Trading Pieces
Sweetie Belle awoke to the sound of a opening door. It was the door on the left, through which a bright white light was spilling, framing the silhouettes of several ponies entering the holding area where the three prisoners were kept. She blinked rapidly, squinting to see who it was entering the detention block. After a moment, her eyesight adjusted, and she was able to see the pink tunics of her captors, as well as the bright red mane of Autumn Sunset. She smiled brightly at her prisoners as guards filed into the room, some taking up positions near the door, others standing in front of the cells, and still others descending the stairs to the interrogation room. A unicorn with a coat of bone-white, and a mane of the same shade, stood next to her, his light blue eyes expressionless. The only thing of color on him was his Cutie Mark, a single drop of blood. A set of small black saddlebags with unusually shiny silver buckles were slung over his back.
"Good morning, everypony! Things are going to be a bit crowded today, we heard news of Ever Free movement in the city, so we pulled in a bit of extra muscle to keep you safe." Autumn Sunset said, looking at them each in turn. Sweetie Belle met her gaze levelly. "Mr. Light should remember my associate. For our new guests, allow me to introduce our Specialist."
He bowed briefly, and at a nod from Autumn Sunrise, descended the steps into the room below. The door slammed below, and the trio were left facing their captor. She inhaled deeply. "He scares me a bit, to be honest. Now, Night Light, you'll be going first today. You'll be coming up with the wing healed, but how long that will take and how painless it will be are entirely up to you."
"Sure thing, lassie. Mind kissing it to make it better?" he quipped, grinning through the bars. He was met with an icy glare from the mare in question. "Can't blame me for trying, then." he grumbled, settling back down.
"Miss Scootaloo, you're next up. We'll be trying a different approach today, seeing as trauma had less of an effect on you than it normally does on Pegasi. The Specialist is interested to see how you'll cope. I'd prepare myself, if I were you." She dodged a well-aimed gobbet of spit from the Pegasus in question, before turning to Sweetie Belle. "Ms. Belle, I am not eager to hurt you further. Not only that, but you seem to have had training resisting conventional interrogation tactics. You are the main reason the Specialist is here today. We'll be trying non-violent interrogation tactics on you. They have a very high success rate." She turned to the guards, flicking her head towards the cell.
Four stepped forward, filing into the cell and encircling Night Light before moving in. Three were swiftly dispatched before the fourth could move in and deliver a stunning blow to the back of the charcoal Pegasus's head. He fell to the floor with a grunt, as his collar was detached and the slender iron rods were affixed to his collar. A band of leather encircled both of his wings, being pulled tight against his skin, and putting pressure on his injured wing, causing him to hiss in pain before being led roughly downstairs.
What followed next was the most insidious part of the torture they were being out through. Prohibited from talking, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat quietly in their cells, their imaginations running wild with thoughts of what the white unicorn was going to do to them. Time turned in on itself, as Sweetie Belle found herself repeating the same motions she had moments before out of nervous habit, such as brushing her mane, limp and bedraggled, out of her face, or touching the inhibitor ring locked onto her horn. Three hours passed before the Pegasus was brought back up the stairs, barely under his own power, eyes unfocused and his cheeky grin absent from his face. He lay unresistingly as he was chained to the wall once more.
The Guards approached Scootaloo next, subduing her with some effort and dragging her literally kicking and screaming down the stairs of the interrogation room before shutting the door behind them, cutting off the sound of Sweetie Belle's friend entirely. A guard approached, tossing a loaf of bread into Night Light's cell. The Pegasus snatched it up and began devouring it mechanically, staring straight forward and mouthing something silently as he chewed. He shuddered once, twice, before subsiding, closing his eyes and staying completely still. He inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly as tension drained from his shoulders and back, seeming to melt away. When he opened his eyes again, they were calm and controlled, his eyes once more. Quietly, he spoke. "Open my eyes, and let me see."
"Quiet." came the command from the guard. The Pegasus smiled, flexing his newly healed wing before continuing to eat his meal with much greater gusto. Sweetie Belle watched, mystified, as this Pegasus finished his meal before curling in on himself and resting. He caught Sweetie Belle looking and gave her an encouraging wink as he slipped into a heavy sleep. Sweetie Belle was all alone, and though she tried to sleep, it eluded her. Idly, she began to multiply by two in her head. Two...four...eight...sixteen...
