//------------------------------// // Act I - 04 - The Valley of the Shadow // Story: Harmony's Warriors: Iron Mare (Revised Version) // by Avenging-Hobbits //------------------------------// Act I: “Charade You Are” Chapter Four: “The Valley of the Shadow”: Pain. Blinding, excruciating pain. Shouting. Dark figures looming over her body. Something digging into her chest, causing searing agony. She screamed. More shouting. Something rough pressed against her mouth, cutting of her screams and air. She writhed only to be swallowed by a cold weariness. She blacked out again. //////////////////////////// A clatter of noise greeted Rarity’s ears as she slowly came to. The vaguely metallic sound felt like nails on a chalkboard to her aching head. Her chest felt as if it were on fire, and every little movement she made only managed to make another bolt of pain explode across her chest. There were some scattered shouts that sounded like a strange mixture of barks, yelps and squawks. She blinked several times, but could only see pitch blackness in front of her. There was some more murmuring and yammering and there could be heard the sounds of more metal clattering. Rarity took a breath, as some wretched smelling rough fabric pressed against her mouth and nose, pulled in by her inhalation. She was hooded. Her mind went into overdrive running through several wildly paranoid scenarios, all involving various ponynapping horror stories she had heard or read about in newspapers and gossip magazines. There was a sudden explosion of yellowish-white light as the bag was lifted off her head, exposing her to the bright spotlights. She blinked her eyes in a rapid frenzy, trying to adjust in the sudden shift in lighting. As the image came into focus, she had an opportunity to get a rough idea of her surroundings. In front of her was a rather hulking diamond dog with a rather mundane cloth covering his face, with a small gap in the fabric for his eyes. He wore dirty old khaki's, and busied himself making what seemed to be some final adjustments to a surprisingly modern-looking video camera perched atop a tripod. Rarity tried to crane her head to the right, only for it to be gruffly pointed back towards the camera by another diamond dog’s paw. A quick glance showed that he was dressed in the same cloth hooded garb and khaki combo as the other was. Another glance to her left showed another diamond dog, and several more milled about, along with one or two griffins, their muddled speech sounding like nothing more than uncultured grunts, growls and squawks to Rarity. All of a sudden, a tall griffin stepped into Rarity’s field of vision, his head covered in the same hood as everyone else had. He squawked something that sounded like an order, and the diamond dog standing behind the camera nodded and pressed a button, which turned on a small, blinking red light. The griffin cleared his throat, and then began to jabber animatedly, facing the camera directly. Every so often he would wave a claw towards Rarity theatrically, all the while continuing his strange series of chirps and squawks that Rarity assumed was his uncouth excuse for a native tongue. It didn’t take Rarity long to figure out what was going on. This was most obviously a ransom video and she was the prized captive. As the griffin continued to squawk, he would occasionally receive a bark or growl of approval from the diamond dogs surrounding Rarity, apparently supporting wholesale whatever it was that the griffin was saying. The griffin finally finished his spiel, and turned to look at Rarity, and she could see his amber eyes peering through the mask. His eyes glinted with wicked glee, and the next thing Rarity was greeted with was a claw to the back of the head, and everything once more went black. //////////////////////////// The large griffin stepped inside the rather well-manicured room hewn out of the rock. At the back of the room, hidden from view by shadow, was a large high back chair that looked similar to a king’s throne. Two snake-like dragons carved from wood reared up next to the chair, and at the top stood another carved dragon, its wings spread out and mouth opened menacingly. Sitting on the chair was a large, blue-coated creature. His long arms were poised in front of him, fingers steepled and his face was shrouded in shadow. On his fingers were several rings, one on each finger, each radiating a strange, unearthly, different-colored glow which glinted off his yellow eyes and large fangs. “What is it, Herzlos?” the figure asked, his voice carrying with it a strange, calculating cadence, as if each word were emphasized with equal importance. “Have you prepared the message?” The griffin in question, Herzlos, cleared his throat, bowing his head in respect. “Yes, sir, it has been prepared,” his voice carried a controlled tone, as if he were walking on eggshells. The figure smiled. “Good. You may leave.” the figure waved a ring-adorned hand dismissively, and the griffin nodded, letting out a subconscious sigh of relief as he turned to walk out. The figure’s ears, however, perked up at this and he leaned forward in his chair. “Herzlos, is that a hint of fear I hear? I trust that you have nothing to hide from me, yes?” Herzlos stopped in his tracks and shifted on his paws, swallowing. “Ah, so you have been hiding something,” the figure said, standing upright, his lean frame