• Published 12th Jan 2012
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Days of Wasp and Spider - Luna-tic Scientist



No humans. In Equestria's past, ponies exist only to serve their creators. One such pony is accidentally released from her mental chains, but how can one mare save herself and her people if she doesn't even know she's a slave?

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09 - Revelations from the Belly of the Beast

Days of Wasp and Spider
by Luna-tic Scientist


The Pattern watched over its creations with a sense of anticipation, making continual minor adjustments to a myriad metabolisms to ensure they would all give birth at the same time. Finally that time came; focusing its thoughts the Pattern set in motion a process it had designed many megaseconds ago. Its personality was divided holographically across all of the newborn, each containing some element of the whole. As one, the thousands of now self-aware pups opened their eyes and smiled -- for a brief instant still connected through the lowest levels of space-time -- at the thrill of success coupled with the joy of starting its grandest experiment yet. The connection died as the final alterations to the brains were completed, each now a new individual with only a shared language and the most basic of survival information.

What was left of the Pattern, devoid of will, sat in the realm of shortest length and shortest time, waiting for instructions.

=== Chapter 9 (remastered) Revelations from the Belly of the Beast ===

The world was dark and moved past Gunnulf in a series of uneven jerks. Over him was a sky of black armour scales that flexed and moved like the belly of a giant lizard; to either side a pair of scaled legs fringed with slate grey feathers moved with short steps, sharp talons digging furrows in the ground. As his head lolled with the swaying motion, he saw another pair of legs further back, these thickly covered with silver and black-spotted fur and tipped with small, but sharp-looking, claws. There was a noise by the back of his neck, a hissing gasp interspersed with mumbled words that he couldn't understand, other than that they sounded angry.

Grass, mud and rocks dragged against his armour harness and caught in his feathers and fur. He tried to move, tried to regain some control over his limbs, but his muscles were loose and trembled uncontrollably with random spasms. What he did manage was to weakly thrash his wings, an action that made the movement stop, but earned him a sharp blow across the side of the head and a snarled order to remain still. Something hard reached down behind his head, then with a grunt his shoulders were lifted off the ground and the uneven motion resumed.

His battered and dazed mind slowly recovered and started to piece together his situation. He hurt all over, the dull ache of his bruised body joined with a sharp tingling sensation that seemed to run in a wide band around his throat.

--the sudden flare of lightning against his skin and the gag inducing smell of burning feathers; the feeling of a warm body writhing under his talons, the recoil of his autogun and the sight of a small running shape tumbling into the grass--

The whole disjointed mess came crashing back into his head, without context and any apparent order; he opened his beak slightly to say something, but all that emerged was a weak croak.

Grey feathers and fur, Gunnulf thought, trying to understand what was happening. The only gryphon in the unit with that coloration was Geirstein Kafli. Sersjant Kafli. More memories flashed into his mind; the quiet babble of orders from his dislodged earbud, the bellow of a very angry gryphon.

The realisation hit him like a hammer blow and he whimpered slightly. Stupid pony, none of this would have happened if she'd just surrendered.

Now he knew what was going on, Gunnulf could feel the rage radiating from the sersjant; see it in the hard outlines of his muscles and the jerky movements of his legs. It slowly dawned on him just how much trouble he was likely to be in. The list of charges ran through his mind. Disobeying a direct order, attacking a prisoner, having to be shocked into unconsciousness by my command collar, he thought in anguish, they are going to send me back to the regular military. What's mother going to think when she hears about this?

Built and bred for fighting, all gryphons worth anything were involved in military or police roles. Gunnulf's family was no exception; both parents military, with his mother a top rated long range scout for the Talons. The shame would kill her... right after she killed him. A tribunal and reassignment to one of the 'cannon fodder' battalions was looking more attractive with every passing second.

With a grunt, Kafli opened his beak and dropped Gunnulf to the ground. The gryphon lay there, legs and wings twitching with returning sensation, staring up at his sersjant in misery. Kafli reached out with one foreclaw, wrapping his talons around the haul loop attached to Gunnulf's armour between his wing roots.

Jerking the smaller gryphon to a semblance of a standing position, he shook the flysoldat violently, making his limbs flop about like those of a gutted rabbit. "You stupid bastard!" he hissed in Gunnulf's ear. "All that training and you had to throw it all away, just because you couldn’t control yourself."

"The pony--" Gunnulf said weakly, cringing slightly at the anger in Kafli's tone, his own voice slurred and hard to understand.

"I'll not hear any excuses for this failure, flysoldat Athils Gunnulf," Kafli said coldly, straightening his foreleg and throwing the gryphon back to the ground. "Now get up and move to the rally point. On the double!"

"Yes, Sersjant!" Gunnulf shouted back, although his reply came out as a hoarse croak, then scrambled to his paws and trotted, insides churning, towards the little green diamond on his visor's display.

At the rally point was a sorry collection of gryphons, none of whom looked pleased to see him. They all scrambled to their paws when Kafli appeared, beaks snapping in salute. "Flysoldat, halt!" the sersjant snarled at Gunnulf, then stamped forward to sit on his haunches next to the flysoldat's side.

Gunnulf felt a sharp tugging on his harness as Kafli did something to his equipment, then his whole body felt lighter as the sersjant removed his autogun and ammunition packs, tossing them to one of his squad-mates. "Alfgeir, watch this idiot."

"Yes, Sersjant," the buzzard variant gryphon replied, not trying to keep his disgust out of his voice.

A few hundred seconds later and a sense of weight that Gunnulf didn't realise he'd been feeling evaporated. They must have turned off the suppressor, he thought, it's all over.

