//------------------------------// // 12. Secret Tunnel // Story: The Symbiote // by SpyroForLife //------------------------------// Twilight explained how she found the tunnel as she led Celestia and Luna downstairs, and they were impressed by her quick thinking. “But this just further incriminates Blazing,” Luna said as they took their first steps into it. “He had no reason to hide it so thoroughly, unless he was using it to sneak around.” She leaned down, examining the hoof prints. Celestia shone light down the path, tilting her head as she looked at the prints as well. “Judging from how many of these prints overlap, I'd say nearly a dozen ponies came through this way, along with guards. Many of them seemed to be carrying things. How many symbiotes are there besides you, Venom?” Venom stretched out of Twilight to answer her. “Let's see, assuming no more have died since the one I saw who suffocated... there should be eight left in Blazing's possession. But I doubt he moved them in hosts. They would have tried to escape. He likely made all of them leave their hosts and stored them in containers, and moved them separately from the hosts.” “I see. But they all would have been taken to the same place, right?” “Certainly. He would want them to be quickly returned to their hosts so his experiments could continue.” Celestia nodded. “Right. Then let's see where this goes.” They walked through the tunnel. Mud clung to their hooves, and it was so cool they kept shivering. Except for Twilight, whose metabolism was kicked into overdrive thanks to Venom, driving up her body temperature. She invited the other princesses to lean against her for warmth, which they gladly did so, letting her drape her wings over them. They spent most of the walk in silence. If there was someone waiting for them at the other end, they didn't want to alert them. But Celestia was clearly deep in thought, and finally she said, “I just can't believe he would do something like this.” “Hm?” Twilight glanced up at her. “Blazing. When he first started this company, he was so kind, so charitable. He wanted to better Equestria. He regularly sent me reports on what the center was getting done and there was nothing to be worried about. Then things changed. He became aloof. He invited us over less and less. He narrowed his research to medical fields and started producing cures and treatments at an almost alarming rate. I imagine this was when he captured the symbiotes. I just don't understand why. Why did he lock them up instead of telling Equestria about them?” “If he told Equestria, there would be outrage,” Twilight replied. “They're sentient, after all. Nopony would want to hear that they're being held captive. So he just kept it secret.” Celestia was quiet for a bit. Then she said, “Venom, did he ever talk to any of you? Like, directly speak to you?” “He certainly did a lot of bragging,” Venom growled. “Talking about how we were going to propel ponies into a new era... lots of self-righteous nonsense like that. He's a narcissist through and through.” “I'm just wondering if maybe one of you said something to him that made him think that way. The Blazing I knew isn't like this.” “Sister, with all due respect, you've always seen the best in ponies,” Luna replied. “And that's very admirable, but everypony knows you're like that. They know to only show you their good sides, and you'll trust them. Blazing has likely always been this way, he merely tricked you.” Celestia sighed. “I really don't want that to be the case. But... perhaps you're right. Still, I can't shake the feeling that he might have been influenced by one of the symbiotes.” Twilight sensed an uncharacteristic silence and tension from Venom. She gave him a curious look, and he said, “When we first arrived in the lab. I was still panicked and not paying much attention to things, but when we were put into those cells, I did my best to keep track of Riot, our leader. I knew he had grabbed the biggest, strongest stallion he could find. He put up quite the fight too, banging on the cell door, screaming. Didn't do any good though, he couldn't get out. But he got Blazing's attention. Blazing went to talk to him first. I couldn't hear from where I was at. But... I remember Riot's host collapsing. Blazing opened the door, and Riot grabbed him. He was halfway into taking over his body when those wretched guards pointed their guns at him, and Blazing told him to stop, or he would be shot. Riot had backed off, and was moved, in his natural form, into a container. Eventually he was moved into a new host. I'm thinking... perhaps that brief connection he had with Blazing did it. Maybe he made a direct mental contact, and... showed him things. Riot has always been persuasive. And we affect our hosts just as much as they affect us.” Twilight stared at him. “So Riot messed with Blazing's mind?” “Possibly. Or, as Luna suggested, perhaps Blazing was always like that. We won't really know