They dragged the huge net through a cave in the side of a cliff face and into a winding array of tunnels. Our captures followed in close pursuit, guns at ready, and they where all pointing them at me and Blossom.
"Try anything metal, and you will put a bullet through your processor," One very angry sounding earth pony mare whispered to us. But what would I try? Cut my way through the net with a knife? No. With them dragging me along I would cut one of them, or even Blossom, who's wings were now wounded and bloody from being dragged across the cave floor. Tears rolled down her face as the ponies kept pulling us and pulling us, sneering and glaring. Not Tornado, though. He wouldn't even look me or Blossom in the eye.
"Stop your crying mare, and hush up!" A stallion gave one swift kick to Blossom's side. She cried out in pain.
"You leave her alone!" I shouted at the stallion.
"Or what?" He sneered back, then yelled at the ponies up front to stop dragging us. He leaned in close to me. "What'cha gonna do, Robot Unit?"
"Boxy!" Some pony shouted. "You shouldn't have even kicked her in the first place!" The whole crowd unanimously agreed. But Tornado looked away and bit his lip, not saying a word. He obviously could see her blood staining the cave floor, unlike the other ponies around us.
"Fine," Boxy said. "Keep on dragging!" He shouted to the ponies that were pulling us. Then we started the long trek again. Blossom remained silent, and tried to keep her wings from hitting the cave floor but to no avail.
"It's okay, Blossom, it's okay..." I whispered in her ear.
"It hurts, it hurts," She mumbled back.
A cyan unicorn mare that was levitating a torch with her horn glanced down at us, shook her head, and turned away, refusing to look at us again.
"In here," One pony shouted. Suddenly we were lifted off of the ground and thrown violently onto a side of the tunnel. They opened up the net and untangled Blossom, then grabbed both of us and shoved us into a small, empty space. We both hit the cave wall. Hard. Blossom cried out in pain while I layed there, stunned. And before either us could react to what had happened, they shut us in, slamming a door with metal bars against the opening. Somepony pulled out a key and locked it. We were trapped.
Then the whole group turned around and started to make their way back up through the tunnel. All except for the cyan mare, who stayed behind, her magenta eyes filled with despair. I could see now that her left eye had a jagged scar going straight down the side her face. She levitated the torch to the side of the tunnel, affixing it there with her magic.
"To see by," She said, before she turned around and headed up the same path that the rest of her friends took.
And now, we were alone.
Blossom folded her wings to her sides and continued to cry, sobbing into the cave floor. I got up and walked over to her, putting my mechanical hoof on her back. "It's okay Blossom, we, we're," I didn't have the heart to tell her that we would be okay if I didn't really believe it myself.
"Broken," She whispered. "I'm scared." I didn't know what else to say. I layed down beside her, blood dripping from her wings and onto my metal covering. I didn't mind, though. But those wings to me looked less like actual wings now and more like raw meat with feathers. And I didn't have anything to help her with. I just layed right there beside her until she cried herself to sleep.
I glanced up at the door to our prison. These metal bars, so intimidating, reminded me of the dream, but I tried not to let it bother me. And yet, even if I try not to think about it, try not to ignore it, it still comes back to haunt me.
Why? Why does it keep coming back? Why do the screams and panic rise up within me every time I think about it? Why does it feel so... real?
Then it hit me full force. The reason that it haunts me. The reason that I keep thinking about it. The reason that no matter how much I try to ignore it, it breaks through my barrier and whispers haunts in my ear piece.
Because it wasn't a dream. It was a memory.
****************************
Tornado. He's a part of the revolution. This is where he gets his "information" from his "sources". I guess I should have known. Should have seen the hints, read the signs, but I didn't. Even living in a neighborhood where rumored revolutionists live did not make me more likely to read between the lines and see what was in front of my face the entire time. He must have wanted me to join. That's why he kept asking me to go with him to protests, why he loathes the Robot Units so much. Well, are you happy now Tornado? Because I'm part of the revolution. I'm their prisoner.
And why didn't he say anything? Why didn't he do something? Tornado, my best friend, betrayed me and left me sitting out in the cold.
I started to stir from my sleep maybe a couple of hours later. I looked around and at first was a little shocked at our surroundings, but then remembered the events prior. I noticed something cold was touching my left side. I looked up and saw that Broken was laying right next to me.
"Broken?" I asked him. He looked at me.
"You're up."
"How long was I asleep?" I asked him, rubbing my eyes with my hooves.
"Two hours."
"Oh." I was about to move to my hooves when Broken stopped me.
"No. No movement. You'll make your wings bleed again."
"My, wings?" I looked to my back and saw them limp and useless, hanging from my sides in a heap of blood and feathers. I felt like I was going to hurl. And along with this sudden wave of nausea came the pain. Oh, the pain. It pounded within my wings and reverberated throughout my entire body. It felt like I had smashed my head against the wall one thousand times. I lowered myself back down to the ground, and winced.
"Broken, what do you think they want us for?"
"You mean, what do they want me for. I'm their prize."
"Then why keep me around?"
"I, I don't know."
