Chapter 7 – fresh from the typewriter.
Thespian Moon – a pegasus with a pelt as white as the winter snow. She has stunning burnt-orange eyes. Her mane and tail is a beautiful sea-foam green.
Stunning Stitch – a cute pink filly unicorn with bedazzling jewel-blue eyes.
Thespian Moon and Stunning Stitch are close friends, and speak with a gentle Manehattan accent. Both OC's Submitted by: Almost an Actress
Cinder Gold stirred. As the foggy haze in her mind cleared away she was greeted with a throbbing headache and a stabbing pain in her chest. It was so unbearable that she felt dizzy and nauseous. Cinder Gold moaned a low, miserable cry.
She reached out to hold her chest, only to find that she was unable to do so. She was being held down by something. Opening her eyes, the golden filly found herself in a dark little room, lying uncomfortably on her back, chained to a desk.
"Ahhhh! Where am I?" Cinder panicked, kicking wildly, trying to wriggle free from the chains. This caused the stabbing pain in her chest to surge with overwhelming pain, burning like acid, forcing her to stop struggling. "OooooooOOOWCH! Wh-where am I?" she cried, gritting her teeth in pain. Confused and scared. She sobbed, tears spilling down her face.
Suddenly she recalled Wolfee, her friend. They were talking in class before the school day had begun. But something happened; something bad. A sinking feeling drilled at Cinder spirits as her obscured memory returned. The school was being held hostage. Hawthorn brutally tortured Wolfee in front of Cinder. She could only watch as Hawthorn gloated and bullied. Upset, she yelled at him, right before he reared back, kicking his legs up into the air ready to buck the helpless pony… then darkness. (Chapter4)
Cinder's abdomen flashed red hot at the returning memory. I've got to get out of here before Hawthorn comes back. I have to find out if Wolfee's… she couldn't finish the terrible thought.
Angry, Cinder Gold vainly attempted to fight free of the chains again. She instantly regretted her decision. The pain throbbed warningly. Like a tone of bricks with spikes were placed directly on her chest, digging deeper every time she moved.
Unexpectedly, a voice echoed from somewhere in the dark room. "Thick chain and tough times makes no good for gold pony," croaked a frightening voice.
Startled, Cinder froze. Her ears flipped forward. The voice was not the sound a pony could make. It was harsh and scratchy. Not natural.
Though, it also sounded familiar.
Cinder called back into the dark, "Gablin, is that you?"
Nothing.
Only the ringing in her ears persisted.
For a moment Cinder thought that she might have imagined the voice, until a raspy "yes" floated back in response.
Cinder felt both relieved and apprehensive. Gablin was a goblin that lived in a deep cave under her house. Apparently he was cast out by his goblin kind and banished from the Canterlot Mountains. A while back she had discovered the loathsome creature stealing and caught him. They both came to an agreement to stay on peaceful terms.
But could a pony trust a goblin?
"What are you doing here Gablin?"
There was another pause. "Watchin' da gold pony," the creepy voice drawled, almost sinister.
Cinder was becoming annoyed. "That's not what I meant, you toad. WHY are you here at school? And where are you at, I can't see you. Are you in the wall or the vent?"
"Yes."
"Gablin, this is serious! Stop playing. I hate it when you do that! You're breaking your contract. Now help me outa these chains," Cinder Gold demanded. Her patience was wearing dangerously thin.
"Gablin no help gold pony. Might get seen."
Cinder hissed, boiling with hate, "if Gablin 'not help', then the 'gold pony' will clobber you!"
Silence.
Gablin… Gablin!?"
The distinct sound of bear feet walked away, somewhere in a vent. Cinder's mouth dropped open in shocked offence.
"Don't you ignore me Gablin, I know where you live! Get back here!" she had to control her tone of voice not to scream. The footsteps disappeared.
Great Cinder! You shouldn't have yelled at the rotten goblin, the filly cursed herself. I have to get out of these chains.
Cinder forced herself to calm down – which was quite a task itself – and started to inhale and exhale slowly.
With her back leg, she poked awkwardly at the chains. With great difficulty she managed to carefully place the tip of her hoof into one of the chain's links. "Thank you Celestia," she said with a huff. Cinder inhaled as deeply as she could without hurting her chest too badly, then kicked out with all the force she could muster. The link shattered and the chain slipped away freely. This was a trick her father had taught her. A blacksmith trick.
She laid on the floor relieved, exhausted and soar. After catching her breath and wiping away her tears, she brought herself to stand up. A bit wobbly at first, it was painful to move her legs. Cinder feared that Hawthorn had broken a rib when he bucked her.
