//------------------------------// // Diapause // Story: The Secret of the Everfree forest // by DerpTape //------------------------------// As she was led down increasingly gloomier hallways, the gold flecked marble beginning to transition into dark granite blocks, Queen Fluttershy reflected. Where mere hours ago she was amongst friends and being hailed once again as a heroine, now she was magically shackled and being levitated alongside her captors towards an unknown destination. She realized that if she had taken the time to imagine the possible outcomes to her coming out to the Royal Ponies, this would probably have been one of her worst-case scenarios. It had taken barely long enough to exit the throne room for Prince Shining Armor to lose his patience for her slow hobbled shuffle, and he begin to levitate her. Her experience with his sister allowed her to avoid panicking at the marehandling, and she simply folded her legs beneath herself, resigned to enduring the trip as baggage. She didn't need any changeling tricks to realize that any attempt at making small talk during the journey would not be received well by him. Between the prince’s angry grimace, and Princess Luna's coldly impassive bearing, she decided it was wisest to hold her tongue for now. Eventually they reach the dungeons. Despite their purpose, and the reputation given to them by stories, the harsh stone was just as clean as any other part of the castle. she was startled, however, as her floating form was brought past the entrance and carried further down the passageway to a dead end. Her question about this faded from her tongue as Prince Shining Armor’s already glowing horn flared brighter and sent an undulating wave of magic into a into a stone block near the ceiling. The wall then lowered itself into the floor showing the trio the guarded passageway beyond. Never having broken stride all three Royal beings received a quick magical scan by a royal lunar unicorn guard, but were otherwise seemingly ignored by the guards who kept the faces on the hallway beyond them. She held no illusions about their focus, and knew that even had she been so inclined, attempting escape would be rather ill advised. Their loyalty to the Crown rolled outward from their hearts as determinedly as lava flowing down a volcano. If all of the Royal Guard were as bone deep dedicated as the four behind this wall obviously were, Queen Chrysalis would have been discovered within an hour of entering the city. Sadly, she knew most guards didn't have a cutie mark in guard duties, and simply enrolled for the regular pay and benefits. Not that she thought there was anything wrong with that, but it certainly made those with a special talent for the service stand out by contrast. The corridor began to slope downward in a spiral. No longer was it fitted stone, it now was carved into the bedrock itself. After a minute Fluttershy was startled by speech shattering the silence as unprompted, Princess Luna started to explain their new surroundings, "These are the cells for holding threats above that of average beings. Normally, prisoners of the Crown are housed in the upper cells. Down here in the heart of the mountain we have installed housing of a more specialized kind, for special 'guests'." Fluttershy hesitated but her curiosity was peaked, ". . . But . . . Isn't that what Tartarus is for?" She was almost proud of herself for being able to ask out loud, but she immediately began second guessing the decision. Fortunately Princess Luna responded before she could began blabbering apologies, “Aye, my sister and I both have spent many creatures to Tartarus. It is true that its security is nigh absolute; however, the very nature of its restraints is what makes it useful only for the irredeemable. The . . . Reality is different there, making it simple to go deeper, but near impossible to return past a certain point." Seeing the captives confused expression, the scholar in her drove her to explain further, despite the listener’s circumstances, “To put it into animal terms: Tartarus is an ant-lion trap. The gates are at the edge and once you are over the edge you can easily walk down deeper, or even horizontally, but as soon as you try to climb out, a force kicks you back. Just like the ant-lion, Tartarus can feel when a being tries to go up, or rather out, and punishment is swift. So you see, Queen Fluttershy, upon Our return, We felt we had something of an insight into, shall we say, the mindset of villains. From my own experience, despite the severity of my actions as Nightmare Moon, the truth was that We were simply alone. Our thought, and hope, is that having a secure area for safe housing of beings with unusual power, there could be attempts for rehabilitation that, without these facilities, could otherwise risk in damage to land and life. We are taking you to a room whose walls, ceiling, floor, and all seams, are infused with a material which inhibits magic as we know it. Thus hobbled, no need of physical restraint would remain necessary, and an evaluation could be made with concern of harm removed.” Princess Luna looked at her charge and saw the unexpected expression of awkwardness upon her, “Well, the thing is . . . that won't really work on me . . . I'm sorry.” It was the Prince’s turn to be surprised, barking, “What do you mean won't work? Explain yourself. Quickly.” He didn't raise his voice but his tone was solid steel as he stopped and floated her around to face him, his blue eyes as cold and unemotional as sapphires. She braced herself against the anger that came from him in waves as she tried to explain, “Um, well, I don't know many details, or how it works, but I do know that what changelings do works differently from unicorn magic. I know that some of what we do is biology, but the Changeling magic we use isn't blocked by the throne in the Badlands hive.” At