Deadman stood in silence, aiming his gun at Chrysalis for a few minutes before he heard the noise of hooves on the stone stairway, heading downwards towards them.
Celestia shortly came around the corner, flanked by Captain Shining Armour as well as some extra guards. As the procession came to the bottom of the stairs, they stopped in perfect step with each other. Princess Celestia was the first to speak.
“It was a poor choice for you to come back here, Chrysalis,” she said, glaring at her with enough intensity to break down most.
“I understand that now, given that you have him on your side,” Chrysalis said, glancing back over her shoulder.
“Evil never triumphs, Chrysalis, I thought you would have figured that out after the first time you tried to take Canterlot. Perhaps I gave you too much credit,” Celestia said rather coldly.
“Evil is subjective, Celestia,” she spoke, obviously trying to sound intimidating but her current weak state made it come out like far more like a whimper.
Shining Armour stepped forward, fire burning in his eyes and said “There is nothing subjective about invading the home of somepony else and trying to take it over for your own nefarious purpose.”
“That is an opinion, Captain, not an objective fact,” Chrysalis retaliated, eyes narrowing at him. Deadman could feel the history between the two of them, it was very distinctly a hated born of something that happened in the past. He would have to look up information on past interactions later.
“Enough! Captain Armour control yourself,” Celestia shouted, causing Shining Armour to flinch “Chrysalis, you have wronged my subjects, and that action is not without consequences. I hereby sentence you to confinement to the dungeon until further notice.” She turned to one of the nearby guards and said “Get the standard, the unicorn, and the pegasi restraints,” she commanded.
“No...” muttered Chrysalis as she went to take a step, before stopping as Deadman reminded her of his presence by tapping his foot on the ground. It appeared that she was more scared of him than she was of imprisonment.
One of the guards, the very same pegasi which went to get Celestia earlier if he remembered correctly left, presumably to get the aforementioned restraints.
“No? I want you to come up with a reason why I should not put you in there and throw away the key,” Celestia challenged.
“Let us be realistic, there is nothing that I could possibly say that you would change your mind on this,” Chrysalis spat, looking up from the ground for the first time in a while and staring directly into Celestia’s eyes.
“I dare say you may be correct, there is no justifiable reason for your actions,” Celestia said, taking a step towards Chrysalis.
“I would advise you against that, your highness. She demonstrated some highly dangerous combat abilities that I was not briefed upon, and thus must assume were previously unknown to your government,” Deadman said. Even if Chrysalis could not stand her own ground in a fight right now, she could still cause some major damage if she were to get a chance to attack Celestia while her guard was down.
“Very well,” she said, stopping and going back to her previously position.
Soon enough, the guard who had flown off returned with a set of metal manacles with four cuffs, a harness which looked like it was meant to wrap around the midsection of a pony, and a ring attached to a set of gear. His guess was that the cuffs were to restrict leg movement, the body harness for restricting wing movement, and the headpiece for restricting magic use.
The pegasi passed off the head and body harness to two other nearby ponies, who cautiously approached Chrysalis as a group, under the watchful eye of guards near the stairs as well as Celestia herself.
She stood perfectly still as the pegasi fastened the cuffs around her hooves with a clank for each cuff closing, restricting the range her legs could move in massively.
A unicorn levitated the set of wing restricting gear into the air before undoing the straps on it. He put it onto Chrysalis slowly, pinning her wings down. Tightening the straps, the unicorn finished his third of the process.
The third and final pony, also a unicorn, lifted the piece of headgear and slowly slipped the ring over her horn, sliding it down right to the base before before doing up the straps on it as well.
“Thank you, now escort her to the dungeon, guards.” Celestia said, the guards who had strapped her in immediately flanking Chrysalis and the one towards the back jabbing her with the dull end of a spear, prompting her to start walking forward, guided by the guard in front. As she was escorted away Celestia turned to Deadman “I must speak to you, preferably right after you get some rest. I imagine you must be tired after a regular day followed by fighting through the night.”
“Thank you, your highness, I will be certain that I will,” he began, lowering his gun into a resting position as the changeling left sight “But I must request that I be allowed to accompany Queen Chrysalis to her cell for security reasons.”
“I will allow it. Are you worried about her escaping? She is secured quite well,” Celestia said.
“Her combat abilities far surpass what I can assume your guards possess, if we use the combat performance of her forces and the state of the castle when I arrived to estimate their ability. Even without magic she could be still be a threat,” Deadman explained, trying to hide his rather low opinion of their effectiveness. They weren’t very good at their jobs if this incident was any indication.
“I see… It may be best if you are off now, if you want to accompany them,” she said, gesturing with a wing towards the path down which the procession had gone.
“Thank you, I will be off then,” he said before turning away and jogging after the procession, coming across them quickly thanks to the fact that their pace was slowed a great deal by the walking speed of their changeling prisoner.
The guards there didn’t seem too terribly startled at his sudden presence bringing up the rear, as they just continued on what they were doing without giving him more than a collective glance to confirm who it was. Chrysalis, however, shivered a bit. It was apparent to him that he may have traumatized her a bit, making her at least a bit afraid of him.
