//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Animals 
// Story: The Darkest Day In Changeling History: The Beast Of Salem 
// by Harbinger Of Mist 
//------------------------------//

	Trapped in a cell; confined in a dark basement; housed in an old castle; built at the bottom of a ravine. They didn't know, but they made it. The Cavern of Endless Echoes held their prison; it WAS their prison. Deep where the sunlight could never reach, beyond many twists and turns on the way down, the hissing and screeching of thousands of vile creatures could be heard. Their cries reverberating throughout merely a small section of the colossal cavern. Nopony would guess they were so close to a parasitic colony since the main section that attracted the tourists was miles away. All they could make out were the howls of mysterious beings.

And where was Sam? Asleep on the cold rock floor of his cell. The walls coated with mildew and a crack in the ceiling leaking water from the floor above. Drip... drip... drip... The incessant sound eventually drove Sam to wake from his slumber in extreme discomfort. His spine felt bent out of shape, and none of his legs fared any better. He could feel nothing but soreness and grime all over his body. He struggles to crawl over to the bars of the dungeon, groaning to gain the guards' attention. They both turn and smile at his disheveled state.

Just look at them and get it over with... Best you don't feel how horrible this ordeal is on the inside as well. The guards just stand there, doing nothing. They simply continue to stare at Samuyl blankly. They knew his game; they could understand what he said to his parents the evening before. No matter how hard he could try to hide his emotions, they will simply continue to build, and the extraction would be all the more satisfying. Samuyl painfully breathed out, "well? What are you waiting for? Do it! I'm not afraid!" But they knew very well that he was, or at least he will be soon.

Dammit! They didn't catch on to my trick, did they? Oh, who am I kidding?! Of course they did! He writhes his body out of stiffness by slowly bending each of his joints. Once he felt it was bearable, he sat upright and turned himself around to face his parents. Great... I'm going to be an emotional wreck soon.

He observes his parents laying in the back of the cell. Shifting in positions that are likely doing greater damage to their spines than Sam's did. He taps his father on the shoulder, thinking it's best for him to get his knots out sooner than later. The sounds he made showed that he was in immense pain from his stiffness. It didn't help that his head was propped up against the back wall; his neck was sore enough to be used as a means of torture.

"Aah-ow!" Trotman groaned as he pushes himself away from the wall to straighten his neck. "Oh my neck is killing me!" He desperately tries to massage to pain away but any contact caused a surge of even greater discomfort. He toughs it out and reorients his neck to a neutral position. It took several agonizing seconds that felt like entire weeks, but he got himself back in shape and able to stand. "Sam! Are you alright?"

"For now, but the guards aren't going to have any nonsense from me. They know my ploy, I can't just have my emotions extracted before they build. They know it'll be better for them and worse for us if they just wait." He turns and plants his face between two of the bars of the cell. "Nothing matters to these putrid bags of scum!" He shifts his eyes to the guards on either side. They grunt to show they have heard him, but don't give indication that they were going to show any further acknowledgement. Sam retreats back to the center of the cell. His sudden burst of hatred was short-lived and nothing for even the Changelings to work with.

Trotman nudges Amelia to wake up. "Amelia, Darling? Please, wake up."

Amelia stirs and immediately feels the same stiffness her husband and son felt from sleeping on a hard, uneven surface. "Uugh, Trotman... Why do I have to wake up? Can't I just sleep through the pain and time until they execute us?" She asks in defeated and drowsy tone.

"Mom, I wish that was an option," Samuyl consoles. He wishes her words to be valid. "But I figured that these filthy worms would be sadistic enough to wake us through other means if we don't do it ourselves. We shouldn't let physical pain build on top of emotions as it is."

"Is calling them names really necessary?" Trotman asks as his wife stretches on the floor. "I thought you said we shouldn't make them angry."

"I never said that specifically," Sam retorted. "Turns out they don't care. Surprise, surprise. It doesn't matter what we do in this dungeon so long as we don't get out."

Amelia finally gets herself upright. "So, Sam... What do you suggest we do to make this bearable?"

"It won't be long until we start to care that we're trapped and only have a few days to live," he informed. "I say we just chat until our apathy is overwhelmed by fear."

"That seems like an odd thing for prisoners on a death sentence to do." Trotman said.

"We barely have any emotions at all at the moment. Before they build up, do you want to spend that down-time sitting in the corner alone with empty thoughts?"

Trotman sighs. "So... what should we talk about?"



"...She once told me that summer heat was worse than cold, snowy winters. But I cannot understand why a unicorn like her can't just hold a piece of fabric or whatnot in front of her to make some shade. With cold weather, there's only so many layers of clothing you can put on until you're unable to move. I just hate the cold because of-- WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!" Amelia cuts off her own story and blurts out in terror.

Samuyl tries to restrain her and cover her mouth. "Mom, please! You have to calm down! Try not to think about how we only have LESS THAN A WEEK TO LIVE!" He too suddenly has fear consume him. The guards smile in amusement.

Trotman jumps them both and holds their mouths closed. "Stop!" He trembles as he tries to continue speaking. His own fear was starting to build. He seemed to be on the brink of tears. "This is hard for all of us... We need to stay strong, just like Sam said, no matter what."

Sam masks his feelings with confidence. He moves his father's hoof away. "Right... I'm the one who was trying to bring sense to the three of us in the first place." He retreats to a corner to rest on his haunches. "But I don't know what to do now that we're all terrified."

