The flutter pony came back, stopped to stare at Pound Cake, then disappeared again. Not long after, she returned again. This time she was followed by another pony: an earth mare carrying a first-aid kit. Neither of them spoke to any of the others as they went over to Pound Cake's cage. The earth pony gave Pound some sort of shot before wrapping his wing with bandages. Once done, she left, not looking at any of the other prisoners as she went.
This time, the flutter pony mare remained in the room, watching them. Something about her seemed a little different, although Starry Skies could not place what. Regardless, it seemed more unlikely that attempts to befriend her would be any more effective than they had before. If anything, the resulting events would make it more difficult for friendly conversation.
So, Star waited, slowly taking in as much as she could around her. She studied as much of the room as she could see, and picked up every little sound that she could hear. From what she could gather, it was probably a part of a larger place. There were no windows, and the walls were stone or cement, so they were probably below ground level. There was nothing that she could hear beyond the room.
If she had some idea of how long they were unconscious, she could try to figure out how far they had traveled. There was too little information for her, and it was getting frustrating. Although the entire thing was frustrating anyways. She was in a major situation and knew way too little about the whole thing. Worse, her friends and family were stuck in the situation with her.
A dark part of her started contemplating the things she would like to do to Sleep Thief when this was all over. Like tossing her off the top of Canterlot mountain, or covering her in poison joke powder and dropping her off in the deepest part of The Everfree Forest. There were probably some pretty deep crevices in the old mines, far from any light and impossible to climb even if all four legs were not broken in multiple places from the fall. How much would it hurt for a unicorn to have their horn broken off?
Before Starry Skies could fully decide where to shove that horn, a groan got her attention, as well as the attention of everypony else in the room.
"POUND!" Pumpkin Cake cried out, throwing herself at the bars.
"Pumpkin?" Pound asked. He moved to sit up, but stopped, hissing in pain. "What happened?"
"The dummy tackled you and threw you back in the cage. How's your wing?"
Pound shifted to look at the wing that was bandaged up at his side. He moved it slightly, only to wince again.
"I think it's sprained," he said. "Not broken though. Won't be flying for a while." He let out a sigh. "So... any other ideas for us to get out of here?"
There was silence as they all looked back and forth among each other. Star had lost the hair clip with lock picks, which was the only tool she had brought with her (have to rectify that in the future), flight was not an option and would have done no good anyways, and the inhibitor rings kept Pumpkin and Flurry from using magic.
"I think we're just going to have to wait a while," Starry Skies huffed out. "If what Sleep Thief said earlier was any indication, it won't be too long."
She just had to hope that there would be enough time to stop whatever the mare was planning... or by some miracle, help showed up.
...Maybe she could help with that. It was a long shot, but worth trying.
Curling up in her cage, Star closed her eyes, took a slow breath, and cleared her mind.
Time passed. It was hard to say how much exactly, or how well Star's attempt succeeded. She could have just laid there, pretending to sleep as she tried, she could have dozed in and out, or she might have actually slept and just failed. Whatever the case, she did not recall having any dreams, and she certainly did not manage to contact Princess Luna or one of her daughters.
The sound of the door opening drew Starry Skies from her attempt. As she watched, several ponies came in: including sleep thief, a hippogriff, and...
Star got up and moved to get a better look. She even rubbed her eyes and smacked a cheek to make sure she was not still asleep or imagining it. But either it was either a very powerful hallucination, or else it was real.
Standing behind Sleep Thief was figure that had the basic shape of a pony. Except it had glittering scales in place of fur, and a fin where its mane would have been. There were additional fins on the side of its head, and a thick, fish-like tail behind it. Most notably was a glowing red jewel that rested at the base of the creature's throat.
So that's how she did it, Star thought. That was how she was able to put us to sleep.
"Good news, mares and stallions!" Sleep Thief announced as she approached the cages. "It's time to set our plan in motion. For various reasons, you all will be joining us." Her eyes narrowed. "Just don't try anything else."
The first cage to be opened was Pound Cake's. He was led out with two guards taking position close enough to spear him easily. Next was Pumpkin, who only got one.
"Remember" Sleep Thief said, "you try anything and your brother pays for it first."
Pumpkin's face went a little pale as she nodded.
Next, they came to Starry Skies's cage. It took a little while to get it unlocked as the lock still had the broken piece of the pick in it, but it did still open. As Star stepped out, three armed ponies -- including the hippogriff -- surrounded her with weapons drawn. A part of her felt a little flattered that she was seen as such a threat.
"Same goes for you, princess," Sleep Thief said as they released Flurry Heart. "You try anything funny, and your cousin pays for it first."
Flurry Heart's eyes narrowed, glaring at Sleep Thief while exiting the cage. It was pretty safe to guess that Flurry was biting back some very choice words she had in mind.
"Actually, I'm her aunt," Star blurted out. "That plus the fact that I am older than her means that she should respect me and listen to what I say." She let out a huff. "Although she never does." Star rolled her eyes and gave a shake of her. "Kids today, am I right?"