unless we talk to Riot.” “Would such a brief connection really cause a change in personality, though?” Celestia asked. “You've been with Twilight for a few days now and she's still herself.” “Other than being more aggressive, she hasn't changed much,” Luna agreed. “I approached Twilight different from how Riot would have,” Venom explained. “When I first bonded with her, I didn't try to impose my way of thinking over hers, didn't mess with her personality, all I did was link into her nervous system so I could help her escape. But Riot completely overwhelms his hosts with his mind, forces them to conform to his way of thinking, and takes total control. So even though he wasn't fully connected to Blazing before having to retreat, I can guarantee he was already pushing his thoughts around, making him see things like he did, preparing him to be just as malicious as he is.” Twilight snorted. “I'm surprised he didn't just manipulate Blazing into letting them all go while he was in there.” “Would have been too impulsive. The planet was still a wild card at that point. And Riot is patient. By now I'm sure Blazing has used whatever he saw to justify keeping them all locked up, made worse by how Riot affected him. But if Riot gets back in contact, I have no doubt he'll use his control to free everyone and resume the invasion.” “I see. We'll have to keep that in mind.” Twilight looked forward. “I know you said he likely got them out of their hosts before moving them, but we should be careful. I think we're almost to the end of the tunnel, it's starting to slope back up.” Venom slid back into her body, but she could feel his senses on high alert. They broke into a trot, eager to get out of the mud, and came upon some stairs leading up to a closed hatch set in a concrete foundation. It seemed to be locked from the outside, but that was only a minor inconvenience. The princesses focused their magic onto the screws holding the hatch in place and removed them, allowing them to lift the entire piece of metal up and toss it aside. Celestia lifted her head up first, looking around. “It's an empty room.” The other two climbed up after her. After a few moments of searching, they found a light switch and flipped it. They were in a small room with a concrete floor and plain metal walls. Ahead of them, leading to the only door, were several muddy hoof prints. Twilight checked in with Venom, and he reported that no one was near them. She crossed to the door and found it unlocked, pushing it open. “Huh. A... store?” she asked, confused. It let out into a generic-looking convenience store. Though she quickly realized it was closed, its windows boarded up and door locked. She could hear hoof beats and the rumbling of carriage tires outside. So the tunnel did take them all the way back to Manehattan. Celestia and Luna followed her as she explored the room. Expired products lined the shelves, but despite its abandoned appearance, there was no dust. And the cameras up in the corners of the room were far more advanced than what you'd usually find in a convenience store. Twilight looked back down, where the hoof prints continued, though it seemed an effort had been made to clean them up. She followed them to the door, which had a simple tumbler lock. She didn't have the key, but it was easy enough for her to use her magic to manipulate the pins inside, until they were all pushed up and she could unlock it. She opened the door. They were on a crowded street not too far from the ocean, and plenty of other businesses lined the road. Did Blazing really move things out this way? This was far too conspicuous. “I don't know if they came out this way,” Twilight said. “Somepony would have seen. Even at night, this city doesn't sleep.” “There are far fewer ponies out at night, however,” Luna replied. “Maybe they were able to close off this area while moving everything out. All it would take is declaring it a crime scene and nopony would come close.” “Hm, maybe. Let's go talk to the other businesses around here.” They stepped out, closing the door behind them and locking it. They immediately drew attention, and they greeted the curious Manehattan citizens and explained they were doing a private investigation. They were left alone long enough for them to hurry across the street to a bank. It wasn't open yet, but a security guard inside recognized them and let them in. “Princesses?” he asked curiously, closing and locking the door behind them. “We weren't expecting you, this is such an honor.” He shook their hooves. “My name's Laser Sight.” “Thank you, Laser Sight,” Celestia replied. “We weren't expecting to come here either, but we're carrying out an investigation. Perhaps you could help us?” “Of course. What do you need?” Twilight pointed to the store. “Did you or anyone else who works here happen to see anything suspicious at that store these past couple nights?” “I don't believe so, that place has been closed as long as I can