//------------------------------// // Underworld Prison // Story: Symbiosis // by Fedora //------------------------------// The wall-eyed pegasus found herself thrown forcefully onto a cold, hard surface inside of a dark cave. As soon as she was in, a translucent barrier of magenta energy blocked her exit. She was trapped, like an animal inside a pen. The cell itself was made of a hollowed cave, carved into the rock walls. Interestingly enough, the walls were made of crystal, leaving a reflective surface. In the dim light from the glowing barrier, Derpy could look to the wall and see her own reflection. Had she not been in such a dire situation, she might even have found her own cross-eyed appearance amusing. “What’s your name?” whispered a voice from the other end of the cell. Derpy slowly and cautiously made her way in further. As her eyes adjusted to the total darkness, she could make out the shape of several ponies. “I’m.... I’m Derpy Hooves,” she whispered back. “Derpy?!” another voice excitedly whispered, belonging to a young mare. “Who is that?” “Derpy, it’s me, Cheerilee. I was two classes ahead of you at Ponyville High.” “How many ponies are in here?” Derpy asked, sitting herself down. Apparently she had sat on somepony’s side, as there was a sudden yelp. She shifted, apologizing. “Four in this cell, and five in all of the others,” Cheerilee answered, “Stay quiet, something’s coming.” In front of the glowing barrier passed what looked like a jellyfish, but faint like a ghost. It crackled and pulsated, but seemed insubstantial. A second creature floated toward the first, and they seemed to be conversing. “You have the gray pegasus pony?” the second arrival said, with a voice that sounded almost distant, and was half drowned in a crackling sound. “She arrived moments ago.” “And the Doctor?” the second pressed, “The Doctor has been trying to locate us for weeks on end. The masters warned us about him.” “Relax, brother. He cannot find this place, we have made it invisible to all outside scanners.” Derpy thought it strange that they would discuss details loud enough for the prisoners to hear them speak. Didn’t they figure that overhearing parts of the plan might tip them off? “Unit Alpha has integrated himself into one of the equine shells. Our presence is requested at the central system.” Almost as quickly as the pair had arrived, they departed. Derpy was left with all sorts of questions. Who were they, and why did they look like electric jellyfish ghosts? “Did you all hear that?” Derpy whispered. Everypony else was silent, and the one nearest to Derpy scratched it’s head. “Young lady, all I heard was crackling static, like a broken radio.” “But they were speaking,” Derpy insisted, “Speaking words.” “Derpy,” Cheerilee said in a hushed voice, “the old stallion is right. All we heard was static.” The gray pony sat back once again, mulling over what they had said. They knew about The Doctor, and had gone to great lengths to disguise this place so that he couldn’t find it in his spaceship. It seemed important, but she didn’t know what good it would do her. Sighing, Derpy unslung her pack that she had still been carrying, and laid it against the ground like a pillow. Something light and metal clattered out of a side pocket, and onto the crystal floor of the cell. Derpy scooped it up, feeling the device in her hooves. It was unusual, almost like a leg watch, but with a few buttons on it, and one button that was larger than the rest. “What is ‘integration’?” Derpy asked, “and I don’t mean the stuff they do in math class. The jellyfish things spoke, and I heard them. They mentioned integration with equines, equine shells.” “They... I don’t know how to put this nicely, because it’s so horrid.... they can take over the body of a living thing,” the older voice whispered, “Like a disease, or maybe a parasite. But once inside, they can control you, like a puppet.... or maybe they’re wearing your body like a costume. It’s sick.” “But why?” Derpy gasped, “Why would they do that?!” “We’re like lab rats,” Cheerilee said glumly, “They do experiments, randomly choosing ponies. Once they call on you, you don’t come back.” “Where do they take you?” “I don’t know.” At that precise moment, two of the creatures appeared on the other side of the barrier, lowering it. “The gray pegasus with the bubbles cutie mark, you have been chosen. It’s your turn,” it said, in much clearer voice. Apparently