Try as he might, he could not think up any negatives to that. It certainly made his job a lot easier.
Following the silent procession they soon enough started retracing the path which he had taken to get to and from the dungeon earlier, reaching the very same door with the dead changelings outside.
The guard in front telekinetically opened the door without a comment and continued through into the dungeon. As they passed by, Deadman noted that there was bodies were pushed off to the side, but not cleaned up. It was likely they moved resources through here recently. The blood smears from the movement of the bodies was also fairly fresh looking, so it seemed likely to him that whoever moved the bodies did it minutes before this little procession arrived here.
As they continued into the dungeons they went deeper than they did previously, down three sets of stairs into what he guessed to be, given his earlier looks at the structure of the castle through the HRV, the deepest reaches of the dungeon.
As the guards proceeded the lead one eventually came to a door which looked to be as if it was more recently moved than the rest, pointing towards the cell being prepared.
The lead unicorn once more took the initiative, swinging open the door to reveal a room that was rather nice, at least for a cell.
The cell was above average in size, and there was a comparatively looking nice mattress lying on the ground in the corner along with a moderately well stocked looking bookshelf and some basic amenities scattered around the room. All in all, it was certainly a lot nicer than what he had to come to mind when he heard Celestia say dungeon, it reminded him of a modern prison more than anything else.
Chrysalis stepped in the room and the pegasi from earlier stepped into the room and removed the manacles from her, giving her legs a full range of movement once more.
She stretched her limbs out, all the while staring out the door at Deadman as the nervous looking pegasi guard retreated from the room.
The guardstallion bringing up the rear closed the cell door and locked it, leaving the Queen of the Changelings alone with her own thoughts.
With his job done, Deadman turned away and walked away at a rapid pace back towards the entrance of the dungeon, outpacing the guards by a good portion given his longer legs.
Shortly, he reached the entrance to the dungeon and left it before steering his course back towards his room.
Bringing up his wrist, he checked the time as he was walking. It was four thirty AM and he really wished he had gotten some sleep. Deadman felt more tired than he should be, and he was chalking that up to the fact Princess Luna had chosen to drop in on his dreams during the previous night he slept and the fact he had only had a nap since then. Granted, he did not know for certain that it was her fault or if dream magic even worked like that but it was the easiest solution he could come up with, so he was going to stick with that until he was proven otherwise.
Reaching his room, he opened the door and trudged into his room before closing it behind him and locking it. He then moved over to the window and made sure that it was locked before setting down his guns and ammunition in their usual spots in the dresser and under the bed. Deadman then made his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Stepping into the shower while still in full armour, he pulled the curtain over before starting the water.
Sighing, he grabbed a rather nice looking rock and began to scrub his armour clean. The fact that he had to clean it twice in the few days that he had been here was probably not a terribly good sign.
As he scrubbed away at his armour, he was quite thankful that it was easy to clean. It was almost impossible for him to imagine how great of a hell it would be to get all the bits and pieces from over the years out if it was not. That particular thought caused him to shudder, he didn’t particularly like cleaning and that much cleaning would be a special kind of hell.
Finishing the scrubbing, he decided that it might be for the best to pry himself out of the armour and clean his actual body too.
Turning off the water, he flashed his HRV, looking around for anyone who might be lurking to ambush him in the shower. As he saw nobody nearby he stepped out of the shower and began to strip himself of his armour.
Dehooking all of the surprisingly fiddly seals, he placed the helmet by the sink before repeating the process with the rest of his armour. He shuddered as it peeled from his skin in a way that reminded him a bit of how one’s back would peel from a leather car seat on a hot day if you happened to be driving with no shirt. It was certainly not a pleasant feeling in the least.
Looking around the room, more cautious than before, he lifted his biological arm up to smell it. Immediately upon catching his own scent, he jerked his arm away from his nose in disgust. Grimacing, he realized he smelled like someone left a piece of ham in the sun on a hot summer day.
Deadman cautiously stepped back into the shower and turned the water on again, although this time leaving the shower curtain open just enough for him to see the door. If he saw it move his plan was to dive for his hammer.
Granted, Chrysalis proved that one could teleport into the bathroom and make an attempt on his life that way, but he was almost certain that he would hear or see it if they did that, and he believed he could get to his hammer before his aggressor got their bearings. Such a process must be extremely disorienting.
Shivering in mild worry at the prospect of an attack, he grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the side of the shower, he began washing his hair, making the process as quick as possible.
As soon as he finished that off he went over to washing his body with the contents of a different bottle. There could be someone in the room. They could be waiting for him, and if they were he couldn’t see them in advance. Trying to push past the stress, he scrubbed down the mechanical parts of his body carefully. At least they didn’t smell.
Hurriedly finishing off his shower, he jumped out and rapidly dried himself off with a towel.
The agent set his eyes on the door and placed his back against the wall opposite the entrance as he dressed himself back up in his armour. It may not be safe. He had to be ready for anything. Chrysalis could have escaped and currently be lurking outside. A guard could have gone rogue and set a trap. Celestia or Luna could have decided, given a live demonstration of his ability, that he was too much of a threat to be allowed live and have forces waiting for him outside.
