//------------------------------// // Prisoners, not guests (part 2) // Story: Shouldn't have enslaved humanity [OLD VERSION] // by NoobMaster69 //------------------------------// Twilight trailed behind Felix as he walked through the seemingly endless white corridors that made up Utopia. It was a maze, with it having the most intricate and complex layout of any structure that Twilight had ever seen. The architecture and just the sheer flawlessness of the structure amazed Twilight, it was done in a style she had never seen. What was strange was that it was extremely fancy, but it wasn’t regal like the castles, it wasn’t fancy like the large Mansions of canterlot, and it wasn’t modern like the buildings of Manehattan. Well, it was for them… when she had asked Felix about it, he called it ‘modern architecture’, guess these humans have a different idea of modern than most others. It was rather… futuristic, like something straight out of a comic book. As they walked, many humans passed them by, with a lot of them saluting Felix as he walked past, while others offered simple, polite greetings. The passersby all stared at Twilight as well, looking at her with what seemed to be surprise and amazement. The walk was mostly silent aside from the one question Twilight asked, Felix was talking to one of his escorts while another two heavily built humans flanked Twilight on either side. She would’ve teleported out, using one of the many opportunities she was given, but this place seemed to lack any magic of any kind. She would’ve teleported out while she was in the aircraft, seeing as the magicless air there had mixed with the air outside, and giving Twilight something that her spell could react with. But the humans watched her like a hawk, and the moment her horn started glowing, she would’ve been dead. That, and she never thought it was possible for a place to be this devoid of magic, she thought she would’ve been presented with a better opportunity later on. But now, she was completely trapped, with no way out. Well, there was one she knew, but it seemed that the only way out was through a door, several kilometers up, which only the humans could operate. Soon enough, one of the corridors led to a large, open area with many humans. The entire area was bustling with activity, at least until the president entered with Twilight. More and more of them gradually noticed their presence and soon, the entire area fell silent, with everyone staring at both Felix and Twilight. The area itself was a large room of some sort, with white spaced apart benches and white concrete pillars placed at regular intervals. The left side of the large room had a strange depression, or hole, built into the ground, which they were approaching. As Twilight got closer, she was able to get a look at it from a better angle, and she saw that the hole had some extremely advanced looking railway tracks. The tracks gradually emerged from a dark tunnel on the left side, and went all the way to a tunnel on the left side, where it disappeared from view. Twilight’s escorts just quietly stood there for a moment, which made the situation feel rather awkward with the pin drop silence that had suddenly encompassed them the moment they entered the large hall-like area. All the humans, including Felix and his escorts seemed to be waiting for something as they stared intently ahead in the direction of the hole. The wait lasted for about five minutes of pure, unbridled awkwardness, before a sudden sharp whistling sound began to pierce through the silence. The noise was coming from the tunnel on the left, and gradually grew louder as a light began appearing that gradually grew in luminosity. Soon enough, a long, slender object appeared, racing round the corner at speeds that could even rival that of Rainbow Dash’s. It was a train; a large, slender, futuristic white train that sped towards them and gradually slowed down as it approached, eventually stopping as its whole length left the confines of the tunnel and now laid in front of them. It was an extremely streamlined, white coloured train. Just lume everything else in this place, the train was extremely futuristic, right out of science fiction. 'Their 'bunker' has a train?!' Twilight thought to herself, once again being amazed by the level of technology that these strange humans possessed. She would've attributed its speed to magic, if it weren't for the fact that the entire bunker was devoid of it. There were several doors lining the long structure, each with a sign above it that designated the different sections of the train. The doors of the train opened a few seconds after it had 'landed', and more humans began flooding out of the train, while the humans that simply stood still while staring at Twilight began to enter the train, most of them heading for the doors labeled 'passenger'. Felix, on the other hand, led them towards one of the doors designated 'lounge’. The door opened by itself, just like all the others, but instead