looming over the griffin, his body still masked in shadow, as the glow from his rings increased noticeably. “Answer me, Herzlos,” he ordered, his voice still level, but still carrying a threatening tone. “Lord and Master, I must confess that during the attack, the prisoner...” he halted, desperately trying to find the right words. “What happened, Herzlos? The prisoner is alive, am I correct? I trust you have been suitable and deft in capturing her and didn’t cause any... unnecessary damage?” Herzlos swallowed again, taking a deep breath, “The prisoner was injured. Severely sir.” “Are you telling me she is dead?” the figure asked, his level tone becoming somewhat more pointed. Herzlos rapidly shook his head. “No, she is not, Lord and Master,” he said. “We’ve managed to repair as much of the damage as we could, Master.” The figure smiled, his ivory teeth catching the light from his rings. “Well, then, you had no reason to worry, Herzlos,” he turned back to his chair, once more taking his seat. “I will forgive this... mistake this time, Herzlos, but only because you managed to recover from it. However, I stress that you cannot be so overzealous in our pursuit of true justice.” “Yes, Lord and Master, I apologize,” he said, his voice reverent, like a child being disciplined by a parent and frightened of what potential punishment he might receive. “But, if I may, I must ask, why her?” The figure’s jackal-like ears swiveled forwards, and his eyes narrowed. “Whatever do you mean? Please be clear.” “What I ask is, why not capture a military general, or a politician? Why must we waste our resources on such an obviously foolish and useless target?” the griffin asked, his expression inquisitive and apprehensive. “You must understand, Herzlos, that Miss Belle is considerably more intelligent than she lets on. Trust me when I say that I do, in fact, have a reason for capturing her,” he paused, shifting in his chair slightly. “She has knowledge that we shall make use of. Here, take this,” he reached a blue-coated hand into an old and weathered briefcase, pulling out a manila folder with an emblem printed on it in black ink, showing two unicorns rearing up, their horns crossing over a large diamond. He handed the folder to the griffin, who took it in his talons. “Inside there you will find the reason for our capturing of Miss Belle,” the figure said as Herzlos opened the folder and quickly scanned through it. “I trust you now understand her value to us, Herzlos?” Herzlos nodded, looking up at the figure with understanding. “Yes, Lord and Master. I apologize for ever doubting you.” The figure scoffed. “I accept your apology. For now, I must meditate, and that requires me being alone. Understand?” Herzlos nodded and started for the door, his footsteps noticeably lighter. “Oh, and Herzlos,” the figure called out, causing Herzlos to once more stop in his tracks. “Yes, Lord and Master?” he asked, turning his head to look at the figure. “Make sure no more unnecessary harm comes to our new guest. Or else I shall have to discipline you.” Herzlos nodded. “Yes, Lord and Master, I swear to that.” “Good. Now depart,” the figure said, once more waving his hand dismissively. Herzlos started to the exit, opening the heavy steel door once more and closing it securely behind him. //////////////////////////// Rarity once more came to, her head pounding and ears ringing as if a miniature rock concert was being held inside her brain. The first thing she noticed, aside from the headache and the ringing ears, was the same burning ache from before. What in Celestia's name happened? She thought, taking notice of the strange object that was stuck up her nose. A wandering hand felt around blindly, stopping once it felt a long narrow tube running down the barrel of her chest. Her horn glowed and her magic gently tugged at the wire slightly. She could feel the object in her nose tug slightly in sync with the movements of her magic. What is this? She tugged once more at the tube in earnest, causing it to slowly slither out of her nostril, all the while making a disturbing, moist, squelching sound, causing her stomach to turn. Like a snake crawling along the ground, the tube finally was freed from her nose and she gagged, levitating the filthy tube as far away from her as possible. She let out an involuntary groan as her eyes drifted in her sockets, trying to process her dark and musty surrounding. It was obviously a cave of some sort, as the roughly hewn rock surface indicated. Embedded in the ceiling and walls of the cave were dozens, if hundreds of gems and precious stones of various sizes. In any other situation, she probably would have squealed for joy, and set up a small mine at the site to harvest this bounty for her projects, but it was obvious that this wasn't an option. The sound of someone humming caught her ears and her head swiveled to the left to see a rather thin looking diamond dog wearing an old vest, standing in front of an old and dirty mirror, brushing his coat while quietly humming something that sounded quite a bit like Beethoofen’s Ninth Symphony. He apparently noticed her movement, as he stopped brushing his coat and smiled into the mirror. “Well, good morning,” he said, his voice surprisingly well-mannered and cultured-sounding. “Fancy seeing you awake.” Rarity simply groaned in response, her mind still more occupied on what could be