//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Reconditioning // by trondason //------------------------------// “So this is it?” Alex asked when they arrived. “Seen better.” It was a room about two stories underground, lit up by crystals placed in the walls. One of the walls were a series of cells, blocked off with iron bars. Each cell had a bed, and a hole presumably for doing one’s business. “Yes, and it is where YOU will be staying till further notice.” Celestia said, depositing him in one of the cells on a bed, the door slamming shut behind him. “Now behave, and we will see if you can get out early.” She nodded to some of the guards who followed them, and two took up position in front of his cell watching him, and then she left with the rest. Alex waited till she she was a fair distance away, before turning his attention to the guards left. They stared at eachother for a few moments, before Alex felt a tingling in the back of his head. “[Safety?/Concerned]” Moony still hasn’t gotten too good at making messages, but considering this is only her fourth one, Alex decided he couldn’t fault her too much. Not everyone was a genius like him. “[Safe]. [Observe] [Capability]” he sent back, along with the steady stream of sensory information he has been giving her since he left, filtered of course so that she could understand it. It appears that the magical restraints that were supposedly on his manacles and collar didn’t affect their connection much. ‘I wonder how she’s handling having two separate streams of sensory information at once.’ He took a deep breath, and held it for a moment, his lungs secreting a special something, before he breathed back out. He did this for a few minutes more, watching the guards slowly grow more relaxed, and their eyelids drooping, and then suppressing yawns. Finally, their eyes drifted all the way shut as they leaned against each other for support, fast asleep. Standing up, he clapped his hands, before announcing to no-one “Alright, time to start redecorating.” Suddenly, a web of tendrils starting growing out from under his feet. “Celestia, isn’t it foalish to keep it here? It’s stated purpose is to spy on us after all.” Twilight worriedly asked her mentor Celestia. “Possibly, yes.” Celestia conceded. “But where else would we keep him? In Ponyville, surrounded by innocent ponies? Up in Canterlot, so far away from where we currently are? Better to keep him right by us, so we can act if he does anything.” “Why don’t we just use Rainbow Power on it, take care of it before it does anything?” “Because, if we do that, we lose any lead we might get on Nightmare Moon, and possibly scare her deeper into hiding. He stated he’s here for information, hopefully we can get information out of him as well.” She calmly stated. Twilight hummed thinking it over, and decided that Celestia was right, as always. “How do you know it’s a male, though?” “I don’t.” Celestia shrugged. “Just a guess. Better than just calling him a it repeatedly.” Twilight blushed and looked away. “Right.” “Please go inform your friends of our new guest, though advise them to not go see him without one of us there. I must go and inform Luna of this development.” Celestia said, before with a flash of light she was gone, presumably up to Canterlot. Twilight let out a sigh, thinking over how she’s going to explain this decidedly weird creature to the girls. She is going to have to be careful with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, both liable to rush over right away before she could fully explain, which would not be good, for while the creature said he wasn’t here to fight, he seemed all to happy to give one if people attacked him, and someone in league with Nightmare Moon is not to be underestimated She entered the guest room designated for the rest of the Mane Six, and only Rainbow Dash was currently there, snoozing on a cloud near the ceiling. “Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said, giving her a telekinetic nudge. “Wake up, I got some information.” “Guh.” She gushed, rolling over and burying her head in the cloud. “Can’t whatever it is wait till later?” She complained, waving a hoof at Twilight dismissively. “No.” With a flash of her horn, she dispersed the cloud, leaving Rainbow to fall a few feet with a shout before she instinctively flared her wings and caught herself. Letting herself float the final few feet towards the floor, she threw Twilight a irritated glare. “Alright, I’m up. What is it?” “Hold on, need everypony here.” With that, she sent out a magic pulse, which caused the necklace around Rainbows neck, fashioned resemble the Element of Loyalty, to glow blue. It’s a little