//------------------------------// // Chapter Three // Story: Hearts of Class II: Lights of Love // by ImAPonyXY //------------------------------// The Feeling of Helplessness Sweetiebelle had awoken earlier that morning on the cold, hard and dirty floor of her cell. She had her hands tied behind her back the day before as she had tried to attack one of her captors. She had been told that she was going outside today, but she hadn’t been told why or what she was to do. She figured that it was some sort of physical labour; that she was to be forced to work as a slave for the benefit of everyone but her. It seemed most likely that something like that would happen, even Diamond Tiara said that she had other uses than just sitting around and wasting supplies. However, now, she had already been taken out of her cell and her hands were still tied. In front of her was Diamond Tiara who led her through the deep, dark dungeon, behind her were two guards; both were cloaked and one of them was the one she had attacked. Due to the cloaks, Sweetiebelle couldn’t recognise a single one of them and they never spoke to her so she couldn’t identify anyone by their voice. All she knew was their gender, whether they were a male or female. The only person that ever talked to her was Diamond Tiara who usually only ever taunted her and made fun of her; which is what she always did anyway. “So I hear that you have a boyfriend,” she said, sounding slightly curious and as if she was truly showing interest. “Yes.” Sweetiebelle nodded. “Who is it then?” Diamond asked. “...Spike...” she answered. Sweetiebelle had remained sort of quiet for the past day, she only ever answered questions simply; she tended not to use flowery language or speak more than a few words at a time. “OOOH! You’re dating Spike. I thought he liked your sister?” “Not anymore...” “Why did he go with you?” “Who knows...” “My. You are boring today. Why don’t you try attacking someone again?” Diamond complained and a few of the guards snickered. She turned her head to face her captive and still leading her through the dungeon catacombs, “You’re only going to some use to us, so make that use worth while!” “No...” Sweetiebelle replied simply again; she knew that she was acting rebellious and that’s exactly what she wanted to do. “Oh great Celestia! You really are pushing it now!” “Then stop asking questions.” she was speaking in a monotone too. “Fine, if you don’t want to talk, you won’t get to talk...” she looked away from Sweetiebelle. “Gag her.” she ordered and one of the guards grabbed her while the other wrapped a rag around her mouth; immediately muffling any sort of speech by Sweetie. “MMMMHHF, MHFFFF MMHFFF!!!” Sweetiebelle was immediately angered and she pouted, she hated having her freedom limited; it was bad enough that her hands were tied... and now the gag. “Oh what’s that? I can’t hear you.” Tiara taunted and continued to lead Sweetiebelle through the corridors until the eventually found themselves out side. The instant exposure to the sunlight made Sweetiebelle shut her eyes in pain. She had been in near total darkness for the past two days and now that she has been exposed the sun was pure torture to her eyes. “Oh don’t be such a baby!” Tiara scolded and continued to walk along. One of the guard behind her, pushed Sweetiebelle to get her to move and she began to walk once again; but still rather slow. Over time she managed to regain her ability to see again as her eyes adapted the sunlight and she opened them. She saw that they were walking along a thin, dirt path, which was next to a small, dirt cliff that was only about one or two metres high. Next to the path was a bunch of grassy hill; the were in a large field. Off to the side she could see a large apple orchid; most likely owned by the Apple Family, and in the distance she could see an old, ruined, abandoned house that was falling apart and there were parts in the walls that had been hollowed out. Sweetiebelle wanted to ask where they were going; however, she was gagged so that was going to be impossible; so she just kept on walking and hoping that their destination was close. She was also barefoot and the tiny rocks that were scattered continuously across the ground dug into her soft feet and caused a few tiny cuts and blood began to drip out; trailing along the ground as she stepped. She winced at the pain, she wanted her shoes back just so walking wouldn’t hurt, but she had no choice and with her hands tied she couldn’t do anything. “Miss Tiara, the Unicorn’s bleeding.” one of the guards said, their face was hidden but thanks to their voice, Sweetiebelle found out that it was a woman. “Where is she bleeding, and how much blood?” Tiara asked, not daring to look back at a potential grotesque sight. “Mot much, only a few droplets, but the cuts seem to be on her feet.” the cloaked woman answered. “Well if it’s not serious then keep walking. Who cares is she gets a little hurt.” Tiara ordered. “What if it get’s infected?” the woman asked. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. It won’t be our problem if her sister lives up to the deal... “ ‘Her sister?’ Sweetiebelle thought to her self, she must be talking about Rarity. What would Rarity have to do with this, did she organise something to get her free or something? Or did she threaten them? Anyway it didn’t matter, Sweetiebelle would be able to see her beloved sister and hopefully she would be able to go home, and see all her friends and see Spike again. Only, she would also have to face Rarity’s wrath for getting expelled from Canterlot School for Equestria’s Gifted within four days. She now felt even more curious as to where they were going, because surely they wouldn’t be heading to Ponyville, even if they were meeting Rarity. Maybe they were heading to that old house that they were getting closer to, or maybe they were going to the gates of Ponyville, as I doubt they would dare enter the town itself? “Mmmhhfffff...!” she muffled, trying to ask where they were going but to absolutely no success. “You won’t be able to speak with a gag, stupid!” Tiara taunted and eventually they all arrived at the old, broken, house that had no furniture and the paint had peeled. The ground was also littered with debris of the fallen in roof. “Go in.” she order to Sweetiebelle and the two guards. The two, cloaked guards lead and push Sweetiebelle into the building and sit her down on the floor in the middle of the main room. They stood over her and retied her hands, but they also ungagged her. “What are we doing here...?” Sweetiebelle asked with some sort of interest about her. “You’ll find out later.” one of the guards stated, not even bothering to look down at her. Sweetiebelle just sat there and fiddled around with the ropes on her wrists as she tried to release them. If only she could get free of them, then she might be able to do something useful to get away since running would be pointless. She though about using her magic to untie herself, but she didn’t know if she could actually do that; her focus may be out. She had no choice but to submit herself fully to her captors and hope to Celestia that an opportunity for her to be freed came about. Moments after having these thoughts, Diamond Tiara came in. “Keep a very close eye on her. There are guards stationed around us.” she looked around nervously, “They don’t know that we’re aware of them. So we have the advantage... don’t go outside and make sure that Sweetiebelle doesn’t move.” There were guards outside? Maybe Rarity or Spike got help from them and she was about to be rescued? She would finally be able to see her captors get what they deserve, but... they knew about them and it was only a matter of time before whatever plan the guards had, blows up in their faces.