//------------------------------// // Slaves // Story: Star Crossed Ponies // by MillenniumFalsehood //------------------------------// Chapter 10 “The destruction and terror caused by the Empire were nothing compared to the suffering endured at the hands of their cruel taskmasters. I shudder to think of what I was forced to deal with when under their control, though I can only imagine what Princess Celestia herself must have gone through.” -Twilight Sparkle, On Extra-Galactic Voyages, p. 223 Twilight soon discovered what Hewex had meant by “condition”. Her hooves ached, but it was nothing compared to the pain emanating from her horn. She and Rarity were being forced by the Imperials to help construct the shield generator base on Endor. When the Imperials realized that the two unicorns were capable of telekinetically lifting heavy objects, they pressed them into slavery, putting slaver collars on them and placing armed guards next to them to ensure that they didn’t resist. All this in the single afternoon they’d experienced since they were captured. Twilight had expected to be tossed into prison immediately, but apparently Hewex wanted to get the most out of them before he turned them over to Darth Vader. As bad as her current living conditions were, she knew they would pale in comparison to whatever the Dark Lord had in store for her. She began lifting a huge power converter into position so the welding droids could tack it in place. Her magic was getting weak, however. Drawing on her magical stores of energy during the battle had drained her, and even though telekinesis was a basic spell any unicorn could perform, it was still taxing to lift the twelve ton unit into place. All it took was a single instance of letting her mind wander for the unit to come crashing down, and the only thing keeping it from crushing them beneath its enormous bulk was Rarity holding it in place with a telekinesis spell of her own. Twilight looked at her with thanks just before the black metal butt of a laser rifle slammed into her shoulders. “Let another multi-million credit part fall and I’ll do worse than that.” She looked at the white-armored Stormtrooper with contempt, but took no actions against him. She sighed. “I’m sorry, sir.” The trooper’s only response was to bark, “Get back to work!” Rarity looked at her friend with sadness, but knew better than to speak out for her. She’d been in a similar situation with the Diamond Dogs, though those imbeciles were much easier to deal with than the Stormtroopers. She’d tried the same tactic of whining and complaining, only to be met with a shock to her neck by the slaver collar’s stun system. After she recovered, she realized this was a truly hopeless situation, and that her friends were not coming to the rescue this time. Twilight and Rarity walked back to the cart the droids had deposited at the beginning of their work cycle and mentally lifted another large power converter unit. They carried it together over to the large hole in the wall, this time lowering it into the kilometer-deep pit and holding it in place on its mounting brackets, waiting for the droids to begin the agonizingly slow process of tacking it in place. They watched as the mechanical workers inched along the mounting brackets, a trail of brilliantly white hot sparks shooting out their backs. Rarity was anxious for them to finish, but she knew this process would take at least twenty minutes. She was getting exhausted herself, not because she had expended too much energy during the battle, but because she had been secretly helping Twilight with her share of the work. Her friend was exhausted, and they still had a few hours to go yet before they would be escorted to the brig for the night. Twilight might collapse, and Rarity knew that failure in any way meant . . . punishment. So she continued to assist her friend, thankful that her magic’s blue aura was close in color to Twilight’s purple, lest their guards discover that she’d been assisting Twilight and use that as an excuse to separate them. As long as they thought that the two unicorns worked better together, they wouldn’t be separated. Rarity just didn’t know what she’d do if they were not together. Twilight was her friend, and her pillar of strength, but right now the lavender pony needed her more than ever, and Rarity was not going to do anything to jeopardize their already precarious situation. After over half an hour, the droids had finished their labor and the unicorns went back to the cart to retrieve another power converter. Rarity looked at Twilight out of the corner of her eye. She looked horrible: huge bags under her eyes accented their bloodshot rims, her indigo mane, once carefully preened, was completely disheveled, her fur was matted with sweat, and her hooves were chipped and red, possibly swollen as well. Rarity felt about as bad as Twilight looked, but she resisted any temptation to rest. There would be no rest until they were