Sersjant Kafli looked at something on a foreleg mounted display, then nodded sharply. "That's the recall, form up."

Staggering slightly when Alfgeir shoved him, Gunnulf half opened his wings in an effort to get the last of the tingling from the muscles. The squad spaced themselves out, then leapt into the air and flew in a loose arrow formation back to the attack carrier.

Unlike the previous day's combat flight school training, this was a leisurely affair. Shorn of the heaviest components of his equipment harness, the flight should have been a joy. Instead, Gunnulf stared out at the night-time landscape, lit a ghostly grey by his thermal imager, and brooded over the injustice of it all. One pony was all it took to ruin my dreams, he thought. Ahead there was a lit patch of ground, the broad arrowhead of the Gorit's Vengeance, its lift fans glowing brightly in the infra-red, settling to the ground at one edge.

As he glided in towards the rear loading ramp of the big carrier, Gunnulf caught a glimpse of the pony that had caused him all this trouble; the creature was standing by one of the security airtrucks, being tended by a medic. Near it, lying on the grass and staring at a group of happy-looking foals, was a white pony with a pink mane, and a dark blue one that seemed to almost be a shadow in the poor light. These two Gunnulf didn't recognise from the fight next to the training centre.

Are you the ones who caused all this? he thought, committing their forms to memory.

===

Fusion lay on one of the few remaining patches of grass and stared at the excited, milling herd of foals. Just like me after my own Blessing, she thought, they really don't remember anything. They had all recovered completely within a few hundred seconds; some had immediately prostrated themselves, overwhelmed by the proximity of so many Masters, but most were gambolling around the adult ponies and talking excitedly about their experience. Even the green colt, Tangent Vector, was talking to one of the security ponies with an enormous smile on his face. She watched the adult laugh and say something back to the colt, then point in Fusion's direction. He nodded, then trotted over to where she lay.

"Mach Front," the colt said in a strained tone, glancing back at the security stallion, "says you stopped me from running away."

"Yes, I did," Fusion said apprehensively, searching the colt's face for any sign of what he was thinking.

Tangent looked at his hooves. "I just wanted to thank you, and... and I'm sorry for causing you all this trouble."

"Sorry," Fusion echoed, sounding stunned. "Oh, Tangent, you've got nothing to be sorry about." The mare craned her head forward and nuzzled the colt's pale green neck; partially to make sure he had the best possible memories of this experience, but mainly so he didn't see the expression on her face. Sweet Maker, foal, don't thank me for that, she thought miserably, then sniffed loudly and fixed a smile on her muzzle before pulling her head back. "I'm just glad you're okay."

A blast of warm wind and a wordless howl marked the return of the big aircraft that had dropped the gryphons and power-armoured Masters. Like the Hive Security vehicles, it wasn't using lifter crystals, but unlike them it balanced on jets of air from banks of big fans set into its delta wings, rather than plasma jets. It hovered near the training centre for a few seconds, then settled carefully down next to the half circle of smaller aircraft.

Out of the silent darkness swept a flight of gryphons in a neat arrow-head formation, gliding down to land behind military aircraft. Obviously responding to the same signal came six armoured, insectile bipeds, hard to see in their black and grey camouflage, moving as fast as a cantering pony. The leader didn't return to its vehicle, but instead ran up to one of the instrument packed security aircraft. The sounds of a heated argument floated across the grass, then the Master who'd been doing most of the shouting -- Agent Salrath -- pointed a claw at Fusion, Gravity and Animal and beckoned them over with an angry wave.

Fusion, further away than the others and arriving last, cringed slightly when the Agent's angry expression was turned upon her.

"Too slow, servitor," she snapped, watching the white mare with a small, vindictive smile.

Fusion flinched from the expectation of the Maker's pain, but yet again nothing came. Her reaction satisfied the Agent, however, and she produced the same identification she'd showed to Fusion the first time.

"These ponies are transferred to the control of the Hive attack carrier Gorit's Vengeance," she said, gesturing to the big arrowhead shaped military vehicle, then turned to glare at the armoured Master, already halfway back to the 'Vengeance'. "Salrath will be seeing the Captain again and things will be different," she growled under her breath.

"Forgive me, Agent Salrath," Fusion said in as meek a voice as she could manage, "what will happen to the foals?"

Agent Salrath narrowed her eyes and switched her blowtorch stare back to the white mare. "They will be interrogated to discover why they attacked the gryphon troopers, then Salrath imagines they will be euthanized," she said in an casual manner, watching the ponies' reactions with interest.

The breath woofed out of Fusion like she'd been kicked in the gut as the terrible meaning of those words sank in. No, she thought, not after all this! Beside her Gravity's legs buckled and Animal gave a shocked gasp.

The Agent gave Fusion a smile that exposed far too many teeth for it to be genuine. "Go and wait by the carrier's middle hatch," she said, then turned and stalked away to leave the mare staring after her open mouthed.

Next to her she could hear Animal muttering something under his breath, a rapidly repeated string of words that had the feel of a litany to it. On her other side Gravity stood on trembling, splayed legs, half held up by her wings where they had fallen to the mud and grass. Her breathing was fast and shallow, eyes wide as she stared after the Agent.

"Master, you can't..." Gravity whispered, then whinnied in anguish as a sledgehammer of pain hit her between the eyes. Her breath hitched and her legs folded, dropping the mare to her belly where she twitched and shivered all over, making faint little whimpering noises.

