//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Magic Battery. // by Kato The Green Being //------------------------------// A couple of seconds later, I woke up flat out on my back, with a burning pain in my left shoulder, and guards surrounding me. "Craaaaap." I groaned. I'd gotten myself into a bit of a pickle, hadn't I? Raising my hand, I snapped my fingers and tried to teleport. All that I accomplished was wasting my magic, while wasting my fatigue. What?! Why didn't it work? "I surrender!" I shouted, raising my hands in blind panic, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. There was a small wound where a loose rock had been lodged in my shoulder. That's gonna leave a mark. From the group, a unicorn in blue robes walked out of the crowd of guards, regarded me with an expression bordering curiosity and irritation, and lit up his horn. Following a flash of orange light, I felt weightless, and began falling through some what looked like a dark tunnel until I landed on my ass in a dank dungeon. And I don't mean dank like the memes, I mean dank. The damp, musty, and cold type of dank. What the hell?... How does that even work? I mused, feeling slightly disgruntled. I inspected the wound on my shoulder - Looking at it now, it didn't seem too bad - But it hurt like a dog with no Y chromosome. I don’t think I need to elaborate on that. I looked around and saw that my cell was a large-ish room, no bigger than mine back home. A few cracks, and a small crater adorned the wall, where it looked like something powerful had hit it, but otherwise the cell seemed to be well maintained. The door was near the front, and there was a bed of hay off to the side, but I couldn't see it being very comfortable for me. I'm not going to lie, I was scared. Only a couple of days in horse land, and I was already in a cell. Well, I suppose that’s what you get when you unwittingly use malevolent magical materials. But why had my teleport spell failed? Perhaps it was the cage? Did it prevent magic? Or maybe... Maybe not all magic could pull off powerful spells? I mean, I had seen a few carriages, and if everyone could teleport why would they need those? Perhaps for hauling goods? No, I had seen a few unicorns in carriages, so I know that its not just because only unicorns can use magic... The magic I was using had either been from the person in that shop, or the amulet, and I never tried to pull off any powerful spells with magic from that guy who's soul I ate. ... Maybe I do deserve to be in here. - I thought with a twang of guilt The amulet! I'd completely forgotten about the amulet! What should I do with it? I don’t want to become that monster again. Never. But what if they tried to—I dunno—to kill me or something? Is that excuse enough to risk it? Do I really value my life over my morality? I really hate questions like these… If anyone told me I would honestly have to consider that question today, I don't think i'd believe them. Besides, I might get points for good behavior. Maybe if I just co-operated they would let me go. None-the-less, I took the amulet out of my pocket (with no intention of using it mind you), and looked it over. As I noticed some sort of markings on the back of the amulet, The floor below me lit up in a dazzling array of colors. Two huge circles, filled with and surrounded by intricate symbols materialized around me. "What the-" I started to say, as the amulet was ripped from my hand. "Agh!" I shouted in pain, the burning heat of whatever force that confiscated the amulet taking me by surprise. At the same time, an alarm went off, outside of the cell. I really just screwed myself over haven't I? I thought to myself, nursing my throbbing hand. In the center of the room, lightning-like tendrils extending from the runes were holding a blue orb with the amulet inside in place. I could hear ponies coming down the hall, and began to panic. What do I do? Alright, just act natural. The door opened, and the alarm stopped. Two unicorns in golden armor, and one in a green robe looked at me, sitting on the bed of hay. "Oh, Hey guys!" I said with a nervous smile. "What is the meaning of this?" Asked the unicorn in green. There was a hood over his face, so I could not make out his expression, but the guards were glaring at me. "Uhh... Well, I had an amulet, and when I took it out of my pants (With no intentions of using it of course) your... cell went crazy and snatched it right out of my hands. Burned Lefty here pretty bad." I said, shaking my left hand at the last part and grimacing with a smile. The robed unicorns muzzle became visible when he looked up, and I could see it twist into a grimace. If I could see his eyes, I'm sure his expression would have been something that said 'Are you serious?'