//------------------------------// // Calm before the storm // Story: Freedom // by SwarmLordAbdonis //------------------------------// "There! Did you see it"? Jax slowly looked across into the cell next to his and stared at the changeling just lying there on the ground, barely moving. Just as it had been doing the last few times he looked at it. "I saw nothing Ant. He's still just lying there". "How could you not see it? He just did it"! Jax sighed. It had been just two days since he and Ant had been transferred to the prison known as ICEBERG. A pony run jail in the middle of a snow covered land, miles from the nearest known settlement. And for good reason too. This facility was meant to detain P.O.Ws for interrogation. If for whatever reason a prisoner did manage to escape, chances were that they would freeze out there before finding any sign of civilisation. Just two days and Jax was certain that Ant was losing it. The two had known each other for at least a couple of years while living at the changeling kingdom. Both considered the other as a good friend, through thick and thin. But now trapped here, isolated from the rest of their kind made Jax begin to worry for his cell mate. He had been fine up until yesterday when a third changeling had been brought in and tossed into the cell right next to theirs. Neither of the two recognised him and he didn't respond to any of their questions. Ant didn't seem to take his eyes off of him not long after they had given up trying to talk to the stranger. Though time and time again he kept saying that there was something wrong with him. While Jax seemed to agree to an extent, there wasn't really anything that he could class as 'creepy' as Ant put it. Then, hours later, the weirdness grew. Ant almost grew more and more obsessed. Unable to take his eyes off of their newest neighbour. It was the same thing each of the three times Ant warned him. "Jax... he's looking at me weird. And I really don't like the way his head's twitching"... Though every time Jax looked at the strange ling, it just did what it always did. It sat there without a care in the world. Not even looking in their direction. Now matter how quickly he turned his head, it always stayed in its lifeless position. At this point it was getting more and more likely to assume that Ant just wasn't coping well with prison life, despite the short time they had spent here. He was known to panic quickly after all. Only this time, Ant wasn't dropping the subject as easily. "I'm telling you, there's something wrong with him"! He hissed, turning his head slightly as though afraid to look away. Jax sighed and stopped counting the bricks that made up the fourth wall of the cell for the fiftieth time. He looked up to Ant who was on his hooves. The look on his face was uncomforting, but Jax decided to speak up anyway. "Look, Ant. If he's bothering you that much just stop staring at him. Maybe that's why he's doing whatever it is you say he's doing. This place is small and secure so it's not like we'll be leaving anytime soon so you might as well calm down". He was right. ICEBERG prison was a small but solid institution that consisted of several rooms. One made up of cells which Jax and Ant were located, the area outside that served as a quarantine/shower area before they were locked up, the guards quarters, an interrogation room and a kitchen. At least that was what Jax had seen or expected the ponies to have while stationed here. The guards themselves were not exactly rough as expected. There were a total of six all together. Two of each pony trait. Pegasus, unicorn and earth pony. A small crew, but not many were needed here. Again, the prison was too small for any more than ten prisoners to fill up the cells. Not to mention that the magical enchantments did most of the work. Centred around the cell bars and doors so that other magical beings couldn't bust out. The spells seemed to work on a biological level so that only ponies could access them. Jax yawned sleepily. Night approached faster than he expected. Two days and he was already losing track of time. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at that considering how that was usually Ants ability. If he had been born a pony, he probably would have ended up with a cutie mark of himself sleeping while the sun loomed over his lazy figure. "Right, that's me off asleep Ant. You may want to do the same too". The other changeling nodded but didn't give any verbal reply. It took ten minutes before he finally dozed off. ././././././././..//../././././././././. When morning finally arrived, Jax yawned and rose to his hooves and looked over to Ant. The more stoic changeling had expected his friends paranoid state would have kept him awake throughout the night. Instead, he was proven wrong as his cell mate was sleeping nearer the cell door. He silently gave a satisfied sigh. Looking over to the cell next to them, the lonesome changeling was still there with his eyes shut. Only now his body was closer to their side. A few feet from the bars. Jax didn't bother to try waking either of the two up. Chances they wouldn't listen. One out of laziness and the other from being antisocial. Jax pondered for a moment on the third prisoner. Had this strange ling perhaps damaged his hearing during the invasion? If so then it wouldn't have explained why he had been ignoring them since he arrived. Maybe he had some sort of shell shock? Even with the easy attack on the city, there was probably a few ponies brave enough to fight back and do some damage. Especially unicorns. Jax blinked. Did the strange ling just move his head? Probably just a reflex. He did it again. More violently. Jax watched suspiciously. The strange ling did it over and over again every ten seconds. Each more violently than before. Jax turned to his friend. "Ant. Ant, wake up". Ant didn't move. Of course he didn't. It's still morning. At least according to the position of the sun from outside the tiny window. He wouldn't be awake for hours. Jax looked back to the other cell. The third of their kind had stopped shaking his head. 