Beyond The Sea

by MrPockets

Prologue

PROLOGUE

The prisoner was hurled into her cell. A looming figure behind her, the guard, slammed the rusty door shut without a word. His keys jingled together as the heavy padlock clicked the cell shut tight, leaving it in total darkness.

The prisoner could hear muffled hoof-steps echo down the hall outside. A door opened and closed, leaving only the sound of her ragged breathing. She lifted herself weakly off the cold, metal floor and felt her way to the corner of the room where a pile of soiled rags made up her bed. She dropped onto them heavily and closed her eyes tight.

For what must have been the millionth time, she thought about her old friends. It was her only solace in the small, dank room. Sometimes, if she really concentrated, she could almost feel them, like they were somehow in the cell beside her. She’d shoot awake in the dead of night, positive someone else was with her; but nopony ever answered her calls from the blackness, and she’d fall back into a fitful sleep. Perhaps she was losing her mind. That would hardly be surprising after all she’d been through in this horrid place.

Around her, the prison groaned and moaned in its deep, resonant voice. It sounded like it was in pretty rough shape. The whole place did. Maybe if she was lucky it would all fall apart and she could escape... in either one way or another.

She rolled onto her side, ignoring the perverse feeling of her own body. The dark thoughts in her mind weren't so easy to deal with, and fleeing to the memories of her youth was her only escape. How long had it been since she had last seen her friends? Even in her strained mental and emotional state, she was able to quickly do the math in her head. She whimpered in shock as she calculated the answer.

It’s been almost 16 years...

The thought was like an icy spear through her heart. Unable to hold it in any longer, she broke into tears. They fell onto her putrid rags; already saturated from the previous months she’d spent crying into them.

Since it was impossible to tell time in the black cell, she couldn’t know for sure how long she’d even been a prisoner for. At a rough estimate, it had been at least 9 months. She spent half of that time in the cell, and the other half...

The other half was spent in the medical lab, where stone-faced, so-called doctors had free reign to poke and prod. Inject and mutilate.

The prisoner shuddered at what she knew they'd done to her. All the surgeries and mutations... She considered the darkness of her world a blessing. It meant she didn’t have to look at their heinous work, and the abomination she’d become.

She closed her eyes tighter in an attempt to cut off the tears, retreating back to the comfort of her memories. Suddenly, she was at a party, in a barn in her old hometown. Bright streamers and balloons filled the large room, a table with snacks and a huge bowl of punch sat off to the side. Her friends were there too, laughing and playing silly games without a care in the world... except, one of them was missing.

This was incredibly distressing to the imprisoned pony. More tears squeezed their way past her clenched eyelids.

This is her party, where is she? Why isn't she here with her friends? SHE SHOULD BE HERE!

The prisoner lifted her head and screamed into the indifferent darkness; unleashing her hate and anger, her utter misery and powerlessness. She screamed until there was no air left in her lungs and her throat was raw. The echo of the cry diminished into panting and quiet sobs.

They were gone.

They were all gone.

And she was alone.

A tiny sound came from the somewhere in the endless darkness. Her head shot up and she squinted into the abyss. “Hello?” she asked. Did I really hear it? It sounded like... giggling. Her only reply was more rumbling from the deteriorating prison.

No... just my mind playing tricks on me... She laid her head back down on the smelly rags.

Then she heard it again, and felt the faintest spark in response from her horn... Suddenly, she could feel her missing friend. She felt closer than any of them had in years.

Desperate, the prisoner shot onto her hooves and called out hysterically into the black ether. Once again, there was no answer.

But... I can still feel her. She could hear distant laughter, and a sing-song voice that almost brought her to her knees.

She’s so close! If only she could hear me...

She reached out with her magic, focusing with intense determination. Concentrating harder on a spell than she had in months. The small cell lit up with a glow of energy emanating from her battered horn. The bright light hurt her eyes, she had to close them, but kept concentrating. More and more power traveled through her horn, more than she imagined she had left in her broken body. It quickly drained her limited stamina. She fell to her wobbling knees, but the stream of magic kept going strong.

“Please...” she whispered, channeling everything she had across the immense distance between herself and her former friend.

“Please...

Help me...”

Author's Note:

And so it begins.

Comments

[MerlosTheMad]

So, going with the two days update schedule?

[SirVinylScratch]

Do you mind if I do a reading of this?

[Flying Wingnut]

It's Sweetie Belle. The girl in the prison is Sweetie Belle. I'm calling it now. I'm probably wrong, but I'm calling it now.

Btw, very nice story so far.