//------------------------------// // The cold blank walls // Story: Freedoms Cost // by quagmire936 //------------------------------// "Trixie, Trixie get up now!" Twilight hisses in the dark of the cell "Ugh Twilight why did you wake me up, it's not time for work is it?"trixie asks "I heard somthing very unusual outside the door" "Its probably nothing, just go back to sleep" says trixie as she lays back down A deafened crash shook the walls of the cell "What was that?"Trixie wimpered "I have no idea" Twilight responds Twilight looked through the small hole where food was supposed to be pushed in through "What do you see?" Trixie hisses at Twilight. "I cant see anything, its too dark and the guards havent lit any torches." Twilight hisses back "well look harder! I want to know whats going on out there." "look harder? how exactly do I do that, we aren't exactly able to use magic to light it up out there I'll remind you." "I know that all too well Twilight" Trixie responded coldly In the cold, dark confines of the jail of these once bitter rivals bickered on about what the commotion was outside their cell door. the cell was nothing more nor less than a box of cold stone and a rusted metal door. "Tell me what you see!" Repeated Trixie "What is wrong with you! I told you I cant see anythi-" Twilight whisper-yelled at Trixie before a thundering crash was heard and the crackling of flames. Twilight looked between the small gap to see emerald green flames on the sides of the chitin encrusted walls of the changeling prison, and the bodies of changeling guards being burnt to ash in mere seconds. "OH GODDESS!" yelled Twilight "What? What's going on out there?" questions Trixie. "The walls are on fire with green flames and a couple guards were just turned to ash by something!" states Twilight. "Oh no! Oh goddess this is it isn't it! I'm going to die right now! Right next to you of all ponies!" Trixie says. "Shut up Trixie, I think I can see something"Twilight exclaims. Yells and hisses of guards are all that are heard right before the cell door smashes slightly in. "GET BACK!" Yelled an unknown voice behind the door. Trixie and Twilight go to the opposite sides of the door before it was hammered again and again before it crumbled down with a deafening final crash.What they say walk into the cell was the strangest of creatures they had ever seen. Its eyes were the most noticeable attribute of the aliens body. In place of his eyes were two green lights that when he moved his head, the light trailed behind making a strange effect of movement. It stood upright on its hind legs, its back was strait up and had no body hair, only head hair. the hair on its head was long and matted, and was as black as night. what skin that was not covered by clothes looked pale and weak. As for his attire he wore a combination of leather interlaced with worn down blue metal plates with strange, slightly glowing inscriptions on them, he wore a faded cloak and leather gloves and boots. "Follow me, quickly!" He barked at the two. "Wait wait wait...what in tartarus are you!"Trixie asked "would you like the answer to that question or your life?" The creature asked simply Neither Trixie nor Twilight felt compelled to ask another question. They just wanted to get out with their pittance of life they had. they exited the chamber and took a left down a path much known to Trixie and Twilight, it was the path to the mines.The path they dreaded every morning for the past ten years. The creature rushed down the hallway as the two followed. The flames they presumed created by him lighting their path in an eerie green sheen of light. The floor turned into steps as they descended into the depths and down and down they went. In a spiral manner the stairs went down further. and the light of the flames were cut off. Light was not needed by any of the group. the creature they suspected did not need any light to see or else it would have created some, and the other two had followed the stairs in complete darkness for years, they could follow the path down the stairs easily . Not long into their decent the stairs opened up into the caverns that the slaves of the queen had been working on for years. Any slave would have almost been proud of the work done to the cavern by them. The caverns were lighten by bio-luminescent worms that clung to the walls of the cavern. As they paced their way into the middle of the humongous cavern the creature started to mutter incoherent words. "mithridi- cumonous-avantra-cas naradact- undhuwonto-asmafundoto" The creature progressively got louder and louder as the spell got longer and longer and the words seemed to come out as vibrations in the rock. Louder and louder it got until the sound was almost unbearable.The creature looked toward the ceiling and cracks developed. "What are you doing? your going to bring the whole cavern down on top of us!" Trixie yelled at the spellcaster "Do you have any faith in me or do you think I would kill us after i just rescued you?" The creature replied The creature continued his spells until small shattered pieces of rock from the ceiling fell onto the floor. The creature stopped his spells and the rocks stopped falling. Then he began to walk as if nothing had happend. "Excuse me, ummm I have a few questions... sir?" Twilight guessed that he was a male by the sound and depth of his voice. "Yes mad'dam you may ask your questions so long as you keep up" He replied politely never moving his gave from the front. "Why did you just do that spell?" Asked Twilight "Do you like suprises Miss Twilight?" He asked "Well... not these kind...Where are you taking us?" she asked "Why, to see some of your old friends."He answered "My...my friends?" Said Twilight almost too overcome with joy that this strange creature would just happen to help reunite her with all of her friends. "Your very welcome but if you don't mind please keep the waterworks down until after we make it to them" "Of course" Twilight sniffles while trying to keep her composer. a long silence reigns before Trixie pops out with a question of her own. "Who are you?"Trixie asks "The details of myself are quite inconsequential... but if you must know my name is Reemenum Talnaash. but you may call me Reem, just Reem." He said "Ok...Reem, could you tell us what you are? Twilight throws him this second question at him with peaked interest "I am something you call a human, few of your folk believe in my kind but some still believe" Reem says "Ok, well then why did you come and get us out of imprisonment?"Twilight asks with suspicion "Oh Twilight and your endless thirst for knowledge, when will you learn to stop asking questions you don't want answers to? I know that you know that you don't know nor do you care." Reem teases. this befuddled twilight seeing as he knew exactly what she felt. She really didn't have any clue as to why he came and got her out of that horrid cell, and she didn't care in the slightest. all she wanted was to be literally anywhere but in this terrible place. They walked the edges of the cavern where slaves would normally be working to enlarge the cavern even more until they came upon a large stairwell much larger than the last. They ascended the stairs same as last but when they came right before a great hall filled with lines of guards at every doorway along the hall. Green flame torches lined the sides of the smooth, black, slime wall. The guards at the doorways were not alerted to there presence as of yet but the light was strong enough to were they would eventually get noticed if they stayed at the edge of the stairs "Let me deal with the guards, it will be simple enough. Reem whispered to them He turned away from them and walked down the hallway. The guards turned and hissed at him to show there aggression. The guards were not normal changlings, they were much bigger and had rock hard chitin on their body like a suit of armor. There mouths were full of hook-like, clear fangs that could kill not only with a bite but with deadly poison. Reem took a fighting stance as they guards took there advance. A quard lunged for Reems shoulder and right before it bit down upon his neck as fast as a strike of lightning he thrust his hand into its chest cavity, barked a spell and the poor sod blew up into a pile of gore and green blood. The others stopped to look upon what was once there fellow guards body that was now just a pile of gore but shook it off and attacked again. Two tried in vain to bite Reem but he barked another spell as he threw a fist at ones head and dazed it and simultaneously grabbing the others neck and he cast a third spell and from his neck had started to be slowly turned into ash and soot. The rest of the guards attempted to turn and flee but he only had to lift his right arm and a wall of cold stone moved from out of the right wall and blocked there path, trapping them to die. He lifted his left arm and his hand had started glowing the same green as the flames that twilight and trixies guards were dissimilated by. He only had to point where he wanted the ball of green licking flames wanted to go and the ball engulfed the guards and turned them to glowing ashes. Reem turned around to see the agape faces of the two and said "well now that that's done, lets all have a sit down shall we?"