"What do I do now?" She placed a hoof on the door handle and opened the closet door as quietly as possible, peeking out to see. Miss Sweet Pea's classroom was a disaster zone. Desks toppled over everywhere. In the middle of the room students sat in a group, on the floor. Two older looking ponies stood over then attentively – Hawthorns minions.
"You can't keep us here! Our parents will find out about this and you're going to get it," a brave blue pony stood, shaking a hoof at them.
The two bulk minions barked, "NO TALKING!" Instantly tackling the smaller blue one without mercy. The rest of the children scattered, screaming.
Cinder closed the door. She was not going out there. Period. She wanted to help her classmate but couldn't in her condition. She had to think about herself now. It was too bad for the others but they were on there own.
Cinder investigated the supply closet. Stocked full of papers and pencils, crafts and boxes. Behind a box on the floor she uncovered a vent. It looked small but it was just big enough for the petite filly to squeeze into. She flipped the latch and lifted the cover. It was dark and dirty inside. As far as she could see there was no sign of the goblin, only a bunch of funny looking footprints in the dust.
"Well… it's this way, or the door." Cinder thought of the blue pony. Making up her mind she carefully wiggled into the stuffy vent, shuffling through the labyrinth of passages. Cinder felt like she was Solid Stallion from that popular Tactical Espionage video game. After a while she noticed a light source up ahead. An exit! The smell of food wafted in the air. Cinder pushed through the vent cover and popped out the other side into a cabinet, crashing into pots and pans. Cinder Gold scolded herself for being so loud and clumsy. Luckily, there was no alarming sound of minions coming to take her away.
Feeling safe, Cinder poked her head out of the cabinet. She was in the schools kitchen. At the far end of the room was a light yellow filly, her back turned.
"Pssst! Hey, are you alone?"
The yellow pony jumped. "Who said that?" Looking around alarmed.
"Down here, in the cabinet."
"Cinder Gold, is that you?" She cantered closer, looking down at her head sticking out from the little door.
"Lemon Blossom, what are you doing here?" Cinder recognized the unicorn. She was a couple years older than she was. Everyone in Ponyville knew Lemon Blossom was the nicest pony in school.
"Hawthorn put me in here. I have to cook for him and the school. What about you? You look terrible, your mane is a mess." Lemon started to fix the jumbled mess of white braided hair.
"Don't." Cinder shooed her away with a hoof. "Do you have any chocolate milk?"
"Chocolate milk?" Lemon blinked. She made her way around the kitchen and came back, dropping a hoof full of pint size cardboard milk boxes in front of her. "Is this enough?"
Cinder snatched them up and quickly chugged one down.
"You found a way out! You have to get out of the school and get help!" Lemon Blossom said enthusiastically.
Wiping her mouth clean with a sigh of satisfaction, "I will, but I have to find a friend first. Hey, you can come along with me Lemon."
"I-I don't know… I have to help the students here. Plus, I don't think I can fit in there like you can." She pointed out.
"Oh, right." Cinder grabbed a towel and fashioned it into a satchel of a sort, tying the ends together and slinging it around her head and arm. "Okay, I'll get help. I promise. Thanks for the chocolate milk," Cinder said with a smile. She tucked the rest of the milk containers into her new satchel and disappeared back into the cabinet, pots and pans clattering.
"Good luck." Lemon Blossom turned back to the kitchen. She noticed a white apron hanging on a hook. "I'm going to start with you," she said to the apron, grabbing it off the hook and put it on.
With the apron properly fastened, Lemon skipped to the large refrigerator and opened it wide. It was so large that she could have fit herself inside. It was filled with various foods. Lettuce, carrots, potatoes and other vegetables. Inside of the boxes were apples, strawberries, - tossed one into her mouth – grapes, kiwis, - "YUK!" – and oranges. On the very bottom self was a big box. Lemon heaved it out with a grunt. "Phew! What's in here that's so heavy?" she opened the top.
Lemon Blossom's eye's opened wide, a grin stretched across her face. Inside was full of beautiful, fresh, swollen lemons covered in little droplets of condensation. A treasure chest of gold.
"Let's get cooking."
With an accurate hoof, Onyx Charmer placed the last signature on the forged scroll. It looked exactly like Princess Celestia's own writing.
The light green unicorn leaned back in his seat with an exhausting sigh of relief. He tossed the last letter high up into the air, it gently sailed back down into a stack of similar letters. Each and every one written exactly to Hawthorn's wishes. He rotated and stretched his hoof, sore from writing with a quill. He could have simple used magic to do the work, but he preferred to use the old fashion method instead. The letters were precise and legit, his best work yet.
Hawthorn walked into the room, carrying a replica Royal Palace Guard's helmet, used for plays. "Are you finished yet? You do have all the letters, right?"
