Zephyr Part 11


                                            Autumn dives right in as Master pours himself a glass, but for for a minute or two you just kind of stare at it. The deep red pool sitting in the bowl in front of you is the harbinger of a terrible revelation. In all this time, even when Master was having a drink a few days ago, you never once thought about having a drink yourself. To the best of your recollection, the last time you thought about vice of any kind was your pining for a cigarette in the basement. You're not glad to be rid of nicotine, per se, but you couldn't open a pack or work a lighter to save your little pony life these days, so you guess that's gone for good. You idly wonder what you'd have to do for Master to earn yourself some weed. He might think a stoner pony is cute, right?


                                            No use dwelling on things you probably can't have. You thank Master for the wine and then take an experimental sip. You're not familiar with the various kinds of red wine, but you know that whatever this is, it tastes great. Soon you're sipping frequently as you share jokes and stories with Master and Autumn. Your bowl is empty by the time Master finishes telling you about a funny near-miss involving law

                                            enforcement and a pair of new transformees hidden in the back of his truck, and you're already pretty tipsy. Autumn keeps to telling quick jokes, continuing to stoke your curiosity about how much she remembers from her old life.


                                            Finally the time comes when you are put upon to entertain the other two, and you begin to slur out a tale of narrowly avoiding outing yourself as a brony to Jake while high on psychedelic mushrooms. The other two laugh along with you, and Master is openly shocked when you accidentally let slip that Jake was one of his most recent buyers.


                                            "You're telling me I had someone you know from before coming here in the house and you didn't tell him anything?"


                                            "I wann'ed to, but he was... too fasht. Wen' away 'fore I could tell 'im. s'why I was alone when tha.. that fucker showed up."


                                            You're a little too drunk to gauge his reactions well, but he doesn't seem too upset with you. For your part, you've had your three bowls of wine much too fast, having failed to account for your substantially reduced mass. You belatedly realize he might be angry at you, and that puts you on the edge of tears instantly.


                                            "S'okay, though! I don't wanna leave anymoore! I don't wanna live with Jaaake! His house is gross! I wanna... I wanna..."


                                            The room is spinning a bit, and Master moves to your side and strokes your mane as you lay your head down on the sofa.


                                            "I'm going to have to start cross-referencing this sort of thing now, but because you've been such a good girl, I'll let this slide as long as you don't throw up on me."


                                            "I'm soorry! I just didn't wanna get sold..." you sniffle up at him. He lifts you up and carries you upstairs to the bed, cooing in your ear that he's not angry and that you should get some sleep. You whine and whimper your apologies for the next few minutes, all to his placid reassurances and light strokes of your mane. You're ashamed at being such a lightweight now. The sun only just went down! After a few  minutes of determinedly ignoring the room's incessant spinning, a dreamless sleep takes you.


                                            You have no idea how long you were asleep, but the hazy moments between being asleep and genuine wakefulness seem to be punctuated by loud noises. You're slow in acknowledging them, dealing with what is ultimately an extremely light hangover. If you're going to be a lightweight, you deserve to recover well, you suppose. Suddenly, though, the noise gets your attention. Is that Master yelling?


                                            More rustling sounds come from downstairs as you jump into wakefulness, but you don't hear Master's voice anymore. Your first impulse is just to go downstairs and see for yourself, but the door is closed and you have no hands! It's still dark outside! What the hell is going on down there?!


                                            "Master! Are you alright? Autumn? Guys?!"


                                            There's no verbal response, but you can hear heavy footsteps begin to climb the stairs. Panic overtakes you as your mind comes up with a million possible explanations. Maybe they've had too much to drink? What if it's the cops?


                                            But those are wishful thinking. The fear that's been ever-present in the back of your mind has returned to the forefront. Your heart is beating like gunfire as the footsteps get closer to the door. It's him. He heard you when you called out. He knows you're here. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

                                            The footsteps stop.

                                            No. Oh no. NononononoNO.

                                            The door swings open too fast for you to react, and for a moment you're utterly silent. Your blood runs cold. Your skin crawls. He shouldn't be here. He shouldn't be in the doorway! Where is Master?! Where is Autumn?


                                            ...Oh god no.


                                            "I told you no one could keep us apart, my precious little girl."


                                            You scramble off the bed in an attempt to put distance between you and him as he advances slowly. With each thump of a footstep on the floor you're reminded of the nightmares, and it's everything you can do not to cower before him like a frightened child. Soon you're out of ground to cover, and the gap between you shrinks.


                                            "S-Stay away from me!"


                                            His only reply is another step forward. His face is twisted up in some sick facsimile of an ecstatic smile, but his eyes give it away. They're fixed right on you, cold and beady and hungry. Fear like none you've ever known washes out any notion of rational thought. Master. You need your Master.


                                            "Master! Help!"


                                            He's looming over you now, barely two steps away. You've got nowhere to go.


                                            "Shhhh, darling little Zephyr. Forget that interfering idiot. Now you can be with your real master forever."


                                            Indignation wells up in your chest. This sicko is NOT your Master! You make a desperate gambit for escape and spring sideways, hoping to get around him and find Master, but thick fingers clamp down on one of your rear legs. You've only got a moment to kick at him before he swings you one-handed into the side of the bed.