Finishing off and placing his helmet on his head, his hand darted up to the HRV, flashing it to reveal… nothing. His room was entirely empty, as was the area outside of his door.
Deadman let out of a sigh of relief, turning his HRV back off and walking over to the sink as he felt tension leaving him from with a flood.
Much more relaxed now, he lifted up the faceplate of his helmet and began searching the various pockets of his armour. Deadman knew that it had to be in here somewhere.
Smiling, he pulled out a tube of toothpaste and his toothbrush. His breath had to be stinking almost as bad as his skin was at this point. Due to the results of his earlier test he decided against it.
Without any further musings as to how bad his hygiene had been of lately, he made sure that his teeth were most thoroughly brushed in an attempt to make up for the lapse.
As soon as he was finished he put his visor down and flashed his HRV as he was putting his tooth brush away.
Readying himself, he took a few slow steps out into the room, checking the corners as he went as well as the area above him. It would be a poor choice to discount the possibility of a flying enemy, given the capabilities of the natives of this land.
As he approached his bed he took a few careful looks around the room, before gently slipping under the covers.
Deadman shivered, not feeling safe. No matter where was in the room, he still had to have his back turned to a potential entrance way. Jumping out of bed, he ran over and grabbed one of the chairs from the up until now unused dining set. Carrying it, he moved over to the balcony door and stuck the back of the chair under the handle while putting the chair itself on a tilt. Even if one had a key, they weren’t getting in through that way without making a hell of a lot of noise and giving him enough time to turn around and analyse the situation.
He walked back over to his bed and slipped in, turning to face the door into the hall, now much more calm. It may have been only a small change, but it was nice to have the entrance he had to turn his back on be more secure.
Closing his eyes, he relaxed his tense muscles and waited for sleep to take him. Thankfully, it soon did.
Chrysalis laid on the bed of her little cosy cell, left with nothing left to do but wait and see what fate they had planned for her.
Marking the page of the book she was reading first, she closed it. They were kind enough to stock her cell with a vast amount of smutty romance novels. Although she would have preferred a stockpile of alternate-history adventure novels, they had to do. She pondered who thought putting that book in her room was a good idea, though. It was completely unsuitable for anyone’s reading pleasure.
She glanced over to the completely soaked book which rested beside the toilet. Once she got out of this damned prison she was going to smite the author of that particular novel with the fury of Tartarus itself.
She knew for a fact that, despite what any author looking for a quick bit said, changelings wouldn’t shine in the light like a shimmering stone, nor did they regularly fight vamponies to keep the love alive amongst ponies throughout the land.
Chrysalis wasn’t sure where the author got the inspiration for that last one.
Were she to get out to carry out that revenge, however, she would have to deal with that Deadman in some way or another.
A shiver ran up her spine at the thought of his name. That human had the will enough to block direct attempts at magically manipulating his form through telekinesis or mind control, and his armour was strong enough to block most attacks from conventional means. She reminded herself that he was not invulnerable, though. The human bled, that meant that he could be killed, however difficult that it may be.
Perhaps it would be better just to deal with him in another way. If she were to get a chance to flee, she would merely have to time it at a point where he was otherwise occupied and she could get away without a scratch. She did not know exactly how much damage those thunder-spewing weapons would have on her currently weakened form, but if they could reach as far as a well aimed arrow it would certainly be most prudent to not be within reach of them while she was escaping.
The guards would be no cause of trouble even in her current state, however. They were rather ill trained and she had the advantage of reach, even without magic. Perhaps she could seduce one of them the old fashioned way and have them remove the horn ring, and everything could go from there after she topped herself off as it were from them.
Chrysalis rolled off the bed and made her way over to the sink and the mirror above it. As she looked into the mirror and examined her features once more, using a hoof to comb her hair. Unfortunately, she discovered that they were not stupid enough to make the mirror out of glass. It was actually a variety of stone that was polished to a high sheen. If it was glass, she would have had a fairly easy way to get herself out of this thrice damned harness.
All it would have taken was a solid hit to break the mirror into shards and some sawing and she would be free to cast magic. Then she could have opened the lock magically, or teleported through the door if the wards were weak enough, and freedom would have been her’s again.
It was a nice flight of fancy to think of what would have been, but it didn’t help her in any way except by killing time.
Finishing her hair off, she checked up on where she was wounded earlier. There was not not a mark left on the smooth chitin; whatever he had done to the wounds completely healed them without even leaving a scar, albeit leaving her a bit light headed when she first got up.
Due to a lack of things to do beside reading more trashy romance, Chrysalis went back to her bed and slipped below the covers before closing her eyes. While she did fall to sleep, it was not a particularly restful sleep. Her dreams were filled with half formed images of strange devices, strange places, and strange situations which had a decisively real feeling to them.
Cylinders threw fire in great arcs across jagged metal spires, giants moved not under their own power but from directions of an unseen eye, and lightning spoke a universal language to interpret for others who did not speak in a universal tongue.
It was an odd dream, to say the least.