it was trying to make itself understood this time, as everypony else in the cell gasped. “I have a name you know,” Derpy said, standing. She slipped the leg watch over her leg, and strapped her bag back on over her withers. “Names are not needed. You will come with us.” **** Derpy was led through corridors carved into the crystal, and over grates of steel with vents of steam bursting out every now and then. The crackling aliens accompanied her like armed guards, and though she didn’t know what they had for weaponry, she wasn’t too keen on finding out either. She was then led into a bright room, with light making it painfully easy to see. After being in the dark, it was almost blinding, and Derpy squinted her eyes shut. “Supplies are not needed. You will remove the bag,” commanded the alien, moments before extending an arm -if those crackling formless appendages could be called arms- and vaporizing the bag right off from her back with a sizzling bolt of electricity. She was forced to sit down onto what looked like an operating table. Her lower legs were fastened to the bottom, while her front hooves could not fit into the cuffs. Frustrated, the guard told his brother to remain while he went to find a larger pair. Derpy took a moment to take in her surroundings. She was alone as far as she could tell, and surrounded by these crackling ghost jellyfish aliens. She blinked, and looked down at herself, and at the leg watch. Engraved onto the surface were the words “Emergency Teleport”. Emergency Teleport?! “We must fit you into bigger cuffs,” the previous alien said as it returned. “Wait, before you do, can you at least tell me about yourselves?” “We owe no explanation to inferior species,” it replied curtly. “This one’s really stupid looking, don’t you think?” the same alien said, this time with the fuzzy voice Derpy had heard outside the cell earlier. “I heard that,” Derpy said, “and I’m not stupid.” “How did she hear our speech?” “What I want to know,” Derpy asked, “Is what you plan on doing with us ponies?” “We owe no explanation to inf-” “No,” Derpy said, hitting her right hoof on the table and sitting herself up, “Tell me.” “She speaks our language!” the alien exclaimed at her last words, and Derpy cocked her head, confused. She hadn’t said anything differently. “The Synax must inhabit the bodies and the minds of all equines! We must have corporeal form, while our current bodies are ones of energy; of the spirit!” “Well, you’re not having my body, I’m getting out of here,” Derpy said, pressing the button on the leg watch. Immediately, she flashed away, vanishing from the experimentation room and reappearing in the middle of a grassy field, somewhere completely different. The stars were out, and the sky was clear that night. Derpy marveled at the power of the nifty leg watch, though she had no idea where it had come from. “There you are,” came a voice, and the pegasus wheeled about to see the Doctor standing about a hundred meters away in the tall grass of the field, leaning against the front of the blue police box. “Sure took you long enough to find the teleporter,” he said, bounding over to Derpy with a huge grin on his face, “Oh, you did it Derpy. This is absolutely fantastic!” “What’s fantastic?” Derpy asked, following the Doctor back to the TARDIS, which he opened up and allowed her to enter. It was still a bit unnerving to walk into a spacious bronze room after having seen the ship as being rather small on the outside. “You teleported out of there, right?” “How’d you know where I was? You set this up, didn’t you!” “I’m sorry for lyin’ to you Derpy, but this way I can find the Synax hive,” he said, motioning for her to give him the watch. “You used me as bait!” “Yeah, and I also gave you a teleporter that saved your life, we even now?” The Doctor leaned back against a column of his ship, letting his jacket drape as he crossed his front hooves. He raised an eyebrow, waiting for Derpy to respond. “Alright, we’re even,” she conceded, “What are you going to do now?” “Reverse the coordinates of the teleporter watch,” he said, bounding into action and cranking a lever on the console, taking up the watch and looking at some string of data. “Then I’m going to go into the Synax test center, and rescue the ponies that are still there, wanna come and help?” Derpy stood still for a second, and cocked her head to a side. Finally, she nodded. The Doctor laughed. “Fantastic!”