                                            You're lucky to only have collided with the sides of the mattress and box-spring, but the wind is knocked out of you all the same. You're still trying to flail and kick as he drags you back to him by one of your wings. He lifts you up, one hand across your chest while the other settles on your neck, ending your cries for help with a small squeeze of your windpipe.


                                            "Be quiet... unless you want to start your homecoming celebration early?"


                                            His voice promises only pain, even in his gleeful tone. Harsh, ragged sobs begin to escape from your throat as the hopelessness of the situation becomes apparent. He did something to your Master, it's the only way he could get to you. Oh god, please don't let Master be dead. What about Autumn? He'll do the same to Autumn as he will to you! As he carries you downstairs, he begins to whisper to you, just the way he did before.


                                            "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since out last meeting. Now that we're together, my beautiful little p0ny, I can finally give you all of my love, and I have just so much love to give you."


                                            His hands tighten their grip as he speaks, and his voice finally loses the faux-gentle air they had when he arrived. There is only viciousness now. He's breathing heavily and describing how you'll learn to love him, and to accept his ways of showing love when a new voice greets the two of you at the landing. He has an accomplice!


                                            "Did you get what you came for?"


                                            The other intruder isn't what demands your attention though. He's a noise in the background when you see poor Autumn.


                                            She's been bound and gagged with leather straps, but the pitch of her repeated screams is audible from across the room through the gag. It's hard to get a good look at her from where you are and with her constant, violent struggling, but her continually darting eyes don't seem to focus on much of anything, even you. She's having a panic attack.


                                            They did this to her! The girl's been through hell and back with her transformation, and these two think they can treat her like this? You have to help her! She's having a full-blown panic attack in a situation she can't escape from, and the only person who can calm her down is Master. Where is he? He has to be around here somewhe-


                                            You'd been glancing from side to side trying to find you Master, and that's when you noticed him in the kitchen. On the floor, with a distinct red gash on his head.


                                            He's not moving.


                                            No. Oh no. This can't be happening. He's your only way out of this. If... If he's... If they killed him then there's no hope. You'll be mangled, violated and broken beyond repair. And... And Autumn... They'll take her too...


                                            Please, just get up. Get up and save your pets.


                                            Your struggling becomes the same full-blown thrashing that Autumn is doing on the living room floor, and even with a hand instantly moving up to silence you your screams must be deafening. A sharp blow to the side of your head stuns you for a few seconds, and you're handed off to the accomplice.


                                            "Get her bound while I load the other and start the van."


                                            He's taking Autumn! Her tears are being thrown in all directions as she shakes her head in all directions. Her muffled screams are audible even as she's carried out of the room and house. In the final moment before leaving the living room, the two of you lock eyes. The bubbly pony you know and love isn't in there right now. Pure, animal terror is behind those eyes, and with Master hurt, she knows there's no one to save her.


                                            The sick fuck's accomplice has hold of you now, and with one arm wrapped firmly around your waist he's reaching out with the other toward a bag full of bondage gear. That's it. That's the end game. If he binds you then it's all over and you and Autumn will suffer a fate worse than death. You'll wish you just bashed your own head in when you were chained to the basement floor.


                                            You have to save Autumn. You have to save Master. You have to get free.


                                            The young man currently attempting to bind you is skinny to the point of being unsettling, but more importantly he seems nervous. There's no inhuman detachment in his eyes that makes the man who just took your best friend so frightening. You might be able to do this. You flail your limbs wildly, and he has a hard time keeping a hold on you. He keeps shouting for you to stop it, but all that gets from you are attempts to bite at his face.


                                            You think you have him on the ropes until his free hand slams into your belly. You see stars for a few seconds, and the familiar feeling of being socked in the gut is rapidly overtaken by the feeling of rising bile. You can't help it, and release the still wine-red contents of your stomach all over your would-be captor.


                                            It's a pure accident, but it works in your favor as he makes a disgusted sound and tries to hold you at arms length. This is it! You suddenly begin to flap your wings like mad, all while kicking towards his chest. You've managed to take him by surprise, and you're rewarded by him releasing his grip in a panic as he falls backwards.


                                            You tumble to the floor, but you're on your hooves faster than he's on his feet. You make an attempt at bucking him in the face, but his scrambling to get up meant that all you did was kick the wind out of him.


                                            He's on his feet in another couple of seconds and you're worried you might have blown your only chance. He's screaming about what a little bitch you are when you see it, but he's facing you, so he most certainly doesn't. He swings a leg back as though to punt you when it happens.


                                            Seemingly out of nowhere, a baseball bat swings hard from behind him, and catches your attacker square on the back of the head. He goes down like a ton of bricks.


                                            Behind him, still bleeding from a head wound and with a face contorted in absolute, burning hatred is your Master, seemingly back from the dead. At least that's how it feels to you. He's not standing very steadily, but he's up, and his wild eyes make contact with yours for a moment. You're sure he'll be fine, though, when you hear his first question;


                                            "Where's Autumn?"


                                            As if in answer to his question, an engine roars to life outside. He's trying to get away!