She had reached two to the power of twenty (One million, forty eight thousand, five hundred and seventy six), three to the power of fifteen (fourteen million, three hundred and forty eight thousand, nine hundred and seven. Or was it fourteen?), and was starting in on the fours when the door to the interrogation room opened, and Scootaloo was dragged up the stairs. Sweetie Belle felt a little thrill of panic thrum inside of her as she watched Scootaloo being chained to the bars of her cell, head hanging limply and rolling from side to side. The unicorn peered closely at her friend's dilated eyes and vacant expression, and saw something that she wished she had not. Track marks ran along the length of one of Scootaloo's wings, and Sweetie Belle recognized the vaguest scent of sickly sweet burning as that of opium.
The guards withdrew from her cell just as Sweetie pressed her face to the bars of Scootaloo's prison. "Scoots...what happened? What did they do?" The guards didn't seem too worried about her talking, so she pressed on. "Scootaloo, look at me. What happened?"
Scootaloo met her eyes blearily, trying to focus on her friend. She worked to form words, spoken so quietly even Sweetie Belle had trouble hearing her. "Wood and sand...crystal clear. Blood and stone and bone. Crystal." And that was all she would say, repeating those words over and over. A guard approached, sticking a needle covered in some black substance in between her shoulder blades. The Pegasus grunted in pain, tensing up, before she relaxed again. Sweetie Belle caught a muttered snippet of conversation about an overdose between the two guards outside of her cell, before they entered her own area of confinement, and approached her warily. Sweetie Belle waited until they were close, about to unhook her collar, before lunging forward, goring one Earth pony along his flank before being subdued. Though she paid for that with a few heavy cuffs along the head, she smiled grimly as the pink-garbed pony collapsed, his back leg no longer able to support his weight.
She was led down the stairs into the room below, stealing one last glance at the two Pegasi behind her before she was roughly spun around and marched towards the bone-white unicorn waiting for her downstairs.
Sweetie Belle was once more tied to the table, facing the ceiling as she was thoroughly inspected by the unicorn. He poked and prodded, scratching down notes as he examined the roots of her mane, the health of her coat, even the blood flow along her ears. He was fastidious in his attention to detail, looking over every inch of her with a clinical, detached air. Nowhere was spared, and nothing was sacred. Sweetie Belle shifted uncomfortably as he finished his inspection, scratching out a last few notes. He busied himself with a small tray lined with glass bottles and needles of varying lengths. She ventured a question, braving retaliation from Autumn Sunset and the guards in an effort to break the silence hanging heavy in the room.
"Why do they call you the Specialist?"
He was silent for a brief moment. Then he spoke, his voice surprisingly high and airy, possessing a shimmering quality that was quite unnerving. "Because I am very good at my job. I get results with relatively little fuss and almost no mess." he said without turning.
"What's that supposed to mean? You're an interrogator, aren't you?"
He turned, a strange jumble of glass and wire floating alongside him as he trotted towards her. "I prefer to think of myself as a teacher. One who enlightens." he said, hanging it on the light fixture above her, where it caught the glow, refracting the previously harsh white into soft blues and greens and pinks. Occasionally, a flash of white would pass through the gently spinning lights, or be caught by a clear piece of glass, causing distracting spots to play across Sweetie's vision. She spoke nervously, eyeing the unusual glass above her.
"What do you teach?"
She felt a prick underneath her jaw, and before she could react, two padded buffers were placed alongside her head, forcing her to look forward. She blinked, suddenly dizzy. His voice came as if from far away. "I teach ponies how to see new truths, Sweetie Belle. Ponies that spend too much time in the dark sometimes need to be brought back into the light. I'm here to help you find your way back into the light, even if we have to push a bit to get you there."
Sweetie Belle tried to close her eyes, in order to focus her thoughts, but before she could do much more than remind herself not to talk, her eyes slid back open involuntarily. She tried again, with similar results. The colored glass above her filled her vision, and she felt as if she was floating. Another pinprick, this time on the side of her neck, was dimly felt. She felt herself relax, and a gentle voice spoke into her ear.
