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The interrogation room of Ponyville was small, yet clean. There only things Lacom had in the room were a couch he was reclining on, a cover, and a small bag of popcorn. He had protested and demanded that he be given meat, however, the guards did not listen. Eventually, he got hungry and decided to eat the snack.
"Even though this weird food tastes good, I would kill for a steak right now," he complained before finishing his food. He then closed his eyes and prepared to lie down and rest, however he was interrupted by a policemare.
The officer was an orange earth mare, whose blue eyes looked very dull and uninterested, as indicated by how she looked ready to sleep. Her mane was brown and horrendously uncombed. On her body she wore an unbuttoned, unironed, black dress shirt and a collar around her neck. Her cutie mark was a stone with cuts on it. She looked at Lacom with a bored look.
"So, let's get down to business. You decided to steal from a library, kidnap a minor, and attempted to kill the Element of Magic. What kind of idiot are you?" she spoke. She then sighed. "So, to start off, why'd you do all that, kid?"
Lacom then looked at the mare with lustful eyes. "She may not be my species, but she's got some nice curves," he thought, letting his lower self think for him. He responded to her question as such: "You know, I'm not sure I'll tell you... unless you tell me your name," he said in a flirtatious tone. He got a punch in the stomach for this.
"Don't push me. I've made psychopaths cry like children. But to answer your question, my name is Stone Heart," she stated while rolling her eyes at his attempt to flirt with her.
Lacom chuckled in spite of the pain of the punch Stone Heart had given him. "I can see why they call you that," he replied while grunting in pain. Stone Heart then cleared her throat. "W-w-what?" Lacom asked.
"The information," the mare replied, sounding a bit impatient.
The wolf tried to be tough. "Bitch please, do your worst. I ain't selling out my planet or my army," he said with audacity and a smirk. Stone Heart let out a small laugh and rolled her eyes. "What's so funny?" Lacom yelled, not pleased with her laughter.
Stone Heart composed herself and replied with a dull tone. "Because you gave me two pieces of important information. One: you're from another planet. Two: you're part of some army," she finished as looked at him with cold eyes. "Now tell me more."
Lacom mentally slapped himself, but wouldn't give up. "Yeah, I'm gonna have to say no on that one. The higher ups would kill me," he responded. He then closed his eyes and smiled, looking extremely smug. "So, you might as well let me go free right now," he stated.
"Oh, and why is that, Lacom?" Stone Heart asked uninterested.
Lacom then grinned. "Because, bitch, the kingdom I'm part of has control of threeplanets!" he revealed while getting in her face. This caused Stone Heart to open her eyes fully. She wasn't shocked, but interested. She then pushed Lacom on the couch.
"Really? An army that controls three planets?" she asked, fascinated. "You know, even a mouse can slay a snake, so don't get too cocky," she scolded the teen, who scoffed.
"Look who's talking. You should know when you're beaten," Lacom chastised. "You've got spunk, I like that in my chicks. Makes it all the more fun when I bed them," he said before extending his tongue to try and cop a feel of the flanks of the orange pony. However, his attempt was failed when the mare said one thing.
"Bees," Stone Heart said simply. Suddenly, a bee flew on Lacom's tongue and stung it, making him squeal. He then retracted the organ, crushing the bee in the process. However, that wasn't the end of his suffering.
A bee soon flew on Lacom's face and stung him. He crushed it with his paw and rubbed the spot where he was stung. Two more bees came out of nowhere and stung him. "What is with the bees?" the wolf asked while looking around to see where the insects where coming from. While he was distracted, he felt several more stings on the midmost part of his body. When he looked down, he saw something unexpected.
On Lacom's midsection where bees. Hundreds of them were stinging him. And they quickly multiplied, reaching high and low, making him howl in continuous pain as they stung his body all over. They were everywhere: on his face, on his paws, in his eyes, and even up his nostrils. This was torture.
Lacom screamed, but was interrupted as the bees eventually reached his throat, preventing him from speaking or breathing. Lacom's heart pounded with the fear of losing his life. His body twisted, turned, and contorted with pain. However, his pain would soon be over.
"Bees," Stone Heart said. Suddenly the bees disappeared like magic, though Lacom could still feel the pain of the stings. The wolf shuddered in pain and was somewhat traumatized, though not enough to refrain from giving the policemare a piece of his mind.
"What the hell was that!?" he demanded to know in a mix of fear and fury. "What was with the bees!?"