'Must have had a terrible nightmare for him to act the way he did just then' Jax reasoned to himself. For a moment Jax wondered if he should do the same and just go back to sleep. It's not like the was anything that he could do in a 10x10 cell. He was about to do so until he spotted something rather unusual. The changeling that had been shaking his head seemed to now have something flowing out of the side of his mouth. A strange yellow liquid dripped from it like drool. Whatever it was, it was certainly not natural for any changeling to produce from their bodies. Whatever the case, Jax was now getting more and more concerned that Ant might have been right about something creepy with this li- *THUMP* *THUMP* A loud bang to the rooms door made him jump. He looked over in time to see a unicorn and an earth pony guard enter and trot gently over to the strange lings cell. The two mumbled something to each other before opening it and scooping up the strange ling from the ground. They dragged him out like he was a sack of rice. Unmoving until he reached the door when his head shook wildly once more. From there, the unicorn shut the door while staying inside the cell room, leaving the earth pony to deal with the possibly unstable changeling. Any thoughts on the strange ling shortly left Jax's mind. It was no longer his problem. However it didn't take long for his curiosity to get the best of him. "Where are you taking him"? He asked in the most polite voice he could muster. The unicorn, a blue mare in a grey officers uniform seemed to take note of his tone and replied. "Just a simple interrogation. Same will happen with you and your friend there". Jax nodded. The mare continued, sharing her opinion of his kind. Surprisingly she was nicer than he expected her to be. "Nothing personal. Just need to be sure that you lot aren't hiding in any other cities in Equestria. The way I see it, you two are just foot soldiers who don't get as much of a say when it comes to orders. Your queen however, well. She'll get what's coming to her". Jax opened his mouth, ready to defend his queens honour. But before he could say anything he stopped and thought better of it. The last thing he wanted was to get himself in trouble that could likely lead to harsh treatment. Ant still slept in his half of the cell. He hadn't moved since Jax had woken up. Even with the guards entering and leaving. He always was a heavy sleeper. For a minute, no-ling said a word. They were all just waiting until the previous interrogation was over so that the next one could begin. "Darn it. Forgot about that". Jax heard the mare whisper to herself before making her way over to his cell and opened the door to it. "I'm going to need you to step out for a moment". Jax did what he was asked and cautiously stepped out before the guard locked the cell door once again. If he had the energy to transform and overpower this guard, he'd have done so by now. A shame that the invasion was a disaster. Almost up to the point of embarrassing. The pony phrase 'So close, yet so far' rattled through his mind upon thinking back to that historical moment. The guard, not noticing his annoyed expression then opened the other door that led to the quarantine shower and stepped to the side so the Jax could enter. "I'll need to run you through the quarantine shower quickly. Don't think you or your friend went though it when you arrived did you"? She was right. The system had apparently busted when they first arrived and a maintenance team were already trying to fix it. Guess better late than never. "No, that's right. We didn't". He agreed. "Just a standard procedure. Just stay here and we'll do the rest". The guard's horn lit up a purple aura. A second later, so did the door behind him. Another magical safeguard. Jax huffed. It wasn't like he wasn't going to complain over a free shower. He opened his mouth to say just that until a loud bang sounded outside the room, scaring the pair for a second. The sound had been so sudden. Almost like something heavy and metal had been thrown across the room on the opposite side of the door. The guard, curious, peeked back into the hallway seeing nothing. A couple of seconds passed before she made a decision to check it out. "Stay here. I'll be back in a moment". She left the room and in a second, the door she had exited lit up purple. Now Jax was trapped in a tiny cubicle. At least it was for a few moments until the guard returned. 'Probably the third ling if anything' he assumed. Perhaps he had only now just realised his situation and was panicking. Either that or the interrogation was more extreme than he expected it to be. Jax wondered if the spell cast on the doors blocked out the sound to the rooms altogether. If not then hopefully Ant would have woken up from it. Would serve him right. Seconds later, his question was answered as a loud feminine scream echoed through the door, followed by a horrifying echo-like screech. Jax spun back around in an instant, caught off guard from the sudden noises. The door to the hallway flickered purple in time for the mare to open it a quarter of the way before it violently shut just as quickly once again. Like something had pulled her back before she could get in. Jax stood there frozen from the sudden commotion but gained enough sense to consider perhaps helping. That was until the next few sounds consisted of a louder screech, a terrified scream, a few ripping and slashing sounds as the screams began to turn into a choking gurgle as through trying to breath, then the sound of something big walking away. It also offered no comfort that the small window on the door, nowhere near wide enough to see what had just happened, had gone from clear to red. Jax stood there, back pressed against the wall. Fear was easy to see on his face as he tried to process what had just happened. Had a dragon attacked her? No. No dragon he knew of could make those screeching sounds that he heard. Then what in the queens name was it?