done with this work. She hadn’t been told that specifically, but she had no reason to hope for breaks, either. History had shown that when sentient beings were enslaved by other sentient beings, they were almost never treated as anything other than intelligent machines. This realization brought with it a disgusted feeling. This universe was crawling with automatons that were capable of not only understanding speech, but following out with the commands of their masters, and even thinking creatively enough to work around obstacles. Why did they need ponies to do the work machines could do? Rarity sighed, projecting a metaphysical hand around the power converter, this time taking all the weight herself. Twilight glanced at her, wondering why she was doing this, but Rarity shot back a glance. You need rest, Twilight! I will not simply stand by and let them work you to death! Rarity made sure to pantomime working in tandem with Twilight to lift the load, as Twilight pantomimed assisting Rarity. As they arrived at the hole in the wall and Rarity lifted it into position, she glanced again at Twilight. Don’t worry, dear. You just use this as a break. You deserve it far more than I. ----- In another part of the facility, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were pulling loads. Well, loads may be too light of an expression. They were attached to repulsor carts that were piled high with thick pipe and conduit to be taken to another part of the base where they would be hooked up to the power generator and laid in a square tunnel leading to the enormous dish that was the shield projector. They might have been on floating carts, but getting them going was still a chore for Applejack. She was still being cautious, however. She knew that if they knew how strong she really was, they would probably work her to death. She’d been close to that once or twice back on the farm, due to her own stubbornness than anything else, and she wasn’t about to experience that again here, where the guards would just let her die where she was. They could always find more ponies. So she pulled slowly. She just wished she could get Pinkie Pie to understand how serious the situation was. But the bearer of the Element of Laughter was hardly the serious type. She bounced along with her load, and started singing. “La, la-la, la-la, la- OOOoooh!!” A shower of sparks emanated from her collar. Of course, being Pinkie Pie, she actually enjoyed it. “Wow! It’s like a sonic rainboom being done on my neck!! How’dja do that?!” The trooper appeared shocked, then did it again. “Yeah! Keep it up! That feels great!” Applejack was perplexed. When she’d stumbled and the trooper with her controller had zapped her, it felt like every muscle in her body wanted to contract at the same time, threatening to rip themselves from her bones. To see that Pinkie not only tolerated it, but enjoyed it, went against all sense of reality. But then, that’s what Pinkie did best. The trooper was hardly amused, however. “So, you think that’s fun, do you?” She popped up behind his shoulder, startling him. “Sure, silly! It’s awesome! You should try it!” He growled, then grabbed her by the neck. “You want me to do something to you that you will actually regret?” Pinkie smiled at him. “Well, I don’t know what you can do to me to make me regret something! I don’t ever regret!” He threw her to the ground, but she landed on her feet and bounced in place. “C’mon! C’mon! Zap me again!” The trooper nodded to his partner. The next thing she knew, Applejack was on the ground convulsing and screaming in agony, smoke pouring from the collar as the electrical contacts burned and charred the hair around her neck. Pinkie Pie looked shocked. “HEY! Stop!” The trooper held up a hand to his partner and the painful electrocution ceased. Pinkie gave the trooper with a horrified look. “Why did you do that? She wasn’t doing anything! I like it, but it hurts Applejack!” The trooper took a few steps closer and leveled his blaster at Pinkie. “You want to keep her from any more harm? Do as you’re told and keep working.” She was quite sober by this point, yet still had to ask. “W-what about singing?” “No singing. No talking. No nothing. Just keep working and don’t make a sound, or else your friend will keep getting painful lessons on the subject of keeping her friends in line.” “But-” “It’s alright, Pinkie Pie. Ah’m fine. Let’s jest keep on workin’.” Applejack managed a half smile, her muscles still aching from the assault on her nervous system. Pinkie Pie looked ready to protest, but she resisted. She looked at Applejack, then down at the ground with a furrowed forehead. “Big meanie mean-pants . . .” Applejack was grateful the trooper hadn’t heard Pinkie’s muttering. Now she just had to help her friend pull the cart. As she did, she wondered how the rest of her friends were handling things. ----- Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were in a rather large vertical shaft, hanging cables, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if Fluttershy didn’t have an overpowering fear of heights. Normally she could simply muscle her way past them with some effort, but in this horrifying environment she was unable to concentrate on her job. The yellow pegasus was struggling to keep up with Dash as they gripped a rather heavy bundle of sensor data bus. Rainbow Dash was doing well for being forced to work, especially considering her lazy nature, but she was being held up by Fluttershy’s nervousness. “Come on, Fluttershy! We’ve got to keep up the pace or else they’ll shock us with these collars!” Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow Dash behind a hank of her pink mane. “Oh Rainbow Dash, this is just too hard! Every time I get higher than a few feet I get lightheaded and dizzy.” She squealed slightly, then squeezed her eyes shut. Rainbow was concerned, genuinely concerned for Fluttershy’s safety. She wasn’t that worried about her friend falling, though Fluttershy did lock up her wings whenever she was scared. What worried her was that the Imperials would see her and assume she was just slacking off. Rainbow could handle the punishment, but Fluttershy was a softy. She would never be able to handle the kind of abuse that these troopers seem to be fond of inflicting on their charges. “What’s taking so long?” Rainbow looked down the tube at the trooper who was calling after her. “We, uh, we’re trying to get this cable unstuck!” “Well hurry it up! I don’t have to give you any motivation to work, do I?” The cyan pegasus stifled a sarcastic remark. “No, we’ll get it in a minute!” She flew down to Fluttershy and gently put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Look Fluttershy, I know it’s tough. But you gotta do this! I promise, after this is all over, we’re gonna laugh our flanks off! Okay?” Fluttershy’s eyes opened gently and looked at her friend with a pleading expression. “Please, Fluttershy.” Rainbow was a tough pony, but even she knew that in times like this, kindness and encouragement could go a long way. Fluttershy waited a few tense seconds, then nodded. Rainbow sighed in relief and got a hold of the cable. “Come on. I bet we can get fifty of these things hung by bedtime!” The yellow pegasus smiled at her cocksure friend, then followed her up the shaft to where the bracket to hold the cable was hanging. Rainbow Dash took the weight of the cable as Fluttershy used her hoof to close the latch and her teeth to fasten it with a small clip. Rainbow had outward bravado. But inwardly, she was a swirling mass of questions. Where were her friends? Were they okay? What about the princesses? These and more swam through her head like so many fish, always changing and always bumping into her conscious mind, threatening to tear it apart through worrying. But she knew she had to keep up her brave facade, at least until she could sleep. Fluttershy was depending on her to be a pillar of support and strength, and she couldn’t let her down by falling apart on her. They reached the bottom of the shaft, where the Imperial Stormtrooper in charge of them was waiting. “You two better keep working hard. Wouldn’t want one of you to suffer an . . . industrial accident, would we?” Rainbow Dash glared at him, her protective instincts flaring. But she bit her lip and grasped another black cable in her teeth. “Let’s go, Fluttershy” she said through a mouthful of rubber. We’ll get through this, Fluttershy. Don’t you worry. We’ll get through. Somehow. ----- When they heard the buzzing noise signifying that all slaves were to report to their holding cells, Twilight felt relief that she didn’t even know was possible. All her life she’d been . . . sheltered. She didn’t like to think of herself like that, but it was true. She’d never really been anywhere except Canterlot, never did anything except read books and study, right up until she’d come to Ponyville and met her friends. Sure, she’d taken risks and such since then, but she’d never experienced anything that could be remotely described as suffering, at least in comparison to what was happening right now. Even when Shining Armor disowned her temporarily at his wedding, she’d been devastated, but she hadn’t suffered. Now she understood the full meaning of the term. Her body was wracked with pain, her mind throbbing from the mental exertion. She no longer had any feeling in her hooves from all the work she’d been doing without so much as a rest. No, not without rest, she realized. Had the pain and suffering she’d gone through today made her forget so quickly that Rarity had risked her life to make her feel more comfortable and get a bit of reprieve from the torment the Stormtroopers seemed to joyfully inflict on her? She felt shameful at the thought, but then remembered that slavery often had a demoralizing effect on ponies, and she supposed that was the point: beat them down so that they’d never consider forming