//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 REVISED // Story: A Journey Unthought Of // by Hustlin Tom //------------------------------// "Be careful what you say. I'm all but certain they're recording everything." The three mares stiffened at the pronouncement, now self-conscious about what they had already spoken and more guarded with what they meant to say. Bon Bon nodded and continued on, "I didn't think stuff like this still existed anymore. You'd hear about the reeducation convents the old Solarians oversaw and how they'd censor things, but this is getting a little too close for comfort. They're looking for a confession, either from Adam or from me about him; trying to get him to admit to a kidnapping he never did. They say I'm in protective custody, but if the 'threat' I'm being protected from is incarcerated, why are they keeping me here, huh?" "They haven't told ya when you can go free," Applejack asked. " 'When I've given my full statement' was their wording, so when I give him up essentially," she leaned back in her sitting pillow, "I'm not leaving him here. Either all three of us walk out, or we all stay." Twilight's eyebrows narrowed as she noticed the earth pony's choice of words, "Wait a minute, 'three of you?'" "She's here too, I know it. It's how they forced me here," she whispered as she leaned forward, "I can't say any more than that. I'm honestly not sure what they'll do, but this is a mockery of what I thought our government was." "The Princess seems to be on our side," Fluttershy declared, "It's possible she doesn't know the full extent of what is going on down here." "The longer this goes on the more I wonder," Bon Bon glumly said with a sigh, "Please, just find us a way out." "We will," Twilight exclaimed. She exuded determination as she stood from her pillow, "I'll see to speaking with her, and once she knows exactly what is going on down here, I have full faith that she will put a stop to it." "Thank you," she said wearily, "That's about the only hope I've got right now that this will end alright. See you soon hopefully." "Buck up, sugarcube," Applejack said with a nod, "You'll be outta this before ya know it." The three looked at each other as they left the interview room. Without being certain they weren't now being overheard at any given time, they remained silent on what they had learned. Bunsen Burner was waiting for them just outside. "Onward to the subject's cell then," he said without a moment of pause, "If you could, please make it quick. We have many questions left for him still, and time is precious." It was becoming harder and harder for the three mares to remain tight-lipped in the face of this genuinely unpleasant pony, especially now with the mounting injustices he seemed to be orchestrating. Still, they soldiered on, at last able to fulfill their mission. I was being held in a secure room. It wasn't all that different from the cell I'd had back on Earth, with a few minor differences. For one, I was restrained to my cot by four chains, one for each limb. I could reach the toilet at my feet and the sink at my head, but that was about all the mobility I was allowed by my restraints. The lights were different as well. Halogens were traded in for a single incandescent bulb that put a yellow pallor on everything in my room, making my skin look sickly and diseased. So far all they'd been feeding me was celery and water. It wasn't even twenty-four hours since I'd been brought here but I already felt myself retreating from the world around me back into my mind. There the questions continued to stockpile. To treat me like this, the humans here had to have done something terrible, especially with a name like 'The Ruined' that they constantly keep saying in relation to me. What were the secrets that spectre had been wanting to show me? What dark things lay beneath the earth back in that hollow in the Everfree? Whatever they were it wasn't like I was ever going to find out I thought dejectedly. Where was Lyra? Was she safe? What about Bon Bon? Had Rainbow Dash been caught? I had a feeling that whether I was innocent or not I was never getting out of this place. Why had I gotten so angry? Everything had been going our way until that government type started throwing around that 'Ruined' name, then I just exploded out of nowhere. Hold on. Out of nowhere... The door to my cell opened, and he was there. He walked over to the corner, and walking in just behind him were Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack! "Oh my God," I exclaimed in amazement, "You have no idea how glad I am to see guys!" Even as I was speaking I felt something pop into existence behind me. Momentarily confused, I then noticed the vanishing aura around Twilight's horn. She winked at me with the eye that the stallion couldn't see. "Five minutes," the stallion said sharply, as he turned to face the three of us from his vantage point near the door. "Alright, alright," Applejack snapped as she turned over her shoulder to look at him with frustration, "Don't get your necktie in a twist! We'll be quick." "Twilight, what happened to me I can't explain," I began quickly, "but there is no way I would act like that normally." "We know," she replied, "We've talked with the Princess, and we're going to get you out of here. She's agreed that once we've cleared up what happened to Lyra she will give you a second chance." The stallion's glasses flashed as his head tilted backward a little, but he remained silent. "It's going to be alright, Adam," Fluttershy said as she ruffled her wing a little as she took in