causing the searing pain in her chest. Her eyes drifted around the room, still trying to get her bearings. Next to her cot was a small wooden table with a large car battery on it. Attached to the top of the battery where two cables. Her innate curiosity got the better of her and she reached for the wires and started to follow them with her eyes, until they disappeared out her line of sight and under the old dirty shirt she found herself wearing. She pulled the shirt up to reveal a mass of soiled white bandages. She felt her stomach tense up at the sight and against her better judgement started to tear away at the old cloth, ripping away layer after layer. Her stomach twisted when she saw the metal ring implanted into her chest. Surrounding it was a grotesque looking scab and her coat and chest were covered in dried blood stains. This sight managed to finally shatter any hopes she might have had that this had all simply been some sort of aberrant dream, and she moved a hoof to her chest, pawing at the ring of metal, hoping that she could maybe pull it out. “I really wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the diamond dog said, walking up to her. "Not if you want to stay alive, anyways." Rarity looked up at him, completely baffled. “What in Celestia’s good name is this... this... abomination, and what is it doing in my chest?!” she asked, her voice tight with panic. “That,” - the diamond dog pointed a finger at the metal ring - “is an electro-magnet, and that,” - he pointed towards the battery - “is the power source.” Rarity’s eyes followed the diamond dog’s gestures and quickly put two and two together. It was obvious that if this diamond dog were telling the truth, that meant that the magnet (if it really was a magnet) was most likely doing something vitally important. “What is this for?" she asked, calming down slightly as she sat in a slightly more comfortable upright position. Just remain calm, Rarity, and maybe you can get some answers, she thought as she discreetly pushed the old shirt asides and warily watched the diamond dog sit down next to her and reach into his coat pocket. He pulled out a small vial, which Rarity saw held several small flecks of metal. "You had quite a bit of shrapnel in your chest, so they asked me to take out as much as I could. That's all that's left, since they took the rest to recycle." Rarity said nothing, instead gingerly taking the vial in her hoof and silently inspecting it. She could see what looked like a chaotic mix of marble flecks, slivers of metal and what looked like pebbles. She felt her stomach twist again at the thought of that having been in her chest. "Um... thank you, Mr...?" She asked, realizing she didn't even know this good Samaritan's name yet. The diamond dog smiled warmly and extended a paw in greeting. "My name is Kili, Dr. Kili. Nice to meet you properly." Rarity raised her eyebrow slightly, unsure of what to do next. This 'Kili' fellow seemed nice enough, and apparently was the one behind the device in her chest. His smile was warm and inviting, giving off a sense friendliness and his eyes radiated sincerity. Of course, the paranoid part of Rarity told her that this could all be an elaborate ruse on his part, that he was actually in cahoots with the ruffians that had so obviously seen fit to ponynap her, and to be wary. However, she couldn't deny, the fact that, ruse or no ruse, he had obviously seen fit to save her life. The least she could do was thank him. She extended a hoof slowly and shook his paw gently. "Nice to meet you Dr. Kili. I'm Rarity, Rarity Belle." Kili smiled, "Oh I know who you are. The whole world knows who you are, you’re Equestria's premiere robotics designer, and the country's most eligible bachelorette..." His smile faded somewhat and he sighed. "Not that it matters. To these people, you're nothing more than another prized captive, here only as a quick way to get their paws on a couple million bits. Just like me." “What do you mean, 'prized captive'?” Rarity asked, the sound of the words reminding her of even more horror stories. “What are they going to do to me?” Kili shrugged. “I honestly don’t know exactly what they decided with you. All I know is I’m woken up to find you with a hole in your chest, and them demanding I fix you up. So, that’s what I did.” Rarity looked back down at the magnet in her chest, taken aback by the fact that this diamond dog of all things had been able to fashion one out what seemed to be spare parts. Her eyes drifted to the car battery, her mind quickly running through the scenarios. He had said he had gotten most of the shrapnel out, not all of it. That meant there was still some inside of her. Her gut told her that she most likely didn’t have much time. The full scope of her situation finally dawned on her: here she was, hundreds of miles from home, in a dark and filthy cave with a small, homemade electromagnet most likely being the single thing keeping her heart beating and her alive. “How much were you able to get out? How long do I have?" She asked, her voice hushed as she mulled over her situation. Kili shrugged. "Well, I got a good amount of it out, given the circumstances. But there's still quite a few chunks left. The magnet is to keep those from drifting into your heart...” he paused, obviously hesitant to give Rarity an answer as he beat around the bush. “Well?” she asked, growing