//------------------------------// // The betrayal Part II // Story: Forsaken // by Iron_Hooved //------------------------------// "What could a traitor and a murderer like you possibly want with me?!" Demanded Nemo, standing up to scorch the white stallion with her pink eyes. The captain brought one of his enormous hooves into his navy coat and chuckled amiably . Nemo made no effort to hide her revulsion at this, the features in her face rearranging themselves into an ugly grimace. High Tide pretended not having seen this and continued to dig into his pocket in search of something. "I was just wondering if you could help me, with some matter," he finally said, extracting a wooden pipe from his coat and bringing it to his mouth. The expression on Nemo's face morphed through several phases at once: from innocent confusion, to wild disbelief, and finally into one of overwhelming anger. "Why would I bring myself to helping a scumbag like yourself?!" She spat, furrowing her brow. The captain let out a small puff unconcernedly. "That's three times you've insulted me today and we've barely seen each other for five minutes," he sighed, "must we resort to crudeness? Where is your civility my dear attorney?" "Civility..." repeated Nemo in disbelief, "you killed Silver Tongue and then you tried to kill me!! Buck your civility, buck it right up your—" "Ah-ah-ah! Language my dear filly!" The stallion tutted, waving a massive hoof through the air. "What would poor old Silver Tongue think of you if he saw you in this state?" "I don't know, and I doubt I'll ever know," she replied, "thanks to you..." she added choking back her tears. Even if she wasn't able to put a hoof to the stallion, she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of watching her cry. The captain contemplated her long and hard, watching her chest contract and expand rapidly with each violent breath she took. Suddenly he pulled the pipe out of his mouth and set it on the table, then, he brought a hoof to his head and pulled his cap to do the same, revealing a neatly combed brown mane. "His death has been a loss for us all, myself included..." he said in a grave voice. Nemo however, wasn't going to have it. An angry fire scorched her stomach as it fought desperately to get out of her. "You dare...? You dare?" She whispered in a hoarse voice. High Tide remained in place unmoved, steeling himself up for the barrage of insults to come. "You dare?!" She dragged on for the third time. Nemo could feel the soreness in her throat, the stinging in her eyes, but she simply couldn't contain herself anymore, she let fury consume her as she let loose a scream that rent the air around them. "How?! How can you be so vile?! How can you lament his loss?! How do you even dare mention his name after you betrayed and murdered him: your friend of many years?! How?!?!" She yelled unable to control the tears gushing from her eyes, as she stepped forward. The captain kept his silence, watching the filly sob uncontrollably, her eyes shut tightly, in a vain attempt to prevent herself from doing so. "It was my mistake," he finally said. The filly opened her eyes and watched him in confusion. He turned around and drew a deep breath. "When I was first approached by an old colleague of mine, some time ago, with this...business proposal, I thought he must've gone mad. Shipping gunpowder! Why, the very idea of it was ludicrous! After all, was it not one of the most illegal, and highly dangerous, substances in our world?! I thought to myself 'what in the world is he thinking?! And how does he plan on getting away with it?' Outrageous! Simply outrageous!" He spoke, shaking his head angrily. Nemo felt her curiosity piqued, to say the least. Was she about to find out who was behind this plot? "So I turned him down and told him he must be out of his mind," he said, angrily banging his hoof on the table. "I thought that would be the end of it, but dear was I wrong..." he added, widening his eyes significantly. "It wasn't until later that I learned that I wasn't the only one he had approached concerning this business venture. Parliamentarians, judges, celebrities, nobles, heck, even the military! All of them had been called into action by this fella to contrive what would be the biggest heist in history! To supply the warring nations around Equestria with new and powerful weapons so that we all might profit from it! To become merchants of death, in essence...." The filly watched him in disbelief. Was that how far the conspiracy ran? So he wasn't lying when he said the 'Canterlot Elite' had been the driving force behind the coup... but what a huge understatement! How could this thing have grown so out of proportion to include so many prominent ponies?! "I had no choice, I already knew too much," he said, shaking his head, "I could either be a part of it, or sleep with the fishes." "So he threatened you?" She asked. The stallion shook his head again. "No. But he needn't do it: I knew very well that if I opposed their little scheme I would soon find myself six feet under. All I could do was accept the role that had been assigned