I didn't remember being returned to my cell. I must have briefly nodded off for a few minutes after everything had ended, or my brain had just temporarily shut off for a few minutes.
What I did remember was the entire time spent with Royal Bearing, every agonizing second. I remembered the screams of pain, both mine and the other ponies. I remembered the looks of horror and disbelief in their eyes. I remembered their wails begging for mercy and pleas asking how they could be cruel. It was so bad that Rossman ended up getting sick in a corner, and Fain had even started trying to reduce the amount of time she touched us, but Royal prompted her on.
I sat in my cell, unmoving. I wanted the release of dreaming, but I did everything I could to force myself to stay awake. Falling asleep meant dreaming, and dreaming meant I had to face all those faces that were going to want to know why they had endured what they did today and why Salt Shaker wasn't there anymore.
There was a change. Now, I heard, be it infrequently, voices out in the hall outside. I couldn't make them out, nor could I tell who was talking, nor how many people were talking. I did try putting my ears up to the door to listen, but that didn't help. The others in their cells must have heard it too. From what I had heard when Fain had taken Salt Shaker from his, they didn't seem far from one another. That may have been why he had been ready to charge when his door opened. He had heard Fain, Dog Bite, and the dogs. I didn't hear any dogs at the moment.
I went back to a corner and laid down. They were probably discussing how to proceed with tomorrow. If anyone had any decency, they were discussing everyone's health and saying they couldn't do that again. Morality seemed to be absent here. In the pit of my stomach, I dreaded that they were discussing killing someone in their sleep. Royal had made that threat, and he made it horrifically clear he didn't make empty threats. It wouldn't be me; he needed me alive, but that didn't make thinking about it any less gut-wrenching. If anything, I wish it would be me. He had no reason to keep anyone if I was dead, and maybe the others would stage a mutiny if he started talking about murdering the rest with no ETS spell to gain. They might put up with murder with ETS on the line, but there was no way they'd stand for it otherwise.
That was an idea. I could get off the cart tomorrow and let the dogs get me. It would be so simple, and then this entire ordeal would be over for everyone.
I sighed. No, Fain wouldn't let that happen, and I had a feeling Dog Bite's threats might be the lone empty ones I had heard today. It was sad that I couldn't even manage to kill myself in a building full of psychopaths.
I laid there, counting, forcing myself to stay awake. Every time my head started to dip, I would shake it. I forced myself to keep counting. Five thousand nine… seven thousand forty-five… twelve thousand eighty-
"My Sunshine, you should know not to deny yourself rest."
I turned and saw Tonya, in her pony form, giving me a worried look. I was in the park, and all the others were watching us from a short distance away.
Tonya started to tear up. "You had us so worried when everyone else had fallen asleep, but you hadn't. We thought… Please, don't force yourself to stay awake. I have no idea if you are alive or dead. Don't do that to me!"
I looked away from her. "Salt Shaker isn't here either."
"We know… believe me… we all know," Tonya said in a whisper. "It must have happened… in an instant. I wasn't even aware of his passing. I… I didn't get to give him his last rites. I'm supposed to give the dying one last good dream. When all these others came…and you didn't… You shouldn't die like that. I-I need to be able to give your final dream."
"You should be giving us all our final dream then because every night could be our last," I said in a bitter tone.
"I… I'll see to it before each of you wake."
That was enough to get me crying again as I looked up at her and the ponies standing beyond. "I shouldn't be here. Why are you torturing these ponies by forcing them to see me? Haven't they been hurt enough today?"
"It was torture for us all not to have seen you," Tonya replied. "Do you know how much your friends and family cried when I had to keep telling them I had no response I could give when they wanted to see you? They don't know if you are alive or dead either. I understand if seeing them is hard for you right now, but may I have permission to tell them you are alive and ease their spirits at least a little?"
"We don't blame you," Honey Dew shouted. "That's what they want us to do! Royal Bearing wants us to shift all the blame to you. He did that to break us! He's the one that did it, nopony else! Don't blame yourself for what that monster did! It isn't fair to you, and it isn't fair to Salt Shaker! He thinks we are dumb, but we aren't!"
"He was the only one smiling that entire time!" Low Grass shouted in outrage and horror. "The psycho human that was torturing us didn't even look like she wanted to be there. She didn't even put her hand on me the entire way back, and she knew I was awake. She kept her hand right above my back and said just to keep quiet because she was sick of hearing screaming."
Fair Wind, the pegasus stallion who had sheltered Fain years ago, raised a wing. "She only touched me while inside the room with you. She told me before we went in to scream more than I needed to each time she touched me, and then she wouldn't have to touch me as much. She said that was the best she could do to repay my kindness, and she was sorry. She remembered me."
"It seems everyone has their limits. Maybe she'll get sick of it and refuse to continue," Tonya said with a small smile.
"I hope not," I replied, getting a round of startled gasps from the others.
"Why would you say that?!" Honey Dew asked in horror.