her captor’s blank looks of incomprehension she continued, “The throne is made of a single piece of stone that sucks in non-changing magic. I'm sorry I don't know why but any Pony that is brought within about 2 miles of it, cannot use their magic. Though I think the effect isn't supposed to be permanent.” She wilted even further under their glares as they learned about abducted citizens, “I never had anything to do with ponies until I was forced to run away from the hive.” Their looks did not soften but at least she didn't feel any hatred from them right now. Anger, frustration, sadness, a bit of fear, and surprisingly, she thought she sensed a hair of regret, but no outright hatred. For now at least. Blinded as she was by focusing on the emotions, she hadn't noticed that they had been standing outside a cell. Shining armor spoke up, “Well this claim shall be simple to verify at least.” He set her on the ground and, nodding towards the princess, removed his magical bindings from her form, though his horn never darkened. Pointing his hoof, he instructed, “Enter the cell slowly, then attempt to use levitation to lift the cup from the shelf. Any threatening behavior, or magic sensed other than this, will be appropriately dealt with.” She was left with no illusions of his being gentle if this were to happen, so slowly, and with the liberate movements she would have used as if she were trying to help an injured predator, she entered the cell and turned to face the bars. The last thing needed right now was a surprise so she calmly announced, "I am lighting my horn now to move the cup." And then she did just that, lifting the simple ceramic cup a hooves-length before setting it back down. Yet despite the warning she saw his horn flare briefly. Princess Luna merely raised an eyebrow, stating, “This does complicate matters slightly”, she paused, near certain she had heard something like ‘I'm sorry', come from the strange frill the queen now had instead of mane, that the Queen was hiding her face behind, “However, there is another option still left to us.” She motioned to their captive to walk ahead of them down the corridor’s spiral ramp deeper under the mountain, whilst also silently conveying to Captain Armor that the continued magical restraints were unnecessary. At length the spiral evened out into a passageway, which could only be labeled a tunnel at this point. Then, roughly hewn from the very stone surrounding them, and lacking any dressing or polish, a large pit gaped ahead of them. Lacking any bars, the force field barred entrance to it was blocked by 10 elite guards, two of each race including lunar pegasi and lunar unicorns. Only one pair of eyes met theirs though the others remain focused upon the room ahead of them. She couldn’t see the bottom of the room from where she stood, but it looked at least as big as the room the Grand Galloping Gala was held. “. . . Princess Luna, if it is not too much to ask, what is this place?” Her fear was soaked into her words as she spoke. While Shining Armor was giving the signs and counter signs to the guard, once again the Princess exposited, “This is something we dearly wish was thought of a years ago. It is a chamber bound with a Protean Stasis Lock upon it. Anything within its boundary is locked within Reality as it was when first it enters. No magic can be worked, wounds will neither heal nor worsen, ice would not melt, ageing itself even stops. Simply put, this chamber stops change, though by design, no effect upon the mind occurs.” Fluttershy gassed, “Oh my, that sounds incredibly useful! Why haven't I heard about these being used in hospitals?” “Simply put, it is far too expensive. Both in the materials needed for enchanting, and in magical upkeep, to be used for mundane purposes. However useful it might be in theory. It is buried this far into the heart of the Canterhorn, not just for security, but to but to lessen the magical cost by surrounding it with as much stability as possible. It is only for the purpose it has been dedicated, that its cost is justified.” The guards, their gaze remaining focused into the chamber, stepped aside to allow the visitors access to the entryway. As they approached, Fluttershy's eyes finally saw the contents awaiting her joining it. A figure, all in white, frozen in a pose of terror. Her membranous wings vibrated against her carapace as she tried to recoil away, instead bumping against princess Luna's petrol. “No. Please. Please don't put me in there with Him!” Her cries were not met with sympathy as a pink field once again enveloped her “You already demonstrated that you require extraordinary lodgings. It is just too bad you will have a roommate.” He set her down just before the magical membrane, but kept his horn lit as he gave her the ultimatum, “You can either walk down the stairs into your lodging, 'Queen’, or be tossed in. Your choice.” The newly minted Prince's tone left no illusion on his preference, an inflection which brought a look of shock to the lunar diarch's muzzle, but no comment. Whimpering, she reluctantly shuffled through the barrier to join the other inmate. She immediately felt an odd, though not painful, sensation flow through her. She immediately knew, without attempting to do so, that the modest magical skills she possessed were now beyond her reach. She barely made it to the bottom of the stairs before she collapsed and began sobbing. Only now, locked up with the most dangerous threat Equestria had ever faced, did it finally sink in that’s what she was now seen as. A threat. Something to fear. She barely registered the voices of her jailers informing her that they would return in the morning to begin questioning her. So deep into her breakdown that the nine sets of the silent eyes upon her went unregistered. So too did the brush of curiosity against her mind go unacknowledged. 'Interesting . . .'