"First off, because I'm going to give you some water." I turned to look outside when I heard the unfamiliar voice. A cyan unicorn with a black and red dyed mane and tail was standing there, levitating a glass of water. She made the glass move through the spaces between the metal bars and landed it right next to me. I grabbed it and drank it thirstily.
"Thank you," I said after I set the glass down.
"Why help her?" Broken asked the mare. She laughed.
"Because you are more helpful to us alive than dead." Her face fell. "They are deciding what to do with you two right now as we speak."
"They?" I asked her.
"The other ponies. The revolutionists."
"Then why don't you just kill me now and take Broken apart to study his mechanisms?" I asked, anger rising up in my voice for this mare.
"You, you named him?" She asked, gesturing with her head at Broken.
"Y, yes. yes, I named him," I said, my anger falling short.
"I knew that there was something different about him."
"Different about me how?" Broken asked her.
"Well, first off the way your voice sounds."
"That's a good note..."
"And how you didn't open fire at us."
"..."
"And I heard you trying to comfort her," She pointed to me. "So what's your secret, Robot?"
"What secret?" I asked her.
"About why he is so different."
"Don't jump to conclusions, pony," Broken said with such fierceness that even the unicorn mare took a step back in awe.
"My name is Sunrise Rivers. Do NOT call me pony ever again, Robot."
"Then don't call me robot!"
"Fine. You know what? Fine. I wasn't even supposed to give you that water, and now I guess that I was wrong to do even that." She turned around and started to walk away, but then Broken stopped her.
"I'm sorry." She froze.
"What did you say?" She asked, slightly turning her head to look at us.
"I'm sorry, Sunrise Rivers."
She turned her body around to face us. "Call me river." Then she walked away.
********************
Blossom looked up at me. She looked worried. "I've never heard you say something so mean before."
"I'm sorry, I just, I was just angry."
"At her?"
"No. At everything."
She suddenly cried out in pain. "My wings," She mumbled.
How could they have done this to her? Captured her and injured her wings? Keeping her here when she has done nothing wrong?
I am who they are after. I know that for certain. They want me, not her.
"Broken," She whispered. "What are they going to do to us?" I looked down at her. Her eyes spoke it all. Behind those green irises there was fear, worry, and most of all, the one that made my metal insides wrench, was her look of helplessness. Her own best friend brought her down here. And he. Did. Nothing. To save her. He watched as her wings became nothing more than limp piles of muscle and feathers. He just stood there and watched when the stallion named Boxy kicked her. He stood there, and watched, as they took us down from the tree to be locked up in this cell. In fact, he was the one who trapped us in that net in the first place. Does he have no remorse? No conscious?
"I, I don't know." I told her.
I heard a pebbled being kicked across the cave floor and looked around to find the source. Then my eyes locked on the black earth pony standing just outside of our enclosure.
"What are you doing here?" I sneered at him.
"You shut up, Robot Unit. I came here to talk to Blossom. Not a worthless pile of trash like you," Tornado said.
"He is NOT a worthless pile of trash!" Blossom yelled at him, aiming all of her emotions at the stallion. "And here I am! What did you want to say to me?!?" I noticed that one wing started to bleed again, but Blossom paid it no attention.
"I wanted to say..." The stallion couldn't seem to find his words. "That, that I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Blossom yelled. "SORRY!?!" She lept up from her spot and dashed to the metal bars, clutching them with her hooves. Her wings started to drip blood onto the floor. "First off, you never told me about this. The revolution, and you being a part of it? Yeah. remember when we swore to never keep secrets from each other? You just broke that rule! Oh, and happy sweet sixteen to me! Because you don't seem to care. YOU trapped us in a net. YOU let your little friends drag us across the cave floor! YOU DID NOTHING TO STOP THEM!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"Blossom, it's out of my power." This seemed to have really ticked Blossom Wing off.
"Out of your power?!? Out of your POWER!?! Why you little horse manure, hay seeds, horse apples, pony feathered pony! GO AWAY!"
"Oh, you want to talk about keeping secrets?!" Tornado yelled right back at her. "Why about the Robot Unit you're with? Why didn't you tell me about that, huh!?!?"
"His name is Broken." Blossom put enough hatred in that one sentence that even I cringed.
"You named it!?"
"Yes. And he is a much better friend than you will ever be!!"
"A much better friend than me? Well, who was there when your little sister was born? Who was there when your mom lost her job and had to work at that stupid laundromat? Who was there when your washed up, worthless father killed himself? Who? ME!"
Blossom looked ready to explode. She reared her hoof back, and reaching through the bars she punched Tornado so hard that he fell backward and his nose started to bleed. "GO AWAY!!!!!" She screamed at him, her voice teetering on the edge of total hysteria. The stallion scrambled to his hooves and dashed away, leaving me and her behind. Blossom let go of the bars and fell backward in heap.
"Blossom!" I said, scrambling to her side.
"I'm fine, Broken." She closed her eyes. "I, I just need to rest, that's all."
"Yes, Blossom. Everything is going to be okay. You'll be okay."
My head snapped to attention. Did I hear myself right? Did my voice really just, change?
Blossom nodded, then fell into a deep sleep.
But I still couldn't believe it. My voice changed. It changed.
And I sounded like a pony.
Holy Equestria, I sounded like a pony.