Hunter walked down the hallway toward his dungeons with Gnarl on his heels. The Advisor wobbled behind him and his ears flicked as he could hear the Minion Masters claws clicking down on the stone walkway. He had been told that the son of the breeder, Creed, was ready to be spoken to. The overlord was silent as his hooves thudded dully on the stone of the Netherworld.
“So they say he is ready to be spoken to?” Hunter asked the Advisor behind him.
“Yes, Master. According to what I have been told he has become even more withdrawn and appears to have given up a bit. Once faced with your Dark Majesty no doubt he will give up what he knows.” Gnarl replied.
“Hmm.” Hunter made a noise in reply but said nothing in response.
His mind went over what he needed from the interrogation he was about to be a part of. He needed more answers and he was sure that he was more likely to get them from Creed versus his father Storm. The elder pony was more entrenched in the organization and would no doubt know more but it was more likely that he would remain silent.
“Have they seen anything from Storm or the others that indicate that they are more ready to talk?” He finally asked after several minutes of silence.
“No Master. All that I have been told tells me that the other ponies have a firmer constitution than Creed. He is a bit more nervous and more likely to break easily.” Gnarl informed him.
“I see.”
The Overlord fell silent as the dungeons came into view in front of him. They had taken a floating circle to the dungeons area and were now moving toward the section that held the prisoners that had been apprehended from the Chimera bust. He came to the metal door that separated the interrogation cell from the rest of the sector. Wrath jumped from his back to the ground and the minion scrambled up the wall next to the door and pulled the viewing port back for the Overlord to look inside. He could see the pony inside as he was sitting at the table in silence.
Hunter watched him closely as he kept looking toward the door and then back to his hooves that were chained to the table. The black stallion as silent as Wrath remained on the wall holding the viewing panel open. He leaned back on his hooves as Wrath closed the port and scrambled back to the Unicorns back. His armor tightened around him as he stood still and his ears flicked as minions moved toward the door to open it for him. He held off on signaling them to open it as he gathered his thoughts and focused on his task.
He closed his eyes for several seconds before they opened once more and he gave the minions a stiff nod. They pushed the door open and the Unicorn stallion walked confidently into the room. He watched as Creed looked up as the door swung open and he cringed down into his chair and fear leeched it's way back into his face. The Overlord said nothing as Wrath jumped off his back and ran ahead of him to pull out the chair opposite of the Earth pony. He moved toward the table and sat down into the chair Wrath had pulled out for him. The chair moved forward and he sat down heavily in place. Creed gulped loudly at the sight of the fully armored stallion. He fidgeted and pulled against the chain gently causing them to rattle a bit at his movement. Hunter watched him, his eyes glowed brightly in the dim light of the room.
Hunter was silent as the pony fidgeted and his eyes kept darting around the room to the minion at Hunter's hooves and then back to the Overlord. Time ticked past as the Chimera breeder grew more and more nervous and upset. Hunter sat still and silent as the other pony shifted in his seat and sweat began to leech through Creed’s fur. Hunter remained silent as the minutes ticked past and the pony finally seemed to break as he whimpered and looked at the Unicorn stallion.
“What do you want?” He whispered, his voice barely a whisper as he pleaded for the other stallion to speak.
Hunter gave a smile that only seemed to make the pony whimper further and his whimpers became louder as the silence stretched again. “I want answers.”
“What answers?”
“About five years ago you sold a Chimera to somepony in my territory.” He said to him.
“I was just a breeder back then. I have no idea what the business was doing at that time. I don’t know anything about it.” Creed explained.
Hunter leaned forward slightly and Creed leaned back in response. “Does anything from that time stand out?”
Creed fell silent and Hunter watched as a sudden look of determination crossed the pony's face. “Why should I tell you anything?”
Hunter gave a low chuckle in response to his question and the other pony cringed into his chair. “If you wish to remain where you are then feel free to remain silent. Otherwise, I would recommend you give me what I want.”
Creed's eyes went wide as he lunged forward into the table, causing the chains to rattle loudly. “What about my family?!”
“They are being taken care of,” Hunter informed him.
“What about my daughter?” Creed asked, his voice louder than before.
“She is being placed with a foster family in one of my cities for the time being. She has been well-tended while she was here in the Netherworld.”
Creed’s eyes went wide as anger flowed into his expression. “Why was she taken from my wife, her mother?!”
“The faster you talk the faster you are reunited with them. You give me what I want and I will do what I can to reunite you.” Hunter reasoned.
Creed's eyes darted from side to side and down to his hooves as Hunter fell silent, waiting. Hunter sat in silence as he waited for the pony to choose. He knew that the Earth pony had to now choose where to put his loyalty, with his family or with his father and the organization. Minutes ticked past as he waited for Creed to make his choice. Creed closed his eyes and he sagged visibly in his chair and his eyes were downcast as he looked up at the other stallion.
