shall always come and see you brother." Lucy faded leaving Ruby alone.
"Might as well eat this." Ruby thought as he took a bite "Wow, that is tasty."
To Be Continued.