The Gathering Storm

by WiskeyMikeOne

Chapter 9: Incarcerated

Chapter 9
Incarcerated

I awoke with the worst headache I have ever had, my face was on the cold wet grey stone floor, and my vision took some time to focus. It was now obvious that we weren’t dead, just knocked out by the potion. I could hear sobbing. Still with my vision out of focus, I got to my hooves and headed towards the sobbing. I was stopped by vertical bars

“Prison.”

“Hay! Who’s there?”

“Cart Wheel is that you?”

“Mayor...you okay?”

“I should have listened to you...this is all my fault”

As much as I wanted to agree with her I thought now was not the best time so I just said nothing. My vision was now back, three cells in one room in a circle, a wooden door to my right, the mayors cell in front of me about six feet away and an empty cell to my left. The room was lit only by a single candle above the door. The cell wasn’t much, a small window with bars in it with no glass, a pile of hay for a bed and a bucket in the corner.

I felt under my left wing for my blaster, it was still there. And the black box from my aeroplane was under my right wing, good thing I remembered it after all these years, the guards must have forgotten to search us. A bonus but not much use in a 4x4 prison cell. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of keys. The door to the cell room opened up, three figures cast a shadow onto the floor. The empty cell door glowed blue and flew open. Rarity was thrown into the cell and the door slammed behind her.

“How dare you! This is no way to treat a lady! I should report you!”

The cell door slammed shut, nearly extinguishing the candle above it. Great, I thought to myself, being imprisoned for a life time with the two ponies that get on my nerves the most, I would have preferred being dead. Rarity was going on about her treatment, I didn’t pay any attention. My mind was still trying to come to terms with what the mayor said a moment ago. “I was right” I never thought I would hear those words pass her lips.

“What do you think she will do to us?” said the Mayor talking over Rarity

“Banishment probably, she is bound not to break the first order the same as we are”

“But what if, Cart Wheel, what if...”

At this point the Mayor had her head pressed against the bars, tears streaming down her eyes, her glasses cracked and off centre. At this point I realised she was just a pony trying to bring peace to Equestria. And by trying to achieve that she sealed her own fate and the fates of others. I now understood why she didn’t like me, I was the one trying to bring hate and violence into RoE which she was completely against.

“I promise you Mayor, we will be fine. Trust me.”

The doors to the room flew open and so did our cell doors, all three of us were grabbed by our throats by an unknown force, magic can a cruel weapon sometimes. We started to hover out of the cells; there were no guards to greet us, only other ponies in the same predicament as us hovering only a few feet off the floor and all being drawn in the same direction down the long stone corridor.

I recognised all of them, they were all the delegates that came with us to the castle. When the tightness around our throats gave away we all fell to the floor, there was a lot of muttering and whimpering from the delegates but the sound of their muttering echoed in the darkness, therefore I knew we were in a large room.

Sun light shone down on us from up high and then descended, it then filled up the room. My predictions were true, a large room almost like a coliseum with pillars and stands full of ponies all dressed in white and golden cloaks. Princess Celestia was where the sun light lowered to, she was on a podium almost like a judge at a court case, two other ponies were with her, but they were too tall to be guards or Stallions. One was in plain sight, the unicorn had a dark purple mane and a light purple body covered in golden armour. The other pony was in the shadows, however, I was more interested in the purple unicorn standing to the left of Celestia “I’ve seen that pony before but I can`t remember where”.

“Members of the Republic of Equestria, You all have been charged with treason against the Solar Empire and Princess Celestia. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty!” I replied to the purple unicorn

“And you are?”

“Cart Wheel”

“Ah yes, the mayor told us a lot about you”

The wind was knocked out of me. I turned to look at our betrayer, as did most of the delegates.

“Oh she didn’t mean to. Magic can be very useful in the art of torture.”

I looked the mayor up and down, she was battered and bruised. I said nothing and just nodded and she replied with a nod, I think she got the message “It’s not your fault”.

“The High Court of Canterlot will now come to their decision, guilty or not guilty?”

The whole room erupted with just one word, guilty. I turned around, looking at all the ponies shouting the one word at us, some shaking their hooves at us and some using them to amplify their verdict. The delegates were now cowering in a group in the middle on the room. I was the only one standing.

“ENOUGH!” I shouted at the top of my voice, the whole room went quiet, “Don’t we get a say in this?”

The purple unicorn looked at Celestia; Celestia just waved a hoof in agreement.

“Let them, it will serve them no good”

“Very well your highness. Proceed, Cart Wheel”

“Thank you. Members of the High Court of Canterlot, we, of the RoE want freedom. Freedom to be with each other, freedom to live with each other and freedom to live our lives! We have had friends, even families taken from us when the purge took place. Harmony in Equestria vanished on that day and we have been living a life of sorrow and misery ever since. The RoE was formed to unite ponies from all sectors. We have done nothing wrong!”

“Well if I’m not mistaken Cart Wheel, the information that we received from Mayor Mare is there was a resistance movement within the RoE trying to disrupted Imperial affairs. Now who would be the leader of that group, hmm?

“I would rather die standing on my hooves than live a life on my knees” I replied.

“So you admit it. You are the leader of the resistance movement within the RoE that has caused damage to Empire property and has caused the Empire to use resources that would help on the front lines?”

“Yes. But you shouldn't punish all of these ponies for what I have done and ordered my men to do. Punish me instead... I’m the one to blame...not them.”

“Cart, what are you doing?” whispered Caramel

I just turned and winked at Caramel

“You would sacrifice yourself to save the others?” said the purple unicorn

“Of course I would”

The purple unicorn turned back to Celestia. There was some muttering but I couldn't make out any words. The adrenalin was surging through me; I was shaking internally but calm and focused on the outside. Suddenly Celestia swooped down and landed right in front of me, the ground shook with the impact that she gave. She looked down her nose at me, and then with a spark from her horn my cape was ripped off.

The whole court room gasped, my wings were free. The black box and the blaster fell to the ground, I looked up at Celestia and she said one word.

“Gotcha!”

Comments

[Nightspawn]

I felt under my left wing for my blaster, it was still there. And the black box from my aeroplane was under my right wing, good thing I remembered it after all these years, the guards must have forgotten to search us. A bonus but not much use in a 4x4 prison cell. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of keys. The door to the cell room opened up, three figures cast a shadow onto the floor. The empty cell door glowed blue and flew open. Rarity was thrown into the cell and the door slammed behind her.

Wow, Some prison guards they are...