more tense as she waited for a response. Kili sighed. “Maybe three or four days, but no more than that.” He motioned towards the battery. “That’s the lifespan of the battery, at least.” At those words, Rarity’s hope for escaping seemed to evaporate. Three days? That was all she had? Three days and then her life would be snuffed out, with her left to die in a cave in the middle of nowhere. Alone. And not only that, but the death was most likely going to be an incredibly painful one. The idea of shards of razor-sharp metal piercing her heart, all at the same time, made her stomach twist. There was a sudden knock at the door, however, which caused Rarity’s whole body to tense up reflexively. Kili stood erect almost instantaneously, his face worrisome. He beckoned for Rarity to stand up, and she did, although in her worried and confused state, she forgot to levitate the battery, and felt a razor-sharp sting in her chest as the cables went taut. Her horn quickly flared and she lifted the battery beside her. Her eyes gravitated to the doorknob, as it jiggled, and there could be heard muttered complaints in various foreign languages. However, the doorknob didn’t jiggle for long, as it finally gave way and the door swung open, screeching on its hinges. In stepped a large, imposing-looking griffin, followed by two diamond dogs wielding large machine guns. The griffin was dressed in a rather bedraggled military uniform, as where the two diamond dogs. The griffin made a beeline towards Rarity, putting a talon on each shoulder. Rarity tensed up at the unexpected contact, recognizing the griffin’s hazel eyes as the eyes of the hooded griffin from earlier. “Welcome, Rarity Belle, chief maiden of Equestrian Imperialism,” he said in thickly accented Equestrian. Rarity simply blinked, unsure of what to make of her new title. The griffin however seemed unaware of her confusion, as he continued to yammer on. “For far too long we have stood idly by and allowed the draconic forces of Equestria to strangulate our people. Now we have finally struck the first blow in order to destroy its acidic grip.” He then paused, dropping his talons from her shoulders and reaching under his wing to pull out a folder with the Belle Tech logo on it. Rarity’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of her company’s logo on the folder. How did they come by that?! she thought, utterly baffled. The griffin opened the folder and pulled out a black-and-white photo of one of her missile designs. She looked from the photo to the griffin, connecting the dots. “Is that why you have me here? Do you suggest that I build you one of these?” she asked indignantly. The griffin nodded. Rarity looked towards Kili. “Surely this... plebeian can’t be serious?” She then turned back to the griffin. “Because if you are serious, and intend to use these weapons against my country, then I most assuredly say no." The griffin’s expression changed from secure satisfaction to rage and he barked in his native tongue, an ear-grating squawk. Rarity winced at the sudden verbal assault but stood her ground, shaking her head. “My words are final. And I will not be swayed by your barbaric shouting, you overgrown chicken.” She emphasized the last words with a haughty lifting of her nose. No matter the situation, she was Rarity Belle, and that meant that some poor excuse for a terrorist would most certainly not boss her around like a housewife. However, what happened next was most unexpected on her part. She felt the griffin’s rough talons grab her shoulders violently and lift her up off the ground. “WHAT?! Let me go, you bastard!” she shrieked, kicking and flailing her legs, any further protests being silenced by the wires once more going tight and causing another acidic burst of pain to go across her chest. She looked to see the battery being dragged along the ground behind the griffin, with one of the armed diamond dogs quickly scooping it up and carrying it behind her. The fear of instant death temporarily abated, she once more resumed her protests, but was quickly silenced by a talon over her mouth. The griffin carried her through the labyrinthine cave system, ending up in front of another nondescript metal door. The griffin pounded a talon on the door, and it opened to reveal an incredibly burly and rough-looking diamond dog. The griffin once more barked what sounded like an order, and the diamond dog nodded and allowed them inside. Rarity tried her best to get a view of the room, but the awkward way the griffin held her prevented her from catching anything more than a fleeting glimpse of her surroundings. Out of nowhere came a torrent of water, which poured into her open mouth and nostrils. Her eyes clamped shut as the dirty water stung them. She could feel the griffin's talons wrapped around her neck like a vice, holding her head under the water. She could feel the air quickly leave her lungs as a torrent of bubbles escaped her nose. She quickly realized that she didn't have that much air left, as her lungs stung. She could feel her whole body vibrate spastically as the electromagnet hit the water as well, sending electrical shocks through her body. Her head was unexpectedly yanked above the water however, and the world briefly flew into focus, the sound of the magnet sparking being the most prominent sound to her eyes. She drew in air desperately in a series of