//------------------------------// // That Nagging Feeling // Story: Cryo-7 // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// The hoof hit her face with a solid thud. Blood from a busted lip stained the floor as Twilight spat defiantly at his hooves. She was aiming for his face, but it was her first time trying to spit at somepony, and it was harder than it seemed. They were in a small, dark room. Smooth walls, and no features, save a light fixture above, and a drain below. Twilight shivered, sopping wet, woken up by a bucket of water being dumped on her. She was chained to the drain by her front hooves. The first thing she did, on waking up, was tell the stallion that if he touched her, he would regret it. "Well?" he asked, "I'm not regretting it yet. You said I would." "Be patient," Twilight sneered, "I've taken down worse than you, jackass." He smirked. "For a freak, you've got quite a mouth." He raised his hoof to hit her again, but a voice behind him told him, "stop it. Too much and you'll lower her value." A mare, an old earth pony walked up, grabbing Twilight's face with a hoof, and inspecting her injuries like she was inspecting a bruised apple. "A little make up should cover this, but it would be easier on you if you listened. We've been at this for two days. You're keeping us from moving on to the next girl." Twilight jerked away from her touch, growling, "That's the plan." "You think you're so clever, don't you? So noble?" The mare walked around Twilight in a circle. "You are an exotic sample, and would most likely go to good home. It would be far more pleasant than all this." "I don't know, the free shower service isn't too bad." Twilight looked back at the stallion. "Too bad this place doesn't have hot water." Her captors exchanged glances, and the stallion grabbed the bucket and started to leave. "Another bucket of water?" Twilight managed to drum up enough energy to smile. "Grab some shampoo will you?" "Ice it!" The mare commanded. The stallion chuckled as he let himself out of the room. "Yeah, boss." Alone with Twilight, the mare shook her head. "How long are you going to fight this?" "Until I figure out how you disrupted my teleport, and how to counteract it. I have a theory, but it would be easier if you told me." Twilight shrugged. "I have a feeling you know more than the rest of these lunkheads." "I do," she confirmed with a slight nod. "But, I fail to see why I should tell you. Why are you so interested in the details of your capture? The part of your life where that might have mattered is over. And if you don't behave long enough to be auctioned, I will have no choice but to send you to one of our bulk purchasers." Twilight glared at the mare, upper lip twisting into a snarl. How did ponies like this even exist? "Just try it, I'll take them down with you." She slapped Twilight across the face. "I am offering you a choice! You could live a life of luxury and decadence, or one of labor and cruelty. Ungrateful, little-" "Wow!" Twilight interrupted. "You are one messed up nag, you know that, right?" She sighed. "Very well, I hope you enjoy being a worker on Tankra or Si'irtos. Your wings will be clipped, a limiter burned onto your horn, and you will taste the whip if you continue to act like this. Why do you insist on talking back like this?" "Blame my boyfriend, he's rubbing off on me." Twilight chuckled. "Or, blame my mentor, for teaching me to stand up for what's right. Or blame my parents, for teaching me to respect everypony the same. Or, no, better yet, blame yourself, for being an awful pony." "You are strong-willed, I'll give you that." The mare shook her head. "I will let you see how strong you are under a whip. Even the strongest unicorns don't hold out long." "Well, I'm the strongest unicorn you'll ever meet," Twilight said as the old mare walked to the door. "Strongest Pegasus and Earth Pony, too. And if you answer one question for me, I'll take it easy on your goon when he gets back." This actually drew a laugh from the old mare. "You? Take it easy on him? You are chained down. You have a limiter on your horn. And your wings are strapped so tight I'm surprised you can still breath. What question would I possibly answer for you?" "The device you use to manipulate gravity wells, and distort the paths of high-power teleports, how many of them are there?" She raised an eyebrow. "That, I think I will answer. The device is mine, and mine alone. I can't have my competition getting their hands on it. So, if you think you have a handle on how it works, I might have to hold on to you." "Good luck with that," Twilight said, rolling her eyes as the mare stepped out the door. And for the first time since being brought to this place, Twilight was alone. She closed her eyes, wishing she was literally anywhere else. She was cold. She was tired. She was being kept in a dimly lit room with no way to tell the passage of time, and her captors wouldn't let her sleep. They didn't feed her. There was no restroom. Just the drain on the floor. But, one of the stallions, there were at least four of them working for the nag, let slip that this was the only, 'training room,' they had. As long as she was in here, nopony else was. Twilight smiled weakly. Perhaps this was her punishment for letting herself be happy, when there were still ponies suffering. She was a princess, with a duty to her subjects. She would bear this punishment happily. But, not quietly. Gritting her teeth, she pulled on her chains, pulling as much chain through the drain with her right hoof as she could. It reeked of her own piss, only diluted by what little water they dumped over her head. When she had all the chain through, she had nearly a meter of chain for her right hoof, and only a few links for her left. "Here we go," she muttered, bracing all her hooves against the chain, and the grate it was attached to. "Earth pony, earth pony," she repeated to herself. Earth pony magic wasn't her strongest suit, but she was an alicorn. It was there, even if she didn't often use it. "Big and strong, just like Mac. These chains wouldn't hold him, and they won't hold me!" Taking a deep breath, she pulled her left hoof away. Grunting at the strain, poured her pain and anger into the chain. All her helplessness to aid her friends, everything she was too weak to change before, everything she still had ahead of her, those were her true chains. These puny metal links were strings in comparison. It hurt. Metal dug into her ankle. She bled. Her left shoulder felt like it might tear free. Fur bunched and pinched as she held on to the excess links with her right hoof. She wasn't going to let that stop her. She wasn't going to let pain keep her from freedom. She was going to do everything in her power to help as many ponies as possible, and she was going to be happy all the while. She didn't notice her mane and tail moving, billowing in wind that wasn't there. She was so focused on the pain. Her pain, that could prevent other's pain. She couldn't be stopped by this. Not when she knew there was only one device for capturing teleporting ponies. She could find it, and destroy it. And make sure the ponies responsible never hurt anypony again. She had to. It's what her parents her parents raised her to do. It's what Celestia taught her to do. It's what any of her friends would do. It's what Astral would help her do. She tumbled backwards when the chain snapped, third link from her left hoof proving the weakest. The hoof itself was a mess, skin and fur torn pretty bad, but nothing was broken. She tested it, and she could put weight on it. She would have to get the chains off as soon as possible, and clean the wounds, or they would get infected, but she could worry about that after putting an end to whatever was going on here. She limped over to the door, and sat down next to it. She could hear hoof steps, and the sloshing of ice water in a pail. She started wrapping the extra meter of chain around her right hoof as the sound grew louder. She could still feel magic flowing through her. She knew her strength was boosted. She didn't yet realize that her limiter had evaporated when her mane started moving on its own, or that her wing restraints were slowly burning away from her faintly glowing body. But she knew she had that chain around her hoof. She knew that stallion would pay for punching her in the face. And she knew that they would all pay for tearing her, and who knew how many others, away from the ponies they loved.