Narrowleaf happily scarfed down the rolls. "Th-Thanks a lot, Master... I appreciate it. A lot." He said, smiling sweetly.
"It's no problem. Now, tell me a little about yourself." Severin said before taking a sip of water from his glass.
"I've just been a slave my whole life. Never found a nice mare, never really found a good home." Narrowleaf responded with a sigh. "...Not really much to know about me. Born into slavery, still a slave."
"Damn. That's tough. Well, you're free to stay with me until this whole thing blows over. I won't make you do any extremely hard labor, but if you'd like, you can help me with some chores and I'll pay you... say... 50 bits an hour?" Severind offered, while taking the meat off the fire, putting it on a plate and handing it and some silverware to Narrow.
Cracky trotted joyfully onto the market, looking over prices on food, fruits and vegetables. He came across some slave trades, but found no slaves that interested him, making him trot on, happily watching around him. He never found the slave trade disgusting or bad, he just found it to be a means of getting horsepower for whatever task you would need. Or perhaps getting some companions for conversations with. Though, he didn't understand the means as to why some masters hurt their slaves. It didn't appeal to him at all. He stopped at a bidhouse, trotting inside to watch the bidding over some more exotic types of slaves.
(Oooh.... Exotic slaves...) Narrowleaf sighed and took a bite out of the steak. "Th-That'll be fine, Master, but what could I possibly do with that money? Nobody will sell anything to me. I'm just a Dirt Horse." He said, frowning.
"Well, you could buy a house after the whole, 'Earth Ponies are inferior.' Thing is over. But don't worry about that right now. Make yourself at home. And you really don't have to call me master, we're on good enough terms, right? You can call me Severin."
"Yes sir, Master Severin." Narrowleaf said, smiling. He took another bite from the steak. "Th-Thank you so much."
Heart Song followed Blackout out of the mansion and to the market, where he bought her some apples. She accepted the fruit gratefully, not wanting to tell him how little good it did her. As kind as he had been so far, she knew that such kindness would not extend to a Changeling. Blackout waited for her to finish the apples. "Feel better? I have a few thing to pick up, and then we can try to find something fun to do."
"Well, you must be exhausted, if you want to sleep, the guest room is upstairs, it will be the first door on your left." Severin said, taking another sip of water.
Blackout and Heart Song's first stop was at the local bookstore. As they entered, he whispered to her, "Um... forgive me for being so blunt, but... uh... do you know how to read? I have heard that many Earth Ponies cannot." She whispered back, fearful of being overheard. "My... husband... taught me, before we were captured. You should not be asking such questions! You know that it is against the law for a slave to be literate!"
"Tsh, what a rare collection. Never new that there existed elemental ponies. Ah well." The grey pony trotted out of the bidhouse, walking out from the masses and heading his own direction through the district, happily bobbing his head to the music blasting into his ears, not listening to him or the world around him. While his headset was on, the world transformed. Everything began following a specific rhythm. He could see events happening in a order that appeared to him. He became inspired to make a new song. He stopped and turned into a slightly rugged, two-section house. The door swinged open and a pair of ponies, both unicorns, laughing highly to themselves, passed by him with a slave in tug. In a swift motion, Cracky loosened up the metal collar on her and gently pushed her back into the house. "Hehe, rich ponies don't deserve slaves when they have their servants." He winked to the slave, who shined up abit and walked into the care of the other slaves inhabiting the house. Cracky popped over on the counter and sat down, scanning the room around him. It was a normal bar, earth ponies working as servants, bringing up plates of food to the guests. The guests in mind could do whatever to the slaves, as long it wasn't too attention drawing. But often when Cracky came in things seemed to calm down, everyone seemingly left the servants to their own. "Boy, Cracky. Errytime you come in 'ere, everythin' just calms down." The server, Darren, watched Cracky with a smile. The gray unicorn turned over to him. "Not my fault they're the scumbags, Darlin'." Darren shook his head slightly and looked out over the bar. Cracky had always called him Darlin' instead of Darren.
Blackout could not understand why Heart Song's mention of her husband had left him so rattled. He felt guilt, to be sure, but there was something else, too. It almost felt like... jealousy. He forced the thought out of his head. Heart Song was indeed beautiful, but she was also an Earth Pony. Blackout would never be anything more to her than the Unicorn that forced her to be his slave. He sighed. She probably hated him.
Narrowleaf gave a long sigh. "I'll be up in that guest room or whatever." He lied, walking into the room. As soon as he entered the room, he lept out the window. He walked over to an old tool shed and grabbed a scythe. Naarowleaf walked to a scarepony and stole it's clothing. He then ran off, into the town. He prowled his way to a carrage full of sobbing mares. "Be free, Sisters. Run! Into the woods" he whispered, striking the padlock with his scythe. The lock dropped, and the wooden doors slowly and silently creaked open.
Despite the many weaknesses of her Earth Pony form, Heart Song still retained her Changeling ability to sense emotions. At the mention of her false husband, Blackout's emotions had run wild. She could not believe her good fortune. The Unicorn was actually interested in her! If she played her cards right, she had just found a new food source. She chose her words carefully. "My husband is dead now. Killed by the slavers. I miss his friendship, but we were never truly in love. I hope that someday I might find REAL love... a foalish dream for somepony like me." She could scarcely suppress a wicked smile as sudden hope surged within Blackout.
Narrowleaf ran off into the woods, guiding the group of mares. "There's a cabin in the woods. They'll help you. Hurry, Sisters!!" He called.
Silver Orion: Upon getting closer to the carriage, Silver suddenly stopped as he saw the pony from the carriage run off into the forest. Curious, Silver ran after him. "Iris will just have to wait for me at the shack later with those papers I asked for." he mumbled to himself. Iris: On the way to the hill where she left Silver, Iris trotted past various stores - a flower shop, a farmer's market, and a bookstore. Iris continues to look around herself, being very cautious of her surroundings. Puck: Puck did a ninja roll onto the roof that he landed on before sneaking up to the edge and looking down into the bookstore, where the two ponies who he assumed were arguing seemed to be talking silently. One of them was clearly an earth pony - the pony who was most likely the victim of the argument. "Of course!" Puck mumbled, "that other stallion must have given that earth pony a birthday present meant to mock her!" Slipping his hoof into his vest, Puck procured a small bag full of blue, luminescent petals, ready to wreak havoc on their victim by morning; Puck tried to hold in his laughter. "Well, since it's a birthday, I'll just throw in a party favor of my own."
Heart Song's willingness to open up to him had surprised Blackout. They had only known each other for a few hours. "I am certain that you will find love, someday. My father will not live forever, and when he is gone, you will be freed. I can promise you that." Heart Song groaned inwardly. Despite his obvious attraction to her, the fool was too afraid of his father to make a move. She would have be more direct. Blackout was her only hope. If she could not trick him into loving her, she would starve.