a resistance and starting an uprising. Regardless, she vowed never to forget Rarity’s generosity again. The fashionista might appear on the outside to be materialistic and self-centered, but if you stop and get to know her, you’d find a pony who is more generous than most and one of the best friends a girl could ask for. The purple unicorn joined her friend as they walked wearily down the corridor to the main holding area for slaves, where they would be sorted into their cells. As she entered the room, she noticed that it wasn’t just ponies being used for labor. Aliens of all kinds were being forced into performing whatever cruel tasks their human masters saw fit to bestow upon them. She saw mouse-faced aliens with big black marble eyes, tall aliens with shaggy fur from head to toe and a face that was a cross between a gorilla and a puppy, and aliens whose heads resembled squid with big bulging eyes on short stalks and flippers for hands. She worked her way into the group, trying to find her friends before whoever was in charge started sorting them. They may not be in the same cell, but if they were together they might stand a chance of keeping each other’s spirits up. It wasn’t much, but it was all they had for now. “Twilight! Over here!” Applejack motioned the unicorn over to where the rest of them had found each other. Twilight fought tooth and hoof to get to them, and was rewarded by one of the large hairy aliens roaring at her. A shock to his collar quieted him. Twilight shuddered at the thought of what that beast would have done to her if the guard hadn’t stopped him. Finally she made it to her friends, and not a moment too soon. A large klaxon wailed, and the guard shouted, “You will all come one at a time so we may tag you and send you to your detention cells. Any attempt to resist tagging will be dealt with by administering high-level shocks via your collars. You will survive, but you will not sleep very well tonight. Now, move!” All the aliens in the room shuffled toward the door. As they passed the guard, he jabbed them with a large prod, eliciting a yelp of pain each and every time, even from the towering hairy ones. This sent a wave of fear washing over Twilight, but she swallowed hard and prepared as she stepped up to the guard, bracing for the painful sting. Yeowch!! Sting had obviously been an underestimation of how painful it would be. It felt like somepony had rammed a railroad spike into her spine, and she felt a trickle of blood flow down from the entry point. Why would a subcutaneous tag have to be big enough to leave a large hole in her skin? She had no time to figure it out as the guard shoved her out of the way so she could tag Rainbow Dash. Soon she was filed into a row of detention cells by a Stormtrooper, who shoved her in by the heel of his boot. She was lucky the cells were of a more old-fashioned variety, with metal bars rather than solid walls. She watched as Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were herded past her cell into adjacent cells. They were within speaking range. That was good. It meant they might be able to talk to each other. As soon as the herding process was complete, the guards exited the room, then shut off the lights, leaving only a single red lamp in each cell to give them light enough to use whatever facilities were available. Twilight was much too exhausted to do anything at the moment. Her horrible afternoon was just too much for her broken body, and so she laid down for a dreamless, pain-wracked sleep. ----- A sudden buzzing noise awakened Twilight. She remembered all that had happened the previous day, and closed her eyes again, hoping that it was all just a nightmare. The squeaking of the iron cell door told her it wasn’t. She got up groggily, which was met by a slight shock to her neck. The alien in the cell next to her laughed to himself. “The Imps don’t exactly like it when you aren’t up and at ‘em when they look in your direction.” Twilight was too exhausted to say anything in reply, sarcastic or otherwise. Another buzz sounded, and all the slaves started filing out of their cells, lining up outside them. Twilight decided it was better to play it safe and act like the rest of the slaves. She walked out of her cell and got in line. “How’re ya doin’, sugarcube?” Applejack looked at Twilight with concern. Apparently the night’s rest hadn’t improved her looks any. “I’m fine, Applejack.” “Well if it makes ya feel any better, you get used to hard work after a while. Pretty soon it’s jest another day on the job, heh.” She was trying to sound reassuring, and was failing miserably. One more buzz, and they were herded off again. ----- Twilight was grateful that the next destination was breakfast, but she wasn’t prepared for what she was about to receive. As she grasped a plate with her mouth, a cook with a large belly and an attitude plunged a ladle into a steaming pot and produced a gray, lumpy substance that closely resembled