"Now, I want you to look at the colors above you for a while. When you can focus on the colors without exclusion, we can take the next step. Are you ready?"
Sweetie Belle tried to wrap her mind around the words being spoken. She realized that she was supposed to be doing something, something important, but she couldn't remember what.
"Just focus on the colors, Sweetie Belle..."
That was it, then. She was supposed to be focusing on the colors. She was supposed to let the voice know if she was focusing on the colors. She tried to answer, and found that she was able to speak fairly easily. "Yes. I'm focusing on them."
"Good...now, what do those colors remind you of? The blue and pink and green? The white? The white's very bright, isn't it? Like..."
Sweetie Belle realized that she knew the answer. "The sun. The colors remind me of Celestia."
"That's right, they do. What do you think about Celestia? What do you like about her? What do you dislike?"
"She's the ruler of Equestria. She moves the sun. She's always been a good ruler, but..."
The voice spoke again. "But?"
"Too many secrets. Tricky, slippery secrets. That's not good."
"But you keep secrets too, don't you, Sweetie Belle? That's why those ponies in the pink tunics attacked you, isn't it? Because you wouldn't tell a secret? Don't you trust them?"
Sweetie Belle tried to shake her head, but couldn't. "I don't know...I don't think so. I don't trust them." She stared at the colors above her, a soft rainbow that gleamed and shimmered as she found herself transfixed by the spectrum shifting in her vision. They really did look an awful lot like Celestia...
"Do you think that ponies should lie to each other, Sweetie Belle?" the voice asked, shifting into something familiar as another prick was felt along her neck. Her vision blurred at the edges, and her head began swimming. The colors were shifting again, and Sweetie Belle could have sworn that eyes and wings and other features were emerging in the glowing rainbow above her.
"No, they shouldn't. Nopony."
"Not even Celestia?"
Sweetie Belle gazed into the face of her monarch, that radiant visage, and listened to the melodious voice in her ears. "No, Princess. Not even you."
"Alright then Sweetie Belle, I'll make you a deal. You tell me your secrets, and I'll tell you mine. Is that a deal?"
Sweetie Belle's drugged mind swam as she stared into the collection of glass above her. The guards surrounding the table looked on in awe as the Specialist did his work, herding Sweetie Belle's psyche into a corner with little more than his voice, some stained glass, and the bottles in his bag. The Specialist slid in one final needle, and the mare sighed. He pushed a little harder.
"Is that a deal, Sweetie? Don't you want the truth?"
When she spoke, her voice was heavy, her words slurred. "Ok. Deal."
The Specialist allowed himself a small smile, and began to speak. There was a dull rumble from outside the door. He paused, looking towards the wooden slab, enchanted to bar sound. He silently gestured for the two ponies outside the door to go outside and check on what had happened. The other guards, four in all, shifted uneasily. The two chosen, a pair of bulky Earth ponies, slipped outside, sealing the door behind them.
Another rumble was heard, and then another. Two of the unicorns lit their horns in readiness. There was a bang, and then shouting from outside. There was a brief scuffle, and then another thud from directly outside. A voice shouted, high pitched and fearful.
"Open up! Those EF bastards just tried to break in! We took care of them, but we have wounded!"
One of the guards looked to Autumn Sunrise questioningly. She shook her head, before raising her voice slightly, calling towards the door as the unicorn strapped to the table lay there oblivious to the events surrounding her. "Passcode!"
"Celestia's teats, open the door! There's blood everywhere! Passcode is 'barleycorn'!"
She nodded to the guard posted by the door, who pulled it open, moving swiftly out of the way in order to minimize exposure to hostile fire. One of the regular guards, a nondescript brown Earth pony, entered along with a companion, two limp, bloody bodies slung over his back, their pink tunics stained with viscera. He lay them gently on the floor. His companion, a Pegasus, did the same with his own burden, a limp unicorn mare. Gingerly, they sidled away from the bodies. The Specialist trotted forward along with the other unicorns, as the remaining Dawn operatives moved to secure the stairs along with the new arrivals.
