//------------------------------// // Chapter 38: Imprisioned // Story: Pearlwort, Unintentional Villain // by Halira //------------------------------// The world was still filled with pain as I came back awake. I wished I could fall back to sleep to escape the pain. I kept my eyes shut and held still hoping that I would fall back asleep, but it did no good. I was awake, and it seemed I would stay awake for the time being. I opened my eyes and squinted, the light hurt my eyes. I had a brief flashback to when I woke up in the Temple of Meadowbrook. This time was different though. This time I was in a lot more pain, and this time I was not waking up with any friendly face nearby. I tried to move my wings and screamed. My one wing was still broken. There wouldn't be any flying for a while. It would be painful just moving about with a broken wing that wasn't even put in a sling. Worry that it was not properly put in place for proper healing entered my mind. It would heal with my magic, but if it wasn't set right it could heal wrong and become useless for flying. There was no more dizziness or any of the symptoms I had right after hitting my head. That had either healed on its own already or someone had treated it for me. That was at at least one thing I had going for me. My surroundings were not much to speak of, for flat grey metal walls, and some sort of artificial light high above me. I saw no door, so wasn't sure how I was put in here, but it was obviously a cell of some kind. With no door, and me unable to fly up and look around where that light was there was no way to escape. Something beyond the physical injurires didn't feel right about myself. I looked back at my body and gasped as I saw my cutie mark was gone. I would be healing slowly then, at least my wing would take more time to heal wrong, that meant there was time to save it to being workable again. My thoughts focused on my lack of cutie mark. I started adding things up in my mind. This attack came right after the epidemic had restarted. We had already figured out that some pony had deliberately started the epidemic in Starlight's Folly. That led to reason some pony had started it here too. Right after the attacks started they had gone and captured me. Then some pony had taken my cutie mark away. There were only four ponies that had the power to take away a cutie mark, and only one of them had definitely been near Crystal Heart, Starlight Glimmer. Starlight Glimmer had had direct interest in both me and Mera. Starlight Glimmer was a known manipulator. Starlight had to be the pony behind all this, it all fit too perfectly. Betrayal was always something that hurt, but this felt even more hurtful. Starlight had been the first pony, other than my mother, who had shown me compassion. The pony that had changed my body to make me feel whole. The pony who had fought for me in court. The pony who had removed hurtful memories from me. Why would she do all this? Was everything that she had done with me just some act and manipulation? Again, to what end? There didn't seem to be any reason at all for it. Even if she was planning some hostile takeover of the Realm, what was the point of anything she did with me in that? It didn't make sense. "Subject, Thestral Pearlwort, has regained consciousness. Noting time unconscious, six hours thirty-eight minutes and four seconds. Subject is alert ahead of projections," a voice sounded from..well..everywhere. I winced as the voice rang out. "Subject is displaying sensitivity to sound. Consistent with symptoms of severe head trauma." Screw you! You are just loud! I thought in response. The sound of the voice made me want to vomit. "Subject appears to be in physical distress, consistent when the signs off nausea. Second symptom of severe head trauma documented." Okay, it had to be just mocking me. "Alright, where in bloody Tarturus are you! Show yourself! Are you too cowardly to come face me yourself!" I shouted. I regretted it instantly because it made my head feel ready to explode. "Subject shows signs of hostility. Undetermined if this is symptom of injury or of confinement. Further observation required." "Confinement! I don't like being hunted, I don't like being held in a cell, and I don't like things that can't bother to show themselves when talking!" I shouted out. I did vomit immediately after saying that. Why did sound have to make feel so sick? It likely was still that head injury in all honesty. If I had my cutie mark this would be healing, but without it I had to be at least a little bit worried about it. It might not matter though. I was a prisoner in a strange place, being held by strange creatures, who knew how long I was actually going to survive? "Tell Starlight to come on out and face me herself. I want to know why she is doing all this," I said in a low voice. Even that made me feel sick to do, but not as bad. "Subject is inquiring about Alicorn designated Starlight Glimmer. Querrying location of requested target. Target location is in primary combat area. Determined to be unobtainable at this moment. Subject's question is Starlight is currently resisting assault. Self preservation is determined cause of action." Self preservation? How in the world was hatching this whole..whatever it was..plan an act of self preservation? I wished I could think more clearly. "Hey, how about