//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 REVISED // Story: A Journey Unthought Of // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// The guard that had been assigned to escort the three ponies turned into a hallway that Twilight had never seen before, a first considering how much of the castle she had strolled through during her early years as Celestia's student. The hallway was plastered white with just the barest of ornamentation to make it seem like a part of an inhabited place, along with a small table to the left and a few seats to the right. A recessed doorway was at the hall's end, but no knob was present to pull it open or push it in. The guard deftly passed his hoof over a nondescript part of the wall near the left side of the door, and a small orange circle of light appeared. The doors split apart, opening to reveal a wood paneled box with a brass railing. "If you would please enter, I will take you to the bottom, where you will then be escorted by security for the Royal Science Division to where you need to go." "Why just the bottom though," Applejack asked as she and the others entered the elevator. "My clearance isn't high enough to go beyond the receiving area below," he replied as the doors shut after them, and he pressed the descend button, "It's very rare for anypony to be granted access like this." There was a gentle thrum, and they began to descend very quickly. "Just how deep does this go," Fluttershy asked as she looked upward, imagining the city above that was now very far away. "Straight into the heart of the mountain," Twilight replied, "Originally the valley below was the home of several mining communities that delved into the mountain for crystals and iron ore. When Canterlot was finished the mining operations increased until there was no more ore left. The various mines' deeds were bought by the Equestrian government after that, and were converted into a prison. At some point after the decline of the Solar Empire, the prison was emptied and replaced by the RSD. There's nothing on the books after that point: it's a very secure facility and secrecy is ensured with the utmost care." The elevator began to slow, and at last silently came to a stop. The doors parted again, and they saw their first glimpse of the deep facility. Two ponies stood guard behind a barricaded checkpoint, their gear muted grey and brown compared to the shining metals of the Royal Guardspony's. As soon as the three mares had exited the lift their escort closed the door behind them, and began his lonely ascent back to his post. Applejack adjusted her hat, a frown appearing on her face: their plan, such as it was, had been to sneak the Doctor's psychic paper to Adam underneath her customary headgear. This crowd looked like they would throw a wrench into the works for that plan. Twilight had realized this as well, but she had an idea if things didn't go their way. "Stay where you are," one of the guards said in a firm but quiet voice before he stepped in front of the checkpoint to meet them, "I'm Officer Crossroads. Before we allow you further into the RSD interior we must ask you to submit to a security search. This is a customary procedure and is non-negotiable. Your valuables, such as your hat Miss," he pointed to Applejack, "will be returned to you upon your exiting of the facility. Once checked, you will be escorted to the Director's office where he will coordinate with you further. Are we clear?" "Yes we are, sir," Twilight replied, then turned to her right, "Fluttershy, why don't you go first?" "Oh, um, that's alright I suppose," she murmured as she proceeded to the station just in front of the barricade. Officer Crossroads circled her, extending one wing out gently, then the other. "You're clear," he said, then ushered her through the checkpoint. Having never received such personal contact from a stranger under any circumstance, the pegasus mare felt a little unsettled, her wings ruffling unconsciously at her sides. Twilight went next, receiving a similar invasion of personal space before she was allowed through the checkpoint. All eyes were on Applejack now, including the second guards'. Twilight's horn lit up, then faded. As it did, Fluttershy jumped a little as she felt something new tucked between her wing and her body. She quickly glanced at Twilight, who winked conspiratorially in her direction. Applejack's hat was removed from her head, leaving her blonde mane underneath, as well as a mildly irritated frown to go with it. During her inspection, Applejack scoffed a little at the intrusiveness of it, "Ya couldn't get me dinner first?" Crossroads didn't even smirk as he finished then cleared her to go through. The three mares, now together once again, turned towards the hallway behind them only to be met by a chestnut colored pegasus with a dirty blonde mane and tail, also clad in the strange, dull