Fusion dropped to Gravity's side, folding her wings protectively over the blue mare and nibbling behind her ears in the manner that always used to calm her when they were younger and without magic. Behind her she felt Animal move; the stallion came around to the other side of Gravity and lay down close to the trembling mare.

"Good, keep doing that," he said in a shaky voice.

"What's wrong with her?" Fusion said softly, words muffled by the pale blue hair of her sister's mane.

Animal ignored her and instead spoke directly to Gravity, his voice getting stronger with each second. "I know it hurts, but focus on my voice. The Masters are the paws of the Maker. Say it with me, even if it's only in your head. The Masters are the paws of the Maker." He kept whispering the phrase to her, over and over, while Fusion gently nibbled through the fur between her sister's ears.

Body moving through the instinctive grooming ritual, Fusion's mind was free to pick apart what might have happened to Gravity. This was similar to what had happened to Random when she'd realised she'd attacked their own military; the sudden punishment for doing something wrong. 'Master, you can’t,' Fusion thought, that was the last thing she said. She's desperate to save the foals, but that would mean going against the wishes of Salrath. Which means punishment... but why for so long? Normally the little flashes of pain were just that: little. It didn't take much to nudge a pony onto the right thinking path. She can't stop thinking about it, Fusion realised, that's what Animal is trying to do, break the destructive cycle!

"...paws of the Make..."

The whisper was so faint that the only way Fusion could be sure that it was anything at all was by the tiny movements of Gravity's jaw. The next repetition was stronger, as was the next and the next. By the fifth she sounded almost normal, if a bit weak. Fusion gave her sister one last nuzzle then leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"We have to go."

Gravity lifted her head, eyes flicking between the other two ponies, a look of puzzlement on her face.

"What happened? Why am I lying down?" she said in a hoarse whisper. "The last thing I remember is... is..." Her face crumpled and the fur on her muzzle became damp with tears, breathing accelerating to a rapid pant.

"Gravity...?" Fusion began, cursing inside for interrupting Animal's treatment, but stopped when the other mare squeezed her eyes shut and made a conscious effort to take deep breaths. As fast as it had started, the panic attack faded; Fusion and Animal had to quickly get up and step back as the blue mare struggled to her hooves. Head bowed and muttering the same litany, Gravity broke into an uneven trot and headed for the carrier.

Fusion glanced questioningly at Animal. "Should we... ?"

"No," the red stallion replied. "She needs a little time to settle, get the bad thoughts out of her head." He then looked over Fusion appraisingly. "You surprise me though, you seemed almost completely unaffected. I mean, I must be four times your age and even I nearly succumbed to punishment fugue. Are you sure you're okay?"

Fusion gave a shaky laugh. "I've had a few shocks recently and it's opened my eyes to the kinds of hard decisions the Masters have to make," she said, resisting the urge to tell Animal what she really thought about that kind of decision. ...and there was something about the way the Agent had told her about the fate of the foals. She'd been too pleased with herself -- and why tell them anything at all? Because she wanted us to suffer, Fusion thought with a flash of insight. A faint hope bloomed in her heart, was it possible that the Agent had lied just to hurt them? No, she thought, not us, the other Masters. She wanted us for herself. Gravity's pain was incidental. A flicker of unfamiliar emotion coursed through Fusion and was gone, so fast she couldn't identify it.

Animal stared at Fusion for a few moments, a thoughtful look on his face. "I suppose so. Still, if it ever weighs too heavily on your mind, please talk to me." He stared hard at the mare. "Me, or any trained pony medic only, though. We've all had special training to help cope with the consequences of such... difficult decisions. Definitely don't talk to Gravity, at least not for a number of days." His gaze strayed to the blue mare, now entering the deep shadow under the delta wing of the Vengeance.

Fusion and Animal joined Gravity in the darkness between the heavy landing legs of the attack carrier. Here, outlined with dim lights was a ramp and hatch, opening out into five narrow stalls. Two of the stalls were occupied, the pale outlines of hip and tail barely visible in the gloom. Another armoured Master was waiting for them -- or maybe it was the same one, the suits were externally identical -- with three sets of grey metal collars in its paws. Motioning the ponies to stand still, the Master proceeded to lock a collar around each pony's neck, then produced a jewelled metal ring with a trailing cable. The ring was dropped on to Fusion's horn to rest against her head, tightened up with a twist, then the cable was connected to the collar. The mare watched nervously as the same procedure was carried out on her two companions, then the Master stepped back and tapped out a command on the suit's forearm.

Instantly, Fusion felt as if she was separated from the world by a sheet of glass, that same sense of dislocation as when the thaumic suppressor had been operating. A feeling of deep unease welled up within the mare and her ears drooped involuntarily. The Master checked some readout on his suit, nodded once in satisfaction, then waved the ponies up the ramp and into the stalls.

Fusion was the last one in, standing between her sister and the strange pony on her right. The stalls were made from expanded metal mesh with horizontal lines of padding, barely wide enough for one pony each. Front to back they were even tighter; the rear hatch closed to press against her rump while her chest brushed a padded bar. Her head leaned out into what was basically a small box, again with metal mesh sides and lined with strips of padding. Even the floor wasn't flat; between her hooves ran another line of padding, positioned such that she really could only stand in one place.

The chamber was too dim to make out any more than vague shadows, but she could smell the two new ponies, a stallion and a mare, at either end of the row of stalls. Shuffling slightly -- the only movement her body could make -- Fusion ruffled her wings in a vain effort to get comfortable, then cursed under her breath when she banged one of her wing elbows against the unforgiving wall.