the sight of my shackles, "What's happened here is going to be fixed, and everything will be okay soon." "Is Bon Bon alright; is Rainbow Dash?" "Rainbow's fine," Applejack said, "We just came from visitin' Bon Bon. She's holdin' up. She did mention Lyra-" "Time's up," the stallion blurted, "You've spoken with the subject long enough." We all looked at him suddenly. Applejack whirled on him angrily, "There's no way in Tartarus that was five minutes!" "Time's up," he repeated in the same tone, "Move away from the subject now, or you will be moved." Twilight looked back to me, a furious smolder in her eyes at this situation. "We'll be back soon," she said flatly, then complied with the command and turned and walked towards the door. The last one out of the room was the stallion, and then the door closed with a solid slamming of metal on metal. There were agitated voices outside my cell now. Certain that no one was coming back for a little bit, I hurriedly reached into my back pocket to find out what it was my friends had left me. I brought it in front of me directly in my lap, only to realize it was a billfold. I wordlessly muttered, "What the hell," before I opened it, and found a piece of paper behind a translucent plastic shield. The questions would never end would they, I began to think, but suddenly writing began to appear on the blank paper from nowhere. Finally, it seemed I was getting at least one answer! 'Don't lose hope,' the paper wrote in slanted block letters with blue ink, and then another line appeared, 'Rescue is coming soon'. I quickly put the billfold back in my pocket. For all the cloak and dagger they must have pulled to get that to me they didn't just mean they'd petition my release or get me out on community service. My spirits were raised. There was a bright spot after all, even down here in this pit. Whatever that stallion and his cronies would throw at me next I could take. I had friends, and they were coming to save me. I realized what I had thought, and then it finally hit me. I had friends now. Real friends, and they were coming to help me when I needed it most! "How could you be like this," Twilight at last blurted angrily. "Be like what, Ms. Sparkle," Bunsen Burner replied as he began to walk away towards the stairs leading upward. Twilight stalked after him, "How could you, a student of Princess Celestia, be so cruel, so dishonest to another being? This isn't about saving the life of a mare in danger, even if Bon Bon was wrong; it's about control, isn't it? What do you get out of locking up an innocent being?" Bunsen turned his head to look back at her. There was a momentary spark of anger in his eyes. The intensity of it almost caused the unicorn to waver, but she did not back down. "Let's begin addressing those judgments of my character in reverse order," he declared, a noticeable edge in his voice, "What benefit do I receive by keeping a Ruined One incarcerated? Simple: peace of mind. Innocent or otherwise, his kind's power and craftiness are only matched by their presumptive notion that they could rule another species. In the East the zebras worship them as near gods. I have yet to find any entities so beneficent, Ruined or no. To that end, control is necessary. If it weren't him I were stopping it would be something else. There are strange, foul things that lurk in this world, Miss Sparkle, something I discovered a long time ago, and which you should know from personal experience. In their presence Celestia's doctrine shows its frailty. Some powers cannot be reasoned with, as you should well know. After all, you were responsible for delivering my most notorious specimen to me." Twilight's eye's grew wide as she realized what he meant, "Discord is here?" "Where he belongs," the stallion replied, "Locked far away from the world, where he cannot harm or be stirred; under constant surveillance. While not a prison for ponies any longer, this remains a safe place for all manner of harmful, destructive things to be studied and safeguarded." "Adam isn't either of those things," she retorted. "You saw he has the capability," Bunsen fired back, "Do not underestimate his potential because he used kind words or a pitiable expression." "You have no compassion," Twilight exclaimed. "And you remain deluded by idealism," he replied coldly, "Our dear teacher's influence no doubt. You should not place such faith in her or her teachings. They sound lovely, even blissful in theory, but they do not survive real world testing. They fail, and she will fail you." Twilight meant to argue out his statements to the bitter end, but Fluttershy put a hoof to her chest and shook her head at her. She then turned to the old stallion, a deep scowl on her face, "I think we're done here Mr. Burner. We'll just let ourselves be going now, but we will be back to see our friends release at once. Whatever your personal phobias, you have no legal right to hold him." "You're quite right," he said, now calm once again, "You're done here. You know the way out. The nearest guard will see to escorting you back to our checkpoint and your belongings." The three girls fumed at the situation, the stallion, and their friend's plight, but they helped each other silently leave the stallion to stand in the hallway. He stood there alone for a moment, then let out a quick sigh. He went back to the subject's cell and glanced in a small slot in the door's center. The subject lay on his cot, his hands cupped behind his head, a smile on his face. The old stallion's eyes narrowed, and then he turned and walked away, heading up towards his office.