"That popcorn you just ate contained a powerful drug. It's called Essence of Nightmare. It makes you imagine you're in a horrifying illusion. There are over 1,000 known variations, each contained in the snacks we provide to the prisoners," she explained as Lacom's fury and paranoia grew. "It's activated by saying a certain phrase. Each food item contains a specific variation of the drug with a specific phrase to make it kick in and to make it stop," she finished explaining.
"How could you drug me? I'm just a teen! You should be fired for cruel and unusual treatment!" he whined, trying to gain some sympathy. However, Stone Heart had something else to say.
"A teen who kidnapped a minor and tried to kill somepony," she countered. "Besides, it's legal to do this. You're lucky I'm interrogating you, cause if you give me some info, depending on how juicy it is, the police may lighten your punishment," she said, the wolf's head perking up at the thought of being show mercy.
"Guess that's a fair trade," Lacom stated meekly, deciding to comply. "Besides, you had me when you used those bees on me. Okay, so what in particular do you wanna know?" he asked while the policemare closed her eyes in thought.
"Okay, lets see what I know: One: He's an alien. Two: He's affiliated with an army. Three: He wanted to kill the Element of Magic. I think I know which question is most important, she thought. "Since you're an alien, I'd like to ask you why you're here in the first place," she asked.
"I'm supposed to steal whatever I can, and kill whoever they tell me to kill," Lacom responded with Stone Heart nodding. "Before my bosses decides to begin colonization, I, along with other thieves, need to learn what I can."
Stone Heart rubbed her chin at this. "Interesting. Speaking of thievery, I need to ask you about those symbols you and your buddies left behind. Why in Durga's* name would you leave behind something so obvious?" she asked.
Lacom sweated and gulped, knowing that if his bosses knew he chickened out and talked, there would be hell to pay. If he got out, that is. "Those are Bloodsucker Seals," he answered.
"Bloodsucker Seals?" the mare asked with slight amusement in her voice. "I'm surprised a planet that still uses seals managed to somehow gain control of three planets," she said insultingly, which made Lacom gasp in offense
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lacom demanded to know.
Stone Heart sighed. "I hate having to explain things. But to keep it brief, seals were what the primitive equines used before we learned to use magic on our own. Now, about those Bloodsucker Seals," she demanded impatiently.
"They're seals that we draw in our own or in someone else's blood in order to use our magic," Lacom explained while looking a bit bored. He wished that this could end already so he could get his sentence over with.
"What did that seal in the houses do?" Stone Heart asked.
"It was a seal for a teleportation spell," Lacom answered with Stone Heart rubbing her chin.
"So you and your other group of thieves teleported from here to your planet," she concluded with Lacom nodding. "But there's one problem: How did you get here from your planet? Teleportation spells require the user to have been to the area where they teleported."
Lacom shrugged. "I had someone else with me who did the spell. I can't use teleportation magic," he answered, with Stone Heart rubbing her chin.
"So by that logic, you and the other one traveled here by spacecraft, broke into the house, the other one drew the seal, then teleported himself back home while you stole the books," the policemare confirmed, with the wolf nodding.
"Say, you're pretty good," Lacom complimented. Stone Heart paid no heed to the compliment, and focused on interrogating the thief.
"It's all coming together now. Now I would like to ask you why you stole books of all things," Stone Heart requested.
"It's strategy. We steal books that contain info. Info like spells, history, how their government works, etc. We do that before we actually begin the invasion," Lacom informed. Stone Heart smirked a bit at this interesting information.
"Ingenious. Now tell me why you decided to take down the Element of Magic," she demanded while getting close to Lacom's face.
"W-w-well in one of the books we learned about the Elements of Harmony. Like how there are six of them, how they're connected to six ponies, and the fact that they only work when used together," Lacom informed with nervousness, since he was selling out his people.
"So I would be correct in assuming that you decided to kill Twilight in order to prevent the Elements from working," Stone Heart guessed with Lacom nodding. "But there's one problem: how did you know Twilight in particular was the Element of Magic?" she asked with Lacom sweating.
"W-w-well it's a funny story. You see in order to figure out more about the Elements of Harmony, we kidnapped one of the Royal Guards," he stated, with Stone Heart's face doing a total 180. She now looked serious, as if she was a completely different pony.
"He said he kidnapped a Royal Guard. Recently, my brother, Stone Armor, went missing. I think I know who it is," were the now serious mare's thoughts. "Tell. Me. More," said the interrogator. Lacom suddenly smirked.
"Oh? You finally stopped being stoic," Lacom noted with Stone Heart's look becoming more intense. "Okay, geez. Stop giving me that look," he stated in nervousness before clearing his throat. "It took place a couple of days before I committed the theft. I wasn't there, but I was given the details of his torture," He began, before Stone Heart interrupted him with a glare that could scare off an Ursa Major.
