//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Nex, Gladiator 
// by That_Random_Pony 
//------------------------------//

It didn't take long for Glimmer's family to be found. They were horrified at what had become of him, but they were relieved more than ever to have him back. Stride wasn't the same case. Without a family, and with clear signs of trauma, she would need medical and mental care before she could be released into society. She knew it was necessary, and she was willing to try therapy. On top of it all, however, they still didn't have a way to remove the implants inside both ponies. Scientists from all over Equestria had never seen such advanced technology, which made tampering with it highly dangerous. They would be able to remove the talons in Stride's feet and the rods in Glimmer's forehead, but that was their limit. Everything else needed examination and a number of surgeries before removing them became an option.

Celestia was willing to pay any price to see their lives returned to normal. No pony deserved what had happened to them. She wouldn't rest until they were past this dark point in their lives. They appreciated it wholeheartedly. However, the day before Glimmer left the castle, he told the princesses one thing.

"Don't hurt Nete... help Nete get better." Glimmer wasn't in his adrenaline filled state like he was when he was brought there. He spoke from his heart, and he wanted them to make sure Nex would get help like him.

It spoke volumes to the alicorns, but they couldn't ignore the fact that he'd been struggling for an entire week without rest. He hadn't eaten, and his body was slowly wearing down to the point where his arms were masked with bruises. The crystal had gotten impossibly thick, no longer worrying any of the guards of an escape. They'd tried feeding it, waiting for it to slow down and recuperate so they could toss the box of food inside. It would sniff at the hay and flowers inside, then toss them and the vegetables aside before continuing to hit the crystal.

It was starting to look pointless. There was no indication he was going to relent, and in the eyes of Luna it would be a waste of time to try. They would be better off sealing it away, or putting it in stone like Discord. Her sister, however, wasn't as cold as she was a millennia prior. Her abrasive and forward attitude was now a gentle and warming radiance. There wasn't any point in arguing, since Luna knew that Glimmer's words had struck a chord in Celestia. 

If only she'd act reasonably.

"Princess."

It certainly won't attempt to communicate with us. What if they spoke through gestures or something of the like…

"Princess Luna."

That prison may very well break or suffocate him. It'd be best to-

"Luna!" 

The lunar princess jolted upright in her seat, looking down the steps to see her frantic sister and a number of guards. "Wh-What is it? What's-"

"He's stopped." Luna recoiled at her words, momentarily confused until she realized what she meant.

"Has it... passed?" she cautiously asked.

She was relieved and at the same time disappointed when her sister shook her head. "He's asleep," she told her, a smile starting to form. "At least, that's what we believe."

She rose a brow, then turned to the guards behind her sister. "A moment, please." They knew what she meant when she said "please." The Solar guards nodded before leaving the room, the Lunar guards following. "What do you have in mind?"

"We could allow some of our doctors to tend to him. With such exhaustion it might sleep through it," she explained. "We could show it we mean no harm."

"And by placing bandages on it, we shall earn its trust?" Luna quipped, crossing her arms. 

The faint light on Celestia's face faded as she looked her sister in the eye. "You haven't looked at it, have you?" Luna shook her head. "We're going down there."

A sigh blew out from Luna's lips as she followed after her sister, catching up when Celestia waited at the stairs. They found themselves in the dim and dreary prison beneath the castle, but there wasn't any sound. Luna was surprised, although she would have been much more shocked if she'd gone down herself. They made their way past the other cells and looked into the giant crystal. Before she could make a remark, she looked at him thoroughly. 

Aside from bruising all over his arms and shoulders, blood trickled out from his arms and knuckles profusely. The crystal itself was stained with his blood, which changed the color horribly. His left shoulder looked collapsed, and he laid face down in a small puddle of his own blood, sweat and saliva (she could only guess). He made no movement at all, catching her attention quickly. The two stared at it for another few minutes, then sighed in relief as it took a deep and shuddering breath.

"He looks... dead," Luna slowly stated. 

Celestia nodded her head softly. "The least we can do is aid him... he could die, at this rate," she told her sister. 

As she signaled the guards to move the crystal wall, Luna put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "What if it attacks them? We couldn't do anything," she reminded her. 

Celestia glanced back at Nex as he slept, unmoving for a moment before he took another weak breath. "Bind his arms and legs... chain them to the walls," she ordered.

In a short span of time, a number of guards had chained the creature's arms and legs to the walls. Several links held each limb, all pinned to different places in the wall. It was reminiscent of a web. Celestia hoped to see the chains removed once they were done, but Luna preferred the opposite. Several nurses and doctors came in, reluctantly, to start tending to his wounds. Bandages were everywhere as they fixed sprains and his broken arm, along with the cuts and gashes along his back. 

Both sisters watched intently, waiting for any sudden movement. When the doctors had finished, they hurried out of the prison and waited for the guards to close it. However, Celestia remained inside with her sister, who silently urged her to follow the others. If her eyes were her voice, they were boisterous. Luna shook her head and stepped to the side, waving for the guards to enter. They warily moved to flank the celestial mare, then stared at Nex with their hands on their spears. 

"Luna." Her ears perked up at her name, and she waited for her sister to speak. "He's asleep, yes?"