There was a quiet nicker from her right; with her eyes now starting to adapt to the gloom, she saw the unknown pony looking in her direction through the mesh.

"Never been in a military transport, huh?" he said, sounding amused.

"No," Fusion replied shortly, flexing her bruised wing slightly.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed. Took me ages to get used to these things. The collars don't help, obviously, but they are for everyponies' protection. Some ponies panic, you know? Oh, the name's Lamellar Flow, by the way. Sleepy pony over there is Carbon Carbon. What's yours?"

"Fusion Pulse. You're in flight dynamics?"

"Yes, we -- there're normally five of us -- do the repairs on this aircraft. Most of the big stuff has a lot of moving parts, so they need a lot of maintenance."

Fusion digested that for a second, running through the implications. "Wait, you mean you have to fix this thing while it's in the air!"

"Oh yes," Lamellar said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "This is a military bird, they make them for maximum performance, meaning very fine tolerances. If we weren't here, this thing would have an engine failure practically every flight." He paused, taking in Fusion's flattened ears, wide eyes and flared nostrils. "Hey, I'm joking!"

"Mostly, anyway." The voice came from the other end of the stalls. "I take it you've already introduced me, Lamellar?"

"Yes, Carbon, I was just explaining to Fusion here what we do."

"A pleasure to meet you, Fusion. Who else do we have here?"

Fusion rested her chin on the padded floor of her head box as the introductions went round the stall. Somewhere behind her something started to whine, faint at first, then with rapidly increasing volume.

"That's it everypony, get yourselves as comfortable as possible and fold your wings in tight."

"Why, what's going to happen?" That from Gravity, voice sounding forlorn and lost in the mechanical racket.

"Restraint system's going to inflate to make sure you don't bang about," Lamellar said. "You did see this thing when it came in, didn't you?"

"Restraints? I can barely move in--!" Gravity's outraged voice was cut off with a gasp.

Fusion also gasped as the lines of padding abruptly expanded from all sides. The walls pushed hard against her flanks, while something puffed up between her hooves to press against her underside from tail root to neck. It happened so fast that she didn't have time to be afraid, only time to squeeze her eyes shut against the padding that also held her head. Completely immobilised, she panicked for a second, struggling futilely against the restraint system before relaxing again. Apart from a faint feeling of helplessness it was actually quite comfortable. She tried to reach out with her magic to straighten one ear where it was being held shut by the restraints, forgetting for a moment about the device fitted to her horn. There was something there, she could almost feel it, but it was vague and hard to grasp, like trying to pick up water with your hoof. There was a sudden sharp stab of pain from the collar and she stopped trying.

Against the noise of the engines she could just make out the quiet hiss of breath drawn in through a narrow gap, followed by a strangely muffled sob.

Fusion rolled her eyes in the direction of her sister, but the restraint system kept her in a darkness more profound than midnight under a corral shelter. Her nostrils flared uselessly, bringing only the faint smell of the stall's previous occupant.

"Gravity, are you okay?" Fusion yearned to reach out and touch her sister, but the blue mare might as well have been on the other side of the planet for all the good it did. If Gravity was falling back into punishment fugue and Fusion couldn't provide any physical comfort... "Listen, try to put the Agent out of your mind, think... think back to when you got your labour tattoo." She nearly said 'Blessing,' but after what she'd seen, she'd never think of that in a good way ever again.

No reply, just the quiet sound of a whinny made at the back of the throat... as if the muzzle making it was being held shut. "Gravity, answer me!" Again there was no reply. The mare reached out with her magic again, pushing against the fuzzy boundaries of the mechanism that suppressed her power. For an instant she could feel the outline of her sister, an indistinct shape blurred as if by heavy blankets, then the collar shocked her again, this time with enough force to make her squeal in pain. That glimpse had been enough, though, enough to show her sister's head held at an awkward angle by the restraints.

Panic rose in Fusion and made her voice high and brittle. "Lamellar, there's something wrong with Gravity!"

A faint orange glow permeated the padding over Fusion's eyes and the whistling gasps faded to a more normal breathing pattern.

"There you go, blue, take it easy. I've got this," came Lamellar's cheerful voice. "You're a little on the small side for what we normally carry."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou." Gravity's words ran together in an almost incomprehensible mumble, then she continued in a slightly ashamed tone. "Sorry, sis, those pads took me by surprise and I panicked. Glad you were looking out for me."

"Me too. I'll let you into a little secret, I panicked too -- but at least I wasn't being suffocated." Or just recovering from being locked in a downward spiral of self-inflicted punishment. Despite everything, Fusion was unable to keep a smile from crossing her face. "Look on the bright side; at least you're not male..."

"Sis!" Gravity sounded slightly shocked, but at least the tremble was gone from her voice. "So why all this fuss, nothing's happ...ooooooh!" She squeaked in shock as the engines abruptly thundered and their weight trebled, followed by a series of fast changes in direction that would have left the ponies battered black and blue if they'd been able to move.

"YEEEEHAWWWW" Lamellar shouted from her right. "I love take-offs!

===

"Restrain the prisoner."

Kafli's order made Gunnulf's heart sink. "I'll behave," he said, hating the whining tone that entered his voice.

"Too right you will," Alfgeir said, with a good deal of satisfaction, stepping to an equipment closet and pulling out a bundle of straps and mesh, before taking two strides back to stand next to the gryphon. "Resist," he said with an unpleasant smile, "please."

Gunnulf snarled back at him, but didn't move as the other gryphon dropped the harness on his back, locking the straps around his throat and between his fore- and hind legs, then tightening the mesh panels holding his wings down to the point where he couldn't even twitch them. Alfgeir then pushed him to the floor, locking the leg straps to the rest of the harness and preventing him from standing.