of it opening to reveal a regular passenger section, it revealed one of the most luxurious setups that Twilight had ever seen. The train car was done in a different style to that of the other parts of the luxury bunker. It had a light brown as its predominant colour as opposed to the rest of the structure’s white theme, and it had much dimmer lights which gave off a vibe of relaxation in contrast with the bright white lights that dominated the rest of the bunker, which made Twilight feel slightly more alleviated and a lot less tensed and on edge. The curtains of the windows were open, which revealed the nice scenery of a beautiful mountain range with clear blue skies, birds flying by, the occasional animal walking about, and a beautiful lake in the distance. The car also featured several brown sofas with pillows on them, all surrounding some cute, miniature coffee tables which already had several steaming cups of coffee ready for them. At the far end of the car laid a fancy looking bar with a wall behind the counter that had had a couple dozen bottles of what Twilight could only assume was alcohol, that was being tended to by a single human, probably the bartender.  Twilight stood still for a moment, in deep thought, she could hardly believe her eyes. These were humans, and while she did believe that their claim to previously being the most powerful and only sapient species on the planet to some degree after witnessing their destructive display, she never  thought that mere humans would be capable of creating an environment of such… class, such fanciness. It was just as luxurious as Celestia’s personal lounge, maybe even more so, and it had been built by humans. She was brought out of her thoughts as Felix called out to her. “Miss Twilight?” Felix asked, and received no answer as Twilight was still in deep thought. “Miss Twilight?” He asked, raising his voice slightly this time, which successfully managed to grab her attention. “Wha-... huh?” Twilight turned around to face Felix. “We’re about to start moving. Would you like to take a seat so we can maybe chat a little before you start your work on rehabilitating Eris?” Felix asked. “Uhh…” Twilight was still lost, until a sudden thought came to her. What about Tirek and Cozy Glow? She was so caught up in the moment that she forgot about them. She needed to inquire as to what happened to them after Tartarus was destroyed. Were they set free? Do humans still have them? Were they killed? All of these were terrible options, but they were the only possibilities Twilight could think of. “Yea, yes of course,” she said, walking over to one of the two seater couches and taking a seat. Felix sat in the single seater armchair in front of her, and the other men in suits sat in the other couches surrounding them, leaving them to speak privately. Before she could speak, however, a loud voice of a woman with no discernable source started speaking. “Attention all passengers, welcome aboard Snowpiercer. You are currently aboard Snowpiercer's exclusive first class lounge experience. The next stop will be in the Mall District. Estimated time of arrival is one minute. Wilford industries thanks you for choosing Snowpiercer and we hope you enjoy your ride,” the voice said, before going silent. The train then started moving, and to Twilight's amazement, even the background outside moved past as the train traveled. Twilight didn't know how they did it, but it was amazing nonetheless. “Our destination is five stops away, we’ll arrive in about ten minutes,” Felix told Twilight, “I recommend you get some rest, you’re gonna need it. You’ve got a long day ahead of you, and I’m putting you under our very own Doctor Keifer’s direct command and supervision. He can be a bit of a workaholic, so I hope you’re prepared for OT.” “I have a few questions, can you answer them?” Twilight asked. “As long as they’re not questions about our capabilities, how our weapons work, the layout of our bunker and other things that would obviously be classified, I’ll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability,” Felix said. "There was a pony… and a centaur, who were imprisoned here. I'm sure you would've encountered them, they were the only sapient people present within Tartarus. What happened to them? Do you still have them or..?" Twilight asked.  "We did encounter them, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow, but we no longer have them. The centaur actually really really wanted to help us for some reason. He said that he could 'absorb' the Chaotic Radiation, which he called chaos magic, from Eris, which would heal her. He was just about to do so, but before he could, both he and Cozy Glow vanished in a puff of black smoke. We don't know if they teleported, or died, or if something else happened to them, but they're gone now and we don't have them," Felix said.  "You let them out?!" Twilight exclaimed nervously.  "Yes, though we never allowed them to leave Utopia. We weren't done questioning them yet," Felix replied.  "W- we have to warn the princesses. You have to let me go, they are both extremely dangerous!" said Twilight.  "Unfortunately for you, they don't concern us," Felix said.  "But you don't know who they are! Do you have any idea what they - " she was cut off by an extremely irritated Felix, who really didn't appreciate her yelling at the top of her lungs while she was right in front of him.  "I know they are. We already know what they did. Tirek tried stealing all the magic in existence, and Miss Glow tried destroying all the magic in existence. And frankly, we don't care. In fact, we care so little that we couldn't care less even if we tried. We have reached the peak of not giving a shit. If we could rate how much we care using a matter of how many shits we give, we would give like… negative shits. That's how much of a damn we don't give," Felix said harshly. "You didn't have to put it like that!" Twilight said angrily, "You don't understand the severity of the situation! These people are - " "Yes, I understand perfectly. I understand that this is a you problem, not a we problem. I understand that your witchcraft doesn't work on us for some reason, since your pathetic little army peppered the diplomat that we sent with what looked to be quite a light show, but left him completely unscathed and left the rest of you completely baffled," Felix explained, "So we don't care because even if they succeed with whatever they're doing, it's not gonna affect us. In fact, even if your entire country combined all of their magic and tried to go up against us, we would decimate them. The fact that your entire nation almost fell as a result of the 'schemes' of a child just proves that you stand virtually no chance. It wouldn't even be a fair fight." Twilight didn't know what to think. If it were anycreature else, she would just have marked it down as them being overconfident, or just 'spewing a load of shit', but in the case of these humans, she had no idea what their capabilities were. And based on that display they made earlier when they completely destroyed Tartarus itself, there might be some ground to that claim. These humans could very well be a very large threat, on par with the changelings before they were reformed or maybe even Tirek. Twilight knew that, but even she herself was having trouble coming to terms with that fact; every other major threat to Equestria had always been using magic in some way, but these humans weren't. Yet, when they destroyed an entire mountain, they displayed more power than any magic Twilight had ever seen… well, except for Discord and Tirek at full power, but they did it without magic. Who knows what they could be capable of if they could destroy an entire mountain. Twilight was extremely worried, but she didn't want Felix to see that. So she kept her cool, and maintained a calm facade that betrayed what she was actually feeling. She was about to respond to Felix's statement, but before she could, the disembodied female voice spoke once again. "Attention all first class passengers, you have arrived at Central Cryogenics Sector 1. The floor you are currently on is floor one. Wilford industries thanks you for choosing Snowpiercer's one of a kind first class experience. We thank you for your ride and/or stay, and we very much hope to see you back here again soon," The voice said before going silent. "Well, let's hop off," Felix said, getting up from his chair, with his bodyguards following suit. Twilight responded by getting off of the sofa she was sitting on, and trailing behind Felix. Two of the bodyguards took up positions on the left and right sides behind Twilight once again, and they began waking. The rest of the walk was mostly a rather awkward silence, with neither party speaking to the other simply because there was nothing to talk about. For most of the walk, they went through the same white corridors like they previously had, with the occasional human passing by. There were a lot less of them here, while the previous area they were in was bustling with activity. Another noteworthy difference was that these hallways seemed to be a lot longer than the previous ones, with the nearest junction being very far off in the distance, and these long hallways gave Twilight an idea of the sheer massiveness of Utopia. Soon enough, Felix led them through a door, and the whole scenery changed. This new room was full of strange metal pods, that oddly enough, shared an uncanny resemblance with the changeling hive. These pods however, looked much more artificial, and were much more neatly arranged, with the pods in the middle being arranged in a circle around a strange looking pillar of sorts. Twilight stood in fear and awe as she stared at the sight in front of her, which were no doubt the 'cryogenic pods' that they had been told the humans used to freeze themselves. 'They were telling the truth. They really are… wait - ' Twilight thought, and her eyes widened as she realised something. 