"I can feel a dream, so yes." She waited for Celestia to speak again, but she was met with silence. Nex let out a choked gasp, startling everypony and prompting the guards to draw their spears.

When he relaxed and slumped over again, they returned to slightly less anxious positions. Celestia looked to Luna, then gestured with her eyes to Nex. At first, Luna wondered why she was doing so, but when he snored again, she knew exactly what she meant.

"No," was her only answer.

"You'll be in the dreamscape, Luna," Celestia insisted. "You know he can't hurt you."

"Not physically, but the pain in there is as real as it is when you're conscious," she retorted, snorting in agitation. "What could I do there aside from yelling at a feral... thing?" 

"Find out what they did." Luna winced at her sister's words. They were no longer steady and even. There was a growing desperation in it, and her face expressed it too well. "What did they do to him that made him different than the others? We're supposed to help our subjects, Luna. But would we not help a griffon? A minotaur?" She wiped her sleeve over her eye, then put a hand to her head. "I promised I would help him and so did you, whether you meant it or not. This could be our first and only step, but you won't have any faith."

She was on the verge of losing her slowly failing cool. Her words weren't lost on Luna, thankfully, and she silently conceded. "Should I break something in there, you won't touch a single morsel from the bakery," Luna stated coldly, stepping over to Nex. "Guards, hold the chains."

Each link was held firmly in place by the squadron of guards, and Luna removed her onyx gloves before moving them to his head. "Try not to frighten him," Celestia warned. "This might be our only chance."

"I know, sister," she replied, her horn flickering to life.

Luna's horn bursted into life, a dark blue aura shimmering around her eyes and hands. Everypony around her began to fade, then the prison, then Nex. She was alone in the dark, not a sound in any direction. 

It's a bit empty for a dreamscape.

She looked around, barely able to see her own hands in front of her face. Her horn illuminated with a spell, giving her a small area to see. Guiding the light around, she spotted a silhouette in the distance. Cautiously, Luna approached the figure until the light shone on its back. Ragged cloth covered tannish skin, blood running down his body with red splotches staining his attire. Luna stepped around to his side, readying for a fight. Instead, she could only see him staring into the darkness, silently and endlessly. His mask was still present, which surprised her. 

She brightened her light and stepped closer. "You must be Nex," she formally greeted. "Is that your name? Nex?"

He made no attempt to speak. It was almost as if he didn't hear her. She tried looking to where he was, but still nothing. There was never somepony with a dream hidden inside their dream. She needed to see what he was seeing, and only then would she be able to do anything.

Her hands moved to his head, then stiffly guided his gaze to her. She looked into his small eyes, which had become black and misty. Her horn lit up again, and touched his forehead. All at once, images poured into her head. Screams and wails echoed through her mind, the sounds of flesh tearing and grinding prompting small jerks and disgusted feelings in her stomach. She frantically let go of him, then realized they were no longer in darkness. Where he had been staring was now memory after memory playing endlessly. Dreams were perverse and unholy creations of his memories, each worse than the last. 

And yet, only one stood out from the rest. He was kicking and screaming, his words incoherent among the commotion of everything around the memory. Ponies watched in disgust as he pleaded, his vision blurry from tears. There was no pony that would help. Luna recognized the buildings, and even some of the ponies. He'd been in Canterlot... when he was taken...

"I taken there... mommy and daddy no see me..."

Glimmer had been taken as a colt. He'd been missing two years, and Stride had said there were children. Nex... had been brought there as a child.

He'd been kidnapped.

"Hate... ponies..."

She gasped softly at the sound of his deep, raspy voice. 

"Ponies... no good... ponies... dark...."

"You can't blame this on all the ponies of Equestria," Luna snarled, no longer fearing how close she was. "These nobles aren't what ponies are like at all. You can't-"

"HATE... ALL... PONIES!"

Luna yelped as her magic was sapped, and she was knocked out from his mind and onto the floor. Celestia quickly grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, the guards restraining Nex as he roared in renewed rage. His body's nodes pushed out from under his bandages, then blinked rapidly as he screamed. 

"Get out of there!" Celestia shouted. The guards dropped the chains and sprinted out of the prison, sealing it shut as the chains around his legs began to break. 

Luna shook her head and looked to him, watching as he gripped his head in pain. Slowly, a screw swirled out from the center of his forehead, stopping at an unusual length for most unicorns, then clicked as its surface turned smooth. The tip flashed a blinding white, before blinking and humming as it gathered powerful alicorn magic. 

"Princess, we should-"

"We're fine here," Luna grunted, standing on her own. "Even that isn't powerful enough to break the wall."

Nex dug his fingers into the crystal floor, clenching his teeth as he got low and aimed his horn. "No... hurt... me... ANY... MORE!"

There was a surge of mana before a sphere of white hurtled at the crystal prison. The moment it made contact, it was absorbed into the crystal. Everypony relaxed and looked to him, staring in mixtures of shock and disgust.

"What did they do..." Celestia approached his prison and put her hand on the crystal. "What did they do to you?"

Nex yelled as he yanked at his chains, thrashing wildly and yelling at the top of his lungs. "YOU... ALL... MONSTERS!"