. "We were hoping to postpone your interrogation until after we discovered what you were." -his horn it up some shade of red, and the runes went back to being invisible, as the orb floated over to him. He pulled his hood back, and I saw his face. His coat was dark-gray, and his eyes were red, like his magic. He had a light-gray mane similar to his coat, and a defined muzzle with a scar running from one side over to the other. If I was a gay horse, I would say he looked pretty hot. "You're making that pretty hard." He stated coldly. As his gaze turned to the amulet, his eyes went wide, and he angrily asked "Where did you get this?" Panicking, I replied truthfully. "Oak Grove Magic Spells and Sundries, why?"The nervousness in my voice probably din't do me any good. I probably couldn't have asked a stupider question anyways, as I had seen firsthand the power, and the evil it had given me, inflicted upon me, and if he knew anything about it, of course he would wan't to know where I got it. "Because this is a highly addictive corrupting influence! The Alicorn amulet has been un-accounted for for over three decades!" I'm in pretty hot water arent I? "So that's what its called... I-" "Shut your mouth! You have the right to remain silent! ..." -He turned his head to the side, inspecting the amulet- " Actually, you don't, but for the time being keep your hoov- claws to yourself. He sent a blast of magic at me, and the runes on the ceiling and floor lit up, as the magic bolt scanned over my body for any more magic Items, instead of being absorbed like it usually does. As soon as the magic finished its job, the runes disappeared. If I had to guess, I would say they were carved into the stone, but I just couldn't see them. Those cracks I mentioned were on the wall, so they probably would not have interfered, but it could just be some sort of inscribing magic, like in Skyrim. Unlike the spell books however, I could not understand the runes when I looked at them, but they seemed to be counter-acting any magic casting, or absorbing. The unicorn was outside of the runes when he cast that scanning spell on me, so that must be why it did not affect him, and with my left hand still burned, I wasn't going to risk casting anything, not after the amulet had been taken like that. "Guards!" The gray unicorn barked "Station yourselves outside of this cell. Keep an eye on him. Him? Not 'it'? I like this guy... Kind of. My head swiveled towards the guards as they turned around, and I noticed that every single guard I had seen so far looked exactly the same. Even the bat-ponies I saw at Oak Grove looked like each other. That's odd... Are they clones or something? They did a horse-salute with their legs, and said "Yes sir!" The ponies walked outside of the cell, and before they closed it, I yelled out, "Hey, wait! Whats going to happen to me?" The gray unicorn hesitated, and then closed the cell door. I could hear his hoofsteps for some time, as they echoed down the halls. ----- A few hours later, I had fallen asleep for the first time in horse-land, and felt really hungry and thirsty. Luckily, there was now a bottle of water just inside the cell. They probably placed it here while I was asleep. As I picked up the bottle and put it to my mouth, I started thinking. Falling asleep in the anti-magic runes pretty much confirmed that it was magic keeping me awake, and it was probably also the reason I didn't feel the need to eat, as I was really hungry right then. I finished off the bottle of water with a large swig, and noticed a few guards standing in an orderly fashion in front of the door. "You will come with me to the interrogation room." Commanded the guard at the front. His armor was silver, and had runes on it. Probably enchanted somehow. I could feel that there was magic coming from the armor all the guards had, but this particular guards armor had some powerful spells on it, I could tell. Even without the runes, I probably couldn't dispel it just by absorbing the magic. "Alright." I didn't want to argue with him, so I got up, and almost walked out of the door, but he jammed the butt of his spear into my chest. Probably a bit more forcefully than necessary. "Nice try." - He turned his head to another guard in silver, runed armor, and said - "Get the shin bracers." "Why do I need shin bracers?" I asked. He didn't answer, he just took them from the other guard who produced them from his saddle-bags, and slapped steel bracers onto my arms with magic, causing me to jump back. He almost instantly held me in place with magic, and the runes on both the bracer, and the ceiling and floor lit up. I noticed that the runes on the bracer were almost exactly like the runes on the ceiling. "Oh." I said realizing that the bracers were to stop my magic. "Now, can I let go, or do you want your - limb burned off?" He asked me coldly. "Why would you need to burn it off?!" I asked somewhat frightened. "Why don't I put this on you while its active and let you find out?" "Alright, I'll stop moving!" He let go, and put the other bracer on me. I figured that what he meant was that if it was put on while active, it would backfire or something. Anyways, he led me out into the hall where the two silver-armored guards, and four golden-armored guards started escorting me to another section of the strange building, whose hallway's ceilings were just a bit too low. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what does your magic armor do? I mean, those of you in golden armor have less powerful enchantments, but i'm more interested in the silver armor." As soon as that came out of my mouth I remembered my mother telling me to think before I talked, and decided too late, that that was a stupid question in my situation. "You don't need to know that! And those bracers you're wearing would prevent you from dispelling our enchantments anyways." Said the silver-armored guard who had given the other silver-armored guard the bracers. "Alright, sorry, I was just curious... Where are we going?" I just can't shut my mouth can I? "Shut your mouth, beast. Before I shut it for you." That was rude, but I can't blame him. "Hey, I'm an intelligent person just like you!" What the hell, me? No prisoner would say that to a guard! He stopped in his tracks. "An intelligent 'person' that roasted my innocent sister to get away with a little robbery. No pony like you deserves mercy." He pushed me with his sharp hoof. "I'm sorry! I was under the influence of an evil amulet!" "That you STOLE, AND PUT ON YOURSELF WILLINGLY!" He had a fair point, but semi-luckily, his partner spoke up. "Captain, calm down! Its on its way to interrogation right now!" I was a bit insulted in being called 'it' but I Probably deserved that, after burning their friends in an evil-amulet induced rampage. A few quiet minutes full of dirty looks later, and we were at a large door, with a one-way mirror through which I could see two chairs that looked like they were made for humans rather than ponies. Surely these equines had differently shaped seats. I wanted to ask, but after earlier, I decided to keep my mouth shut. Prisoners shouldn't be speaking anyways. They opened the door, and shoved me in with their spears, ordering me to take a seat in the smaller of the two chairs. I walked over, and felt the seat with my good hand, before sitting down. I got bored after a while and started twiddling my thumbs. Not too long afterwards, the door opened, and a unicorn walked in. She was wearing a lab coat, which struck me as odd. This is a prison, right? She took a seat at the table, and took a clip board from . "Depending on what you say, you will either stay here for research, or go to court and be put on trial for assault." When I first got here, I pictured being dissected by unicorns. And that fear was actually plausible? Things just got worse and worse. "Now, what are you?" "Excuse me?" "What is your species?" "Oh, uh... Human." She scribbled something down, with an un-impressed look on her face. Not that I expected her to be impressed. "Where are you from?" "Well... A far away land." "Where exactly?" "Far over the sea." I lied. She frowned, but didn't call me out on it, and scribbled something down. "Where do your magic abilities begin and end?" "Well... I'm not quite sure. I have only had them since I arrived in the city." "Hmmm... Interesting - if you are to be believed. - Are there not any ponies where you come from?" "Not like you have here. The ones where I come from had neither wings, nor horns. And also, some of them were much taller. I think the tall ones were called horses." Not technically a lie. "Hmmm... You could be describing Zebrica, or Saddle Arabia. What was the land like where you were from?" Zebrica? Saddle Arabia? Seriously? Bad horse puns for names? What is this place? Alright... Saudi Arabia has deserts, but Africa has deserts and forests. "Well, it was a desert." "Uh... Were there any forests?" "I would have no way of knowing." "Really?" "Yes, I never left the coast." She squinted which made me worry, but I didn't show it. "Are there other humans?" I paused for a moment, but answered, "I'm the only Human I know of here." "Here, as in Equestria, or here as in The world?" "The world." So this country was called Equestria... Huh. She opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly, time stopped. I mean, it froze. I was quite alarmed, and got out of the chair to look around. Is this a test? Are they seeing how I react? Suddenly, a... Talon popped out from behind her, and shoved a lollipop in her mouth. I backed up into the wall. What the frick frack knick knack paddywhack thumbtack track back baseball bat is this thing? The head of the mixed-up monster soon followed the talon. He spoke in a sly, tone, and said "I'd forgotten about you! Good thing too. I've come up with a much more amusing way to dispose of the elements."