He examined the bodies, which were unfamiliar to him. "Autumn, have you seen these ponies before?" He lifted the gums of one. "Are those...fangs?" He took a step back in alarm, but wasn't fast enough to prevent the unicorn mare from burying her fangs in his neck, her disguise falling away in a rush of green magic. The two guards did the same, turning on their companions and cutting them down where they stood as they caught a barrage of spells from one of the two remaining unicorns on their chitinous skins. His comrade dropped his disguise as well, and the unicorn dropped with a black horn buried to the hilt in his throat.
Autumn Sunrise moved quickly, seizing a knife from a nearby table and placing it to Sweetie Belle's throat as she stirred weakly, fighting off the effects of the drug coursing through her body. "Not another move! You're here for her, so don't move or I swear I'll cut her-"
The Pegasus's rant was cut off in mid sentence as Sweetie Belle, half-conscious, rammed a hoof into her stomach, causing her to drop the knife and begin to collapse. Sweetie caught it, twisting it up just in time for several inches of steel to embed itself in the throat of the Pegasus, spilling bright blood everywhere. The coppery tang of death filled the air, as both mares locked eyes, one watching as the spirit fled from another. At last, the spark had left the weakly struggling body of the Pegasus, and Sweetie Belle lay back, dropping the knife and feeling strong hooves supporting her as she was rushed from the room and up the stairs. She felt the pumping of her heart, faster from the exertion, delivering more of the chemical to her head as she fought for consciousness. A voice spoke by her ear.
"Sweetie Belle? It's me, Scootaloo. You're going to be fine, I promise. We're going to a safe place. You'll be fine. Go ahead and rest, you're ok. Just rest..."
Sweetie Belle allowed blackness to claim her, and the last thing she heard was the chiming of a massive clock, somewhere very nearby.
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Wow I did not honestly see sweetie pulling that stunt in the end when she wakes up she is going to be freaking out that she took a life.
1585775
I agree with you. I don't think sweetie is going to be happy at all with this turn of events. Freedom is good, but it just cost a fair number of ponies their lives, and that's not going to sit well. I mean obviously she'd rather be alive than dead, but killing ponies is not good for the psyche, especially given that she just knifed her captor. I hope Twilight learns how to make stuff work without killing ponies or the world will be much worse off by the time this is all over.
Go Sweetie go! Go Sweetie go!
... Alright, fine, don't celebrate getting the bitch back for torturing you, and preparing to kill you. That's okay. You were just really awesome, and you were high on hypnotics and truth drugs. I can't wait for the fallout when the dust settles - Celestia hasn't done herself any favors by letting a popular journalist/broadcaster get treated like this. You either kill them straight away, or you pretend to give them full rights and proper treatment until you've confirmed their involvement. Sillys.
Yes, severally ponies died in the escape. Of course they were all members of Celestia's torture division, and the one Sweetie kills was going to kill her, so my sympathy is a bit low. Still a shock for Sweetie of course, but she was also under the influence of drugs.
great chapter!
i didn't expect that to happen there in the end. gonna be fun to see sweetie handle that. also; now she's bound to meet twi!
What was in that stuff that the Specialist was giving SB? Opium?
1586065
A mixture of several naturally occurring plants, including-
Opium first, to deaden pain and decrease resistance
Belladonna extract, to induce hallucinations.
Morning Glory, as a "baseline" and blender. It would smooth out the ride, while making her more pliable and trusting.
I considered sodium pentothal, but a society in Equestria's current stage of scientific advancement probably would not be able to synthesize it.
1586179
So essentially a truth serum?
Speaking of scientific advancements, one of the featured fics a few days back made me realize how Cutie Marks hinder progress. It's really draconian if you think about it.
1586199
in essentium, yes. And I can agree with the idea of Cutie Marks delaying progress. EQD had an article up today on how Equestrian society closely mirror's Plato's Republic. Which always struck me as fairly awful. Also, I'm going to start calling them Talent Marks from here on in.
1586214
I've never really agreed with the concept of cutie marks being an inhibitor to progress, primarily because I feel they get a lot of flak for being something they're not. Cutie marks, as I understand it, represent what ponies are best at, and that's why several ponies have jobs in areas of their cutie mark. They are not a predestination device, locking ponies into one and only one job for all their lives.
1586214
I've always regarded utopias to be same as dystopias.
1585858
It depends. These are ponies that are torturers. They do horrific things, and deal in pain and misery. They are the worst of the worst. Not even worthy of being considered an animal, good for little more than being put down.
