//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Prisoner // by Silent Breeze //------------------------------// That caught her off guard. "I-... What?" She asked, sitting on her haunches while looking at his eyes. The red iris unnerved her a bit, but she decided not to dwell on that. "What is your name, little one?" Was his only answer, she noticed him looking down a bit, not sure what to make of the gesture. "My.. um... My name is T-twilight Sparkle." The unicorn stuttered a bit, scolding herself and trying to get a grip of her emotions. She needed to be professional at the moment. "Panic, anger, shame... Surprise, confusion... Curiosity." Throughout his whole sentence, Twilight was unsure what was happening, until she noticed that exactly as he said, she felt everything he said at those moments. "Wait... Are you voicing my-" "Feelings and emotions. Old habits die hard." He cut her off, though his cold voice hasn't changed one bit from before. It was a little eerie to her, but she decided to save all the wondering and just ask him about everything. "How can you-" "All in due time. I am not planning to go anywhere in a hurry, we could talk about me later. Right now, I am interested in you." The calm and slow voice cut her off yet again. Though the comment brought a slight blush on her face, she shook her head and decided to blow it off. "Oh, me? I'm no one special, just another unicorn..." Twilight said, looking on the floor a bit. "Your ruler would doubtfully bring 'just another unicorn' down here." She already understood that he wasn't going to co-operate just yet and decided to play along for now, taking note of what he said. "Well, I guess I have some magic..." "Your mark." The unicorn looked up, confused at his statement. "What does your mark mean?" She followed the direction he was looking, and it was her flank. He was looking at her cutie mark. "Oh, well, it means my talent is magic... and, well, stargazing." She sheepishly added at the tail end. She did love to stay up late and read, or simply look at the night sky. "Magic... Perhaps it has a play in this..." The alicorn said, looking down now and seemed to have gone into deep thought. Twilight decided to try asking him at least something while he was thinking. "Well, um, what's your name? I told you mine." She put on the best grin she could, even if he wasn't looking, just to reassure him. "Name?" He looked up at her, unfazed by her actions. "I do not have one." Her expression changed to confusion as her brain attempted to gather her vast knowledge for the best response she could think up of on such short notice. "Huh?" He slightly tilted his head to the left, still looking at her, and finally spoke. "If you honestly need some nick, simply call me 'terror'." He said before closing his eyes and lowered his head, most likely to continue his previous train of thought. Twilight didn't like the nickname he gave; it just didn't seem very pleasant. She weighted her options, and decided against her better judgment to just stick with it. If he was fine with being called like that, surely he didn't mind it. Hopefully. "Well, alright then, um... Terror." Celestia, this would get weird with time. But it seemed to have caught his attention, at the very least one of his ears had turned to her direction and, after a while, raised his head back to her. She could never tell what he was thinking or what he felt at the moment, those eyes simply didn't give anything away. "Alright then..... Twilight Sparkle... What do you wish to know?" He asked, finally doing what she wanted. She thought for a second that he forgot her name, but was relieved when he said it. Hopefully they could continue on much better terms now. "So, um, Terror. Where are we exactly? You said earlier that it was below somewhere, is this cave under the castle?" It wasn't anywhere near her top priority question, but she wanted to know a bit about where he resided. Surely this cave couldn't be empty, it was probably just her luck to not find any- "This cavern is approximately thirty-five kilometers under the surface of the earth." The alicorn replied, a bit casually and slowly for her taste. All she could do to such an answer was sit there, completely shocked, and put a hoof on her mouth. "Oh.... oh my...." She just said, looking around again. At least now she understood why it was so hot in this place. She read that around that depth started the uppermost mantle of the planet, which meant they could be surrounded by magma. There was an uncanny silence before she understood he was done answering and wouldn't go into any further details, his gaze fixed on her figure. His eyes or expression still showed no signs of annoyance, curiosity or anything. It felt like he was... indifferent to what was happening. "Am I... boring you?" She asked carefully, standing up and taking a few more steps forward, feeling her self-confidence raise with time. "On the contrary, actually. Yet, I am tired." He replied with the same voice. She was starting to get used to it, but his latest answer had left her disappointed, thinking she would have to cut her first meeting short. "Oh, well. I could, um, come back another time if you need some rest.. Terror." She said, turning around and starting to trot towards the other light source, ready to use her magic for the illuminating spell. "I am not implying for you to leave, if that is what you think." She heard his voice behind her, stopping and looking back. He still haven't moved at all from his laying position, only his head and neck moved