“What do you want to know?”
A smirk went over Hunter's face as he leaned forward. “I want to know everything.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Start from the time when you grew to know about the organization to current.”
“I was made aware of them a few years ago.”
A scowl crossed Hunter's expression and Creed flinched at the sight of it. He could sense the lie that the pony had tried to feed him. “I would recommend you not lie to me.”
Creed closed his eyes and Hunter could see the despair that was flowing off the pony as Creed sighed deeply. “Okay, I did lie about that.” Hunter motioned for him to go on and he gave another low sigh. “They came to us about ten years ago or so. They pitched it to us to help us sell the Chimera’s over a wider field.”
“You specialize in the Chimera’s exclusively?”
“No. At the time we were selling other monsters but the Chimera is the one that we were slowly becoming more specialized in at that time. We were working on breeding them and some training.”
Hunter leaned back in his chair and motioned for him to go on once more. The pony looked helplessly at him for several seconds before he looked down at his hooves.
“The pony that came to us was named Sunder and he informed us of the clients we were missing out on by not giving out a bit of advertising and getting clients through their connections. We had not considered partnering with other ponies to see if we could sell more of the monsters through them.”
“Was it an immediate choice to partner with them?”
“No. My father was uncertain at first and made them jump through several hoops to give him more information. They recommended a trial and we took them up on the offer they brought in two clients and between they purchased two Chimera and one Timberwolf. It was more than we sell in six months all in one day.” Creed explained.
“How did the bits fall?”
“The sale was given to us exclusively for the trail run. Sunder called it a show of good faith that we would consider them in the future.”
“So you chose to align with them after they proved they could bring in the clients and their bits?”
“Yes.” Creed whimpered.
Hunter said nothing for several seconds before he raised a hoof and set it against his chin for a moment. “Was the sale of a Chimera done five years ago done by Sunder?”
Creed nodded. “He knew it since he organized it more than normal. They were involved a little bit normally but this time he was very close to it.” He explained. “Sunder came to us with a request from one of their members. We had it organized but then the sale seemed to fall through and we didn’t hear anything from Sunder about it again. A week later we got a message from the buyer personally and they wished to cut Sunder and his ilk out of the sale and buy it directly through us.”
“And you did?”
“I’m not sure if my father told Sunder about it but a week or so later the Chimera we had chosen for it was shipped out.”
“Any idea where it was going?”
“I still have no idea. I didn’t even know it had been sold until the shipping container was built and ready for use. I helped get it ready for shipment but I had no idea where it was going or what happened to it after that.”
Hunter looked at him closely. “How was the sale done if it would have gone through the normal channels?”
Creed looked nervous as he sighed and his shoulders sagged. “I only recently learned about how it is done. My father decided I should know more about the sales and business aspects instead of just breeding. I didn’t know anything about it and he seemed to be perfectly capable of tending to it on his own. So I never asked and…”
Hunter raised a hoof to silence him and the pony’s jaw snapped shut with a resounding click of teeth. His mind went over what he had been told and he knew from experience that something was being covered up by his prisoner. His red eyes flicked to the minion at his hooves and he knew that there was something he was missing and something that he needed to ask about. His mind raced over what he knew and what he had been told. ‘Who would know more about the business besides Storm himself? If his son is not capable of learning the business aspect then who is close enough to him to be allowed that information? Who else would be able to learn? From what I know Creed is the only foal Storm has so he would need…to…be… Of course.’
He looked at the pony and his eyes glowed brightly as his thoughts spiraled and came to rest on a possibility. He took his hoof from his chin to the table and his hoof boot gave a slight thud on the metal table.
“Is there anypony else besides your father that knows the business and the layout of the organization?”
Creed opened his mouth and then his mouth closed as he heard what he had been asked. The set of his jaw showed a sudden refusal to speak as Hunter watched him. Hunter leaned back on his chair took his hoof off the table and laid it on his thigh.
“One way or another I will get what I want, Creed,” Hunter said to him, his voice low. “There are other ponies that were with you when you were taken that I can question. The longer you delay the longer your foal is in my custody.” Hunter sneered.
Creed looked to the floor to the right and then to the ceiling as he avoided looking at the Overlord. Hunter’s gauntlet gleamed as Wrath crept out of the room and vanished through the door. Several minutes passed and the minion returned. Hunter looked over his shoulder and Creed looked up as the minion approached with his halberd. The butt end of the shaft tapped against the floor and the minion walked slowly toward the table and his Master. The steady tapping in time with the minion's steps slowly unnerved the Earth pony and he stared as the minion approached and passed by the Overlord and headed slowly toward him. Creed cried out as the minion was now in between him and the chair he sat in and tears sprang to his eyes as he looked at the Overlord for the first time in several minutes.