I knew what they were trying to do, what they were hoping for, but I still had more news for them that they deserved to know.
"Royal Bearing… made other threats," I said slowly. "He practically said he would be killing one pony a day. Every day this goes on, someone else isn't going to be here at the end of the night. He doesn't bluff. He said that's why he killed Salt Shaker in front of me like that, to prove he doesn't bluff. I was… I was going to fight him, and he took his retribution out on Salt Shaker. He should have killed me instead. If he loses his primary method of hurting us… I don't want to think about what he'll resort to."
"What if we give them what they want?" Wallace spoke up. It was a little surprising. He usually kept distant from the others and didn't engage in conversation. He hadn't shared much, even when we talked about our captures and what information we could glean from them.
I looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You weren't brought in to be tortured today. I saw everyone else, but not you. You made it clear you aren't a Blessingist, and you have no ties to me like Silvia and Malcomb do. Why are you here?"
"Maybe he's a mole, sent to spy and try to convince us to give in!" someone shouted. Others shouted agreement, and the cried quickly became hostile to the colt.
"I ain't in league with those ponies! I'm here against my will, in prison, just like all of you!" Wallace shouted in anger with a tiny undercurrent of pleading. He looked at Tonya. "Tell them I'm telling the truth! You'd know if I was lying!"
Tonya nodded and looked at the others. "Wallace is not lying or attempting to deceive." She turned her eyes back to Wallace. "Do you wish me to tell them about your initial experience here?"
He looked at the crowd with his ears sagged and then turned his face away. "Okay. Go ahead. Just don't draw it out, okay?"
"There is not much to draw out," Tonya answered. She looked at the rest of us. "Wallace slept for three days after he was first captured. When he was captured, he felt unbearable pain, on a level that the rest of you have yet to feel. I feared for the first day that he would die. I even gave him his last rites."
"That lady you talk about…" Wallace said in a pained voice. "I don't think it is safe for her to touch me. I think she touched me, and it almost killed me the first time. If they do to me what they did to you… I think it will kill me. I don't know why I'm here. I got nothing to do with this. I just want to get away."
I sat and considered him. There was only one thing he could be here for, and he wasn't going to like it. "I think you should be the last pony that wants them to get what they want then."
He glared at me. "Why not? I have nothing to do with this. I'm sorry it is happening to all of you, I am, but I shouldn't be here."
I gave him a pitying look. "While the Shimmerists want an ETS spell, Rossman and his team aren't interested in that. They want to make an alicorn. Having a powerful and resilient pony as a test subject makes sense, and you are one of the few if the politely powerful that doesn't have lots of influential friends and family that would stop at nothing to get them back, just a homeless colt that might not be missed. If they get that information from me, they will start using you as a guinea pig. Believe me; you don't want to know what happened to the last person they did that to. We found her, and we might have just barely stopped her from disintegrating into a pile of goo."
Wallace shuddered and laid down. "I just want to get out of here."
"I would not lift your compulsions anyway," Tonya said gravely. "No matter what they did. It would be painful, but I refuse to give in to their demands."
Wallace glared at her. "You don't think our lives are with it? So much for Dreamwardens caring!"
Tonya shifted form to her full Arbiter form and towered over Wallace. "I triggered the Cataclysm of Riverview, knowing that tens of thousands of people could die, including my wife! It was a painful decision to make, but the alternative was far worse. I stand faced with the lives of a little over a dozen ponies and weigh them against the stability of the world and dangers that you would scream in terror just knowing about. Do you think I will give in for a dozen now when I faced a full city before? You might think me cruel for saying this, but I would rather you all die than let that spell get out to the wrong people. The future can survive you dying here; the future can't survive what's coming if they get what they want. It's a painful choice, but it has to be made."
"Then… they are doing this all for nothing?" Honey Dew whimpered. "Can't you tell them that? That no matter what they do, they can't get what they want?"
I didn't say it, but I knew why. Because she couldn't directly lie, only mislead. A Dreamwarden could lead you by the nose without ever saying a false word. I listened to her wording; it was a good habit to get into when dealing with Dreamwardens. Tonya had said she would never give in. She didn't say a blanket statement about all Dreamwardens. The best liars always told the truth.
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Where is Yinyu?"
She met my eyes. "Yinyu is everywhere here and always watching."
"You know what I mean. Why is she not appearing before us?" I demanded to know.
Arbiter frowned. "She chooses not to make an appearance today. This entire thing has been very trying for her."
I kept my eyes on her and lit my horn, drawing runes out rapidly in front of me.
Her eyes went wide. "Sunset… please."
I stopped drawing and stomped my hoof. "She already caved, didn't she! I was just diagraming out the spell for ETS in front of all these ponies, and nothing stopped me!"
She licked her lips nervously. "I can reestablish the compulsion with your permission."
I didn't get to respond, or even think about my response, because the dream suddenly faded away.
"Wake up, Miss Blessing. We don't have much time. I need to make a deal with you."