Captured

by Never2muchpinkie


Broken...

Rocky was having a good dream. He had been promoted by his boss, and had all the money he could ever dream of. He had so much he couldn’t even spend it all. Suddenly he was pulled out of it by something pulling at his leg hard and calling his name. He opened his eyes to see Butch there, looking absolutely flabbergasted. “Darn it, what is it?”

He tried to talk several times, but words failed him. Instead he just pointed.

When he followed Butch’s pointing hoof his eyes bugged out of his head. Harmony was bouncing around the perimeter of her cell, chattering away like a small child, seeming utterly fascinated at every little thing that stood out. “W-what in Equestria happened?” he asked.

“I… I have no idea. She was being quiet. She fell asleep for a little bit. Then, when she woke up… she was acting like this."

The two of them cautiously approached. When she finished her latest circle around and noticed the two of them she stopped, an excited, curious look on her face. “Hi!” she exclaimed, joy suffusing her voice. “How are you?” she asked in childlike wonder.

“Good…,” said Butch slowly.

“Yeah! Me too! I’m Harmony Spark. Who are you?” She continued staring at them with those wide, innocent eyes, a huge smile upon her face.

“B-butch.”

“Rocky…”

“Oh, wow! Your names are just awesome! You have nice, shiny coats, and your manes look cool. Oh my gosh! You just have to come visit! I love making new friends. I’m a great drawer, so if you get me some crayons and paper I could draw all of us! Wouldn’t that just be the greatest?”

“Ye…yes?”

“I know, right? We can play and play and…” She suddenly stopped as her stomach rumbled. “I’m hungry,” she said. “Do you have any food I can eat?”

“Um, well…” Butch looked over at the schedule on the wall. “It’s… not… feeding time… yet.”

Her chipper mood vanished immediately as tears began forming in her eyes again. “So you’re not going to feed me?” She sniffed, holding back her tears. “But… b-b-but… I’M HUNGRY! I want food! I want some! I want some I want some I want some!”

“Okay, okay! Just… don’t cry, okay?”

She wiped her eyes, smiling a little. “Okay. You promise?” She looked up at him hopefully.

“Yeah… I… promise.”

“Yay!” she cried out, hopping around the room a little before stopping and settling down on the floor. “Too hungry right now. Can’t jump much.”

Going against the rules of having one pony watching her at all times the two of them left her alone, going to the room where the food was prepared. “What’s wrong with her? We didn’t even do that much to her. We shocked her a few times, and made fun of her once. Was she really that fragile?”

“This is bad. This is very bad. If she keeps this up who knows if anyone is still going to be interested in buying her.”

“That doesn’t feel like the important issue right now. I’ve never had a problem with this life before, but now she’s completely losing touch with reality.”

“Yeah… I know. But it’s not like we can just let her go. After a few more days it won’t be our problem.”

When they returned they heard the soft sound of crying coming from the cell. Speeding up a little they could see her looking down forlornly at the floor. “We’re back.”

As soon as she looked up and saw them she brightened up immediately, before looking angry. “How could you do that? Leaving me all alone? What if a monster got me? That’s really bad. What kind of uncles are you?”

“Uncles?” sputtered Butch, nearly dropping the tray of food.

“Of course. Uncle Butch and Uncle Rocky. You’re supposed to be watching me while my parents go out shopping. And then you suddenly leave without saying a word. Shame on you!”

The two of them shared a worried look. She had taken another step away from reality. Was she really having that much difficulty accepting her situation that she had to keep regressing her mind to come up with something she would be able to accept?

Without a word Rocky pushed the plate to her.

“Ooh! So this is where you were? Oh, wow! This looks yummy! I was just getting hungry too. Okay, I forgive you.” She dug into it with abandon, like she hadn’t eaten for weeks. About a quarter of her meal wound up on the floor because of it.

“So can I go outside now? I want to play.”

“No! You have to stay inside,” said Butch.

That hurt look was back on her face. “Why? I’m bored of staying in my boring old house. I want to go outside!” Her face was all puffed up like she was about to throw a tantrum if she didn’t get her way.

Rocky turned to his friend. “Well, Butch. Maybe… I mean, she does still have it on. It’s not like she can go far if she runs.”

