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A Nexus of Grey Concrete1,627 words
Night Terrors1,269 words
Letter of the Law1,470 words
Incompetent, Irrelevant, and Immaterial1,191 words
Chains and Rations1,688 words

Chains and Rations

The Judge liked to keep things organized. Fair. Orderly.

He and his peers had brought law to this lawless universe and he was going to keep it controlled. The prisoner had been tried once, and he had been granted one appeal. He would get that appeal. The Judge would hear his case and any counterarguments the defense had. Because he was fair. More than anything else, he was fair.

He sat down at his bench and prepared his documents. He looked over the prisoners case. This prisoner had been accused of crimes against reality. He had interfered in the work of the guardians and meddled in the affairs of Ephemerals without a permit. This creature had wormed its way into the ear of many sentient beings. He was stopped by...

When the Judge read the name, he shuddered...

The door swung open, and in walked the Barrister, the Crown Prosecutor, the Warden, and three Ephemeral beings. The one in the middle spoke up in an unfamiliar voice, but with a very familiar attitude.

"Funny story!" he said, in a jovial voice. "A friend of mine, a nice lad, a bit odd, decided that he needed to send me here in this horrendous corner of spacetime! For the life of me I could hardly imagine why, but then guess who I ran into? Him! A bit further back in his timeline. Being held prisoner here without cause. That would have been bad enough, but then I did something. I thought. Frightful habit, I've been trying to kick it. I began to realize that you had done something much worse than imprisoning him in an endless nightmare. He is simply being used as a utility by a bunch of pompous nerks in powdered wigs."

It was going to be a very long day.

"Isn't that right, Your Honor?" grinned the Doctor.

It didn't take Octavia long to get through the cell door using the device the Doctor gave her, but when she got in the cell she didn't know what to do...

She looked at the unconscious Blue for a moment, utterly puzzled. Finally he sat down next to the bed and simply talked to him. She could think of nothing else to do.

"Could you do me a favor?" she asked quietly. "And wake up? It seems unwise to jostle you when you're in this state... I don't know what that shock would do to you... Um... Shouting seems unwise as well... Truth be told the Doctor didn't exactly tell me what to do... I'm at a bit of a loss..."

She exhaled loudly. "I want to thank you...," she said. "If it hadn't been for you, I would have done something horrible... Though I suppose you haven't done it yet... Truth be told, I don't even know you... Yes I do. I do a little at least... You're a good soul, you have to be. Either that or your so head over heels in love with this mare that you would do something as drastic as that... By the way, she's all right! She's just fine, she's worried about you. But you'll be alright. Anyone strong enough to keep something like that Mara creature in check--"

With that Blue's eyes opened wide and sat bolt upright in bed.

"SNAKE EYES!"

"I know you," the Judge said incredulously.

"Yes you do," the Doctor smiled. "And that's why you're shaking."

"Hardly," the Judge scoffed. "I am merely irritated at the destruction of my lovely peaceful day. It was going to be a simple hearing, at the end of which I was going to give a simple and clear verdict. Now of course, you've arrived to re-testify, and you have put things quite out of order..."

"I will give no testimony," the Doctor was getting rather serious now. "There will be no hearing. By what authority do you have the right to imprison these people?"

"Our own,"the Judge said frankly. "The prisoner has committed crimes against us. It shall be punished."

"Hundreds of people," the Doctor shouted. "Thousands! Suffering in a never ending nightmare! What sort of crime could all of these people have done to warrant such a punishment?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Judge scoffed. "The prisoner's hearing is in few moments. When it's held, you may give your testimony on his actions."

"Screw the hearing!" Vinyl shouted. "I don't know why you guys are focusing so much on this one dude, but there are thousands of people here! One of them is a friend of mine! I don't know how Blade managed to get out of it, but others are suffering! This has to stop!!"

Then something clicked in the Doctor's brain. It was the combination of Blade and Vinyl's words that at lat put everything together. The Doctor relaxed a little. Things were less urgent. Much more frightening, but less urgent. "Warden," the Doctor smiled. "I have three questions. Firstly, how many Ephemeral wards like the one we just left are on this ship?"

The Warden looked nervous. "Two...," he said. "But the second--"

"Has them emitting a stream of constant positive energy," the Doctor smiled. "A fools Paradise... Second question now... Have the Ephemerals aboard this ship committed any sort of crime or offense against you, your people, or indeed at all?"

The Warden seemed perplexed by the question. "Crimes? Doctor I don-"

"I shall take that as a no," the Doctor was getting very quiet now, and very very cross. "Last question. How many prisoners are currently held within this facility."

The Warden looked at the Doctor a if concerned for his well-being. "We have only the one."

And there it was. It all made sense now. It all came together. Blue... Blade... Why the Doctor met Blue in the state that he did. All of it. He got a preview of the end of the story. This was the beginning.

"I don't understand," Vinyl said. "If there's only one prisoner, what about--"

"Oh Vinyl, don't be silly!" the Doctor said, with a bit of forced pleasantry. "Remember, to these... sickeningly smug creatures... The only life that counts as life is immortal life! They wouldn't waste resources holding Ephemeral beings. Punishing them for crimes! It would be like imprisoning a deck chair. No, no, no... They're rations."

"What?" Vinyl asked. "What are you-"

"We weren't in the prison," the Doctor explained. "We haven't seen the prison. We saw many sentient beings being held in captivity and our minds filled in the blanks... No... We were in the commissary... A great big banquet of suffering and misery to feed the one and only prisoner."

"Of course," the Barrister said. "My client requires the negative energy of Ephemerals. He has not been sentenced to death."

"No he hasn't," the Doctor's vernier was starting to crack. As polite as he was being he was obviously very, very angry. "The other ward. The ward filled with people trapped in a euphoric dream state... That's to keep the prisoner contained isn't it? Chains made of false pleasure... Giving them a perfect dream to compensate for you wasting their lives... For how long has this been going on? How many people have wted away in their beds as you changed them out like light bulbs? How can you be so impossibly smug? How can you waste your powers, my time, and these peoples lives and still consider any squinting insignificant insect to be a lesser being than you!?"

He was an inch from the Crown prosecutors face now. He could feel the Murder in his eyes.

"And more importantly," the Doctor said quietly. "Why did Vinyl Scratch have to be the one to ask all of those questions..."

The Doctor turned and looked at Blade Runner. "I'm sorry?"

"Ms. Runner?" the Doctor asked politely. "Will you please roll up your left sleeve?"

Blue was darting around the cell, pacing back and forth, mumbling words that were making Octavia very nervous.

"Snake Eyes," he mumbled. "Riverboat... Canterlot... Upper Crust... Snake Eyes... I still remember... Galilee... What is Galilee!?"

"I don't understand," Octavia said, now thoroughly bewildered.

"I don't know who you are," Blue was looking right at her. "But we have to leave. We have to leave right now!"

"But Blade..." Octavia said shakily. "She's with some friends of mine..."

"You don't understand," Blue said. "That's not Blade!"

Vinyl gazed at the mark on Blade's foreleg. "No..." She shook her head. "It can't..."

"It is," the Doctor smiled. "Don't worry, I don't think it's actually here... My guess is it escaped some time ago..."

"Less time than you think!" Blade said happily, now with a hissing undertone in her voice. "Only been about a year... A young mare who had a meet up with her bae interrupted... Especially considering what that night may have meant. She made te perfect vessel for her. What's getting me is how you know her... She doesn't know you...

"Doctor, have we been meeting out of order?" asked the Mara.

Author's Note:

Who saw that coming, huh?