armor. "Welcome to the RSD, Element Bearers," he declared, then gestured past them to the guards, "As you were. I'll take them from here." "Yes, Lieutenant," Crossroads exclaimed as he stood at attention. He nodded in reply, before turning once again to the three, "I won't waste your time. I'm Lieutenant Swiftfeet. Don't touch anything. You will not say anything about what you see here. You will be allowed five minutes with the subject." He turned and motioned for them to follow, "The Director is waiting." Bunsen Burner sat in his office, looking over several different pages of the same packet. If there were a word to describe the workspace, one could easily go for 'dull', as three of its four walls were painted grey with dark brown wood as the baseboard. There were two bookcases and a large file cabinet to breakup the monotony, as well as the fourth wall, which was a single pane of glass. Looking out and downward one could see a large open space of flat concrete. When the facility was a prison this room had been the warden's office; the area below had been known as the Floor, the place where prisoners were let out for their allotted free-time from their cells. Nowadays it was used for the testing of large equipment, whatever that might entail. The old stallion leaned forward in his swivel chair, sliding two pages of the docket before him apart, one was a picture of their newest subject, the other a compilation of notations a doctor had put together from their examination of him. Preliminary examinations revealed it had two lungs, a small but proportional heart with four chambers, a small and large intestine, a coccyx but no exterior expression of it, forward centered eyes, as well as incisors and molars. By all appearances it was near enough to a standard simian specimen. It showed no resistance to magic upon its physical form, and at least so far seemed incapable of any magic of its own. Preliminary questioning had not revealed much. Given the guidelines the Princess had set down there wasn't much he could allow security to do to persuade the subject to speak. The two connections, Heartstrings and Bon Bon had been plumbed for information as well, and while they were certainly more verbose about who the subject was they remained steadfast in their belief of his innocence. He found such subjective, unsubstantiated ideas to be unhelpful. Once their statements had been taken they had been returned to a detention cell until more fruitful data could be gleaned from them. Speaking of unhelpful connections, that also included the RSD's newest recruit, Vinyl Scratch. Since she had never publicly submitted her audio research to a consortium of peers or patented the production process, there was no paper trail to clean up in regards to obvious legalities. Her work was then stripped down and applied to another scientist's idea. It had been postulated that in the event of a crowd control emergency an auditory frequency could be projected into a population to pacify and disperse them, reducing the risk of harm to the crowd itself or others. Experimentation had attempted to bring about this effect by abrasive ultrasonic tones, the design philosophy being that a crowd under such stimulus would be unconsciously inclined to move away from the region they encountered the sound in. Ms. Scratch, however, had created a more successful solution by approaching the problem with a different perspective altogether: positive, rather than negative stimulus. During testing a member of the Cryptozoology branch was present for the prototype war saddle's transmission, and even submitted herself for exposure to it. After some digging in the archives the cathartic effects they claimed to have experienced were eerily similar to those described in traditional texts regarding Marianan sorcery. It would seem that the Trottingham disk jockey had unwittingly rediscovered Sea Pony magic, and had no idea what she had achieved. Until it's full effects could be tested the research would remain within the labs. The only reason it had ever left in the first place was because it would facilitate the acquisition of another artifact: the Ruined. The door to his office opened and was quickly shut behind. Glancing up Bunsen saw that it was his right hand stallion, Lieutenant Swiftfeet. "They're waiting outside," the pegasus said in a hushed tone, "What should we do with the detainees?" "We should allow them every courtesy to speak with Ms. Bon Bon and the subject," he replied, "Sedate the other. One should always be prepared after all. This might be useful in helping divulge more pertinent information." "Right away, sir," he replied, then turned to open the office door once again. After the three mares had entered the room, he excused himself and left quickly. The old stallion stood from his swivel chair and approached them from around his desk, "A pleasure to see you