“That’s true, but… honestly, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to.”

“Well, um… we’ll just have to, that’s all. For now we’ll just play along with her little delusion.

“Harmony?”

“HARMONY?” she asked, her mouth wide open as she eyed him suspiciously. “Are you a changeling?”

“What? That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“That’s not what my true uncle calls me. He always calls me by my favorite nickname.” She turned away, closing her eyes and crossing her hooves.

Rocky gave Butch a “What do I do now?” face. Butch just shrugged.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve had to watch you, remember? Isn’t that right… Harmie?” He waited, and to his relief the brightness came back to her.

“Yes, that’s it! I’m so glad you’re not a mean old changeling. So can I go outside now?”

“Okay, Harmie. I want you to look closely.” He went over to the exit to the room. “Past here is the… um, dark scary forest that eats little ponies like you. If you want to go outside, then you have to stay out of the forest. You have to stay in the yard. You promise?”

She nodded her head hard. “Of course. I super-duper promise. Harmie is a good girl. I don’t want to get eaten.”

With a resigned look he started to use his magic to open the lock. The second his horn started glowing she became completely still, her eyes wide as saucers and her mouth a thin line. “Harmie, what’s-”

He didn’t get to finish. She suddenly let out a terrified scream, falling to the ground and shaking, covering her face with her hooves. “No, no, no, no, no! Magic! Bad! I’m not bad! Harmie’s a good girl! Don’t hurt Harmie!”

Finishing opening the lock he entered the cell. “D-didn’t you want to go outside?” he asked, trying to sound cheerful and bright like she had just been.

She looked up at him with alarmed eyes. “H-Harmie… Harmie is a good girl. You know that, right?”

“O-of course. I was just opening the door for you. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” She didn’t look convinced. “Look, Harmie, you’re a very good girl, and, um, my favorite niece. I would never want to hurt you.”

“O-okay,” she stammered, getting back on her feet and approaching him carefully before nuzzling herself against him. “I loves you, Uncle Rocky.”

“Um, yeah. Same here.”

As she left the cell all of her old energy returned. She started zooming around the room, looking at every little thing the room had to offer. When she came close to the exit she suddenly stopped and backed up a few steps. “No, no! Bad! You’re not going to eat me today, evil forest. I’m smarter than that.” Letting out a victorious laugh, she returned to her former demeanor, chattering away and inspecting everything with boundless energy.

“Wow! I’m having so much fun. I fell like dancing!”

She hopped around from hoof to hoof, making ridiculous moves that barely resembled anything like dancing as she hummed to her own tune.

She stood stock still as she bumped up against the jewel on her chest. Hopping around and screaming in terror she cried out, “Help! Help! There’s a bug on me! I hate bugs! Get it off!”

“Harmony!”

“Harmie!” she yelled.

“Sorry. Harmie. It’s not a bug. It’s just a pretty jewel. That’s all it is.”

She stopped her jumping, looking hopefully towards them. “Really? I wanna see! I love jewels.” She tried to pull the jewel loose without success.

“You don’t need to see it. Don’t you believe me? It looks so good on you.”

“I wanna see! You… you’re lying! You won’t let me see because it is a bug. It’s a tick! And it’s sucking my blood! That’s why it won’t come off!”

There were no mirrors in their hideout, so the only way to convince her it wasn’t a tick was to take it off and show her. But that was out of the question. However, they couldn’t just leave her as she was. She was working herself up into a frenzy. Normally they would just ignore the ponies who got this way, but her exceedingly childlike behavior and reactions were really disarming them, especially coming from an adult.

Butch looked at Rocky hopelessly. They knew they shouldn’t. It was the number one rule that they were never to break, but none of their other captives had been crushed quite so completely as this one, regressing to an innocent filly and becoming delusional.

Butch’s horn started glowing, and with a bit of effort he concentrated on removing the binding spell that held the jewel in place.

When it came off he levitated it in front of her. She had calmed down now. She reached out her hoof toward it, and stared into it with unrestrained joy. “Oh, wow! You were right. It is pretty. I love it!”

The two of them let out sighs of relief. She was still acting the same. No change in her behavior.

“I just wove cwystals! They’re so pwetty!”