from time to time, not counting his mane and tail. "But you need some rest, right?" He didn't answer to her question, simply looking into her eyes. Something in that stare of his attracted her towards him, she wanted to know why he was so calm if he lived in such a place, why was he in a cavern this deep below, and all the other questions she saved up. After some long thinking, she turned around. If he insisted, she would stay. But she felt the heat starting to get to her, so she would need to plan her questions accordingly; she didn't think she could stay for too long there regardless. "Alright then. How can you live in this temperature? You just seem so cool and collected; doesn't it bother you at all?" He kept his eyes focused on her for a few seconds, the silence thick enough that you could cut it with a knife. "Tell me... Twilight Sparkle. Have you been given any records of myself prior?" That wasn't an answer she expected, so it made her think a little. "Well... All I know is you have great control of fire magic, and-" She was cut off not by his words this time, but by his action. He took out one hoof from under himself, it pointed at her first, and then he spread it out. "And there you have it." A blush spread on her cheeks. "But can it work like that? Just like that? I have never seen anypony specialized in a field and become immune to it-" "Tell me, Twilight Sparkle..." She closed her mouth and listened to what he had to say. "Would you describe me as anything you ever seen before?" She slowly shook her head, his eyes closing for a few seconds before he continued. "Then please... Keep your mind open for... possibilities..." Twilight was a little confused by his choice of words, but decided to keep that in mind from now on. It seemed as good of a suggestion she'd get from him. The heat kept making her sweat, and she was already becoming exhausted. She decided to do one more thing before leaving. "Um, Terror? Could you please show me your cutie mark?" He tilted his head to the other side a little, before craning his neck to look at his own flank. "You can inspect it if you wish, Twilight Sparkle." He finally said, turning his head back to her. She found it a bit rude, and lazy, that he wouldn't stand up and show her, but decided not to argue about it and simply trotted towards him. As she got close, anxiety overtook her again. He was an alicorn, after all, and even if he has been passive and even helpful, there still was a chance he could try doing something to her. She kept a bit of a distance when she trotted a bit slower around him and looked at his flank. As she predicted before, the orange was the colour of the flames that was his cutie mark, though she found it off that it didn't match his mane or tail. What else struck her odd was the image of a drop of liquid in the middle of all the flames... it was of a crimson colour... She stopped her train of thought there, deciding not to think any further about it. She looked up to his head, expecting him to keep watch of her, and was surprised to see his head laid back on the rock, his eyes shut. He looked almost exactly how she found him before. She stopped trotted up to him and wanted to ask him if he felt alright before she heard him speak. "I am simply tired." She looked at his head a bit confused. He still hasn't moved, but she remembered his little show from before and simply nodded to herself. "Alright then. I'll leave you to rest, I need to go anyway. I hope we can meet again soon, Terror." She said, and trotted off towards the exit, still feeling weird whenever she called him by his given nickname. He didn't reply to her, but he did open his eyes and watch her go into the darkness, at least until she used her horn to illuminate the area around her. He sighed quietly to himself and closed his eyes again. Twilight was going through the cavern, trying to trot faster to get out; this heat was simply unbearable to her by now. Her sweat had long started to drop on the ground, even in front of the alicorn, but he was polite enough not to notice it. In fact, he didn't really strike her as a criminal at all. Snarky, perhaps, and a bit too calm, but definitely not a criminal. But he was accused of crimes against the princess before... Did he change? If he did, why was he still here? It looked like an awfully lonely place, and he didn't even once stand up. Was he injured? She shook her head and, with a sigh, reached her destination. The platform was still in the same spot as before, the runic symbol clearly visible, and the two crystals lit up the area as before. She forgot to ask him about the crystals, but she honestly couldn't stand being in this cavern for much longer, she felt hard walking as it is. If she stayed any longer, she felt she would start to melt! She scrambled up the platform, leaving a wet body print behind and not really caring at that point, as she trotted to the centre and sat on her haunches, sighing. She remembered what Celestia had told her and started to channel her magic, pouring it into the runes around her. They slowly turned into a purple colour and started to glow lightly while Twilight increased the magical output. Exhausted as she was, it was starting to give her a headache and she laid down in the centre, her horn's aura increasing in size as the brightness of the symbol increased, making her close her eyes as she gave as much magic as she could in her state. The light completely engulfed her and, a few moments later, dispelled, leaving only the platform with the fading runes and wet marks.