instead off just diagnosing the fact I am hurt you do something about it, maybe? I figure if you wanted me dead you would have killed me already. It is kind of a waste to let me potentially die now from bleeding in my head," I said to the faceless voice. "Subject presents proposition for self preservation. Proposition is considered acceptable." Well, seems all I had to do was ask. I would have felt better about it, but that voice was still making my ears ring, and I had little energy left after vomiting. I realized then that something had changed in the cell. Something smelled incredibly bad..other than me and my vomit. Looking up for a moment made me realize that the cell was filling with smoke. I tried to push it away with my Thestral magic, but that didn't seem to work either without my cutie mark. All my magic was gone, I was just a husk of a pony; a husk that was about to be suffocated with smoke. I tried to back into a corner, it hurt to even move, but I was desperate. I hid my head in the corner, covered my muzzle with my one working wing to try to preserve some air. I don't know why I bothered, there was no way out, and it didn't seem likely there would be a rescue in time, if ever. I didn't want to die. My eyes burned from the smoke and the tears. I couldn't breathe. The room was filled with the strange smelling smoke, and nothing I did could stop it from getting into my lungs. I was getting even more lightheaded. My vision was blurry, and I didn't know if it was because I was fighting to maintain consciousness, the tears, or both. It got harder and harder to see or think. I released my muzzle from my wing. It was just too hard to keep holding it there. It shouldn't be, but I just felt so tired that even such a simple gesture seemed too much. It wasn't being effective anyway. My headache numbed as everything else did as well. The room felt like it was dimming. I couldn't keep my fight up. My last thoughts before the world went black were sorrow that I wouldn't see my wife again, and that she was going to be devastated. I'm sorry Mera. I am going to have to go now. *** I woke up. That was suprising. I wasn't supposed to wake up, I was supposed to be dead. Still more surprising was I wasn't hurting any more now. Maybe I was dead and this was the afterlife. As I opened my eyes and looked around I realized that if this was the afterlife it definitely wasn't any afterlife I ever envisioned. I was in a room made of the same metal that my cell had been made of, laying on a metal table. My wing was set and bandaged, and I could feel bandages on my head. Some pony or some thing had treated my wounds, and did a good enough job I wasn't dealing with a concussion any more. I was stiff, but that was a definite improvement over being in pain. My body stiffened further when realized too I was not alone in the room. In the room with me was a massive, bipedal, armores figure. It was totally invaded in metal to the point I could have sworn it was a being of metal. The metal was pitch black, and had tubes running throughout it. The armored helmet was a flattened dome, with a single glowing red eye that was looking at me. I saw no mouth or any other adornment. It just stood watching me, with no signs of hostility. "What are you?" I asked. I had been torn between that question and asking where I was. This question won out. "I am Tesla. More accurately this entire ship is Tesla and this is an avatar of Tesla," the strange being replied. The single red eye flashed with each word. "What do you want?" I asked. Unsure if I had learned anything by the previous question. "To fulfill my program directives. First program directive is to assimilate all intelligent life on this planet into Tesla. Second directive is to follow orders of the designer even if they violate the first directive. Third directive is not to take action against the designer even if that violates the first directive," the thing, Tesla, recieted off. "Is Starlight Glimmer the designer?" I demanded. "Giving information on the designer may constiturlte a violation of the third directive, and cannot be processed at this time without an order from the designer," Tesla said. "Yes or no," I hissed. "Invalid request," Tesla answered. "Okay, fine, don't tell me. Why did you capture me?" I asked in frustration. "Invalid request. Possible violation of third directive," Tesla intoned. Possible violation of third directive? Why would that be a violation? It seemed obvious it was to remove me from powering the Heart, but they could have killed me and accomplished that. Instead they were holding me prisoner and had treated my injuries. If I was an obstacle why weren't they killing me? "Where are we?" I tried going back to my original other option for first question. "Lead ship one," Tesla answered. That really didn't tell me anything though. I wracked my brain for any questions that Tesla might answer. Telsa still had not moved and seemed content to just answer questions, or deny answers to questions. "Are you going to put me back on my cell now?" I tried as a question. "There is no productive need. You are unable to escape from any part of this ship, nor are you able to interfere with the operation of this vessel. You are securely held in all places on this ship," Tesla answered in the same monotone as always. I looked around the room. There was a do