“Wove… cwystals?” asked Butch in disbelief.

“Pwetty?” asked Rocky in the same tone.

“I's gonna go home now.” She ran back into the open door of her cell. Setting the jewel on the ground she laid down in front of it, leisurely kicking her back legs back and forth as she stared with intense joy. “Amazing.”

Butch turned to Rocky. “Alright, that’s it! She has officially lost the last tie to her sanity. She went from normal, to depressed, to like a child, and now she’s talking like a toddler. Is she gonna start gurgling and making baby talk next? I do want the money, but this is a bit too much. I can’t imagine what sort of pony would still want to buy her when she’s like this. We… we need to get her back to normal.”

“We need to go to the boss. He’ll know what to do.”

Harmony’s head jerked up as Rocky began walking away. “Where you goin’? You pwomised to wead me a stowy.”

“Oh, right,” said Rocky awkwardly. “Of course. But I only have my boring adult books. I… I have a really special book about a unicorn and crystals and princesses and stuff like that.”

“Oh. Okay. I stay here. I just wove this jewel you gots me for my boofday.”

“Damn!” cried out Butch. “Stop. You can’t go.”

“Why not?” he responded.

“She’s not wearing the jewel. If the boss comes in here and see’s that we removed it he’ll have our heads. We have to get her to put it back on, or else we’re done for.”

The two of them entered the cell, big fake grins on their faces. “Listen… Harmie. I’m glad you like your present so much, but I think it’s too pretty to just sit on the floor. So why don’t you-”

She screamed as his horn began glowing and the jewel flew into the air. “It’s mine!” she yelled, hopping into the air after it and holding it to her. "It was a pwesent. You can’t take it back.”

“O-of course not, honey. I was just trying to help you put it on.”

“NO! You’re lying. It’s mine. It’s mine!” Her horn began glowing, before stopping. This repeated a few times.

A sense of panic was starting to set in. They could see she was getting mad enough to use magic without thinking, and in her state who knew what she would do. “Heh heh. Oh, Harmon… Harmie! You’re just too smart for me. How’d you know?”

“I’ms a big girl. I knew what you was twying to do.”

“R-right. Well, since you now know that it really is beautiful… um, like you… why don’t you put it back on? It looked so good on you and made you twice as cute.”

“No! I not weady. I wanna look at it some more. Pwwwwease?” She gave the two of them a sad puppy-dog face.

Butch said reluctantly, “Alright.” They couldn’t risk pushing her out of control.

“Can you gets me a bwanket? I’ms tired and cowd.”

“Sure,” said Rocky. He left and came back a few minutes later with a blanket that they were supposed to use for themselves.

She took it and opened it up, settling herself under it, the jewel right next to her head as she closed her eyes. Maybe five minutes later her eyes began to droop, before she began snoring.

“I can’t take this anymore!” said Rocky. “T-this is wrong!”

“Yeah,” said Butch. “I’m starting to feel really guilty, too. I feel like I’m picking on a disabled pony.”

“This is exhausting. I need to lay down and rest.”

“Same here.”

The two of them sat down against a wall. “Oh, we have to close the door.” Rocky’s horn began glowing, but then stopped. “I can’t. We can’t just take her out and release her, but if we stupidly made a ‘mistake’ then we might not get punished too severely.”

“We’d deserve it anyway. Is this really the life we’ve been living? Is this what we’ve been forcing on others?”

“She probably won’t be able to escape anyway. Now that we’ve told her that outside is a kid devouring forest she probably won’t try to leave even if give her every opportunity to get away.”

A sense of gloom was on both of their faces. “Tomorrow… I think we should release her. Even if we get killed for our actions it would still be better than giving a broken, delusional pony to some random stranger who would want to use her for a horrible purpose. I’m just… I feel too heavy right now.”

“I know the feeling,” said Rocky. “We played a part in destroying her mind. We don’t deserve mercy after what we did.” A tear came down his face as he looked over at the peacefully sleeping Harmony. “I can’t stand up anymore. This guilt feels like it’s going to break me. I… I need to sleep.”

As the two of them fell asleep Harmony opened her eyes. Getting to her feet she smiled fondly as she looked at the two of them.