remember. But I work the morning shift. If anything happened, the night guard would know about it.” “Do you have cameras?” Luna asked. “Yes, we have one outside camera that points in that direction. Would you like to check the footage?” “Yes!” Twilight said quickly. He was taken aback, but led them through the bank and to a side room, inviting them in. His office was fairly crowded with all four of them in it, but they made do, watching as he sank into his chair. In front of him were several screens showing different views of the interior and exterior, all live. He clicked on the outside view that showed the store and began rewinding it. “I'm surprised Blazing didn't think about coming over here and getting them to turn off their camera,” Celestia said. “He probably wouldn't have been able to,” Twilight replied. “They're a bank, they're not going to just turn off their security for him, no matter how famous he is.” Laser kept rewinding until it reached about midnight, at which point he paused it, staring at the multiple armored ponies on the screen. “Alright, there's definitely something weird going on here... let me go back further.” He had it skip back about an hour, then played at normal speed. All traffic in the area had stopped, and police officers filled the area, along with some of the Life Aura Center's guards. A few large covered wagons pulled up next to the store, and several ponies filed out. They looked worn out and skinny, a few of them limping. “What in Tartarus...” “The patients!” Twilight exclaimed. She counted as they were pushed into one of the wagons. “Six, seven... eight! That's eight of them, one for each symbiote!” “Ma'am, with all due respect... the hell is going on here?” Laser asked. “If we tell you, would you be willing to testify in court about this video?” Celestia replied. “Yes, Princess, of course. Wouldn't be the first time we've caught something on tape and I've been brought in to talk about it.” “Very well. We're currently investigating the Life Aura Center. You know about their facility off the coast, right?” “Yes, ma'am.” “We found a tunnel leading from it all the way to that store. They use it to move their restricted research out of the building. That's what we're seeing. Eight of their patients being taken away, and...” Celestia leaned in and pointed to solid containers that were being brought out next. “Venom, are those the symbiotes?” Most likely, he replied, and Twilight relayed his response. The wagon with the patients was hauled off, and a few minutes later, the one with the symbiotes left, after also being packed with several boxes and pieces of equipment. They left the camera's field of view, and slowly the guards dispersed, locking the store and moving on. Ponies began walking through the area again, carriages following soon after. “We need to find out where those wagons went,” Luna decided. “Right,” Celestia agreed. “Laser Sight, thank you so much. You've helped us out a lot. Could we get a copy of this footage?” “Sure, let me see what I can do.” He turned and picked up an unmarked tape, sliding it into a slot below the monitors. “Unfortunately cameras like these aren't very widespread yet,” Twilight said. “We can check along this street for more but we'll probably only find them on banks and government buildings.” “It'll at least give us some leads.” Celestia stepped out of the room, pacing while Laser finished saving the video. Twilight accepted the tape from him, thanked him again for his help, and left the room too. “Of course,” he said. “If you need anything else, I'm here.” He escorted them from the building, waving goodbye as they stepped out. Celestia looked up at the sky, saying, “Hard to believe so much has happened before sunrise.” Her horn glowed as she began lifting the Sun, and the city became even busier as morning dawned. “And I'm confident we'll have found the patients before sunset,” Luna replied. “The wagons went that way, let us see if anypony else caught them on video.” They headed down the sidewalk, keeping an eye out for any other cameras. But they were constantly being stopped by their subjects, all of whom seemed to have something to say to them, asking questions and seeking advice. Finally Twilight said, “We're too obvious, I think we need to send somepony else to do this.” The others regretfully agreed, and they decided to head back to the center and meet up with Cadance. While they were gone, she had finally gotten hold of documents explicitly referring to the symbiote experiments. The employees who had offered to be interviewed were still available as well, and the first would be meeting with them tomorrow. Even if they didn't find the patients that exact day, they were confident they would be finding them before the end of the week. “I think we're done here, then,” Celestia said. “We can send in some detectives to take things from here. Let's head back to Canterlot. I want to make sure Blazing got there safely.”