Alfgeir held the final part of the restraints in one foreclaw, eyeing Gunnulf speculatively. "Sersjant?" he said, holding the conical fabric bag up so the other could see it.

"I don't want to see any part of him," Kafli said, waving one foreleg negligently.

"Yes, Sersjant," Alfgeir replied. "Close your beak," he said to Gunnulf, who had opened it to protest.

He saw the look in Alfgeir's eyes, and restricted his response to a glare of hatred. The hood slid smoothly over his head, covering his eyes completely and clipping securely to the harness' collar, leaving only the last third of his beak exposed. Gunnulf tried to curse Alfgeir, but the other gryphon just yanked sharply on the strap that encircled the narrow end of the hood, pulling his beak shut and reducing him to an angry grunt.

“Think on this; you better hope you get transferred, because you’ve probably ruined all our chances as well,” Alfgeir whispered into Gunnulf’s ear, shoving the bound gryphon against the wall with enough force to make the breath wheeze from his body.

The flight back to the aerie was an exercise in misery, endless darkness coupled with random changes in direction that made his flight instincts constantly twitch his immobilized wings. Trussed up and unable to move, every sharp turn either banged his haunches against the bulkhead or threatened to send him rolling into the centre of the carrier's bay. In the end it was a relief when someone attached a cable to his harness and pulled him tight against the metal hull.

===

"How long are we going to be in here?" Gravity asked.

"Depends where we're headed. Why'd you three get picked up, anyways? We were ordered to drop off the rest of our team and get to you as fast as possible." Lamellar Flow sounded thoughtful. "I never thought I'd see those stall doors open while in flight. Guess that explains why the Masters train us for high velocity airflow insertion." His tone brightened. "Hey, it did look like fun, hope I get a chance to try it!"

Fusion sighed, the stallion's almost automatic enthusiasm for non pony-powered flight was getting to her. With a morbid curiosity she asked the inevitable question. "How fast?"

"This time we were only just supersonic. The trick is to fold up yourself in as much as possible and hold it there with your magic -- and resist the instinct to open your wings until you slow riiiight down, otherwise you'll snap them clean off!"

Fusion winced, his tone was positively bubbly.

"No dodging the question, now. Why did the Masters divert us to pick you up?"

"You don't know?"

"Nah, they don't tell us any more than they need to, just that we were doing a hot drop and to be ready."

Fusion snorted and relaxed against the padding. At least the surges of acceleration had stopped. "I'm a... research subject at the APRI, something to do with fundamental understanding of how magic works. They don't tell me much either. All I know is that they've got me in one of the synchrotrons while they turn up the power." The mare paused, wondering how much to tell this stranger. "I was doing one of the standard thaumic power tests and Animal thought I'd lost control of my magic. The backlash must have tripped an attack warning sensor or something."

"...and that was where we came in." Lamellar was silent for a second. "Anomalous physics huh? You must be very proud, knowing you are doing such vital work," he said, sounding slightly awed. "I'm proud of what I do but, wow, you're advancing the frontiers of science!" Another pause. "What about your sister and the 'vet?"

"Just because they were there, I suppose."

"Say, you said you'd lost control, that's real nasty. I've seen that once before in training. They push us hard, you know -- I mean, another Hive isn't going to give us any breaks, is it? How did you... you know?"

Avoid decorating the landscape or being subject to a field euthanization? Fusion filled in silently. "My sister, she deflected Animal's aim with the mercy wand, then disrupted the spell I was using. It snapped me out of it."

"That's real quick thinking." The stallion raised his voice. "Nice going, blue, hope when my time comes I've got someone like you to watch my back."

"My name is Gravity, and thank you," came the muffled reply.

===

Even though the aircraft stayed subsonic on its return leg, the trip should have been far quicker than the one Fusion had taken on the back of a cargo lifter. This trip, however, was taking ages. Half way in, Lamellar and Carbon had needed to conduct running repairs on one of the big wing fans -- fortunately the thing had enough spares that they didn't have to try this frankly mind boggling task on one while it was spun up. Fusion listened to the maintenance ponies sweat and strain with rising awe, as they filled the stalls with horn light only dimly seen through the padding. To carry out such fine manipulation at a distance while shut in a small metal box with no direct line of sight was something beyond her experience; it obviously required a great deal of concentration and power. Fusion kept silent for fear of distracting them and perhaps causing something far worse than a simple engine failure.

It was a long process and, as Fusion waited, those little whinnies and gasps took on a darker meaning, bringing back what the stress of launch and her subsequent panic over Gravity's near suffocation had managed to suppress. With every muscle held rigid by the restraints and eyes seeing only faint, formless glows, her mind started to play tricks on her. A brain hungry for sensation took those noises and merged them with every slight vibration and movement of the aircraft, translating it into the twitch and shiver of a small body held close to her side. Eyes wide in the darkness, the memories came flooding back until she was certain that in the corner of her vision, just out of sight, there was something green and snake-like reaching for her.

Unable to move even slightly, breath coming in short gasps and panic rising, her mind took the only avenue available to it. Her magic bloomed in a fast rising surge, a desperate telekinetic shove to get that horror away from her fur. The half forgotten circle of metal around her throat abruptly seemed to turn white hot; a flash of agony so startling that it shocked every thought out of her head. With the pain, sanity returned and with it came a true understanding of her situation. Trapped in a metal box flying to Maker knew where, powerless to do anything to save herself or her sister if anything went wrong.