to me." "But why not tell the Princess?! Why not ask her for protection?!" Insisted Nemo. "Because that's not where the plot stopped as you very well know by now..." He answered, his face submerging in darkness as he cast his look downward. "The mining industries, the warehouse owners, the Canterlot's Museum patrons... we were all played for fools!" He yelled, slamming the table with his hoof. "We didn't know, I swear to Celestia we didn't know!" He said, grabbing his head with both hooves. Nemo watched him quietly, as his chest heaved with exhilaration. "W-when that bomb went off..." he stuttered. "And from the very beginning he knew! He knew exactly what he'd done, what he'd achieved, what he had managed to make us do. No pony would cross him, not after they'd helped him sneak those cargos into Canterlot! He didn't say a word to us, but he knew damn well he didn't need one! Not when we were all complicit on helping him achieve his coup, not after we'd had a hoof on the attempt on Princess Celestia, and especially not when it was revealed to us that the military had been in on the whole plan from the get go!" He burst out desperately. The attorney's face was one of utter horror. "You mean to say that none of you knew about the plot against the princesses? But how can that be?" She asked trying to work out the implications on what the stallion had just told her. The captain rested his forehead between his hooves before he continued. "The scheme was in operation for years, and while it lasted we all got a hefty amount of bits out of it. No pony seemed to mind, as long as the war wasn't brought into Equestria and as long as those big fat paychecks kept on coming we didn't see a reason to complain." "As long as war wasn't brought into Equestria?" She repeated, aghast. "You were supplying other nations with weapons!" She emphasized. "Of course war would have made it to Equestria, sooner or later!" "Nay," he said, gently shaking his head. "We had our assurances. Since we had a monopoly on the thing we were careful not to deliver too much of our goods to one side alone. See, we couldn't make a profit if one side suddenly overwhelmed the other, so when we felt one of them was getting too powerful we'd raise prizes on them, and sell cheap to the losing side. By controlling the market, you control the conflict," he explained. "So essentially you ponies had a hoof on both cakes," she commented with revulsion. "You're all disgusting," she sentenced. "I'm not saying I'm proud of what we did," he said, shrugging, "but as I said: we had no choice, as you'll soon learn. In retrospect I guess I should've seen it coming, seeing how the military was fine with getting the smallest cut for the most dangerous job." "What do you mean?" She asked. "The military was in charge of espionage. Masquerading as a communication's agency they struck up deals with foreign governments arranging for the delivery of our weapons, but that was just their first purpose. As soon as they were 'inside' they'd run all kinds of intelligence operations on them, trying to make sure they didn't replicate our technology, hindering all attempts on weapon development, sabotaging coal extraction operations," he listed off. "They were the spear head of the operation, one that was consistently at risk of death and exposure." "Their very presence was enough to intimidate those who would get cold hooves and try to leave. No pony was fool enough to try it. We found out too late what they were really after..." he lamented, covering his eyes. "The pony behind all of this was a devil: he'd planned it all with the military from the very beginning. To use his power and influence to convince others of his stature to bring this operation to life. And once we were all deeply involved with it, muddied in the whole affair, to use our own weapons to his advantage in an attempt to topple the government." Nemo had a hard time believing it. Who in Equestria could have concocted such a master plan, one that would take many years of careful deliberation and perfect execution to bring itself into fruition, and for what purpose? "But why? Why try to kill the princesses? If he had already achieved this power of which you speak, why take it further? What did he stand to gain with all of this?" The captain carefully surveyed the filly before his eyes, the lingering image of his old friend now reflected in her curiosity. He shuffled uncomfortably, wondering whether it would be alright to press this further. Would she believe him if he said it? Surely he had nothing to lose if he tried. "To emerge as the sole victor out of this whole fiasco. To take advantage of the already weakened nations. To conquer all that stood before him and take the spoils for himself. To solidify Equestria's military hegemony in the world, something which the Imperial Guard has craved for a long time. To become..." he gulped down hard, trying to force himself to say it, "the next Emperor of Equestria." She couldn't believe it. Were her ears failing or had he just implied that the stallion behind all this was part of the nobility? But how could