Together Banished #3

>Well Anon, you’re in for it now.
>With your vision finally aligning itself, you can make reality of the scenario.
>Pinned by four holey hooves, you’re laying trapped beneath a slabbering, insectoid pony beast.
>That YOU rescued.
>Your face grimaces further, feeling her musky breath with each exhale.
>An incredibly uncomfortable lapse of silence takes place for a few seconds; eventually she sharply pulls her head back and begins cackling.
>Her laugh is incredibly silvery and eerie, befitting for her appearance.
>”HAHAHA! What hilarity! For a predator to become the prey! A sorcerer no less, how pitiful!”
>Oh, there’s that whole ‘sorcerer’ label again.
>You’re really starting to become curious about this whole sorcerer label you’ve been given here.
>Too bad you’re going to die. At least her gloating is giving you time to brace for it all.
>She continues laughing triumphantly, but suddenly cuts it short as she breaks into a series of spluttering coughs.
>It escalates quite violently, to the point she’s forced to raise a hoof near her convulsing mouth.
>You glance awkwardly as she continues to choke on her own air.
>Slowly you start to slide your limbs free from her waning grip, she’s about to throw up a lung.
>Managing to at least get your upper body free, you push what you can upwards.
>This movement finally catches her attention.
>Amidst her fit of coughing, she attempts to slam you back down into the ground with her free hoof.
>You barely manage to catch it, throwing it back towards her in a mighty shove.

>She stumbles back, freeing your legs. Still in her endless spate, she manages to wrestle up a jeer.
>”C-C...Curses! Of...course a sorcerer would be able to cast a hex without the slightest sign!”
>After catching her grip back from the stagger, her posture shakily straightens, her throat finally beginning to stabilise.
>Her venomous glare snaps into horror after she glances at her raised hoof, staring at the bandage weaved around it.
>Then her head begins twisting to face each visible bandage on her body hind legs.
>”No...y-you have operated on me!? Like...a mere LAB SPECIMEN!?”
>Finally getting yourself back up onto your feet, you begin brushing off the dust from your trousers and shirt.
>Despite nearly being eaten, her feedback right now is almost therapeutic.
>It’s been far too long since you’ve heard another voice. The nostalgia is completely debilitating all of your adrenaline.
“You could say that.”
>She doubletakes to your response, hammering her lifted hoof back into the ground, glowering with utmost animosity.
>”What have you done to me, you invasive, abominable cur?”
>Ignoring her bewildered scowl, you pop out a hand and begin raising fingers with your little list of good deeds.
“Carried you out of a barren wasteland and into shelter after I came across your beaten body. Cleaned out approximately thirty injuries of different shapes and sizes. Pulled out foreign objects with tweezers from a few lacerations out of cuts you somehow achieved.  Applied medical dressing over said thirty injuries.  And then of course fastened the larger wounds with bandages, all under the span of two hours.”
>Glancing at your fully outstretched hand, you point it towards her with every finger extended, smiling weakly.

>Her eyes are even wider than before, her jaw hanging ajar just slightly, never have you seen astonishment portrayed so perfectly.
>Deciding to let it sink in, you simply lower your hand and sit down onto your bed. A loud crunchy squeak from your fall echoes throughout the cave.
>Watching her wordlessly, her expressions phase from confusion, doubt and anger.
>You were about to speak until she starts barking out apprehensively.
>“You...are LYING! You’re trying to lull me into a false sense of security! Only to lavish at my surprise after I begin to twist into whatever your operation will have me contort into! I know this procedure ALL too well, foolish sorcerer, you will NOT-“
“You’re wrong.”
>Your simple interjection makes her words stumble, both her eyebrows pull together purely out of stupefaction.
“I dunno what you mean by this ‘sorcerer’ thing and I’m not lying about what I said before. I found you out in the desert surrounded by a load of dead bodies. Some of them looked like they were related to you. You were in a pretty messed up state back then and I decided to bring you up in here and see if I could patch you up.”
>Her dubious expression remains, but at least her hostility is starting to expire. You continue regardless.
“Frankly, by the way you’re now moving around and yelling is amazing. Two hours ago you didn’t even look like you were going to live, let alone wake up.”
>The uncertainty on her face is starting to trouble you, mainly because you know you’re telling the truth.
>Logically though, it’s perfectly normal for her to have such suspicions. Especially as you don’t know what ‘sorcerers’ normally do, plus waking up in a cave covered in bandages and aching wounds.
>The whole mad scientist operation actually sounds plausible when you put everything into light.

“Look...if I WANTED to kill you, or do experiments or whatever. Wouldn’t I have you completely restrained or something? Furthermore these “sorcerers” wouldn’t live out in dingy little caves like this in the middle of a desert, right? To me it sounds like they’d live in some...massive castle made out of skulls, or something ludicrous, don’t you think?”
>One of her eyes narrows judgingly.
>”...I don’t know. You’re the first I’ve encountered.”
>Rubbing your eyebrows, you can’t help but feel slightly frustrated. You hardly have the qualities of what you would define as a sorcerer. No pointy hat, no melodramatic robes.
>Then what about you is sorcerer-like?
>Either way, you feel like you’ve exhausted your ideas for clarifying things to her. Best push the topic elsewhere.
“You want some water? You were coughing pretty hard back then.”
>She remains adamantly silent, her ambivalence shifting her expressions successively.
>However she finally sets for an angry, defensive glare towards you, shuffling away from your position and near the meat locker.
>Her face winces as she takes each step, walking clearly isn’t easy for someone in her condition.
>”No, nothing. I want NOTHING from you.”
>Defiantly, she still tries to stand with pride, even though her legs are clearly in strain. They wobble and shake unstably, something that she seems to ignore insolently.
 “Alright, if you want to play that game.”
>Shrugging, you surrender to her behaviour.
>You’re hardly mad about it, but you don’t have much patience for such behaviour.
>For now, you really want to clean yourself off; it’s something you always do after returning from a trip out into the wasteland.
>Grabbing a bucket, you glance one last time at your temporary guest.
>She’s fixated on you. It’s a vigilant, cautious gaze following every step you make into the river’s passageway.