again, Ms. Sparkle. These must be the friends who proved so persuasive when speaking to the Princess." "Yes they are," Twilight replied with an edge, "I can always rely on them to support me, and we've come to do the same with Adam." "So I've heard," he replied, "Perhaps with a familiar face he may relax enough to let something slip; every hour counts in a kidnapping case." "While we don't know where Lyra has vanished to, we remain certain that Adam is innocent in all this," Fluttershy declared, "Now would you please take us to him." Bunsen nodded wordlessly, then spoke with a breath, "I am duty bound to follow the Princess' instructions, despite my reservations. I will take you to the subject's holding cell straight away. Would you also like to speak with Ms. Bon Bon as well? We were keeping her for observation and a debriefing, but she will be released soon." "How soon exactly," Applejack asked, "Without bein' charged with anything, why're you holdin' her?" "We're only holding her until we're certain we have no further need of her account of the subject," he replied. "That wasn't a clear timeframe," Applejack exclaimed bluntly. "No, it wasn't," he replied, then gestured towards the door, "Shall we?" Without waiting for a reply the stallion left the room, expecting them to follow. Twilight followed after him, her mind ajumble as she continued to consider that he had once been Celestia's student. How could he act like this: to another being, to other ponies, and just like this in general? Applejack hadn't started with a high opinion of him by reputation, and it was souring every additional minute she spent around him. Fluttershy's newest concern was for Bon Bon: they'd had her overnight and all the morning as well as now a good portion of the afternoon. That was more than enough time to get a testimonial, so what were they really after? As they continued through a laboratory area, their little tour through the work place had attracted the attention of a few ponies, including a white unicorn with a messy blue mane and tail. Fluttershy was idly looking around as they passed when she noticed that the mare was staring at her, deliberately making eye contact with an unblinking gaze. Unnerved, the introverted mare turned away and looked to where the rest of her group was going. Vinyl Scratch had done her best to communicate through her eyes, but clearly it had not been enough. She had to act fast before they left the area. "Oi, Tall, Dark, and Sinister," she called to one of the nearby guards who was assigned to keep tabs on her, "I've gotta use the little filly's room. I need a 'all monitor." Before the guard acknowledged her she had already stepped away from her work area and trotted down the hallway the group of four had gone down. She rounded the corner to the right, allowing the guard to see her enter the restroom. "Alright," she muttered to herself as she kicked off her metal shoes, "Let's 'ope this works." Springing from one set of hooves to the other to hype herself up, a brilliant blue flash emanated from her horn, and she teleported a few feet away down the hall and around a corner, out of the guard's line of sight. She bolted down the hall, running near silently without the added weight and clank of her hoofwear. She reached the end of the hallway and looked down both ways before spotting the three visitors and the head honcho as they neared the halfway point of that hallway. There was an alcove to the right near where they were about to be. Perfect. Vinyl bolted down the hall, catching up to them just as they passed the concealed space. Silently she grabbed Fluttershy away from the group, who let out a nearly inaudible yelp as she was grabbed from behind. "Sorry 'bout this, but I don't 'ave time," she hissed quickly, "I know 'ho you lot are, and I need yer 'elp. I'm being 'eld here against muh will. Muh name's Vinyl Scratch. Please find a way to get me outta 'ere!" With her peace made, she bolted out of the alcove and back down the hall from which she came, praying that the guard hadn't come to check on her. At last she was back to the corner just around from the bathroom. She peeked around it to see where the guard was. He was turning towards the door. Panicking, Vinyl screwed up her face and forced everything she had into teleporting back into where she needed to be. The guard slowly opened the door, and came in to find the unicorn he was meant to guard standing in the middle of the room sweating, out of breath, and with no shoes on. "Can't a lady take a leak in peace," she exclaimed hoarsely. "Why aren't you wearing any shoes," he asked calmly. "A girl needs 'er comfort to get 'er business done," she replied, before looking at him in frustration, "You don't like et? Tough. Don't judge me." She then silently stepped back into her shoes and trotted out of the bathroom, leaving her guard shaking his head at the bizarre mare's 'habit'.