And she's been at their mercy for a while.
It will be a shock, but she should get over it.
1586258
They themselves aren't, sure. But you also have to factor in societal pressure. What if you have a fairly useless Mark? Applebloom and her "loopty-hoop" come readily to mind. How can you have a job that involves spinning a hoop? Surely there aren't job openings available for every pony's Mark. And if you don't match up your Mark and your job, what does that say about you? That the one thing you excel at is a useless skill, or that you don't excel as well as some other pony?
And what of ponies who might have the perfect mind for industrial labor, but are stymied by Equestria's lack of industry? Would that not encourage them to find a different path, and so slow the growth of Equestria?
I recommend you read the basic gist of Plato's Republic. It echoes my Equestria eerily. A clockwork society, everyone content, with benevolent rulers who gently shunt the populace into needed positions while progress is slowed in order to prevent loss of control.
1586321
I've read the Republic, and it does in fact mesh well with your Equestria. I was, however, under the impression from your comment that we were talking about canon Equestria.
1586341
It does that as well, but I think canon Equestria fits in more with the "good", "utopian" Republic, and mine fits more closely with the "dystopian" point of view.
1586354
And that's not under debate really. My point was about cutie marks and cutie marks alone. I don't see any evidence that delay progress, being as they are merely signs of what a pony is good at and not a predestination symbol.
1586371
I suppose I look at it like this-
Ponies, especially young ponies, place great importance on their Marks.
To find what you excel at, you do what comes naturally, what feels right.
When you find it, your Mark appears.
Now here's where I begin to extrapolate. Anything forward of this is opinion-
Young ponies look to the familiar for guidance, family and such.
They are already good at familiar tasks such as family businesses. Case in point Apples.
This suggests a greater percentage of ponies will continue their family lines as opposed to innovating or finding new jobs/creating new jobs.
This leads to well-established traditions as well as retarded (as in slowed) progress in "extreme" fields such as inventing or other, more "advanced" pursuits.
These traditions reinforce the family values that young ones grow up under, providing further structure for them to follow as they learn simple tasks.
This results in them being able to perform the tasks more easily than other tasks, thus specialization, thus related Mark.
The cycle perpetuates.
1586430
I would believe that more if we didn't have clear evidence of technological advancement on the show itself. Heck, we went from horse powered (hah!) trains in season one to coal powered in season two. Ponyville has construction equipment to build a skyscraper. We have magically powered flying machines for tortoises, and magic powered machines in general. Not to mention video games, and robots, are apparently canon as well.
Applejack and her family are farmers, and likely to stay farmers at that, sure, but that has more to do with earth pony magic being necessary for crop growth then anything, and her family includes the Oranges who appear to be socialites or something.
1586468
How much of that is actual technological advancement, though? And how much is fueled by magic? I've yet to see a steam engine that puffs hearts out the dang top. That's the niche unicorns now fill, since they no longer raise the moon and sun.
1586496
Of course it is magical enhancement, Equestria is a land of magic. To not use their most plentiful, and most rapidly replenishing resource since ponies produce magic naturally, would just be silly. You can bet every dollar you will ever see that if you humans had magic we wouldn't have used fossil fuels for much either. The train is completely coal run though, no unicorn required.
This was one of the more disturbing torture scenes I have read in a while... I REALLY LIKED IT!
Torture is one of those things where imply, don't show, works the best. By not showing Night or Scoot's torture, you forced us to imagine what had happened to them instead. Which in a way is much better at setting a mood.
Also, good job Sweetie on stabbing that commander!
1586258
While it is true that some ponies are entirely not defined by their Cutie Mark, there are those who have special talents that can be easily replaced with technology. For example, Bon Bon makes her bonbons herself. If a machine were to churn out bonbons automatically, Bon Bon, and those like her, would feel that her special talent would be useless in comparision. To ensure ponies do not revolt, Celestia mostly definitely (and canonically, I believe) keeps a personal eye on scientific progress in Equestria.
On an added note, I like how we're tearing up what seems to be a perfectly innocent Children's TV show.