deep, heaving gasps, her head swimming. "You will do as we say, or I will personally cut you open and eat you myself!" The griffin growled in her ear, before shoving her head under again. Rarity once more felt the panic of drowning overtake her before being yanked up again a mere second later. "Understand?!" the griffin barked, once more about to shove her head under again before she cried out. "Wait! Wait please!" she cried, gasping and panting for air mere inches above the water, her voice desperate. "I'll do it! I'll do it!" She repeated desperately, hoping she wouldn't be subject to another horrifying encounter with the water. The griffin simply growled, yanking her head up so he could look her in the eye. "I don't believe you," he hissed. "All Equestrians are liars." He shoved her head towards the water more. Rarity braced herself for impact, only hear a booming voice come from behind them. "HERZLOS!" The voice ordered, and Rarity could feel the griffin's vice like grip loosen almost instantaneously causing Rarity to slip out of his grasp and topple over to the ground, shoving herself away from the water tank, hitting the ground like a rag doll, her body heaving as she coughed up the filthy water. As she lay on the ground, she could still hear the voices of the people surrounding her. "Lord and Master!" The griffin could be heard saying, his voice losing all its venom and anger, only to be replaced by abject terror. There were footfalls and a vaguely blue-colored blob drifted into her rapidly fading field of vision. She couldn't quite make out what the voice said next, as she felt her consciousness drift in and out of focus, but whatever it was, it sounded enraged. There was the gristly sound of bones being broken and a cry of pain that sounded like the griffin, and the next thing she knew, her body was being hefted into the air and once more carried down the corridor and back to her cell, and she was unceremoniously tossed onto her cot, the pain in her chest once more at the forefront of her mind. There was some more barking and squawking that sounded generally confused and chaotic. Rarity didn’t care. All she wanted to do was curl up and escape from this horrible nightmare. Her wish was granted as she felt herself slip into unconsciousness and the world was once more black. //////////////////////////// “Mommy, look what I drew!” The tiny alabaster filly chirped, holding up her rather crude drawing up to the older lavender unicorn, who was busy working on some drawings of dresses, muttering numbers and measurements under her breath. “Rarity, dear, I don’t have time for your foalish games,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. The filly’s expression fell slightly, “Please, Mommy. Just take a quick look?” she begged, putting on the cutest face she could muster. The older mare sighed, setting her pencil down and looked down at the young filly, taking the drawing up in her hand and inspecting it for a brief moment. “Well, Mommy? Do you like it?!” The filly asked, her voice eager. The older mare simply shrugged. “Seems rather ramshackle, dear. What was it supposed to be, anyways?” she asked, raising an eyebrow slightly and unceremoniously levitating the drawing back over to the filly. “It’s supposed to be a robot, Mommy, like on on the television!” she pointed towards the doodle, which looked somewhat like a stick figure of a pony with two straight lines coming out of its head. “And that’s me controlling it, see?” the filly beamed, pointing at the bottom right corner, where there was another stick figure, this one much smaller and with only a single stick coming out of its head. It had a bunch of purple scribbles around it’s head with the word ‘Me’ scrawled in crayon. The older mare raised her eyebrow slightly before shrugging and returning to her own work. “I don’t see why one would need such a thing, Rarity,” the older mare said, her attention obviously focused on the dress designs in front of her and not on the alabaster filly. Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Oh, but we do, Mommy! It’s going to be really strong so it can lift heavy stuff! Maybe even help rescue ponies!” The older mare shook her head. “Nonsense, Rarity. We have rescue ponies already and cranes for the job. Why waste thousands if not millions of bits on something that is only a glorified filly’s toy?” “B-but Mommy...” Rarity whimpered, her hopes having been dashed. The older mare seemed to notice her whimpering, as she cast her a sideways glance before sighing and looking the young filly in the eyes. “Look Rarity, you must learn one vitally important thing,” her voice sounded as if she were trying to be kind, but her own naturally icy tone sabotaged it. “If you are going to create something, it must in some way make the world a better place. All while being quick, efficient and above all, not inexpensive. This,” she pointed a hoof at the drawing. “Is neither quick, nor efficient and most definitely not inexpensive. Nopony wants a machine that costs ten million bits that does the same job of a machine that costs one thousand bits. Understand?” Rarity hung her head and nodded. “Yes, Mother... I understand.” Pearl smiled. “Good. Now, Mommy has to work now, okay?” with that, she sat back up and returned to her designs, leaving Rarity to glumly walk out of the room, carrying her drawing behind her, not saying a word.