molded mashed potatoes. The smell matched the image. She wasn’t about to complain. Poor food was still food, and she would need all she could get if last afternoon’s work schedule was anything to go by. She walked over to the table where her five friends were sitting and set her plate of food in front of her. Rainbow Dash was picking at the gray goop, Fluttershy was staring at hers, Applejack was muscling through it, and Rarity was visibly disturbed by every bite she took, suppressing an “Ugh” with every morsel. Even Pinkie Pie had turned visibly green. “Come on, guys. We’ve got to eat so we can get our strength up for today’s work.” Twilight levitated a spoon and scooped up a mouthful to demonstrate. The only thing that kept her from spewing out the slop was the knowledge that it must contain some nutritional value, and that she would need every ounce of it to get through the day. She only hoped her stomach was strong enough to handle it. She swallowed hard. “Try girls. I know it’s awful, but they won’t give us all day to eat it, and working on an empty stomach is asking for trouble!” “Twilight’s right,” said Applejack. “We’ve gotta git our strength up if we hope ta make it through the day.” They all looked at each other, but then started eating the mush. As though on cue, just as the last bite was gone from their plates, a buzz permeated the room, prompting all of the slaves to get up and head for the door. Twilight resisted the urge to take her plate to the . . . well, there was no sink, but still she felt the urge to clean up after herself. Blame an entire childhood in Canterlot for that. She hurried to join the others, not from sense of duty, but out of fear of her captors and what they might do to whoever was last out of the mess hall. ----- Today’s regimen: lifting durasteel beams in place to weld. If the power converters had been bad, these were far worse. The beams must have weighed twenty tons apiece, and were a good fifty meters in length. Unicorn magic was strong, but this was almost comically ridiculous. Yet her taskmasters were ordering it, and Twilight and Rarity had to obey. Their purple and blue auras were enveloping the beam, which was being levitated into position to complete another section of a long service corridor accessing the backup power generator. A small team of welding droids moved along the beam, securing it at various points to the ribs that projected up from the floor and would eventually form the backbone of the walls. At least this time Twilight would have energy to spare. Sleeping had recharged her magic, and she was more prepared this time to handle the heavy workload. As soon as the welders were finished, she and Rarity went over to the large flatbed repulsor cart and lifted another beam with their magic. Carrying it over to the work site, they carefully lifted it up until it was resting against the opposite row of ribs. At least with this out of the way, the only heavy lifting left to do would be to lift the much smaller braces into place between the beams. The work was still taxing to both ponies. But Twilight and Rarity both knew they had to press on. They couldn’t forget their mission, or the fact that Equestria needed them. If they were too late, if Equestria were a ball of blistering desert and freezing ice plains, the she doubted all the magic in the world would be able to save it. ----- In another part of the base, Fluttershy was once again teamed up with Rainbow Dash. The yellow pegasus was lifting more cable with her friend, this time up a gargantuan tower that supported the main shield projector dish. The inside of the tower seemed as big as the sky, even though Fluttershy knew it was only a hundred meters wide at most. Rainbow Dash thought it would have made an interesting place to test her agility, with all the cables and support beams littering the interior. They were being watched by two Stormtroopers however, making any prospect of doing acrobatics in here a mere pipe dream. As they lifted, Rainbow Dash noticed that Fluttershy was looking especially glum and downtrodden. The work was intense and the conditions terrible, but Fluttershy looked like . . . Like she’d lost a friend. Dash realized what had been bugging Fluttershy. She’d been quiet and sullen since they had begun working as slaves, but Dash assumed it was because of all the poor treatment. They hadn’t done anything today however to cause the troopers to shock them or taunt them, so it had to be the fact that the astromech droid R2-D8 had turned out to be a traitor. I knew that thing was trouble. She had suspected him from the beginning, and never really let up on that suspicion, even when he’d helped find the princesses in the Imperial base and assisted in planning their escape. She’d been wrong before about suspecting someone to be a traitor, the time with Twilight being the most embarrassing considering their strong friendship, but this time she’d been right. For all the good