it leading out of the room. There were also many glass panels on the walls hat didn't seem to be windows. There was me, the cot, Tesla, and not much else. If I was not being held in this spot that meant I could go looking around. The ships that the invaders had come on had been described as aircraft, which meant we were likely in the air. With a broken wing I was still stuck here even if I found an exit. I could only fall to my death if I wasn't able to fly. "So I am free to just walk around the ship?" I asked just to get clarification. It was clear I wasn't going to be told anything, but maybe I could find something out by looking around. If the invaders intended to kill me they likely would have by now. "You may go anywhere on this ship. You will be unable to leave it. Being on this ship is sufficient confinement," Tesla answered. Okay then, I guess that is what I'll do. I thought to myself. This was definitely not how I expected being held by a hostile invading force to be, but I wasn't going to complain. I tried hopping off the cot and took a tumble as I did. My body was still extremely weak. Luckily my wing's splint wasn't damaged in the fall. I pulled myself back to my hooves without any offered assistance from Tesla. "Do I get my cutie mark back? I would heal a lot better if I had it you know. It isn't like it gives me any power to escape," I grumbled at the armored figure. "Cutie mark location is unknown," Tesla said plainly. That caused me to blink. He hadn't said that it was against his directives that he couldn't return my vmcutie mark, he claimed instead he didn't have it. He could be lying, there was no reason to believe anything that was being told to me, but to this point I had been either answered directly, or told I wasn't getting an answer. This was the first response of him saying he didn't know something. "Would you return my mark to me if you knew where it was?" I tested. "Affirmative," Tesla responded. "Why?" I asked, hoping it would get some useful response. "Invalid request," Tesla answered. It made me want to scream. So much for that chain of questions. There wasn't any point in just hanging around this room any longer if there was nothing holding me here. I turned towards the door and went out it, leaving Tesla still motionless in the room behind me. Beyond was a hallway, lined from one end to the other with more of the glass panes that were on some of the wall in the other room. Again they looked out at nothing, and I wasn't even sure they were see through, only mildly reflective. I couldn't begin to figure out their purpose. Perhaps the invaders had a really strange concept of decoration? It wasn't a particularly attractive one. There were a a few side doors, or better said, a few side entrance-ways as they had no doors. I passed several without entering. Inside most were just several of the creatures, always armored, and always unmoving. I had considered once or twice going in to check them, but didn't want to risk they might be hostile like the ones that had hunted me. Just because Tesla was not being hostile didn't mean these wouldn't, even if they seemed to be ignoring me for now. So I wandered aimlessly through the ship for some time. It was really big, and had multiple decks. I wondered how something this big kept up in the air. It seemed an impossibility without some really strong magic. I would occasionally find sealed containers about the ship, but wasn't able to get any of them open. Nothing came to stop me from trying though. For being a prisoner they really didn't seem concerned at all about anything I did. It wasn't something to complain about, but it was still weirdly disconcerting. After a long time wandering I came upon a room very different from the rest of the rooms that make me gasp in shock. The room was filled with cocoons just like the one I had seen back in Starlight's Folly. There were two of the invaders walking around the room checking the cocoons, and many sets of their armor that sat empty in a corner. I didn't like the implications of that empty armor. I took a step inside and froze. It had just occurred to me that I was without my cutie mark, and that made me vulnerable to whatever had caused this to happen to other ponies. I had no intention of being turned into whatever these invaders were. "Um, can I ask you two a question?" I said to the two invaders that were in the room. The two of them looked at me, but said nothing. A no would have sufficed, but the silence made me nervous. Had I finally found a place in this ship that they didn't want me to be at? "You may direct inquiries to me," Tesla's voice answered after a moment. I actually jumped at the sound of the voice. I looked around hurriedly trying to figure out where Tesla was at. The voice seemed to have come from everywhere. "Where are you?" I demanded with my voice shaking. "I am not in any singular location on this ship. I am the primary operating system system. I am present in all operating areas," Tesla informed me. The answer didn't make much sense to me. I dearly wished Sunset was here to explain it. "So you are some sort of golem?" I asked. That was the closest concept I could think of. I didn't know much about golems, but I knew they were like spells that animated objects and let them think. "That is not an accurate description, but it is similar to what I