Will this collar even let me fly? Fusion thought, a sudden nightmare vision flashing across her mind; the repair failing catastrophically and the aircraft disintegrating in midair, the collared ponies falling free and forgotten while parachutes bloomed and winged shapes glided far, far overhead. I don't want to be helpless any more. Guilt gnawing at her, Fusion reached a decision.

Under the cover of Lamellar and Carbon's efforts, the mare examined the magic suppressing collar in the only way available to her: by provoking it. Despite the superficial similarity with the thaumic suppression vehicle's effect, it wasn't quite the same. It did block much of her power but, as she'd noticed, there was something still there. With enough concentration it was possible to perform magic, but that was when the collar's other function came in. The thing would sense a spell being cast and shock the wearer until he or she stopped. It didn't take much to trigger a shock that, while not very painful, was enough to ruin a pony's concentration if they weren't expecting it.

With sweat pouring down her flanks and muscles aching and tingling from repeated electrocution, Fusion tested the collar's magic output-response time envelope. There'd been no actual order not to use her magic, although the fact that the collar punished her for it certainly implied that. In a strange way she actually welcomed the shocks; they were a surrogate for the far more intimate pains she should have been receiving from the Maker for straying so far from the right path. When the last 'experiment' left her gasping open mouthed in pain and desperately trying to keep her breathing silent, she had her answer. If she wanted to -- and was willing to take the pain -- she thought she could spike her magic fast enough to break the collar before it overwhelmed her. She'd have to really want it, though; the power required would be ten times that she'd used to image Gravity -- and the collar's discouragement response appeared to rise exponentially.

It was almost ten kiloseconds later by Fusion's estimate and the mare was just starting to fall into an exhausted sleep, lulled by the constant vibration and the comfortable, warm smell of other ponies, when the vehicle landed with a thump that rattled her teeth even through the restraints. The inflated padding collapsed with a sudden loud hiss and she was back on her hooves -- and would have fallen over if the stall wasn't so small to start with. Behind them the hatch whined open, letting in the now cold night air and the smell of overheated ceramics.

"Ponies out." The voice was the normal growl of a Master, but not one Fusion recognised.

Awkwardly backing down the ramp, the ponies lined up under the delta wing of the aircraft, the still gently spinning lift fans ruffling their manes. All five bowed low to the figure standing in front of them -- a male Master, still armoured although now without his helmet -- who stared back with obvious distaste. "Pony Carbon Carbon and Pony Lamellar Flow, dismissed," he barked. The two ponies nodded sharply and trotted off towards one of the low buildings surrounding the flat concrete apron. Fusion kept her eyes lowered as they left, the loud clip-clop fading into the night. Unconsciously, she shuffled towards her sister for reassurance. Gravity was silent, head bowed and staring at the ground.

Another glare and the Master turned and loped off, shouting "Ponies follow," over his shoulder.

All three broke into an easy canter after the Master, maintaining a respectful distance. Behind them two other Masters, these helmeted and with weapons drawn, followed. Around them the base appeared to stretch to the horizon, a central plain of brightly lit concrete surrounded by the hills of buildings in basic geometrical shapes. The area the group ran across bustled with activity and the movements of flying and earth-bound vehicles. Two types were especially common: the big deltas like the 'Vengeance' and smaller lenticular shapes that were mostly gun.

Most seemed highly maneuverable and were able to jump straight up into the night sky without any warning; the random roars and whines of aircraft movements were making the ponies increasingly twitchy as they crossed the landing field. Finally escaping from the vast expanse of the apron, past rows of half buried cylinders with large doors, they came to another landing ground half hidden between a tall building with a curiously sloped set of windows at the top and another bunker. Here there was a smaller, more conventional air vehicle, floating a few hoof widths off the ground on lifter crystals. Fusion stared it with trepidation; it was a glossy black cargo hauler with no windows in the back and the stylised slit pupil eye design of Hive Security on the side.

Two Masters stepped out of the driving compartment, both well groomed and with smart but somehow lumpy waistcoats. The first, a slender female with brindled fur, stepped forward and lifted up one paw. Fusion felt her ears droop despite her best efforts to stop them; it was Agent Salrath.

"Salrath knew she'd be meeting the Captain again. He is thanked for his service, but H-Sec will take the servitors now."

"The Captain doesn't approve of politicians interfering with the military's operations," the helmet-less Master replied, somehow managing to inject more ire into his tone than he'd used on the ponies. "Does H-Sec have a transfer order this time?"

The second security Master, a male with the same slender build, rolled his eyes at this while Salrath smiled widely back at the Captain. "Unfortunately, this operation has now been classified under general order ninety nine seventy; there are to be no written or electronic records of this transaction, does the Captain understand?"

The Captain glanced at a display on his forearm, then made a face like he was eating something rotten. He moved to stand next to Animal, then did something that caused all the collars and horn rings to loosen. "Oh, the Captain understands, alright," he said, pulling the collars off with angry motions and enough force to make the ponies stagger. He turned to the anonymous armoured figures, waved for them to follow him and started to walk off. "Apparently none of us are here."

===

Agent Salrath did something to a bracer on her left forearm, causing the unexpectedly thick rear doors of the hauler to open on silent hinges, then gestured the ponies into the cargo compartment. Fusion went first, wings flaring to maintain her balance, walking quickly to the rear of the chamber before turning to face the other two. "Come on," she mouthed silently to Gravity, seeing the mare's hesitation. They hadn't actually been ordered, but that would be next -- and it was always a good idea to be proactive; the Masters liked it when a pony could anticipate their wishes.