"I don't want to pat myself on the back, but not even Princess Celestia could have done better."
"Right, right, so everything's in order then, good."
Onyx smiled. "Welp, it's funny ya say that. Cause I have good news and then I have… no-so good news."
Hawthorns face scrunched together, brows furrowing. "What do you mean?"
Onyx lazily kicked back in his seat, flopped his hooves on the table. One hoof landing on the mound of scrolls, causing Hawthorn's spiteful gaze to harden even more. "First I wanchya to know that I've finished the letters, just like you asked, chief. One letter for every student at our school."
"So what's the problem then?"
Onyx pointed behind Hawthorn. "I can't write a letter for these ponies. Cause they~don't~live~in~Ponyiiiiii~villllililile," he said in a singing voice.
"What?" he turned around. There sat two ponies he hadn't noticed when he entered the room. In fact he had never seen these two ever before. The first one was a unicorn with a pink pelt. She blinked her large jewel-blue eyes. The second was a pegasus with a wintery white coat and a flowing sea-foam green mane and tail. A minion, two sizes too large stood over them, mean-mugging the two ponies.
"Where did you come from!" Hawthorn whined.
The white pony raised a hoof. "My name is Thespian Moon and this -" she grabbed the pink unicorn in a hug, pulling her close, "- is Stunning Stitch. We came all the way from Manehattan on behalf of the Drama Club to put on a surprise play for Ponyville School. The Tale of Hearts Warming Eve." She said waving a hoof through the air, imagining the spectacularness of it all.
Still holding onto Stunning Stitch, Thespian stood up and slowly made her way to the door. "But I see that you all are having a bunch of issues right now, soooooo, it was really nice meeting you Mr. Hogthorn. We'll just be giddying-on-up outa've here-"
The large minion grabbed the fillies and thrusting them back down in their seats effortlessly. "-Okay… or maybe not," Thespian said looking up to the big brute, "watch your hooves there buddy."
"Oh, you're from Manehatten High School. Hmm, are you two the only actors?"
"No, I'm actually a seamstress," Stunning Stitch popped, blinking her blue eyes, "Thespie's our shinning star. The rest of our crew will be here later today to set up for tonight."
Thespian elbowed the pink pony for saying too much. "Stunning, shhh."
Hawthorn rubbed his chin. "Really? That's good to know. I'll be sure that a 'welcoming party' will be waiting for them when they arrive."
"Wait, what!" Thespian Moon shot, "don't you dare hurt my friends! If you lay one hoof on any of them I'm going to make sure the next time you wake up, you'll be in an emergency room," she said, jumping up angry, not even noticing that the minion pushed her back down.
Hawthorn laughed at the irate pegasus. "Is that a promise? Then I accept. Just know I will be saying hi to your friends, personally… just for you sweety." Hawthorn motioned to the minion. "Take Thespian Moon to the Auditorium with that colt that's always blowing himself up. Put Stunning Stitch with that runt in the attic."
"What a shame," Onyx shook his head. His horn glowing pink, he magically levitated the stack of counterfeit letters neatly into a mail carrier. "They're both quite the lookers too."
Just then Bramble barged into the room looking like he was late for class. The brown pegasus looked out of breath.
"Where have you been Bramble?" Hawthorn barked.
"I was taking care of Patch Work up in the attic, Bro."
"Taking care of her?" he asked, questionably.
"Oh… uh no, not like that… ha, you know, like 'taking care of'." Bramble fibbed punching his hooves together.
"Good, now listen up bumblebrains." Hawthorn slammed the guard helmet on Bramble head. "You've got mail to deliver."
Wow! It's been a crazy week. I'm so sorry for the delay everypony. My editor, Alison and I have been so busy lately. Thank you for being so patient.
I have been greatly enjoying the reviews from you all. They help me out a lot. Also Thank you to Chief Wolfee and skullcrusher206 for your unremitting support and reviews that you guys have been giving since the very beginning of Bully War.
Also to you ShadowManz. You have been so encouraging.
Fungusbrain1, you're my long lost brother I found on FF. I totally appreciate your great sense of humor and positive outlook on everything. YOU. ARE. MY. HERO. Bro-Hoof!
Finally, I need to give a shout out to a very talented lady and a wonderful friend, that's responsible for this whole mess. Almost an Actress loves Broadway Theatre with a crazy passion, and is also the most gifted writer I have seen on Fan Fic. Her stories are astonishing! They will make you laugh, gasp and cry. I cannot recommend this enough. I am in love with 'Of Actresses and Sorrow'.
If it wasn't for her I would never had been inspired to create Cinder Gold's first story "Midnight Snow".
My hat's tipped to you Novi~
Bravo