1586777
Bon Bon has never been shown making bonbons, like everything else about her that's entirely fanon in nature. That said, I'll reiterate that technological advancement is not only shown in show, but no evidence is given that it is limited by Celestia. They are, for the vast majority of ponies, symbols of things they are good at, not chains tying them to any particular line of work. I understand why it is like that in this fic, tyrant Celestia and all, but canon is a different story entirely.
1586815
I admit it wasn't the greatest of examples. But if Cutie Marks are to define ponies in their special talents, introducing something that diminishes that special talent in any way would reduce a pony's self-esteem,even if the pony in question still has options for a job. A Cutie Mark makes a pony special. As Airstream said, it's embedded in Equestian norms.
1586853
And most cutie marks are either shown as hobbies at worst, such as the filly we see get a cutie mark for bowling, or immensely vague at best, like the majority of the mane 6. We have not, as of yet, seen a talent that existed as simply a job skill, withe possible exception of Celestia and Luna.
Dang! Do NOT mess with the CMC!
1587460
That filly would probably become a professional bowler. Even then, if he were to become lame due to some freak accident, he would be devastated. Sure, he could become a mentor, but he would never be the same.
I agree, those with vague cutie marks, like the Mane 6, are probably the most luckiest since they have the most opportunities. But their cutie marks are tied to their passion. While they can find many jobs, it's their passion that's irreplaceable. All of the Mane 6 have turned their passion into a job (except for RD who trying to turn it into a job). If one of them were to become unable to practice their passion by being replaced by tech (to be honest, this would only really happen to AJ), said pony would be very upset.
1587855
And the thing is that AJ would never be replaced by a machine, earth pony magic is implied to be almost necessary for crop growth. Losing the ability to use your special talent would obviously suck, never said it wouldn't, but the argument is about whether advancement is stymied because of the existence of cutie marks. I see no reason for that to be case since cutie marks are not something that locks a pony into any single job, primarily because a lot of them appear to be entirely useless in a professional manner. They have never been presented that way, and given that Cheerilee specifically says that her cutie mark, which represents her desire to help her students bloom, appeared after she chose her career I'm inclined to think they are nothing but a slight guide at best.
Sure, Allie Way (or at least I think that's her fan name), could become a professional bowler, but there's no evidence that there exists enough ponies with bowling marks for such a thing to even exist. Its more likely that simply like to go bowling on the weekends or after work.
1589271
That pony was a girl? I thought that kid was a guy!
Then again I haven't watched S2 since summer.
1589335
I'm almost entirely certain it was a girl. I don't pay much attention to background ponies though so I may be wrong.
1589392
Well I checked and Allie is a full grown mare. The kid in question was a guy.
1589409
Alright then.
1590380 Can I say all of them?
If not, The Hunt for Red October, Cardinal of the Kremlin, or Debt of Honor.
*Reads comments* So much Talent Mark discussion! I LOVE IT!
EDIT: Talent Marks sound a hellova lot better than Cutie Marks too, but that may be my masculinity talking.
Wonder how Rarity is going to react when she finds out what her sister has been up to?
Well Sweetie Belle is a bad ass XD
Yes.....
I love death...
Let there be much death....to the children of the Sun.
Let their flesh run cold, and their very selves be torn apart.
Mercy they do not have, and neither do they deserve such.
Thank you, I now hate Celestia again.
May she die painfully.
Regardless, excellent work.
JESUS!!
sweetie belle aint so sweet now is she?
she is going to be TRAUMATISED when she comes round and realises that she just killed somepony
2161383 Idk...If someone had spent a day slicing me open and then healing me to do it again, and having tortured a good friend, I don't think I would be too traumatized if I killed them.
1585775 sweetie draws first blood
2750559 I would still be disturbed slightly, but I think it would take me less time to get over it if they tortured my friends.
And so died Autumn Sunset. No more would the sick bitch hurt ponies. Rest in Pieces, Little Miss Sunshine, hope you like getting bucked in Tartarus.
So, when did Special Forces training become part of journalism school? 'Cause DAMN, Sweetie Belle!
6298518
More likely all of those adventures back when her and the rest of the CMC were searching for their Cutie Marks was advanced training.
Plus, she'd been relegated to base instinct by drugs. Base instinct of a smart pony like Sweetie Belle is to eliminate the one that tortured her and her friends.