"Why don't we blame your father for getting us into this?" Amelia takes a serious tone.

"What?!" Trotman was taken aback by his wife's sudden accusation.

"Your 'instincts' have literally gotten us killed! Why couldn't you follow the map properly?!" She cried out. "I can't believe you would be so full of yourself to lead your family through a dense jungle for the sake of--"

"Mom! Stop it!" Sam interrupted. "We are all going to perish soon! I don't want some of the last moments of our lives being spent arguing."

"Don't take that tone me! You're the one who said you would forgive your father only after we've made it to the canyon safely! You should be mad at him too!"

"Oh! I guess I must have forgotten to tell you the night before." A figure with a voice familiar to Samuyl makes itself visible on the outside of the cell. "You two weren't conscious at the time." Sam's parents backed up against the rear wall with him taking a defensive stance in front of them. "I am Chrysalis, queen of the Changelings. Welcome to Salem Valley. Or should I say... the Cavern of Endless Echoes?"

Sam and his parents gasped, "what?!"

"Don't bother calling for help though. We are stationed in a very remote end of the canyon, MILES away from where the tourists are gathering. No sound, no matter how loud, escapes this confined valley to mix with the ominous howls that already give the canyon its name." The queen's words made them all the more sure that there was no chance for survival. "We have trapped and sapped more unlucky tourists than you may think. Plus, there's a reason that nopony knows we are here: The especially foolish ones that get themselves lost never escape to spread the rumour."

Sam had his eyes shot wide open at the realization of where they actually were. He slowly sets himself down on his haunches and looks down to the floor to ponder. "Well... I guess we'll soon become part of history..."

Chrysalis chuckled, "I admire optimism from my prisoners, even though it is always sarcastic." Sam looked back up to her quizzically. "All the others ever did was whine and complain about how much pain they were in. Fortunately, you seem to be keeping that to a minimum. Instead, you're all sharing stories and yelling at each other. That is great entertainment, so I don't want you to waste your energy."	She shines her horn and materializes 3 yellow apples. "Here. A little gift." She gives one to Samuyl, who is reluctant to take a bite. "Oh now don't be shy. Those who trust their warden are rewarded."

Nervously, Sam takes a bite into his apple. His parents make gestures behind his back that suggest they think the apple may be poisonous. The apple chunk rests on his tongue. It had the genuine taste of an apple; it was a real, unaltered apple. With his reluctance dissipating, Sam starts to chew. He swallows, stares at the rest of the apple in his hoof, then sinks his face into it. Sam made loud noises as he quickly devoured the apple like the starving animal he was. This display amused the queen.

Having now eaten everything but the stem and seeds, he lays down on his side and breathed deeply in relief. Chrysalis chuckles, "trust your warden" and she tosses the other two apples at Sam's parents, whom are quick to consume every morsel like deprived badgers. "...Then maybe your stay could be just that right bit of bearable until your demise."

Chrysalis starts to leave and return to her usual post, but she notices that a certain adjacent cell is empty. "I thought it was a little too silent down here!" She turns back to the guards and gives a death glare. Sam's parents finish their apples in time to see the guards backing up as the queen loomed over both of them. "Which one of you had the bright idea to perform an unauthorized execution?!" She growled. The guards hissed and chattered in their own bug-like language in a panic. "So you took him out? But you are the one who drained him?" The latter drone gave a quick response. "A demonstration?! That was what you two ingrates thought to do for our new guests?!"

Sam, Amelia, and Trotman all watch with anticipation as the guards are practically at a loss for "words". Chrysalis levitates the second guard by the throat as she stares at the first. "You should not have brought the unicorn out of his cell without me around! However..." She turns to the guard she was strangling, "YOU should have known better than to go along with it and deliberately disobey my law!"

Sam and his parents were up against the back wall of their cell. They didn't want to see what would happen next, but curiosity was getting the best of them. They couldn't help but watch with their eyes seemingly glued open.

Chrysalis then lifts the drone briefly up into the air and brings it down toward her. She had it land by the top of its neck on the business end of her horn, completely impaling it through to the back of its head. The swift action caused the family to jump in horror; Amelia nearly fainted. After the guard stopped moving altogether, its body quickly evapourated into a cloud of black smoke that soon faded away into thin air. "I hate when I have to do that. If we all followed orders, we wouldn't be so expendable." She directs her last words to the other guard as she exits the corridor.

Sam catches his breath. "Okay... scary, but I don't think she'd do that to us." His parents nodded in agreement.

Amelia is still trying to calm her racing heart as she lays down on the floor. "I just... want to... go back to sleep." She cowers in somewhat of a fetal position. "Don't wake me!"

Trotman felt uncomfortable with his wife's idea and tries to prop her up on her four hooves. "Honey, please!"

"Get off of me! Don't touch me, you creep!"

"Amelia! You're getting paranoid!"

"Let go!"

They both here a soft impact and a grunt from their son. They fix their eyes on Sam laying nearly motionless on the ground with the guard standing centered in front of the bars. "They're accepting payments..." He pants out and falls back to sleep.

Trotman set himself down near his son and stared the guard in its eerie face. He goes through the same procedure he became familiar with and follows suit with Samuyl. Amelia stayed up against the wall and got her emotions over and done with so she could slip into another slumber in peace.

Not even 24 hours have passed, and yet they are already starting to fall apart.