"Torture!?" the mare asked, fuming at this shocking revelation.
Lacom gulped, but continued. "Yes, we tortured him. We needed to find out some information on this planet's strengths and weaknesses. The bastard was tough; the interrogators stabbed him, broke his bones, and even tore his skin off. But he didn't budge a bit," the wolf explained, making Stone Heart smile.
"My bro was always a bit stubborn," the pony said happily in spite of the pain her brother went through. However, that happiness would be short lived.
"Seeing that physical torture wouldn't work, they tried to get him mentally, and boy did it work," Lacom said happily in spite of his situation, smiling due to the fact that he knew that he hurt his enemies both emotionally and physically.
Stone Heart was shocked at this new information. "What did they do!?" she yelled as her veins showed.
Lacom put his paws up defensively. "Cool your teats bitch, I was just getting to that. They used a spell to read his mind. They found out he had a wife and daughter. We used an a spell to make illusions of them, though the pony didn't know they were illusions. And guessed what they did," he said with a sadistic smirk and a stifled laugh, happy to traumatize the policemare for the sake of petty revenge.
Stone Heart looked ready to strangle the canine, though she kept her calm and remembered that she had to interrogate him. "What?" she asked in fear, honestly not wanting to know.
Lacom grinned wider. "They violated the two bitches," he said with Stone Heart becoming increasingly angry, which made Lacom increasingly happy. "They fucked them, beat them, and tortured them. The guy didn't have the stones to take it, and he broke down crying like a little bitch, all of the while unaware of the fact that the two cunts we were raping weren't even real," he revealed mockingly before laughing like a hyena. The wolf's laughter made Stone Heart lose it and give the sadist a good punch in the gut, sending him crashing into the wall with great force. Lacom was in great pain, had a bloody nose, and even had some broken legs. In spite of this, Lacom still had the strength to talk, eager to get his revenge.
"He revealed a bunch. He told us about the Elements, who the Elements are, about all of the kickass tech you guys have. Seriously, your stuff makes ours look like shit. They wanted him to sing like a bird. And boy did he sing," he explained in detail, still having the smug smile on his face. Stone Heart had enough of this and marched over to him, wanting to know more.
"And where exactly is my brother now?" she demanded.
Lacom's face moved closer to her's, almost making physical contact. "In hell. After all, we couldn't let him get away with knowing our secrets," he cruelly revealed, making Stone Heart nearly sink into despair. "Now if you're done, I have a lightened punishment to-"
"No," said Stone Heart.
Lacom was confused. "Why? I told you everything you needed to know," he said, not happy that his inevitable punishment would be delayed.
Stone Heart glared at Lacom, making him lose the color in his face. "Because I need you to answer three more questions for me," she told him, making Lacom sigh.
"Fine, what are the three questions?" he asked impatiently.
"First, I would like to know what type of technology your planet uses," the pony requested.
"Like I said before your stuff makes mine look like shit. Though if you want to be specific, we use steam technology," he admitted, making Stone Heart gulp.
"Yikes. They conquered two planets with steam tech. Hate to imagine what they could do with today's level of tech," she thought, having a bit of doubt in her nation's ability to defeat the enemies they would have to face. "Secondly, tell me about the abilities of the other two races you guys have conquered,"
"The first race we conquered is called the Fire Tigers. They have the ability to produce magically enhanced flames. The second race is called the Nagas**. They use a combination of animals, weaponry, and magic," Lacom explained.
Stone Heart felt satisfied with the information she was given. "Finally, tell me when the debut attack is going to take place," she asked, making Lacom surprised.
"You're one thorough bitch. Very well, to answer your question, it's going to be in five of your species's days at Canterlot. They want to steal the Elements of Harmony," he answered. "Now that these questions are answered, can you just take me to away?" he asked.
"Very well, I feel no need to ask you anything more," Stone Heart said. She then started shouting. "Okay guys, I'm done!" she said to no one in particular. Immediately, two muscled policeponies came in and took Lacom away, the later groaning due to his injuries.
Stone Heart didn't expect this at all. Aliens coming to colonize the planet. Worse, they already controlled two other planets AND they had access to key information about the country. She only knew one thing:
"This is going to the Queen."
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(Two Days Later)
(Queen Celestia's bedroom)
The bedroom of the Queen was what you would expect. It had a large, comfortable bed, numerous decorations, rare plants, etc. Many ponies would kill to have even a small percentage of it. On the opposite side of the bedroom was a medium-large altar with a small stone statue on it. The statue in question was that of an alicorn with multiple hooves and wings, and in its hooves and wings were numerous weapons***.
