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// Chapter Thirty-Five 
// Story: A Journey Unthought Of 
// by Hustlin Tom 
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The dungeons of Canterlot had had the reputation of being the most secure prison in all of Equestria.  The public had little knowledge of the facilities beneath Canterlot Castle now, and seemingly had little reason to know; nopony in a few centuries had been sentenced there.  In the three-hundred years before the events of our story, Princess Celestia had greatly adjusted the public view of capital punishment: a modern world needed a modern way of rehabilitating criminality.  The facilities for the most part had been modernized around the beginning of the last century with both additional security and comfort in mind.  For the most part, the prison had been converted into the Royal Science Division’s sanctioned area of operation, making the cells now the Division’s barracks, test chambers, or any other need required of the organization’s constantly changing and growing demands.  State of the art sciences were being developed here; the fastest growing being Bunsen Burner’s pet field: Xenobiologies and technologies.  

Bunsen Burner had been a prodigy colt.  He achieved his Cutie Mark a mere five months after birth, when he discovered he had an innate talent of being able to extrapolate the function and purpose of nearly anything by only several seconds of intense observation, then being able to recreate and improve the function of that said object.  While normal colts or fillies were just learning their multiplication tables, Bunsen Burner was attempting to create his own electro-dynamo for scientific experimentation, able to do intermediate level Calculus mentally, and read magic tomes for new ideas on inventions.  Princess Celestia soon heard of the young pony’s accomplishments, and decided to take him on as an apprentice.  That had been almost twenty years ago.  By horse standards, he would have been the human equivalent of about his early 50’s.  The onset of age had not dulled his mind or senses in the least bit.  Since his release from Celestia's care, he had created a non-magical means of teleportation, an accomplishment he had been striving for since his early days studying arcane theory for inspiration.  

After Princess Celestia obliged their request, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy were led down to the dungeons by one of her guards.  “Ah don’t understand Twilight,” Applejack whispered into Twilight’s ear, “I thought we were tryin’ to avoid comin’ face tah face with these ponies.  What are you doin’?”  

“If we act like we want to help, they’re more likely to let us deeper in, so we can find out where Adam actually is.  If we can, we might be able to release Lyra and Bon Bon as well.”  

The three of them were processed through a checkpoint.  “I’m sorry ma’am, but nothing is allowed on your body past this point,” one of the guards said to Twilight Sparkle. “You’ll have to leave your bag here.”  

Twilight momentarily panicked, but an idea struck her.  “Are you absolutely sure I must?”  As she asked, she quietly teleported the Psychic Paper.  Fluttershy gave a little squeak as she looked at her left wing, then she looked to Twilight.  

“I’m sorry ma’am but you must leave your bag here.  You will have it returned to you later.”  

Twilight huffed, “Oh, alright.”  She magically placed her bag at the guards hooves and the three of the ponies were led further into the complex.  Twilight looked to Fluttershy and whispered, “Can you hang on to that for me?”  Fluttershy nodded her head.  

They were led into a large office, and were told to wait patiently.  The office was comfortable looking enough, though it was rather minimalistic.  The only thing decorating the wooden walls of mahogany was a painting by Vincent Van Goat and a book shelve.  The girls took their places on plush pillows placed before a desk set perfectly center within the room.  The door opened once more behind them, and the stallion himself walked slowly into the office.  He took his place behind the desk.  He smiled thinly as he spoke, “So, you three have come to help me in my studies?”