Title: Safara's Story Author: Anonymous Pastebin link: http://pastebin.com/QEktJiMv First Edit: Friday 20th of December 2013 06:56:54 PM CDT Last Edit: Friday 20th of December 2013 06:56:54 PM CDT Safara's Story Safara Al-Amin is an earth pony, a traveler born in a small shanty town in Saddle-Arabia. One day, her simple life of scavenging scrap and water was disrupted when bandits attacked the peaceful desert settlement. Her mother and father were slaughtered before her eyes, her little brother disappeared, and Safara herself was kidnapped by the bandits. She was stuffed in one of their carriages, under the sheet with the other supplies they pillaged from the poor town-dwellers. She could do nothing but cower and sob in fear, as she listened to the conversation of the bandits, who mentioned selling “that pretty filly” in a city she's never heard the name of before, to a Brothel as a “courtesan”, although she didn't know what that meant.   Thanks to her successfully fitting in and quickly learning the local dialect, Safara's career as the city's prettiest whore has quickly skyrocketed. She was the most renowned, most beautiful, most skilled dancer. She was highly demanded in bars, and was popular with the warriors who frequented the local bars. She brought in a lot of money for the Brothel, and thanks to that, they were most lenient towards her, although she still had to witness the horrible abuse of those who shared her fate and worse.[See omitted scene] Once a week, she was allowed to go shopping with a male guide to whom she had to report back after she finished her shopping. They gave her a generous allowance, owing her prestigious status. Here, she overheard the merchants bartering, and soon started using the language as well. She noticed for example, that one of the merchants was very unsuccessful in selling a particular weapon, a small ceremonial dagger called jambiya. Any money Safara didn't spend was taken back, preventing her from saving up. Notwithstanding, she hid a small part of her allowance under a loose street tile each time she was taken out. Safara always knew that the work she performed was not all a courtesan did, but she did not know exactly what it was that she was never asked of before. Her price for anything more than a dance was too steep, not even the richest merchants could afford her. Unbeknownst to her, she was lucky, as thanks to this, she remained untouched. That is, until a rich emirate made a stop at her brothel. He requested he spend the night with their most beautiful courtesan. Safara didn't understand why she was being dressed up so carefully and elaborately, even more so than before. All she knew was that she was going to entertain an important guest in private. She was told a recap of everything she learned and knew well already. Although she was anxious that she was being requested for such an important task, somewhere a part of her was also looking forward to the challenge.   She entered the room exactly at midnight. It was a large, luxurious room, beating even Safara's opulate quarters tenfold. A large bed with gilded sheets and pillows, and next to it, a door leading to a balcony offered a view out into the city. The emirate was right there waiting for her. She greeted him accordingly, and they exchanged a few words of small talk. Safara seemed to be doing great, but then something happened. Something she didn't understand, something she's never encountered before. Her guest told her to get on the bed. He didn't sound angry, just flat, and slightly impatient, but Safara still feared she had done something wrong. Regardless, while slightly astonished, she made her way onto the bed. She was then told to lie on her stomach facing the wall, then put her flank up in the air. At this point, the courtesan was confused, she had no idea what was going on. She feared that this showed, as the Emirate's breathing seemed to get heavier. He raised his voice, commanding Safara to raise her tail up in the air. She didn't even notice that she had it curled up between the legs in fear. She complied, slowly but reluctantly raising her tail, revealing the intimate parts it was protecting. Her guest complimented her, telling her she was beautiful. Safara was dumbfounded, at this point she completely lost the thread of the situation, nothing made sense anymore. She looked back, checking what her guest was doing, only to have her head gently turned back, it now laying on her side. She still stole glances at the Emirate at times, as he was getting on the bed. Suddenly, she felt his body on top of hers, making her experience a closeness from a stallion that was alien to her. All her confusion was soon forgotten however, as she felt something behind her. She didn't know what it was, it was intrusive, it was painful, it was humiliating. She felt something inside her, ramming on and on, as if trying to impale her. She was shocked and mortified, but she just lay there, sobbing, silently begging the divine entities to make it stop. But it wasn't stopping, and the more she concentrated on it, the worse it became. She opened her eyes, feeling the stallion on top of her breathing down her neck. That's when she noticed. She saw the balcony door, and the beautiful view outside the balcony window. She never realized how astonishing the cityscape looked at night. In her mind, she went flying into the stars, she went to the market, she imagined herself as a bird, looking down at the busy city. But all the while, deep inside she was being violated. She was continuously being stabbed, and there was only so much she could do to distract herself from it. Stab. Stab. Stab.   The traumatizing experience began a chain of emotions in Safara during the following days. First, utter humiliation. Then hopelessness. Then, as she thought over how they kidnapped her, murdered her family, took her best friend from her[see omitted scene] and now, utterly violated and humiliated her, the sadness, the angst, the hopelessness turned into the rage of a thousand Saracen warriors. One night, she decided that she had enough. She was used and abused, she was made a prisoner her whole life. But that was no more. Tonight, she was going to become a free mare, or join her friend in the afterlife. She put on the burka she was required to wear, for anonymity, and because it was not taken kindly to for a mare to reveal anything but her eyes when out in public. She snuck out of the Brothel and went to the market. She remembered her secret stash of coins and immediately retrieved it. She scoured the market, purchasing a saddlebag, a scarf, and travel supplies. She needed something to protect herself with as well. She remembered the sword merchant, and decided to visit him. As the merchant counted out the price for the jambiya she requested, she realized that she was missing a few coins, and can't pay the full price. She panicked, an expression which her burka hid well enough, to her relief. Safara then had an idea; Using the barter slang she picked up, she attempted to   barter for the dagger, mentioning that the merchant was trying to sell it for weeks with no luck. In the end, she successfully barters the jambiya down to half price. She quickly made her way to the edge of the city. Safara took the burka in her mouth and with one, swift movement, took the whole article off and threw it into the sand behind her, revealing her new identity, a red, unkempt mane, saddlebags, a scarf and the jambiya equipped. On her flank is a symbol that was not there before. She stood, looking back to the city with fire in her eyes as she swore to take revenge on all those who took everything from her. She then started trotting into the desert, leaving her burka, and with it, her imprisoned past abandoned in the sand.   Ommitted scene(WARNING: GORY):   One night, as she was taking a stroll around the brothel, she heard a scream. The voice that was crying and begging was that of one of the younger courtesans she knew very well. She galloped, tracing the source of the horrible plea for mercy back to a single door. One she never saw open before, but this time was opened to a crack. Safara snuck up to the door and looked through. Just in time to witness a horrible, large battle-axe striking down, right through the pleading courtesan's neck, slicing through it with ease, decapitating the mortified filly, her body instantly collapsing, her bodiless head hitting the floor, the scream still evident on her expression, facing the small crack on the door, staring right at the mortified witness. Safara's scream could be heard blocks away from the brothel. After the incident, the brothel's owners kept the adventurous earth pony under tighter surveillance.