“My wife.” He panted out, his breath ragged and sorrow in his tone. “She was the one learning from my father.”
‘Knew it.’ Hunter thought to himself. “And why would she be the one he took to?”
Creed shook his head and he almost shrugged but he stopped mid-movement. “My father says I’m too soft to learn the business.” He whispered. “She is the tougher of the two of us.”
“And the reason you began to learn?”
“After she gave birth to our daughter she pulled back to spend more time with her and me. I was picked to learn in her place.” Creed admitted.
Hunter allowed himself to look startled despite already knowing what he was going to say. He leaned deeply back and Wrath moved back to stand at his Master's side, halberd still ready. Wrath watched him closely to wait for any sigh from Hunter to move. The Overlord was silent as he considered his next move. He could question Creed's wife or go on what he had learned so far. Now that he had learned more about them he was faced with the choice of going after them without alerting the Monarchs of Equestria or keeping silent about the rot inside their kingdom. He was unsure if they would listen to his perspective or if they would take his words to heart. He tapped his hoof to his chin as Creed shrunk in his chair, seemingly deflating even further. He got to his hooves and made for the door, which was opened for him by the minions who had been keeping watch.
“Master?” Gnarl questioned as he emerged from the cell.
“Put him back in his cell while I go over what we have learned.” He ordered as the door closed behind him.
“Will you be questioning his wife now or later?” Gnarl asked.
“Hmm.” Hunter made a noncommittal noise in reply. “That is the question, isn’t it?”
“Master?” Gnarl spoke back to him, his tone curious.
“Is it worth questioning her and getting confirmation of what I have told or should we move forward with what we have?” Hunter asked in reply.
Gnarl tapped his chin with one claw as he considered his Master's question. “What do you propose?”
“We have learned the basics from Creed and I seriously doubt his father, Storm, will tell us anything but lies,” Hunter replied. “Alerting the monarchs of Equestria of their own rot is an option as well.”
“That’s true My Lord.” Gnarl agreed as the stallion began to walk away from the cell. “What about Lady Twilight?”
Hunter nearly paused at the mention of her name but he kept moving forward. “I could bring it to her attention as well. I wonder if she has been saying anything to her fellow Princesses as well.”
“Do you think she might?” Gnarl asked as they walked.
“She has the option to do so but I am not sure if she would,” Hunter admitted.
They fell silent as they neared the floating stone that awaited their return to the throne room. It hovered in place as he set his hooves onto it and it remained in place until he commanded it to move. His mane ruffled as they soared through the Netherworld and it docked with the main structure after a minute of flight. The Overlord made for the throne as Dezhara joined him and he stopped to ruffle her fur in greeting. He had learned to leave her in the throne room while in the Netherworld since she seemed afraid of the floating stones. She had nearly jumped off of it the last time so he had learned his lesson. The dire wolf padded quietly at his side as he moved for the throne and sat down heavily. Gnarl came to stand in his normal place as minions ran around the room, doing their various tasks.
Hunter sighed and sagged in the throne for a moment before he tapped his hoof boot to his chin once more. His forelock fell into his eyes and he pushed it out of his face. His thoughts fell on Twilight and the ramifications of telling her what he had learned and whether he should go to her fellow Princesses or just keep the info to himself. He snorted and realized that keeping her in the dark was not going to work. His horn lit with magic as he summoned a scroll and quill to write out a letter to her and see what her thoughts were. As he began to write a letter to her a minion screeched and he looked up to see Twilights minion, Basher, coming into the room. He raised an eyebrow at the timing and the scroll and quill vanished without being used by him. The minion held out a scroll to him as he came to stand at Hunter's hooves. The Overlord took it from him and he was pleased to see a request for his time from the mare.
“That makes things easy for me.” He voiced and Gnarl took the letter from him and nodded after reading it over.
“Will you be going now or later, Master?” Gnarl asked him.
“Now, unless you have something to say,” Hunter said as he pushed himself to his hooves.
“Enjoy your visit, Dark Lord,” Gnarl said with a bow as he passed by.
Hunter made for the Main Gate and Wrath held tightly to his armor as Basher came to stand with him as well. Wrath scrambled to his back and the minion settled into his normal place. The stallion said nothing as he made for the Gate in the throne room and his hooves carried him into the lightning that surged within the gate. He paused for a moment as the lightning surged and he opened his eyes to find themselves on the side of Twilights castle.
“Here we are.” He said to himself as he made for the front of the castle and its crystal doors.