That was all the encouragement Gravity needed, and she quickly jumped into the hauler, turned and backed up to stand next to her sister. Fusion leaned close, suddenly feeling very tired. She pressed against the other mare flank to flank, partially to reassure Gravity and partially for her own comfort, unmindful of the tender electrical burns under the fur of her throat. Animal Scanner climbed in more sedately, glanced at the two mares occupying the front of the cargo space, then turned sideways to fill the other end of the compartment. The doors hissed closed and left them in absolute darkness, until all three ponies conjured weak glows from the tips of their horns.

Fusion swung her head around, examining the inside of the vehicle. The first thing that caught her eye was the pattern; a hexagonal array of inlayed silver wires covering every hoof-width of the chamber; walls, ceiling and floor -- even the doors, what Fusion could see of them past Animal's bulk. She lifted one hoof and scratched thoughtfully at the floor, then fed more power into her horn to examine it in more detail. There was a shocking flash of white in her head, as if she'd shone a bright light around a dark room and suddenly encountered a mirror. Wincing, she cut the scan, ducking her head to rub it against a foreleg to alleviate the pain.

Lifting her head again she looked between Gravity and Animal. "Why is this hauler shielded? It's not like we'd try to break out," she said plaintively.

Animal Scanner sighed and tapped one hoof against a wall. "It's not for us; all H-Sec vehicles are like this. Let's you move anything you like without risk of discovery, I guess."

Fusion hesitated and turned slightly to stare at the stallion. "I'm sorry for what I said to you before, it wasn't fair," she whispered; with the violence, threats and near death of her sister, her anger at Animal for nearly killing her had long since faded. It was replaced instead with that same unfamiliar emotion she'd felt before, but this time Fusion was able to identify it. Her mouth opened in shock as she finally realised that it was anger, but anger made alien by its impossible target... the Masters. Seeing Animal's slightly bemused expression she cleared her throat. "Sorry."

"After all this you've still got that on your mind, really?" he said, astonished, then shook his head. "You were under a lot of stress at the time, no apology needed." He grinned weakly. "I'm just as glad as you are that your sister was there. When I file my report I'll be recommending a change in protocol; if there's even a chance we can stop a thaumic excursion without using a mercy wand, I think it's worth the slight risk."

Fusion nodded back at him, one small weight lifting from her shoulders. Beneath their hooves the floor tilted slightly and there was a sensation of movement and turning, but instead of an upwards motion they seemed to be going down a slope.

"Tunnels... that bunker to the right must have been an opening to some kind of transport system. We flew a long way; I'd have thought we'd have been well outside the Hive's normal tunnel network." Gravity voiced what they all felt; it was hard to hide such things from creatures versed in the three dimensions of flight. "There was something similar at my launch site... a pretty normal looking building with a lot of traffic. I always assumed it was an underground warehouse, but I guess it could be the terminus for a tunnel system."

Fusion twitched her wings in a shrug. "I couldn't say; all my time has been spent in the Anomalous Physics Institute. It's all underground, obviously, but I only ever went in through the equipment access. Before these last few days I'd never even been in a vehicle." She eyed the red stallion. "What about you Animal? You know anything about this?"

"It's not a secret, not exactly, anyway. My medical training includes disaster relief -- you know: rescue, debris search and triage. Mostly in the Hive, but we did some in tunnels that seemed to go on forever. Big ones, too; I bet they go to all the way to the perimeter defence stations."

===

Eventually, the ponies sensed a slowing of the hauler, then after a long moment of stillness the big rear doors cracked open to let in a blinding light and the scent of familiar Masters.

"Ponies out," Academician Vanca said in her normal, impatient voice.

Heads bowed and eyes squinting against the glare the three ponies silently lined up behind the hauler. After kiloseconds of darkness, the light -- actually no brighter than normal corridor lighting - made it hard to tell where they were, but Fusion could make out some large ramps and hulking bits of lifting machinery. Above it all was a sign reading 'Anomalous Physics Bay Twelve' -- she was back at the Institute. Despite the fact that this place held nothing but memories of pain for her, the white mare felt extremely relieved not to be in some anonymous security facility at the dubious mercy of Salrath. She winced at that thought. Where are Random and her class now?

Vanca paced around Fusion, snapping her claws at Korn until the Student produced a small instrument and handed it to her. The white mare felt the itch of the scanner as it was passed over her horn, then staggered for balance as the Master roughly extended her right wing to inspect its leading edge. Apparently satisfied, the Academician opened her claws and allowed Fusion to refold her wings.

Dismissing the two security agents with a wave of her paw she turned to Korn. "Medical isolation for the subject." A claw pointed at Fusion. "That and that." The claw moved to Gravity and then Animal. "Will go to the animal house on floor five. Empty one of the subunits."

Korn opened his mouth, cast a worried glance in Fusion's direction and hesitated, then obviously decided to say what he was going to say anyway. "Academician, Korn isn't certain that..." he said, trailing off when he saw the look on Vanca's face. "Yes, Academician," he said, averting his gaze. Sighing, he gestured to the three ponies, then walked to a door at the rear of the loading bay. The ponies followed, hoof steps echoing back from the bare concrete walls.

"Why is Security still here?" The sharp voice was Vanca's.

"Hive Security has decided that Vanca's work requires a physical presence," Agent Salrath said smoothly.

Fusion turned her head slightly to watch the three Masters out of the corner of her eye, while swivelling one ear backwards to catch Vanca's reply, then winced as the Master practically shouted at the Agents.