>Stepping out of the river after a rigorous wash, you approach your clothes.
>You dry yourself off with some spare bedsheets, they didn’t work very well as towels but you had to use something.
>As for your clothes...you’ll wash them off another time, namely after you find food out in the wastes and won’t have to trek out soon.
>Despite this concern, you feel rejuvenated, mentally and physically.
>Almost like you’re ready for the first round of bug the bug pony.
>You even felt responsible enough to fill a bucket full of clean water for her to drink.
>Well, you did take her in...so you do feel dutiful to her well being.
>Whether she willingly accepts that however...
>Shaking your head clear of doubt, you finish drying yourself and properly get dressed.
>After that’s all done, you pick up the bucket and dirty bedsheets and head back through the passage way.
>You’re determined to clear things up; perhaps approaching her in a more subservient manner will be more to her tune?
>Nodding to yourself, you enter the main chamber with the bucket of water raised.
“I brought you some water, you deserve a good deal of lux-“
>You freeze up at what you see next.
>The meat locker has been completely pushed over, one of its main legs broken. Its contents are completely empty. That’s impossible, considering how much meat you had in there prior.
>A large amount of paper, cardboard and cans are strewn around the locker.
>And before this wreckage, is that creature sitting cosily beside it. She is chewing merrily on a large raw rib roast, a large single string of fat dangling from her mouth.
>Sensation in your hands goes numb. That food, especially the dried products, was your emergency reservoir, to save up for whenever you planned to leave this desert for greener acres.
>All of it, gone.
“...ury.”

>The bucket in your hand slithers out of your fingers, crashing into the ground loudly.
>Startled, she flinches and quickly faces you. Her gorging ceases, her stare now meets your own.
>Both of you stare, unresponsive.
>The large string of fat from her mouth gradually slips out of her mouth and falls onto the floor, resulting in a loud fleshy ‘slap’.
>An even awkward, longer silence proceeds.
>You feel anger heating from the tips of your numb fingertips into your empty head.
>Her stare is finally interrupted with her yawning, her face indifferent to her indulgence.
>”Is that so? Then do about with providing me with more meat, my hunger is barely SATED after that paltry supply.”
>Something somewhere on your face twitches.
>Paltry?
>At least a month’s supply of meat.
>PALTRY?
“Are you for real right now?”
>One of her brows cocks up arrogantly.
>”Damage your head on your return, sorcerer? My existence hasn’t changed in any structure.”
>She is for real right now.
>You march towards her with fury in your eyes, which initially catches her by surprise, yet she quickly fumbles onto her feet defensively.
>”Fall back, sorcerer! Lest you suffer the wrath of Queen Chrysalis-“
>You ignore her protests and simply grab her by the scruff of her long neck, aptly avoiding a bandage.
>”Unhand me this INSTANT-!”
>Her head makes the motion for a deep chomp into your arm, but you easily hold her head still by yanking back on her neck.
>You then grab onto the bizarre plating on her back. Its verges make for a solid grip.

>Then you begin hauling her away from the meat locker, restraining her head and wading through her floundering resistance.
>It’s like carrying a giant angry cat, hisses, biting and all.
>You get her to one of your beds, promptly using every ounce of your strength to lift her onto it and letting her go.
>She lands, bouncing several times on the mattresses. Immediately after her wings twitch in correspondence with her outraged expression, attempting to expand as she stands high in stature.
>”Touch me again sorcerer and I will-“
>You shove her back down onto her hindlegs, her sentence stopping as she gaps.
“Touch ANYTHING else in this cave, move ANYWHERE from this spot and I’m throwing you right the fuck out of here. I don’t know if you’re apparent to this yet, but you will DIE miserably and helplessly in your condition out in that wilderness.”
>You take a breath, she doesn’t snap back.
“I chose to help you out purely by chance. I can easily choose to be done with such a charade right now. In fact you’re one hell of a lucky mare to have me even give you the last straw.”
>She listens, visibly stunned.
“Do you understand?”
>After a tense silence, a look of disgust starts to wrench into submissive anger. Her mouth opens to speak.
“Think very carefully on your response, Chrysalis. Very. Carefully.”
>You stare fiercely into her giant emerald eyes.
>She avoids your stare, her mouth closing back down. Scowling temperamentally, she takes at least a good minute before grumbling a response.
>”Fine.”
>After one last warning stare, you finally manage to clear your anger away. Taking a few heavy steps back, you fall down onto an opposite bed.
>You rest your arms against your knees. Lifting your hands into your face, you let your palms cup over your eyes and mouth.
>Yet another unsettling silence invades the premise of your cave. Neither of you feel motivated to challenge it.
>Until she starts coughing again.