"No! Please!" Gabby begged.
Carousella whinnied like crazy as she was roped and had a magic-proof ball stuck onto her horn by the royal guards. Crescent's wings were tied down too. Remix and Sapphire suffered the same fate as they were taken from the Jinn family.
"Not our horses! Please!" Lamenta begged.
"Let me go!" Strawberry demanded as she struggled in the ropes as she was taken from Mace.
Every horse in Mandingham was currently being repossessed forcibly from their owners. With the raised taxes, people were cleaned out of cash in a matter of hours, and with no money to pay, now Prince Almec was taking all the horses he could get his greedy hands on.
But he didn't stop there.
Almec taxed the heart and soul out of the poor people of Mandingham.
If you couldn't pay your taxes, and you no longer had a horse to pay with... you went to jail.
And that included the children.
"I'm in here too." said Harmony.
The horses were not treated royally like Almec expected himself to be.
All the horses were forced to live in dank, tiny stables with barely any hay, a leaky ceiling, no space to run around, and all of them were restrained in one way or another.
Unicorns had their horns magic-proofed by special balls, pegasi had their wings tied down, and Earth ponies simply were chained on their legs.
The people didn't have it any better.
Boy were they in trouble now.
The children were crying in their parents' arms as they sat in their cell.
The jails were cold and dark, made of stone. The ceilings were leaky, the people were all chained at their ankles, and lived even more poorly than ever before.
They had little to eat and many of the men were forced to work, smashing rocks and lifting heavy bricks. Basically, working as slaves.
On a dark, cold, rainy night, the church bell rang in Mandingham as Friar Yoda pulled the rope and Ms. Jocasta played the organ.
"Oh, dear Friar." said Jocasta. "I'm afraid no one is coming."
"Right you are, Jocasta." said Yoda. "But the sound of the church bell. Hope, comfort it may bring to the poor people of Mandingham. Keep their hopes alive, do what we can, we must."
"But how can there be any hope with that tyrant Prince Almec taxing the heart and soul out of the poor people?" Jocasta said, her music sounding even sadder."
"Yes, those poor people." Yoda sighed, looking into the poor box. "Look, like our church, the poor box is... empty."
Jocasta looked at Yoda, and then she stopped playing the organ for a moment and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small pouch and found something she'd saved for an emergency. A ten-credit coin.
"Friar Yoda." Jocasta said, approaching the friar. "I've been saving this. It's not much, but please take it for the poor."
"Your last credits." Yoda actually started to smile a little at her generosity. "Mmm. Dear Jocasta, give more than that, no one can."
Yoda placed the credit in the poor box.
"Bless you, Jocasta."
"Oh, I was just saving it for a rainy day."
Yoda looked out the window and chuckled slightly.
"Raining now, it is." He said. "Get worse, things can't."
"Well, good morning, Friar." said a familiar voice.
And in came the sheriff.
"It appears I dropped by just in time." said the sheriff.
"What does that bully want here?" said Jocasta.
She had a good feeling it wasn't for Sunday school or religious contrition.
Viszla looked into the poor box.
"Hmm. Well, what have we got here?" Viszla said, reaching in and taking Jocasta's donation.
"Hold on there, Sheriff!" Friar Yoda said angrily. "The poor box that is!"
"It certainly is, and I will just take it for poor Prince Almec." He pocketed the credits. "Every little bit helps."
"You put that back!" Jocasta said. "You've already taken everything Mandingham had!"
"And His Majesty also blesses you, little sister." said Viszla.
"You thieving scoundrel!" Yoda said, angrily shaking his fist at the sheriff.
"Now, now, Friar." said Viszla. "I am merely performing my duties."
"Collecting taxes for that arrogant, greedy, ruthless, no-good Prince Almec?"
Viszla put his hands on his hips and spoke to the short Friar like he was a little kid.
"Now pay attention, Friar. You are being very, very preachy, and if you don't stop that naughty preaching, you will be hanged on a noose."
"Out of my church, get!" Yoda said.
And the friar poked and whacked the sheriff with his cane like there was no tomorrow, chasing Viszla out of the church and into the rain.
Unfortunately, one of the royal guards came along and stopped the friar, giving Viszla time to get out some cuffs.
"You're under arrest for high treason to the crown." Vizsla declared as he cuffed Friar Yoda.
Jocasta gasped in horror.
"Oh, no!"
She cried as Yoda was taken away by the sheriff. Not only was she all alone in the church, but now the entire village was locked up in the dungeon.
To make matters worse, even with taxes pouring in, a full jail, and Friar Yoda being added to the bunch of prisoners, he was still unhappy. And it was because he still didn't have Kenobi Hood in his custody.
"I'd give all my gold if I could just get my hands on..." Almec then had an idea. "You said Friar Yoda, did you not?"
"Did I?" said Haman. "Yes, I did."
And Prince Almec officially had a truly diabolical plan: Use Friar Yoda as bait to trap Kenobi Hood.
Friar Yoda was one of Kenobi Hood's dearest friends and one of his most loyal supporters. If there was one thing Kenobi Hood would never stand for, it was allowing the innocent to die at the hands of greedy rich folk who always wanted more even when they had everything.
"But, sire!" said Haman. "Hang Friar Yoda? A man of the church?"
"Yes, my reluctant counselor." said Almec. "And when our elusive hero tries to rescue the corpulent cleric... my men will be ready."
And so, the sheriff and guards prepared the gallows for Friar Yoda to be hung the next day.
However, they didn't know who was approaching them.
"Credits. Credits for the poor." said Kenobi Hood, re-adopting his blind old man disguise. "Do my old ears hear the melodious voice of the sheriff?"
Sheriff Viszla chuckled and said, "That is correct, old Sir."
"What might be going on here?" asked Kenobi Hood, tapping the trap door with his fake cane.
"We are going to hang Friar Yoda."
Kenobi gasped and nearly revealed himself.
"Um, hang Friar Yoda?"
"You betcha. At dawn." said one guard. "It might even be a double hanging, if we're lucky."
"A double hanging, eh?"
Kenobi wondered who would be the other one getting the rope.
"But, um, couldn't there be trouble if Kenobi Hood showed up?"
"Well, wouldn't you know, sheriff, he guessed who the other hangee will be." laughed a guard.
"Oh, but the sheriff is too smart, too clever, and too crafty for the likes of him, says I." Kenobi Hood said, making Sheriff Vizsla totally overconfident."
Vizsla chuckled and said, "Do you hear that, guards? For being blind, he sure knows a good man when he sees one...says I."
Kenobi Hood snuck out and met with Little 'Soka.
"Obi," whispered Ahsoka. "We can't let them hang Friar Yoda."
"A jailbreak tonight is the only chance he's got." Kenobi Hood whispered.
"How are we supposed to do that?"
"We have the only not repossessed horses in Mandingham. They can help us. We must do it, Ahsoka, or Friar Yoda dies at dawn."