it did now. She and Fluttershy finally got the cable up to the enormous gray box where the plans said to attach it. Once again playing the role of sky-crane, Rainbow held the cable in place while Fluttershy used her teeth to tighten the nut that screwed the cable into the box. The taste of the metal in her mouth sent shivers down her spine, but she dutifully completed the task. And then she sighed. Rainbow’s heart melted for the poor girl. She knew what had caused the sigh. It was the same thing that had caused her grim expression all day. Rainbow may be tough, but she had a heart, and it went out for her friend. Nopony deserved to have a friend betray them, least of all Fluttershy. The kind and warm pony was friends to all living creatures, even if it took her a while to warm up to ponies she didn’t know, and the thought of someone betraying her was so utterly disgusting that Rainbow Dash swore. “Huh?” Fluttershy looked up at Rainbow. “Nothing, Fluttershy. Let’s just get back down there and see what else they have for us to do.” They both glided gently back down, taking note of the droids that had been following them and connecting the cable to a support beam. As they glided, Rainbow swore again, this time a personal oath that no matter what, she’d try to find a way out of this stink hole and get her friend back home, no matter what it took, even her life. ----- “Come on, Pinkie Pie. You gotta help me git this one up the ramp!” Applejack and Pinkie Pie were hooked up to a repulsor cart again. Stick with what you’re good at, Ah s’pose. This one was loaded down with an enormous orange cone-shaped device that looked like it weighed thirty tons, and probably did judging by how hard they were working to pull it. Even though there was no friction to fight, that did leave inertia and gravity, and right now gravity was working against them. Not to mention a certain pink pony that had trouble focusing. “Hey Applejack! You know what that thing reminds me of?” “A giant ice cream cone?” “BINGO!! Ooooh! You’re good!” The trooper following them had had enough. “Alright, that’s it! If you don’t keep quiet, I’ll give you something to keep you quiet!” Applejack figured he was a different trooper who hadn’t seen Pinkie Pie before. At least he wasn’t the same one they had yesterday. “OOOh! Does that mean you’re gonna zap me in the neck?!” “Yeah, that’s exactly what it means.” Foreseeing a similar situation developing like what happened yesterday, Applejack unfastened the cart, grabbed Pinkie Pie by the neck and dragged her to the side, looking at the trooper with an apologetic expression. “Please excuse us.” Her smile melted into a concerned expression as she looked at Pinkie Pie right in the face. “Pinkie, do you remember what happened yesterday?” “Yeah! I was hopping and singing, and then that big guy in white zapped me in the neck and it felt like a sonic rainboom on my neck and, OOH, Applejack, you gotta-“ “And remember what happened when he zapped me?” “Yeah! And . . . oh, yeah. Sorry, Applejack.” “It’s alright, sugarcube, but please try to keep it in mind, will ya?” Pinkie Pie nodded, then they walked back over to the cart and hooked themselves back up. “She won’t be any more trouble, mister.” The trooper relaxed a bit. “Good. Now get back to work!” Son, yer lucky Ah don’t have a taste for bein’ shot . . . Applejack started heaving against the cart again. Her little talk with Pinkie had cost them distance, as the cart had slid back a ways when she’d unhooked herself. But at least she’d taken measures to ensure that Pinkie would cooperate. Well, until the day was over, anyway. ----- At the end of the day all the slaves were called back to the holding area to be filed into their cells. Twilight hoped that she’d get the same cell. She didn’t know if it was her OCD-like need for consistency or simply the fact that consistency in a place like this was all she had to keep her sane, but she still wanted that same cell, especially since she’d gotten separated from Rarity on the way into this room and was desperate for a modicum of familiarity. At least this time she wouldn’t need to be tagged. She still wondered what purpose the tag served. It was far too large to be a simple tracking device, if the electronics of this world were anything to go by. A squid-alien was standing next to her. After watching the different species for a day she’d come to conclude that these were particularly placid and helpful aliens, and if she were going to pick someone to bother with a question, that personality type made the most sense. She tapped him on the arm. “Excuse me, sir.” “Eh? May I help you?” “I was wondering if you could tell me what those tags they put in our necks were for?” The alien looked puzzled, as though she should already know, but still answered her question. “They’re slaver tags. They bind to your bones with a special polymer that cannot be removed, and they contain a small charge of baradium-trantrate, just