Queen Celestia's current state of mind was not what one would call okay. After learning about the invasion which would take place within three days along with the fact that the invaders have three planets, she was a wreck. Her multicolored mane was in a mess, her eyes had bags, and she couldn't get any sleep. She even had to take pills, just to stop herself from going insane. She was currently reading a letter.
"Oh goodness, this may possibly be the worst situation of my life," she stated as she stroked her head in thought. "Not only are we about to be attacked, but the new stallion my faithful student met also wields one of those wretched Keyblades," Celestia stated in a stressed tone as she tried to think. A new voice soon interrupted her thoughts.
"Oh my Queen, why must you think so negatively? If we play our cards right, we can control the Keyblade wielder," said a smug, yet comforting voice. The statement came from a notably portly aqua-haired unicorn stallion. His mane was black on its left side and a dark shade of gray on its right side. His eyes were a very dark shade of crimson. His cutie mark was a flock of ravens bowing down to a larger raven. On his face was a bored yet smug smile.
This stallion's name was Great One. He was Celestia's adviser and the captain of special group of unicorn soldiers known as "The Dark Angels." They are powerful users of magic. They are called the Dark Angels because of their use of black magic. Most ponies would be imprisoned and be given a punishment worse than death for practicing such dangerous arts. Only the Dark Angels are allowed to practice them and live. This is due to the trust that the Queen places in them.
Great One himself what most ponies would call "a total jerk." He is known for being brutal, very critical and sarcastic, smug, insulting, and he never shows any empathy for anypony other than himself. In spite of this, he is praised for his power, leadership, teaching methods, competence, and loyalty to Celestia and the nation as a whole. However, even Celestia is not spared from his words.
"Honestly, are you so simple? We can use this!" he stated with glee. Celestia looked somewhat puzzled. Great One sighed. "Must I explain everything to everypony, even you? Very well. As you know, Keyblades are powerful," he said with Celestia rolling her eyes.
"I couldn't have possibly guessed that on my own," the Queen said sarcastically.
Great One ignored her. "Considering what happened with the other Keyblade wielder," he began, with both he and Celestia wincing. "It is clear we must try to maintain a good relationship with him. Make him believe we trust him."
Celestia had problems with this. "But what if he suspects us of using him? What if he gets out of line?" she asked with slight fear in her voice. Even if she was an alicorn, she still seemed afraid of the Keyblade wielders for some reason.
Great One patted her head patronizingly. "What I have in mind will prevent that if we are lucky enough. We just need to find out about his personality, powers, and certain personal information. The invasion tomorrow will help us learn some," he said as if it were simple. Celestia thought about it.
"I understand learning about his powers, but why his personality and personal information?" she inquired of Great One, who smirked even wider.
"It is obvious," he said arrogantly. "For his personality, we need to know his mental state and sense of morals. Depending on what we see of him, we will know how to manipulate him," he said as if it were the most easy thing in the world. "As for his personal information," he began before leaning closer to Celestia and putting his mouth to her ear. He whispered something to her. Celestia looked shocked at what she heard and slapped Great One.
"That is terrible! I'm not surprised you of all ponies would suggest that, but how could you expect me to go along with it?" Celestia said offended. She then slapped him three more times, still not satisfied with the one slap she had given. Great One then rubbed his cheeks.
"Ow! You could've just said no!" he complained, before talking more about his plan. "Anyway, you know as well as I do that the Keyblade is a dangerous weapon. I'm just suggesting what the best choice of action is," he stated while getting close to her and whispering in her ear. "We could have a powerful soldier who is loyal to Equestria and will follow anything we say."
Celestia seemed uneasy about this judging from the guilty look on her face. She could barely speak. "I-I-I will approve your idea," she stated in discomfort, which made Great One's smile ear to ear. He then began walking out of the room.
"Excellent! I will fly over to Ponyville and pick up Twilight and her new friend. I'll use my own personal jet," Great One stated happily.
Celestia looked confused at this. "Why only Twilight? Why not the rest of the Elements?" she asked.
Great One chuckled. "Because, I know Twilight well and I trust her with the information I am going to give her. I don't know anything about her friends' personalities. If I brought them along, they might eavesdrop on us," he explained, which gave Celestia a peace of mind. She then got in bed and put the covers on her body.
However, unbeknownst to the Queen, Great One had another plan he didn't tell her. One that he knew Celestia would never approve of.