'How many of them are there?! And given the room's size, and the layout of this section of the bunker, how many more of these rooms are there?!' Twilight began to visibly panic as more thoughts flooded her mind.  Felix realised she was panicking and was confused as to why she was doing it now, and didn't do it earlier. "Miss Twilight?" He asked, but she didn't answer, still caught up in her thoughts. Felix then cleared his throat, her moments of unresponsiveness were getting irritating. "MISS SPARKLE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, and she immediately snapped to attention, while the scientists who were working on Eris noticed they had arrived. "Yes sir!" She said quickly, snapping to attention after getting the shock of her life. She then realised how stupid she must have looked, and loosened up her stance and tried correcting herself. "I… I mean yes, how may I help you?" She asked politely. "Are you back with us, Miss Twilight? Your constant daydreaming sessions are getting extremely irritating," Felix said, annoyed. "I'm sorry. Yes, we may continue," Twilight said. "Ahh… President Felix," A Germane voice suddenly spoke up, and she looked towards the source, to find a young man in a lab coat smiling as he walked towards them. He had a tag that had a picture of him smiling, with the words 'Heinrich Keifer' underneath the photo, and the words 'USU Head of Department of Biology' in a smaller font underneath his name.  "Who is that?" Twilight asked Felix. Keifer heard her question, however, and decided to answer it himself.  "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I believe?" He asked. "My name is Heinrich Keifer, and I am the head biologist of the USU," he offered his hand, and Twilight reluctantly offered up her hoof as he gave her a handshake, "I'm very pleased to meet you. We are going to accomplish such marvelous things." "I'm sure you are," Felix said, "Now, let's get Twilight to meet her patient, shall we?" "Yes of course, right this way," Keifer replied. He then led them towards one of the pods. A makeshift work/research station was set up around the pod, with many desks, filing cabinets, and various types of Twilight assumed to be very futuristic looking medical equipment, together with over two dozen scientists holding tablets, clip boards, and talking to each other. "Attention everyone, I would like all of you to meet someone who is going to help us," Keifer called out, before turning to face Twilight, "Go on, introduce yourself." After a very awkward round of introductions, during which Twilight spent around forty five minutes getting to know everyone, it was finally time for her to meet this 'Eris'. She was led to one of the pods, the one that contained Eris, and asked to look through the glass. She complied, looking through the glass to find a human gir- a female draconequus?! "B- but that's impossible! Discord's the only draconequus in existence! Who is - ? How did - ?" Twilight stuttered as she spoke. She was caught completely off guard by who… no, what she saw before her. The scientists, on the other hand, looked extremely intrigued by her statement, their curiosity peaked. "Again, one of the new inhabitants of this world knows about a top secret project from a million years ago, and knows one of the codenames we gave to one of our subjects," Keifer announced, followed by addressing Twilight. "How do you know about Tom Brady, or Discord, as you refer to him as? Tom volunteered for the experiment a million years ago. There would be know way for you to have ever known about him, nor this experiment. When we linked up to the experimentation bunker and checked up on the project, every single one of the test subjects had been marked as deceased. Unless…" Keifer trailed off. He came upon a moment of realisation, there was only one possible way they could have known. "He survived. But woke up before us, didn't he? That's why his pod didn't detect any life signs when we checked up on it. Ohhhh… this is amazing! The experiment worked! We just made a breakthrough! Ohh, you must tell me everything princess! What does he look like? Does he have any special abilities? Tell me everything!" Keifer said with all the excitement he could muster. Twilight just stared at him awkwardly, as he looked at him with a wide smile. 'Is this what I look like when I come upon something interesting?' Twilight thought, and began to reply. Before she could though, one of the bodyguards spoke up in a serious tone, taking center stage. "Mr. President, General Holden needs to meet with you in the drone room, it's urgent," one of the agents said after receiving a call through his earpiece. "General Holden? Why would he…" Felix trailed off as he began to worry. Something serious had definitely happened, especially if Holden wanted to see him. "Very well, let's go," he then turned to Twilight, "Twilight, listen to Keifer, and behave. Don't worry, you're in good hands. I'll check up on you in a few hours."