"You're not even a year older than me!" Flurry Heart snapped, turning to glare at Star. "Besides, I'm a princess, which means I'm royalty. So you should do what I tell you."
"Before this goes any further," Sleep Thief cut in, "this is my home and you are my guests. As such, it would be best if all of you listened to what I said." There were several jabbing motions from the assembled guards to emphasize her point.
"Geez," Star huffed with a roll of her eyes. "Somepony woke up on the wrong side of the crib this morning."
The statement got a scowl from Sleep Thief in response.
"Just get moving," she growled out.
As they made their way toward the door, Starry Skies moved to get next to the flutter pony mare. The walk to wherever they were going would give her a good excuse to talk, and the armed escort -- and threat of injuring selected loved ones to get other ponies to cooperate -- gave her a good topic of conversation to start with.
Up close, Star could see what was bothering her about the other mare. One of the eyes was slightly swollen, and the pale blue fur around it had a darker coloration.
"What happened?" Star asked, looking closely at the bruise.
"Nothing," the flutter pony said, looking away.
"Right," Star huffed, rolling her eyes. "It's always 'nothing' in situations like that."
"It's your fault anyways. If you hadn't have frustrated me enough to leave -- or tried to break out -- I wouldn't have gotten in trouble, and this wouldn't have happened."
"Right. It's my fault that somepony else hit you because they weren't happy." Star let out a snort. "Well at least you're not blaming yourself."
The flutter pony glared at Starry Skies a moment before letting out a snort and turning away.
"Fine," Star said. "But just remember: the pony that did that to you now is going to still have the power to do it in front of your foal."
"She would never do that!" the other mare nearly shouted, her eyes wide.
"Just like she would never hit a pregnant mare?" Star asked, taking special note of the 'she.'
"It's not like that," the flutter pony retorted. "Miss Thief is just a little stressed out right now. We are so close."
"And you think it will be better after? Say -- that if it does work -- she's not going to be stressed out while trying to rule a kingdom, or having to deal with rebellions?"
Whether the flutter pony had no reply or had decided it was not worth continuing, the conversation had stopped there. While it was not exactly what Starry Skies would have liked, she was fine with it. It would give the mare time to think about what she had said. The odds were extremely slim, but maybe it would be enough that the mare would end up helping to stop whatever was about to happen.
Provided there was enough time to stop it.
They made their way up the stairs and into a large room filled with more ponies that for some reason were dressed in robes that looked like they had been made from scraps of cloth. It was possible to guess who one of the robed figures was seeing as it was flanked by the two remaining dressing dummies. The group stood off toward one side, leaving a large painted circle in the center clear. The crowd parted as Sleep Thief moved forward, approaching what turned out to be a chest. The mare's horn lit up as she approached, opening the chest and pulling out the contents: some sort of woven white rope; two wands, one of which Star recognized; and The Alicorn Amulet.
Starry Skies stared at the items, eyes going wide. These were the ponies that had taken the amulet and the wands. Why? The amulet was obvious enough of course, it was meant to give Sleep Thief a boost in her power, but what were the wands for? Did the mare need even more magic than she thought she could get with her augmented power? Then there was the white rope. There had to be more to it than just an extra thick string to tie things together.
There was still a major lack of information.
After putting The Alicorn Amulet on, Sleep Thief turned and walked back toward them, stopping to face Pumpkin Cake.
"Here is what's going to happen," she said. "We are going to take your inhibitor off, and you are going to cast a one spell, and only one. If you try to cast any other spell, your friends will pay. Starting with your brother. Understood?"
"What spell?" Pumpkin asked, her gaze shifting between Sleep Thief and the pony looming over her.
"You are going to summon the being that claims to be Discord."
"What?!" Pumpkin Cake cried out, eyes going wide. "I can't do that. I don't know that spell!"
"Well surely one that has access to chaos magic and is the student of Twilight Sparkle" -- there were several hisses at the name -- "can come up with a spell that will bring him here." Sleep Thief's eyes narrowed. "Especially since the fate of her brother's wings might just depend on it."
The horn of a pony close to Pound Cake lit up, the magical aura engulfing the bandaged wing. A yelp escaped the stallion as his wing was yanked, causing his sister to pale.
Star tried to move forward, but was stopped by a spear pointed at her throat. From the corner of her eye, she could see Flurry Heart doing the same, with similar results.
"Okay!" Pumpkin shouted. "Okay. I'll try. Just... just stop."
The magic aura disappeared, releasing the wing. Pound let out a sigh, sagging slightly where he stood. One of the ponies beside Pumpkin reached up and grabbed the inhibitor ring, pulling it off. Pumpkin's jaw clenched as she stood back up, her eyes narrowing at Sleep Thief. For a moment, Star thought that Pumpkin was going to attack the other mare regardless.
Instead, she turned away, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Letting it out, Pumpkin turned toward the center of the room. The pale blue aura of her magic lit up around her horn. The color became deeper as the aura grew larger, the energy building up. Pumpkin squeezed her eyes tighter and her jaw clenched as she collected more and more magic. Finally, she unleashed the power she had collected.
In a flash of multi-colored light, Discord appeared.