that even be possible? As far as she was concerned there was only one stallion that stood next in line to the throne if something were to happen to Luna and Celestia. No! It couldn't be! She couldn't see how... "You mean," she started out carefully, "that the pony behind this plot has been... all along?" "Yes," he confirmed. "Prince Blueblood of Canterlot." ****** Brigadier Cleant Shot tutted impatiently as the needles in his wristwatch trailed on, slowly and laboriously, past mid day. He gave an exasperated sigh and turned to face the guards. "It's been too long," he finally managed, "time fer us ta take matters into our own hooves." "Sir?" Inquired the guard nearest to him. "Prep the prisoner, we're gonna have ourselves an interrogation," he ordered, turning around to cast a look at Twilight who shifting inside a small cage, "a really interesting interrogation Ah daresay," he added, his eyes shinning with malicious intent. Twilight shuffled uncomfortably as the soldiers unlocked her cage. "What do you mean?!" She blurted out, her breath working itself up into a frenzy even as her endocrine system saturated her blood with adrenaline. The stallion paced his way over to her, silently watching her while the guards pulled her out and held her hoof in hoof. He took his time appreciating the despaired look on her face, letting the silence drag on, before he finally leaned into her ear and whispered: "We're goin' ta have a lot of fun you and Ah! Ah just hope ya enjoy it as much as Ah will..." The unicorn's eyes widened into a terrified look, a sight which only added to the brigadier's amusement, now giving her a yellowish smile that spread from ear to ear. "Let's introduce her ta 'the rack' fellas!" The canary stallion gestured towards a circular wooden table with straps on its ends, each one connected to a rope that ran underneath the contraption and connected to what looked like a stirring wheel. It was as if her heart had stopped. Twilight felt her insides ice slowly as she came to the realization of the fate that awaited her. "No! Please stop!" She yelled, trashing about, desperately trying to free herself from the soldiers' grip. "Help! Somepony do something! Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Anypony!" The guards didn't relent on their grip, even as they dragged her across the room and set her on the table. The poor unicorn began trashing even more violently, hopelessly dragging on the moment to the point of psychological exhaustion. The stallions however, ignored her pleas and managed to secure all four of her limbs to the straps. The brigadier made his way over to her, slowly and deliberately, clearly savoring the scene before his eyes, watching the rising and falling motions of his prisoner's chest as she began to hyperventilate. He set a hoof right next to her head and addressed the filly:"Comfortable?" "Don't do this! Please, I'm begging you!" Pleaded the filly one last time. The soldier raised his eyebrows in consideration and began circling the table. "Well, that depends on whether y'all are willin' ta cooperate with us, Miss Sparkle," he stated. "Ya see, we're all in a bit of a pinch here, and we were hopin' ya could help us resolve a few matters." Twilight kept her silence and started taking long anxious breaths, twisting her neck in search of the stallion who had just now disappeared from her view. "Some of them papers related ta the investigation seem ta have gone missin'," he said over her back, "nothin' much really... pictures, instruments, testimonies, interrogations." He paused for a moment waiting for the filly to react, when she didn't he carried on. "Do ya know how?" He asked her. Normally Twilight would've taken note on everything the stallion had just told her, under the current circumstances however, fear was preventing her from making much sense of what the soldier was telling her. "No," she simply replied. The stallion circled around to the front an gave her a look, assessing her answer, after a few moments he smiled and continued. "It would seem our dear old D.A. got in touch with one of the judges here in Canterlot, through some letters we later confiscated in the judge's office, letters which instructed him ta hide all this documentation somewhere 'safe'." He watched her again, waiting for a reaction, when he wasn't given one he approached her, "Do ya know this judge's name?" He whispered into her ear, bathing her with his breath. Twilight was shivered as she choked out an answer. "N-no." "Absolutus Ius. Does that ring a bell mah dear filly?" He prodded on. It was true that an intelligent filly like Twilight would've been able to make the connection between the judge an Nemo in a heartbeat, but the pressure on her was so high that she was unable to respond in any other way besides shaking her head in denial. "Ah was afraid of that," sighed the brigadier, vanishing from Twilight's field of view a second time. Quite suddenly, the filly felt a small tug on her limbs, not something powerful enough to cause her pain but disturbing enough to jerk her into an alarmed state. "The contraption where ya lay is a