something Twilight made after the girls complained about being stuck at the castle, and Twilight realizing though they might be needed at any moment, they weren't needed constantly. If they were needed, Twilight could send out a signal, causing the gems to glow, certain colors for different levels of priority. And if they pressed the glowing gem- “What’s up!?” Pinkie energetically asked as soon as she was teleported in. “Wait for the other girls.” Twilight simply said. “Okie Dokie.” She said, before trotting over to Rainbow Dash and sitting down. One by one the rest of the girls appeared, as they finished up whatever they were doing, until they all arrived. Twilight cleared her throat, and started to pace in front of them. “Alright, girls. I called you here to inform you of a new development. Recently, we captured a spy of Nightmare Moon. He- yes Pinkie?” Asked Twilight as Pinkie’s hoof shot up and frantically waved for attention.” “Who’d help Nightmare Moon?” She asked with a slight frown set on her face. Rainbow scoffed. “Obviously somepony who needs some sense knocked into them!” She shouted with her hoofs slamming together. “Oh please darling let Twilight finish, we can get to teaching this pony some manners after she explains. Then we can decide how much sense he needs knocked into him.” Twilight gave a small laugh and scratched the back of her neck. “Well actually we don’t know what it even is, I just started calling it a he because it sounded less insulting.” The girls looked at each other then back at her. “Eh sugarcube what do you mean you don’t know what it is?” “We literally have no idea what it is, it like a slim version of a Minotaur, but it has no horns or snout, and it’s legs are wrong.” “Ooo! Ooo! Where is he?” Pinkie excitedly asked, hopping up and down. “Currently we got him locked up in the dungeons.” Twilight said, gesturing vaguely downwards. “Locked up with the strongest anti-magic wards we got. But girls, none of you should go visiting him without either Celestia or I there with you, we’re trying to keep what he can learn to an absolute minimum. I mean it Pinkie.” Twilight turned to give the mare a stare, but couldn’t find her. “Uum. Where’s Pinkie?” “She left as soon as you said ‘dungeons’.” Rainbow Dash informed her. “Buck.” Twilight stood still for a moment, before taking off at a gallop out the doors and down the halls, her friends scrambling to catch up. ‘Really, this is too easy. Maybe I should have physically snuck out instead?’ Alex thought to himself, as he sat in his newly furnished cell leafing through his borrowed book on the historical happenings of the last millennia. The castle’s books are rather outdated, after all. His cell now sported a lush red carpet, a mahogany bookshelf filled with books, a king-sized bed with a intricately quilted cover, a fancy painting hanging above, a plush lounge chair, and a gently gurgling fountain built into the corner of the room filled with ice cold water directly from an aquifer a few hundred meters down. All made of biomass, meaning he could change it in an instant. Alex allowed himself a smug smile at the feelings of shock and awe he was getting from his connection with Moony. Apparently while they had shape-shifters, they were not nearly on level with him. ‘This should certainly surprise them. I’m suppose to be a prisoner, yet here I am, in the lap of luxury, and I somehow acquired all this and installed it without them noticing.’ Alex thought to himself, looking at the snoozing guards ‘Really, too easy.’ Suddenly he felt a presence beside him and he reached out to grab it. “Hel- guk!” said the pink mare (Look at that hair. Bedhead it is.) that somehow popped out of his bookshelf, whatever she was going to say cut off by his hand around her throat. “How did you get in there?” He said as he looked at his bookshelf, but as he thought, there were no tunnels or holes or anything. Belatedly he noticed Bedhead pounding on his arm, and when he looked back, noticed her face turning blue. Deciding that he might as well let her breath so that she could answer, he let her go, dropping her to the floor. She hit the floor with a meaty thwack, and rubbed her throat with her hooves, taking deep gasps of air, occasionally going into short coughing fits, all the while fixing him with a frightened stare. Maybe he should have been a bit more careful, people talk more freely when they aren't afraid, but oh well, he knows how to use fear. He took as step towards her, prompting her to scooch back as fast as she could, but she quickly ran into the bars of the cell and was unable to go any further. He kept approaching, till he towered over her, shoulders squared