enough to sever your spinal column should you try to escape. I’ve heard that, despite what you might think, death is not quite instantaneous. At least for the brain.” Twilight felt ill. The alien noticed. “I do not wish to frighten you, young one, merely inform.” He turned around and waited for them to begin the processing. Twilight frantically looked for her friends, but couldn’t find them before she heard the buzzer indicating that they were to start moving. ----- Rainbow considered herself fortunate to have been herded into a cage next to Fluttershy. She looked with a pained expression as Fluttershy walked over to the far corner of her cell, curled up, and laid down on the floor. “Hey, Fluttershy?” She was careful to avoid attracting too much attention to herself. The lemon-colored pegasus remained silent. “Fluttershy, it’s me. Rainbow.” Still silence. “Please talk to me!” The pain she was feeling at seeing her friend like this had finally seeped into her voice, which elicited a reaction. “I don’t want to talk right now, Rainbow Dash.” “Listen, I know what you’re going through.” “No you don’t!” Fluttershy turned and looked at Rainbow with a painful expression and tears running down her cheeks, which shocked and hurt the cyan pony. “You can’t know what it’s like to lose a friend due to betrayal.” Rainbow was silent for a few seconds. “Look, I may not know what it’s like, but I still can’t stand seeing you like this.” Fluttershy looked away for a moment. “You just don’t understand.” She put her head back down and curled up even tighter. Rainbow sighed, then resigned herself to the hopelessness of getting Fluttershy to feel better. She wanted to help her friend, but when her friend was shutting her out it was impossible to help her. She just hoped the poor girl could cope for now. I’ll get you out of here, Fluttershy. If it’s the last thing I do. ----- Twilight was depressed to discover that because she was one of the last to be herded in, she would get a cage that was second-to-last at the end of the cell block. But at least next time she would know how to increase her odds of getting the same cell tomorrow night. She walked glumly into the durasteel cage and waited for the door to close behind her. She was exhausted, mentally and physically, but not nearly as much as she was last night. So this time she set about trying to see if any of her friends were nearby. As she scanned the cages, she hoped she would see somepony she recognized. When her eyes reached the last cage, she did a double take. There was something familiar about the white form laying down on the floor of the cage. Suddenly Twilight gasped. There before her was the body of Princess Celestia. At least, what was left of it. Twilight fought back tears as she looked over her teacher’s beaten and bruised form. Her once-flowing mane now lay still, her white fur caked with blood. Her horn was burned, but Twilight couldn’t imagine how or why. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight didn’t care if the guards heard her. The body stirred. Celestia raised her head to look at Twilight, eliciting a horrified squeal. Her face was emaciated, her eyes sunken as though she hadn’t eaten in days. Her lips were dry and cracked, and her nostrils had flecks of blood where she’d obviously been hit. Twilight hoped that wasn’t a missing tooth . . . “My faithful student.” Her voice was weak. “Princess, what did they do to you?” She smiled weakly. “I should think the answer would be obvious from my physical appearance, Twilight Sparkle.” She attempted to inject the grim situation with humor, but Twilight was not laughing. “Where is Princess Luna?” This time a look of pain crossed the ancient alicorn’s face. “I don’t know. We were separated and have remained so ever since we were captured.” Twilight was beginning to understand the gravity of the situation. Yet she still had questions. “Princess, how could they have captured you? Surely you could have escaped!” “So many questions, my faithful student." Her teacher shook her head sadly. "I’m afraid though that any attempt to escape would have been foolhardy. These Imperials,” that word was particularly poisonous, “had many weapons trained on me and my sister. We might have fought them off temporarily, but they had enough men with arms pointed at us that any attempt to escape would have been met with a long and painful death. “Once we were here, they began to . . . torture us.” She stopped there, the memory of what they’d done to her too violent and painful to bring back. Her student shook her head. “But you can use your magic to blast out of here!” Celestia shook her head. “There’s a field of some kind blocking my magic. I’ve tried everything I know to break it, and every time it backfires. I’m sorry, my student. I cannot help you.” Twilight was horrified and devastated. This was her mentor, and the most powerful pony in all Equestria. If she’d been defeated, then there truly was no hope.