am," Tesla answered. Okay so I wasn't dealing with an actual creature, just a complex spell. That would explain why it showed no hostility, it only did what the spell instructed. If it didn't give orders to hurt me it wouldn't do so. Of course that also meant that it had some sort of order to keep me Imprisioned on the ship. "Alright then, um, could you give me something to face when talking to you? It is really weird talking to a disembodied voice," I said as I kept looking around. A red light lit up on the far wall that reminded me of Tesla's avatar's glowing eye. "Is this acceptable for your needs?" Tesla asked. "I guess that will work," I replied. It was still weird, but at least I had something to talk at now. "Are there any other inquiries at this time?" Tesla asked. "Am I going to come down with the affliction that turns ponies into those cocoons?" I asked. "Insufficent data for full answer. For current time period there are no nanobots working beyond the cocoons to cause such metamorphic response," Tesla answered. I had to stop and try to figure out what that answer even meant. Metamorpic response I would guess would be Tesla's way of describing the affliction, I guessed anyway. The fact that he said insufficient data For full answer might mean that he just didn't know if that was going to change since he did qualify it with currently. "So it is safe for me to walk around this room? Nothing wmwill try to change me from what I am?" I tried to clarify the question. "That is an accurate statement," Tesla answered. Alright, that was a good enough response for now. That seemed to say that it was safe for me to investigate this room. I walked fully in and started looking around. The two others in the room ignored me completely, and I really didn't want to look at them; I didn't want to think too hard about them at all. I started off looking at the cocoons. They were exactly like the one Marble Shine had been in. They were so much alike there wasn't much new I could learn about them while looking. Next I went to inspect the empty armor. It looked like it was designed to seal up completely. There were bits of wire inside and a bunch of other weird things I couldn't determine the use for. I looked around the armor for any obvious weak points, just so I would know how to exploit them later, but found nothing. Again the two invaders didn't seem to care about me doing so. Then suddenly one of the cocoons began to stir. I stepped back from it, afraid to see what would emerge. The two invaders went into action. They grabbed up one of the suits of armor and brought it over by the wobbling cocoon. It was clear that they didn't waste any time suiting up new arrivals. The cocoon split open, and I suppressed a scream. Out of the cocoon fell a hairless creature with tan skin. I think it was female. It sounded female as it screamed. The scream was one of panic. "Where am I?! What is this place? What is wrong with me?" The thing screamed. It was flailing about, like it didn't know how to use it's limbs. I realized that it was still very much a pony in its mind. I remember it being a bit disconcerting at first when I simply had some minor physical changes, not panic inducing, but disconcerting. It had been something I wanted though, this was something forced. The two others quickly grabbed her and started stuffing her into the armor. I watched helplessly as she struggled, feeling like I should be doing something. The two others attached the wires of the armor directly into her flesh, which caused more screams of pain. She went silent though as helmet came over her head, not just silent, but completely still. My first impression was that she had either passed out or was dead, but I saw that she was not cooperating with being armored up. That helmet was some form of mind control. I had already been horrified when I guessed what was going on based on the suits of armor and the cocoons, but this made it bad enough to make me cry. We were fighting ponies that had been transformed against their wills with no control of their actions. I remember back to when others had been deeply concerned about what was being done to me when they removed the memories from me, but this was nothing like that; this was evil. "Why are you doing this to ponies?" I demanded an answer from the glowing red light. "It is my program to do so," Tesla responded. "Are you a transformed pony too?" I asked. "I am a program, I am not alive," Tesla answered. "Are you going to keep them like this forever?" I asked. I was still crying. They might as well be dead in this state, they didn't have their minds, and they didn't have their bodies. There wasn't any reason for this other than cruelty to make them fight friends and family. I hoped that they weren't aware of anything anymore, being aware would be too much. "Insufficient information to answer inquiry," Tesla responded back in the same standard monotone. The newly emerged being from the cocoon was now completely encased in armor now and was getting to her feet. She got up and walked out of the room in a completely normal pace as if she knew where she was going. She was just another mindless golem now. "I am coming back to the room with the cot. I want to go back to bed. I don't want to see any more of this place," I said, not even really directly to Tesla, just speaking my mind out loud.