wonderful diplomatic device Miss Sparkle. Ya see, it helps shy ponies such as yerself socialize and be more talkative-like," he explained, and at this the guards on the other side of the room moved towards the filly, summoned by an unseen gesture from Clean Shot no doubt, and stood at either end of the table. The two of them then placed their hooves on the table and rotated it, so that Twilight could see the brigadier manipulating the wooden wheel on the end. "Whenever little colts and fillies like yerself feel like bein' needlessly uncooperative Ah just turn this here wheel," he said, pushing the wooden artifact ever so slightly so that she felt a second tug in her extremities. "So ya best behave yerself from now on, or else y'all are goin' ta find that my hoof just slips," he informed her, giving her yet another tug. Twilight felt a nauseous feeling building up within her as her heart raced at full speed, the sudden increase of adrenaline making her slightly light-headed and putt off. The stallion noticed this as well and gave her a smile as he approached her. "Good. Now that we understand each other let me ask one more time: do you know who this fella Absolutus Ius is?" The scholar ransacked her mind in search of an answer, and was about to give up when her brain made the connection. "H-he's Nemo's relative?" She guessed haphazardly. "Well, what do ya know? Seems ya've done yer homework Miss Sparkle! Onto the next question then! Do ya think it's coincidence that this D.A. fella confided this information ta his assistant's uncle? A filly who, like yerself, had also become a target fer the Imperial Guard? A filly who teamed up with ya right after the incident with the cruise..." Slowly, Twilight shook her head. It was mortifying, that all of Silver Tongue's action were somehow related to her, and yet knowing that she bore no information at all on what he'd been planning at that time. The goddess of fortune, it seemed, wasn't on her side. "Good! Well, it looks like this is gonna be an interestin' interrogation after all! Let's carry on then, shall we?" He suggested. "Now Ah want you ta tell me what ya three where plannin' on that cruise..." The question hit her like a ton of bricks. They had barely introduced themselves to the couple of attorneys, and helped them with their query, they never got to planning absolutely anything! "We never planned anything! We barely had time to discuss our strategy!" She confessed. The soldier sighed and tipped his hat downward, placing a hoof on the wheel. "Wrong answer," he breathed, flashing her with a cold look. Immediately Twilight felt the joints in her forelegs and hindlegs scream with pain, as the rope around her wrists and ankles tugged harder and harder. She too let out a scream of her own, trashing around wildly in a futile attempt to resist it. When the brigadier felt she'd had enough, he locked the apparatus in place in headed over to the heaving unicorn on the table. "Care ta revise that statement darlin'?" He asked her. "I-I'm not lying!" She groaned, trying her best to endure the pain, "it's the truth!" She called out desperately. "Not buyin' it," the stallion answered, putting more pressure on the wheel. The filly felt her muscles tense up again as the ropes pulled harder. She screamed even louder, feeling the swelling pain slowly traveling from her joints to the surrounding areas, her very nerves on fire. "Please stop! I'm telling the truth! We were only interrogated, and Silver Tongue thought he could make use of his influence to hide and protect us! Nothing more!" She yelled. "Where?" "What?" "Where did he offer ta hide y'all?" He pressed on. "I-I don't know, he never—GAHH! No!!!" For the third time she felt the ropes tighten and cut into her wrists as the machine spread further apart, pulling her limbs to an unimaginable extent. "Ah suggest ya loosen those lips before Ah loosen these pretty limbs of yers," he threatened her, viciously turning the wheel. "B-but I'm telling the truth!" She insisted, "Silver Tongue never mentioned the name of the place!" "What about the documents? Where are they?!" "I don't know! Argh!" Twilight shouted out in pain, her sides on fire, as she felt her ribs crack ominously from the pressure of the rope, pulling ever so harder, steadier, until... A cracking noise split the air, disquieting those present. The filly gave out a prolonged scream that echoed all around the dungeons, her whole body bathed in sweat. She trashed around weakly, lifting her body momentarily from the table, and fell limply back down. She sobbed hard, tears running down her face. The pain, the humiliation... it was just too much to take. "Looks like some her forelegs just got dislocated," the brigadier said in a tone of utmost indifference. He unlocked the wheel, letting it return to it's original position and immediately Twilight felt the tension around her limbs loosen up. The stallion then approaching the sobbing filly and whispered once more into her ear. "Looks like yer a tough nut ta crack Miss Sparkle. But don't worry, if torture ain't enough for ya, we got other ways of makin' ya talk..."