to further emphasize how much bigger he is than her. “Well?” He prompted, in case she forgot he asked her a question. “I- I- I took one of my Pinkie Tunnels” She whimpered, and Alex absently noted that her hair was wilting, getting flatter and flatter Curious, he bent over and shoved his face in hers, causing her to flinch heavily, slamming her head against the bars. And more importantly, made her hair wilt noticeably faster. “Pinkie Tunnel?” “They go all over the place” She said, able to keep the stutter out of her speech this time. Interrogation time was sadly over, as the rest of her friends he heard running for a while now finally arrived slamming open the door, spilling in and circling his cell. For his part, he didn’t move besides to raise his head and look at them.”Well, hello. Certainly took your time.” he taunted. “Get away from her!” The Rainbow-haired Pegasus (That one’s easy, Gay-Pride) yelled. Shrugging, he stood up straight and walked to his chair and took a seat. Star-Butt’s horn lit up, and the Cell Door opened which the Bedhead quickly took advantage of and joined her friends, the Door being slammed behind her. “Pinkie! Are you alright” cried the Yellow Pegasus (Hmm, tougher. According to Moony, she’s the Element of Kindness. Doormat maybe? Bears further observation) when she noticed Bedhead’s neck, sporting a darkened splotched the shape of his hand, the other mares echoing similar sentiments. For her part, she just grabbed Fluttershy and started crying into her withers. The White Unicorn (Hmm, well combed name and coat. Lots of conditioner in the mane making it sparkle. Speaks with a cliche noble accent, and careful dictation. Ms Snooty it is.) turned towards him and snarled “You Monster! What did you do to her!?” “Hey!” Alex replied, voice filled with mock offense. “She snuck up on me. One should never sneak up on a predator. She’s lucky I didn’t accidentally kill her.” She just glared at him harder, and after a few seconds, he moved his attention away from her and to the others. “Ignoring Ms Snooty since she’s being such a dick right now, welcome to my humble abode.” Alex said, stretching his arms indicating his lavish furnishings. “I know it’s not much, but I did my best with what I had to work with.” Finally, it seemed that Star-butt noticed, and her jaw promptly dropped. “Wha- How did you get all this? When?” “The guards got it for me.” Alex said, indicating the snoozing guards. Judging by Star-butts reaction, she didn’t notice till now. Man, her situational awareness is horrendous, especially considering she’s a member of a prey species. If they are all this way, no wonder it was so easy to sneak in. “They were very handy, and tuckered themselves with how eager they were to help.” “Wha- What did you do!?” Twilight stammered. “Those manacles should prevent you from using any magic at all, frankly I’m surprised you’re standing! And even if you could use magic, they are designed to send a signal when you try! And I know you haven’t left your cell, the warning spells and still in place and untriggered!” Now that was informative. “I told you, dumb-ass, those guards did it for me.” “Hey! Don’t speak to her like that!” Gay-Pride yelled, drawing Alex’s attention back to her, and he was pleasantly surprised to find her a roiling ball of anger. ‘Now if I poke that I’m likely to get some interesting reactions.’ “And why shouldn't I? She quite consistently misses the obvious, even things I said just a few moments ago.” Alex said, as he casually walked closer to the bars. “You are working for Nightmare Moon, and you hurt Pinkie, there’s no way in Tartarus I’m going to let you insult my friend!” She yelled back, flying closer to the bars herself. “Rainbow, don-” Twilight began to say, till Alex cut her off before she could ruin his fun. “And who are you to tell me what to do, little Ms Gay-Pride?” Alex taunted, grabbing the bars and leaning his head through the space in between, patented smirk on his face. “RAAAAGH!” Gay-Pride yelled in rage, flying forward as fast as she can and solidly decked him in the face. *Crack* “AAAAH!” Gay-Pride shrieked as she fell to the floor, clutching her quite evidently split and bleeding hoof. Alex wasn't even budged. Alex smirked, stepping back from the bars as the five of them rushed to their friends side. “THAT is why you don’t mess with an apex predator.” Turning around he casually strolled back to his chair saying “You can go now. I’m done with you.” Turning back around, he sat down and picked up the book he set down earlier, and looked Star-butt in the eyes, “I have some reading to get back to.” And with that, he ignored them as they carried their injured friend out.