"This is unacceptable, Vanca will not tolerate this interference!"

"Security is sorry, but the Academician has no choice in the matter."

Fusion could clearly hear Vanca grinding her teeth. She abruptly threw up her paws and stalked off in disgust. "Fine. Stay out of the way and don't blame Vanca if you get irradiated," she said over her shoulder. The agents exchanged slightly worried looks, then trotted quickly to catch up. The last thing Fusion saw before they left the bay was another security hauler pull up; more agents and another pony climbed out.

Three long corridors and a lift ride later they came to the small medical section. Here, lining the sides of a short corridor were a number of doors. Korn did something to a keypad set into the wall and caused one of the doors, a thick, heavy looking thing with a small inset window, to push into the room and slide sideways on runners.

"The pony Fusion Pulse will enter the room." Korn gestured at the door. "Rest."

Feeling slightly numb, Fusion walked slowly forwards, unwilling to be separated from her sister and the subconscious comfort of her own kind. I don't have to do this, she thought, the realisation hitting her like a lightning bolt. She slowed slightly as she reached the entrance. But what should I do? She stepped into the brightly lit room, then turned to face her sister as the door started to close. Seeing the blue mare's concerned expression, she smiled and winked, just before the gap vanished and the door sealed itself with solid finality. Now out of sight of the others the feelings of loneliness and vulnerability hit full force and she slumped, smile vanishing like she'd turned off a light.

Turning again, she paced the chamber; four steps, turn, four steps. The room was bare apart from a combination water / food dispenser built into the wall next to the door, a thick foam pad against one wall and a fluidised bed waste dispose-all opposite the door. A fine tracery of wires laced every surface -- the walls, floor and even the foam pad itself. Instrumented, Fusion thought dully. The briefest flicker of magic confirmed what she'd already guessed; the small room concealed enough equipment to monitor her every physiological parameter. There was no light switch and no sign of the little window on this side of the door.

Four steps, turn, four steps. Fusion paused to stare at the camera dome in the centre of the ceiling, its dark eye following her as she lowered her head and started to pace again. Four steps, turn, four steps. I should stop, I've been ordered to rest. Four steps, turn, four steps. With an effort of will, Fusion stepped on to the foam, folded her legs under her belly, and lay down. With a deep breath she settled her head to the firm surface and closed her eyes.

Even if she felt like sleep it was too bright. Shifting restlessly, mind whirling she tried and failed to settle. Rolling on her side she pulled one wing up, tucking her head into the warm, feathered darkness. Fusion tried to analyse her own mental state, picking apart the events of the last few days to try and understand what had changed. She'd thought things, done things, that nopony she'd ever heard of had ever done.

To even consider acting against the will of a Master should have been quite literally unthinkable; Fusion could remember quite clearly the little rebellions from back around the time she'd been Blessed and was just starting her advanced training with actual Masters. Tiny things, slight hesitations in following an order, unspoken desires to do something she wanted to do, and so on. 'Bad thoughts' the teachers had called them, always quickly followed by pulses of physical discomfort -- headaches, chest pains or muscles locking rigid; little messages from the Maker telling her that she'd done something wrong. The reverse was also true, the flashes of pure joy whenever she'd done something she knew was her best. So it went, pleasure and pain, carrot and stick, her behaviour -- her very thoughts -- conforming to become what she knew was right in the megaseconds that followed as her exposure to the Masters increased.

Like any pony she'd always been proud of her work, happy to help the Masters. She was a quick learner and hardly ever felt the pain that came with bad thoughts. She'd been overjoyed when she'd been selected to help with the Academician's work -- this was something unique! But now... something had taken away the certainty that the Masters were always right and with it had gone the pain and the joy. Without the pain, how was she supposed to know what to think?

===

Kiloseconds passed with no relief. Under Fusion's wing the pad became wet with a steady flow of tears, her mind turning down darker and darker paths. She was afraid. Oh, there had been times when she'd felt a little scared, but there was always that rock solid confidence to back her up, that certainty that the Masters knew what they were doing. Now that certainty was gone, replaced by fear. Fear for herself, fear for her sister.

Two things popped into her mind at that point. The first was the full name of where Korn had taken the other two ponies: Experimental Animal Housing. The second was the red stallion she barely knew, Animal Scanner.

Animal.

Fusion had never thought about that before, always just considered it a different word for 'pony', but that wasn't true. Animal also meant bird or fish or cow. The Masters ate animals. Not ponies, she'd never heard of that, but they were treated the same. Treated well enough because you wanted something from them, but ultimately disposable. The names of places, the very name and job title of the pony medic, screamed out the Master's attitude to ponykind.

All the nightmares of the recent days stacked up in her mind: her own near death during an experiment, the brutal beating of her friend at the paws of Hive military, the use of microwave weapons against foals. Those same foals subjected to the now revealed horror of the Blessing, then casually condemned to interrogation and euthanisation by Hive Security. The Blessing... she'd always been told that the punishment came direct from the Maker, pain for failing to adequately assist its material children, the Masters. Now free from the spell's modification of her behaviour and left alone with nothing to do but worry and think, the scientist in Fusion came to the fore, reaching a conclusion that was as obvious as it was painful.

What her parents had told her was a lie. The Blessing sat in the brain of each and every pony like a maggot in an apple, feeding off its host's magic and dispensing reward or punishment according to some set of arbitrary parameters. The Maker, if it existed, had nothing to do with it.

She examined not only the last few days but all her memories in the light of this revelation, mind galloping in ever tighter circles as she fell into an exhausted sleep.

I don't want to be helpless anymore.